Sam Darnold: Mechanics & Week 2 Film Breakdown

[JetNation]

Welcome to the next edition of the Sam Darnold breakdown.  This week, we will look at some mechanics, as well a breakdown from Pre-Season Game Two.

Mechanics:

I just want you to look at that drop back, that’s all.

That is Tom Brady from the Super Bowl last year.   Yes, it hurts to watch them play in that game, but on the bright side, they lost.

The main thing I’m highlighting here is the hop at the end, because it allows for Brady to be better prepared to throw, and you will see this often with him.  It helps him stay consistent with his delivery, if given space, rather than turning his head, and then allowing the body to readjust.  Brady loves to do the small hop to get himself in position to throw with better force, without waiting for his legs to get under him.  Don’t believe me? Let’s go see some more examples:

Notice the hop each time he’s turning his head, so when Brady turns and sees an opening, there isn’t a lag.

Here we see more hops, as Brady goes through the progressions.  You don’t see him flat footed because that creates a lag to generate torque.  Brady makes each of those hops knowing that if a throwing lane opens, he’s ready to throw.

I don’t want to create this impression that Brady does this on every play, because he doesn’t.  There are plays where he doesn’t have time to hop around, so these are just the ones where there is space to operate in the pocket.  Furthermore, this quality isn’t limited to Tom Brady, as almost every good QB has the ability to hop around.  I pointed this hop mechanism out to ease concerns that Darnold isn’t fundamentally sound with his feet.  Darnold does tend to throw passes with open hips, but he’s been fairly accurate in his career.

The second aspect of Darnold’s mechanics deal with his arm motion, as it’s somewhat elongated.   I don’t have the tools to measure release times, and there have been reports out of camp indicating that he has cleaned up his delivery.  Click Here for a Link to the Soul and Science show, which measured release time at .44 seconds.  According to the show, it’s slightly faster than David Carr, but there isn’t anything at our disposal to dispute this notion.  There was an attempt made to slow down video and see if there is a shortened throwing motion, but it’s incredibly hard to discern at available speeds, since frame rates can’t be matched.

Sam Darnold cleaned up his throwing motion during the pre-draft process and it seems to have helped him hasten his delivery.  It’s not the perfect throwing motion, but it’s not an abomination either.  It’s definitely good to see the footwork in the pocket emulating Brady.

Film Breakdown:

1) 

I haven’t seen this play broken down from Game 1, so let’s go through it since it’s extremely impressive.  You should notice the hops on this one, because you will see the reads that go along with it.  Once Darnold drops back, the first read is the middle linebacker.  The tight end read is dependent on the middle linebacker, because if that defender blitzes the A gap, then it’s a quick throw to the tight end.  The safety would be too far back in this scenario, and it’s an easy pass.  If the middle linebacker blitzes, and the “Will” linebacker slides over, then it’s a dump off pass to the running back.  Therefore, the first read on this play is the middle linebacker, and notice how Darnold makes the read with the first hop.  The direction of that second hop is now based on that read.  On this play, the middle linebacker stays home,  and the will linebacker follows the running back, therefore Darnold has to look towards his right.  The slot receiver gets the safety over the top, while the cornerbacks are in zone coverage.  You can’t see it on this play, but the slot receiver would be covered to the inside by the safety, and to the outside by the cornerback that was initially on Tre McBride.  The Sam linebacker stays in the zone, while the slot cornerback attacks the outside route from McBride.  You can see the slot cornerback move towards the outside, while the Sam linebacker looks over to McBride as well.  Darnold’s second read on this play is the slot receiver, as evidenced by the second hop.  The read on that play is the Sam linebacker, because if that defender blitzes, then the slot receiver can get inside of the cornerback for an open passing lane.  Once, the Sam linebacker doesn’t blitz, Darnold has to go to his third read, which is McBride, as you can see with the last hop.  It’s very impressive that Darnold went through the progressions in the red zone quickly and got the throw off before being hit.

On the downside, the Falcons rushed 4 against 5 offensive linemen, yet the QB was still hit.  The Jets need to work on their offensive line.

Now, let’s move onto Week 2, because if you’ve read this far for pre-season film breakdown, you probably read all the film reviews for week 1 anyway.

