Week 1: Ramsey vs Brunell - A Video Analysis

[CrazyZeb]

Oh yeah, and THANKS ZEB!! One question though; how come your videos are always so small? Am I using the wrong player or something? I have to get all close to my monitor to watch them...

Nearly 10 minutes of video needs to be highly compressed. Just double click the video (or whatever your player requires) and expand it to full screen.

[redblazer00]

Only stat that matters to me is the Turnover one.......If our offense doesn't turn the ball over, I believe our defense is skilled enough to win us the game. Just put a QB back there that knows when to throw the ball away and take a sack if needed verse trying to give the game away so to speak. Via Ramsey and his bad choices! Brunell played better in the preseason and the 1st week. If I was the head coach he would have been the starter hands down.

[jwsleep]

Fantastic work, Zeb! That's very helpful indeed.

Kinda confirms what we already knew, I suppose--Ramsey looks good with time, he's got a strong arm, but he makes bad decisions under pressure and sometimes holds the ball too long. The "sack" on Ramsey was just a brutal and obvious personal foul. I am outraged everytime I see it. What the F*** are the rules for? Aren't they supposed to err on the side of protecting the QB? We've all seen plays where the QB is barley tapped, and they call the 15 yarder. Outrageous.

Pat didn't do anything to lose his job outright on the tape, but he looked about the same as he has for a while. Plus, however it came about, he lost the ball twice in a quarter and a half.

Brunnell looked fine--no gun, obviously, but competent. Nice throw to Moss on thrid down after the low snap. Plus, he got the ball out quickly, and he threw it away when nothing was there. Liked that fake sweep bootleg to the left in the red zone. Nicest call of the day for Gibbs.

Neither rocked the world, but we knew that. Gibbs obviously just feels better with Brunnell in there--I'm not going to analyze the switch anymore.

I'd definetly say Brunnell looked a lot better than he did last year--and don't forget, Portis was moving the chains, so there was no need for Brunnell to really open it up (if he can, which we'll see).

Still worried about red zone offense. Gibbs is still not sure how he wants to approach that, as far as I can tell. Neither QB had tht much to work with down there, IMHO.

[jrockster21]

Brunnell looked fine--no gun, obviously, but competent. Nice throw to Moss on thrid down after the low snap. Plus, he got the ball out quickly, and he threw it away when nothing was there. Liked that fake sweep bootleg to the left in the red zone. Nicest call of the day for Gibbs.

I agree, that was a sweet call. I don't agree when you say Brunell had no gun. He had a lot of zip on his throws! Did you see that perfect strike to Cooley?

[SoCalSkins]

PR looked better than Scott

[da#1skinsfan]

Thanks Zeb!

[skin_finatic]

we knew zeb wouldn't stop! cool stuff

[CrossWalker]

Watch the plays when Ramsey is the least bit pressured -- good things do not happen. That's the book on him -- blitz him and he will make a bad decision.

Exactly, it's probably Spurrier's fault. He didn't have hot routes to get out of slow developing plays in the teeth of ferocious blitz packages. I remember him just getting relentlessly beaten upon by the Cowboys that year. 8 and 9 in the box just pinning them back and rocking PR, it was horrible. But he never found the open guy or got the ball out. I remember feeling bad for him but also being very p!$$ed off about him not making them pay for bringing it like that. Again, I know there were uncountable flaws with Spurrier's system but as a QB you've got to beat that blitz to make tham stop.

[Fergasun]

While a poster above correctly points out the video shows Ramsey's flaws, it also shows why the board is split over the decision. When Ramsey was settled into the pocket he was firing the ball nicely (after he calmed down initially). I was impressed by those throws. If he is able to calm his game down, he will be a nice QB to have. I believe that's been said for the past 2 years, but... he's a NFL QB... someone will give him PT, and when he clicks I hope he is a Redskin.

and Thanks Zeb... I guess Zeb's not dead... that wide angle is pretty sweet!

[Califan007 The Constipated]

It does look like Brunell's throw to Cooley in the red zone cost the Skins a TD...Cooley had to dive out of the end zone and down towards the ground to get Brunell's pass. I kept hearing that it was Cooley's fault, that he stopped short of the end zone...

I still don't see Ramsey's performance being one that deserves to be ended immediately...and neither QB "obviously" out-performed the other.

[sableholic]

um anybody notice that everytime brunell throws he shys away. even when nobody is there. he throws scared.

[Phat Hog]

The Ramsey pass to Moss for 52 yards was clearly his best pass. The fake to the right with a slant pass to the left clearly had the desired result of throwing off the defense. To bad he doesn't do those types of things very often.

