An honest assessment of Brady Quinn - from an Irish fan | Page 3 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

An honest assessment of Brady Quinn - from an Irish fan

NMUCats said:
I remember an announcer mentioning that our rb, Darius Walker, said that he thought that things would be ok when Brady was under center, no matter the circumstance (turned out prophetic, because it was just before the improbable comeback against UCLA).

10/21: ND vs UCLA (W 20-17) - Another crazy ending. Quinn was being pressured the whole game, and never really got into rhythm, until the final drive with the season in the balance. Talk about going from depression to euphoria, geez. Here's the video:
http://extrapoint.typepad.com/the_extra_point/2006/10/var_api_ve_getc_16.html

As for my thoughts on how he would fit with the Dolphins, I think he would be a great fit. For the first time in his career he would have a strong defense backing him up, which would take a HUGE amount of pressure off of him, since he wouldn't be expected to score EVERY possession, as was the case with Notre Dame. Also, Ronnie Brown is a very good back, and should help open things up for him. Culpepper is a nice qb, and someone who can give Brady a year or two to get acclimated. It sounds like your offensive coordinator likes to incorporate short-medium passing plays, and if so, that would be an absolutely perfect pick for Brady, and one where he would be most likely to excel. I really hope he falls to #9, because I feel the Dolphins have the things in place that would make it the most likely place for Brady to succeed. Just prayin the Raiders or Lions don't scoop him up...:shakeno:

Anyways, I'm sorry for writing a book, didn't intend to, but I've watched a lot of Brady Quinn snaps what can I say! I tried to be as unbiased as possible, but it's pretty difficult being the ND fan that I am. Hopefully you didn't find this to be 10 minutes that you want back in your life! Cheers
Click to expand...

Can't agree with you more. Good job breaking it down. Begrudingly so with the UCLA game performance. :wink: Even though my school's team lost that day, I was still impressed by Brady Quinn. And I don't say that about many QB's who beat any team I like. Tom Brady is one though and that's good company.
 
Hickman

Regan, where is Hickman supposed to go in the draft? He impressed the heck out of me, and was an absolute animal that game. I'd love to see the Bears pick him up, but DE isn't really a need right now.

BTW, THANK YOU for knocking off the Trojans. Man was that cool.
 
Very good post on a QB that I'm not too crazy about, but he might just end up becoming a Dolphin come draft day.

Two of my concerns about Brady Quinn are his "flutter balls" and his accuracy on the deep throws. If you think those attributes were problematic on the college level imagine how much of a problem they will be with a Ed Reed or the like at safety. Repeat after me INT, one more time INT.

I also noticed that he had several games where his completion percentage was under 50% or just over 50%. That's not going to cut it in the NFL. When I watch him play I don't get that WOW feeling like I got from watching Vince Young tear apart the USC defense with not just his running but his passing accuracy.

Well we got Shea as a QB coach and the Dolphins now know every weakness and strength that BQ has. If they don't select him now then you know he has a lot of holes in his game.

The nunber one reason not to draft Brady Quinn: his initials are QB backwards!

LOL, just kidding!

I think we can afford to do without Quinn this year. If anything, we go all-out next year in trying to get one of the QBs who will be rated a better prospect than Brady Quinn. From what I hear, there are at least 3 of them.
 
I see Quinn as being nothing more then either Joey Harrington or Rick Mirer. He has a very ordinary arm and can't put a team on his shoulders. He's a "game manager" type, not a franchise QB. We need a franchise QB!!!!!!!
 
NMUCats said:
Hey Dolphins fans, I've been looking around at some NFL forums to see where Quinn may end up, and I noticed that there is more activity about him here than anywhere else, so I thought I would try and throw in my .02 from someone who has watched every snap of his for the last 4 years. I will TRY as hard as I can to put my biases aside and be straight up honest.

