Lessons from the current NFL best deep ball thrower.

I was expecting an article about Joe Flacco.

 

Someone tweet the link to Tanny

 

"Muscle memory" he says. Hard to achieve if you're not throwing loads of deep balls....

 

I saw a big improvement in Tannehill's pocket movement this year. Early on, before the OL injuries, his movement was better. It seemed to me that he evaded things pretty well when the pressure came from either outside or inside. He struggled when pressure came from both outside and inside (actually all QBs do). I see that pressure as a big factor in both the timing and in the number of deep attempts the team might have.

The other factor is the WR's catch radius and his ability to adjust to the ball in flight. IMO Wallace isn't great at either of those. He did make some nice contested catches on shorter passes this year, which was nice to see, but not on deep passes. I think a WR with better skills in those areas would greatly improve the deep catch %. It could be a big target (like White or Strong) or even a guy like Devin Smith who just seems adept in those areas.

 

If Tannehill had a deep threat with a catch radius bigger than a bread basket then we wouldn't be having this conversation.

 

Honestly I think his deep ball accuracy is decent. He doesn't air it out like other qbs so he gets less chanvces and that's due to our oline and receivers. I think if lazor feels more comfortable with the pass protection we will go from 1 to 2 attempts to 4 or 5 per game and then our fans will say tannehill improved because we hit on 2 per gm. I think most fans can't discern why a play doesn't work and just blame the qb. If they see rogers hit on 2 out of 5 he is a great deep ball passer but if a qb goes 0 for 1 he sucks somehow

 

I think Tannehill has a good chance of being that QB. His fire or heart is what I wonder about at times not always just at times I don't see it. Would like to see his game face every time he is on the field.

 

I watched football for 40 years. I've never in my life heard of WR catch radius until Tannehill came along.

 

I was a scout for years and WR catch radius is and has been a standard descriptor for a very long time.

 

You must have invented the phrase.

 

It's been around forever, regardless of what you may have heard. Bonus on MW: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2014/catch-radius-mike-wallace-co-vs-antonio-brown

 

I haven't been involved in scouting for at least a decade and it was common place then. It would be cool if I had invented it, but it was well established before my time.

 

most def something that has to be taking into account when looking at the receiver position, its one of the main reasons why I wasn't high on Cordarelle Patterson, he simply did not like to extend his arms to catch the ball.

 

interesting meaningless article.

Brown is the smallest of all those WR's, yet supposedly has a bigger catch radius... hmmmm OK

 

You do realize the proof of something existing correlates poorly with your own personal knowledge...right?

If you've never heard of a tachyon, that doesn't mean the first person to mention it to you, invented it.....

 

You don't even understand what catch radius is, how are you even judging it to be dubious?

 

I'm not sure why. There's a range of catches a receiver can make- The easiest is right on the numbers of the jersey, but catches outside to the sides or above, over the shoulder, diving, etc. are more difficult.

Mike Wallace requires the ball on the numbers for him to catch at a higher degree than a "star" receiver should need.

 

Really? It is a fairly used term. I remember when Larry Fitzgerald came out, they talked about his catch radius all of the time.

 

There's an even starker illustration:

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2014/catch-radius-bigger-better

Of all the player years studied, Mike Wallace has 3 of the 4 performances with the highest % of chest catches.

He needs the ball delivered on the numbers to be effective. Bruce Arians was willing to do the work to get him open on those kind of passes, and Big Ben has rare deep accuracy that allowed him to deliver those.

Virtually all the other productive deep receivers in the league excel because they've got a big catch radius. Most deep passes are going to require adjustment from a receiver, and guys who do it best are generally the ones who will excel.

 

At that point you're not proving that tachyons don't exist, but you may be proving that despite being involved in science for 40 years you still don't know much about science.

