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The sudden, never before seen and inexplicable angst about Rudolph throwing short

Steeltime

Steeltime

Still miss Apache but Paxton is awesome
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I feel compelled to start a thread about the squealing angst by every stupid football commentator and "expert" regarding the fact that Mason Rudolph is throwing the ball short (about 3 yards from the line of scrimmage), i.e., to guys who gain positive yards and keep the sticks moving. I wish to offer the following points, and all who may have a differing view on the matter are welcome to respond:

  • Rudolph is averaging a modest 7.0 yards per attempt. Okay, I'll give you that. But he has averaged 5.9 YPA, 6.4 YPA, and then 8.2 YPA in his 3 games. Hmmm, am I noticing a trend here?
  • Further, on the season so far, he is actually AHEAD of Carson Wentz and Derek Carr on YPA.
  • So have I missed some pre-game shows or NFL Network broadcasts, ripping Wentz and Carr new ******** for "throwing short"? Yeah, thought so.
  • QB 1 is averaging 7.0 YPA, with 6 TD's, just 2 interceptions, 2 sacks, and is averaging 24.3 points per game so far.
  • QB 2 is averaging 7.3 YPA, with 7 TD's, only 1 interception, and 3 sacks, and averaged 29.3 points per game the past 3, but with 2 against the Dolphins and Jests, statistically the two worst defenses in the NFL.
  • QB 1 has a QB rating of 103.2.
  • QB 2 has a QB rating of 97.5.
  • QB 1 has a TD percentage so far of 8.1%, meaning a TD about every 12 attempts.
  • QB 2 has a TD percentage so far of 4.8%, meaning a TD about every 21 attempts.
  • Did you know that NextGen stats looks at where the closest defender is to the receiver at the time of the pass? The data base defines aggressiveness as "the amount of passing attempts a quarterback makes that are into tight coverage, where there is a defender within 1 yard or less of the receiver at the time of completion or incompletion.
  • So aggressive QB's are throwing into tight windows. The NFL leader so far in aggressiveness is Daniel Jones. Matthew Stafford ranks 2nd, Jameis Winston 3rd and ... wow, this can't be right ... Mason Rudolph ranks 4th.
  • Know who ranks 16th?? QB 2, whose name rhymes with "*****." Oh, I mean "*****." Damn it, I MEAN "Lady."
  • Rudolph has completed 67.6% of his passes so far. That is very slightly above the "expected" completion percentage of 67.1%.
  • So Rudolph, criticized for always going to the short patterns, is actually completing a HIGHER percentage than advanced stats project.
  • And you want to know some completing fewer passes than they should? Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, and that dreaded buttsniffer, QB 2. (I am willing to bet none of you know who QB 2 is, since I have protected her, uhh, its identity so well.)
  • So it seems that this QB 1 guy, whoever he is, is throwing into tight coverage quite a lot, yet completing passes at a high percentage and at a higher percentage than expected given advanced NFL stats, and is throwing TD's at a very high rate - THE BEST IN THE NFL SO FAR.
  • And the harping on yards beyond the LOS for this guy, now at 3.3 yards ... Some guy named Ben was at 4.0 yards before being hurt. Teddy Bridgewater is at 3.5 yards and is being blown by announcers for his brilliant job replacing Brees. Daniel Jones, another QB whose privates are sore from the announcer-led blowjobs, is at 5.0 yards.

To sum up: Rudolph is completing passes at a very high rate, despite throwing into tight coverage more than all but 3 other QB's, is throwing TD's at a higher rate than any other QB so far, is putting up at least 20 points per game, two of which are against teams a combined 6-1 so far and which rank #4 and #8 in the NFL in yards per game and #8 and #13 in points per game.

All in all doing pretty damn well so far, against two pretty damn good defenses (both games the Steelers probably should have won).

So the next time one of these paid Lady Tammy blowjob givers says **** about Rudolph not throwing downfield (despite back-to-back games with 40 yard+ TD tosses), simply say

tenor.gif


And then shoot them in the face.
 
That's not angst

Angst is being a Ravens fan and watching the Brownies clobber you by putting up a 40 burger on your D, in your house

Hairball got schooled by Freddie Kittens
 
He has some things to like and looks like he is trending in the right direction. For a guy touted as a round 1 value picked in the third he is about where I expect him to be. Not sure how his journey will end but he is going in the right direction.

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Absolutely agree every media talking head was making a huge deal out of it, like all of a sudden they forgot their golden girl knob slobber has made his entire "goat" career out of throwing the ball 5 yards from the LOS. The exception was when they had Gronk and Moss, who are both freaks in league history at their position, otherwise he let everyone else get yac off his throws. Media hypocrites need to gtfoh with that
 
t*mmyb*y drinks TB12 but not the public version of it. He also has an extra set of ears in his helmet giving him approximately 30% of opponent's play calling.
so when comparing Mason Rudolf to s cheating ********, MASON will always come out on top.


I personally think Mason is progressing fine and the talking heads can stuff it as far as any advise from them goes. As for short throws, as long as the chains are moving and the clock / score is in our favor, who really can argue???




Salute the nation
 
madinsomniac said:
Draft criticism on Rudolph.... goes deep too much and doesn’t make crisp short passes
Starts in the nfl and gets fried for making a bunch of short passes and not going deep... lol
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So much for 'draft criticism'

Montana was drafted in the third round.
 