Arm Strength - Most people have it right that say Brady has good, but not great arm strength. He does not have the cannon of a guy like Russell, but he does not have a weak arm either. I would probably label it as above average. However, his arm strength should get linked directly with his decision making, because he makes very smart throws and rarely needs to rifle it into tight spots. I did see him make a throw against PSU this year that he threw into triple coverage where he absolutely unloaded it, and it bounced off the chest of a PSU defender who tried to pick it. He went over and had a meeting with coach Weis after that, and needless to say he didn't force many throws after that. :lol:

Accuracy - Again, from what I've read, most people have Brady pegged correctly in terms of accuracy. He is very accurate on the short to medium throws, and one of his better attributes is the fact that he is very good at hitting receivers in stride on those routes. He got a lot of yardage due to the fact that his receivers rarely had to break stride to catch it, and got a lot of YACs due to this. His weakness is his accuracy on deeper throws of more than 20 yards. Sometimes his balls float a bit too much and allow defenders to close on them. In terms of vertical deep balls, he benefited from 2 great receivers who pulled down jump balls with ease, so many of his deep balls were high throws that allowed his receivers to make plays on them. He will have to adjust to hitting his receivers in stride on deep throws rather than throwing floating ones, but he certainly can do it and has hit throws like that while keeping his receivers in stride. One other thing to note: Quinn can be streaky at times. No better example than this year's MSU game, where he looked like a freshman the first 2-3 drives, then proceeded to catch fire and throw for 300+ yards and 5 tds. It's frustrating at times when he's off, but when he's hot it's fun to watch.

Decision making - Brady's best attribute IMO. The guy simply doesn't make many boneheaded plays, and he is not afraid to throw it away and live another day when under pressure. This is why he had games of below 50% accuracy against great teams...because most of the time he was under a tremendous amount of pressure and threw away 8-10 balls a game. If he had great protection most of the time, his completion percentage would have been as high or higher than Russell's, but there were a lot of throw-aways in there. He had an astounding td-int ratio, and nearly broke the NCAA record for most passes without a pick this year. I was absolutely shocked when I saw him make a poor throw into coverage that got picked in the Sugar Bowl, because I hadn't seen him do that all year. Then again, his team was down 17 and his defense wasn't getting close to making stops, so I think that was a direct result of trying too hard to make a play.

Intelligence - Another very good attribute that Brady has going for him. He will pick up any NFL offense within a year, mark my words. I remember Weis saying last year that he had not cut down on his playbook one bit, much to his surprise, because Brady had picked it all up by the first game (and his playbook is not short by any means). He is a very smart guy who studies film very hard, and it shows in games. He also got the nod from Weis to audible out of a play any time he felt like it was needed during this past year, depending on how the defense lined up, and he became very good at reading and picking up blitzes before the snap. Most of the pressure on Brady came directly from the o-line simply getting beat, rather than blitzes running free.

Intangibles - The 2 words that come to mind when I think of Brady are 1) toughness, and 2) leader. I remember his first start of his career against Purdue, as a freshman, getting sacked 9 times and getting hit 3 times that amount, but he kept picking himself back up and somehow threw for 300+ yds. I knew then that he would be the starter the next 3 years, and he has started every game since. In terms of leadership, the guy has been the unchallenged leader for 2 years at ND, and he has never once hung a teammate out to dry (And trust me, this is a huge thing, because he's a better man than I). His linemen failed him time and again, and at times our second receiver got a severe case of the dropsies, and he would go into his post-game conference without mentioning them once and puting the fault entirely on himself. I remember an announcer mentioning that our rb, Darius Walker, said that he thought that things would be ok when Brady was under center, no matter the circumstance (turned out prophetic, because it was just before the improbable comeback against UCLA).

Big Games - Okay, I have to address this, because I've never seen a stigma so universally attached to a draftee than Brady and his "big game wilts". Let me first go over every "big game" he has played in the last 2 years, then I'll go over the big time pressure situations.

