Adam Gase's Offense Is Vertical

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Here is something I saw that is rather interesting. Football Outsiders has a stat called "ALEX" which stands for "Air Less Expected."

For those new to this metric, it is called Air Less Expected, or ALEX for short. ALEX measures the average difference between how far a quarterback threw a pass (air yards) and how many yards he needed for a first down. If a quarterback throws a pass five yards behind the line of scrimmage on third-and-15, that would be minus-20 ALEX. The best application of ALEX is to look at third and fourth down when it's really crucial to get 100 percent of the need yards to extend the drive.

Well, here's how the various NFL offenses / quarterbacks stack up in terms of aggressive throwing. The PYD column is the average number of 'air yards' per throw.

This particular chart is for passes thrown when the game is within 1 score (+/- 8 points).

(Higher numbers mean longer throws)

So not only does Miami have one of the most aggressive downfield passing attacks in the NFL (hey, we're top ten in something!) but you can't say that we're checking the ball down. The Dolphins are consistently trying to push the ball past the sticks, much more frequently than the NFL average.

 

[datruth55]

What are you talking about? We're top 10 in a lot of things...if you read from the bottom up lol.

 

[nick1]

Imagine that Wentz is near the top meaning he throws alot of short passes. The Tannehill haters should be all over Wentz for his lack of long passes right?

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Imagine that Wentz is near the top meaning he throws alot of short passes. The Tannehill haters should be all over Wentz for his lack of long passes right?

Here is Wentz's week 3 passing chart:

 

[nick1]

Here is Wentz's week 3 passing chart:

My brother was just saying yesterday that Wentz and Prescott look better then Tannehill already but I was telling him that's because they aren't asked to do much and the defense has no tape to study. I think he is also stat watching

 

[xXwarXx]

Imagine that Wentz is near the top meaning he throws alot of short passes. The Tannehill haters should be all over Wentz for his lack of long passes right?

Wentz is winning as a rookie, and is the top rated qb by PFF.

Why do you guys insist on comparing our loser QB to good winning QBs? Especially young ones. This makes no sense.

 

[utahphinsfan]

Wentz is winning as a rookie, and is the top rated qb by PFF.

Why do you guys insist on comparing our loser QB to good winning QBs? Especially young ones. This makes no sense.

What makes no sense is the Average of ALEX. Please enlighten.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Wentz is winning as a rookie, and is the top rated qb by PFF.

Why do you guys insist on comparing our loser QB to good winning QBs? Especially young ones. This makes no sense.

I was asked a question and responded to that question.

If you want to discuss how a passing offense can be successful despite throwing near or behind the line of scrimmage when it has good blocking and dynamic playmakers, then that's one thing. If you just want to piss and moan about Ryan Tannehill, then let me direct you to one of 20 other threads on the front page.

 

[utahphinsfan]

I like Numbers. They can be useful.

Having a BS in Geography, I am all about spacing & location. I got more from Wentz's passing chart & am curious to see Ryan's to date.

 

[ANUFan]

My brother was just saying yesterday that Wentz and Prescott look better then Tannehill already but I was telling him that's because they aren't asked to do much and the defense has no tape to study. I think he is also stat watching

Every year it's the same thing. Some rookie QB comes into the league and he becomes the next coming. Some how the next coming the following season or the season after than doesn't look so hot. Shall I list the numerous examples?

Curious why'd your brother stop at Tannehill? I mean according to his observation isn't Wentz the top 5 best QB in the league already?

 

[Parcells_Guy]

I think I saw them suiting up Wentz for his golden jacket after the game yesterday

 

[Sons Of Shula]

The #1 principle of top defensive minded head coaches such as Pete Carroll is to eliminate giving up the big play (#2 Out hit the opponent on all plays,
#3 Get the ball - strip or make the interception when in position). Carroll defines these explosive plays as a run of at least 12 yards or a pass of 16 or more.

Vs the Browns in tracking Air Yards (AY) alone, the Dolphins had 7 of these explosive plays. Again, this isn't all big plays that happened in the game, this is just the Air Yards of 16 or more.

1. 26 yd TD
2. 18 yd
3. 16 yd
4. 16 yd
5. 42 yd TD (18 AY)
6. 23 yd (18 AY)
7. 32 yd (17 AY)

That is very damn impressive and directly reflects the chart posted by Wanny. I haven't seen the Dolphins attacking downfield on that consistent of a basis in years. No doubt that the Gase/Christensen offense is vertical.

 

[Aqua Shadow]

I don't really think the offense is executing at the rate our coach expects but at the same time I can't say I saw any plays that said play not to lose. It's that kind of thing that gives me hope

Nothing bothers me more than a draw play at 3rd and 15 when your behind...

Sent from my SM-S902L using Tapatalk

 

[cafinfan408]

Stills has to have a nice avg working.. juices should be higher than the past..
im a little shocked Tanne has not been checking to the rb more often as it seems to be a bit more open than the past with the depth of our routes.
this gets ugly when the protection breaks down as the qb has no where to go

 

[Tannenbombs]

The #1 principle of top defensive minded head coaches such as Pete Carroll is to eliminate giving up the big play (#2 Out hit the opponent on all plays,
#3 Get the ball - strip or make the interception when in position). Carroll defines these explosive plays as a run of at least 12 yards or a pass of 16 or more.

Vs the Browns in tracking Air Yards (AY) alone, the Dolphins had 7 of these explosive plays. Again, this isn't all big plays that happened in the game, this is just the Air Yards of 16 or more.

1. 26 yd TD
2. 18 yd
3. 16 yd
4. 16 yd
5. 42 yd TD (18 AY)
6. 23 yd (18 AY)
7. 32 yd (17 AY)

That is very damn impressive and directly reflects the chart posted by Wanny. I haven't seen the Dolphins attacking downfield on that consistent of a basis in years. No doubt that the Gase/Christensen offense is vertical.

Thank you and JDW for the context. Really impressive that they've been able to generate explosives considering Tannehill is just a solid deep ball thrower. Looks like I made the right change to my username after all :up: