Jaworski - on Bradford - on NFL32

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Former NFL QB and ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski has been breaking down all 32 starting QB's in the NFL. On today's NFL 32 show, they featured Rams Sam Bradford . So here is the full commentary as I taped the segment on my DVR. (Didn't want to paraphrase or omit things for you .)

Announcer: With more than 3,700 yds. passing and 21 Touchdowns, Rams QB Sam Bradford is coming off his best season Now he's got new weapons in his passing game after drafting Tavon Austin and signing Jared Cook in free agency.

Ron Jaworski : 'Bradford has always been a talented thrower. In 2012, he took some sure and steady steps forward as he rebounded from a poor 2011 season.

( a highlight play from 50 yds line of Bradford half rollout and deep strike down the middle to Givens for TD

Jaws comments: 'That's almost 60 yards in the air with very little effort. There's never been a question of Bradford's arm talent. He has a strong arm with the ability to make every single throw. He can drive the ball down the field and when he is comfortable and confident in the pocket, he throws with consisten accuracy.

(video showing Bradford rolling out )
Jaws : Bradford has underrated movement. He can get out of the pocket and use his legs to find room to throw...and he's always been effective off boot action.

The bottom line is that Bradford has the throwing skill set to be a top 10 passer in this league.

Jaws: What are the concerns when I study Bradford? 'A lack of efficiency in the red zone.. too many interceptions and it's a red zone game. You can't be a high level QB if you can't execute there. Bradford, at times, still struggles with basic blitz concepts that a player with his experience level should understand.
(Video shown of Viking left DE down in 3 pt stance dropping back in zone defense over middle. Bradford throws a slant pattern over middle not seeing the dropping D lineman .)

Jaws: Bradford must eliminate the mistakes that diminish the impact of his ability.

'This season I would expect a little bit difference Rams offense. With the talents they now have at the skill positions, don't be surprised to see more spread with Bradford in the shot gun.. a faster tempo just like Bradford's days at Oklahoma.

Announcer then comments on a graphic chart depicting 2011 season and Bradford passing by formation. Bar graph showing shotgun vs. all others

For completiion percentage, Bradford was 55.1 in 'all others' but 62.3 % when passing from shotgun. His QBR rating was 45.0 for 'all others' category vs. 56.9 for shotgun as announcer stated more than 25% better when in the shotgun. .. a formation that could also help to get the ball to dynamic rookie Tavon Austin.

If you didn't get to see NFL 32 show today, hope you enjoyed reading the profile on Sam Bradford on today's show.

Ramfandan

 

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Jaws cites Sam Bradford's red zone downfalls

"Too many interceptions," Jaworski continued. "And it's a red zone game. You can't be a high-level quarterback if you can't execute there." Over the course of his first three seasons, Bradford has completed just 46.4 percent of his red zone passes for 541 yards, 29 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. The eight interceptions are second-most in the league over that span, one behind Eli Manning. Jaws says "there's never been a question about Bradford's arm talent," and added that he has the "throwing skill set to be a top-10 passer in this league." The Rams hope that supplying him with better weapons helps correct most of the issues the offense has had near the end zone in recent years.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/player/23976/sam-bradford" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/player/ ... m-bradford</a>

 

[kurtfaulk]

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I would have thought Bradford would rank higher than 22 on his list. I understand he hasn't shown his full potential yet but I just think it's a little low. the 15-20 range is where I thought he would sit.

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[FRO]

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I would have thought Bradford would rank higher than 22 on his list. I understand he hasn't shown his full potential yet but I just think it's a little low. the 15-20 range is where I thought he would sit.

.

I agree. There aren't too many QBs that would have been as effective as Sam was last season. He has top notch tools. When he puts it all together watch out.

 

[…..]

Jaws didnt do his best work on this one.

#1 Bradford does not have under rated movement skills. His mobility is'nt all that great and that is well documented. He only excells at moving out of the pocket when the play is designed for him to do so. Its Schotty's job to understand this and develop plays that get Sam into the clear so he can let downfield routes develop. (probably wont be much of an issue with the speed and additional Line talent we now have)
#2 Bradfords interception to a dropping defensive lineman is one of the hardest packages to anticipate for any QB. Its just not natural to see a lineman come out of a 3 point stance and drop into zone, so to be critical of that particular play- on a quick slant no less- is not good sample. In this case, it was probably a better defensive play moreso than bad QB play. I've seeen elite QB's miss reads.....no QB gets them all.

