Rookie Report Vs Browns

[Urrymonster]

From here on I thought I would give a little breakdown for our rooks considering they are the whole point of this season now. The better they start doing the less FA and replacement draft picks will need to be brought in.

Jimmy Clausen

Passes by direction - These are where the passes were aimed at

Outside numbers to the left

<0 yards - 3/3 (100%) for 17 yards, 90.3 QB rating

0-9 yards - 3/4 (75%) for 59 yards, 116.7 QB rating

10-19 yards - None

20+ yards - 1/1 (100%) for 28 yards, 118.8 QB rating

Middle of field

<0 yards - 3/4 (75%) for 26 yards, 91.7

0-9 yards - 3/5 (60%) for 37 yards, 82.9 QB rating

10-19 yards - 1/1 (100%) for 15 yards, 118.8 QB rating

20+ yards - None

Outside numbers to the right

<0 yards - 1/1 (100%) for -4 yards, 79.2 QB rating

0-9 yards – 1/1 (100%) for 17 yards, 118.8 QB rating

10-19 yards - 0/3 (0%) for 0 yards, 0 QB rating, 1 Int

20+ yards - None

This gave Pickles the following:

16/23 for 195 yards, 1 Interception and a 77.3 QB rating

He threw away 3 balls, spiked once, had one ball dropped and was hit once as he threw giving him a revised stat line of:

16/28 for 195 yards, 1 Int and a 63.8 QB rating

Passing under pressure - Including plays pulled back for penalties Jimmy had the following:

No pressure – 17 drop backs, 14/17 (82.4%), 167 yards (9.8 ypa), 107.6 QB rating

Under pressure – 14 drop backs, 2/11 (18.2%), 28 yards (2.5 ypa), 1 Int, 3 Sck, 1.7 QB rating

Blitzed – 11 drop backs, 3/9 (33.3%), 21 yards (2.3 ypc), 2 Sck, 42.4 QB rating

Misc - 1 penalty

______________________

Brandon LaFell

40 snaps (out of 61 snaps) – 24 running routes, 16 run blocking

Targets & Receptions - 2/3 (66.7%), 37 yards (18.5 ypr), 7 YAC (3.5 ypr), 28 yards longest

Covered by - 1/1 and 28 yards (1YAC) against Sheldon Brown, 2/1 and 18 yards (6 YAC) against Mike Adams

______________________

David Gettis

35 snaps (out of 61 snaps) – 21 running routes, 14 run blocking

Targets & Receptions - None

Misc – 1 penalty against

Kick Return - 5 for 81 yards, 16.4 avg, 21 Longest

______________________

Greg Hardy - LE

19 snaps played (out of 74) – 9 against the run, 10 against the pass

Pass Rush – 1 Pressure

Special Teams - 2 Tckls

______________________

Robert McClain - SS

3 Snaps played (out of 74) – 3 in coverage

Receptions & Targets - None

Special Teams - 1 Tckls

______________________

Eric Norwood

Special Teams - 1 Tck, 1 penalty against

[Baschski]

Hardy's play on punt coverage was sick. Just threw the blocker out of the way like he was a rag doll then took down the returner.

[panther4life]

very interesting thanks for posting.

Just 1 question for clarification purposes. you have him under pressure or no pressure for a combined total of 31 times, but he only attempted 28 passes? Just curious about the math there

[Urrymonster]

very interesting thanks for posting.

Just 1 question for clarification purposes. you have him under pressure or no pressure for a combined total of 31 times, but he only attempted 28 passes? Just curious about the math there

Sorry for some reason deleted the explanation. It includes plays that were flagged back after completion.

Hardy's play on punt coverage was sick. Just threw the blocker out of the way like he was a rag doll then took down the returner.

Inspired move to get him out there. However I would rather he was spending more time on the defensive front rather than the seriously under performing Brayton.

[Ricky Spanish]

your fractions are backwards.

[Ricky Spanish]

not to be a dick or anything...

[Urrymonster]

your fractions are backwards.

They really are aren't they. Weird, why on Earth did I write them like that?! Oh well I can change them over as it makes easier reading.

[rmoneyg35]

Anyone Notice how Greg Hardy seems to be the first player to get to the returner on special teams. He is a defensive linemen but seems to be the fastest defensive player on special teams. I think this guy is going to be a beast in years to come, In college he was a beast and was considered the best defensive linemen of the great SEC. I think he was a steal for us and hopefully he can develop into the player he was in college. Gettis was shut down but he played well on special teams. LaFell had a decent game and seems to be improving each week. I think Clausen is improving, his stats were really crappy but thanks to Goodson and Lafell he added 2 passes and sixty yards to total 16/28 and 195 yards, a qb rating of 68 doesnt sound good but he only had one interception and no touchdown which will make him have a bad qb rating.