2) 

On the outset, this is not a great play and inconsequential.  However, I do think it’s important to break this down, because two things at are work here.  The play recognition, and the play calling.  The Jets come out with 5 wide look, and notice that 10 defenders are in the box, with a spread indicating man cover including single high safety.  Darnold makes a good read, because he sees the linebacker on Tomlinson show blitz.  The QB made some sort of audible at the line, and in theory this should be a good call.  The defender does blitz, and the middle linebacker slides over to cover Tomlinson.  However, the middle linebacker is about 2-3 yards to the inside of Tomlinson, and in a vacuum, that’s a great audible.  If you look at the middle linebacker and the pass to Tomlinson, the receiver would easily turn the corner and go for a first down.  The play breaks down because the slot defender (guarding Jermaine Kearse) stays home instead of following his receiver, which limits the upside of this play.  The Redskins seem to have recognized this play call because the slot defender reads the play before Darnold even makes the throw.  If Kearse continues with his route, he will be wide open on the crossing route, but his route is a quick curl.  This is where we have the argument of play calling because there is a major difference of opinion for the learning experience on this play.  On one hand, Darnold recognizes the blitz from linebacker and calls the perfect hot route for it, therefore you learned that he’s good at diagnosing the play at the line of scrimmage.  On the other hand, Darnold audibles to a play without correcting the curl route on Kearse to a crossing route as the back up option.  Essentially it becomes a Brian Schottenheimer call, because there are too many receivers and defenders in the same area, short of the first down.  Therefore, is this a good read? Or a bad read?  The team also needs to take more chances down the field, because defenses are sitting on the short passes.  It’s concerning that the Redskins sat on short passes, because they based their game plan on joint practices, and could have picked up on tendencies.  I’m calling it now, first series for Darnold in the next game, he will take a shot down the field in the first 3 throws just to re-set defenses.

3) 

Horrible play call, and once again the Redskins just aren’t fooled.  Darnold does a great job of evading the sack, and the best thing about this play is on the second hop in the backfield.  Darnold looks towards Tomlinson again, only to realize he’s covered, and then turns to Kearse running the crossing route as his second read.  Therefore, even under pressure, he’s going through his progressions as he’s avoiding the sack.  Far too many times, you will see young QBs see pressure, causing them to put their eyes down and escape the pocket before trying to pass again.  In this instance, he shows a good ability to focus downfield, while simultaneously avoiding the sack.  Great play by Darnold, horrible play call once again.

4) 

Watch the right guard on this play, it’s No. 78 Jonotthan Harrison.  He’s listed as a center on the team website, and played center in college.  He’s at RG on this play, either because of injury or coaching intrigue.  Harrison may want to forget this play ever happened, because he gets manhandled by the defender.  This is where it’s hard to gauge Darnold’s performance because a subway turnstile with dust on the card reader would put up better resistance.

5) 

The broadcast showed two angles of this play, and I’ll take advantage of it here.  The first thing to notice is the initial read.  Go to the first pass to Tomlinson in this game (should be numbered 2 here) and look at the read.  In this case, the Jets call the same hot route with Anderson going on the short route.  Remember how we expected the defender on Kearse for that play to follow his man, therefore leaving Tomlinson matched up against a middle linebacker playing well inside of the receiver? Well in this case, there is only an outside receiver, but the Redskins recognize the play and send the safety down to attack Anderson.  Darnold’s first read is Anderson, as you can see with his look from the end zone cam, but he moves on when he sees the safety come crashing down.  Then Darnold makes a great throw to Tre McBride, for the first down.  The second angle is great, because it highlights how the first look to Anderson holds the safety in the middle, allowing more space for the throw to McBride.  The Redskins defend this play perfectly, but Darnold makes a great throw for the first down.  It’s good to see Darnold making a similar read as the first play, and then adjusting when the throw wasn’t there, which shows in-game progression.