Good stuff on the completion percentage "shotgun" vs "all others" though. And he was spot on about our redzone effeciency, or lack of.

 

[bluecoconuts]

I heard that sometime on NFL32 there's supposed to be the Rams doing a Google Glass thing... Bradford and Austin wore them to give a first person look, and I think they'll wear them a little while longer. I missed the report, I can't seem to find it online either.

Not sure if anyone can find it or if they'll do it again, here are the tweets though.

[tweet]352486361426698242[/tweet]

[tweet]352533021339045888[/tweet]

 

[A55VA6]

Yeah, I watched the google glass thing. It was kind of odd but cool at the same time.

All it was, was the glasses that showed Sam's and Tavon's POV during a pass and catch. And the analysts talked about the possibilites of something like this that players could wear during NFL games to provide fans with a different viewing experience.

Sam seemed weirded out by it all lol but Tavon seemed somewhat interested.

 

[iBruce]

Didn't see the Google Glass but that sounds pretty cool. And yeah, I think next year, Bradford will at least rank in Jaw's top 12.

 

[LesBaker]

For better or worse I cannot recall the last time Jaws was not pretty close to dead on abut a QB. The red zone issues can be solved with the new guys and some new play designs and we are all hoping that we see more shotgun and no huddle since it plays into Bradford's wheelhouse. I'd like to see something along the lines of what the Bills used to do and how they mixed up the tempo so much.

 

[ramsince62]

IMO, Jaws has it pretty close to accurate. It's a shame Bradford came at such a high price, but that subjects been beaten to death already. As to whether or not Bradford "finally" justifies his salary remains to be seen, but like everyone else, I'm (ambivalent). :yessir:

Regarding Bradford's performance in the red zone, the results speak for themself and I place the responsibility primarily on him and not his supporting cast. He either throws to an open receiver or he doesn't....too many int's in close. :bummed:

 

[PrometheusFaulk]

Here's about the best resource I could find on Red Zone passing stats from '12 -

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.coltsauthority.com/2013-articles/may/2012-red-zone-performance-quarterbacks.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.coltsauthority.com/2013-arti ... backs.html</a>

Assuming the numbers are legit, the 3 Red Zone picks are higher than most, but it seems to me like a small sample size to get hung up on. I was a bit surpised by the number of attempts down there - for a team that didn't get to the red zone much it seemed that a lot of those opportunities were spent throwing.

 

[DR RAM]

Here's about the best resource I could find on Red Zone passing stats from '12 -

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.coltsauthority.com/2013-articles/may/2012-red-zone-performance-quarterbacks.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.coltsauthority.com/2013-arti ... backs.html</a>

Assuming the numbers are legit, the 3 Red Zone picks are higher than most, but it seems to me like a small sample size to get hung up on. I was a bit surpised by the number of attempts down there - for a team that didn't get to the red zone much it seemed that a lot of those opportunities were spent throwing.

Pretty interesting that in the success columns that Bradford is in the top 10 in both of them. Completion % to me is such a hard stat to swallow, I mean, how many of those target were thrown away to the betterment of the team? I surmise that if Bradford had developed trust with Pettis sooner that his numbers would be even better. And none of us should forget that we had a hard time getting a couple yards on the ground when teams knew we were running it for sure. Our line had a hard time imposing their will on anyone when we needed it. I'd sure like to be able to get 2 yards on a 3rd and 1, or 2. And I hope our line and one of our backs can do that this year with some consistency.

 

[PrometheusFaulk]

Here's about the best resource I could find on Red Zone passing stats from '12 -

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.coltsauthority.com/2013-articles/may/2012-red-zone-performance-quarterbacks.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.coltsauthority.com/2013-arti ... backs.html</a>

Assuming the numbers are legit, the 3 Red Zone picks are higher than most, but it seems to me like a small sample size to get hung up on. I was a bit surpised by the number of attempts down there - for a team that didn't get to the red zone much it seemed that a lot of those opportunities were spent throwing.