05
(forgive me if some of these rankings are off by a couple, I'm going off of memory)
9/10: ND vs #3 Michigan (W 17-10) - ND went into the big house and won for the first time in like 10 years, however, the defense actually won this one. Brady played mistake free and did what he needed to do, but wasn't dominant (to be fair, it was his 2nd game in the Weis offense). Still, it was a huge win at the time, even though Michigan faltered later in the year and finished 7-5. Brady's stats: 19/30, 140 yds, no picks & no tds

10/15: ND vs #1 USC (L 34-31) - This is THE game that makes me laugh at the "Big game Brady" critics. USC was on a long winning streak and were the defending champs, while ND was trying to prove that they belonged in the top 10. Other than a play early in the game where Brady's arm got hit as he threw it, he played extremely well, and had what should have been one of the biggest, most clutch game winning drives in a long, long time at Notre Dame. Was it really his fault that he didn't play corner on 4th and 9? Because if the pass falls incomplete, Brady's the hero and nobody questions his big game ability right now. Finished 19/35, 264 yds, 2 total tds & 1 pick
http://dietler.net/nd/videos/quickplay/?video=2005_usc

1/2: ND vs #4 Ohio State (L 34-20) - ND played a stacked OSU team with a defense that featured something like 7 NFL draft picks. Brady actually didn't play too bad, finishing 29/45, 286 yds, no picks & no tds, but his defense gave up 617 yds and 34 pts and never allowed a comeback.

06
9/9: ND vs #19 Penn State (W 41-17) - This was a rivalry game with a lot on the line early in the year, and Brady played very, very good against a defense that finished the year in the top 20. Brady's stats: 25/36, 287 yds, 3 tds & no picks
http://dietler.net/nd/videos/quickplay/?video=2006_pennstate

9/16: ND vs #11 Michigan (L 47-21) - A huge game, and the one big game that Brady truly played poorly in. He had no running game whatsoever, and was throwing on every down, but he still did not play well. No argument here, finished 24/48, 234 yds, 3 tds & 3 picks

11/26: ND vs #3 USC (L 44-24) - Another huge game, and again, I actually thought Brady played very well in this one. His receiver, Rhema McKnight, dropped 3 first downs in the first half, 2 of them coming on 4th down, and all of them in USC territory that probably would have resulted in points. Again, not much of a running game to speak of, and again, the defense gave in, but he finished 22/45, 274 yards & 3 tds w/no picks. I would bet at least 8 of those incompletions were throw aways, wouldn't read into the percentage too much.

1/3: ND vs #4 LSU (L 41-14) - Repeat above, except Brady played below average in this one. ND went to a max protect to protect him, and only had 2 receivers running most of the night, and it showed. Still, he didn't play as you would expect a high draft pick to play, and finished with statistically the worst "big game" of them all: 15/35, 148 yds, 2 tds and 2 picks

Pressure Moments

9/23: ND vs MSU (W 40-37) - Crazy game. Quinn looked lost the first quarter, then caught fire and led the Irish, with a bit of help from his defense (gasp), from 16 down in the 4th in a rainstorm to pull off the improbable win. Finished 20/36, 319 yards, 5 tds, 1 pick.
http://dietler.net/nd/videos/quickplay/?video=2006_msu

10/21: ND vs UCLA (W 20-17) - Another crazy ending. Quinn was being pressured the whole game, and never really got into rhythm, until the final drive with the season in the balance. Talk about going from depression to euphoria, geez. Here's the video:
http://extrapoint.typepad.com/the_extra_point/2006/10/var_api_ve_getc_16.html


As for my thoughts on how he would fit with the Dolphins, I think he would be a great fit. For the first time in his career he would have a strong defense backing him up, which would take a HUGE amount of pressure off of him, since he wouldn't be expected to score EVERY possession, as was the case with Notre Dame. Also, Ronnie Brown is a very good back, and should help open things up for him. Culpepper is a nice qb, and someone who can give Brady a year or two to get acclimated. It sounds like your offensive coordinator likes to incorporate short-medium passing plays, and if so, that would be an absolutely perfect pick for Brady, and one where he would be most likely to excel. I really hope he falls to #9, because I feel the Dolphins have the things in place that would make it the most likely place for Brady to succeed. Just prayin the Raiders or Lions don't scoop him up...:shakeno:

Anyways, I'm sorry for writing a book, didn't intend to, but I've watched a lot of Brady Quinn snaps what can I say! I tried to be as unbiased as possible, but it's pretty difficult being the ND fan that I am. Hopefully you didn't find this to be 10 minutes that you want back in your life! Cheers
Click to expand...

