AU-panther

He was outrunning the pass? Otherwise known as the ball being under thrown Nobody is calling it a duck, if the defender has good coverage it probably would have been an incompletion because Robby had to slow up for it. On the flip side if the defender had good coverage Sam might have led him more but we will never know.

Robby slowed down, it was pretty obvious. Robby was wide open, so there is a chance Sam decided to err on the side of caution. Nobody is saying it was a bad play, I just think there are a fair number of QBs in the league that can make that same play. For the heck of it let’s say it was a “rare” play, what about the other 11 passes over 10 yards? How many other QBs would only complete 4 of them? How rare is that? You have to evaluate a QB on the totality of their work.

Wrong. I would love for Sam to succeed. I've said from the start that he definitely has the tools to be successful. I've also said that expecting a player to become something he hasn't shown to be in recent history is a gamble that you usually end up losing, look at Kalil and Teddy. I would love for Sam to be the exception, and when deciding if he can truly be a franchise QB you have to look past the box score, I'm not sure why that is so hard for people to understand. Elite QBs make your team better than most other QBs, today didn't really tell us that. Most of what he did well today most other QBs in the league could do. He made a few nice throws, he also missed a few throws. The game plan was defientaly designed to make life easy for him. What happens when we play a good team and we need to score 28? Can he consistently convert enough third downs to make that happen? He didn't today. He converted 3/11 when asked to pass on third down. Can he push the ball down the field? He really didn't today, he was 3-12 past 10 yards, everyone is so caught up on the one deep pass to Robby they don't realize that.

or some fans can evaluate what they see and just not look at stat lines.

everyone has some dropped and bad routes. You have to ask yourself how he played relative to other players. Did he do stuff today better than average QBs would have done? Would "élite" QBs have done better? Tyrod Taylor 6/12 on 10+ yards Tyrod Taylor Week 1 Passing Chart | NFL Next Gen Stats I'm not saying Sam played terrible, my point is you have to look past the stat line when evaluating a QB, and yes, this year is a basically a $30+ million dollar a year audition for Sam. The team is trying to find a franchise QB, personally I'm not convinced this week tells us much.

So he was 4/12 on passes 10 yards downfield or more? Not sure I'm ready to give him $30m a year yet.

how many of them resulted in 1st downs? was he throwing short of the sticks?

Tell me his completions on third down? Then tell us his conversions on third down. If you call enough easy passes any QB can have a high completion percentage.

and that is a very valid point, its very possible he played it safe, we've all seen QBs overthrow that pass also, but based on what what did happen I wouldn't say it was a rare throw. His best throw of the game might have been the sideline pass to Moore in the 2nd quarter. Tight coverage and he put it the one spot that gave his WR a chance to make a play.

and that is my point, those are the types of throws that good QBs make more often than bad QBs. No QB makes them all of the time and no QB in the league misses them all of the time. The good QBs do it a higher percentage of the time than the bad QBs do. Its only one game so not fair to say which side he is on yet, but by the end of the season that is what we have to look at. Throwing a bunch of each check downs to CMC doesn't mean you are a good QB. Just quickly looking at game logs. 11 third downs where we attempted a pass. 6/11 completion percentage but only 3/11 on conversions. Several throws short of the sticks. Are we looking for a QB that we can win with if everything else goes good or a QB that can carry a team? Teddy could have done what was done today.

rare? Anderson was wide open, and had to slow up. If it would have been tight coverage it probably would have been an incompletion. A rare throw is when your WR is covered but the QB puts it in the one little spot where the WR can catch it. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice completion, but not what I would consider a big time throw.

I didn't say I had a problem with his play. I just said that what we saw today wasn't really that impressive. He did what was asked which wasn't much. By the end of the season the team is going to have to decide whether Sam is a franchise QB or not, today didn't tell us much.

A lot of QBs in the league can make the easy throws. When you are trying to figure out if he is going to be your franchise QB after this season its the harder throws that separate the good QBs from the average. How many throws today did he actually make that other average NFL QBs wouldn't have made? I'm not saying he played bad, I'm just not convinced todays game tells you much. They clearly protected him with play calling.

Stat line looked good, but seemed to be a lot of dinking and dunking. 11 targets to RBs TD to Robby was nice, but Robby was wide open. Ball looked a bit underthrown. It was the Jets so we didn't have to do much to win. Can he consistently make high level throws if needed against better teams? Seems like we traded for a guy to play just like the guy we had before. As the season progresses I would think they will ask more of him. Pretty obvious they are protecting him.

If the defense is playing that well you just go for it. Either way you have three choices there, FG, punt, or go for it. I would guess we easily made the worst one statistically.

22 starters, 3 ST specialist, 8 captains? is it really a big deal when a third of the players are captains?

Elflein was the same player last year, so whatever they are seeing on tape now is the same as what they saw on tape when they signed him.

That doesn't tell you anything about how they compare. Maybe Elflein should be a back up or unemployed.

Elflein is better than Reed and Schofield? Based on what exactly? Draft position? Name recognition? What about PFF scores? If you don’t buy into PFf did you actually watch every play of all 3 last year?

This is exactly who everybody thought he was last year. I keep saying, It but expecting a player to become something he hasn’t been in recent history is a losing proposition. Part of me wants to believe his background at center was part of the allure, maybe he could possible be the game day back up or possible move into a starting role next year, but who knows.

We could have used that pick for Minshew and used the 2nd, 4th, and 6th for OL.

I didn't say anything about what our offense is going to do this season, I was commenting on how Sam played and how stat lines can be deceiving. Swing passes to the RB behind the LOS aren't really that impressive, Teddy could do that. Most of the QBs in the league can do that. Most QBs can have a decent stat line based on play calling. The elite QBs are the ones that can be successful when asked to do more. Do you want to pay $30m a year for a guy that can just do the underneath stuff? I'm not hating on Sam, my only point is they didn't ask him to do much this game, we will get a better idea of how good he is when he is asked to do more. I'm trying to remember the 4 plays over 9 yards; 1st series, the one he missed to wide open Marshal over the middle, should have been touchdown. No QB hits that 100% of the time but the good ones complete it more than the bad ones. We don't know which category Sam is in yet. Mid range crosser to Robby I think, threw behind him, could have been a pick. 4th down throw 1st series, could have been a pick. 4th down so if it would have been a pick not a big deal. TD throw to Robby. Very good pass.

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.

4 man front teams will often keep 9 Dlineman, 5 DEs and 4 DTs

We are going for steady and consistent so we trade for one of the most inaccurate, turnover prone QBs in the league? All kidding aside, will be interesting year to see if the staff can turn him into something he hasn’t proven to be. Hopefully they can.