OUR PASSING GAME---ANOTHER LOOK

Gruden explains the importance of using "all 5 weapons" and throwing the check-down pass to keep the defense honest. Shows how Manning and Brees etc use the short check-down pass frequently. It's a chess game, and it's stupid to just run the Bo Schembechler offense. These short passes are so simple and safe it's stupid not to have a little more balance, just to keep the D guessing rather than stacking the LOS.

Johnny Manziel: Gruden's QB Camp


Between the 28-30 min and 36-41 minute Gruden discusses the importance of the short check down pass to the RB.

Originally posted by brodiebluebanaszak:

Originally posted by buck:

In % of drives that went 3 and out, SF was ranked 26th in 2013.

San Francisco 189 offensive drives and 47 of them went 3 and out.

That is 24.87% of the drives went 3 and out.

SF had the 19th fewest drives in the league in 2013.

I know that the above numbers are not solely reflective of the passing game.

But, the number of 3 and out drives has been mentioned in this thread.

I saw no reason to not provide what I found.

Buck in the first stat I can't quite tell what that means -- is it good or bad. Are we among the league leaders in 3-and-outs or do we do better than average there? i.e. Do a lot of teams have more 3-and-outs than us, as % of drives (good), or less (bad)?

We were 26th worst. That is beyond just bad.

Our passing game is also hurt by the fact we can't seem to develop or evaluate talent at WR or TE in the draft recently. AJ Jenkins and Vance McDonald are good examples of this. Meanwhile up North they get players like Baldwin, Kearse, and Luke Wilson basically off the street contributing. I would not mind trading up for Mike Evans honestly. I think his game will definitely translate to the NFL.

Originally posted by maxsmart:

It isn't necessarily good to be 1st in YATC because that means that they were very low in RAC and last in the NFL in short passing game. Esp considering that their overall passing game ranked 30th in the NFL, (just 3 yards/gm ahead of the Jets and 154 yards/gm behind the leaders). Adding short passing game would increase RAC and overall offense.

It is not necessarily bad to be 1st in YATC either.

The idea is to understand our passing game better and look at the ways it can be improved.

Improving the short passing game would be good. Improving the yards after the catch be good.

Increasing our receivers catch rate and decreasing their drop rate would be good.

SF was ranked 30th in passing in the NFL, but that is, if I remember correctly, a stat for passing yards gained.

In part, that stat is shaped by the number of passes attempted. We did not throw the ball very often.

If we look at the efficiency of our passing attack, there is reason to believe that increasing the number of passes thrown would be a good thing.

Pass Efficiency Ratio: 2013 NFL Season

In pass efficiency ration SF was 6th best.

But, I am not claiming that increasing the number of passes thrown would automatically improve our passing game.

Stats do not predict the future. They can help us understand the strengths and weaknesses of our passing game.

Here is the site's explanation of the Pass Efficiency Ration.


Pass Efficiency Ratio compares the number of net passing yards per attempt (NY/PA) a team generates for each net passing yard per attempt against (NY/PA against) to give an indication to how well a teams offense does at generating passing yards compared to how that teams defense prevents passing yards by their opponent.

This ratio gives you the number of passing yards a team generates for each passing yard they give up. It helps to give an indication of both the teams passing offense as well as its passing defense.


http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/pass-efficiency-ratio/2013/

Originally posted by maxsmart:
Gruden explains the importance of using "all 5 weapons" and throwing the check-down pass to keep the defense honest. Shows how Manning and Brees etc use the short check-down pass frequently. It's a chess game, and it's stupid to just run the Bo Schembechler offense. These short passes are so simple and safe it's stupid not to have a little more balance, just to keep the D guessing rather than stacking the LOS.

Johnny Manziel: Gruden's QB Camp


Between the 28-30 min and 36-41 minute Gruden discusses the importance of the short check down pass to the RB.

And thats why Gruden dont coach in the NFL Today.

Originally posted by KapToBoldin:

Our passing game is also hurt by the fact we can't seem to develop or evaluate talent at WR or TE
in the draft recently.

AJ Jenkins and Vance McDonald are good examples of this. Meanwhile up North they get players like Baldwin, Kearse, and Luke Wilson basically off the street contributing. I would not mind trading up for Mike Evans honestly. I think his game will definitely translate to the NFL.

Baalke has been in charge of 4 drafts. He has drafted about 4 wide receivers.

Harbaugh and company have been developing wide receivers and tight ends for three years.

McDonald has only one year of experience.

Perhaps, it is too early for these claims made to be accepted as facts.

We have no choice but to wait and see what happens.

I do not how to define a short pass.
But, I am going to define a short pass as a pass thrown for nine yards or less.
I used the chart in post #325 to compile a look at our short passing game.

The numbers below are just numbers. I am far from being an expert in passing.
I do not know if the numbers below are good or bad.
I would like to see us improve in every aspect of the passing game.
I am interested in hearing what those who know more have to say.

We threw 226 passes of nine yards or less.
Those 226 passes resulted in 165 receptions.
We completed 73% of those passes

We gained 1,503 yard on those passes.
That is 6.65 yards per attempt
That is 9.11 yards per reception.

We had 3,197 yards passing last year.
Short passes accounted for 47.01 % of our passing yards.

We had 21 passing touchdowns last year.
We had 9 passing touchdowns on throws less than nine yards.
Those 9 touchdowns were 42.865% of our passing touchdowns.

We had 8 interceptions last year.
Two of those came on passes of less than nine yards.
That was 25% of our interceptions.

edit: I forgot to include these.

