OL stats last year - Clausen just sucked

[blackcatgrowl]

NFL Europe had some good success stories, but it can hardly be considered experience. It was what the USFL will be now: a place where guys can go to get another look. It is not playing in the NFL. It is not experience.

The hell it isn't. It's was Pro Football. NFL-E to NFL success stories exist because guys rose up from the NFL-E as they got experience and sharpened their game there.

The USFL =/= NFL-E. Not by a long shot. Sorry.

[TruCatzFan]

:lurk5:

[Jpjr]

Also let's not forget that Matty Ice was concussed early in the season... He didn't really seem like himself after that injury tbh.

Doesn't explain zero touchdowns in preseason. Of course, I'm not the one acting like the offense had nothing to do with it...

[Stroupe-a-loop]

The hell it isn't. It's was Pro Football. NFL-E to NFL success stories exist because guys rose up from the NFL-E as they got experience and sharpened their game there.

The USFL =/= NFL-E. Not by a long shot. Sorry.

What? How is it any different? I would say the UFL is probably a higher level of competition and coaching than the NFL-E. Give it a couple seasons and there will be some UFL success stories. NFL E was around for about ten years. If NFL Europe is Pro ball, the UFL is Pro ball.

But back to the point. It wasn't experience. He only threw 249 passes over there anyway. Throwing 249 passes, 12 TDs, and 9 picks in an also-ran league and eighty some passes in relief for NO did not make him an experienced QB when we got him.

While Fox was here, he got a number of good starts out of 2 undrafted QBs and an aged journeyman. The best draft pick he got was a free falling 2nd rounder and normally it was much worse than that. He might be terrible at developing quarterbacks, but it's not like we gave him any really promising ones.

[Urrymonster]

http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2011/06/10/team-pass-protection-rankings-part-2/

In pressure per play - Carolina ranked 15th in the NFL per Pro Football Focus and did it without a lot of bodies.

Respectable job considering they have been viewed as being more of a run geared OL.

Clausen took a sack a staggering 27.73% of the time when pressure was applied.

Another example showing horrific QB play makes an OL look much worse than it is. 2010 - good D, good ground game, good OL, elite WR....and a coach with a system to help aid average QBs get results. Clausen was garbage and didn't fit......Hurney didn't hire a staff where he fits. After a poor preseason, they should let Moore have his spot for the 3rd spot.

This is something I have tried to point out to people. Gross, Kalil, Schwartz were fine in pass blocking (and Wharton whilst he was around).

What their stats do not show, is that whilst he was playing the amount of unaccounted sacks went up. AKA blitzes and unblocked people got through.

So yes, Clausen struggled mightily, but I think it was more his pre-snap reads and adjustments which failed him most.

[twylyght]

http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2011/06/10/team-pass-protection-rankings-part-2/

In pressure per play - Carolina ranked 15th in the NFL per Pro Football Focus and did it without a lot of bodies.

Respectable job considering they have been viewed as being more of a run geared OL.

Clausen took a sack a staggering 27.73% of the time when pressure was applied.

Another example showing horrific QB play makes an OL look much worse than it is. 2010 - good D, good ground game, good OL, elite WR....and a coach with a system to help aid average QBs get results. Clausen was garbage and didn't fit......Hurney didn't hire a staff where he fits. After a poor preseason, they should let Moore have his spot for the 3rd spot.

I suppose it will be Cam's fault when the OL is whiffing on pass blocking assignments when he steps in. Rather than buy into the hype of the press and fans with blinders, I'll trust what I've seen with my own eyes.

[neverlosethefeeling]

Why does it feel like CRA is defending Fox, too?

John Fox consistently, over almost his entire tenure here, showed the complete inability to make any necessary adjustments.

Just sounds like CRA wanted to start this thread to bash Clausen in a roundabout way and blame him solely for the failure that was the 2010 season. Guess an offseason like this will do that to ya.

