Per Micheal Silver at Yahoo Sports: Clausen fighting off negative perceptions

[Pedro]

I'm for OL 1 and 2 when we pick, but:

Former Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden, who spent time with all four quarterbacks for an ESPN draft special, was wowed by Clausen’s ability to recognize plays they watched together on film and replicate them on the chalkboard. Gruden’s three-word assessment of Clausen: “Love that guy.”

is the kind of statement I keep reading about Clausen.

IMO the ability to read and beat the coverage is what puts Peyton apart. I'm not saying Clausen is the next Peyton but as Raiders fans know it is a key skill. If we're taking a QB I hope we take one that can read the D.

Clausen may not be the only QB that can do this but from the outside looking in he's the only one that has proven it. I'm happy with whoever we get but while we're playing favorites without being in on interviews etc sign me up.

OL will be a mixture of this draft, next draft and the large FA class of next off season.

[Spartacus87]

Still amazing everyone is so willing to overlook Clausen's production vs. top competition. Very interesting.....

Yeah, you should only draft guys who are "winners" are in college. That's the sure fire way to go.

Like Danny Wuerffel! Or Ken Dorsey! Or Eric Crouch! Or Matt Leinart!

On the flip side, a guy like John Elway was never able to get Stanford to a bowl game. What a bust.

Using the record of a team a guy is on to project how he'll do in the NFL is straight dumb.

[MartinC]

Still amazing everyone is so willing to overlook Clausen's production vs. top competition. Very interesting.....

Winning and losing is a team stat not a QB stat. Did you watch any ND games last year? Their defense was embarrasingly bad.

I saw 3 or 4 ND games lat year while I was in the US.

Clausen and no running game, spotty pass protection and one of his best wide receivers hurt most of the year. He and Golden Tate were the ND offense and everyone in the stadium knew it. Yet he found ways to keep his team in games and time and time again his defense let him down after he had dragged his team back.

He may or may not have a good pro career but his won loss record in College at least last year will not have any bearing on that at all.

I think he is a player and compares well with say Mark Sanchez.

What I think is not relevant of course. Once Shanny has broken down his film and worked him out if he thinks he is worth the thats fine with me. If not lets hope Okung is there.

[Commander Adama]

I just can't get over the title: Clausen "fighting" off negative perceptions.

[jflow78]

I just can't get over the title: Clausen "fighting" off negative perceptions.

At least it's not, "Clausen get's punched in face defending girlfriend against negative perceptions".

Anyway, I've said everything I can about Clausen. He's already better than JC, read the reports. He throws to his receivers before they make their breaks (like you're supposed to in the NFL), he reads defenses and makes adjustments, he's fiery and competitive, he led 4 game winning drives last season, he was surrounded by mediocre talent. Put it this way, JC had a subpar NFL line and got 4 wins in 16 games. Clausen had a subpar college line and got 6 wins in 10 or 11 games, not to mention his defense was far worse than JCs.

As far as him being more like Schaub than Brees. Schaub led the NFL in passing last year, I'd take him for sure, not necessarily OVER Brees, but not far behind either.

Schaub had 4,770 yards, 29 TDs, and 15 INTs, was sacked 25 times, and had a 98.6 rating.

Brees had 4,388 yards, 34 TDs, and 11 INTs, was sacked 20 times, and had a 109.6 rating.

Peyton Manning had 4,500 yards, 33 TDs, 16 INTs, was sacked 10 times, and had a 99.6 rating

Tom Brady had 4,398 yards, 28 TDs, 13 INTs, was sacked 16 times, and had a 96.2 rating.

If you think the guy is Schaub, then we should definitely be taking him at 4. I'm a UVA fan, and Schaub NEVER looked at good as Clausen, and I'm not talking about record or competition, I'm just talking about his mechanics, his ability to adjust to defenses, his accuracy.

[skinsfan190]

The question really is, is Jimmy Clausen better than Jason Campbell? I'm not sure he is.

I won't say he is right now, but I think he is right below him. I think Clausen could challenge Jason in training camp if we drafted him. O yeah, I'm not bashing Jason, because I like him, I just don't think he's a franchise QB. I think he is above average tho.

I just think Clausen is gonna be really good and already better in many areas. Jason can't read defenses (he's not good at it at all) Jimmy can and from what I've seen he's very good at it. Jason can't get the ball out fast. Jimmy has a very quick releases and very smart when it comes to check downs. Because he can read defenses he makes very quick decisions because he knows where the opening will be. Then there is accuracy. Jimmy is very accurate especially on the run. This is something Shanahan will love.