[s0crates]

Lack of arm??? Three plays stand out in my memory from the Brunell video that show how improved he is:

exhibit A: On the deep throw (well, semi-deep) to Moss, the one where he was mugged, that would have gone for a TD had Moss not got dragged down by the jersey. The throw was a bit high, but Moss was on his way up to catch it. It may have been that Vasher tackled him right away, but since he was going for the ball as well, I think he would have gotten smoked.

EDIT: I'm still shocked we got that call...last year that's a no-call and the Bears get an extra 15 for a phantom personal foul...

exhibit B: The crossing throw to Cooley. Two things about this; first of all, the throw was absolutely perfect. It hit Cooley in stride, he didn't even have to break his pace in the slightest. Second, last year Brunell would have missed that throw, or it would have been low/high/wobbly/etc. The fact that it was such a perfect throw should be excellent news to Skins fans everywhere.

exhbit C: The low-snap play. I personally think that if Ramsey had been in there for that play, it would have been a dead play. Brunell scooped it up and was able to throw a perfect strike off his back foot to Moss. Ramsey makes that throw and its a pick for 6.

Also, the two plays that Brunell threw the ball away are good examples of what a QB should do. Who knows what Ramsey would have done in those situations?? I have a guess...

Now, Ramsey had a lot of nice throws as well, but he also had some bad moments. He holds on to the ball way too long. On his first fumble (the one recovered by Jansen) the ball should have been gone 2 seconds before he was hit. Inexcusable.

Oh yeah, and THANKS ZEB!! One question though; how come your videos are always so small? Am I using the wrong player or something? I have to get all close to my monitor to watch them...

Well said. I agree completely with your analysis. Oh, and you should have a minimize/maximize button on your player in the upper right hand corner.

[Skins11]

It does look like Brunell's throw to Cooley in the red zone cost the Skins a TD...Cooley had to dive out of the end zone and down towards the ground to get Brunell's pass. I kept hearing that it was Cooley's fault, that he stopped short of the end zone...

I still don't see Ramsey's performance being one that deserves to be ended immediately...and neither QB "obviously" out-performed the other.

Exactly. Ramsey's pass to Cooley was accurate pass. Brunell's wasn't... Cooley was sitting there in the end zone, and Brunell threw it to the one yard line. Maybe Brunell was trying to avoid a turnover. But of course, Brunell almost saved the game, and Ramsey is a turnover machine. Sigh.

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

Hey Zeb. I knew you couldn't resist. Very good work, as usual.

[Saqs]

Exactly. Ramsey's pass to Cooley was accurate pass. Brunell's wasn't... Cooley was sitting there in the end zone, and Brunell threw it to the one yard line. Maybe Brunell was trying to avoid a turnover. But of course, Brunell almost saved the game, and Ramsey is a turnover machine. Sigh.

I agree.

Now lets see if you can criticize PR for his total lack of blitz recognition and total inability to do anything under pressure.

[Doctorfro]

Thanks for the video. I thought both QBs looked pretty good. The one fumble that Ramsey had was one he should have thrown out. The other is a personal foul. According to one of his teammates, his pick was the receiver's fault (ran wrong route). Other than that the boy was making some plays, serious throws. Brunell........Vanilla. He did what the coach wants. He doesn't call the plays but it seemed like the playcalling got more conservative with him in there. But I know that he could NOT have made some of the throws that Pat did. So I'm sure since our coaches supposedly know best, that's why they don't call those plays for him.

Brunell is in there to be the anti-turnover. I guarantee there will be turnover(s) Monday. He's not perfect and we saw lots of it last season. I don't expect any different and neither should anyone else.

[God Help Me, I'm in Texas]

it's funny, watching a couple of those highlights again, I got nervous Ramsey would throw an interception even after knowing the result beforehand.

something about that guy...i feel like i'm watching a kid play for the first time on JV and you just know, that he knows, he's overmatched.

the guy just radiates low confidence in the pocket, not sure how else to explain it.

[SamSneed36]

Lack of arm??? Three plays stand out in my memory from the Brunell video that show how improved he is:

exhibit A: On the deep throw (well, semi-deep) to Moss, the one where he was mugged, that would have gone for a TD had Moss not got dragged down by the jersey. The throw was a bit high, but Moss was on his way up to catch it. It may have been that Vasher tackled him right away, but since he was going for the ball as well, I think he would have gotten smoked.

EDIT: I'm still shocked we got that call...last year that's a no-call and the Bears get an extra 15 for a phantom personal foul...

exhibit B: The crossing throw to Cooley. Two things about this; first of all, the throw was absolutely perfect. It hit Cooley in stride, he didn't even have to break his pace in the slightest. Second, last year Brunell would have missed that throw, or it would have been low/high/wobbly/etc. The fact that it was such a perfect throw should be excellent news to Skins fans everywhere.

exhbit C: The low-snap play. I personally think that if Ramsey had been in there for that play, it would have been a dead play. Brunell scooped it up and was able to throw a perfect strike off his back foot to Moss. Ramsey makes that throw and its a pick for 6.

