(PFF) Sam Darnold while in a clean pocket

[Rubi]

The stat line doesn’t show the dropped INT/the near fumble while getting sacked or the missed throws down the field. While he had a nice 2nd quarter, you still saw the same scary things that he did with the NYJets

i thought his best play of the night was a bootleg right with a defender in his face and he stutter stepped him and dropped his arm angle and delivered a strike out into the flat. 
 

multiple times Smitty commented on his nervous feet in the pocket. I think we will see some extreme highs and lows this year from Sam 

Edited August 29, 2021 by Rubi

[top dawg]

35 minutes ago, ickmule said:

Let’s not overreact to a preseason game where the opposition defense had about half its starters in the game.   Until we see what he does against an aggressive defense in regular season we have no idea. My bet is he is somewhat the same as he was in New York….once a QB starts seeing ghosts under pressure it’s hard to get that out of their mind.  

Half its starters? I don't think so.

I was hoping to find a list, but this will suffice. I couldn't tab any of their defensive starters on Friday in a lineup.

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-preseason-week-3-game-recap-carolina-panthers-34-pittsburgh-steelers-9

I don't think they had any starters out there.

Edited August 29, 2021 by top dawg

[1of10Charnatives]

12 hours ago, mc52beast said:

I’ll be impressed when our OL goes against a defense with all their starters on the field. 

FIFY

[1of10Charnatives]

7 minutes ago, Rubi said:

The stat line doesn’t show the dropped INT/the near fumble while getting sacked or the missed throws down the field. While he had a nice 2nd quarter, you still saw the same scary things that he did with the NYJets

i thought his best play of the night was a bootleg right with a defender in his face and he stutter stepped him and dropped his arm angle and delivered a strike out into the flat. 
 

multiple times Smitty commented on his nervous feet in the pocket. I think we will see some extreme highs and lows this year from Sam 

To be fair, if Darnold is a reclaimable player, it's likely gonna take some time to coach the bad things out of him. Maybe our grand scheme is to put him with an OL nearly as bad as the one he's used to playing behind, give him far better skill position players and then gradually make his OL better. You know, so he doesn't get freaked out by everyone around him not totally sucking all the time and forget what he's supposed to do.

Wouldn't be my plan, but then again I would have put more emphasis on the OL all along, since we've sucked there for about...

*looks at his watch*

...a decade.

[AU-panther]

19 minutes ago, Rubi said:

The stat line doesn’t show the dropped INT/the near fumble while getting sacked or the missed throws down the field. While he had a nice 2nd quarter, you still saw the same scary things that he did with the NYJets

i thought his best play of the night was a bootleg right with a defender in his face and he stutter stepped him and dropped his arm angle and delivered a strike out into the flat. 
 

multiple times Smitty commented on his nervous feet in the pocket. I think we will see some extreme highs and lows this year from Sam 

exactly ^

His stat line looked good but it can be a bit deceiving.  They definitely kept things simple with play calling.

According to:

NFL Preseason Week 3 Game Recap: Carolina Panthers 34, Pittsburgh Steelers 9 | NFL News, Rankings and Statistics | PFF

20/24 of his passes were within 9 yards.

He was 2/4 on passes over 9 yards

Only 3 passes were to players lined up wide.

61% of his yards were after the catch.  

Average depth of target was 4.5 yards

You have to ask yourself how many of his completions were actually passes that the majority of the league would also make.

[glenwo2]

27 minutes ago, top dawg said:

Half its starters? I don't think so.

I was hoping to find a list, but this will suffice. I couldn't tab any of their defensive starters on Friday in a lineup.

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-preseason-week-3-game-recap-carolina-panthers-34-pittsburgh-steelers-9

I don't think they had any starters out there.

Then he'll fail and everyone here (the naysayers) will pat themselves on the back for being "right".   Yay.

There will be ups and downs with Darnold, that's true...especially since he's trying to develop chemistry with his teammates and learning each WR's tendencies and timing.

But the OL isn't going to do him any favors if they suck.

[top dawg]

Look! I know everyone wants to feel good and all that, but Friday's performance should be taken with a block of salt. Cherry picking a stat makes the total picture even blurrier than it already is. The fact is, this doesn't provide a clear picture as to what went on, and what is likely to go on in the near future. Their twos ( and maybe some threes) were going up against our ones.

Just objectively consider the outcome had we been going against Watts, Heyward, Tuitt, Bush, Schoeberg, Highsmith, Edmunds, Sutton, Fitzpatrick, Haden and whoever else. Instead of getting legit dicey, it may have gotten extremely ugly.

