Sure. I'd like to see what percentage of the time Rodgers' statistics were blown up because his RB took a flip pass and turned it into an 80 yard TD and how often blown tackles and lousy coverage contributed to good plays turning into medium to long TDs. Of course Rodgers has benefitted in the past from his receivers really aiding the cause and opposing defenses sucking, but he has a body of work that shows how often his arm, feet and mind result in great plays and outstanding QB production. Not all YAC are created equally- Flynn benefitted in that Lions game mightily from factors other than his own good play.
All you have to do is watch Rodgers play QB and throw the ball to know that he's twice the QB that Flynn will ever be. If stats were the end all and be all of rating a player, and small amounts of statistics at that, then Flynn's QBR is higher than Rodgers' for all I know, because of that one game. Does that mean that he's a better Quarterback than Rodgers? Of course not. Stats sometimes lie. They measure finite results, not the quality behind those results or mitigating circumstances.
No offense but I don't see how this is really making your case. It's like the argumentative equivalent of "Nuh uh."
You're kind of contradicting yourself. YOU are the one that broke out with this statistic that says, because 223 of Flynn's 480 yards were after the catch, he was carried in that game.
So now that I pull out a statistic that shows prettly clearly that your statistic is meaningless, all the sudden stats don't matter.
What people fail to notice when looking at 223 yards being after the catch, is that 257 tyards came on 31 completions BEFORE the catch. That's a before-catch average of 8.29 yards per completion. I once did a study on all teams from 2000 to 2008. All teams, each season...for a total of 286 seasons. Do you know where 8.29 yards before the catch ranks among the 286 data points?
Fifth. Just behind the 2000 St. Louis Rams.
Oh but that's right, statistics don't matter now. Except when you use them, apparently.
There are different ways for a QB to accumulate YAC- sometimes it's a result of great throws, leading a receiver to where they want to be to run with the rock after the catch, sometimes a quick dump off turns in to a huge play- kudos to the receiver. Sometimes the opposing defense and especially their secondary play like crap and fail to make plays, tackle after the reception, etc. And that leads to inflated stats. I have a feeling, at least from what I saw, that Flynn's YAC that are reflected in his big numbers against the Lions are more due to his receivers making great plays and the Lions secondary sucking arse. It doesn't mean by any means that Flynn didn't play a very good game, but again- color me unimpressed, especially as per the notion that Flynn is now Mr. Wonderful.
You're kind of blowing my mind a little bit, man. You speak really strongly about this guy's Detroit game even admitting you've not even seen it. You've seen how many of the throws on a highlight film? Maybe 6 of them? Just the touchdowns? Did you know that in the first half with 2nd & Goal from the 7 yard line on a drive that ended in Field Goal, Flynn threw what should have been a 7th touchdown straight to Donald Driver's front shoulder in the small window between defenders on a curl/flat route combination, with Driver popping the ball right off his front shoulder pad? Of course you didn't know that, because you haven't seen the game. I'm not trying to pick on you, it just boggles my mind that you keep talking so strongly about his performance in this game and then saying oh by the way I haven't seen anything but highlights on it.
Now, if you want to know about the nature of the YAC plays…I can tell you, because I have seen the game, and I have it on tap and can watch it whenever I please. The first big RAC play you may have seen since it was a TD, a little flanker screen to Jordy Nelson from 7 yards out of the end zone (not the drive referenced above, different drive). Jordy stiff armed a corner to the dirt and ran for the TD. Easy to give all the credit to Nelson, of course, but it was Matt Flynn that made this play happen because he recognized the soft coverage on the outside and then put Tom Crabtree in motion, and when he saw that the defense didn't change, he raised his right hand (the side Nelson was on) and made a horn signal with it above his helmet. The signal happened so fast, it didn't register with the defense, but Flynn knew that Nelson would see it, and he did, and so Jordy knew to hang back for the screen.
