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ramsince62
Hall of Fame
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Yeah, and I used to be taller...
max
Hall of Fame
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- max
Didn't he injury his hand in the opener against Philly in 2011? He played through it against the Giant on MNF the next week, but there was concern that he wouldn't be able to play due to numbness in his fingers.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #9
LOL.......I think it's time for an intervention.
RFIP you're almost turning me against Bradford with this stuff.
FINALLY, I have succeeded.
RamsFan14
Starter
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- Dec 31, 2013
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- 563
This was the video I was thinking when I saw this thread, this is what I posted on the PD before we drafted him. He's a talented person it's pretty crazy how much he did back in the day... Unfortunately we are still trying to figure out what we have in him. I was VERY VERY high on Bradford during the draft process, I was making a lot of comparisons I probably shouldn't have been making at the time... If there's one thing I don't want to be wrong about, it's him but honestly we still don't know what we have with him. Can he be good in this league or not? It's a fair question based on what he's gone through, I still think he can be pretty damn good... Seriously don't want to be wrong though... He's a talented person, it's a shame what's happened to him his first 3 years in the league (and the ACL last year).
-X-
Medium-sized Lebowski
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- The Dude
I'm not worried about anything other than his ability to stay healthy. And that's predicated on the line's ability to stay healthy, I suppose. When I saw Peyton Manning look like garbage in the Superbowl recently because his receivers were blanketed and pressure was ratcheted up heavily, everything I'd ever said about the QB position in general had been validated. That's (arguably) the best QB in the NFL, and he experienced a game situation that Bradford experienced REGULARLY. And without 3 Pro-Bowl linemen, Decker, Thomas and Welker at his disposal.
It's so simple, that it's aggravating when people can't seem to connect the dots.
moklerman
Warner-phile
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- Oct 8, 2011
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You can throw Brady into that discussion too. Look what he did when put in a similar situation as Bradford. I suppose it isn't the easiest thing to try and visualize various players in different situations but when you take the time to put things in context, it does seem kind of obvious that Bradford isn't the problem.
-X-
Medium-sized Lebowski
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- The Dude
True ... he isn't THE problem, but he does have some things he has to work on. My only gripe is with the stat-harvesters who can sum up his career by looking at numbers. It's personal for me because I can say, unequivocally, that I have rewatched every game he's played at least 3 times each (some many times more than that). Even made a video in his defense back in 2011 showing every single sack, and you could not once count to three before he was on the ground - in any of them. I've also stored a lot of information over the years about his development that people tend to forget about, ignore, discount, or think he should just shrug off and become a superstar just because of his freakin' paycheck.
Such as:
2010 - aka The Steve Spagnuolo whistle: His rookie year, he was developed by a defensive-minded coach who made him practice getting rid of the ball before three seconds had elapsed. That's the way he came into the league. Every day during camp (and every subsequent practice), Spagnuolo would hold his stopwatch and blow his whistle at the 3 second mark, and that ball had better be gone by that time because it signified a sack. So we'll have your maiden OC draw up a bunch of bubble screens and quick slants to help you "develop." Of course that wasn't the ONLY way he was allowed to play QB, because there were deeper developing routes in 2010 after the addition of Alexander and Clayton, but he was basically trained to look for a sack after 2.9 seconds. And people complained about his short passes and not going through his progressions. Ridiculous. I defy anyone to scan the entire field in under 3 seconds. That's what pre-snap reads are for. Look for the receiver who was isolated (apparently) one-on-one by the defense and get the ball out to that guy. If coverages are disguised and that guy becomes blanketed, then dump it off. That's your mission, so get it done.
The wreckage of 2011: Forget everything you were taught last year, because we've got the big dog OC for you now in Josh McDaniels. We're going to spread it out, have you drop back 7, and for good measure, we're going to give you 2 new (rookie) receivers to play with and a rookie TE. Don't worry that they don't have a clue what they're doing yet, and don't worry that you had no time to digest and practice this brand new playbook with brand new terminology, just do it. You make 50 trillion dollars, so it's a no-brainer. Actually, it was a no-brainer for Bradford. HE knew what he was doing. He knew the playbook and brought receivers to Lindenwood to practice. But when everyone had to execute together after the season started, everything fell apart. Guys were missing sight-adjustments and getting drilled in the back, the O-line couldn't handle 7-step drops, the gameplan (and subsequent playbook) changed weekly, and Bradford was supposed to direct traffic with guys who were just about completely lost. Can't have you best receiver from the year before either, because he (and your starting RB) will be injured week 1. But go ahead -- do your thing. Don't pay any attention to all of the O-line injuries either. All QBs go through that don'tcha know...
