Report: Burrow pushing for Bengals to draft Chase

[Shake n Blake]

(04-10-2021, 01:50 AM)Whatever Wrote: It is an average, but it's an average taken over hundreds of snaps, not just 5.  And again, the point remains, no QB is consistently getting 4 seconds to just stand back there and survey the field.  

For this discussion, we also must include pressure % and sack % since a QB getting the ball out quick can drop his average time to throw and make the OL look better or worse as a result.  Burrow was tied for 26th in Time to Throw, was 13th in Pressure %, and 10th in Sack %. None of those is good, however, none represent the "worst OL in the NFL" narrative that gets tossed around these boards, either.  However, compare those rankings to the fact that he had the 5th worst expected completion percentage in the league and threw the 3rd highest percentage of passes to targets with a defender within 1 yard of them, it highlights just how bad that WR corps was.  

More time to throw doesn't necessarily mean more separation for the receiver.  The reason for this is simple.  You have a CB who runs 4.5 in the 40 covering a WR who runs 4.45.  If the WR gets separation on his initial break from the CB, he hypothetically will continue to accelerate away and in that case create more separation if the OL can give the QB an extra tenth or two to hold the ball and create an easier throw.  Problem is, the inverse is also true.  If a WR that runs 4.55 gets the same separation on the same route against the same CB, the CB will run him down and close the distance the longer the QB holds the ball.  Our WR corps is painfully slow by NFL standards, which means a lot more of the latter than the former.

I don't see how that changes anything. In fact it makes it worse, as these types of impactful snaps (negative and positive) pile up over the course of hundreds of snaps.

To the rest, the time to throw is really what you want to focus on, because the other two stats can be majorly influenced by the offense making short throws to offset pressure. Which is something that will ALSO have a major impact on how much separation our receivers get on average.

26th in time to throw sounds about right. Our line was awful. "It wasn't the worst" isn't what you really want to hang your hat on, is it? Throw Sewell at RT, bump Reiff inside, draft a speed guy in round 2 or 3, and we should see MAJOR improvement.

You are right that time to throw doesn't necessarily = separation, but you want to know what it does mean? Burrow having more time to scan his receivers to see who got the most separation. If he's having to target the first guy he sees because he has no time, that guy is more likely to be covered...which will drag down that separation stat. If he can scan his targets more often, the stat improves. Simple.