It would be nice if PFF gave compete grades, but I can't find any. At least we'd have something clearer upon which to base expectations. 

Let's not go crazy with the enthusiasm based on that game.

[glenwo2]

4 minutes ago, AU-panther said:

exactly ^

His stat line looked good but it can be a bit deceiving.  They definitely kept things simple with play calling.

According to:

NFL Preseason Week 3 Game Recap: Carolina Panthers 34, Pittsburgh Steelers 9 | NFL News, Rankings and Statistics | PFF

20/24 of his passes were within 9 yards.

He was 2/4 on passes over 9 yards

Only 3 passes were to players lined up wide.

61% of his yards were after the catch.  

Average depth of target was 4.5 yards

You have to ask yourself how many of his completions were actually passes that the majority of the league would also make.

Do you think that has more to do with :

1.) Vanilla offense?

2.) The OL at times not giving him and the receivers enough time to connect on Deep balls?

There's also the whole "take what the Defense gives you" thing that Rhule apparently wants out of Sam.

Edited August 29, 2021 by glenwo2

[1of10Charnatives]

1 minute ago, top dawg said:

Let's not go crazy with the enthusiasm based on that game.

*Goes crazy with the block of salt instead.*

Nope.

Nope. 

Doesn't work with the salt either.  Does not improve my Cheerwine one bit.

[CRA]

31 minutes ago, AU-panther said:

exactly ^

His stat line looked good but it can be a bit deceiving.  They definitely kept things simple with play calling.

According to:

NFL Preseason Week 3 Game Recap: Carolina Panthers 34, Pittsburgh Steelers 9 | NFL News, Rankings and Statistics | PFF

20/24 of his passes were within 9 yards.

He was 2/4 on passes over 9 yards

Only 3 passes were to players lined up wide.

61% of his yards were after the catch.  

Average depth of target was 4.5 yards

You have to ask yourself how many of his completions were actually passes that the majority of the league would also make.

I’m not sure I buy he had 4 attempts that traveled further in the air than 9 yards.  

I saw 2.  A completion and a miss.  The others must of been right at the line.   He was definitely playing safe small ball.  

[CRA]

37 minutes ago, glenwo2 said:

Do you think that has more to do with :

1.) Vanilla offense?

2.) The OL at times not giving him and the receivers enough time to connect on Deep balls?

There's also the whole "take what the Defense gives you" thing that Rhule apparently wants out of Sam.

Noticeably absent IMO was intermediate passing.  Those don’t require the same kind of protection as needed for the deep ball.  Talking 10-20 yards downfield.  Think he hit one and it was the the 2nd to last throw.  Which often is just reading the field.  

in the game and per reporters in camp, he largely is just  looking for the safe and short route.  

hard to win playing like that.  Saw that last season.  And it’s why the Steeler backups helps their own for almost the entire first half IMO. 

[top dawg]

17 minutes ago, CRA said:

Noticeably absent IMO was intermediate passing.  Those don’t require the same kind of protection as needed for the deep ball.  Talking 10-20 yards downfield.  Think he hit one and it was the the 2nd to last throw.  Which often is just reading the field.  

in the game and per reporters in camp, he largely is just  looking for the safe and short route.  

hard to win playing like that.  Saw that last season.  And it’s why the Steeler backups helps their own for almost the entire first half IMO. 

Josh Allen mostly dink and dunked last night and struck long on a couple when the timing was right. Sam Darnold can do that if he has time.

[Manna]

I’m fine with the short passes if it negates the opponents pass rush. Too many times I’ve seen us get beaten by the opposing team through dinking and dunking. It’s actually the right strategy compared to what we’ve seen before with Shula where he expected the offensive line to protect Cam for 10 seconds while the receivers ran routes that take 15 seconds to develop (exaggerated but you get the point). 
 

All QBs do well with a clean pocket. I hope Rhule and co. has answers for when the pocket gets dirty. 

[joemac]

1 hour ago, AU-panther said:

exactly ^

His stat line looked good but it can be a bit deceiving.  They definitely kept things simple with play calling.

According to:

NFL Preseason Week 3 Game Recap: Carolina Panthers 34, Pittsburgh Steelers 9 | NFL News, Rankings and Statistics | PFF

20/24 of his passes were within 9 yards.

He was 2/4 on passes over 9 yards

Only 3 passes were to players lined up wide.

61% of his yards were after the catch.  

Average depth of target was 4.5 yards

You have to ask yourself how many of his completions were actually passes that the majority of the league would also make.

And what exactly do you think most of our offense is going to be with the YAC monsters we have on the field? Sam just needs to get the ball out quick, in space, to our many playmakers and let them do their thing.