Bernie Bytes: Bradford struggles going deep ..

[MauiRam]

BY BERNIE MIKLASZ
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 12:40 pm



For his NFL career, Rams quarterback Sam Bradford has completed only 18 of 70 passes that traveled 20 yards or more.

* With 22 NFL starts on his resume, Sam Bradford has yet to establish that he can reliably connect with open receivers on downfield throws. We saw that again Sunday when he overthrew a streaking Brandon Lloyd on one deep ball that should have gone for six. Bradford floated another underthrown deep pass -- on the flea flicker -- that got intercepted.

* In his NFL career, Bradford has completed only 18 of 70 passes on attempts over 20 yards. (Meaning that the ball is in the air for longer than 20 yards.) It breaks down this way: 12 for 45 (26.7%) on attempts between 21 and 30 yards; 5 for 17 (29.4%) on attempts between 31 and 40 yards; and 1 for 8 on attempts of 41+ yards.

* To be fair to Bradford, we submit a few caveats: (A) most NFL quarterbacks have surprisingly low completion percentages on attempts longer than 20 yards, so we should keep this in perspective. We see a lot of big-name QBs near the bottom of the list in completing passes on attempts that fly longer than 20 yards, including Tom Brady. (B) Bradford has been surrounded by mediocre (at best) receivers. (C) Bradford gets smacked around due to weak pass protection.

* Still, that doesn't excuse those instances when Bradford has time to throw, spots an open receiver down the field, and can't get the ball there for a big completion. Lloyd is clearly capable of running free and getting behind defenders. Lloyd has given the Rams a new dimension. But Bradford has to connect with him. (And yes, I realize that Sam and Brandon have had only one game together. It will take a little while to develop good timing.) Bradford must improve his accuracy on the deep passes. We'll be writing more about Bradford's second NFL season later this week in the Post-Dispatch.

Moving On ...

* No matter what Steve Spagnuolo says, there's really nothing to be gained by punting the ball to Patrick Peterson when it's just as easy to punt it away from Peterson. Seriously, coach. Let's be straight about this.


* According to STATS LLC, Rams left offensive tackle Rodger Saffold allowed 3.5 sacks and was penalized 8 times in 16 games as a rookie in 2010. This season, through eight games, Saffold has given up 10 sacks and been penalized 16 times. And yet no one at Rams Park explain why he has regressed so dramatically. No one is capable of helping the young OT get better. I don't know if Spagnuolo will survive the 2011 season, but if he returns in 2012, I can't imagine why anyone in a position of authority at Rams Park would allow the HC to keep his offensive line coach, Steve Loney. There has got to be some accountability.

Thanks for reading ...

-Bernie

[Tampa_Ram]

i liked this article, didnt just blast bradford, actually told some of the reasons for it happening.

and i love that Loney is being held accountable, cause he really is not doing his job with the regression at the o-line that weve had. we need a new o-line couch, without a doubt.

[r8rh8rmike]

Bradford needs to do a better job throwing downfield, but it seemed pretty clear that his ankle was affecting his throws.

[AvengerRam]

Thanks for the absurd article, Bernie. Basically, "Bradford has poor stat in an category that most QBs have poor stats in, and he's had less talent around him than most."

Lame.

[Tampa_Ram]

Thanks for the absurd article, Bernie. Basically, "Bradford has poor stat in an category that most QBs have poor stats in, and he's had less talent around him than most."

Lame.

at least he used logic for once in his life

[Ram Mar Ram]

Had a look at Steve Loney, he's done a good job at Arizona & Vikings, which the latter had one of the best lines around.

If hes lost his mojo, then so be it. But there is regression everywhere. Josh McD's aint got nothing on Pat Shurmer at the moment.

[fearsome foursome]

You have to wonder how much of Saffolds problems this year are due to the new system.

[Chris58]

I am not a X's and O's expert so my question is to anyone who may know but could it be that the problems we are having with the O line play this year related to a mis-match between the schemes of the O coordinator and the blocking schemes our line performs best? Are the strengths of our O line out of synch with they way they need to block the plays successively? Or is it as simple as Loney not being on the same page with McDaniels?