Also, the two plays that Brunell threw the ball away are good examples of what a QB should do. Who knows what Ramsey would have done in those situations?? I have a guess...

Now, Ramsey had a lot of nice throws as well, but he also had some bad moments. He holds on to the ball way too long. On his first fumble (the one recovered by Jansen) the ball should have been gone 2 seconds before he was hit. Inexcusable.

Oh yeah, and THANKS ZEB!! One question though; how come your videos are always so small? Am I using the wrong player or something? I have to get all close to my monitor to watch them...

Excellent Post. I agree, looking back Brunell is much improved and can get production out of this offense

[TheLongshot]

Watched both videos. As I thought, Ramsey actually looked pretty good. On the interception, I'm not sure what Patton is doing. Faking a run block? In any case, it doesn't seem to fool the defender for long, and he went out after the pass. Got the interception on the overthrow. If Patton instead runs a route, the defender isn't there (as well as the saftey help).

As the game went on, he was looking sharper. The penalty on Cooley looked a little ticky-tacky, but hard to tell on the video. Not like the defender was sent flying.

As for Brunell, he was up and down. I could tell he's fine on the short passes, when he isn't underthrowing his receivers. Only long completion was hitting a wide open Cooley. Didn't see him missing too badly, but I worry about his deep ball, which was a problem last year.

Yes, he was off on Cooley, but Cooley should have drove a little deeper in the end zone to keep it from being an issue.

Overall, didn't really see a lot of the bad habits Ramsey has had in the past, forcing passes to covered guys. Only on the first fumble does he hold on to the ball too long. Was pretty good at nailing those 3rd and long passes, particularly when he had one taken away from him by penalty. Nothing really there that I'd bench him for.

Jason

[mrdoctor]

nice stuff thx

[hands11]

Ramsey has to get his balls down, our recievers are midgets and hes gonna get em killed (if he ever plays again)

I dont think its getting the ball down. Its that he hasnt figured out how to lob it yet. That amazes me.

If you watch the Atlanta game. There was one play where Vick took the snap, took like one step, and tosses a moon ball to the end zone.

Now thats an exteme example of what Im taking about but I have never seen Ramsey throw anything even close to a ball like that. Everything for him is on a line. He passes where he is trying to drop it in are just the same line pass but softer. Thats what he did on the INT in CHI. Thats not going to get it done. I just cant image why the coachs havent been able to fix this with him.

He looks great on a corner route or a crossing patterns because those are throws on a line with power. But thats all hes got.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Yes, he was off on Cooley, but Cooley should have drove a little deeper in the end zone to keep it from being an issue.

He doesn't have to drive deeper with Ramsey...his throws zip in there on a rope. If you look at Cooley's TDs last season, I think all but one are caught a few feet past the goal line...he gets just over the line, uses his body to shield the pass from the defender, and the ball is zipped into his gut.

[SamSneed36]

I dont think its getting the ball down. Its that he hasnt figured out how to lob it yet. That amazes me.

If you watch the Atlanta game. There was one play where Vick took the snap, took like one step, and tosses a moon ball to the end zone.

Now thats an exteme example of what Im taking about but I have never seen Ramsey throw anything even close to a ball like that. Everything for him is on a line. He passes where he is trying to drop it in are just the same line pass but softer. Thats what he did on the INT in CHI. Thats not going to get it done. I just cant image why the coachs havent been able to fix this with him.

He looks great on a corner route or a crossing patterns because those are throws on a line with power. But thats all hes got.

Well if you look at his short passes as well, they are high. You cant put too much touch on a quick slant or a curl route or the defender gets a play on it and the WR has no chance of making a play after the catch.

If you watch Patton and Moss have to stop and leap in the air on almost every play and a lot of the time they get nailed comming down.

[hands11]

Like the perfect pass Brunell threw as he was falling down? That was a play. I dunno how people can say this isnt a new Brunell :logo:

Very true. After watching the video. The comments I made about Ramsey throwing everything on a line was so clear. With Ramsey, everything is a bullet on line. He does make some passes Brunell doesnt make. Deeper passes in the middle and deeper outs.

Brunell only tossed 1 pass ( to coley ) that was over 10 yards. I think he can hit up to 20-25 yards but he only did that once last game. This is what has people worried. It looked like last year. I just dont know how much of that was Gibbs calling plays safer because CHI D was nasty and we already had 3 TOs.

The time he fell, I hadnt noticed before, he tripped on Jansens foot. I think it was Jansen.

We will know a lot more after the Dallas game.