O yeah, Jimmy also has experience played behind a sorry oline. He's tough mentaly and physically and I think he is pro ready right now.

[Veretax]

I wonder who is spreading these rumors about Clausen. The kid is a baller. Its not his fault Weiss couldn't recruit on defense so well. They lost a lot of games last year, but they were in a lot of those games (including USC) up till the gun sounded as I recall.

[skinsfan190]

I'm for OL 1 and 2 when we pick, but:

is the kind of statement I keep reading about Clausen.

IMO the ability to read and beat the coverage is what puts Peyton apart. I'm not saying Clausen is the next Peyton but as Raiders fans know it is a key skill. If we're taking a QB I hope we take one that can read the D.

Clausen may not be the only QB that can do this but from the outside looking in he's the only one that has proven it. I'm happy with whoever we get but while we're playing favorites without being in on interviews etc sign me up.

OL will be a mixture of this draft, next draft and the large FA class of next off season.

Exactly this is a huge key. This is what makes QBs great. Clausen is the real deal. That high praise my gruden is impressive. I don't think there is another QB in this draft who can read defenses like Clausen. He is a film guy. He loves studying the game. I think he is really gonna impress Shanahan today with his football IQ, knowledge, and ability to reconize coverages and proceed accordingly.

[skinsfan190]

I wonder who is spreading these rumors about Clausen. The kid is a baller. Its not his fault Weiss couldn't recruit on defense so well. They lost a lot of games last year, but they were in a lot of those games (including USC) up till the gun sounded as I recall.

Todd McShay and Notre Dame haters.

I don't like ND either, but I can look at players objectively.

Clausen gained the rich kid douchebag title in high school. He was a huge recruit with a bad haircut who showed up in a limo to announce he was going to ND. Those are his crimes. He has been a huge target ever since for ND haters. Being a ND hater myself, he won me over with his great play and gutsy performances. Forget the haircut, limo, picture, I don't care. He can ball. He is a fiery competitor, smart QB, great accuracy, there is nothing not to like about the kid.

Notice the haters never criticize his play on the field because it was pretty damn good.

[demarc007]

Yeah, you should only draft guys who are "winners" are in college. That's the sure fire way to go.

Like Danny Wuerffel! Or Ken Dorsey! Or Eric Crouch! Or Matt Leinart!

On the flip side, a guy like John Elway was never able to get Stanford to a bowl game. What a bust.

Using the record of a team a guy is on to project how he'll do in the NFL is straight dumb.

What's straight dumb is you not knowing the difference between winning vs. production.

Elway was a Pac 10 Player of the Year in 1980 and 1982 with USC and UCLA in their glory years. He also shattered NCAA and Pac 10 passing and total offense records while on a pitiful team. THATS PRODUCTION.

[Gregpeck99]

If he consistently scores more than 21 points a game for the Skins ... that will be plenty of "leadership" for me.

[demarc007]

Winning and losing is a team stat not a QB stat. Did you watch any ND games last year? Their defense was embarrasingly bad.

I saw 3 or 4 ND games lat year while I was in the US.

Clausen and no running game, spotty pass protection and one of his best wide receivers hurt most of the year. He and Golden Tate were the ND offense and everyone in the stadium knew it. Yet he found ways to keep his team in games and time and time again his defense let him down after he had dragged his team back.

He may or may not have a good pro career but his won loss record in College at least last year will not have any bearing on that at all.

I think he is a player and compares well with say Mark Sanchez.

What I think is not relevant of course. Once Shanny has broken down his film and worked him out if he thinks he is worth the thats fine with me. If not lets hope Okung is there.

You've missed my point as well focusing solely on wins. I said "production" vs. top competition. Show me the game in his entire 3 yrs in which he showed up against a stout opponent. That's all I'm asking, I watched plenty of ND games last year and I saw cupcake city so I'm not wowed like Clausen's fan club.

[Mahons21]

The one trick pony at it again.

[Skinsinparadise]

Exactly this is a huge key. This is what makes QBs great. Clausen is the real deal. That high praise my gruden is impressive. I don't think there is another QB in this draft who can read defenses like Clausen. He is a film guy. He loves studying the game. I think he is really gonna impress Shanahan today with his football IQ, knowledge, and ability to reconize coverages and proceed accordingly.

I am Ok with drafting Clausen and hope he's the real deal considering we can get him at the 4th spot as opposed to trading the farm for Bradford. My one thing about Clausen supposedly super football IQ is it sure didn't show in his 23 Wonderlick score, that's not even average, but a below average score. Whereas Bradford had an excellent score.

