FOXBORO - In days gone by, the prevailing coaching aversion to the forward pass was that, three things could happen and two of them were bad.
The math has, of course changed. Now, you can quite easily draw a downfield pass-interference flag. And you are throwing to players who are bigger than the middle linebackers of bygone eras with the speed of Gale Sayers and jumping ability of Elgin Baylor.
You can make a nice living throwing moonballs downfield and hoping your guy comes down with it. Even get to the Super Bowl, like Rex Grossman did, or win one, like Jumpball Joe Flacco.
The Patriots will this week face a guy who’s absolutely not afraid to throw it up for grabs and hope his guy comes down with it.
Bill Belichick was asked Friday about the challenge his downfield guys face with a dice-rolling bomb-tosser.
“It’s something that we work on from the first day of training camp really is going up defensively and competing for the ball,” he explained. “Being in good position, that’s part of the battle in the secondary, but that’s the way it always is. Being in position is part of the battle, and then finishing the play and making the play on the ball, that’s the other half of it.
“With the defensive back and the receiver, those guys have the longest play,” Belichick added. “The defensive linemen and offensive linemen are far apart from each other, a lot of times those plays are determined pretty quickly and then it’s go to the ball. But in the secondary, you have to play for three, four, five seconds, and then in a lot of cases, it comes down to that last split second of whether it’s a good play or a bad play. You could be in a perfect positon defensively and mistime or miss the ball, or offensively you could not run a good route and not really be open but make a good catch, or you can run a great route and do everything right and drop the ball. For those positions, every part of the play is important, but the finish of the play is a lot of times what decides whether it’s a good play or a great play or a bad play, and that’s the position.”
Every reception isn’t created equal, nor is every incompletion. A corner can have decent or competitive coverage and the quarterback and receiver thread a needle and make a play. That happened a lot to Malcolm Butler in the opener against Pittsburgh. Or, a guy can be off-balance or lose separation and a quarterback throws to the wrong shoulder or a receiver loses concentration and drops it. That’s not a “win” for the defensive back as much as it is a loss for the offense.
New England Patriots
Bortles has the arm strength to throw deep with low trajectory, which puts some extra heat on a secondary in zone coverage because the ball arrives in your area more quickly than anticipated. Allen Robinson, a 6-3, 220-pounder from Penn State, has been the beneficiary of a few downfield lasers from Bortles.
And Jags offensive coordinator Greg Olson said he’s more than comfortable with those throws, especially when they go toward Robinson. Earlier this week, our Phil Perry got way into that topic with quotes from Olson and safety Devin McCourty.
Belichick also added that the fight has to extend after the apex of the jump because of the rule declaring a receiver has to control the ball “through” the ground.
“It’s something that we always work on – finishing the play and being in position, but also making the right judgment at that time,” he pointed out. “A lot of times you go up and you can’t get the ball, but the receiver has to bring it down and possess it, so it’s not a catch until he comes down and brings it in. So even though you might get outrebounded if you will, you still with good technique have a chance to get the ball out before he’s able to get control of it.”
There will be probably a few downfield shots on Sunday from Bortles. Why not, it’s worth the risk.