Quote Originally Posted by bmorecareful View Post
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.
Great post.

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