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My concern with Brunell


congo4269

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Not to beat a dead horse (I know there have been millions of posts related to this) but I have a specific concern about Brunell given the recent offseason acquisitions. I'm not turning on him yet, but if you remember from early last season, the knock on him was that he locked onto one receiver before the snap (bad vision... please correct me if I'm wrong). I remember Patten used to complain about this a lot before he got injured... he would get open, but Brunell wouldn't even give him a look. Lucky for us, the receiver he locked onto was Santana... but as teams picked up on that, his numbers dropped drastically over the course of the season (remember all those frustrating throw-aways on third down??). And yes, I'm aware that a lot of that was because our other receivers after Patten went down had a hard time getting open. Now I haven't reviewed games from last year, but it seems to me that if this is true we may have something to be seriously worried about.

With the receiving weapons we have now (and I truly believe it is the best overall corps in the NFL... if they live up to their potential this year) we need a quarterback with strong vision more than anything else. A strong arm is always nice, and you can't argue with Brunell's experience and ability to manage the game (he sure knows when to throw it away...), but with our new system it seems that the QBs vision and ability to distribute the ball is going to be the key to if our offense lives up to it's potential.

That said, does anyone know how good Campbell's vision is? I know that's hard to measure considering he hasn't been given a chance yet, but is anyone more familiar with his college years? Is that something he was praised/criticized for?

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:munchout:

Honestly from watching the games on TV, I think Brunell looked around alot. Moss was just the only one remotely open.

But I think you have more of a hidden JC vs. Brunell agenda for this thread so you aren't really looking for a Brunell positive are you?

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:munchout:

Honestly from watching the games on TV, I think Brunell looked around alot. Moss was just the only one remotely open.

But I think you have more of a hidden JC vs. Brunell agenda for this thread so you aren't really looking for a Brunell positive are you?

Oh no, don't get me wrong... I'm all for what's best for the skins, and I trust JG's judgement more than anything else (what do I know anyways?); if he is starting Brunell there is a reason. But I am concerned that he will get overwhelmed with 4+ targets to throw to (SM, CC, ARE, BL, Patten... yes I said Patten, CP, etc.) That said, I would love nothing more than Brunell to prove me wrong.

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I think after he was called out for that last season, he tried to overcompensate. But watching him on TV you could tell he tried to look for open receivers...it just so happens it was Moss he got to either first, or was the only one open. Seriously, after what Moss was doing who wouldn't look his way first?

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:munchout:

Honestly from watching the games on TV, I think Brunell looked around alot. Moss was just the only one remotely open.

But I think you have more of a hidden JC vs. Brunell agenda for this thread so you aren't really looking for a Brunell positive are you?

Thank you. Did Brunell throw a lot of pics. That should be the number one concern for a QB. WR's were not getting open. When Patten went down we had no one who could get open. The only thing we could do is hope CP opened the field for Moss or Cooley. If they were stopping CP. They were stopping our pass game for the most part.

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After we drafted JC, someone posted a clip of his "highlights" from college. One of the biggest concerns I had watching the clips was he seemed to lock in on one guy. He never surveyed the field.

Having said that, I'm no expert on his college career, that's just what I recall from his highlight reel.

Hail,

H

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After we drafted JC, someone posted a clip of his "highlights" from college. One of the biggest concerns I had watching the clips was he seemed to lock in on one guy. He never surveyed the field.

Having said that, I'm no expert on his college career, that's just what I recall from his highlight reel.

Hail,

H

Thank you, that was the type of answer I was looking for. And as I stated in the opening post, I understand why Brunell did poorly after Patten's injury... what I was concerned about was how Patten used to complain Brunell never looked his way when he was open; that is a legitimate concern in my mind.

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Let's take a look at a few Brunell facts:

1. Last year, Brunell's QB rating was 85, which is pretty much his career average. No evidence of a decline.

2. Brunell threw more TDs last year than ever in his career.

3. Brunell threw 10 picks in 454 attempts, or 2.2% of the time. That's better than his career average of 2.35%.

4. Brunell did not get appreciably worse as the season wore on: his worst statistcal games were sprinkled throughout the season, not concentrated at the end. The first Giants game, the Raiders game, the Arizona game, the second Philly game, and the TB game were all QB ratings of 60 or below.

5. Brunell actually improved dramatically on the previous year: in 2004, Brunell had a 64 rating, threw INTs 2.5% of the time, and had the lowest completion percentage in his career. In other words, Brunell got better with time in Gibbs system.

6. Brunell accomplished all that with only two receiving threats: Moss and Cooley. After that, you had Portis (2 catches/game), Patten (a little over 1 catch/game) and then a handful of guys who caught a ball every couple of games.

