Baker Mayfield

tiamat63

When I talk about the work our receivers need, I don't necessarily mean that in terms of they just need to be all world-athletes. I mean they need to do the little things better. It's my hope that Schwartz takes a big leap in his 2nd year because his situational awareness and chemistry with his QB need some serious work. Yes, we need somebody who can do it all - identify zones, beat man coverage, play fast, physical and be a threat at every level of the field. We have some speed with Anthony, but he requires times. Brief examples below:

Man coverage align pre-snap

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When you get the C1-Rat, the safety has outside leverage on Juice and the corner has him low and inside. You can go elsewhere but it's dependent on 2 things.

- Your pass pro holding up

- Your receivers eating up cushion on DB's playing very high and then breaking back down the route stem.

Chiefs corners were playing high all night. No double moves, nothing vertical. Working from the top down.

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Our receivers didn't re-win routes with positioning. At least, on the outside they didn't. Instead, trying to win vertical, they just ended up squeezing themselves to the bounds giving the corners an easy life. What's worse is that pressure arrived. Baker did an Ok job rolling away from this. But notice where Schwartz is at the top of this still - he's at the 20 and flying upfield.

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It isn't until the 9 yard line that Anthony breaks this and works back to his QB. But by then it's too late and Baker has already decided to roll and throw away. A good decision by him because at this point you really can't count on your WR winning back down the steam while you have Dline closing in on you. Ball has to be out one way or the other. This is just an example of the "feel" Schwartz needs to work on. When you eat up that much cushion and drive a DB upfield and the ball isn't out, you need to work back down and give your QB a target to the short side of the field. Yes, yes, yes... I know the Old Classico is man to the boundary works up the field, but that's more of a guideline than a rule.

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Another man align look KC showed pre-snap. Have to take your tips from the safety play.

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In order to combat man coverage, Stef dials up a rub design from the #2 (DPJ) and #3. That switch creates a natural pick on the DB's. So you won't get any clean contact, most especially on the delay man (Schwartz). The boundary safety has declared, and is stepping down to pick up his assignment low. This is an example of facing a single high safety who isn't playing middle field.

What amounts to a slot fade, except instead of running that from the #2, Schwartz is running it from the inside move receiver position (#3)

The beautiful part about this design is how badly that single high safety is fucked. He has to make a decision one way or the other, but because of both his depth and alignment, both of these routes downfield are viable. So at this point, you're reading him, but it really doesn't matter... Like I said - he's iced. Even if he is just outside the hash like DPJ it doesn't matter. He's still 10 yards high on him and the corner playing DPJ has lost the route inside. WAY too much space to play with there.

And yes, that's Baker with a pretty damn clean pocket I might add.

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Baker see's the safety flip his hips inside, again... not like it matters, and squares his shoulders to attack this slot fade from Schwartz. But this is where I put things on the rookie when they're deserved. Instead of just carrying this upfield and slowly widening just outside the numbers, Schwartz breaks this 3 steps out to shake the corner and back up. It's too much, just too much overplay on the route when you were winning by a step and opening that step because of the play design and your natural speed. Baker has started his wind-up here.

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Schwartz recovers from his break on the out, but it's late. The ball is 6 yards deep and in the end-zone where Baker expected his WR to be. It's asking a lot of a rookie receiver who came from a team like Auburn... You don't have NFL quality position coaches and you play in a run-heavy offense with a QB like Bo-Nix who was extremely limited in his abilities. Likely poorly coached, which isn't helping any situation. But this is a homerun ball that, while I don't know if it quite connects if the route is ran better, would have had a much better shot at being 6 points if the rookie was more polished coming into the league.

This is honestly where our receiver room, most importantly Schwartz, needs the most work.

He's sort of the secret superstar this off-season. He has elite speed, and I do mean elite. There's a reason he was a top 100 pick and this coaching staff wants to use his god-given abilities but he needs to become a more well rounded player as opposed to just an athlete who previously just won with being "only" fast. In order to threaten taking the top off, you need to win in a variety of ways.

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That HAVING been said, I can't absolve Baker completely. Because while this route is on the rookie Schwartz, and it's a fine read... remember where I said there was even more space to work with on that DPJ post?

This is how you win with a post against single high. I mentioned this briefly when I broke down that INT Baker threw against GB to the single high safety that was MOTFC. You can beat single high depending on that safety alignment and depth. If Tyrann is planted between those hashes and lower onto DPJ then you don't throw this. But like I said, it was incredibly bad positioning that the concept dialed could have exploited that to Bakers content. While the read to throw to Schwartz was fine, the decision to NOT take DPJ on the deep post/over is almost criminal. This was dealers choice and that post throw has a much higher percentage of being a TD.

I'm positive Baker saw this in film review and remembered it. It might help to explain a couple of his throws down the line. Like what I just referenced above - against GB. He read single high, but didn't process leverage and depth before uncorking a shot that should have gone to Higgins on the deep over.