Anyone think Clausen is improving? One positive about the kid is he has never threw more than one interception in a game which I think is great for a rookie qb. He hasn't threw but one touchdown which isn't good but atleast he hasn't been throwing a lot of interceptions either which is a plus. I noticed he has 7 fumbles this year which is bad but he has had a lot of pressure on him.

Anyone think that Clausen seems scared to throw the deep ball? It seems to me he always plays it safe and throws a short pass every time, his longest pass is 55 yards and his average is 5.3 which is low. I have came to an idea that the reason why clausen hasn't threw many interceptions is because he is throwing a lot of short passes. I don't know if he is scared to throw the ball deep or the coaches are telling him not to but I know he has the skills to throw the ball. I would like to hear someones opinion on this.

So far I would rank our top 3 Rookies based on what I have saw like this

1. David Gettis- Looks to be our best receiver of the draft, I had high hopes for this kid and thought he could be a surprise because he played for a horrible offense in college. He has already had a 100 yard receiving game, a multiple TD game and has only been shut down against St. Louis and against Cleveland but he didn't have any passes thrown to him according to ESPN's stats. I think this guy is could be our top receiver once Smith is gone and we have a QB that will give him more passes.

2. Greg Hardy- 19 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks and a forced fumble. He is the back up DE and is a beast on special teams. This guy I thought was a steal for us in the draft and I think he could be our best player of the draft. This guy was predicted to be a 1st round pick (3 years ago) but injuries and lack of effort red flagged this guy and teams over looked his potential. Now the Panthers seemed to have a bright future for this unwanted player. He will have limited roles this year but he hasn't seemed to show any inconstancy or injury problems in his rookie campaign. If we can get a decent defensive tackle either from the draft or FA our defensive line should be able to get some pressure on the quarterback with the Johnson in his prime and E. Brown and Hardy coming into their prime.

3.Brandon LaFell- Looked to be a bust the first four games but has came around. When we drafted him I was kinda disapointed because his weakness was that he had horrible hands and showed it. He has changed after the bye week though. I don't know what has got into the kid but he has started catching almost every pass thrown to him. Since the horrible start he has caught 17 passes for 218 yards and one touchdown. It isn't amazing but considering the fact that we have a horrible pass game and crappy or rookie quarterbacks LaFell has done well.

Sorry Clausen, I just don't see you being one of our top three rookies, but I would rank him #4 without a doubt.

[Icege]

Great thread.

[pantherj]

From here on I thought I would give a little breakdown for our rooks considering they are the whole point of this season now. The better they start doing the less FA and replacement draft picks will need to be brought in.

Jimmy Clausen

Passes by direction - These are where the passes were aimed at

Outside numbers to the left

<0 yards - 3/3 (100%) for 17 yards, 90.3 QB rating

0-9 yards - 3/4 (75%) for 59 yards, 116.7 QB rating

10-19 yards - None

20+ yards - 1/1 (100%) for 28 yards, 118.8 QB rating

Middle of field

<0 yards - 3/4 (75%) for 26 yards, 91.7

0-9 yards - 3/5 (75%) for 37 yards, 82.9 QB rating

10-19 yards - 1/1 (100%) for 15 yards, 118.8 QB rating

20+ yards - None

Outside numbers to the right

<0 yards - 1/1 (100%) for -4 yards, 79.2 QB rating

0-9 yards – 1/1 (100%) for 17 yards, 118.8 QB rating

10-19 yards - 0/3 (0%) for 0 yards, 0 QB rating, 1 Int

20+ yards - None

This gave Pickles the following:

16/23 for 195 yards, 1 Interception and a 77.3 QB rating

He threw away 3 balls, spiked once, had one ball dropped and was hit once as he threw giving him a revised stat line of:

16/28 for 195 yards, 1 Int and a 63.8 QB rating

Passing under pressure - Including plays pulled back for penalties Jimmy had the following:

No pressure – 17 drop backs, 14/17 (82.4%), 167 yards (9.8 ypa), 107.6 QB rating

Under pressure – 14 drop backs, 2/11 (18.2%), 28 yards (2.5 ypa), 1 Int, 3 Sck, 1.7 QB rating

Blitzed – 11 drop backs, 3/9 (33.3%), 21 yards (2.3 ypc), 2 Sck, 42.4 QB rating

Misc - 1 penalty

______________________

Brandon LaFell

40 snaps (out of 61 snaps) – 24 running routes, 16 run blocking

Targets & Receptions - 2/3 (66.7%), 37 yards (18.5 ypr), 7 YAC (3.5 ypr), 28 yards longest

Covered by - 1/1 and 28 yards (1YAC) against Sheldon Brown, 2/1 and 18 yards (6 YAC) against Mike Adams

______________________

David Gettis

35 snaps (out of 61 snaps) – 21 running routes, 14 run blocking

Targets & Receptions - None

Misc – 1 penalty against

Kick Return - 5 for 81 yards, 16.4 avg, 21 Longest

______________________

Greg Hardy - LE

19 snaps played (out of 74) – 9 against the run, 10 against the pass

Pass Rush – 1 Pressure

Special Teams - 2 Tckls

______________________

Robert McClain - SS

3 Snaps played (out of 74) – 3 in coverage

Receptions & Targets - None

Special Teams - 1 Tckls

______________________

Eric Norwood

Special Teams - 1 Tck, 1 penalty against

Hmmm...

