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Thread: Dropped passes
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Re: Dropped passes
Some people on the game thread from Sunday were bashing on Pitta over that "dropped pass" on 3rd and long in the first quarter. That was in no way, shape, or form a drop. Just because it hits your hands, doesn't mean you SHOULD catch it. You could stretch your arms to their farthest point and the ball hits you in the fingertips....just because it hits your fingertips doesn't mean it's a drop. Pitta COULD have caught it, but it would have been a well-above-average-borderline-great catch. I don't believe it was calculated as a drop, nor should it have been. However, he did have what I would consider a drop on the following drive, when he dropped an easy one along the sidelines. It was only going to be a 3 or 4 yard gain on 3rd and 17 (or something like that), so it wasn't a big deal.
FYI, Lee Evans play in the end zone in Foxboro last year was not a drop either because the Pats defender contacted the football, which instantly removes it from the category of a drop. Houshmandzadeh's drop in Pittsburgh in the playoffs in Jan 2011 was a drop because it hit him in a "catch zone" with no duress. Fingertips are not a catch zone as I understand the scoring to be.
Also, I think this notion that the Raven receivers aren't clutch with respect to drops is utter hogwash. We beat the Patriots and the Chargers this year on the backs of some great catches by Torrey Smith. We likely tie the Chargers if not for an incredible catch late in OT in San Diego. How much different would our season look if that was a tie versus a win? Pitta is money on almost anything thrown his way and Boldin has made some incredible catches late in games as well (last year in the regular season games vs. HOU and ARZ come to mind).
I'd encourage those complaining about the Raven WRs being chokers to give me a handful of examples of Raven drops late in games that led to losses this year. I just don't see it.
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12-19-2012, 05:36 PM #26
Re: Dropped passes
From watching the drops this season, balls have hit Boldin and Pitta pretty square in the hands. Torrey's passes always seem to require some adjustment while either streaking down the field or leaping in the air to make a play on a ball (errant pass or not.) He has a much higher degree of difficulty when he's targeted than the other receivers/TE's. Why they can't target him on plays < 10 yards from LOS is beyond me, and borderline insane.
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12-19-2012, 05:42 PM #28Legendary RSR Poster
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12-19-2012, 05:45 PM #29
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Re: Dropped passes
Well, I see this as a problem.
Why are we holding the QB to a standard that the other players aren't held to?
This is what Flacco was tasked with on Sunday:
Having to get rid of the ball as soon as he finished his drop or having to abort his full drop and throw into tight coverage while being pummeled.
Flacco was playing 5 on 7 with a shorter stopwatch than most.
If people are going to say Flacco sucks because he didn't play well under those conditions than I would expect them to hold all the other players to the same level of accountability. We had zero room for error Sunday and the few drops we had didn't help at all.
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12-19-2012, 06:00 PM #31
Re: Dropped passes
Here's the top 20 in drops:
1 Jimmy Graham NO 11
2 Victor Cruz NYG 10
3t Dez Bryant Dal 9
3t Denarius Moore Oak 9
3t Demaryius Thomas Den 9
3t Wes Welker NE 9
7t Calvin Johnson Det 8
7t Brandon Marshall Chi 8
7t Doug Martin TB 8
7t Brandon Pettigrew Det 8
11t Brent Celek Phi 7
11t Randall Cobb GB 7
11t Eric Decker Den 7
11t T.J. Graham Buf 7
11t A.J. Green Cin 7
11t Julio Jones Atl 7
11t Brandon Myers Oak 7
11t Andre Roberts Ari 7
11t Reggie Wayne Ind 7
20t Donnie Avery Ind 6
20t Martellus Bennett NYG 6
20t Davone Bess Mia 6
20t Kenny Britt Ten 6
20t Kellen Davis Chi 6
20t Jermichael Finley GB 6
20t Jermaine Gresham Cin 6
20t Aaron Hernandez NE 6
20t Brandon Lloyd NE 6
20t Darren McFadden Oak 6
20t Jordy Nelson GB 6
20t Cecil Shorts Jac 6
20t Darren Sproles NO 6
20t Delanie Walker SF 6
20t Mike Wallace Pit 6
20t Jason Witten Dal 6
Notice no Ravens receiver or TE is on the list.
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Re: Dropped passes
It really seems like they only count a "drop" as something where it hits them in their hands but they look away and don't finish the catch. If the defender is anywhere near the receiver they don't count it for some reason. Which would make sensebecause everyone on the above list can get aot more seperation than our receivers,lol.
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12-19-2012, 08:30 PM #33
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12-19-2012, 08:31 PM #34
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12-19-2012, 09:03 PM #35Hall Of Fame Poster
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Re: Dropped passes
Drops are a subjective statistic. But when you get deep into the weeds of "well, that pass hit him in both hands, but it would have been a hard catch, so it's not actually a drop..." that's just too far down the rabbit hole. I suspect the list cited by the OP uses that kind of methodology--i.e., a drop means an "easy" catch that wasn't completed. But how do you define "easy" and "hard"? The methodology needs to be simpler and less subjective than that.
If an NFL receiver gets both hands on a pass but doesn't complete the process of the catch, it's a drop. I'm not saying all drops are created equal... some are obviously worse than others... but you've got to at least TRY to draw a line in the sand as to what is and isn't.
Pitta had to extend fully to make the play on that 3rd down pass in the first quarter... but he got both hands on the ball. That's a drop. It's not as bad a drop as most, but it's a drop. It's a play that you make. That's the dictionary definition of a "drop".
Having said all that, I really don't think our problems with drops are worse than most... it just happens to be that we pass the ball deeper downfield than most offenses and we do a worse job than most teams of extending drives and getting first downs. When you have so few opportunities and each one counts so much, each drop just FEELS worse.
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12-19-2012, 09:50 PM #36
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