 

This in a nutshell is why I don't believe tannehill is a poor deep thrower. His passes are generally within a foot of where they need to be. That to me is good accuracy. If we had a receiver who could adjust and go up and fight I think you would see his completion percent soar. Add a line that could hold their blocks for another second and once agAin I think his completion percent goes up

 

3 and 5 are issues I have brought up...Ryan's release looks more like every other pass he makes, I've said 100 times he needs more ARC on his throws. This isn't a 10yd comeback route, he needs to adjust his mechanics accordingly. Maybe he needs a new QBs coach or anyone that can help him with this. He had the same release on his deep ball as he always has....and the result is wasting our best WR and leaving chunk plays on the field.

If he ever develops that throw, and we get healthy upfront then watch out.

 

A foot within where they are supposed to be??? Are you sure you watched Miami Dolphins games the past few years?

 

yeah prez has been pretty much awol the past two years, which I don't like personally but a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do, and in this case I heard he was busy teaching the art of male gigolo'ing

 

Funny. Several times, I've mentioned muscle memory regarding the deep ball. Just before the last couple of games, I mentioned how Tanne just needs to hit some of those deep balls in a couple of games and during the last couple of games he did. It's a total shame that it was at the end of the season. He'll probably have to build that up again next season.

 

I have seen every single game this year, missed one last year and missed one the year before. Forget about two years ago and look at his passes this year. His deep ball accuracy is actually good this year. How many times early in the season did he hit wallace only to have wallace put a foot out of bounds. If you look at all the deep throws he threw this year, he's within a foot on over half the throws

 

lol

 

If you are the Dolphins in the GML....we can talk more about Wallace.

 

Its ridiculous. Just look at the long ball to Wallace in the Colts game, Wallace had to stop and wait for it at about the 8 or 9 yard line. On that particular play Wallace gave Tannehill about a 15 yard window, thats hardly the "catch radius of a bread basket." If Tannehill would actually put some air under the ball once in a while and put it in better locations, as in throw Wallace open rather than throw him into the defender, I'm sure Wallace would provide one of the bigger target areas in the league.


Wallace may have a poor "catch radius" but he more than makes up for it with the target zone he creates. You don't get to be the number one reciever in the league in a season without some pretty good skills at catching the football.

[video=youtube;dNLTdNxhFvw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNLTdNxhFvw[/video]

 

Throwing a guy open isn't something I have seen Tannehill do.

I understand that "catch radius" has been a thing for a long time, but it has been a thing on these forums for about as long as these Tannehill discussions have been going on.

Personally, I think Wallace could be better, but he's not holding Tannehill back, which is what it seems like from reading this forum. I'd keep Wallace and add a big target for next year on the other side.

 

All those passes were within a foot of where they should've been.

 

Watch Sport Science from Justin Blackmon AND Megatron u see their ratio!

 

I think his problems with the deep ball are mostly mental.

1. He needs to see the guy get open, which throws off the timing and give the rushers time to get around him or in his face. This is not abnormal for an inexperienced QB and I believe it is fixable.
2. He can't not throw at the target. What I mean by that is he has a hard time throwing to where the target is heading and instead throws more where the target is. Its not so much an anticipation thing as much as its just human nature to be good at hitting stationary targets but not so good at hitting moving targets. Again, I believe this is something you can get better at but I would be worried about it becoming a problem again in high pressure situations.

 

mental and touch..he does have some touch issues from a fundamental standpoint..touch throws do not come easy to him...but I absolutely think he can improve his deep ball accuracy by identifying his target earlier, get more time from his line, have another year where the game continues to slow down, and just freakin throw the football and stop thinking about trajectory..ive seen the dude change his mind on trajectory in his wind up...not good..just throw it.

 

How do you think throwing to a spot is affected when throwing at a receiver who doesn't run the best routes?

 

Those routes get him past defenses...that's all that matters. Rather you or anyone else likes it or not, Ryan MUST improve in this area.

 

2013. why dont you grade his junior year in high school. its about as relevant