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Forgive me if i am repeating a point thats been raised. I have been slammed at work and unable to participate as actively as i have done in this past. I have posted on this topic inside of other threads, but i thought it might be fun to deal with this topic on a stand alone basis.
This is not a knock on bradford. He has the physical tools to be an excellent nfl qb. Many have questioned his durability. I am not going to debate that point because i think that before the rams invest over 40 million, they are going to satisfy themselves that he is healthy and no more likely to reinjure his shoulder than if he hadnt been hurt the first time. As an aside, a family member of mine practiced with Dr James Andrews and has educated me on injuries of this type. He tells me that these surgeries have a very high rate of success in most cases and there is every reason to believe that bradford will be as good as new. Thats not a guarantee of course, its just a matter of the odds from an objective and educated third party.
What worries me is the lack of track record of bradford under pressure. In his huge year, bradford played entire games without a pass rush getting into his area code, let alone his face. In the national title game vs florida, with guys in his face, he looked pretty mortal to me.
As all of you know from listing to my ranting over the last two years in defense of marc bulger, my mantra of the qb position is that no matter how good you are, you cant throw from flat on your ass, which is where marc bulger has been time and time and time again. What makes a great qb is a combination of his own skills and the weapons around him, starting with an offensive line.
Mike Martz, like him or hate him, has had as much success with qb's as anyone alive. Martz says that leadership, accuracy, toughness and brains are the key to the qb position. There is a minimum required arm strength, but martz said time and again that arm strength is overated and i agree with that. I think the qb is like the president of the usa. He gets too much credit when things go well, and too much blame when things dont go well.
Reasonable people can disagree on this topic, but i continue to contend that if you put peyton manning behind the rams offensive line, we would for sure improve, but i dont think we would be anywhere near a winning team because our offensive line has been a joke for years and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that the offensive line will be any better pass blocking wise this year than its been in the recent past. Sure jason smith may get better, but who knows? Peyton Manning, with pass rushers in his face looks mortal and that is with ten years of pro bowl experience. Bradford has no track record in that area. This also explains why i put so little stock in his pro day performance. What does it really mean that he looks great when no one is rushing him. Ryan McGwire, Ryan Leaf, Akili Smith the list is endless of guys who looked great on paper and in warmups and workouts.
I loved mathew stafford a year ago and i think he had an excellent rookie year. He played at georgia behind a terrible offensive line and had plenty of experience playing under pressure. I dont think bradford has that experience and that concerns me.
What also concerns me is my view that Suh is a phenomenal prospect, at a position that we could really use help at. Teams have been running the ball up the middle on us for years.
In short, i think a motivating factor behind the bradford pick is that no matter how good suh is, the defensive lineman is going to sell a lot less tickets than the flashy qb. The rams need a long term qb and i understand that. However, with the weapons (or lack thereof) that we have on the current roster, i am greatly concerned about passing on suh to take bradford. I remain in the suh-colt mccoy camp, although i acknowledge that there is no guarantee that mccoy will be available at 33 (and my gut tells me that he wont, that we will need to trade up to get mccoy if we want him).
In short, i think that the rams are so badly broken that we are not going to be competitive this year no matter who we pick. I dont see bradford as a lock franchise qb and if we screw this pick up, we will pay the price for about five years. i would prefer to be more risk averse, take suh and get a qb either in round 2 or next year.
If the Rams take bradford (which is looking more and more like a given) i will not be really upset. Again, i think he is an excellent prospect. My concerns are not just bradford, but a strong pro Suh view. I will disagree with the pick, but pray for sure that i am wrong. If the rams get an offensive line around bradford, i think he will have an excellent chance to be successful. WIth our current line and receivers, i think its going to be very rough going.
ramming speed to all
general counsel
This is not a knock on bradford. He has the physical tools to be an excellent nfl qb. Many have questioned his durability. I am not going to debate that point because i think that before the rams invest over 40 million, they are going to satisfy themselves that he is healthy and no more likely to reinjure his shoulder than if he hadnt been hurt the first time. As an aside, a family member of mine practiced with Dr James Andrews and has educated me on injuries of this type. He tells me that these surgeries have a very high rate of success in most cases and there is every reason to believe that bradford will be as good as new. Thats not a guarantee of course, its just a matter of the odds from an objective and educated third party.
What worries me is the lack of track record of bradford under pressure. In his huge year, bradford played entire games without a pass rush getting into his area code, let alone his face. In the national title game vs florida, with guys in his face, he looked pretty mortal to me.
As all of you know from listing to my ranting over the last two years in defense of marc bulger, my mantra of the qb position is that no matter how good you are, you cant throw from flat on your ass, which is where marc bulger has been time and time and time again. What makes a great qb is a combination of his own skills and the weapons around him, starting with an offensive line.
Mike Martz, like him or hate him, has had as much success with qb's as anyone alive. Martz says that leadership, accuracy, toughness and brains are the key to the qb position. There is a minimum required arm strength, but martz said time and again that arm strength is overated and i agree with that. I think the qb is like the president of the usa. He gets too much credit when things go well, and too much blame when things dont go well.
Reasonable people can disagree on this topic, but i continue to contend that if you put peyton manning behind the rams offensive line, we would for sure improve, but i dont think we would be anywhere near a winning team because our offensive line has been a joke for years and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that the offensive line will be any better pass blocking wise this year than its been in the recent past. Sure jason smith may get better, but who knows? Peyton Manning, with pass rushers in his face looks mortal and that is with ten years of pro bowl experience. Bradford has no track record in that area. This also explains why i put so little stock in his pro day performance. What does it really mean that he looks great when no one is rushing him. Ryan McGwire, Ryan Leaf, Akili Smith the list is endless of guys who looked great on paper and in warmups and workouts.
I loved mathew stafford a year ago and i think he had an excellent rookie year. He played at georgia behind a terrible offensive line and had plenty of experience playing under pressure. I dont think bradford has that experience and that concerns me.
What also concerns me is my view that Suh is a phenomenal prospect, at a position that we could really use help at. Teams have been running the ball up the middle on us for years.
In short, i think a motivating factor behind the bradford pick is that no matter how good suh is, the defensive lineman is going to sell a lot less tickets than the flashy qb. The rams need a long term qb and i understand that. However, with the weapons (or lack thereof) that we have on the current roster, i am greatly concerned about passing on suh to take bradford. I remain in the suh-colt mccoy camp, although i acknowledge that there is no guarantee that mccoy will be available at 33 (and my gut tells me that he wont, that we will need to trade up to get mccoy if we want him).
In short, i think that the rams are so badly broken that we are not going to be competitive this year no matter who we pick. I dont see bradford as a lock franchise qb and if we screw this pick up, we will pay the price for about five years. i would prefer to be more risk averse, take suh and get a qb either in round 2 or next year.
If the Rams take bradford (which is looking more and more like a given) i will not be really upset. Again, i think he is an excellent prospect. My concerns are not just bradford, but a strong pro Suh view. I will disagree with the pick, but pray for sure that i am wrong. If the rams get an offensive line around bradford, i think he will have an excellent chance to be successful. WIth our current line and receivers, i think its going to be very rough going.
ramming speed to all
general counsel
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