The YPA stat counts yards that the RB or WR got after the catch. Rudolph's "air" yards are the second lowest in the league with Donaldson being worse. Mason is at 3.3 yards per pass. Look at some of these stats:

1. RBs had 16 catches combined for 150 yards.
2. 0 catches for Washington, 3 for JuJu
3. In the first half Rudolph threw for 132 yards 111 were after the catch.
4. If you look at the passing chart he completed one pass down the field... one.

They had a plan going into the game that they didn't want him losing the game. So they didn't let him throw difficult throws. They knew the bungles were horrible and all they cared about is winning the game. You can't fault the QB. He did the plan to a T. This is not the same offense as NE. It just isn't. They do throw short a lot. But they don't throw exclusively short. They have a mid range game as well as a long game. Brady has twice as much "air" time as Rudolph. Again this isn't a slight against Rudolph. That was just the plan.
 
I didn't mind it so much as it looked like an actual game plan w/some thought on what they could exploit. This year will be a bunch of learning so I'll not complain too much when there's effort to actually follow a formula that fits.
 
I was hoping we'd throw deep a few times to get the safeties to back off the LOS. Though the game plan worked for both sides of the ball, as we managed to keep the defense from being gassed in the 4th quarter. Excluding that first game (where even a team of all-pros in their prime genetically copied from Canton would have lost), the defense hasn't been bad. They've been a lot better the past two games. I looked up the TOP and we had the ball for 28 seconds less than Cincinnati for 8 less plays. The 49ers had the ball for 13 more mintues than we did resulting in 22 more plays. Seachickens had the ball for almost 12 minutes more than we did, resulting in 21 more plays.

safe to say the offensive game plan was also very helpful to the defense and we should HOPEFULLY expect similar type offensive game plans going forward. That's not to say run the exact same goddamned game plan every week, but we need to work as a team to keep the defense fresh.
 
Superman said:
Excluding that first game (where even a team of all-pros in their prime genetically copied from Canton would have lost), the defense hasn't been bad.
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What exactly are you implying here, sir?
 
The passing offense has been too horizontal with Rudolph.

It worked against the Bengals, but it was the Bengals. It was a different story against the 49ers.

What they're doing now is too dependent on yards after the catch, and you cannot build your offense around that week after week in the NFL.

They need to push the ball downfield more where the success they have had thus far has been inflated by two long TDs to Johnson against blown coverages.
 
Punxsutawney said:
The passing offense has been too horizontal with Rudolph.

It worked against the Bengals, but it was the Bengals. It was a different story against the 49ers.

What they're doing now is too dependent on yards after the catch, and you cannot build your offense around that week after week in the NFL.

They need to push the ball downfield more where the success they have had thus far has been inflated by two long TDs to Johnson against blown coverages.
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Very true. However when you mix in Samules and a new TE who looks like he can block and catch, this can become a part of your offense. Key word part. However this won't catch team by surprise anymore, and you're right, we can't keep competing 50% of you passes less than 2 yards in front the of the LOS. It seems like the post, the skinny, the out, the square in and other patterns typical run 8-10 yards down field are not being completed. Vs a better defense this type of offense will produce a lot of punts and maybe a pick six if a team jumps one of these quick hitting routes.
 
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Yes, I thought the same thing. They are easing him into deeper throws and from what I can tell Rudolph is diagnosing quickly the open man. Roethlisberger lets the play develop thus longer throws and bigger gains but the possibility of a sack increases. I do wish they’d air one out early to loosen the defense though. When the safety comes down in the box audible to play action and you should easily be able to move the single high with a pump or body movement and then go deep to the single coverage. Even if it’s incomplete it will get the dbs on their heels a little and create a little room for those short underneath routes.


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BLITZ said:
just move the chains. I don't really care how. just have an actual game plan based on your opponents weaknesses
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Choir, meet BLITZ.! I hear exactly what you are saying. It's like many here have heard what the talking heads are saying and just repeating it. As long as the chains are moving that's a good sign. I'm not advocating this type offense continuously and fully think a game plan designed for each team played, is in full order (can you hear me head coach). A wrinkle here and there isn't a bad thing at all but my fear is the coaching staff gets complacent and makes it a main-stay.



Salute the nation
 
The Steelers were 27 for 31 passing, 87%. I guess you can't win many NFL games if you keep that up.
 
21STEELERS21 said:
The Steelers were 27 for 31 passing, 87%. I guess you can't win many NFL games if you keep that up.
Click to expand...

You're not going to keep that up against non-bungled defenses. It isn't like it's an unstoppable genius plan. It worked for the bungles. But it won't work for every team. They better start working on a different type of offense because this won't cut it all season.
 
Samuels was 3-3 and his 3 passes did not travel a yard combined. Rudolph is being treated with kid gloves never seen before in the NFL,. The Rats will crowd the line of scrimmage and force him to try and throw intermediate passes and he has not shown that ability yet, should be an interesting game.
 
Sunday will be Rudolph's 4th professional game. At this stage he is clearly a game manager. I have two hopes for the season:
1. They exceed 6 wins so not to have given the farm for Fitzpatrick.
2. Rudolph looks like a possible starting QB in this league so as not to have to draft a QB two years from now (See point 1. here)
 
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