One thing I get tired of is comparing other guys to our guy. I watch the games, I know what Bradford has had to play with and I know how he has performed himself. He needs to be more accurate and his yards per attempt needs to go up. Both of those things are below average and that's not good enough for me.
I guess I don't quite get what people want from Sam. He manages turnovers well, so in turn there will be THINGS (stats) that he does that contribute to the TD-INT ratio. Like:
-You seldom see Sam forcing a throw, throwing across his body, etc.
1. In turn he may take a few extra sacks, but he limits the damage.
2. Sam will often throw the ball away instead of taking a sack OR forcing a throw.
I've heard analysts in the past say when Sam takes a sack (instead of forcing a bad throw): "Well he's gotta get the ball out faster." I've also heard them say when he throws the ball away (instead of forcing a bad throw): "Well you gotta give your WR a CHANCE to catch it." You can't have it both ways. Sam will never be the 15+ INT QB. He probably won't be the 5,000 yd or 40 TD QB, but I'll take a game manager like Alex Smith any day of the week. Not to say I'd take Smith over Manning, but I have no problem with having a QB who limits turnovers.
And I think you do have to factor in the offensive lines & WRing corps Sam has worked with in his years in STL. I'd say poor WR play & bad OL play have played a larger role in Sam's career 58.6 completion %. You take his #1 WRs in any year and they all missed extended periods of time. Losing a #1 target is not a little sob story I'm trying to bang the drum on for Sam, it's an issue for any QB. Look at how Luck's play and INDY's play took a nosedive this year following the loss of Reggie Wayne. How about the Pats having to play what seemed like half of their games down to the wire this year because they were missing Hernandez & Gronk? This happened to Sam more than once.
1. Mark Clayton: healthy for 4 FULL games as a Ram.....22 catches for 300 yards and 2 TDs. Tore his PCL in week 5 of 2010.
2. Danny Amendola: healthy for 1 FULL season (2010).....85 catches for 689 yards and 3 TDs. Dislocated elbow, played 1 game in 2011. 2012 was healthy for 11 and was effective when he played....63 catches for 666 yards and 3 TDs.
3. Danario Alexander: Played in 18 out of 32 possible games for the Rams. Had 46 catches for 737 yards and 3 TDs (mind you he only STARTED 7 out of those 18 games)
I think you also saw Sam improve this year because minus games 3 & 4, he was hit much less; something you can't say about 2010-2012. He was the most hit QB in 2011 (not surprisingly he limped through that year). A bad OL will make the ball come out before a QB wants to. Not to mention drops WERE a serious issue. I hate when people downplay them like they aren't a factor. Just take a look through his game logs. How is a guy who 9 times in 16 games (2012) that
frequently "accurate" if he's an inaccurate QB? The games where he's below 50% are more frequently examples of the inconsistent WR play than Sam's "inaccuracy." Take the AZ game for example where Sam started 5 of 7 and ended up 7 of 21 in the game. Its hard to get into a rhythm throwing the ball when you're going 3 and out or 6 and out because someone is dropping balls on 2nd or 3rd down that would extend drives.
Idk. Imo Sam is a QB w/63+ cp.% ability that CAN throw for 4500+ yards and 25+ TDs. I'd be shocked if he ever threw over 15 picks, unless we turn into the GSOT2 and are launching bombs downfield every game. And on that note, I think Sam has shown he CAN throw DEEP and ACCURATELY, so I think he CAN raise his yards per attempt if we can get enough protection for him as TA, Givens, and Cookie get downfield this fall.
Sorry for the long response. Just my opinion, not ALL of this is directed at you, but just making my case on your accuracy & yards per attempt statements.
Here's my guess for Sam in 2014:
4,300...29 TDs...65%
