Check out DPN Commentary from Tuesday December 15th. They open the show with Belichick saying "the passing game isn't as efficient as it should be." He made a general statement about the passing game but I'm gonna show that it was an Indirect message to Cam Newton.
That comment falls on the quarterbacks and then, it falls on the the rest of the offense. Why, who handles the ball the most during passing plays, the quarterback. Cam Newton has started all but one game. Stidham has come in during pressure situations needing 2 scores to come back and in garbage time. Yes, the playcalling could be better but the quarterback /quarterbacks cannot execute.
The offense would be better if Newton threw to guys instead of their bubble. Stidham throws a prettier pass but struggles with some decision making and still hangs on to the ball just a little too long. Hoyer forgot the fundamentals of playing quarterback.
Belichick's statement will chase away veteran receivers, even if Cam is the returning quarterback. Especially if Newton's returning. He's been inconsistent and has truly only had good passing games versus basement teams, with Houston being the exception.
Belichick doesn't normally speak, he never calls any one player out. There are guys playing above their level and then there are guys not "doing their job" or doing it efficient enough as they should be. Instead of going full Bruce Arians, I think this is Bill acknowledging to the media who has been harping on him about starting Stidham, that he sees the problem also.
Look at the Patriots receivers and tight ends.
Izzo, Edelman, Byrd, Harry, and Meyers combined for so far this season.
Catchable passes: 71.66
True catch: 81.26
Target Separation 1.66
Basically 7 of 10 passes are catchable and of all passes thrown 8 of 10 are caught. That's what we're seeing here. They played one game without Newton so those numbers maybe inflated as Newton throws to their bubble and not always to them.
Harry:
target rate 18.4%
Catchable passes 66%
True catch rate 87.9%
Target separate 1.47
Contested catch 76.9%
Edelman:
Target rate 22.5%
Catchable passes 71.8%
True catch rate 75%
Target separate 1.47
Contested catch 58.3%
Meyers:
Target rate 24.4%
Catchable passes 79.3%
True catch rate 91.3%
Target separate 1.89
Contested catch 61.5%
Gunner Olszewski:
Target rate 0.8% (3)
Catchable passes 150%
True catch rate 66.7%
Target separate 3.00
Contested catch n/a
Damiere Byrd:
Target rate 20.1%
Catchable passes 71.2%
True catch rate 89.4%
Target separate 1.79
Contested catch 36.4%
Isaiah Zuber:
Target rate 1.8% (2l
Catchable passes 100%
True catch rate 100%
Target separate .25
Contested catch n/a
Ryan Izzo:
Target rate 7.4%
Catchable passes 70.0%
True catch rate 92.9%
Target separate 1.70
Contested catch 100%
Devin Asiasi:
Target rate 4.3%
Catchable passes 100%
True catch rate 0%
Target separate .5
Contested catch N/A
Dalton Keane:
Target rate 4.5%
Catchable passes 100%
True catch rate 100%
Target separate 2.00
Contested catch N/A
Cam Newton:
True Completion 70.6% No 27
Pressure Completion 49.5% No 5
Clean comp 74.7% / 74.1% No 18 / No 34
Target Sep 1.69/3.49 No 4 / No 27
Drops 12
Newton is ranked 27th in true completion percentage but he's top 5 under pressure. His clean completion percentage player profile has two ranks. He's either below average at 18 or worse than some backups at 34. His target separation also has two ranks, a top 5 and a bottom 6. I could not find why there were two each of those two stats.
The 5 main guys listed true catching is 80%. Imagine how they would be with a guy who could hit timing routes and threw the ball where it was supposed to go and not to their area of his target.
Since the Denver game in just about every game, analysts have said coaches tape shows open receivers. The guy under center isn't getting the ball to open pass catchers. So yes, when Belichick talks about efficiency in the passing game he's most definitely talking about Newton.
No comments:
Post a Comment