Filed under: 1 | Tags: brett farve, chad pennington, dan marino, donovan mcnabb, drew brees, john elway, matt ryan, nfl, peyton manning, philip rivers, quarterback analysis, quarterback mechanics, Tom Brady
A great deal has been made of quarterback mechanics of late since the return of Tom Brady. Ron Jaworski did an excellent job during the MNF broadcast breaking down the tentative nature of Brady stepping into throws in the first half. How that affected his accuracy etc. I just wanted to dive into a little more detail….
It really all comes down to the legs. When you throw a football, we are always taught to step into the throw, with the feet getting just a little beyond shoulder width apart. There are reasons for that. The shorter the stride (less than shoulder width) the more likely the throw is going to go high. The longer the stride, more like a baseball pitcher, the lower the throw will go. Short stride balls usually have less power behind them and a long stride ball a “heavy” ball. Nose down, harder to catch. Brady in the second half showed excellent technique especially on those last two drives. Great stride, stepped into it, and went 12-14 and two TDs. There are variants however…
John Elway, one of the strongest arms ever, was sort of the Tom Seaver of QBs. Great long stride. Threw a very heavy ball. Great velocity. When he missed it tended to be low because of the overstride in his motion. But if you slow it down, a great example of a long stride, then the hips turn, then the shoulders, then finally the arm. Really gets his entire body into the throw and generated tremendous velocity.
Dan Marino was the opposite. If anything, a short stride, extremely quick release. The ball never went behind his ear. When he missed it tended to be high because of the stride. The key to his motion was the tremendous twist and power he got from his torso and shoulders. Not as much leg drive but essentially a very quick twist. Very quick release but sacrificed some power because of less of a leg drive. Tons of practice though gave him the velocity he needed with accuracy.
Brady is sort of a blend. He gets good leg drive and very good twist in his mid section. And if you look at slow motion, you can see the leg then hip then torso then shoulder go in the direction of the target. Not the extreme of either Marino or Elway, but a very consistent motion. That is the key. The challenge with most college QBs is inconsistency of motion. Every time they throw, the motion is slightly different which affects accuracy more than anything. Brady’s motion is textbook. It lacks extremes of motion, but is extremely consistent which is why he is so accurate. We saw that really only in the 4th quarter, but usually during the course of the season each throw looks like each other throw. Keep an eye on it next time you watch the game. Other QBs with great textbook mechanics are Peyton Manning, Matt Hasselback, Matt Shaub, Drew Brees, Matt Ryan. If you want to see an extreme of leg drive, check out Philip Rivers and Donovan MCNabb. More of an upper body twist with less drive, Chad Pennington, Brett Farve.
Filed under: 1 | Tags: 5 day letter, New England Patriots, nfl, Oakland Raiders, Richard Seymour, trades
I have had a lot of people ask me to walk through the specifics of the Richard Seymour situation. The reality is that some of the parts of it are unknown. This is what I know….
Supposedly Richard was sent the 5 day letter from the Raiders. This means if he does not report to the Raiders within 5 days of RECEIPT of the letter, he will be placed on the inactive/suspended list on the roster. That means he will be unable to play for anyone at all this season and his contract is suspended. Meaning there is one year left on the contract that still has to be honored, and will not be honored until he is active, which would be next season. So instead of being a free agent in 2010, he will still have one year remaining on his contract as he does now. This also means if the Raiders then want to franchise him, and then franchise him a second year (which they can do), Seymour will not be a free agent until the 2013 season potentially. A long wait. This is also why it makes no sense for him to not report to the Raiders now. Hopefully the delay is while they structure a long term deal for him, that may be the only way for all sides to save face.
In terms of the trade, I was always under the impression that a trade cannot be finalized until the player passes a physical. Apparently this is a bit of a gray area with the league. None of my friends over there are willing to comment on it. But, the Raiders are acting as if the player is their problem, hence the 5 day letter, and the Patriots are going forward as if they have no claim and do not own the rights to Seymour, and by extension since the paperwork has been filed, own the Raiders 2011 first round pick. The gray area seems to be that the Raiders seem to own the rights to Seymour, but no one seems to know what happens to the trade if he fails to report. Best guess based on the people I have talked to is that the Patriots will still get that 2011 pick and the Raiders get the headache of a suspended player. But this will be interesting to see if the Raiders try to send the player back, get the pick back etc. which I think is not possible based on the wording of the paperwork by the NFL. There are some great online resources on the wording and responsibilities of player contracts….
