Wagoner On Bradford

[-X-]

Bradford's arm strength is fine. What I dislike is that he isn't accurate enough and he often seems to lack touch on his shorter passes

Disagree. His accuracy is one of his strengths. I think people tend to confuse hurried throws, missed sight adjustments and broken routes with inaccuracy. Here's his worst season on display, and every throw he made that was considered "deep." If you take the time to watch it carefully, you'll see some of what I'm talking about. You'll also see the difference a talented receiver (Alexander) can make on the passing game. Shame his best receiver was a UDFA who couldn't stay on the field that year, but it is what it is.

 

[Angry Ram]

Nick Wagoner
(1:53 PM)
Some bad: He struggles at times to go through his progressions and his pocket presence is lacking.

It may be true, but I want to know how much. I'd be hard pressed to believe any young QB doesn't struggle with those things. Why is it being held at such a high standard for Sam Bradford (at this point)?

He's quick to go to check downs and often refuses to throw the ball into coverage.

Well yeah..I'd rather him do that than what Matthew Stafford, Eli Manning, Joe Flacco do...turn it over. Those aren't bad QBs but throwing the ball into coverage often means more turnovers.

Some of that may be a mistrust of his receivers to win one on one battles but sometimes you have to put faith in your receivers to go up and get it.

And what if they don't? This is the thing that probably irritates me most. You put it up...great. What happens if the ball bounces off the hands of say Chris Givens into the arms of a waiting DB? Sam gets blamed for the pick, it was a bad throw, he shouldn't have made it, blah blah blah. It's a double edged sword and a no win situation.

And, of course, he's had his share of injury issues in half of his NFL seasons. That counts for something too. For the most part, he hasn't had much help from receivers to answer that part of the question. It's a young group and they miss sight adjustments fairly often.

Can't argue with that.

 

[nighttrain]

Damn that's amazing. I've seen Bradford uncork a few, but not that far. This one here is about 60 (in the air).

very good, he barely stepped into the throw
train

 

[jap]

The two videos by X above is why the Rams really need to shore things up around Sam. Give him an OL wall and some decent receivers, and he can posterize even elite CB's regularly. I don't think he even requires a true #1 receiver, although one won't hurt. Sam sprays the ball around effectively when he has enough guys he can trust.

 

[LesBaker]

His career completion percentages by year and total indicate that accuracy is not one of his strong suits, though he did improve it last year before going down with the knee. I think he will get better, and yes he needs help from the WRs but some of it is on him too.

Like I said before the season he needs to be about 65% and his YPA needs to go up over 7.5 because that is considered good, or above average.

He has room to improve and I think that there is a very good chance he will

 

[RamFan503]

What would characterize a 'strong arm?' Is it distance? Velocity? How far would a QB have to be able to throw in order to have a strong arm?

Good question really. Though who else remembers when Sam split Danny's palm with a pass? Does that in any way characterize a strong arm? To me, when I see the guy just kind of flick a pass out there and it comes off like a rocket, I think he's got a pretty strong arm. Are there stronger arms in the NFL? Probably. But I don't see that as being any kind of a weakness with Sam.

The other observations I can get behind. He is a little weak on awareness in the pocket and does seem hesitant to throw the ball that forces his receiver to outplay the defender. He also needs to stay on the field. I wouldn't call him injury prone but another one where he loses playing time could put him in that category.

To me - one play really demonstrated the strength of Sam's arm. That play when he was rolling left and just before going out of bounds, he flicked a pass back to Kendricks in the endzone. Going back away from your body while moving hard to your left is a pass that requires real strength in order to be accurate. And that pass was not only accurate but had pretty good steam on it.

 

[mr.stlouis]

Bradford just needs to grow with his pass catchers. They weren't all on the same page at times last year but time together will lay the doubts to rest. Sam has all the physical tools besides running, but he's an OK runner too. What Sam lacks what his young core lacks ... continuity. These guys need need to get on the same page. The GSOT is a perfect example of this. Warner knew where his guys were gonna be before the ball was even snapped. Bradford doesn't know where his guys will be until they are there. He has to SEE it to BELEIVE it. This is the correct approach being our young guys made so many mistakes. When they get that FEEL for what they're suppose to do and spots they're suppose to be, greatness will be among us. GREATNESS I say... greatness. Lol

 

[bskrilla]

Watching that video of Sam with Brandon Llyod made me salivate for him to have a receiver like that again. He looks so dangerous when he has a Lloyd or a healthy Danario Alexander.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Watching that video of Sam with Brandon Llyod made me salivate for him to have a receiver like that again. He looks so dangerous when he has a Lloyd or a healthy Danario Alexander.