The second big RAC play you probably also saw because it was the long TD to Ryan Grant. Here's the thing, this looks more like an adjustment than a screen. You've got no OLs pulling out in front of Grant. The WRs are all running routes. It looks like an adjustment made because #54 from the strong side started blitzing right at the snap. Donald Driver recognized that the SAM that was supposed to cover him short, was blitzing, and so he did as he's taught in that offense and runs a stick route with his head looking back to the QB right off the line. This would have been the easiest adjustment for Flynn to make, but he wanted the delay route to Grant. So, that's what he throws. The reason Driver starts blocking is not because it's a screen called by Mike McCarthy, but rather because he's been looking back to the QB the entire route waiting to see if Flynn throws him hot, and so he saw Flynn get the ball off to the running back. You say RAC plays only count for the QB if they make a really smart decision and throw the ball to the right spot, right? Well this was a smart decision, and with a guy in his face he stayed calm and threw a nice catchable ball into Grant's bread basket giving him the maximum chance of securing the ball easily and running with it. It was a nice touchdown for Flynn.
The next big RAC play came on a screen to James Jones from the slot. I can't tell if Flynn made this call at the line based on the defense or not. The ball, of course, was placed perfectly. I'm reminded of a play like this where Chad Henne threw the ball so far behind Hartline that Brian had to twirl all the way around to catch it and then run out to the sidelines, and during those acrobatics Brian fumbled the ball. When Henne came back to the sidelines, Tony Sparano told him that the fumble was HIS fault because of the bad ball placement. Perfect ball placement here leads to a nice 11 yard run by James Jones, who did nothing really that impressive in his run after catch.
Here's a nice example of a RAC play that did NOT happen. This time on 1st & 10 with 1 minute left in the first half, they actually DID call a screen play to Brandon Saine, he's got OLs pulling out front of him and everything, and Saine only gets about 4 yards because he doesn't use his blocking well at all.
Another play that got about 8 yards after catch was just Flynn recognizing the coverage and throwing the dump off to Kuhn. But he hit him front shoulder, on the run, with a nice catchable ball. Why wouldn't Flynn get credit for that?
On 1st & 10 with 6:35 remaining in the 3rd quarter he throws another WR screen to Nelson, but Nelson this time only gets about 5 yards with it. Next big chunk of RAC is another TD play.
Off the play-action he throws the deep post route, about 50 yards through the air, leads Nelson to the inside away from his coverage and Nelson does a good job staying on his feet after the contact, running out the remaining 12 yards for a TD.
Next big RAC play comes on 1st & 10 with 10:15 left in the 4th quarter. This is another screen call from the I Formation as both Kuhn the FB and Saine the HB run out to the right side with Kuhn blocking in front. Flynn does a great job selling this with his eyes by staring up the middle of the field while Kuhn and Saine get into position. Then, in rhythm, Flynn snaps out the ball with absolutely perfect placement so that Saine can catch it on the run, running right through it with minimal trouble. Clever play call, design and execution, gets about 18 yards after the catch without Saine doing anything special whatsoever. They talk about short passing games being "extended run plays". This was exactly that, an extended toss sweep, utilizing your quarterback's consistent good ball placement and execution in order to get a 12 yard play out of what otherwise could be more like a 4 yard play if they'd just run the toss right off the snap.
The next RAC play you probably saw because it's another TD. Tell me, what did Donald Driver do here that was so special? Because for Flynn, there was great anticipation in this throw, as the ball was out before Driver had started to cross in front of the coverage. The placement was so good that Driver could run right through it without losing any speed and so naturally Chris Harris just stood no chance of catching him. A ball that is ANY less well placed, this is an 8 yard completion. Instead it was a 35 yard TD and the credit for that goes to Flynn.
I don't know if this is in your highlight film but the throw to James Jones on the outside to set up the final go-ahead touchdown...just absolutely superb. That about wraps it up for the RAC plays. I see a whole lot of sound quarterbacking, more than I see guys making ridiculous plays by breaking contact, etc.
That about wraps it up.
