Week 2 QB awards: Trubisky’s drastic step backward
You now have my permission to panic over Mitchell Trubisky. Sure, he threw the essential cross that arrange the Bears’ 16-14 victory Sunday over the Broncos. However till then, his efficiency — and the Bears’ game-long coddling of him — was alarming for a quarterback approaching his 30th NFL begin.
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It could be unfair to check Trubisky to Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, each of whom the Bears handed over to draft him No. 2 general in 2017. They’re completely different gamers in several programs. However it’s greater than honest to anticipate him to be a a lot better passer than he’s now, and that revelation offers an ideal spot to leap into our Week 2 Quarterback Awards, a weekly distribution of QB accolades utilizing distinctive information culled from ESPN Stats & Info and NFL Subsequent Gen Stats.
Every Tuesday, we’ll spotlight the very best and worst QB performances from the NFL weekend and break down what made every quarterback carry out at both excessive. Let’s begin this week’s version with Trubisky.
In 2017, the Bears surrendered 5 draft picks to maneuver up and choose Trubisky at No. 2 general, the type of bounty reserved for gamers with transcendent potential. What we have seen since, nonetheless, is a franchise falling over itself to make the sport as simple as it might probably for him.
That development was on excessive show Sunday in Denver, the place 33.Three% of Trubisky’s makes an attempt did not make it previous the road of scrimmage. That was the fourth-highest proportion in Week 2. NFL Subsequent Gen Stats categorized a league-high 40.7% of his targets as “large open,” which means there was no defender inside 5 yards. And he had two of the top-six best incompletions for the week, as decided by the NFL Subsequent Gen Stats mannequin, together with this tried third-down dump-off to tight finish Trey Burton within the fourth quarter, proven by NFL Subsequent Gen Stats animation:
Solely eight of his 27 makes an attempt traveled greater than 10 yards previous the road of scrimmage, and the one one Trubisky accomplished was the 25-yard cross to receiver Allen Robinson that arrange Eddy Pineiro’s 53-yard game-winning subject purpose.
Want additional proof? Take a look at how coach Matt Nagy known as performs within the second half Sunday.
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Late within the third quarter, as they tried to pad a 6-Three lead, the Bears ran on all 9 performs of an 80-yard drive that resulted in David Montgomery’s 1-yard scoring run. (Trubisky’s incomplete cross on third-and-goal was worn out by penalty.) And because the Bears tried to seal the sport with Three:45 to play, Trubisky threw a Three-yard cross to Robinson on third-and-Eight.
To be honest, the Bears have performed towards two of the NFL’s higher defenses this season within the Denver Broncos and Inexperienced Bay Packers. That truth offers context for a few of his efficiency, but it surely would not account for the coaching wheels the Bears have but to take away. The excellent news is there should not be any grey space after the Bears’ Week Three Monday Night time Soccer recreation towards the Washington Redskins, who’ve the NFL’s second-worst passing protection by Complete QBR (89.Zero). If Trubisky is not enjoying big-boy soccer by then, it’s going to be time to ask when — or if — it should occur.
Merely beginning a significant recreation is an unbelievable accomplishment for Bridgewater, who dislocated his left knee and tore a number of ligaments whereas with the Minnesota Vikings in 2016. When the Vikings researched outcomes for each elite athlete they might discover with the same harm — 24 in all — they discovered that 50% by no means made it again. And of the 12 who did, all wanted at the least two full years to get again on the sector.
With that mentioned, it is price remembering the kind of quarterback Bridgewater was earlier than the harm — and the way his strategy seems unlikely to vary now.
In 2015, his solely full season as a starter, Bridgewater’s common cross traveled 6.7 yards previous the road of scrimmage. That quantity ranked No. 33 of 35 quarterbacks that season. His decidedly cautious strategy helped decrease turnovers — his interception charge of two.Zero ranked No. 12 of 35 that season — however the Vikings have been hoping he would look downfield extra aggressively in 2016.
Suffice it to say, Bridgewater did no such factor throughout his prolonged aid look towards the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. His common cross traveled 6.1 yards previous the road of scrimmage, the sixth-lowest within the NFL for Week 2. Bridgewater’s common completion towards the Rams, in the meantime, traveled solely Three.9 yards previous the road of scrimmage. That was decrease than injured starter Drew Brees had in all however one recreation in 2018. Total, 99 of Bridgewater’s 165 passing yards Sunday got here on yards gained after the catch.
