Grading Mark Sanchez

Timugen

@shepwrite said:
Good stuff. Alo. As an SC fan, I can tell you Sanchez is a fiery leader type and his team LOVES him. Very smart, got a 29 on the Wonderlic, mastered a complex offense, etc., all like Quinn. They're just very similar. I do think Sanchez is more consistently accurate, but I also think Quinn doesn't "lose the strike zone" as often as people think. You throw picks and complete a lower percentage if that's the case... not 69/14 and 63 percent under Weis.
They both have plenty of arm, like Manning and Brady. Not bazookas, but NFL arms.

I would see it as about a wash if not for Quinn's experience in Daboll's offense. Which is why I'd give Quinn the full season and just stop overthinking the whole matter.

Bingo. I never really understood this perceived accuracy problem. Sure he has (rather infrequent) times where he "loses the strike zone," but not any more so than the vast majority of starting QB's in the NFL.

It's pretty simple. If he had legitimate accuracy problems, he wouldn't have put up the sick (not just really good) numbers that he did.

EDIT: And just to put it in perspective...the scouts went ape-shit over Stafford's pro day (or was it the workout with the Lions?) where he threw 40-some passes and only 3 hit the ground. Quinn threw 63 passes on his pro day and only 5 hit the ground (and 4 of those were pinned on the receiver.) Newton and Einstein must have been Quinn fags.

damajuki

Here's the thing about Quinn's "losing the strike zone": he seemed to miss the easy throws much more frequently than the hard ones.

I remember him throwing balls in the dirt at running back's feet or overthrowing TE outs.

I do NOT remember him sailing throws over WRs into safeties hands or throwing pick 6's to MLBs (cough, DA, cough).

Put another way, Quinn's mistakes cost downs, not drives and rarely ever points. His incompletions wouldn't ruin the whole offensive scheme or put ND behind the eight ball.

I'd love to see the breakdown on Quinn's incompletions in college and how accurate he was downfield versus medium vs. short. You know NFL teams have that stuff. Would be fascinating to see if my recollection is accurate.

Ha. No pun intended...

Timugen

@damajuki said:
I remember him throwing balls in the dirt at running back's feet or overthrowing TE outs.

Exactly. And the funny thing is that most of the times those off-target throws would come very early in the game, usually the first series....and then he'd settle down and all would be fine.

His biggest accuracy issue that I have noticed was every once in a while sailing an out to the blonde in the 1st row very early in the game. I don't know if it's just because he was too hyped-up, but he wouldn't continue to make those bad throws throughout the games.

Again, the whole perceived issue with Quinn's accuracy continues to baffle me.

You don't put up the numbers he did if you are inaccurate. And of his 3 best receivers (who set some ND records themselves) over his Junior and Senior year:

1 is playing baseball

1 is fighting with everything he has just to stay on an NFL roster, much less see the field

1 went undrafted, got signed as UDFA, released, signed, released....and is probably selling insurance now

ballpeen

I agree...I don't know where that stuff comes from, but then I haven't seen the kid play very often. I have seen a trend to check-down much like Couch did....which i don't like, but it is way tosoon to say that is something that is going to be a problem.

This is the kids 3rd year. He's had the proper seasoning and has had enough play time to be over the rookie jitters. He should be able to come out and play well.

It isn't going to take 20 games, or even 8 games to be able to tell if he has it or he doesn't.

That doesn't mean he can't improve with each outing over the next 20 games, but it should be pretty easy to see where his floor is.

It's hard to tell where a ceiling might end, but that floor is pretty easy to spot pretty early in the process. History shows most qbs have a similar rage between the floor and ceiling, so once you know where the floor might be, it gives you a pretty good idea of where he may top out.

? Aloysius

IIRC, there were concerns about Quinn's accuracy getting spotty when he faced a lot of pressure. Also, some people criticized Quinn for throwing a lot of high passes, though others claimed that Weis purposely had him put the ball in a spot only his tall receivers could reach.

? Masters

Every QB's accuracy gets spotty when he faces a lot of pressure.

Quinn's knock was more about his deep ball accuracy getting spotty, and every now and then him having a throw that was way off for no reason at all.

PlaygroundLegend

The video of Quinns pro day where Weiss says that Quinn threw 65 passes, 5 hit the ground, 1 was his fault, he also throws many bombs. That not only shows skill, but endurance as well

? Aloysius

Masters said:
Every QB's accuracy gets spotty when he faces a lot of pressure.

Okay, but I'm sure they're not all affected to the same degree.

Here's part of BQ's old nfldraftscout scouting report. You can see what they said about his alleged accuracy issues:

Negatives: Shows some elusiveness on the run, but won't frighten any defense when having to carry the ball (out in the open, he simply lacks the elusiveness to gain positive yardage)...Not the type who can consistently make plays with his feet...Used to drop the ball and pat it a bit, but with his improved over-the-top release point, he was able to generate better quickness with his tosses...When he throws with a long arc, he doesn't always follow through (mostly on deep outs)...Will still sometimes force the receiver to adjust a bit on crossing patterns and needs to take something off his passes when dumping off, but can drop the ball over the top...Does not have that overpowering arm to lead the receivers going deep, but can put good touch on those throws (showed good improvement with his trajectory, but when going long on the move, he did make his receivers adjust a bit)...Has better timing when taking a three-step drop, but may hold the ball a little too long, resulting in sacks when he takes a longer (five-step) drop...Has good movement skills for a tall quarterback to avoid and elude the pass rush, but must continue to work on ball security (10 fumbles his first two years, but only three in 2005), as he leaves the ball too exposed when on the move...Can throw on the run, but needs to do a better job of squaring his shoulders when delivering the ball (plays on his feet, but you see that he loses some of his accuracy when throwing on the move).

I'm not saying that this is a huge problem for him - just that Sanchez is a more accurate passer.

damajuki

Aloysius said:
IIRC, there were concerns about Quinn's accuracy getting spotty when he faced a lot of pressure. Also, some people criticized Quinn for throwing a lot of high passes, though others claimed that Weis purposely had him put the ball in a spot only his tall receivers could reach.

I've never heard this before, but it may very well have been the case. Let's not forget Quinn had Stovall and Samardzija (both over 6'4) and Fasano then Carlson at TE (also big guys). So it's entirely possible Weis programmed him that way.

Whatever his accuracy issue is or may be, here's the only number I really care about:

14.

As in INTs his senior year.

And 3 of those 14 were in the UM game when ND was down over 20 at the half and passing the entire second half. Again, I challenge anyone to find more than 1 or 2 really awful Quinn INTs from his senior year. They just don't exist.

Which bodes well for him in the pro's, I think.

Lumbergh

OVERALL GRADE: 7.06

John David Booty was a better QB than Dirty Sanchez.

Whoever produces these number ratings for players needs to go back to playing World of Warcraft with their dork friends.