What Exactly Caused Bryces Turnaround?

[rayzor]

Last year was the worst possible situation a rookie QB could be in on every level and I think it messed him up.

This year coming in, he put everything on himself but he was still fugged up from last year. He wasn't ready last year. He wasn't ready coming into this year.

He needed to step back from it and watch a vet do it for a while. He needed an educated and mentored reboot for his brain and I think he got it.

All this stuff was in him, he just had to have his brain reset to get him ready for the next level.

[mav1234]

11 minutes ago, UNCrules2187 said:

Obviously this is small sample size and I still think Stroud should've been the pick, but pretty remarkable how similarly the two have been performing since Bryce was inserted back as the starting QB. Here are their combined stats over the past 6 weeks (starting with Bryce's first start at Denver):

Young: 102/169 (60.3%), 1,082 yards (6.4 YPA), 6 TDs, 3 INTs, 15 carries, 82 yards (5.5 YPC), 1 rush TD, 83.5 QB rating (taken 7 sacks)
Stroud: 120/201 (59.7%), 1,454 yards (7.2 YPA), 5 TDs, 4 INTs, 21 carries, 105 yards (5.0 YPC), 81.2 QB rating (taken 21 sacks)
 

Worth noting the TD% and INT% for both:

BY is at a ~3.6% TD per pass, ~1.8% INT per pass

Stroud is at ~2.5% TD per pass, ~2% INT per pass

This is arguably Stroud's worst period of his career tho and he looks about as good as BY.  We've seen a lot of higher highs from Stroud. Hopefully we do from BY soon, too

[rayzor]

2 minutes ago, d-dave said:

It's perspective.  When you step away from a complex problem for a bit, then you can come back and attack it.  It's how I deal with things that are hard at work.  I'll do something else, watch someone else do it, get mad at them for being dumb, and then do it the way I want to get the results I want.  

At a certain point, your skills and training take over.  The click that people have.  In my photography journey, I started off bad.  Really bad.  I had no idea what I was doing.  Then as i learned more about light, things got better.  But then it clicked at the last event I shot, and I got some incredible photos because my brain and body learned to work together along with my intuition.

I've been really thrilled with Bryce the past few weeks.  I think he's turning that corner.  It doesn't mean he's going to destroy the Eagles, but even if the Eagle end up turning us into a speedbump, there will still be solid growth from that game.

If nothing else, he's shown he' the guy for the now and near future.  We should definitely know if he's worth it after next year.

Well put. I do the same thing and I teach my daughters the same thing.....when something seems too difficult, don't feel like it has to be understood and completed right away. Step back, breathe, and view it from a little distance and you'll see it from a new perspective that will help it all click for you.

[MHS831]

10 minutes ago, Hoenheim said:

I've been thinking to myself how this happened. I'm a known "Bryce hater" but even I can admit he's been performing well since he's came back from his benching.

But this is more about why or how it came to be. It seemingly happened in a fairly short amount of time. What exactly could he have learned in a few weeks he didn't learn in over 1 years worth of time in the NFL? 

Does that mean his earlier performances were just some sort of mental block? I know we had problems last year. But maybe the early games this year he was mentally shell shocked and that's what caused him to keep performing badly early on? 

It's just such a sudden in season change of dramatic increase in ability that you typically wouldn't see unless a longer time period passed. Or at least an off season.

Did Canales tell him something that sparked something in his psyche? Or did Bryce just realize when he was benched that nothing is promised and that attitude check made him lock in more and perform better? 

Curious what your theories are. And whether you think he can sustain it. 

Kinda funny how CJ balled last year and AR Bryce and Levis were down bad. Now seemingly they flipped a bit. And also with the Bears going down in flames recently. I see alot of fans up and arms saying see CJ sucks now!! I told you so !! Lol 

Almost the tortoise and the hare.  Wax on, Wax off.  Did the humility of getting benched work?  I think the light came on and they have limited him to first read, check down.  Instead of having him progress through two or more reads.  I think he learned to adjust the offense to protect him by motioning TEs or moving RBs.  He is getting to the LOS sooner--able to read the defenses and anticipate the blitz--that is the area where he has improved the most--before he was going into the fetal position when he saw a blitz.  Now he is navigating the pocket--his movements remind me of Brees or Wilson--and I did not see that before.

 

 

[Donald LaFell]

I’m also curious because I still can’t really believe in him yet. I don’t know how he’s suddenly able to rip it over the middle and how he isn’t making the same terrible throws. 
 

I’m not confident at all him, but if he keeps playing like this he’s probably good enough to lead the team next year. You can focus on fixing the run defense and maybe that will finally settle the Bryce debate. 

