Insane Stat (Wilson)

[LPMAN]

Moon ball is 90% off target, our WRs are doing a good job adjusting.

I’m more impressed with the quick throws near the goal line, we haven’t had a QB who could read and snap off a throw like that for a while.

Some are off target, BUT what i started noticing is Russ is almost always throwing the moonball pases to the opposite side shoulder of WR then DB is covering at. Even if the WR route is looking other side.

Makes me think he is telling WRS i'm putting it where only you can get it, it's your job to adjust to the side away from defender. That TD to Pickens yesterday is a perfect example. Pickens is heading to right corner, DB notices that & is pursuing him in that direction, Russell throws it to left shoulder of Pickens who has to do a 180 to catch it.......BUT if you watch the play over like 10 times like i have.....You'll notice the DB might have been able to break up the catch if Russell threw it to the right side where Pickens had been heading. As Pickens caught it the DB is flying into the corner of the endzone with a look on his face like WTF just happened because the initials eyes & hands of Pickens were to the right side corner..

[NorthCoast]

I didn’t see many miss thrown deep balls by either QB. I think the pressure by defenses was the reason for most of the incompletions.

If you watch the replay of the Pickens TD. That is Pickens setting his man up and adjusting to the ball. Its one of his best traits. Has the defender moving outside and dives inside to catch it clean.

2 for 8 on 20+ yd passes... not particularly good:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2qtxCGL][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2qtxCGL]Screenshot 2024-11-11 122020[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/191750946@N04/]R W[/url], on Flickr

[feltdizz]

2 for 8 on 20+ yd passes... not particularly good:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2qtxCGL][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2qtxCGL]Screenshot 2024-11-11 122020[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/191750946@N04/]R W[/url], on Flickr

I don’t think any of those were impacted by the wind.

2 or 3 were to Austin and like the announcers said, that isn’t his strength. The other was an INT that was essentially a punt.

[Northern_Blitz]

I agree that the propensity to throw deep a lot is a difference Russ makes, but let’s not pretend better passes wouldn’t be welcome. You should always want your receiver catching the ball in stride as opposed to having to spin around and fight through a DB to catch it.

I mean, that’s really not up for debate, unless you just want to grind your axe vs. us apostates some more

Brady and Brees threw great, arcing deep balls and dropped them into the bucket. I don’t remember a great hue and cry for them to throw shorter so we’d get treated to more cool combat catches.

Better passes are always better.

But he's had some pretty sweet passes. There was one down the sideline yesterday that was just perfect.

I agree that there is room for improvement. But I think he's been at least average. And probably better than average. I'd love to see more passes over the middle to a guy in stride that gets some big YAC.

Although it is also possible that I'm just so miscalculated from watching us be horrible on offense for so long.

I guess after the last few seasons, I'm just really happy to see TD passes.

[feltdizz]

I agree that the propensity to throw deep a lot is a difference Russ makes, but let’s not pretend better passes wouldn’t be welcome. You should always want your receiver catching the ball in stride as opposed to having to spin around and fight through a DB to catch it.

I mean, that’s really not up for debate, unless you just want to grind your axe vs. us apostates some more

Brady and Brees threw great, arcing deep balls and dropped them into the bucket. I don’t remember a great hue and cry for them to throw shorter so we’d get treated to more cool combat catches.

Brady and Brees aren't on this team but Brees threw a ton of back shoulders in his career. That was his bread and butter.

Point is Russ is giving WR's a chance to make plays. The Mike Williams TD was not contested. It was perfectly placed but most balls won't be, the point is to give your WR the advantage. I'm not seeing a lot of WR's fighting with DB's on these passes. I'm seeing DB's chasing WR's and not getting a hand on the majority of these passes.

[feltdizz]

Better passes are always better.

But he's had some pretty sweet passes. There was one down the sideline yesterday that was just perfect.

