ckparrothead
Premium Member
I agree with you for the most part but would like to point out that the video was not a highlight. I graded and clipped five games of Mallett's this year. Those games were the Georgia, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Alabama and Ohio State games. That YouTube video literally held every single throw and scramble from those five games where Ryan Mallett was forced to move his feet due to pressure. I wasn't trying to show just good plays or just bad ones or some combination. It was all of it, to give people a sense for what Mallett does under pressure.
Keep in mind, plays under pressure, quarterbacks in the NFL average around 60.0 QB rating when put under pressure. Some are much lower, some are higher. Most, even the real good ones, are around that 60.0 mark. I'd say in college that Mallett's under pressure passing was higher than that QB rating, but that in the pros it'll probably be about average.
What you see if you dissect the pressure video CLOSELY (involves replay, slow motion, etc), which I have the ability to do because I created it and have all of the clips at my disposal whereas you can be limited a little if you're watching a YouTube video...is that Ryan Mallett has a very advanced sense for pocket pressure. He knows where blitzers are coming from and anticipates pressure based on what he knows of the blitz concept. He also has a sense for blocking breakdowns and can feel a player coming free before that player is already breathing down his neck. Because of this early warning system of his, he's able to enact plans to deal with the pressure. Sometimes that could be backing up and throwing off his back foot, sometimes that could be stepping aside and making the guy miss, other times it might be to rush the throw or otherwise change his motion to get the ball off to a hot read.
All in all though, his accuracy is about 65% when throwing these rushed throws. That doesn't mean he'll complete 65%, because players will drop the ball. But, he could complete that much, and that's a significant accuracy percentage when under pressure and being forced to throw early or with a changed motion, or otherwise off balance. I included the roll-out clips from those five games in there to show that whereas some people claim the primary issue on his accuracy is his being on the run...that's just not really the case. He was like 7 or 8 on those non-pressured roll-out throws, and the one incomplete was a drop.
Overall, I was very happy with his pressure video. If I put together videos of other quarterbacks under pressure coming out, it'd be very comparable. That's what people don't get. They want highlights. They want to see every pass be the guy ducking pressure, sprinting out and throwing 50 yards downfield for a touchdown. That's not football. That's fantasy.
