Scouting Jimmy Clausen

[chbright]

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.

we have a better wr to play the welker role in smitty. thing is who the hell would be the big time target on the other side? gettis, lafell, edwards, dj (lolz). edwards is the guy tapped to get the slot role, but idk if thats this year. if its a rebuild and the staff stayed (unlikely at this point imo), i could see going and getting that guy next year (we had no shot at one this year). aj green, jonathan baldwin, michael floyd, julio jones are all #1 calibre wrs. goodson would be the perfect andy reid back in a west coast system or even in the pats system.

[Miaoww]

watching the saints the other night, it seemed at least half of their pass attempts were screen passes(no wonder Brees' completion percentage was so high last year). They can move the ball up and down the field like that then get that big play to Henderson or Meachem down the field. I think we should adjust to those short plays, I just havent seen the deep accuracy from Jimmy yet so those short passes could set him up with confidence early on.

It's cos the Saints' (and the Patriots') play calling is super smart. Either you sit back in zone and let Brees/Brady pick you apart, or you send blitzers to hurry them and they hit you with screen after screen.

It's called playing to your strengths. When the best player on your football team is your QB, you use him.

[Woodie]

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.

I disagree with this. I actually think our receivers are actually ideally suited to the WCO. As you have said, it's predicated upon YAC, and as we all know, Smitty is one of the best in the league at that. And with Gettis's size/speed/quickness combo, I think he is perfect for that offense. And while LaFell may not be super fast, he does have very good size and is much quicker than he gets credit for. So, again, I think he would fit nicely in a WCO.

Then you've got the RB's, all of them would thrive in a WCO, particularly Goodson. Rosario and Barnidge would also likely do well in a WCO. And when Edwards eventually completes the transition, we could have a very dangerous offense.

[SOJA]

I just cried a little

[ClawOn]

Great article. Only thing I'd add is Instincts. Some QBs "feel" the heat coming at their blind side and adjust or scramble prior to being drilled. In limited action Clausen rates highly at this. The best I've seen in this category is Peyton Manning. Matt Moore unfortunately is near the bottom.

[pantherfan81]

Things are looking up. :thumbsup:

[Liminy]

I'm pretty excited to see Jimmay play this Sunday. I will have to stream the game so hopefully I can find a good one somewhere. This could be the start of something great and I hope that Jimmy realizes this and keeps his cool and shows the other teams 47 picks ahead of us what they missed out on.

[bleys]

Mike Mayock on NFL's Playbook says Clausen has a bigger arm than Sanchez and that he grew up the last year of his college career..

quite a few positive things he had to say...

[HPPantherzfan]

I'm really not sure where "dunk down Clausen" come from because the kids arm strength is not and should not be in question! He can sling the ball with the best of em if need be...60+ yards in the air is a non issue...what sets him apart is the incredible accuracy he has with his short to medium passes...and you don't have to worry about him "floating" the ball either.

[Mr. Scot]

A little more, and responses to a few folks...

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Some clarification is needed about Clausen throwing long. The problem isn't arm strength. It's not that he can't get the ball downfield. He can. It's just that his long throws don't tend to be as good as his shorter ones.

I remember reading in one report that he went the better part of two seasons without completing a single pass to the deep right (he threw some, they just didn't get there). And again, since a lot of his passes travel on a low arc as opposed to a high arch, there's more danger of knockdowns and/or picks.

Can that be fixed? Probably. By this Sunday? Eeeehhhh... :sosp:

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On the issue of his football smarts, I've heard one analyst say you just about have to be PhD smart to be a Weis quarterback. Clausen spent his entire college career learning from Weis, and was considered a star pupil. While that doesn't guarantee that every decision he makes will be the right one, it sure helps.

Regardless of his "smartest kid in class" status though, he'll still have to adjust to the speed of the pro game, same as any other rookie. You could say "but he had preseason" and you'd be right, except that the guys he was facing in preseason aren't the same guys he'll be facing now.

He's got the right foundation, but he'll make mistakes. Happily, he's shown the capacity to learn from those mistakes as long as he doesn't let them frustrate him (a key point to watch).

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Another key thing to remember is that confidence can be a double-edged sword. You go in confident, say "I'm in charge" and back that swagger up with solid play, teammates say "You're the man". Go in overconfident, screw up a few times, get ticked off or - worst of all - blame somebody else for mistakes or act like some cocky little twerp, and your teammates say "Who do you think you are?"

The inbetween - and probably most likely - scenario would be Clausen going in confident, doing his best, making some good plays but also making some mistakes, following up those mistakes with "sorry guys, that's on me" and earning at least the respect of his teammates.

Clausen doesn't have to be "that good" this Sunday. All he needs to do is show signs that he will be "that good" in time. Accomplish that, and your teammates say "We're with you. You're not there yet, but we'll help you get there and we'll go along for the ride."

That's my hope for this weekend. Anything more than that will be gravy.

...

[Razzy]

Your bird is a Notre Dame fan?

[Mr. Scot]

Your bird is a Notre Dame fan?

You mean "bird" in the British sense (i.e. girlfriend) or my actual bird(s)?

The answer to the first is yes. For the second, I don;t think they have a college team, but they seem partial to the Eagles as far as pro teams.

(it's the bird mascot, and the color scheme)

[Mr. Scot]

Referring to the beginning of this well-thought-out post, I would like to put one thing in perspective for all Panther fans who screamed when we did not take a WR in the second round:

There were only 2 WRs drafted between pick #48 and #78, when we selected LaFell. They were Golden Tate at #60 and USC WR Damien Williams at #77, one pick before Lafell.

Assuming that USC WRs have proven to be risky picks and feeling confident that we are not drinking from that well any time soon, Would you rather have Golden Tate or Jimmy Clausen?

Is Golden Tate an upgrade over LaFell? If so, is the difference worth passing on the "most NFL ready QB" in the draft?

I still hear, "We needed a WR--why the hell didn't we draft one in the second?" Well, every one of the players we didn't pick except 2 were on the board in the third.

I would have taken Eric Decker, but the argument about the second round is a mute point.

I was hoping for Decker too.

well, thats where the modified comes in. we have to use the RBs, barnidge, and rosario a whole lot but i think between them that we have enough to make it work.

gettis might be able to fit as well as the WR across form smith. thats a stretch, though. i think he's got the speed/acceleration to pull it off, though. if lafell could hold on to the ball, he wouldn't be a bad option either.

We haven't gotten as much production early on from the current TEs as in prior years - especially King - but I'm hoping that changes. Solid TE play could do a lot to help Clausen, and the offense in general, really.

You could debate whether it's due to Moore or the TEs themselves, but I'm not sure it matters at this point.

[Mr. Scot]

Videos of Clausen's pro day workout (found these watching the vids linked in other threads).