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Ryan Clark explains how large of a blow Drew Brees’ harm is to the Saints and the way Brees lacking time for surgical procedure will influence the crew’s offense.
Bridgewater has a robust sufficient arm to drive the ball downfield, however in components of three common seasons, he has carried out so at a a lot decrease charge than most NFL quarterbacks. The Saints should both alter their offense accordingly or demand a stage of aggressiveness Bridgewater has by no means proven at this stage.
Check out the Week 2 QBR rankings. You in all probability will not be stunned to see one of many Dolphins’ quarterbacks on the backside. I doubt you may be shocked to see the opposite one spot above him.
Fitzpatrick registered a Three.9 Complete QBR within the Dolphins’ 43-Zero loss to the New England Patriots. Rosen, who changed Fitzpatrick for the second consecutive week, wasn’t a lot better at 5.9. These are out of a potential 100, by the best way.
Just one different time, within the 14 seasons that ESPN Stats & Info has tracked QBR, have two quarterbacks from the identical crew completed with the bottom two rankings. That got here in Week 14 of the 2012 season, with the notorious Arizona Cardinals duo of Ryan Lindley and John Skelton.
Fitzpatrick and Rosen have been significantly terrible on third down, changing not one of the 11 they dropped again for. They accomplished simply one among eight passes for 2 yards. Fitzpatrick took two sacks and in addition threw two interceptions on third downs, simply to make issues just a little spicier.
There can be loads of alternatives to crush the Dolphins this season, from nearly each angle conceivable. Will this be the final time a Dolphins quarterback ranks final in QBR in 2019? Unlikely.
Chris Berman and Tom Jackson recap the weekend’s video games with prolonged highlights and evaluation. Watch on ESPN+
This award goes to its namesake, now and maybe eternally, for doing one thing most of us have by no means seen earlier than. Fairly merely, Mahomes handled us to one of the vital productive quarters in NFL historical past.
Within the second quarter of the Chiefs’ 28-10 victory over the Oakland Raiders, Mahomes threw for 278 yards and all 4 of the Chiefs’ touchdowns for the sport. That is greater than any quarterback has thrown in any quarter within the NFL’s previous 40 years, aside from one recreation by Brees in 2008. It is also greater than twice Trubisky’s complete in 4 quarters Sunday towards the Broncos. (OK, that is my final shot at Trubisky immediately.)
In a single beautiful sequence, Mahomes accomplished 5 consecutive passes that traveled at the least 20 yards within the air. Three went for touchdowns: 42 yards to receiver Mecole Hardman, 27 yards to tight finish Travis Kelce and 39 yards to receiver Demarcus Robinson. The cross to Robinson was the sixth-most troublesome completion of Week 2, in response to NFL Subsequent Gen Stats. It traveled 49.7 yards from Mahomes’ palms to Robinson’s, per NFL Subsequent Gen Stats, and was full regardless of a defender working with simply Zero.Eight yards separation.
The Chiefs are simply completely unfair 😵😵 @PatrickMahomes @Demarcus pic.twitter.com/wJ5ObSfaKA
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) September 15, 2019
We’ll test in subsequent week to see if Mahomes can truly put collectively 4 productive quarters in a single recreation. The Chiefs host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
The Pittsburgh Steelers made an uncommon resolution Sunday: They blitzed Wilson on 63% of his dropbacks, the third-highest charge in a recreation in his profession. When you had any query that Wilson has developed into an elite-level passer, his efficiency towards the Steelers’ blitzing ought to settle the problem.
He accomplished 17-of-22 passes for 209 yards and three of the Seahawks’ 4 touchdowns when dealing with 5 or extra cross rushers. How did he do it? Wilson launched the ball in comparatively breathtaking velocity, opposite to years of holding on to it whereas he seemed to make a play. Sunday, Wilson’s common time to throw was 1.89 seconds, in response to NFL Subsequent Gen Stats, the quickest such time for an NFL quarterback in two seasons (minimal 14 makes an attempt). And in 111 begins between 2012 and 2018, no quarterback held the ball longer than Wilson (common of two.88 seconds, minimal 24 begins).
So this is a memo to the Saints, who will journey to Seattle in Week Three, and the remainder of the Seahawks’ future opponents: You may assume it is logical to blitz Wilson in hopes that he’ll maintain the ball lengthy sufficient to take a sack or in any other case have his throw disrupted. However Sunday’s efficiency in Pittsburgh suggests that you’d be unsuitable.