We completed 243 passes.
The 165 receptions on passes of nine yards or less accounted for 67.9% of our pass completions.


Enjoy.

Originally posted by KapToBoldin:

Our passing game is also hurt by the fact we can't seem to develop or evaluate talent at WR or TE in the draft recently. AJ Jenkins and Vance McDonald are good examples of this. Meanwhile up North they get players like Baldwin, Kearse, and Luke Wilson basically off the street contributing. I would not mind trading up for Mike Evans honestly. I think his game will definitely translate to the NFL.

I'm reading Harbaugh's offense as a TE centric offense. With the WR's providing a deep strike capability and their primary role is to push the coverage back so that the underneath TE routes are opened up, or the WR's have the option to be a target on a big play if the defense is crowding the line of scrimmage waiting on the TE drag under and shallow crossing routes. So, for me you look at the TE in Harbaugh's offense and you see VD with 13 productive TD's.

What does this mean? It means the focus on the RB or the WR's is a bit misplaced. The key to running a successful Harbaugh offense is the TE. Unfortunately, without another critical piece this offense becomes inefficient. Namely two fast WR's that can go deep to free the TE to roam the middle of the field and be the ball control receiver. The RB and FB provide the power running to draw the defense to the line of scrimmage so that the TE and the WR's can get behind the DB's and make the big play. Again, a power running team draws the defense to the LOS, so running a swing pass or a flair out is counter productive since the defense is already at the LOS ready to meet the RB and FB and nail them for a loss or no gain. With no fast WR's to push the DB's back and isolate the FB/RB in man on man coverage with the LB's - short RB/FB swing passes aren't going to be very productive in a Harbaugh type offense.

This also means the missed draft on AJ Jenkins really hurts this offense, and the slow development of Vance in the passing game hurts it even more.

Originally posted by buck:

Originally posted by brodiebluebanaszak:

Originally posted by buck:
In % of drives that went 3 and out, SF was ranked 26th in 2013.

San Francisco 189 offensive drives and 47 of them went 3 and out.

That is 24.87% of the drives went 3 and out.

SF had the 19th fewest drives in the league in 2013.

I know that the above numbers are not solely reflective of the passing game.

But, the number of 3 and out drives has been mentioned in this thread.

I saw no reason to not provide what I found.

Buck in the first stat I can't quite tell what that means -- is it good or bad. Are we among the league leaders in 3-and-outs or do we do better than average there? i.e. Do a lot of teams have more 3-and-outs than us, as % of drives (good), or less (bad)?

We were 26th worst. That is beyond just bad.

A lot of this has to do with the cute plays we run. They give us big losses, and kill drives. I don't know the facts, but I would guess we are near the top with rushes that went for a loss.

Originally posted by BrianGO:
A lot of this has to do with the cute plays we run. They give us big losses, and kill drives. I don't know the facts, but I would guess we are near the top with rushes that went for a loss.

You would be correct.

We were ranked dead last in stuffs (runs stopped at or before the LOS) with 61.

Dead last in negative rush yards (-161).

12.1 % of runs were stuffed (30th in NFL)

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-stuffed-percentage/2013/

Originally posted by SofaKing:

Originally posted by BrianGO:
A lot of this has to do with the cute plays we run. They give us big losses, and kill drives. I don't know the facts, but I would guess we are near the top with rushes that went for a loss.

You would be correct.

We were ranked dead last in stuffs (runs stopped at or before the LOS) with 61.

Dead last in negative rush yards (-161).

12.1 % of runs were stuffed (30th in NFL)

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-stuffed-percentage/2013/

So it's percentage not number...which is the most accurate way to look at it. Sad considering how good Gore is and that he was healthy all last year. It's almost as if the coaches sacrificed Gore so that he could take pressure off Kaepernick...not a bad idea but still...sad for Gore.

Originally posted by dtg_9er:

So it's percentage not number...which is the most accurate way to look at it. Sad considering how good Gore is and that he was healthy all last year. It's almost as if the coaches sacrificed Gore so that he could take pressure off Kaepernick...not a bad idea but still...sad for Gore.

Not much you can do if all you got was Quan and VD, and they double both. Gore is the only option there, unless Kaep runs.

Originally posted by Giedi:

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
So it's percentage not number...which is the most accurate way to look at it. Sad considering how good Gore is and that he was healthy all last year. It's almost as if the coaches sacrificed Gore so that he could take pressure off Kaepernick...not a bad idea but still...sad for Gore.

Not much you can do if all you got was Quan and VD, and they double both. Gore is the only option there, unless Kaep runs.

Right. Our heavy use of 21 and 22 personnel, with virtually no speed on the field at WR, really hurt the offense. Defenses crowded the box, and we kept pounding regardless because our passing game is built on play-action. We had no choice. Our running and passing game was still remarkably effective in terms of per-down-averages given the circumstances.

Originally posted by Giedi:

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
So it's percentage not number...which is the most accurate way to look at it. Sad considering how good Gore is and that he was healthy all last year. It's almost as if the coaches sacrificed Gore so that he could take pressure off Kaepernick...not a bad idea but still...sad for Gore.

Not much you can do if all you got was Quan and VD, and they double both. Gore is the only option there, unless Kaep runs.

That's what the WCO was invented to fix...didn't have to have players with super powers to learn and run the offense like a Swiss Watch!

Originally posted by dtg_9er:

That's what the WCO was invented to fix...didn't have to have players with super powers to learn and run the offense like a Swiss Watch!

It takes a QB with vision to run it, Kaep isn't that type of QB just right now. I'm confident he'll get there - but like Steve, he has to get away from trying to make plays himself and let his players make the plays.