The second rebuild - aka 2012: Who has an issue with how he performed that year? This is a rebuild done right. Two rookie receivers eased into the offense with Givens just running stop-n-go's, fly-routes, and bubble screens. Quick was held back largely because he had never even seen a playbook before, so he wasn't going to be running around there in the wrong direction all the time (which he sometimes did anyway). You can have Amendola half the season, just because. And you can have Gibson as your #1, even though he'll go on to be someone else's #4 the following year. Just do it anyway, you know ... because you're a kazillionaire. He did start the year shaky because of the beating he took the year prior, but this was essentially his rookie year with his third coordinator in as many years. So it stands to reason that he wasn't going to light it up. He played reasonably well and started showing signs of stable development, but didn't really have much in the way of seasoned talent at WR, or even a RB who could take the pressure off (yes, I'm talking about Jackson).
2013: People can draw their own conclusions from that year. I've already heard the garbage of him only being successful against shitty teams and getting all his yards in 'garbage time', so I tend not to debate it anymore. He's now in the position that he can do nothing right. He was "bad" for 3 years prior (for reasons that people WILL NOT recognize), so they've already drawn their own conclusions about him. All fallacies (IMO), so I don't care. Most people's minds are already made up and there's no changing that. I just know what I know and it's based on what I've seen. The talent is there, but the stability is just now being provided so the potential can be realized. Zero receivers, backs or tight-ends left over from his rookie year, and one (oft-injured) offensive lineman. There's some continuity and chemistry for ya.
Might be too late though. And he might not hold up much longer anyway.
moklerman
Warner-phile
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Some other contributing factors that shouldn't be chalked up as excuses:
-his rookie year he had to play sooner than expected because Feeley got hurt. But Feeley was taking first team snaps for the first few weeks and OTA's which could have gone to Bradford. I believe his graduation date also caused a delay in getting him to the team.
-his 2nd year, there was a holdout/strike so there was less time to implement things. Not only that, he wasn't given a position coach.
So, in his first two seasons he essentially didn't get an actual offseason to learn things.
His third year was a whole new offense again and coming off the ankle injury. Can't recall now if he lost any OTA/training camp time because of that.
Then you have to add the musical chairs at WR, RB and o-line and...well, it does seem obvious to me that he hasn't had a fair platform from which to judge him.
-his rookie year he had to play sooner than expected because Feeley got hurt. But Feeley was taking first team snaps for the first few weeks and OTA's which could have gone to Bradford. I believe his graduation date also caused a delay in getting him to the team.
-his 2nd year, there was a holdout/strike so there was less time to implement things. Not only that, he wasn't given a position coach.
So, in his first two seasons he essentially didn't get an actual offseason to learn things.
His third year was a whole new offense again and coming off the ankle injury. Can't recall now if he lost any OTA/training camp time because of that.
Then you have to add the musical chairs at WR, RB and o-line and...well, it does seem obvious to me that he hasn't had a fair platform from which to judge him.
LesBaker
Mr. Savant
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- Aug 23, 2012
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I thought the Spagnuolo whistle was actually a horn and it was 2.5 seconds........one of us is wrong. I think we should find out. It irritated the crap out of me when I heard about that, it's just the stupidest effing thing to do. Why not let the guy go through his reads in practice to learn how the eff to do it rather than "Pavloving" him into finding the first place he can dump it. It's a forward pass not a game of hot potato.
I disagree about him knowing what he was doing in McDaniels O. After a few games I remember posting that he was screwing up the OL calls, which was something he hadn't ever done and not all QB's do anyway. He was getting himself roughed up. The problem was they didn't take that away from him until late in the year. Way too often there were one or two OLmen blocking nobody based on what Bradford was communicating to them. It was WAY too much for him.
If we get the Bradford we saw last year I'm OK with that.
I disagree about him knowing what he was doing in McDaniels O. After a few games I remember posting that he was screwing up the OL calls, which was something he hadn't ever done and not all QB's do anyway. He was getting himself roughed up. The problem was they didn't take that away from him until late in the year. Way too often there were one or two OLmen blocking nobody based on what Bradford was communicating to them. It was WAY too much for him.
If we get the Bradford we saw last year I'm OK with that.
RaminExile
Hall of Fame
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- Sep 29, 2013
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"Can he be good in this league or not?"
I think he's already answered that to be fair. He is a good quarterback in this league. His stats last year were top 10 qb. That's what I think he is. The bigger question(s) are; can he stay healthy consistently, and how high is his ceiling. With the second question I think its simply a case of seeing whether he can overcome some bad habits and mental thought processes formed from the tough situation he's been in here.