Quinn will be a star in the NFL. He has the fundamentals down, strong arm, accurate throws, and can pick up the 2nd or 3rd wide receiver when the first option is not available.
The problem is with the offensive line that is giving him very little protection. The O-Line finally played well against Purdue, and Brady had great numbers. You also have to factor that we had something of a running game for the first time against Purdue. In the previous games, without a running game, we were so one dimensional and everyone keyed on Brady.
I personally am already pre-ordering my Raiders jersey with BQs #10 on it.
I'm not sure Quinn will be a "star" yet, but you gotta admit that's kinda ridiculous saying he won't play a regular season down and he'll go to NFL Europe. I mean, the kid's gonna be at worst a late 1st round draft pick, so you gotta think he'll get the chance to start somewhere before its all said and done.
Nothing and I mean nothing pains me more than this negative feeling I have about our Brady.
Believe me I like him. I think he has great skills and outstanding football qualities. I wish I didn't feel this way.
I've tried to shake it, tried to look at all the reasons why I might be wrong but the doubts about him just won't leave me.
He's got every tool that the pros covet.
Ideal size.
Great strength.
Strong arm.
Good vision.
Good mechanics.
Good recognition skills. Audibles out of bad plays when the defense show itself.
Smart. To digest Charlie's playbook, you have to be.
Calm in the clutch. See Stanford last year and MSU this year.
Unfortunately, for me, it all comes back to accuracy.
All of the above positive traits don't add up to a hill of beans if at the very end of each pass play, you cannot deliver the ball on target.
What's even more disconcerting is that I don't see improvement at all in this area.
On out-patterns of 5-12 yards, he erratic. He's either throws it way out in front of his receiver (uncatchable) or low (catchable, but no YAC).
On deep sideline routes, he's basically throwing jump balls.
On middle of the field, mid and deep, seam routes (and granted this is probably his best ball, see Carlson's catches) he's only fifty-fifty and his touch is questionable. I won't even go into the fact that on some of these routes, he's thrown into double and even triple coverage on plenty of occasions.
On flairs and screens to Darius, throws of now more than 15 feet mind you, he does not consistently hit #3 in front so that Darius can keep his shoulders square and his eyes downfield.
And finally,
on crossing patterns, usually to Jeff and usually under 7 yards from the line of scrimmage he consistently throws back shoulder balls. I've convinced myself that this is the ball that pisses Jeff off more than any other. Because this is a dangerous ball to throw (interceptions) and really dangerous for Jeff to catch without hearing footsteps and potentially getting lit up by some lurking defender. Seriously, you'll often see pros apologize to their receiver if they ever mistakenly throw behind a receiver on a crossing route. You're talking about concussions, broken ribs, or worse with throws like that.
I keep waiting for improvement and I really hope it comes but I haven't seen it yet.
Imagine the magnitude of his erratic consistency at the next level where the speed of play is exponentially higher than what he's seeing in front of him now.
I hope he gets in a rythm over these next four or five games and heads to SoCal at the top of his game. Because if does find some consistency with his accuracy, he'd be all world.