Pretty interesting that in the success columns that Bradford is in the top 10 in both of them. Completion % to me is such a hard stat to swallow, I mean, how many of those target were thrown away to the betterment of the team? I surmise that if Bradford had developed trust with Pettis sooner that his numbers would be even better. And none of us should forget that we had a hard time getting a couple yards on the ground when teams knew we were running it for sure. Our line had a hard time imposing their will on anyone when we needed it. I'd sure like to be able to get 2 yards on a 3rd and 1, or 2. And I hope our line and one of our backs can do that this year with some consistency.

Interesting (or perhaps myopic, depending on your POV) to note that while Bradford's 13 RZ TD passes were on the low side, he had such a high percentage of "successes." Since the statistic is TD passes + 1st down passes = success, what this tells me is that they had to throw for a lot of first downs in the red zone.

Couple this with the average starting field positon thing I keep harping on (they were the worst in the league). What I think it all adds up to is that they're working too darn hard for these points - they need better starting field position, when they get in the red zone they need better position in there (10 as opposed to the 20). Work smarter, not harder.

 

[F. Mulder]

I think they just continue to struggle in the red zone overall. They couldn't run the ball and had problems getting into the end zone throwing it. As the field shrinks you either need guys who can win 1-1 battles or be able to construct plays that have a high degree of success. IMO Bradford threw a lot of balls a way and was extra cautious down there despite his 3 INTs. Everything seemed to move a lot faster down there (which is probably true for all offenses) and it almost seemed as if they were hoping to score vs. knowing they could/would. Even Jackson went from a 4 yard type of back to more of a 1-2 yard type of back in close quarters and more players at the LOS. On paper they have the type of targets who should create mismatches in tall/long guys like Quick, Pettis, and Cook, a good 1-1 ball in the air player in Bailey, and a jitterbug in Austin.

 

[DR RAM]

Here's about the best resource I could find on Red Zone passing stats from '12 -

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.coltsauthority.com/2013-articles/may/2012-red-zone-performance-quarterbacks.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.coltsauthority.com/2013-arti ... backs.html</a>

Assuming the numbers are legit, the 3 Red Zone picks are higher than most, but it seems to me like a small sample size to get hung up on. I was a bit surpised by the number of attempts down there - for a team that didn't get to the red zone much it seemed that a lot of those opportunities were spent throwing.

Pretty interesting that in the success columns that Bradford is in the top 10 in both of them. Completion % to me is such a hard stat to swallow, I mean, how many of those target were thrown away to the betterment of the team? I surmise that if Bradford had developed trust with Pettis sooner that his numbers would be even better. And none of us should forget that we had a hard time getting a couple yards on the ground when teams knew we were running it for sure. Our line had a hard time imposing their will on anyone when we needed it. I'd sure like to be able to get 2 yards on a 3rd and 1, or 2. And I hope our line and one of our backs can do that this year with some consistency.

Interesting (or perhaps myopic, depending on your POV) to note that while Bradford's 13 RZ TD passes were on the low side, he had such a high percentage of "successes." Since the statistic is TD passes + 1st down passes = success, what this tells me is that they had to throw for a lot of first downs in the red zone.

Couple this with the average starting field positon thing I keep harping on (they were the worst in the league). [hilite]What I think it all adds up to is that they're working too darn hard for these points - they need better starting field position, when they get in the red zone they need better position in there (10 as opposed to the 20). Work smarter, not harder.[/hilite]

Absolutely. Our return teams should be much better this year, and even our defense will be better. With legit game-breakers on this team now, I think that we will have much better field position in general.

 

[DR RAM]

I think they just continue to struggle in the red zone overall. They couldn't run the ball and had problems getting into the end zone throwing it. As the field shrinks you either need guys who can win 1-1 battles or be able to construct plays that have a high degree of success. IMO Bradford threw a lot of balls a way and was extra cautious down there despite his 3 INTs. Everything seemed to move a lot faster down there (which is probably true for all offenses) and it almost seemed as if they were hoping to score vs. knowing they could/would. Even Jackson went from a 4 yard type of back to more of a 1-2 yard type of back in close quarters and more players at the LOS. On paper they have the type of targets who should create mismatches in tall/long guys like Quick, Pettis, and Cook, a good 1-1 ball in the air player in Bailey, and a jitterbug in Austin.