6) 

This play doesn’t have much to do with Darnold, but I’ve bashed the play calling far too many times in this article.  Therefore, I wanted to take this opportunity to appreciate the play call here because it’s a twist on a common play now.  Watch the two receivers to the left side of the formation, because that’s where the play set up is important.  The slot receiver is really just running a pick route, which is forcing the defender on McBride to go around him.  You will see this play every game with every offense across the NFL.  However, the twist on this play is the route by McBride, who turns a crossing route into an out route.  It might not be visible in the film, but the defender on him had gone around the slot receiver, to fight the crossing route.  However, by going around him, he’s now blocked himself off again to the out route, therefore leaving McBride wide open.  I just wanted to point out the ingenuity of this route combination here and give props to the coaches for once.

7) 

While giving up a sack with just 4 rushers isn’t ideal, this one is on Sam Darnold.  The read here seems to be Jermaine Kearse (I can’t tell for sure from the film angle) in the slot, but Darnold doesn’t pull the trigger.  There is a slight window for Darnold to pass to the receiver, but he hesitates.  It could be possible that Darnold was scared by having the Redskins jump the short routes, but he should have taken this shot.  Darnold being scared of this option, causes this sack.

8) 

The interception that caused the Darnold hype train to hit the brakes.  However, the fault really lays at the hand of the coaching staff, because this is a horrible play call.  The defense sends 5 defenders, but the protection is off because the read here is Kearse and then Powell.  Once the play unfolds, Powell is held up because he is trying to block the free defender, which causes Darnold to only have one option.  The QB is now forced to make a quick decision, because another defender breaks through causing Darnold to make a decision, take a risky throw or take the sack for a turnover.  He has to make the throw because a sack is useless since it’s a turnover.  The unfortunate event for Darnold is that the defender spying on Powell sees the running back slowed down by the blocking, and decides to drop back into coverage causing him to be right in the path of the pass.  When Darnold makes this pass, he expects a close matchup with Kearse and a defender, but the extra defender cutting across is unexpected.  The play design needs to be better because this one was designed to fail from the start.  It’s an interception nonetheless, but this isn’t a horrible play, but rather a desperate one, that morphed into an unfortunate one.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Sam Darnold has made quite an impression on the Jets and their fans.  I’m quite impressed with his footwork, albeit it still stands to be tweaked on some throws.  He’s shown a good ability to read the defense, both at the line and while going through progressions.  However, the Jets are limiting his throws to short ones, which is causing defenses to jump on the short routes.  It would benefit the Jets to attack defenses down the field, because Darnold has shown a great ability to make the short intermediate throws.  Thanks for checking in with us for the Sam Darnold breakdown.

The post Sam Darnold: Mechanics & Week 2 Film Breakdown appeared first on JetNation.com (NY Jets Blog & Forum).

Click here to read the full story...

[rldev]

Thanks for the breakdown. The slow mos really show how much information Darnold is processing and generally getting correct.

[Losmeister]

Holy Moses!

Gonan have to set aside some time to go thru this.

Danke!

 

[win4ever]

5 hours ago, rldev said:

Thanks for the breakdown. The slow mos really show how much information Darnold is processing and generally getting correct.

No problem.  

He does actually make a fair amount of good reads, but they have to open up the playbook for him.  The defenses were sitting on short stuff in the Redskins game, and I'm sure others are going to follow until it's opened up.  I get a bad feeling, they are trying to make him a "game manager" first while still starting, but the lack of deep passes is annoying. 

 

4 hours ago, Losmeister said:

Holy Moses!

Gonan have to set aside some time to go thru this.

Danke!

 

No problem.  Enjoy, most of it is positive.  

[Maxman]

22 hours ago, win4ever said:

No problem.  

He does actually make a fair amount of good reads, but they have to open up the playbook for him.  The defenses were sitting on short stuff in the Redskins game, and I'm sure others are going to follow until it's opened up.  I get a bad feeling, they are trying to make him a "game manager" first while still starting, but the lack of deep passes is annoying. 

 

No problem.  Enjoy, most of it is positive.  

That is definitely the case now. But a lot has to do with 1) him being so young and 2) the OLine injuries.  Just can't have this kid getting hurt in preseason.

They will open it up and let him take more chances down the field starting week one I believe.

Excellent work on the film recap!

[jetstream23]

Can someone please explain or, even better, show through video comparison what a regular throwing motion looks like versus an elongated throwing motion?  I've been hearing about this "elongated" throwing motion since a few weeks before the Draft when some ESPN or NFLN talking head used it to describe Darnold and then everyone just seemed to jump on it as their new favorite word.