[Green-Ghost]

1 hour ago, Jon Snow said:

He started to believe in himself again. For all the talk about an Allstar coaching staff nothing they did showed they believed in him.

The benching for that hail mary broke him last year. Frank didn't want him and wasn't going to do anything to help improve his macanics until year 2. It was a bad situation all around. 

Now he seems to say f*ck it, I'm going to do this on my own if I have to. I hope he can pull it off.

I totally agree with this.  My thought is that there were too many expectations that were placed on him. He was straight out of college. I think as a freshman quarterback, he was expected to start playing like Patrick Mahomes.  My analogy is that he was thrown into the deep end of the swimming pool and expected to swim to shore.

after he was benched, he had the opportunity to learn from a veteran quarterback.  He was no longer under pressure to perform.  He had the opportunity to learn at his pace.  
 

When Bryce got the second opportunity to play, he started to play as an NFL quarterback. (Not a college trained quarterback. ).  I think he also gained enough confidence.

[trucpfan]

It seemed like Bryce being tough as a mutha….. last year caught up with him. He took a million hits was pressured every other play last year and it seemed like he was in a rush earlier this season to get the ball out his hand. His confidence was low as it gets, he wasn’t comfortable in the pocket at all and every target he’s had so far has been subpar or below outside of AT. Mingo in Dallas looks like a 7th rd WR, TMJ out the league Ian T being your top TE (yuck) I like D Johnson but he’s not that dude he’s talented can make things happen but being a team player and good teammate matters a lot. Combine those factors and I can see why Bryce struggled earlier. His current group of WRs are trying to make plays for him and the team doesn’t pout or complain if they don’t get the ball in game that helps. His confidence is through the roof he saw Andy standing in the pocket comfortable making plays and realized I can do that trust my line they’re a top 5-7 pass blocking unit trust them.Now he sees he can make plays on this level with decent blocking and a few play makers he’s looked like his normal self. A winner who’s won on all levels I’m not saying he’s Mahomes or anything close it’s just he can play ball at this level but he needs his situation to be set up way better then last year when he had TMJ and DJ Chark being his weak azz to options that’s not going to work for any young QB. 
I’d say it’s a combination of things obviously coaching being one with the O-line and the new hungry play makers we’ve acquired roll that up and you have what we’ve seen lately a young QB learning his way around the NFL and looking good doing it.

[Icege]

He learned that the OL he has this season isn't going to give up an historic amount of sacks and that his weapons can make plays for him.

He's also got his eyes downfield instead of staring at the rush, so the deep shots he was known for in college (that some fans swore he wasn't physically capable of taking) are coming more often.

He also just outright looks to be having fun playing football again.

[emhoward]

I don't know what caused the turnaround but it is fascinating. 

I'll tell you what though, if his turnaround is as legit as we all hope, he's going to be the poster boy for every franchise in the next ten years who drafts a QB who struggles early on. "Just give him some time, remember what happened with Bryce." 

I think his example will create a patience in fans and front offices that hasn't been there recently. 

There had already been a slight shift in terms of how media and fans think of young QB's coming into the league. How the Bust label is written on them prematurely, and how organizational competence has a lot more to do with the Busts and successes than we realize. We see what Mayfield is doing and then look at the current Browns. We see what Darnold is doing and look at the current Jets. Neither one are surefire Franchise guys necessarily, but they are proof that organizational competence + time often turn what one deems to be a bust into QB's you can win with. 

 

 

[Shotgun]

[Gapanthersfan]

Andy Dalton. The more I think about it. Dalton. 

Our greats have spoke of how they wouldn’t have turned out the way they did without the mentoring they received. For Luke it was 58 and 88. For 89 it was Proehl and Mushin. 

Look at our line this year. Mentoring. 

Dalton may have a future as a QB coach. Here’s what you do when you see X and Y. You think it’s Z but it’s actually R. This is where you go and what you do. Let me walk you through the right way to study film. 

All of these things will inspire confidence. I’m sure guys in the locker room talk to him a bit different now that they see him dropping dimes in clutch time. That has to feel good. I think dude realizes maybe he does belong in the NFL. 

[*FreeFua*]

That skank he was with finally leached onto someone else and Bryce got back to focusing on football

[bythenbrs]

55 minutes ago, HaricotVert said:

He was waiting for a critical mass of huddle posters to turn on him before he got serious about playing the position.

Exactly the type of comment one would expect from a green bean…

[broncoitis]

When he was drafted the comparison was Drew Brees. Brees wasn't "Drew Brees" his rookie season. Time heals all wounds.