QB or the WR which is it ?

[Whatever]

(05-21-2020, 12:27 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: All the WR threads and threads about player stats or production over the past several days have got me thinking  

And we've been through this topic numerous times over the years. But just how much bearing does QB play, accuracy, beating the blitz and completing passes, hitting guys in stride, and so on effect the stats of the skill players ?

I mean let's face it, and I know bad to horrible Oline and suspect play calling/scheme is a factor but set that aside, we haven't had good QB play the last several seasons.

Andy Dalton has the bulk of the snaps the last four seasons but going back a little further there's been a sprinkling of McCarron, Driskel, and Finley and they've been bad as well. This isn't just about bashing Dalton, but his stats even when not under pressure just are not good.

AD has just over a 60% completion percentage over the last 3 seasons and a QB rating of just over 84 ! I haven't looked up the others but I'm pretty sure it's not good either.

How many times have we seen Mixon have to go backwards, pick a ball out of the grass, stop, and so on to catch a simple swing pass ? How many times has Auden Tate or A.J. Green had to make circus nearly inhuman leaps, twists and turns to haul in a pass ? How many times has 6'5" or somethin Tyler Eifert had to catch a ball at the extreme top of his ability ?

How many open receivers close to the sideline and the ball is 5 yards out of bounds ? over their heads ? at their feet ? Back shoulder throws late or to far to the inside ? on and on

How much does Burrow change this ? How many more yards would Joe Mixon have if he could catch a screen pass where he's being thrown open ? How many more YAC would Tate have had if he didn't have to leap over an SUV doing a back flip to catch the ball ? What could Ross have done if he was hit in stride a bit more ? What if A.J. didn't have to break stride or stop to catch a deep ball ?

The PFF rankings holic posted have several of the top rated receiving corps lined up with top QB's, coincidence ? Our RB's stats in the passing game have died lately, why ?

I can't wait to see what happens with the receiving corps in the future ?

It's both the QB and the WR's. 

On errant throws, you have to analyze WHY the throw was off.  Sometimes, the QB's mechanics fall apart under pressure or he simply misfires.  Other times, there's other factors at work.

For example, back shoulder throws are nearly always a check for a vertical route against press man.  If the WR recognizes it late, he often keeps pushing up the field and what you get is what looks like an underthrown ball.  Now, Andy is known to be great at presnap reads, so you generally put those on the WR.

On throws out of bounds, it honestly depends.  Andy has had issues throughout his career keeping deep sideline throws in bounds, so a lot of those I would believe are on him.  A lot of the throws out of bounds on short-intermediate stuff are because the receiver is covered.  You can argue that you would like to see the QB try to stick them in there more, which means better production for your receivers.  It also leads to more turnovers, which leads us to an aside...

Just because your WR's are producing stats doesn't mean the QB is playing good football.  Tampa Bay last year is exhibit A.  Their WR's lit it up in fantasy leagues, but they lost a lot of games because their QB took too many risks with the football.  They're called 50-50 balls for a reason.

Hitting guys in stride has never been one of Andy's strengths.  Personally, as great as he is presnap, he is not good processing things real time.  This leads to throws behind his receivers on his 2nd and 3rd reads.  It also leads to him chucking it out of bounds if the guy he's decided to go to presnap can't win as expected.  

However, the other part of that is that it's easier to hit guys in stride and not chuck it out of bounds when your WR's separate and you're not sweating the defender taking it back to the house.  It's the job of the WR to create easier throws for the QB.

The composition of the WR corps also hurt.  AJ Green is a do everything WR.  He can challenge the defense vertically, run precise routes, and win 50-50 balls.  The Bengals didn't have anyone else with his skill set.  You simply aren't going to win having guys like Ross trying to win jump balls or Tate stretch the defense on a deep fly.  We couldn't really use the full playbook because we had to mix and match to fill in for AJ.  Having Higgins as another swiss army knife type will help, but you need versatile guys that can step in and be able to run your offense with.  We had guys that are basically specialists on the bench last year.  They couldn't fill in for AJ when he went down, and there wasn't anyone to fill in for them when they went down.