I agree that there is room for improvement. But I think he's been at least average. And probably better than average. I'd love to see more passes over the middle to a guy in stride that gets some big YAC.

Although it is also possible that I'm just so miscalculated from watching us be horrible on offense for so long.

I guess after the last few seasons, I'm just really happy to see TD passes.

All a sudden we need perfection from Russ? That's crazy talk.

Sure, perfect passes are welcomed but that isn't how the NFL works. You need precision passes on short throws, timing routes and passes over the middle.. you do not need perfection on deep passes when its mostly one on one. You just put it up and trust your guys comes down with it.
If we won after 5INT's like Detroit last night I would see the point but DB's aren't getting their hands on the majority of these passes.

[Northern_Blitz]

All a sudden we need perfection from Russ? That's crazy talk.

Sure, perfect passes are welcomed but that isn't how the NFL works. You need precision passes on short throws, timing routes and passes over the middle.. you do not need perfection on deep passes when its mostly one on one. You just put it up and trust your guys comes down with it.
If we won after 5INT's like Detroit last night I would see the point but DB's aren't getting their hands on the majority of these passes.

I'm saying the opposite of that. I agree with Windy that things could certainly be better. But also saying that things are light years ahead of where they've been for a while.

That it's pretty exciting to have a QB that's at least NFL average (and arguably better). A QB that throws TDs (not Kenny) and isn't a turnover machine (not Mitch). And while it's a small sample, we're scoring well above the NFL average in PPG!

Which is such a departure from the last few seasons. Where the offense has been brutal.

[NorthCoast]

The pass on the slant to Pickens was on point and in stride. If that CB doesn't tackle him, he's housing it. OTOH, the crosser to Pruitt was behind him, and late.

[Captain Lemming]

I agree that the propensity to throw deep a lot is a difference Russ makes, but let’s not pretend better passes wouldn’t be welcome. You should always want your receiver catching the ball in stride as opposed to having to spin around and fight through a DB to catch it.

I mean, that’s really not up for debate, unless you just want to grind your axe vs. us apostates some more

I told you after the first game what is happening. I will use your own words to make my point. I told you that Russ can throw his moon ball to “covered” receivers. These are NOT passes that Justin even ATTEMPTS.

Justin also throws too late rather than throwing to a spot like Russ does. Throwing in stride passes require the receiver to have a step on the defender. Russ does not need that.

This explains Russ “propensity” to throw more deep passes. Net result is that we score more point because Russ makes chunk plays that WONT WORK with line drive throws.

If Justin knew how to make THAT throw he’d be among the league’s elite right now and would be the one leading us to a 30 plus average.

[Captain Lemming]

I'm saying the opposite of that. I agree with Windy that things could certainly be better. But also saying that things are light years ahead of where they've been for a while.

That it's pretty exciting to have a QB that's at least NFL average (and arguably better). A QB that throws TDs (not Kenny) and isn't a turnover machine (not Mitch). And while it's a small sample, we're scoring well above the NFL average in PPG!

Which is such a departure from the last few seasons. Where the offense has been brutal.

Our pace with Russ thus far is higher than ANY Steeler team in history.

[Northern_Blitz]

Our pace with Russ thus far is higher than ANY Steeler team in history.

It's a small sample, so I'd hesitate to extrapolate.

But it's encouraging.

Easily the best QB since Ben. But that bar is very low IMO.

[Captain Lemming]

It's a small sample, so I'd hesitate to extrapolate.

But it's encouraging.

Easily the best QB since Ben. But that bar is very low IMO.

Agreed on the point about “premature extrapolation” which is why I made sure to include “thus far” in my comment.

And yes the bar is low. But we made the playoffs with that extremely low bar of QB play. We don’t need to be carried by a superstar in his prime the way this team is built to compete.

[NorthCoast]

Doubt very much he plays under a tag, but.....

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2qtHdzr][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2qtHdzr]Screenshot 2024-11-12 162547[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/191750946@N04/]R W[/url], on Flickr