[Urrymonster]

Anyone think Clausen is improving? I noticed he has 7 fumbles this year which is bad but he has had a lot of pressure on him.

Without a doubt he is starting to show signs of improvement and simply looking at his completion percentages based on where the pases were aimed at and it's actually pretty good, with a decent spread. He does use the running backs a lot, but with Goodson, why wouldn't you? He is not Westbrook, but he is capable of easily making people miss. Using Goodson properly (which isn't Clausen's fault) would actually negate a lot of teams pass rush, which has had a HUGE affect on Clausen. When he has time, he's actually been pretty good (in relation to the NFL not just some 'Clausen standard).

His lack of interceptions is not as negative as people think with regards to him not taking chances. The way I see it is that he is focusing on trying to keep drives going, rather than taking risks for a big play. He is trying to cut out mistakes, whilst relying on the running game to do it's thing. Part of why the beginning of our season was so destructive is that our pasing game was a turnover waiting to happen. Any coincidence that since the fumbles and interceptions have been cut out, that we have started to run the ball better?

Anyone think that Clausen seems scared to throw the deep ball?

I do not think he is scared to throw the deepball, the pass to LaFell is evidence of that, in fact over his last two games 19% of his throws have been aimed beyond 10 yards.

I think his main issue is that he is getting pressured a lot. On the same two games he has faced blitzes on 39% of his drop backs and has been forced to move in the pocket on 34% of his drop backs.

Early in the season he appeared to be 'inventing' pressure, got jittery feet and started making rash and sudden decisions. That does still happen to an extent, however he is believing in his protection a little more now, which has resulted in sacks on occassion but he has to be able to stand in the pocket that little bit longer.

Clausen DOES have the lowest yards per attempt in the NFL. Second lowest? Matt Moore. What does that tell you? Still, you can't deny the passing game as a whole needs to find a way of picking up just a few more yards on average. However, food for thought, in his last two starts he has managed 8.4 yards on attempts with no pressure whilst completing 71%.

So far I would rank our top 3 Rookies based on what I have saw like this:

1. David Gettis

2. Greg Hardy

3.Brandon LaFell

Sorry Clausen

It is hard to argue with that, however LaFell has REALLY come on and over the last 6 games he has been consistently our best receiver. If he carries on like this then he will be our best rookie. Gettis has had a couple of very nice games, but his consistency is the problem and he has literally gone missing for over half his games. Sure he has picked up a couple of passes, but a lot of them have been nothing to do with him doing something well. Hardy is 2nd based on potential only not his production, as he has not had the opportunities the others have had. Brayton needs to be moved below him and Brown on the depth chart. Yes Clausen is 4th, but only on opportunities, unless he continues as he has in the last two games our other rookies might actually have been more effective despite hardly playing.

[Urrymonster]

Hmmm...

That is all you have to say, pick out one typo?

Personally I would have thought looking at the break down of Clausen's passing would have opened some eyes, especially seeing how much pressure he was under (45% of drop backs). All 3 sacks and one pressure came from our running backs attempts at blocking, so it's safe to say our OLine is not the only thing that has had it's struggles this season.

When he wasn't under pressure he achieved this:

17 drop backs, 14/17 (82.4%), 167 yards (9.8 ypa), 107.6 QB rating

After looking into his season more and more it really looks like he is trying not to make mistakes and focusing on easier completions, not because he can't throw the deep ball, but because he realises that extending drives is more important to the team as a whole.

As fans we moan and moan about how our defence is on the field for too long, yet demand a more high risk passing game which will only cause more three and outs. Clausen (or Davidson) is actually focusing on just getting the next first down and then when the team needs it will he be more aggressive.

For the record the pass and catch to LaFell were fantastic plays from both. LaFell had two defenders drapped on him and Clausen picked a spot in front of him so that he was the ONLY player that could catch it. Yes LaFell had to get down low, but if Clausen threw to his body, it likely would have been picked off.

[Icege]

Clausen's lack of TDs also shows a lack in WR making plays after the catch, if you look strictly at the numbers without looking at the circumstances involved during the game.

Best case scenario: Clausen develops into a student of the game much like Peyton Manning. This doesn't mean Clausen is the next Manning, but in my opinion the better his pre-snaps reads get, the more freedom he's going to be allowed to have to change plays at the line (coupled with added confidence).

If he starts changing plays and gets worked by the defense, that's a whole other story.

[CRA]

1 pass attempt by Clausen that was farther than 9 yards downfield. That is nuts. Based on the circumstances of that 1 throw......pretty much forced him hand to do it.