kungfoodude

Well....there is one common denominator in this equation......

Darnold is the second biggest part of the problem, IMO. 1. OL 2. Darnold 3. Brady If we fix any of the three things we will only get so much better, IMO. The OL can be improved, although it will take time. Brady MAY be able to improve but it also may be years after he is gone from here. Darnold's improvement chances are quite slim.

There isn't a worse or better in Time To Throw. That stat may indicate that you have excellent protection or it may be that your offense doesn't feature as many quick throws or it may be that you are a mobile QB and scramble to extend plays. The thing that makes it stand out is that we have a quick read offense under Brady and Teddy was near the top of the list in Time to Throw(one of the quickest). So, it makes me wonder why Darnold isn't getting rid of the ball more quickly. He is either struggling to make reads or he is holding on to the ball looking for bigger plays....or some combination of those two things. We aren't doing things dramatically different on offense than last season.

Yeah but the solution to having bad lines is not to hold on to the ball longer.

There is a reason why he has such poor clean pocket statistics. The longer he has, the worse his decision making is. Some of it is his gunslinger instinct to try and force a play but some of it is that he just isn't processing what he is seeing quickly or well enough. I suspect that's why he actually tends to do better the more quick and decisive that he is(under pressure, two minute, etc). He isn't overthinking, he is just reacting. But, I just don't think there is much we can do about it anymore. He just is who he is.

Well did he have those issues with drops in NY too? Because those stats look remarkably similar.

For ease, I am limiting this to the top three WR's by snap count. NFL Next Gen Stats DJ Moore Cushion - 4.8 yds (2020: 6.0 yds) Separation - 2.6 yds (2020: 2.5 yds) Average Targeted Air Yards: 11.2 yds (2020: 13.4 yds) Catch%: 63.49 (2020: 55.93) Average YAC Above Expectation: 0.9 yds (2020: 1.8 yds) Robby Anderson Cushion - 6.4 yds (2020: 6.4 yds) Separation - 2.4 yds (2020: 2.9 yds) Average Targeted Air Yards: 13.7 yds (2020: 9.6 yds) Catch%: 37.5 (2020: 69.85%) Average YAC Above Expectation: -0.2 yds (2020: 0.7) Terrace Marshall Cushion - 6.7 yds (2020 Curtis Samuel: 6.8 yds) Separation - 3.4 yds (2020 Curtis Samuel: 3.5 yds) Average Targeted Air Yards: 6.1 yds (2020 Curtis Samuel: 7.1 yds) Catch%: 63.64 (2020 Curtis Samuel: 79.38%) Average YAC Above Expectation: -0.7 yds (2020 Curtis Samuel: -0.2 yds) Football Outsiders DJ Moore DVOA: -2.8% (2020: 7.9%) Robby Anderson DVOA: -44.6% (2020: -10.9%) Terrace Marshall DVOA: -35.1% (2020 Curtis Samuel: 0.1%)

The defensive struggles in the second half aren't nearly as stark as the offensive struggles. But, that 3rd quarter situation definitely falls squarely on coaching. Our staff as a whole does not adjust well at the half. I very much disagree on the percentage of the blame taken by the defense. Quite honestly, that defense is the only reason we are probably not 0-6.

He is good at evading pressure but I think it goes back to his difficulties processing and also his trying to extend plays rather than make a decision. In comparision: 2020: 2.85 seconds 2019: 2.92 seconds 2018: 2.91 seconds That's sort of why I keep alluding to his processing difficulties. That spans multiple offenses(three, in fact) but still the same results.

Yeah but he hasn't been playing well from the bench. We have to trade our guys that can't make an impact from the sidelines or on IR. That's why we have to jettison Horn, CMC, etc. We need more impactful players that can't play for us. Duh.

I actually think the defense is doing a great job. The biggest thing we can do to improve there is get healthy(missing a lot of key contributors) and for the offense to stop shitting the bed. Not many defenses are going to be successful when the offense is turning the ball over or getting dominated in TOP.

Darnold is quite slow at getting rid of the ball, actually. He is rated 24th in the NFL at 2.9 seconds Time To Throw.

FWIW, here are the expected completion stats from Darnold's career(Source: https://nextgenstats.nfl.com/stats/passing#yards) 2021: -3.7% (31st in the NFL) 2020: -2.6% (34th in the NFL) 2019: 0.3% (15th in the NFL) 2018: -2.7% (32nd in the NFL) So, as many issues as he has had with drops, he is also not making the throws he should be making. It's a problem that he has always had.

Wouldn't matter since he is currently 24th in Time to Throw. He'd just hold on to it until he got sacked or made a bad decision.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32176833/2021-nfl-pass-rushing-run-stopping-blocking-leaderboard-win-rate-rankings Team Pass Rush Win Rate 1. Carolina Panthers, 53% Team Run Stop Win Rate 22. Carolina Panthers, 30% Team Pass Block Win Rate 30. Carolina Panthers, 48% Team Run Block Win Rate 28. Carolina Panthers, 67% https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/nfl/basic-defensive-line Run Blocking Adjusted Line Yards: 3.93 (9th) Power Success: 62% (12th) Stuffed: 18% (13th) 2nd Level Yards: 1.31 (24th) Open Field Yards: 1.08 (30th) Pass Protection Sacks: 16 (7th) Adjusted Sack Rate: 8.3% (4th) https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/nfl/basic-offensive-line Run Blocking Adjusted Line Yards: 4.03 (23rd) Power Success: 58% (22nd) Stuffed: 20% (30th) 2nd Level Yards: 1.23 (16th) Open Field Yards: 0.38 (23rd) Pass Protection Sacks: 18 (28th) Adjusted Sack Rate: 7.7% (23rd)

I don't doubt that but pitting either of their DL units against us is likely to result in some record offensive performances for our team. Remember, all these scrubs we are toting have a lot of college all-conference, all-american accolades too with a lot more NFL experience under their belt. It's always a fun/funny thing to say that *insert elite college team* could beat *insert terrible NFL team* but it is extremely unlikely that would ever happen, no matter how good the college team is or how bad the NFL team is.

Tyrod Taylor 2021(2 games) QBR: 80.8(would be 1st in the NFL if he qualified) QB Rating: 122.9(would be 2nd in the NFL if he qualified) DVOA: 29.2%(would be 3rd in the NFL if he qualified) Sam Darnold 2021(6 games) QBR: 47.1(23rd in the NFL) QB Rating: 79.7(28th in the NFL) DVOA: -24.9%(29th in the NFL)

Yeah, I mean you could fill an entire thread with the list of OL that we didn't take for the past 4-5 seasons or more. It's precisely why we are in the current predicament.

Plus the market is going up for quality OL. Looks like there is a relatively thin pool of quality free agents this upcoming offseason and mostly older players. So, there are gonna be some tough decisions.

Yeah, I do have concern about the morale. I didn't really have that last year because we kept fighting back in games. If we start seeing the team lay down, then I will know we are done.

Well, we are gonna see because CMC is on the sidelines for a while now. No safety valve to work with. I sincerely hope they are serious about getting back to basics and establishing the run. We definitely are going to struggle putting the team on Darnold's back for him to carry.

I mean, there are other teams doing an even worse job protecting their QB's. Some are getting worse results and some are getting better results. This isn't some sort of uniquely bad scenario we have.

I saw it afterwards. It is pretty funny, I must admit.

We have seen two distinctly different versions of the 2021 Panthers. I really have no idea which one to expect on Sunday.

This is a bit hyperbolic. Losing would suck but I don't think this is the moment the wheels necessarily come off nor should we start firing/hiring/etc.