[CRA]

This is where your argument goes south IMO. You start threads blaming Clausen for everything, but to do so you have to justify Moore. You can't have it both ways. You can't take a Moore offense that couldn't score a single touchdown the entire preseason (even in the last game when Fox brought out the starters in the second half to play against the benchwarmers to try and score) and act like there was nothing wrong with the offense. That's what you are doing by justifying Moore's play but not Clausen's.

the preseason example you give is fairly meaningless.....Fox wasn't running his offense and was focusing on the pass in the preseason....without his main WR the offense is built around and without the best RB on the team.

Moore looked good and bad. Moore missing easy throws early on had nothing to do with being put in a poor scenario or bad OL play. Moore missed easy throws.

[CRA]

I suppose it will be Cam's fault when the OL is whiffing on pass blocking assignments when he steps in. Rather than buy into the hype of the press and fans with blinders, I'll trust what I've seen with my own eyes.

If Cam plays as poorly as Clausen.....it will be purely b/c Cam sucks.

[CRA]

Why does it feel like CRA is defending Fox, too?

John Fox consistently, over almost his entire tenure here, showed the complete inability to make any necessary adjustments.

Just sounds like CRA wanted to start this thread to bash Clausen in a roundabout way and blame him solely for the failure that was the 2010 season. Guess an offseason like this will do that to ya.

John Fox is a flawed coach.

However, John Fox has a system that works to some degree.....and it doesn't require great QB play in order for it to work.

Being poor at adjustments, being predictable, etc.....don't excuse horrific play like Clausens....nor does being a rookie coupled with that.

Clausen is largely to blame for how horrific the team did. So is Richardson wanting to Fox to coach a team yet not allow for standard Fox roster moves.

[Jangler]

My thing about Jimmy last year is that he started ten games and threw three touchdowns. Those were, in order: The deep ball to Stewart in NO that was under thrown and almost didn't get there, the play action pass to a wide open Jeff King against Arizona, and a garbage time touchdown against Atlanta on the last drive of the season.

I'm fine with a rookie struggling, but his successes were limited and long between. I saw virtually nothing that rookie season that portends long term success.

I will still always say it was Fox that limited Jimmy and didn't want him taking chances. Not saying Clausen would have been ROY if he had been allowed to do what he wanted when he wanted, But I still say Fox controlled him too much which really made no sense to me, but whatever it is a new season, a new Coaching staff and a new QB so who really gives a poo anymore.

[CRA]

I will still always say it was Fox that limited Jimmy and didn't want him taking chances. Not saying Clausen would have been ROY if he had been allowed to do what he wanted when he wanted, But I still say Fox controlled him too much which really made no sense to me, but whatever, it is a new season and a new QB so who really gives a poo anymore.

but the only counter to that is the only other rookie Fox has played (and undrafted kid who didn't even go through camp with the team) wasn't held back by Fox.

Nothing about Fox being shown on the sideline after Clausen threw the ball away late in the season suggested Fox was prompting Clausen's scared play.

[Jangler]

The only time Fox showed emotion was at the end of the season when he scuffed his shoes.

[neverlosethefeeling]

John Fox is a flawed coach.

However, John Fox has a system that works to some degree.....and it doesn't require great QB play in order for it to work.

Being poor at adjustments, being predictable, etc.....don't excuse horrific play like Clausens....nor does being a rookie coupled with that.

Clausen is largely to blame for how horrific the team did. So is Richardson wanting to Fox to coach a team yet not allow for standard Fox roster moves.

Guy, no one here thinks Clausen is an all-star who could put the team on his back. But I would say he's not even largely to blame. It was his rookie season, he had 2 rookie wide receivers and you're kidding yourself if you think Smitty was a great teammate last year. We had 0 rushing attack through the first half of the season and through the first 6 or so games we had a revolving door at the quarterback position.

This is what I'm talking about when I say that people have been blinded by the early success of quarterbacks drafted recently (think Roethlisberger, Ryan, Flacco, et al.). Clausen was a 2nd round pick, not the number 1 overall and its asinine to think that he was put in the best possible situation to succeed. I'm not saying give him a free pass, but this whole "Clausen sucks" thing is getting really old. There is nothing new here. I don't know why people keep finding it necessary to find ways to blame everything on him.

Let the past be the past and I think the way he has handled himself this offseason, he has shown incredible amounts of character, integrity and professionalism.

Find something new or something better to talk about.