Assessment of tipped passes

[SJSharKFinFan]

I didn't know if I should have lumped this with the release point issue, Mike Sherman laying blame thread, or somewhere else so I started new thread. I know this topic has been beaten to death but I just wanted to vindicate Ryan somewhat on the interceptions. I'll go over each tipped pass and the guilty parties.

1st Quarter 1:01 1st Down on MIA 38
Responsible: None, maybe play calling

Instinctive player + film study = JJ Watt

Pre-snap read, Watt sees Fasano inline next to Long with Charles Clay in motion. Since Brooks Reed mirrors Clay outside, Watt knows 1) Pass play towards his direction, 2) either Fasano stay in or releases. Prior to snap, Watt shifts outward to take a wider angle since Reed will not rush. When Fasano releases, Watt confirms the above that the play is designed towards his side either to Fasano or Clay. Thus he shoves Long, creates separation, takes a step back and anticipates the pass play.

There is no one responsible for this tipped pass since Watt had to jump a good foot and a half to deflect pass, absolving Tannehill of low release point. J.Long does not know when the ball is released and Watt is 2 yards away so he couldn't cut or reengage his defender appropiately within time elapsed. Lucky the pass was not intercepted.

Continued on next post....

 

[SJSharKFinFan]

2nd Qtr 7:36
2nd & 12 on MIA 47

Responsible: Legedu Nannee(Primary), Tannehill(Secondary on Timing)

Johnathan Joseph is giving 9 yards of cushion to Nannee to protect 1st down marker. Nannee runs a lazy route that telegraphs he's the hot read. At this point, there is still 5 yards of cushion between Nannee and defender. Tannehill should have set his back foot and fired out just prior to Nannee getting out of his break heading towards the vacated middle-of-the-field. However because of poor timing, Tannehill has to wait a full second for lackadaisical Nannee. Had the pattern been executed perfectly with Bess or Hartline as the reciever of choice, minimum is 7 yard gain. At this point Joseph starts breaking towards Nannee, Tannehill thought the window was still open had in-fact already closed 1 second earlier.

On top of running lazy route, Nannee gets beat to the ball and does not try to breakup the pass nor does he give any kind of effort in tackling the defender. Worst-case would be offensive pass-interfence but he watches defender run away.

On we proceed...

 

[SJSharKFinFan]

2nd Qtr 4:06 3rd & 10 on HOU 44

Responsible: Timing between Bess, Tannehill, and Nannee.

The play was designed for Nannee with Bess acting as a decoy/pick in 5-wr set. Kareem Jackson gives Nannee 5 yd cushion with Bess grouped next to Nannee. Bess' defender is at the LOS ready to jam. This is how Sherman envisioned the play. Bess runs a fly route outside leverage towards Jackson to pick him from Nannee. The Texans defender would have either switched off or have a breakdown in communication. Mike Sherman was creating plays for Nannee to utilize the middle-of-the-field where he could catch and get some YAC.

However, the timing of the play is all off. Bess does not fire off the line fast enough to execute the pick move thus Nannee has to wait for Bess to clear before continuing his route, disrupting the timing.

At this point, Nannee is 2 yards off the LOS with Tannehill 2 steps into his drop. An experience QB who had repoire with his WRs would have set his back foot after the 2nd step and fired the ball out, recognizing the window was closing. However, Tannehill's hesitates and decides to continue his 3-step drop.

Here's the kicker: Since Tannehill took that extra step and a full second for the play to develop, he has telegraphed his intentions to the defense by looking that way the entire time. The pocket was solid however Tannehill could not slide to his left(Cushing closing) nor step forward as Watt was stunting into the passing lane.

He isn't staring down his receivers more than he has to since it was a broken play. Tannehill has to learn when a play isn't worth saving and chucking it out-of-bounds is his best option.

 

[SJSharKFinFan]

On the last interception in the 3rd quarter, I chalked that one purely on Tannehill.

Legadu Nannee is pretty useless in every facet of football: no separation, no effort, no football savvy. That's three strikes, I'll jump on the cut Nannee bandwagon. Even the plays Mike Sherman creates for him fail so I don't see the point in keeping him on the roster.

Tannehill needs better chemistry with his WRs. WCO is predicated on timing and these negative, turnover plays are the antithesis of WCO. He also needs to recognize broken play as well as down as distance.

Sherman has some nice plays designed to utilize everyone on offense. With practice and experience, these mistakes will become better executed as the season progress and pay divendends.

 

[kcbrown]

In summary, JJ Watt is a beast, Tannehill is a rookie, and Nannee sucks.

 

[Etuoo33]

Nice breakdown, thanks for the effort. Nana sucks... and Tannihill is still a rookie. It will get better.