[jetsons]

5 minutes ago, jetstream23 said:

Can someone please explain or, even better, show through video comparison what a regular throwing motion looks like versus an elongated throwing motion?  I've been hearing about this "elongated" throwing motion since a few weeks before the Draft when some ESPN or NFLN talking head used it to describe Darnold and then everyone just seemed to jump on it as their new favorite word.

See Joe Namath & Dan Marino for quick short throwing motions... see Randall Cunningham or Michael Vick for an elongated one... All 4 had guns just their throwing motions were polar opposites.

[jetstream23]

But Darnold has had a pretty quick motion, even going back to college.  The Sports Science guys did something on him just before his senior year and his time from decision to release seemed exceptionally short.  He doesn't seem to wind up like a baseball pitcher to me.  I don't know....the ball seems to get out quick from him and I think that's what matters most.

[BornJetsFan1983]

This is really awesome break down and read

[jetsons]

8 minutes ago, jetstream23 said:

But Darnold has had a pretty quick motion, even going back to college.  The Sports Science guys did something on him just before his senior year and his time from decision to release seemed exceptionally short.  He doesn't seem to wind up like a baseball pitcher to me.  I don't know....the ball seems to get out quick from him and I think that's what matters most.

I agree, I don’t see Sam’s throwing motion as a negative.  When Rivers came out of college their were those calling for him to change his “quirky”  mechanics...  it hasn’t seemed to have been an issue for him at all.

[jetstream23]

10 minutes ago, BornJetsFan1983 said:

This is really awesome break down and read

+1 ...a great analysis!

Darnold is showing a lot of the things that have traditionally been difficult for rookie QBs to master early - reading defenses, poise in the pocket, good decision-making following progressions.  Rookies tend to get rattled, their eyes are on the defenders storming towards them and they try to force throws.  Liking this kid more and more every week.

[jetstream23]

Just now, jetsons said:

I agree, I don’t see Sam’s throwing motion as a negative.  When Rivers came out of college their were those calling for him to change his “quirky”  mechanics... it hasn’t seemed to be an issue for him at all.

Exactly!  The best thing the Jets may have done was not goof with Sam's motion.  He shortened things up and seems a little more compact but fortunately nobody on the Jets has been dumb enough to draft a guy #3 and then change the way he throws a football.

Rivers has always had the kinda 3/4 arm throw.  Not like a sidearm baseball pitcher but it is somewhat similar.  Concerns were that he'd get balls batted down or couldn't hit the whole route tree well....and now the guy is going to end up in the Top 10 of all-time yardage passers.

[win4ever]

3 hours ago, Maxman said:

That is definitely the case now. But a lot has to do with 1) him being so young and 2) the OLine injuries.  Just can't have this kid getting hurt in preseason.

They will open it up and let him take more chances down the field starting week one I believe.

Excellent work on the film recap!

I think the O-Line is a major issue for Darnold, or really any QB, and I haven't really seen them fix it.  It's been an issue since Bowles came here, and it's the same thing.  Defenses run a 4 wide look on the line, isolate the tackles, and the guards/center are essentially confused about blocking duties.  

I don't really want to see Darnold play 3 quarters today, rather he gets about 1.5 and move on to Teddy.  My only issue with the game manager one is that he seems reluctant to pull the trigger on long passes, and how that might stunt him.  Really wished the O-Line was healthy to actually see if they could keep him up.  I hope they come out and fire it against the Lions, although I'm calling a deep pass within the first 3 passes today as my guess.  

Thanks.  

 

[rldev]

1 hour ago, jetstream23 said:

Can someone please explain or, even better, show through video comparison what a regular throwing motion looks like versus an elongated throwing motion?  I've been hearing about this "elongated" throwing motion since a few weeks before the Draft when some ESPN or NFLN talking head used it to describe Darnold and then everyone just seemed to jump on it as their new favorite word.

I hear what you're saying. I don't see it. If anything I see him truncating his throws, not elongating. He does get rid of the ball quick whatever he is doing.

[win4ever]

1 hour ago, jetstream23 said:

Can someone please explain or, even better, show through video comparison what a regular throwing motion looks like versus an elongated throwing motion?  I've been hearing about this "elongated" throwing motion since a few weeks before the Draft when some ESPN or NFLN talking head used it to describe Darnold and then everyone just seemed to jump on it as their new favorite word.

