Scouting Jimmy Clausen

[Hairless Cat]

Excellent write up Mr Scot-

what about intangibles?

[rayzor]

great stuff once again mr. scot.

Looking at some of the videos there are of clausen, I see a pretty decent long ball on him. I don't think that will be a problem. I also thing that the offense will be adjusting to fit his strengths and capitalize on them. Already he's been meeting with Davidson and putting his .02 on what he thinks will work and not work as far as a game plan and play selection.

One thing i will say about him... there is a lot of criticism about him not winning any "major games" but a lot of that has to go on the team he played for. I'm not making any excuses for him. Notre Dame just flat hasn't been a good team for quite some time and Charlie Weiss, as great as an offensive mind as he is, wasn't the best choice for a college team. Because of it's complexity, his system requires far too much work off the field for a bunch of college kids to keep up with.

However, there is no denying that Weiss is a brilliant mind and arguably was the smartest HC in college. He just wasn't cut out for coaching on that level because it was quite frankly beneath him.

Clausen coming out of high school came with the most hype of anyone and could have played anywhere he wanted. He could have started most places as a freshman. Instead of going some place that had a system that was successful in recent years, winning bowl games and national championships, he chose to go to Notre Dame.

Part of the reason for that may have been just the legendary reputation that school and program have and the stage that it is on. I am convinced, though, that the number one reason for his choosing Notre Dame was Charlie Weiss.

Clausen was a kid groomed from the very beginning to be a pro QB. he was given coach after coach to help take him to the next level. He was given more than most people aspiring to become a professional athlete to help prepare himself for it. Sure, a lot of it probably has to do with his family being able to afford it, but it doesn't matter how he got the tutelage, it's that he got it.

I am going to say right now that his eyes weren't on winning the national championship or the Heisman, but on trying to become ready for the NFL and being the best QB possible. He chose to have one of the most brilliant offensive minds in all of football, esp. the NFL, teach and mentor him.

More than that, he was sought out by Weiss. many people will point at Brady Quinn and say, "Here's a guy that had Weiss as his coach and you see what happened to him. That situation is overrated." Here's the deal with that, though, Quinn was already there when Weiss showed up. Would he have chosen Quinn to be his QB? Who knows? The point is, Weiss chose Clausen and Clausen chose Weiss because they both knew that Weiss could make Clausen one of the best QBs in the game.

It was a smart move on behalf of both of them and a smart move by the Panthers to go after him. It was an even smarter move, in my opinion, to get him started leading the team as soon as he is. The more time he puts in with this team under center, the better off they will be in the long haul. This year may not have th success we would like, but this is just the beginning.

[stankowalski]

Good post. And I agree that we don't really have to worry about Clausen being "ruined" by playing too early...I've said as much in a previous post. I don't think he can be intimidated. He's going to take some lumps this year, but I think he'll bounce back with more determination.

[monstercat]

I don't even care about Jimmy's ability to throw the long ball right now. In my mind, this team has needed a much more effecient short to medium range passing game for years. Even if you want to be a running offense, there is nothing wrong with using short passes to set up the run. If you put a couple of good drives together that way, you can pick and choose when you want to take your shots downfield. And Jimmy's arm is good enough to get it there if he needs to.

[Mr. Scot]

how well do you think he will perform against Cinci? I'm not expecting a great game with Cinci having a good DC and two of the best corners in the league, wouldn't mind the win though.

Zimmer simplified his defense against the Ravens, and the players were happy about it (same as the Panthers did a while back) but I have to beleive that with a rookie starting, he'll throw some multiple looks out there to confuse him.

Which reminds me, Fox is usually one of those guys who reveals nothing until the last moment to keep other team's guessing. In this case though, he let the cat right out of the bag at the start of the week :confused:

[Mr. Scot]

when is that shitty avatar coming down, it makes me want to hurt myself

I can remove it when the Panthers win.

Will u marry me Mr. Scott?

Sorry. My girlfriend is prettier than you.

[rayzor]

I don't even care about Jimmy's ability to throw the long ball right now. In my mind, this team has needed a much more effecient short to medium range passing game for years. Even if you want to be a running offense, there is nothing wrong with using short passes to set up the run. If you put a couple of good drives together that way, you can pick and choose when you want to take your shots downfield. And Jimmy's arm is good enough to get it there if he needs to.

agreed. give me a really smart, accurate, and confident QB without a big arm over a gunslinger any day.

who cares if it isn't the kind of system that we have run in the past. we got one of those guys now and he's going to be around for a long time, it's time to build the system around him. it won't take much, imo.

[Mr. Scot]

Clausen has a decent longball for a college quarterback. I'm not convinced it's where it needs to be at the pro level, at least not yet.

His general profile is better suited to a west coast type attack, but we don't run that. Nor do we have the right type of receivers to make it work consistently.

That's not saying we have no chance, mind you. But the gameplan will definitely need to be a good one.

[rayzor]

Zimmer simplified his defense against the Ravens, and the players were happy about it (same as the Panthers did a while back) but I have to beleive that with a rookie starting, he'll throw some multiple looks out there to confuse him.

Which reminds me, Fox is usually one of those guys who reveals nothing until the last moment to keep other team's guessing. In this case though, he let the cat right out of the bag at the start of the week :confused:

if anyone is capable of being thrown into the fire right away, it's going to be clausen.

anyway, the benefit of keeping it quiet until the last moment doesn't really have much benefit beyond the first week. better to just get it all out of the way. you can get on with business without all the sneaking around. it's better for all involved to just get it over and done with so you can get on with getting ready.

i'm thinking it also had a lot to do with trying to get people more interested in coming to the game as well and get some buzz bout the team.

also, with all the QB changes that have taken place this week, you be the first team to get it officially done so it doesn't seem like you are jumping on the "change your QB" bandwagon.

[Coitus]

Teams rarely throw a pass more than 30 yards,and our team doesn't have a good enough line for a QB to do it,so Jimmy Dean will be OK!

[rayzor]

Clausen has a decent longball for a college quarterback. I'm not convinced it's where it needs to be at the pro level, at least not yet.

His general profile is better suited to a west coast type attack, but we don't run that. Nor do we have the right type of receivers to make it work consistently.

That's not saying we have no chance, mind you. But the gameplan will definitely need to be a good one.

we could run a modified WCO with little problem.

[monstercat]

Clausen has a decent longball for a college quarterback. I'm not convinced it's where it needs to be at the pro level, at least not yet.

His general profile is better suited to a west coast type attack, but we don't run that. Nor do we have the right type of receivers to make it work consistently.

That's not saying we have no chance, mind you. But the gameplan will definitely need to be a good one.

Davidson's offense is supposed to be the same one that the Patriots used to win those Superbowls though. They dinked and dunked people to death with that offense, and still do.

We may not have a Wes Welker, but we do have Steve Smith and some RB's that can get yards after the catch, if the ball is on time and on target. Kevin Faulk thrived as a receiver in this offense, and we could use just about any of our RB's the same way.

[Mr. Scot]

we could run a modified WCO with little problem.

Maybe, but to really make it work you need receivers capable of lots of YAC.

Outside of Smith (and Edwards, in theory) do we really have that?

[Coitus]

Davidson's offense is supposed to be the same one that the Patriots used to win those Superbowls though. They dinked and dunked people to death with that offense, and still do.

We may not have a Wes Welker, but we do have Steve Smith and some RB's that can get yards after the catch, if the ball is on time and on target. Kevin Faulk thrived as a receiver in this offense, and we could use just about any of our RB's the same way.

True,and they ran screens almost every 4 to 5 downs.