Good read, thanks
 
DefensiveEnd#76 said:
I see Quinn as being nothing more then either Joey Harrington or Rick Mirer. He has a very ordinary arm and can't put a team on his shoulders. He's a "game manager" type, not a franchise QB. We need a franchise QB!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

OK so where do we get him from. :(

All QB's are game managers, that the definition of the role . Its a team game and the QB is the leader on the field.

I am on the fence on Quinn but as with all drafted players they all have the propensity to boom or bust
 
NMUCats said:
Regan, where is Hickman supposed to go in the draft? He impressed the heck out of me, and was an absolute animal that game. I'd love to see the Bears pick him up, but DE isn't really a need right now.

BTW, THANK YOU for knocking off the Trojans. Man was that cool.
Click to expand...

It depends whether scouts can see him as a DE/OLB. He's a bit short as DE so if he can make the switch to hybrid, there's sure to be a 3-4 team wanting to get him. Right now, I'm guessing 6th to 7th rounder. 5th if he can transit to OLB/DE and up to 4th with a good Combine. He would be perfect for us if he pans out. Sort of a Adalius Thomas lite.

Yea, that was a great game. The offense sputtered but our D kept us in the game. Sort like it is the way here. I guess karma would have it that at the next game I went to at the Rose Bowl (and against my will I might add), USC destroyed Michigan.
 
NMUCats said:
Accuracy - Again, from what I've read, most people have Brady pegged correctly in terms of accuracy. He is very accurate on the short to medium throws, and one of his better attributes is the fact that he is very good at hitting receivers in stride on those routes. He got a lot of yardage due to the fact that his receivers rarely had to break stride to catch it, and got a lot of YACs due to this. His weakness is his accuracy on deeper throws of more than 20 yards. Sometimes his balls float a bit too much and allow defenders to close on them. In terms of vertical deep balls, he benefited from 2 great receivers who pulled down jump balls with ease, so many of his deep balls were high throws that allowed his receivers to make plays on them. He will have to adjust to hitting his receivers in stride on deep throws rather than throwing floating ones, but he certainly can do it and has hit throws like that while keeping his receivers in stride. One other thing to note: Quinn can be streaky at times. No better example than this year's MSU game, where he looked like a freshman the first 2-3 drives, then proceeded to catch fire and throw for 300+ yards and 5 tds. It's frustrating at times when he's off, but when he's hot it's fun to watch...
Click to expand...


Excellent post. Your section on Accuracy really sums up the area for concern...and further development.

In your opinion, which NFL QB does Brady Quinn most remind you of?
 
He could be a sleeper as a low round pick for somebody. For your sake, hopefully the Dolphins snatch him up.

BTW, it's really cool that so many of you guys can set aside your college biases when it comes to the draft. I've been to quite a few other sites, and it's absolutely amazing how much anti-ND stuff there is when it comes to Brady. If you don't like him as a qb prospect, that's perfectly fine with me, it's just many people don't like him simply because he played at ND. It's like some people hold it against Brady that he's gotten so much media attention, but I can promise you he didn't ask for it.

Oh, and to the Canes fans: Thanks for Devin Hester
To the Gator fans: Thanks for Alex Brown
 
NMUCats said:
He could be a sleeper as a low round pick for somebody. For your sake, hopefully the Dolphins snatch him up.

BTW, it's really cool that so many of you guys can set aside your college biases when it comes to the draft. I've been to quite a few other sites, and it's absolutely amazing how much anti-ND stuff there is when it comes to Brady. If you don't like him as a qb prospect, that's perfectly fine with me, it's just many people don't like him simply because he played at ND. It's like some people hold it against Brady that he's gotten so much media attention, but I can promise you he didn't ask for it.

Oh, and to the Canes fans: Thanks for Devin Hester
To the Gator fans: Thanks for Alex Brown
Click to expand...

I definitely hope we get him. He's a great pass-rusher with decent quickness and strength. And I've seen him drag down RB's after running across the field and get to WR's on screen passes. Well, it was only practice but still.

Once the players are out of their college, all college biases end there because there's now a possibility they'll end up on your fave pro team. That's the way I think of it. But I'll admit that during the ND-UCLA game, there was a moment when I thought, "Man, I wish that guy were on my team". If he falls to us at 9 and we get that thought comes true, I'll forgive him for tanking whatever chances we had at the top 25.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom