Quarterback Development: When Practice Reports Are Useless

[Dave Lane]

“A lot of times you learn from your mistakes. You know, you gotta make the mistakes to learn from them,” he said. “And you never know how tight a window is until you throw it, and it was too tight. You try to force a ball into certain areas and then you learn from it, you say, ‘I can’t do that.’ You install new plays and you try to run them over and over and you try to identify all the problems where they come up and then really make good decisions.

“We’re out here running a ton of plays every day, 75, 80 plays a day,” he continued. “Believe me, they’re not all perfect, there’s a lot of learning every day in a lot of the situational stuff that we do. All of it is a good learning experience, whether Ryan or Brian are in there taking the snap, I’m paying attention to see what I would do if I was in there and vice versa. And that’s the only way to play football, you can’t sit here and only concentrate when you’re in. You gotta learn from every day on the field, every rep in practice, mentally and then physically when you get a chance to go out and do it, you gotta try to execute it as best you can.”

-Tom Brady talking about the value of taking risks and making mistakes in practice.

This quote from Field Yates’ piece posted yesterday on ESPN’s New England Patriots Report is a perfect example of why readers have to be careful about what beat reporters and analysts observe at practice.

When it comes to assessing the performance of an individual player, practice is indeed sometimes just practice. Journalists, bloggers, and other media don’t have readers, listeners, and viewers standing over their shoulders critiquing every move as they prepare drafts or rehearse scripts or notes of what they intend communicate. Most individuals are given the freedom to prepare in private to create a polished product refined through trial and error, honing of technique, and taking risks to understand the dynamics of the project at hand.

Trent Edwards went from a risk taker with promise to depth chart fodder afraid to fail.

Lasting success comes from repeatedly taking the risks to fail. Perhaps the biggest reason for Tom Brady’s success is his decision-making. I read Chris Brown’s essay in his excellent book Smart Football where he concludes that good and bad decision-making at the quarterback position is too difficult to gauge when evaluating the future prospects of a young quarterback. Brown’s conclusion is based on part with Brady saying he doesn’t know why he does what he does in such a short period of time. I agree with a lot of Brown’s conclusions in this essay.

However, I think Brady’s quote at the top of this piece indicates something that perhaps even Brady hadn’t thought about when he said the things that Brown analyzed in the past. Brady is willing to take risks to fail. Test every angle. Take note of each failure and look for what he can and can’t do with a play call, a defense, a formation, and a passing window.

The first-day quarterback prospects that we’ve seen fail miserably are the ones that have lost their capacity to embrace risk. Trent Edwards, John Beck, and David Carr were all confident pocket passers willing to throw the ball down field and into tight windows as college passers and even early in their pro careers. Somewhere along the way, they had this willingness to embrace risk beaten out of them by opposing defenses and/or coaches. They lost the will to continue failing until they experienced success.

Most practice reports that feature quarterback work are analysis of completions, interceptions, touchdowns, and quality of a throw. When we learn about development, it’s generally in vague terms:

He’s miles from where he was last year.
He’s seeing the field better.
His decisions are quicker.

If we get the last two bullet points, we’re lucky. Yet, I’m not indicting beat writers. There’s a lot happening at practice and not a lot of time to analyze it all. I’m reminding readers that the analysis of practice, preseason, and the regular season is filled with valuable clues as well as red herrings. Because there is such a large component to the game that takes place before the snap and between the quarterback’s ear holes, progress is harder to see. In that sense, quarterbacks are a lot like icebergs.

http://mattwaldmanrsp.com/2012/08/16...s-are-useless/

[Dave Lane]

I see Stanzi ablity / desire to take risks good based on the article and well not so much for Matt.

[Coogs]

Originally Posted by Dave Lane

I see Stanzi ablity / desire to take risks good based on the article and well not so much for Matt.

I agree. That is why I think the ball thrown down the left sideline last Friday that was overthrown by 10 yards was a throw away... not a bad throw. Rather than try to fit it in a tight throw under pressure from the defensive line, I believe he has learned that the play just didn't feel right, so live to see another play. And 5 of his other 6 passes were good calculated risk passes that were all a whisker away from being potentially big plays... a couple of which were.

The one ball that had to be thrown away behind the line of scrimmage doesn't really fit into this equation, but was not that bad of play either. Don't take the sack. Don't force the Int.

Anxious to see him tonight. Might even get a series with the #1's the way it sounds.

[mikey23545]

Originally Posted by Coogs

I agree. That is why I think the ball thrown down the left sideline last Friday that was overthrown by 10 yards was a throw away... not a bad throw. Rather than try to fit it in a tight throw under pressure from the defensive line, I believe he has learned that the play just didn't feel right, so live to see another play. And 5 of his other 6 passes were good calculated risk passes that were all a whisker away from being potentially big plays... a couple of which were.

The one ball that had to be thrown away behind the line of scrimmage doesn't really fit into this equation, but was not that bad of play either. Don't take the sack. Don't force the Int.

Anxious to see him tonight. Might even get a series with the #1's the way it sounds.

Really?

Where did you hear that?

[rico]

Interdasting.

[Coogs]

Originally Posted by mikey23545

Really?

Where did you hear that?

I have heard it several times. Once is here...

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/17...in-chiefs.html

[mikey23545]

Originally Posted by Coogs

I have heard it several times. Once is here...

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/17...in-chiefs.html

Thanks, Coogs.

I just wonder how good his timing with the first teamers will be since he usually never works with them (at least I assume very little).

[tonyetony]

Why not get your second string QB some reps with the first stringers in preseason? After watching the guy running the offensive scout team (Palko) come in last year and have zero chemistry with guys who barely knew his name I'm all for it.

Not missing Haley at all. Last year at this time we were still in conditioning mode.

[durtyrute]

That is exactly why I like Stanzi. If you really watch him, you can see he has IT. He takes risks, he pushes the ball downfield, he scans the WHOLE field and throws a beautiful ball with ease. I'm not comparing him to anyone, but I really have a good feeling about him. I can not ****ing wait till tonight. I hope he brings the rain, the fire, and the pain all in the same game.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Get the lotion ready fellas

[mikey23545]

Originally Posted by PGM

Get the lotion ready fellas

[Just Passin' By]

This portion of Brady's comments was left out of the article:

"He's open to, you know, you don't wanna come out here and throw a bunch of interceptions," he said. "But at the same time, you don't wanna, it's not a game, you wanna install things, and see how they work and try to give guys an opportunity to go up and catch the ball and make plays on the ball. You probably do some things this time of the year that you wouldn't normally do, but at the same time you're trying to make good decisions, read the coverage and get the ball to the right guy."

You can put the lotion away.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Just Not Gettin' It

This portion of Brady's comments was left out of the article:



You can put the lotion away.

"Get the ball to the right guy"

You mean like overthrowing Jamaal Charles on a panicked checkdown when Cassel's first option wasn't open?

[durtyrute]

Originally Posted by Just Not Gettin' It

This portion of Brady's comments was left out of the article:



You can put the lotion away.

NEVER!!!!

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by SNR

"Get the ball to the right guy"

You mean like overthrowing Jamaal Charles on a panicked checkdown when Cassel's first option wasn't open?

So your first reaction, when shown that the article is ignoring a big part of what Brady said, and that this is not something that should lead to a Stanzi spankfest, is to try spinning things around on Cassel.

That's ****ing pathetic.