To add a little bit more to my previous post, one glaring mistake that I saw Gardner do was hold on to the ball too long and cause a sack.  It's something that he will learn eventually, but sometimes it's better just to throw the ball away rather than take the sack.

Yeah that's something that comes with experience and I think he's currently learning to strike the balance between staying in the pocket (rather than taking off on a scramble) and holding the ball to long. It's a skill that usually takes a lot of experience and finesse and the fact that he's already seeking that balance this early is sensational. Some QBs takes years to get it down.

Throwing the ball away sounds nice, but how many times have we seen a QB try to throw the ball away because he is under pressure and it gets swatted out for a turnover?  I'm kind of glad Gardner held onto the ball and just took the sack.  If he had pulled his arm back to throw the ball away, who knows what would have happened?

---

Interesting that Gruden mentioned Shennault is part QB, part RB part WR.

I wonder if we're going to see him sling the ball on an option at some point.

---

Yeah that's something that comes with experience and I think he's currently learning to strike the balance between staying in the pocket (rather than taking off on a scramble) and holding the ball to long. It's a skill that usually takes a lot of experience and finesse and the fact that he's already seeking that balance this early is sensational. Some QBs takes years to get it down.

Throwing the ball away sounds nice, but how many times have we seen a QB try to throw the ball away because he is under pressure and it gets swatted out for a turnover?  I'm kind of glad Gardner held onto the ball and just took the sack.  If he had pulled his arm back to throw the ball away, who knows what would have happened?

That's why properly judging when to do what is not a skill that comes easily in most cases, it takes experience and along the way there will be mistakes. For good QBs throwing the ball away is generally not an issue. I'm not knocking him, I think that him seemingly having an awareness of the balance between holding/scrambling/throwing it away at his relative experience level is very encouraging. He'll only get better at it as time goes by.

---

I'm condescending. That means I talk down to you. 
Check out the Jag's Forum Alternative: Duval Football Fans.

Mia's questions were sort of like, "what do you plan to do against the Titans?"  

I'm pretty sure he doesn't ever want to answer that type of question.

"We plan to run the triple option out of the wishbone on key plays to get Robinson, Shenault and Chris Thompson all on the field at once. We're starting Glennon since he has more experience in a variety of offenses but we'll exchange quarterbacks every three plays to keep them fresh. We're flipping the O-line left to right so that Taylor is at Left Tackle and Bartch will get the start at Right. I was really impressed with our Fullback Sunday, so we're going to let him get 20 or more carries this week. Finally, on the few passing plays we'll call we're putting our four Tight Ends out at receiver with Miller as the one back in the old Run N Shoot set. Any other questions?"

This is the perfect answer to a stupid question.

That, or "Win."

---

I think the most important thing for a QB to have is what could be called the "it" factor.  Mainly mental skills along with a few physical skills.

Take Blake Bortles as an example.  I do think that he has the mental skill, but he lacked the accuracy and consistency.  I remember a particular "miked up" episode where he knew that the receiver was going to get a TD, he called it and it happened.  He was "football smart" but lacked the physical skill to go along with it.  His passes were often wobbly or not entirely accurate.

I think some people often mistake "arm strength" for the ability to throw a deep pass.  To me "arm strength" has more to do with how a pass is thrown.  Can a 15 or so yard pass be thrown accurately "on a wire" rather than a "rainbow" in the air with some touch?  Another example is Byron Leftwich.  He could throw those shorter-to-medium passes on a wire, but sometimes would put too much on them to where the receiver couldn't catch it.

I would call it "arm control" more so than "arm strength".

The 15-20 yard accurate passes with touch are going to win a lot more games than the deep pass.

"The it factor" is just another way of saying, "I don't know, he just seems to be getting it done."  It's a cop-out. 

This is really the thing:  

The most important attribute for a successful NFL quarterback is the ability to process data quickly.  The ball is snapped, and 21 other guys are in motion in every direction.  For a quarterback, that is all data that has to be processed almost instantly.  That is the thing.  The thing.  That is a massive amount of data that goes into a quarterback's brain and has to be processed into a decision within about 2 seconds.  

And that is why it is so hard for scouts to project a QB into the NFL.  You can't tell for sure who has that ability from watching college tape.  

There are a lot of other factors, of course, but that is the main factor.  When the ball is snapped, who has the ability to process a massive data input and make a decision in about 2 seconds total.

And I would say that Minshew might have this ability because so far in his very short career he has thrown 24 TDs and only 6 INTs.  He's making good decisions and minimizing bad decisions.

I wouldn't really call the "it" factor a "cop out".  I agree with you about the ability to process data quickly, and that kind of goes along with the mental skills that I talked about.  Another part of the mental skills is also pre-snap reads.  Peyton Manning was a master at it.

Yeah that's something that comes with experience and I think he's currently learning to strike the balance between staying in the pocket (rather than taking off on a scramble) and holding the ball to long. It's a skill that usually takes a lot of experience and finesse and the fact that he's already seeking that balance this early is sensational. Some QBs takes years to get it down.

Throwing the ball away sounds nice, but how many times have we seen a QB try to throw the ball away because he is under pressure and it gets swatted out for a turnover?  I'm kind of glad Gardner held onto the ball and just took the sack.  If he had pulled his arm back to throw the ball away, who knows what would have happened?

I disagree.  I was specifically referring to the sack that Gardner took after moving out of the pocket to his right and just stood there holding the ball waiting for someone to come open.  If it's not there throw it away and don't give up 6 or 8 yards.

---

There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

I disagree.  I was specifically referring to the sack that Gardner took after moving out of the pocket to his right and just stood there holding the ball waiting for someone to come open.  If it's not there throw it away and don't give up 6 or 8 yards.

He was doing everything he could to not throw the ball away on that play.

19 out of 21 just doesn't sound as cool.

---

Interesting that Gruden mentioned Shennault is part QB, part RB part WR.

I wonder if we're going to see him sling the ball on an option at some point.

I have that feeling he will be a hot fantasy name after this week.

---