I'm with you.

Tavon and Cook are part of the equation.

Quick, we don't know.

Bailey, with all his potential, isn't likely to be that #1 type.

This is why I keep he door open for a player like Watkins. This offense is getting close.

 

[jjab360]

His career completion percentages by year and total indicate that accuracy is not one of his strong suits, though he did improve it last year before going down with the knee. I think he will get better, and yes he needs help from the WRs but some of it is on him too.

Like I said before the season he needs to be about 65% and his YPA needs to go up over 7.5 because that is considered good, or above average.

He has room to improve and I think that there is a very good chance he will

You're putting too much stock into stats. Drew Brees had a 59% CMP and 6.17 YPA his first three years and he's probably the most accurate QB in the league. Truth is outside variables play a big factor in stats, especially when it comes to QBs who are extremely dependent on everyone else around them doing their jobs.

 

[LesBaker]

You're putting too much stock into stats. Drew Brees had a 59% CMP and 6.17 YPA his first three years and he's probably the most accurate QB in the league. Truth is outside variables play a big factor in stats, especially when it comes to QBs who are extremely dependent on everyone else around them doing their jobs.

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.

 

[LesBaker]

You should be concerned because those missed passes and missing yards make a difference. Do running backs with 3.8 yards per carry make you think wow he is good.

As far as the drops, that's overblown. One fewer drop every other game would move the Rams into the top half so it would not effect Bradford's numbers hardly at all. An extra 10 catches at 6.8 per isn't going to impact the bottom line.

He has to get better at delivering the ball to the guys who make things happen. Anyone thinking that it is everything else and he has no blame has their head in the sand IMO. He has to get better as much as the OL does and the WRs do. He made some progress last year before getting hurt and if that continues then we are fine. But it does have to continue.

 

[jjab360]

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.

One thing I get tired of is stats without context. CMP% is not the same thing as accuracy. That's the point I was trying to make with the Brees stats, not a comparison.

 

[LesBaker]

Fair enough, but Bradford is not accurate enough yet and that's based not on what I see as a stat it's based on watching the games. It's the same reason I say he needs to work on his touch with the ball.

He is inconsistent and it's probably mechanics, I'm hoping it's that anyway. I get the fact that people are sensitive about this but I'm just saying what I see is not good enough yet.

 

[jjab360]

Fair enough, but Bradford is not accurate enough yet and that's based not on what I see as a stat it's based on watching the games. It's the same reason I say he needs to work on his touch with the ball.

He is inconsistent and it's probably mechanics, I'm hoping it's that anyway. I get the fact that people are sensitive about this but I'm just saying what I see is not good enough yet.

That's fine but I'm not seeing what you're seeing. For example, when you look at the game that wonderboy Andrew Luck had against us this year, I've never seen Bradford even come close to throwing that many off target passes in one game. Not even when he was playing on a gimpy ankle with pressure in his face almost every play. When you look at his ability to be able to hit not only the correct area, but to consistently be able to lead his target away from trouble with pinpoint accuracy it truly is amazing. If he only had more faith in his receivers to take more chances and they didn't let him down so often, the results would be truly amazing.

 

[-X-]

You have to wonder how the (numerous) penalties that negated first downs, touchdowns, or even completions would factor into that as well.

 

[LesBaker]

That's fine but I'm not seeing what you're seeing. For example, when you look at the game that wonderboy Andrew Luck had against us this year, I've never seen Bradford even come close to throwing that many off target passes in one game. Not even when he was playing on a gimpy ankle with pressure in his face almost every play. When you look at his ability to be able to hit not only the correct area, but to consistently be able to lead his target away from trouble with pinpoint accuracy it truly is amazing. If he only had more faith in his receivers to take more chances and they didn't let him down so often, the results would be truly amazing.

Why would you compare again? It has no value.

I don't think anyone would call Bradford's accuracy and precision amazing or pinpoint.

We don't see it the same way.....oh well lol.