So, it's really hard to show on tapes like this because there isn't a frame rate count that I can show.  I can't quantify it because it's subjective for me to discern when the throwing motion starts.  It's why I left it alone and went with the Soul and Science link for it.  For the most part, it has to do with generating torque.  Sort of like pitchers that have different motions, everyone creates it just a bit different.  So Darnold had a more loopy delivery.  

So, an ideal delivery is when you start the motion, you hand goes back on a straight line to generate torque (the rest of the body is involved, but we're not concerned about it here) because obviously a straight line is the shortest (and fastest) route from Point A to B.  Simple stuff, point A to B.  Now, it's hard to get this right and very few people rarely do.  The idea is to come as close to this line as possible when throwing a pass.  Some guys need a longer windup, so think of an inverted bell curve from Point A to B.  You still get there, but that path is now longer (and therefore theoretically slower).  With Darnold, he had a loopy delivery, in that his hands didn't go close to the linear line, it went closer to inverted Bell curve line.  I actually started to write about it awhile back, but then all I heard was that his motion was being changed.  I figured it's pointless to harp on something that changed, since it wouldn't be relevant.  Palmer and the Jets have shortened the motion, so that arm action is now closer to linear (it's still not the fastest or anything) so therefore it's faster.  I was working on a theory that it stems from Darnold's basketball career, because you are constantly dribbling a ball on the court, and when you go to pass, you need to follow the bounce of a dribble, which loops your arm.  

Brady is a good example of fast release.  

Philip Rivers is a classic example of a loopy release.

Both are very successful in their own rights.  

1 hour ago, jetsons said:

See Joe Namath & Dan Marino for quick short throwing motions... see Randall Cunningham or Michael Vick for an elongated one... All 4 had guns just their throwing motions were polar opposites.

Yeah, Marino had a laser fast one as well.  

58 minutes ago, jetstream23 said:

But Darnold has had a pretty quick motion, even going back to college.  The Sports Science guys did something on him just before his senior year and his time from decision to release seemed exceptionally short.  He doesn't seem to wind up like a baseball pitcher to me.  I don't know....the ball seems to get out quick from him and I think that's what matters most.

He changed it before the draft.  

This is the video from the Sports Science one, before his final season in college.  Notice the throw at 2:04, and the motion it follows.  You see how it sort of dips a bit before it comes back up when he's pulling back to generate torque?  He reduced it greatly during the draft process.  

56 minutes ago, BornJetsFan1983 said:

This is really awesome break down and read

Thanks.

51 minutes ago, jetsons said:

I agree, I don’t see Sam’s throwing motion as a negative.  When Rivers came out of college their were those calling for him to change his “quirky”  mechanics...  it hasn’t seemed to have been an issue for him at all.

He changed his motion to make it quick so far, so it's not a problem right now.  Rivers was even more quirky, but he changed it as well to an extent.  His arm dipped even more in college, which was a major concern.  He sped it up, but he also had time to sit behind Brees.  

 

51 minutes ago, jetstream23 said:

+1 ...a great analysis!

Darnold is showing a lot of the things that have traditionally been difficult for rookie QBs to master early - reading defenses, poise in the pocket, good decision-making following progressions.  Rookies tend to get rattled, their eyes are on the defenders storming towards them and they try to force throws.  Liking this kid more and more every week.

Thanks.  

He's shown really well so far in the pre-season.  I think the only thing missing from film is a consistent deep pass, or at least the threat of it.  He's shown accuracy on short to intermediate passes, good decision making, elusiveness in the pocket, and he seems to be reading defenses well.  I thought one of the best highlights was the one he threw away, because he was looking at Kearse while escaping the sack, which I thought was very impressive.  

47 minutes ago, jetstream23 said:

Exactly!  The best thing the Jets may have done was not goof with Sam's motion.  He shortened things up and seems a little more compact but fortunately nobody on the Jets has been dumb enough to draft a guy #3 and then change the way he throws a football.