The Rams will have to prove to me that they can run it in short quarters. I sure hope to hell that they can, but I'm not worried about the redzone talent that you pointed out, and I think getting a lot those guys were/are part of Fisher and Snead's master plan.

I'd add Kendricks to your list.

 

[kurtfaulk]

I think they just continue to struggle in the red zone overall. They couldn't run the ball and had problems getting into the end zone throwing it. As the field shrinks you either need guys who can win 1-1 battles or be able to construct plays that have a high degree of success. IMO Bradford threw a lot of balls a way and was extra cautious down there despite his 3 INTs. Everything seemed to move a lot faster down there (which is probably true for all offenses) and it almost seemed as if they were hoping to score vs. knowing they could/would. Even Jackson went from a 4 yard type of back to more of a 1-2 yard type of back in close quarters and more players at the LOS. On paper they have the type of targets who should create mismatches in tall/long guys like Quick, Pettis, and Cook, a good 1-1 ball in the air player in Bailey, and a jitterbug in Austin.

i believe that's why they drafted stacy. a younger, smaller version of sjax but with fresh legs.

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[DR RAM]

I think they just continue to struggle in the red zone overall. They couldn't run the ball and had problems getting into the end zone throwing it. As the field shrinks you either need guys who can win 1-1 battles or be able to construct plays that have a high degree of success. IMO Bradford threw a lot of balls a way and was extra cautious down there despite his 3 INTs. Everything seemed to move a lot faster down there (which is probably true for all offenses) and it almost seemed as if they were hoping to score vs. knowing they could/would. Even Jackson went from a 4 yard type of back to more of a 1-2 yard type of back in close quarters and more players at the LOS. On paper they have the type of targets who should create mismatches in tall/long guys like Quick, Pettis, and Cook, a good 1-1 ball in the air player in Bailey, and a jitterbug in Austin.

i believe that's why they drafted stacy. a younger, smaller version of sjax but with fresh legs.

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Not bashing on SJ, because he was a great Ram, but he never seemed to see the hole before he got the ball, and too many times failed to find the hole after he had the ball. Vision wasn't his greatest asset.

 

[PrometheusFaulk]

I think they just continue to struggle in the red zone overall. They couldn't run the ball and had problems getting into the end zone throwing it. As the field shrinks you either need guys who can win 1-1 battles or be able to construct plays that have a high degree of success. IMO Bradford threw a lot of balls a way and was extra cautious down there despite his 3 INTs. Everything seemed to move a lot faster down there (which is probably true for all offenses) and it almost seemed as if they were hoping to score vs. knowing they could/would. Even Jackson went from a 4 yard type of back to more of a 1-2 yard type of back in close quarters and more players at the LOS. On paper they have the type of targets who should create mismatches in tall/long guys like Quick, Pettis, and Cook, a good 1-1 ball in the air player in Bailey, and a jitterbug in Austin.

i believe that's why they drafted stacy. a younger, smaller version of sjax but with fresh legs.

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Not bashing on SJ, because he was a great Ram, but he never seemed to see the hole before he got the ball, and too many times failed to find the hole after he had the ball. Vision wasn't his greatest asset.

To kinda continue on this point, if the stats I have here are right (and by the way, why is it so hard to find Red Zone stats? You'd think that if a guy like Jaws places such a premium on them they'd be easier to find), SJ only had 29 rushing attempts in the Red Zone through week 16 last year -

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.junkyardjake.com/RedZoneRushers/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.junkyardjake.com/RedZoneRushers/</a>

To put that in context, Foster led the league with 75 of these attempts by this time. We all know that his game is power, not speed, so he wasn't a threat to break off an 80 yard run - in order to get him in the end zone he had to be closer and bull the defenders over in short range.

So this kind of puts his low number of rushing TDs into context, they weren't getting in situations where he could score.

 

[albefree69]

I place the majority of the blame for our Red Zone woes on the O-line. They couldn't run block well and they couldn't pass block well. I'm hoping for a big improvement this year.