How can we hire a previously successful line coach, accumulate two highly regarded FA's (Brown and Dahl), another adequate FA (Bell) and two highly regarded rooks and be so bad? In Smith's case, I think the concussions has caused him to hold back. As I recall, he got his first one right out of the box and he has not shown any of his advertised aggressive explosiveness since.

Any thoughts?

[AlphaRam]

Regarding the game this past Sunday, Bradford could not accurately make a long throw with the sprain still a problem. Tom Brady, Drew Brees, nor either of the Mannings could, either, if they had the same injury. Bradford should not have been playing in that game. He couldn't throw long passes and he couldn't run.

[MauiRam]

Regarding the game this past Sunday, Bradford could not accurately make a long throw with the sprain still a problem. Tom Brady, Drew Brees, nor either of the Mannings could, either, if they had the same injury. Bradford should not have been playing in that game. He couldn't throw long passes and he couldn't run.

Add to that the fact he had very little practice time only splitting reps for the last couple of days before the game with Feeley. I was bummed when I heard Sam was going to play - thought it was too soon, and that he was likely to really screw up his ankle even more. Fortunately Sam appeared make it through the game unscathed, but my vote would have been to hold him out against the Cardinals and then let him get a full week of practice in preparation for his return versus the Browns. It appears he'll get that week now - hopefully Sam will be sharper next Sunday ..

[FestusRam]

No matter what Steve Spagnuolo says, there's really nothing to be gained by punting the ball to Patrick Peterson when it's just as easy to punt it away from Peterson. Seriously, coach. Let's be straight about this.-Bernie

Is this a joke...

Did this dude watch the game or eat hot wings the whole time.

Did we not get TWO safeties by doing the exact same thing??? SMH

I don't know whats the bigger theft. The millions the bust Jamarcus Russell was handed or however much Bernie's given to ramble on about nothing.

[swatter555]

Is this a joke...

Did this dude watch the game or eat hot wings the whole time.

Did we not get TWO safeties by doing the exact same thing??? SMH

I don't know whats the bigger theft. The millions the bust Jamarcus Russell was handed or however much Bernie's given to ramble on about nothing.

I think the Special Teams has played pretty well this year, but I think holding Peterson down on the previous punts was luck as much as anything. Spags just kept rolling the dice and lost big-time. Why not just give up a few more yards and kick it out of bounds? I'm not going to be overly critical on this one, but I see Bernie's point.

Bradford has obviously had accuracy issues this year for a variety of reasons, so we shouldn't be afraid to acknowledge it. I'm not worried about Bradford, though. It can take years for a QB to develop and Sam still has great potential. I think the McDaniels system is great, but maybe Sam isn't ready for warp speed yet.

[FestusRam]

I think the Special Teams has played pretty well this year, but I think holding Peterson down on the previous punts was luck as much as anything. Spags just kept rolling the dice and lost big-time. Why not just give up a few more yards and kick it out of bounds? I'm not going to be overly critical on this one, but I see Bernie's point.

Ok and why couldn't we say that Peterson got lucky returning a 99 yard punt. It wasn't luck it was Peterson fielding shorter yardage punts where we had only a short distance to get to him. Much like the last punt.

My point was though that Bernie said theres really nothing to be gained there. Thats just wrong. We had success doing that so how is there really nothing to be gained. Im not saying kicking it out of bounds would've been a bad idea. It obviously would'nt of been after that return. Im just simply pointing out the fact that doing what we did there worked to perfection all game, and I don't know if he did'nt notice that or what.

[RockinRam]

Bradford can definitely improve his deep throw accuracy. Can't argue with that.

I'm not mad about punting to Peterson. I'm mad that our whole special teams looked like little girls trying to tackle Hulk Hogan.

[mh-i]

Whether Bradford can do this or that and why he can't at this stage of his career is beside the point. My issue is that the Rams offense while he's been in there this season, six games, has scored 4 touchdowns. The Rams need that to change. If you can't lead your team into the end zone and settle for field goal attempts you aren't going to win many games.