Cassel 24th out of 29 quarterbacks in downfield passing.

[Hammock Parties]

We debated Cassel's downfield passing in another thread earlier this week. I said I would wait for the splits to get updated before I compared him to the rest of the league, and here are the results (completion percentage, TD/INT):

Cassel is 24th out of 29 quarterbacks in the NFL in completion percentage on pass attempts over 10 yards.

I threw out the names in red because they have fewer than 40 attempts.

Henne - 58.6 1/1
Rivers - 54.5 7/5
Schaub - 54.4 4/4
Fitzpatrick - 54.3 7/3
Romo - 51.7 4/2
E. Manning - 50.6 8/4
Young - 50.0 6/1
Kolb - 50.0 2/2
Flacco - 49.4 10/4
Ryan - 49.3 7/2
P. Manning - 48.4 8/1
Rodgers 48.3 10/8
Orton - 47.5 7/3
Favre - 46.9 5/6
Palmer - 46.5 4/3
Garrard - 46.4 4/5
Hasselbeck - 45.2 3/3
Anderson - 45.1 1/2
Bradford - 45 5/5
Sanchez - 44.8 6/2
Cutler - 43.2 3/4
McNabb - 42.8 5/
Brady - 42.0 4/4
Cassel - 41.5 4/2
Brees - 41.4 4/5
Smith - 40.2 4/3
Wallace - 38.2 3/0 (34 att)
Moore - 38.2 3/5 (34 att)
Gradkowski 38.1 2/4
Freeman - 34.2 3/2
Clausen - 30.4 1/1 (23 att)
Hill - 29.5 4/2
Campbell - 25.8 1/2 (22 att)


For comparison, Cassel's downfield passing history:

2009 - 38.8 percent, 8 TD, 13 INT
2008 - 40.2 percent, 12 TD, 8 INT

Notes:

1. Jason Campbell and Bruce Gradkowski suck. We have no business losing to the Raiders.

2. Brees will bump Cassel to 25th in short order.

3. Sanchez, bitches!!!

4. Flacco is a ****ing stud.

5. Impressed by Chad Henne and fearful of Fitzpatrick.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by milkman

I really think that was a much better throw than he is given credit for, because a pass that leads Bowe leads him right into the safety.

EXACTLY!!! I tried to point that out during the game but was quickly drowned out by the emotion of Cassel Hate.

Cassel threw that ball to the open spot in the zone. Had he lead Bowe, bowe probably catches it but as you said, the Saftey is right there and probably doesn't miss the tackle since Bowe would have no chance to put on a move.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by milkman

I really think that was a much better throw than he is given credit for, because a pass that leads Bowe leads him right into the safety.

Try again. The safety was way out of position.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by petegz28

EXACTLY!!! I tried to point that out during the game but was quickly drowned out by the emotion of Cassel Hate.

Cassel threw that ball to the open spot in the zone. Had he lead Bowe, bowe probably catches it but as you said, the Saftey is right there and probably doesn't miss the tackle since Bowe would have no chance to put on a move.

I said the same thing in chat.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by Gif Horse

Try again. The safety was way out of position.

Ok well seeing that view I agree. Bowe could have walked into the endzone.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by Gif Horse

Try again. The safety was way out of position.

You're only seeing the two guys behind Bowe there, but there is a safety sitting in front of Bowe that isn't seen in this screenshot.

Edit:Actually, as you look closer, I think that we see the saftey's shadow on the right lower part of the shot sitting right between the 15 and 20 yard line.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by milkman

You're only seeing the two guys behind Bowe there, but there is a safety sitting in front of Bowe that isn't seen in this screenshot.

You sure about that?

[Hammock Parties]

The reason some people thought the safety could have made a play on a longer throw is because when Bowe cut back, the safety moved up the field ahead of him.

I actually thought it was a decent throw live and then, going back and looking at it I thought...holy shit....way to underthrow Bowe by a mile. He had to come to a complete stop.

Both of Cassel's TD passes were shitty throws.

The one thing I will give credit to Cassel for is reading the defense well. He started out reading the left side of the field.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by milkman

You're only seeing the two guys behind Bowe there, but there is a safety sitting in front of Bowe that isn't seen in this screenshot.

No, there isn't.

Like I said, Bowe cut back, and the safety moved ahead of him while the corner missed the first tackle.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by Brock

You sure about that?

Not absolutely.

I'd have to see the replay in it's entirety to be absolutely certain.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by milkman

You're only seeing the two guys behind Bowe there, but there is a safety sitting in front of Bowe that isn't seen in this screenshot.

Edit:Actually, as you look closer, I think that we see the saftey's shadow on the right lower part of the shot sitting right between the 15 and 20 yard line.

I could be wrong, but I remember the play going like this:

With the ball being underthrown, it gave the DB's an opportunity to make up ground. The safety actually passed up Bowe as he caught the ball, and was the player that Bowe juked to get into the EZ.

Like I said, I could be wrong.

[Hammock Parties]

That's exactly what happened.

Bowe broke the corner's tackle and then stiff armed the safety and walked into the end zone.

Pretty amazing.

And there's no other safety, milkman. Cassel just blows.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

I could be wrong, but I remember the play going like this:

With the ball being underthrown, it gave the DB's an opportunity to make up ground. The safety actually passed up Bowe as he caught the ball, and was the player that Bowe juked to get into the EZ.

Like I said, I could be wrong.

I could be wrong as well, but in either case, I'm not going to critisize Cassel for the throw when it results in a 54 yard TD.

There's enough shit from Cassel to critisize already.

[Red Dawg]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Please pick the duds.

YEAR	TEAM 	G 	CMP 	ATT 	PCT 	YDS 	AVG 	TD 	LNG 	INT 	FUM 	RAT
2004	SD	15 	262 	400 	65.5 	3159 	7.9 	27 	79 	7 	4 	104.8
2005	SD	16 	323 	500 	64.6 	3576 	7.2 	24 	54 	15 	8 	89.2
2006	NO	16 	356 	554 	64.3 	4418 	8.0 	26 	86 	11 	5 	96.2
2007	NO	16 	440 	652 	67.5 	4423 	6.8 	28 	58 	18 	8 	89.4
2008	NO	16 	413 	635 	65.0 	5069 	8.0 	34 	84 	17 	1 	96.2
2009	NO	15 	363 	514 	70.6 	4388 	8.5 	34 	75 	11 	9 	109.6
2010	NO	7 	200 	287 	69.7 	2029 	7.1 	14 	80 	10 	4 	91.4

That 5000 yards is as dud. He should have had 6000.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by milkman

I've said it before.
I'll say it again.

Stats mean jack.

I don't agree with that statement. However, I do believe that stats sometimes can be presented/manipulated to make things appear the way one wants things to appear. Or they only tell a part of the story. Right now, Cassel is playing well. But like you said, I question his ability to make plays when we need him to do that.

[Chiefnj2]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

I could be wrong, but I remember the play going like this:

With the ball being underthrown, it gave the DB's an opportunity to make up ground. The safety actually passed up Bowe as he caught the ball, and was the player that Bowe juked to get into the EZ.

Like I said, I could be wrong.

You aren't wrong. You can go to nfl.com and still watch the highlight. There was nobody between Bowe and the endzone.

HOWEVER, the reason the ball was thrown "short" (other than Cassel's limited arm-strength) is because he couldn't step up. Cassel got hit right around knee level as he releases the ball.