Who Are the Best Deep Passers in the League? (A Cool Chart Shows the Flacco Enigma)

**akashicrecorder** · 11-23-2013, 04:39 PM

http://regressing.deadspin.com/chart...917039/@kylenw

Deadspin recently posted some charts that show how well the starting QBs in the league fare when they're throwing the ball downfield.

Unsurprisingly, Flacco is near the very top in terms of amount of times he throws the deep ball (4th out of 32). That tends to happen when you have guys like Smith and Jacoby (and, in our better days [sigh] when we had Q and Pitta and even Rice out the backfield opening up things underneath).

But his accuracy/success rate is toward the bottom (25/32) and the yards he's attempted per deep pass is even lower (27/32).

To me this is an indication of three things:

1) Flacco's natural aggressiveness/gunslinger nature/justified confidence in his own arm,

2) the lack of production from our WRs and coaches, because a guy who throws deep that often with two big speed threats in Torrey and Jacoby should have more success than the average team, which rarely has TWO guys who are that fast, and

3) how bad our offensive scheme is. I'm no guru but it seems not a coincidence that the average distance Joe's "deep" balls are going is close to 10. As in, we had probably plowed Rice into a bunch of fat guys' butts twice to give us 3rd and 8, 9, etc.

What do you guys think?

**landshark52** · 11-23-2013, 05:10 PM

You also can't discount the fact that Flacco is not the most accurate quarterback when he throws the deep ball. He's missed more than his fair share of deep throws in career. Even last year in the playoffs when he was at his best, he missed a couple against the Broncos. He had a couple great long throws to Torrey Smith and of course the mile high miracle. But he missed Torrey 2 other times where it could have been a touchdown.

**JoeCool5** · 11-23-2013, 06:36 PM

I see no reason why Joe shouldn't be one of the best deep ball throwers in the league. He has the best arm in the NFL.

iggyman555 · 11-23-2013, 06:44 PM

mettenberger

**Ravenswintitle** · 11-23-2013, 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by iggyman555

mettenberger

two 1,000 yard receivers this year. that 1970's offense is still tough to stop

**pslholder96** · 11-23-2013, 06:58 PM

No question Joe has the best arm strength in the league. There have been numerous occasions where he's simply not able to hit guys in stride either because he puts too much lift in his throws or the receivers simply don't run the route the way its suppose to be run.

iggyman555 · 11-23-2013, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by Ravenswintitle

two 1,000 yard receivers this year. that 1970's offense is still tough to stop

yea i mentioned it in another thread. that only happened 3 times ever in the SEC. cam is a genius harbs was the problem the whole time.

**wickedsolo** · 11-24-2013, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by Ravenswintitle

two 1,000 yard receivers this year. that 1970's offense is still tough to stop

College. Football.

When was the last Cam offense in the NFL that produced multiple 1,000 yard receivers?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**seraph** · 11-24-2013, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by JoeCool5

I see no reason why Joe shouldn't be one of the best deep ball throwers in the league. He has the best arm in the NFL.

Arm strength isn't the only thing that matters when throwing deep. There are other aspects of arm talent that people don't acknowledge. Flacco might have top 5 velocity but the rest of his arm talent isn't that impressive.

**lovefootball** · 11-24-2013, 01:22 PM

Originally Posted by seraph

Arm strength isn't the only thing that matters when throwing deep. There are other aspects of arm talent that people don't acknowledge. Flacco might have top 5 velocity but the rest of his arm talent isn't that impressive.

Can anyone recall Flacco actually completing a long pass, hitting the receiver in stride. To me, his passes have so much arch on them, the receiver has to stop or jump for the ball. Can't recall him hitting the receiver accurately without the receiver stopping or changing course.

**OriAl** · 11-24-2013, 05:37 PM

Originally Posted by lovefootball

Can anyone recall Flacco actually completing a long pass, hitting the receiver in stride. To me, his passes have so much arch on them, the receiver has to stop or jump for the ball. Can't recall him hitting the receiver accurately without the receiver stopping or changing course.

Twice today he did.

**JMUpurkfool** · 11-24-2013, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by lovefootball

Can anyone recall Flacco actually completing a long pass, hitting the receiver in stride. To me, his passes have so much arch on them, the receiver has to stop or jump for the ball. Can't recall him hitting the receiver accurately without the receiver stopping or changing course.

Nope. It's literally never happened.