I understand these scores are far from the be all and end all, but I wonder why he did so poorly on it?

[Mahons21]

I am Ok with drafting Clausen and hope he's the real deal considering we can get him at the 4th spot as opposed to trading the farm for Bradford. My one thing about Clausen supposedly super football IQ is it sure didn't show in his 23 Wonderlick score, that's not even average, but a below average score. Whereas Bradford had an excellent score.

I understand these scores are far from the be all and end all, but I wonder why he did so poorly on it?

-The wonderlick has next to nothing to do with football. Its questions like what month of the year is May. Its timed and some people just aren't good in timed test taking situations. I wouldn't read in to it at all. Dan Marino, has one of the lowest wonderlic scores ever from what I remember.

[jflow78]

-The wonderlick has next to nothing to do with football. Its questions like what month of the year is May. Its timed and some people just aren't good in timed test taking situations. I wouldn't read in to it at all. Dan Marino, has one of the lowest wonderlic scores ever from what I remember.

And Alex Smith had one of the highest (possibly the highest) score ever on the W-test. 42.

[MartinC]

You've missed my point as well focusing solely on wins. I said "production" vs. top competition. Show me the game in his entire 3 yrs in which he showed up against a stout opponent. That's all I'm asking, I watched plenty of ND games last year and I saw cupcake city so I'm not wowed like Clausen's fan club.

How about the game versus USC last year when ND trailed 34-14 in the 4th quarter and Clausen dragged them back to 34-27 and had a couple of throws into the end zone right at the end to try for the win.

He finished 24 for 42 for 260 and 2 TDs.

Or how about the game versus Pitt last year when, again ND are down big 20-3 going into the 4th quarter. Clausen bring sthem back for 2 scores in the 4th quarter and Golden Tate scores on a kick off return but its not quite enough and it ends 22 - 27 for Pitt. Clausen goes 27 for 42 for 283 1 TD and 1 INT.

Two games against top 10 teams when he played big in the 4th quarter when everybody knows he had to throw, behind a very average O'line and with one big play threat in Golden Tate.

You asked for one game in 3 years - there are two from last year.

I have no idea if Clausen is the answer for us but he was a heck of a QB last year for ND.

[DonMagicJuan]

why i like Clausen in the first round, and not Sam Bradford

[The Robert Griffin Experience]

What's straight dumb is you not knowing the difference between winning vs. production.

Elway was a Pac 10 Player of the Year in 1980 and 1982 with USC and UCLA in their glory years. He also shattered NCAA and Pac 10 passing and total offense records while on a pitiful team. THATS PRODUCTION.

Clausen would have been player of the year in pretty much any conference he played in, except maybe the SEC. Production-wise, he was the best QB in college by far, and a top 5 to 10 player overall.

I believe I posted a list of the drafted players that Elway had to play with versus the ones that Clausen had to play with. Elway had over 20 starters drafted from 1981-1983 including a few 1st rounders and a top 10 pick.

Clausen will likely get half that in the same span, and if Tate doesn't go in the 1st, then Floyd is the only sure 1st rounder, and the vast majority of the players who do get drafted from ND will be late 2nd day, or 3rd day picks. I also love how we're including a true freshman year on arguably the worst team in college football in his W-L record, though 13-12 isn't world-beating I guess.

If we're still talking about his team - how many games does ND win in 2009 with an average QB? Probably no more than 3. I'd say the same for 2008 too

Clausen essentially played middle of the pack ACC and Big 10 schools - you talk like he played Chattanooga or Citadel year in and year out. We know he played a stronger schedule than Bradford, and their SOS was middle of the pack overall. Maybe it's not SEC strong, but it's not "loading up on cupcakes too" unless you have to play in the SEC or be a top Pac-10 team to not be a cupcake.

But I guess you're looking for a "statement win" - okay, he doesn't have that. But lots of QBs who flame out in the NFL have "statement wins" in college.

[Travdaskin]

What were Jimmy's stats year before last? JW.

[Mr. Sinister]

I watched a handful of ND games last year, and I will say that out of all the QB's I saw last year, he made the most big time throws.

[Taylor 36]

The question really is, is Jimmy Clausen better than Jason Campbell? I'm not sure he is.

Are you kidding me? :doh: Do you even watch football? Watch one of ND's worst games from last season, and then watch the Redskins/ NO game from last season (arguably their best offensive performance of the year), and Clausen still comes out better than Campbell.

