Moose suffers concussion

I don't honestly see Dyson not sucking here. Doubtful he'll impact.

To be honest, a lot of guys have had problems with the drops. And our QBs, they throw so many of those damn arc passes. You know, like everything's a touch pass.
They always said the hardest pass to catch was that touch pass to the flat. Shoulders not suare to any point of reference, somewhat running but not streaking, bad angles, these things are the basics of most of our passing opportunities that aren't crosses or fly patterns. It's not an excuse to drop them, but between that and what seems to be a total lack of execution (suggesting missive coaching and a far too extreme bias toward the running game in practice as well) I can understand it. I've always been more of a proponent of the velocity, release and rope type pass, the rainbows I've never been able to get down with.

 

I wonder, Mags, if Hennings' barrel drills are having a negative impact on our catching. You bring up a good point. Henning always wanted our QBs to loft it into the barrels during training camp. It seems I remember that the guys were always having contests as to who could loft the most into the barrels.

 

yeah, the barrel drill enhances that type throwing. It's great for accuracy, but it's not the only throw you need to make. Most intermediate throws need a lower trajectory - it's easier to track, it's easier to adjust to, and so on. Think back - we're only halfway through the season, but we've seen well-placed balls dropped by pretty much everyone.

Can anybody think of a player who hasn't dropped one?
Young hasn't, but he's gotten his hands on one ball and that was called back. I don't remember the two backs dropping any. Everyone else that's played, has dropped one I believe. That's freaking outrageous.

 

So start Weinke. He'll put ass behind it and get it there (as long as he isn't throwing to the left).

 

They have ALL dropped multiple "easy" throws from Delhomme. Imho with the exception of the big time Jax reception, Proehl has been a disappointment. I have been on Moose's bandwagon for years, I can't support him any more, it's time for him to begin to earn his pay on the field. I can live with a few drops if he makes the big catch at the key time in the game.....but that's not happened. Smith has been good, but I still don't think we will have a "good" receiving corps until he is at best our 3rd option. I will be pleasantly shocked if Dyson makes any kind of contribution, I'm not expecting anything and I doubt he gets another contract offer from us. I do think we will keep Smith around, probably on a 1 year 1st round tender.....small 1 year investment and if someone offers him a big contract then we'll take the 1st round draft pick and say goodbye. If Smith stays he will get 1 more year to convince management he's worth the risk of a big time contract. It's highly possible that Proehl and Young will be the only returning receivers next season, which means Hurney will have his work cut out for him by doing something that's been ingnored for a long time......get the Panthers some talent at wideout.

As for Smith's actions, I have seen a lot worse.....imho the Buc's were trying to end Kris Jenkins season with the chop block but could not get it done. I think that Smith's actions are not even in the same league as what the Buc's tried to do. I don't really think Smith was attempting to end someones career or season. He will, and should get fined for his actions, but I have not seen the "pattern" some mention. This is the 1st major incident for Smith since the Bright fight. I don't see Smith as a major chemistry problem with this team, at least not right now.

As for Moose, he's unfortunately still one of our best options and Fox is going to put the team on the field that gives the team the "best opportunity to win"...right now that includes Moose. However, I'm no longer going to support him in this forum.....and I don't see him back next season.

 

I dunno. I'm wondering if it's a Jake thing rather than a loft thing.

Yes, Jake's lofted some deep and some to the corners of the end zone, but a lot of times it looks more like he has too much on the ball, not too little. Moose's facemask drop this week being a case in point, as well as many of the almost-interceptions he's thrown. Jake's often trying to jam the ball into coverage. Lotsa "woulda shoulda coulda" catches both ways, with Delhomme being the one common thread. I think Jake's a good QB for us and is going to get better, but I wonder... is he throwing a hard-to-catch ball somehow?

I remember reading about receivers having to adjust to the reverse spiral from a southpaw QB (maybe Price talking about Vick?). Maybe its something like that (even though Jake's a righty). Or maybe it's a Cajun thing. Too much pepper on the ball...

I'd sure like to see it get ironed out, whatever it is.

 

yeah, he has velocity. In his case, the rainbows aren't because of a lack of arm. Which should be a case for the rope throw.

I dunno if it's a hard to catch ball on Jake in particular, but we've had a lot of problems with the drops from everybody. Even Foster had one this week.


pepper thing was kinda funny too. Props for that.

 

How can Proehl be a disappointment? Delhomme only throws to him twice a game at most. If the ball is thrown in his direction, he'll come down with it. His catch yesterday after stepping out of bounds was a great sidelines catch. Ricky has the best hands on the team. He just doesn't have burner speed and never did, even at Wake Forest.

 

Problem is Proehl was not brought in to get a bunch of throws, but to catch the important ones. He's dropped way to many passes, easy ones this season. If you doubt it, I will go thru the game stats and list them for you.....but you won't like the results.

 

I'm frustrated with Moose dropping the ball this season, but he is still too valuable to us to bench. He has struggled, but has shown in the past that he can catch the tough balls. We've used him as the deep threat too much this year though.

We need to switch how we use Moose and Smith IMO. Smith should be the burner, not the possession guy. Then I think Smith still has the good year, plus more big plays and Moose is used in his best position also. Proehl has dropped some, but has also caught some tough passes across the middle where he's been nailed. Young has done nothing in regular season. Hopefully Dyson can come in and help, but if Moose gets back to playing like he has in the past, and we use our receivers properly, then we'll be all right. We don't throw much, but we need to catch the ball when we do.

I don't think Moose was all right Sunday anyway. The mistake on the route was not a correct read by Moose IMO. The play was a pump to freeze the safety and then throw the fade for a jump ball which Moose should win. You don't cut off a route on a fade pattern where the ball is arced. Then the ball hit him in the face. Maybe he should have sat out another week and made sure he was ok after the concussion. I may be wrong on this, but just my opinion after watching the game.