Rivers has always had the kinda 3/4 arm throw.  Not like a sidearm baseball pitcher but it is somewhat similar.  Concerns were that he'd get balls batted down or couldn't hit the whole route tree well....and now the guy is going to end up in the Top 10 of all-time yardage passers.

Yeah, they've shortened it, which has definitely helped in speeding things up.  I think their main worry was the lag because the extra time exposes the ball to defenders for just a bit more, and that could lead to fumbling issues.   

Rivers was weird in college, his motion was just not normal but he could throw the ball great.  He shortened it up though, because I think people were worried how he'd end up if they messed up his delivery.  

[Charlie Brown]

Thank you so much for the video!

My take away is Sam Darnold can be pretty good if he is permitted to develop and the OL is just awful.  Sam was operating under duress practically every play here and that was in stark contrast to what was happening in some of the informative Brady clips.

Poor OL play and no truly dominant skill position players can really retard Sam's growth and I hope that the Jets are mindful of this reality!

[Smashmouth]

But But Todd Bowles says we don't see what he see's ^%$@^$%#@^ 

Maybe we don't , we see more

[nycdan]

1 hour ago, Charlie Brown said:

Thank you so much for the video!

My take away is Sam Darnold can be pretty good if he is permitted to develop and the OL is just awful.  Sam was operating under duress practically every play here and that was in stark contrast to what was happening in some of the informative Brady clips.

Poor OL play and no truly dominant skill position players can really retard Sam's growth and I hope that the Jets are mindful of this reality!

I wonder if its possible that poor OL play might accelerate his growth.  If almost every play is boom-boom and he succeeds at making instant decisions, then as the OL improves over the next few seasons (hopefully!) that should only expand his performance.  Basically "if you survive the worst conditions, you'll thrive in better ones".  One can dream...

[rangerous]

nice pick up block by powell.  one the better aspects of his game.

[BroadwayRay]

Curious about what you think of this analysis from Football Outsiders, which views the hop as a bad thing:

 

Darnold also often hops like a bunny in the pocket, which causes his feet to become misaligned.

...

In this next clip, his hop brings him toward the edge rusher, and then he can't get the throw off and gets sacked.

via Gfycat

[win4ever]

Thank you so much for the video!
My take away is Sam Darnold can be pretty good if he is permitted to develop and the OL is just awful.  Sam was operating under duress practically every play here and that was in stark contrast to what was happening in some of the informative Brady clips.
Poor OL play and no truly dominant skill position players can really retard Sam's growth and I hope that the Jets are mindful of this reality!

The offenive line is just horrible, although the safeties are playing up becau of the conservative play calling.

He shows great touch and accuracy right now, and pocket awareness beyond his years. He's also much better than I anticipated on rolling to his left.

I think the receivers are ok, short of getting a Hopkins type of talent. It's the O-line that worries me.


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[win4ever]

But But Todd Bowles says we don't see what he see's ^%$@^$%#@^ 
Maybe we don't , we see more

I still have no faith whatsoever in Bowles. Aside from Robby Anderson, can't really even think of one person exceeding expectations under him.


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[win4ever]

I wonder if its possible that poor OL play might accelerate his growth.  If almost every play is boom-boom and he succeeds at making instant decisions, then as the OL improves over the next few seasons (hopefully!) that should only expand his performance.  Basically "if you survive the worst conditions, you'll thrive in better ones".  One can dream...

It's possible, but he may also develop bad habits that could be hard to break.

I run a Titans website so I did the breakdown for then vs Buccaneers and old friend Fitzpatrick. He does the same thing there that he did in NY. Makes the read at the line of scrimmage, and then goes to it no matter what. He had Mike Evans twice with missed throws when there were wide open guys elsewhere. I'm hoping Darnold doesn't develop those kinds of habits because a lot of people were happy with the lack of sacks when Fitz was running the show here.

I think they are going to roll him out more to curtail some defensive aggressiveness.


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[win4ever]

nice pick up block by powell.  one the better aspects of his game.

Powell is pretty underrated for his role in the passing game. I remember a few times last year where he picked up key blocks.


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[win4ever]

Curious about what you think of this analysis from Football Outsiders, which views the hop as a bad thing:
 

Darnold also often hops like a bunny in the pocket, which causes his feet to become misaligned.

...

