05-10-2020, 07:08 PM
(05-10-2020, 06:41 PM)Joelist Wrote: The slow start in 1996 was partly on poor scheming and partly on Blake himself. I liked him a lot but there were holes in his game which centered around touch on his short passes and also the technical aspects of the QB position. Remember when we brought in Boomer those last five game he put on a clinic in QB excellence. But Mikey would not do the obvious thing and sign him for the next season.
Blake was a cool QB but he needed seasoning and a lot of work on his short passing game.
This is on point. Blake was a lot of fun to watch, that deep ball was a Mike Tyson punch that could happen anytime. Problem is when you take that away and make him a pocket passer, he not only had a low completion percentage but didn't hit guys in stride with the short game.
https://youtu.be/nziErugRnqQ
If you look at his highlights, they're a lot of broken plays, quick reads for a moon ball to Darnay/Carl or hitting a short target for zero YAC. If all goes right, you have a pro bowl but this was the great what if back then. What if they had a field general like O'Donnell, Justin, Mitchell and later Kitna to just let guys make plays? It also puts you (wrongly) in the mindset of what if we had a rocket arm that could develop into a qb. That's how we ended up with Akili and not a Ricky Williams trade.
Blake was always a fun but bridge qb. If they would have fixed the pass rush, maybe Blake wins a playoff game with those teams but not a ring. He was what he was, and they were not going to give him the 4 yr deal for starter money the Saints did. They were always going to replace him, but he really made those bad teams fun.