OK, those were facts. Let's venture some opinion: Part of his limited number of receivers might be his laser-like focus on those two guys, but it also might be -- listen up here -- that the other guys COULDN'T CATCH. His fourth-leading receiver didn't finish the season. His fifth-leading receiver was Robert Royal, who has hands of stone. But Royal had many more catches than Taylor Jacobs, who might catch the ball but then would need to take 2 games off to recover. Now that Brunell is surrounded by guys who can catch -- the Skins can line up with Moss, ARE, Lloyd, and Cooley out there -- he'll have many more real options. That's a big difference, and it will impact his confidence.

Also, while Brunell is getting older, he's also making fewer mistakes. Witness his improvement in interception rate. The one statistical area where he has shown a significant decline is in his rushing yards. He had 111 rushing yards last year, well off the 400 or 500 yards he put up early in his career, and only half of his average rushing yardage in the middle of his career. But he's also matured -- do we really need another 100 yards rushing out of Mark Brunell? That's 6 yards per game. If the Skins lose a game because they didn't get 6 yards rushing out of Mark Brunell, they've got bigger problems than we think.

I know Brunell is near the end of his career. I also know that Campbell should be ready to start his. But if Brunell plays the way he did last year, the Skins are a playoff team. If Campbell plays, his rookie mistakes will cost the Skins some games. That's just inevitable. So Brunell, despite his age and increasing gimpiness, is the best hope for the Skins right now.

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Moss and Cooley were our only two options in the passing game. Sellers was the outlet when he was playing passing downs and clearly our Redzone guy.

Moss - 84 catches, 9TDs

Cooley - 71 catches, 7TDs

Sellers - 12 catches, 7TDs

Portis - 30 catches, 0 TDs

Patten - 22 catches (in 9 games), 0 TDs

Rest of team: 43 catches, 0 TDs.

I'd say Brunell looks around plenty. With Moss as our only legitimate WR for half of the year I'd also say Mark did well considering.

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It's interesting you mention this, b/c I was having a conversation about this at lunch w/ my father and a couple of pals. We're cool...Brunell is going to be great this year. He didn't have confidence in anyone but Moss and Cooley quite frankly. He definately knows how to go through his progressions, but it's a lightning fast game so sometimes quick decisions are better than TO's or lost yardage(simple/obvious but true). If he can establish chemistry with these weapons(and they are that...when's the last time you could say we had weapons on offense? :0) I think Brunell will be very productive in 06.

HTTR!

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Guest santana4prez
:munchout:

Honestly from watching the games on TV, I think Brunell looked around alot. Moss was just the only one remotely open.

But I think you have more of a hidden JC vs. Brunell agenda for this thread so you aren't really looking for a Brunell positive are you?

Great Post and Awesome Sig. I agree that the thread starter has JC vs Brunell agenda and I dont understand all the Brunell hate. Brunell is going to prove alot of fans wrong this season when he makes the Pro Bowl. I shall leave with a simple pic backing Bru. I will not get sucked into another Campbell supporter trap.

brunell.jpg

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I watched every snap of Campbells preseason, each of which was a disaster in its own little way.

Kind of like Brunell's '04 season? What a difference a year makes...

And there's a reason good/great coaches groom rookie QB's for at least a year before they hit the big stage...

Watching Tom Brady in college and before the draft would you ever dream he were this good? Guy got 1 1/2 years before he took real snaps. Do you remember him tearing it up in preseason his rookie year? :doh:

Carson Palmer waited...

Steve McNair waited...

Donovan McNabb waited...

Daunte Culpepper waited...

As a matter of fact most successfull QB's had that grooming period for the game to slow...

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this isnt really true. the biggest thing in the nfl is awareness. brunell keyed his primary and looked elsewhere like every other quarter back in the nfl. the problem was that our receivers were not getting seperation from the defence. Brunell is a very smart QB and is very tuned in to everything on the field. all great QBs are. he threw the ball away a lot. and that is better than a sack and much better than an int. other than that, i agree 100% with what MRMADD said

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I don't know, I thought Brunell would try to look for open receivers, but to be honest we just didn't have anybody.

It was really the Moss and Cooley Show. Patten had his moments, but he could never really get that seperation. The biggest play he made all year was attracting that big Pass Interference in the first Eagles game to set up a Touchdown.

Brunell is a veteran. In Jacksonville he had a dominant passing game with Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell. If there are other targets out there, he'll find them.

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...

Brunell is a veteran. In Jacksonville he had a dominant passing game with Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell. If there are other targets out there, he'll find them.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

When he had stud WR's at Jax, he found both of them.

If you've ever looked at their stats, it was amazing how close they were

in recepts & yards some years.

MB will be able to spread it around just fine.

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