In this next clip, his hop brings him toward the edge rusher, and then he can't get the throw off and gets sacked.

[/url] via Gfycat

I don't a problem with the hop, I think it speeds up his motion and keeps his base I'm the same form.

Without the hop, he would have to reset his feet, which would elongate the whole process. Brady does this all the time, and he's pretty much the standard for quick, efficient, and consistent release.

The bigger issue that the article deals with is his hip rotation. He opens it too wide, which still is a bit of a problem. It doesn't seem to have affected his accuracy much. I want to wait until the season to get the coach's tape to see the end zone angles because the Pre-Season only show the successful ones as a replay, so it clouds the sample size.

I think the next step for him is to learn to close his hips a bit more.


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[Charlie Brown]

22 minutes ago, win4ever said:

 

I don't a problem with the hop, I think it speeds up his motion and keeps his base I'm the same form.

Without the hop, he would have to reset his feet, which would elongate the whole process. Brady does this all the time, and he's pretty much the standard for quick, efficient, and consistent release.

The bigger issue that the article deals with is his hip rotation. He opens it too wide, which still is a bit of a problem. It doesn't seem to have affected his accuracy much. I want to wait until the season to get the coach's tape to see the end zone angles because the Pre-Season only show the successful ones as a replay, so it clouds the sample size.

I think the next step for him is to learn to close his hips a bit more.


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

 

Good Post.

My question to you is do you think that the hip rotation impacts Darnolds power throws down field as it concerns his power?

[Apache 51]

Here is the breakdown...if Darnold can play at NFL speed, get some linemen,  and take a wallop he will be very good eventually.

[win4ever]

On 8/25/2018 at 5:24 PM, Charlie Brown said:

Good Post.

My question to you is do you think that the hip rotation impacts Darnolds power throws down field as it concerns his power?

That's a really good question.  

Theoretically, it should impact it somewhat, but I don't really see it much on tape.  I think more than anything, it affects his trajectory down the field, but he wasn't that bad in college.  Part of the reason why I was high on him, stems from what Dan Orlovsky mentioned in a pre-draft podcast (somewhere, I forgot where).  Darnold has what Dan called, sloppy feet.  He succeeds with sloppy feet because a lot of times you don't have clean pockets to have a clean throwing motion.  Darnold can sling it without needing to set his feet properly, which helps a lot in real games.  

I think it's why Darnold is so good with throws on the run because he can get his rotation without proper feet placement.  However, for longer throws he needs to get better at it and that might be what they are working on now.  I can't really see it because there aren't many angles to show the end zone tape to see how he does, nor has he thrown many balls down the field.  I don't know if they already fixed it, or if they are still working on it.  

It's my complete guess, but I think that might be one of those things they are working on now, at least in the next two weeks.  Need to see more of those throws, say up the sideline, where the defender is behind the receiver, but a safety is coming over the top.  Hip rotation gives him the power to alter the trajectory on that play, instead of dropping it in.  If he puts more air on the ball, the safety can cover more ground, even if the throw will still beat the defender.  I think that's where the hip rotation, and sloppy feet hurt him, but it's really hard to judge without proof.  I'm pretty much extrapolating from college tapes here. 

So far good:

Accuracy

Awareness

Intermediate Throws

Throwing on the Run

Pre-Snap Reads (I'm working on the article now, but I'm not sure if I'll finish by tomorrow.  If you go to No. 2 in this article, you'll see the Tomlinson audible that didn't work out because of one issue.  On the first drive against the Giants, on 3rd and 8, Darnold makes the same audible, but expands to have McBride block.  The play goes for a first down to Sterling I believe.  That's GREAT play recognition, and learning what he did wrong last week, and correcting it.  

Touch

Running Ability

Things We Don't Know/Have Not Seen:

Deep Pass Attempt/Accuracy (Negative)

Gunslinger mentality (Both Positive/Negative)

Carelessness (Positive)

It'll be interesting to see how they go about this, if he is indeed named starter.  Lions have a very good corner in Slay, and a great free safety in Quin.  Their second/third CB duo has talent, but really proven right now.  And SS isn't that great either, so it'll be interesting to see how they attack.  I would assume a lot of single high safety looks, with Slay matched one on one, and Quin slanting to the other side.