I'm not even on the Clausen bandwagon. Truly, I'm torn about who we should draft. However, MS knows what he's going to do, and obviously he believes that the top two or three QB's this year are much better than Campbell. Otherwise, he wouldn't be looking.

[deejaydana]

I'd take Bradford any day of the week over Clausen but I really believe we're taking one of the two of them from the simple standpoint that we may not be this high on the draft board any time soon. The OL is just a mess but we can't solve that problem with taking just one tackle/guard. The way we wanted to trade up to get Mark Sanchez last year tells me Snyder won't less this draft pass w/o us taking a signal caller.

[MartinC]

I'd take Bradford any day of the week over Clausen but I really believe we're taking one of the two of them from the simple standpoint that we may not be this high on the draft board any time soon. The OL is just a mess but we can't solve that problem with taking just one tackle/guard. The way we wanted to trade up to get Mark Sanchez last year tells me Snyder won't less this draft pass w/o us taking a signal caller.

This is Shanny and Allens draft. I'm sure they will present the draft board and plan to Snyder but he will not get a vote. At least I really hope not!

[jflow78]

Let's talk Clausen's competition, no one is saying Clausen played the type of competitive schedule that Sam Bradford played, I think that's where the issue is coming in. This isn't a either you like Bradford or you like Clausen thing, it's a who can we take in the draft and have the best chance of winning more games. To me it's Clausen because we'd have to give up too much to get Bradford.

In Bradford's only full game of this year, against Baylor, his stats weren't good: 27/49 389 yards 1 TD 1 INT, and they won that game 33-7. Of course, most of that should be waived off as being rusty after missing a few games, but how many times did Clausen have THAT kind of support (26 points put up by his running game and defense)? Never. Not in the run game (Bradford had two 1,000 yard rushers in 08, and Clausen's top running backs, if combined, got 1,113 yards total) and not in defense (23.8 ave points allowed in 08, ND had 25.9 points allowed in 09). And how many of those Notre Dame offensive linemen are playing in the NFL, or even being considered in the draft period? How many OU linemen at the top of the draft? All I'm saying is that saying it's all about comparing who they played is overlooking the talent level that surrounded them as well. Yes, Bradford was by far, without question the more productive of the two (comparing junior years), but Bradford also had a much better cast around him his junior season, while any success Notre Dame had was as a result of Clausen.

The best we can do is compare their games against Washington (take it for what it's worth, OU played them in 08, ND in 09). In 08 Washington was 0-12, in 09 they were 5-7.

In their respective games,

'08 - Bradford was 18/21 304 yards, 5 TDs, no INTs with a 158.3 rating. Bradford had two 100 yard rushers in the game.

'08 - Clausen was 14/26 201 yards 1 TD, 1 INT with a 76 rating. Clausen had 3 RBs that combined for 207 yards rushing.

'09 - Clausen was 23/31 422 yards, 2 TDs 1 INT with a 203.3 rating. Clausen had two guys that combined for 109 yards rushing.

Now that's comparing Bradford's Jr year with Clausen's Sophmore and Jr year.

As far as playing top teams, for Clausen:

vs USC (#6 and won their bowl game) - Clausen was 24/43 - 260 yards 2 TDs, no INTs, and his top two RBs combined for 68 yards rushing (2.6 ypc) and 1 TD.

vs Pitt (#12 won their bowl game) - Clausen was 27/42 - 283 yards 1 TD, 1 INT, and his top two RBs combined for 79 yards 0 TDs.

Like I said, not great numbers for a college guy, but where was his support?

Not to mention, all but one ranked team that Bradford played in 08 lost their bowl games to inferior opponents. So what does that say about those teams? They were overrated. Even with that, I do believe Bradford played better competition, but, like I said, that doesn't tell the whole story. So I think it's pretty pointless to compare.

It's like Ohio State, to me they're annually one of the most overrated teams in all of college football, but talk to someone who's a Michigan fan and they might say differently. You're basing your opinion on the Big 12 being one of the great footbally conferences, I don't think they are. I think they're below the SEC and even the Pac 10 (if we're comparing top teams, overall there's more competition) by more than a couple notches. I'd even say they are better than the ACC, except that Oklahoma got beat by an subpar Miami team and an overrated BYU this year, but both of those were without Bradford.

Bradford is going #1 for a reason, Clausen is the 2nd rated QB (by most) in the draft, and that's fine with me. I'd be happy with either of them, I just don't think we can get Bradford without giving up too much.