Ted Ginn Jr., Annual Pre-season All-Pro? Well...no.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

Fair warning, in this thread I throw out a lot of stats from games that are meaningless. If you'd rather not waste your time with such a thing, here's your chance to back right on out.

Ok, so the predominant reaction to Ginn's performance last night has been "Eh, it's Ted Ginn. He always looks good in the pre-season". Which is one of those lines that just drives me nuts because it requires no thought in order to be a dismissal. So I thought I'd go looking for this mythical exhibition game world beater that every one was talking about, sure that I would find a tale of wildly optimistic highs that would only be followed by crushingly disappointing failures in the regular season.

Instead, we have a tale of a guy who you would be hard pressed to prove actually played receiver. Let's just do this year by year. The numbers are listed as receptions - yards - touchdowns, and these numbers only include receiving stats (no returns or rushing). Here ya go.

2007
Week 1 vs Jaguars: 1 – 9 – 0
Week 2 vs Chiefs: No Stats
Week 3 vs Buccaneers: 3 – 29 – 0
Week 4 vs Saints: No Stats

2008

Week 1 vs Buccaneers: 1 – 10 – 0
Week 2 vs Jaguars: 4 – 58 – 0
Week 3 vs Chiefs: 3 – 29 – 0
Week 4 vs Saints: No Stats

 

2009
Week 1 vs Jaguars: 2 – 26 – 0
Week 2 vs Panthers: No Stats
Week 3 vs Buccaneers: 1 – 19 – 0
Week 4 vs Saints: 2 – 26 – 0

 

2010
Week1 vs Colts: No Stats
Week 2 vs Vikings: 2 – 65 – 0
Week 3 vs Raiders: 1 – 9 – 0
Week 4 vs Chargers: No Stats

 

2011
Week 1 vs Saints: No Stats
Week 2 vs Raiders: 1 – 6 – 0
Week 3 vs Texans: 1 – 8 – 0
Week 4 vs Chargers: 2 – 18 – 0

 

2012
Week 1 vs Vikings: No Stats
Week 2 vs Texans: 1 – 24 – 0
Week 3 vs Broncos: No stats
Week 4 vs Chargers: No Stats

And to compare all that to this year....

2013
Week 1 vs Chicago: 1 – 17 – 0
Week 2 vs Eagles: 2 – 39 – 0
Week 3 vs Ravens: 1 – 9 – 0
Week 4 vs Steelers: 5 – 149 – 2

There's not much you can take from all of this because, well, it's the pre-season. But just looking over those numbers, you can't just write him off as a pre-season only sensation because he's historically been a non-existent receiver in the pre-season. This year is the only time he's registered a catch in each of the four games, and it's the only time he's registered a score through the air (much less two in one game).

Anyway, found it interesting.

[Herbert The Love Bug]

I think he will become the new randy moss but a little less crazy

[chubs2496]

New beginning for him might be just what he needed. Hope the best for him

[teeray]

He is a good fit for this particular offense.  Not sure I would want him in a WCO, but what we are doing is tailor made for that sumbitch.

[SIGCHI222]

I also know this...he isn't catching the ball with his body. 

 

Kid looks good so far which is all we can go on.

 

Also, pie for the research.  Stuff like this is why I keep this site pulled up all-day at work and I lurk here at night.  You guys are better than Facebook.

[RelaxImaPro]

Has he even actually dropped any passes yet?  That's his biggest knock.

 

I know he looked lost a few times in that Chicago game (whether it was him or DA I don't know... but they obviously weren't on the same page), but I don't really remember him dropping any catchable passes.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

Seems like I remember a few hitting him in the hands and he just dropped them, but I couldn't give you specifics and I could just be wrong.

[RelaxImaPro]

Seems like I remember a few hitting him in the hands and he just dropped them, but I couldn't give you specifics and I could just be wrong.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if he did, everyone has a case of the dropsies every now and then.  I just didn't see anything so outstanding that made me go, "Oh... that's what they mean..." when it comes to his hands.

[SuperJTheGreat]

[Jackofalltrades]

It wouldn't surprise me if he did, everyone has a case of the dropsies every now and then. I just didn't see anything so outstanding that made me go, "Oh... that's what they mean..." when it comes to his hands.

Agree and hands are correctable. That was the biggest knock on LaFell coming out of LSU and he's become pretty damn reliable.

If I was a WR and anyone EVER questioned my hands I'd hit the Juggs machine until the damn thing broke down.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

Agree and hands are correctable. That was the biggest knock on LaFell coming out of LSU and he's become pretty damn reliable.

If I was a WR and anyone EVER questioned my hands I'd hit the Juggs machine until the damn thing broke down.

 

Yeah, I'd take issue with my hands being questionable if my job revolved around using my hands to catch.

[panthers90]

OLD Daunte Culpepper, Cleo Lemon, Chad Pennington, Chad Henne, Alex Smith

 

[RelaxImaPro]

Agree and hands are correctable. That was the biggest knock on LaFell coming out of LSU and he's become pretty damn reliable.

If I was a WR and anyone EVER questioned my hands I'd hit the Juggs machine until the damn thing broke down.

 

 

Yeah, I'd take issue with my hands being questionable if my job revolved around using my hands to catch.

 

 

Especially if I was a #9 overall pick.

 

But honestly, who has he ever had to throw him the ball deep and capitalize on his strength?  The strongest arm QB he's had was one-read Kaepernick and that was only for 10 games after already having the reputation following him around.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

Halfway interested to compare his regular season targets versus completions. I'm such a comparison exists.