This was an ugly game for the receivers. While the TEs had little trouble pulling in the wet pill, the wide receivers had a terrible day. Case in point, Antonio Brown, wide open for an easy first down, decides to body catch a pass. I've never seen him body catch in this instance, but for some reason, AB's brain fart caused the wide open receiver to drop a great gain and missed on a chance for us to extend a drive. No contact, just lazy receiving, by not putting his hands on the ball FIRST. On a wet day, bad hand positioning is compounded. If you lack the hand placement basics needed to consistently catch a football, it is much harder to control it when it is wet. I'm not worried about AB, since he rarely does this, but the rest of the receivers need to fix this and quick.
DHB's drop was another instance why hand placement is key to bringing a ball in. He didn't make an attempt to hands catch, and it bounced off of him as well.
The worst of the day is Coates. I wanted his hand placement to improve from last season, but it hasn't. He still has the same lazy fundamentals that he had as a rookie. His first basket catch was luck. On basket catches over your head, you must keep your elbows in, so the ball doesn't slide through your arms. The first deep ball to him nearly slid through. Want to see perfect arm placement for an over the head catch? Look at Kirkpatrick's deep interception. He had perfect hand and elbow placement. Possession was never in doubt on that throw. Coates is also not using his size to his advantage, nor is he attacking the ball or high pointing it down field. Sure he can make plays, but it's a coin flip on whether he's going to fight for the ball or watch the D make a play. At his size, he should be winning those downfield battles with body positioning and aggressiveness alone. Right now, Coates infuriates me to watch him squander his talents to play lackluster football. He has the ability to be dominating, he just has to put it all together to want to be great.
DHB's drop was another instance why hand placement is key to bringing a ball in. He didn't make an attempt to hands catch, and it bounced off of him as well.
The worst of the day is Coates. I wanted his hand placement to improve from last season, but it hasn't. He still has the same lazy fundamentals that he had as a rookie. His first basket catch was luck. On basket catches over your head, you must keep your elbows in, so the ball doesn't slide through your arms. The first deep ball to him nearly slid through. Want to see perfect arm placement for an over the head catch? Look at Kirkpatrick's deep interception. He had perfect hand and elbow placement. Possession was never in doubt on that throw. Coates is also not using his size to his advantage, nor is he attacking the ball or high pointing it down field. Sure he can make plays, but it's a coin flip on whether he's going to fight for the ball or watch the D make a play. At his size, he should be winning those downfield battles with body positioning and aggressiveness alone. Right now, Coates infuriates me to watch him squander his talents to play lackluster football. He has the ability to be dominating, he just has to put it all together to want to be great.
