Some Next Gen Cam Stats

[Ricky Spanish]

Found some next gen stats and plugged wanted to look at How Cam was doing this year. I saw a thread on Reddit where Eli is actually 4th in passing yards this year, more than Tom Brady. People started talking about how a good percent must be checkdown yardage to Saquon, and while there was a good chunk, it was no higher a percentage than Brady to White. This lead to a discussion about how far down the field Eli actually throws it. 

So then I took a look at Cam's stats and what I saw was interesting.

Cam is ranked near the bottom in the league in completed air yards this year. He's sitting at 5.2 yards. What's super interesting was that in 2016, Cam was at the very top of that category with 8.3 air yards/completion. In 2017, after we drafted CMC, that dropped down to 5.6 and he was more in the middle of the pack.

Cam's intended Air yards in 2016? You guessed it, highest in the league at 11. Last year he was middle of the pack at 8.2. This year? Cam is near the bottom at 7.5

So under Norv, Cam's avg. Air yards per attempt have dropped significantly, and it has also increased his completion percentage significantly as well. Cam's completion percentage above expectation was -2.9 last year, one of the worse in the league, and +3.8, one of the best in the league. This has also lead to a decrease in the amount of tight windows that Cam has had to throw into. In 2016, Cam was at the top with 24% throws into tight windows. Last year with CMC, he was still near the top but at 20%. This year? That has dropped to 17.6. It's still not great, he's still near the top, but it's still significantly better than it was last year, and looks to be a declining number if we continue to use Samuel and Moore more. . 

The ONLY downside to this is that we aren't taking any shots downfield. in 2016, Cam had the second longest completed air pass in the league behind only Jay Cutler at 64 yards. That means he bombed one in the air for 64 yards on his own. Last year his longest air completion was 52.4 yards. This year however, his longest is only. 39.3 air yards. I know the year is only halfway done, but the recent arm flair up might be a cause for concern going forward. 

Either way, just some interesting stats to look at and play around with. 

TL:DR

Norv is seem like an OK guy and Cam is doing well under him. 

[UncleWillie]

This is why Cam is getting the ball out so quickly, he doesn't have to wait for the routes to develop and put himself in harms way.

[Ricky Spanish]

8 minutes ago, UncleWillie said:

This is why Cam is getting the ball out so quickly, he doesn't have to wait for the routes to develop and put himself in harms way.

Funny you say that, Cam's time to throw (the time between when the ball ils snappend and when the ball is thrown) is damn near identical each of the past three years. 2.72, 2.72, and 2.78

Seems like the use of shorter routes has been the deciding factor in the efficiency increase. 

[tondi]

Since we lost Ginn we've quit even trying to go down the field and adding guys like CMC will only perpetuate that trend.  No way you dump it off 80+ times a year to a RB (which we rarely used to do at all) and still be anywhere near the league leaders in yards per attempt or in the air. 

[TheRed]

1 hour ago, Cracka McNasty said:

but the recent arm flair up might be a cause for concern going forward. 

[arbnranger]

Good write up Nasty. Interesting stuff. 

[Ricky Spanish]

11 minutes ago, TheRed said:

In the context of throwing it deep? Yeah. it might be. Doesn't look like an issue with the short to intermediate though.

Why you always so pissy bb?

[TheRed]

10 minutes ago, Cracka McNasty said:

In the context of throwing it deep? Yeah. it might be. Doesn't look like an issue with the short to intermediate though.

Why you always so pissy bb?

We can't win 2 games while our QB sets league records without putting some sort of asterisk on it? I'm just saying. Enjoy it.

[Ricky Spanish]

6 hours ago, TheRed said:

We can't win 2 games while our QB sets league records without putting some sort of asterisk on it? I'm just saying. Enjoy it.

There was no asterisk. I even said the year is only halfway over so that could very well change. It's incomplete and he could bomb one on Sunday.

Either way, your QB's surgically repaired arm flaring up is, in my opinion, a legitimate thing to be slightly concerned about. And being concerned is not an asterisk or slight against Cam. Why do you take everything so personally?

I don't think you understand the difference between a concern and an attack on character... Which is sad for you. Did you live in a household filed with overly critical people? I know people like that who take any disagreement as a personal slight and it makes it hard for them to maintain relationships. I hope this isn't the case, I wish you (and Cam's shoulder) the best. 

[t96]

This is exactly why our OL is looking so good and Cam has been kept upright, as well as what we needed. And it'll open up the deep passing game too eventually.