I'm not trying to piling on Mayfield, but even when looking for things our skill players need to improve upon, Bakers (in)decision making still grabs my attention.

And I said it during the tail end of the season, this is your proof - neither position group, QB or WR, was so dominant that it could mask the short-comings of the other.

TexasAg1969

I think Baker could even overthrow Putin at this point.?

SdBacker80

@texasag1969 said:

I think Baker could even overthrow Putin at this point.?

Yeah I got this yesterday from a friend. Lions fan btw

nickers

@sdbacker80 said:

Yeah I got this yesterday from a friend. Lions fan btw

That's not even remotely funny to me... I think Baker has taken enough shit from the ignorant public...

Dutch Oven

nickers

@dutch-oven said:

Tomlin isnt as bright as you think he is... I happen to think hes one of the dumbest coaches in the league... Ben covers a lot of his dumb snafus...

Canton Dawg

I recall the Ravens vs Dolphins Monday night game.

The Fins blitzed Lamar Jackson nearly every snap.

The results? Through 3 quarters LJ put 3 points on the board, and he ran for only 39 yards.

Dutch Oven

@nickers said:

Tomlin isnt as bright as you think he is... I happen to think hes one of the dumbest coaches in the league... Ben covers a lot of his dumb snafus...

You think a black head coach is dumb.

There's a shocker.

For clarification sake's - I just found that meme on a Browns board on FB, I didn't write any of it.

But I think there's some truth to it.

Dutch Oven

@canton-dawg said:

I recall the Ravens vs Dolphins Monday night game.

The Fins blitzed Lamar Jackson nearly every snap.

The results? Through 3 quarters LJ put 3 points on the board, and he ran for only 39 yards.

Quarterbacks who struggle to stand in the pocket, read defenses and make smart, accurate passes eventually get figured out.

This applies to a supreme athlete like Jackson, or an athletically mediocre, short QB like Mayfield.

tiamat63

@nickers said:

Tomlin isnt as bright as you think he is... I happen to think hes one of the dumbest coaches in the league... Ben covers a lot of his dumb snafus...

The only issue is, the rumored design of the defensive coaching staff echoes my sentiments and film review. It's not that Baker can't*, he's just very hit and miss with it. Especially on post snap shifts. Mayfield tends to spray the ball into zone coverage on straight drops.

Brady Quinn was notorious for that same thing.

Canton Dawg

@dutch-oven said:

Quarterbacks who struggle to stand in the pocket, read defenses and make smart, accurate passes eventually get figured out.

This applies to a supreme athlete like Jackson, or an athletically mediocre, short QB like Mayfield.

Yep, which ruffles the feathers of the Lamar Jackson worshippers.

I know he was League MVP, but yet again so was RG III.

tiamat63

@canton-dawg said:

I know he was League MVP, but yet lt again so was RG III.

ROTY*

Canton Dawg

@tiamat63 said:

ROTY*

You’re correct, I should’ve said Cam Newton was League MVP.

nickers

@dutch-oven said:

You think a black head coach is dumb.

There's a shocker.

For clarification sake's - I just found that meme on a Browns board on FB, I didn't write any of it.

But I think there's some truth to it.

Here again... You assumed WRONG... I thought Tony Dungy was excellent... I also think Todd Bowles is pretty good too... Eric Bienemy has made a strong case for himself as well... I thought Hue was a good hire and we see how that turned out... There are some dumb white HC's in the league.. Remember Pat Shurmer?He's about as dumb as they come...

tiamat63

@canton-dawg said:

You’re correct, I should’ve said Cam Newton was League MVP.

Figured that's what you had meant.

Tebow would be the extreme example in this case. Could make honorable mention for Jake Locker when the Titans drafted him.

SdBacker80

@nickers said:

Here again... You assumed WRONG... I thought Tony Dungy was excellent... I also think Todd Bowles is pretty good too... Eric Bienemy has made a strong case for himself as well... I thought Hue was a good hire and we see how that turned out... There are some dumb white HC's in the league.. Remember Pat Shurmer?He's about as dumb as they come...

Tomlin and Dumb? I wish that was the case and it’s a weird way to describe a Super Bowl winning coach that has winning record year after year and has shown rare longevity with a franchise that demands success.

nickers

@sdbacker80 said:

Tomlin and Dumb? I wish that was the case and it’s a weird way to describe a Super Bowl winning coach that has winning record year after year and has shown rare longevity with a franchise that demands success.

Ever since Tomlin tried to trip a Ravens player I have had 0 respect for him... He's a CHUMP!

Unsympathetic

Oklahoma is going to unveil a statue of Mayfield at their spring game. This is fine. Everything is fine.

mjp28

@nickers said:

Ever since Tomlin tried to trip a Ravens player I have had 0 respect for him... He's a CHUMP!

An NFL Classic! !