The Pencil Neck
Hall of Fame
I think a lot of us have noticed some changes in Schaub and his delivery since he's come back from the Lisfranc injury.
In the Raven's Gameday thread, CnD speculated that possibly there's a problem with Schaub that he's making more sidearm deliveries and this might be a recurrence of Schaub's shoulder issues. But I don't think that's it. Other people are noticing more zip and more accuracy.
I've noticed Schaub doing 2 things that I don't recall seeing him do before: the sidearm delivery and the stepback after the throw.
The Sidearm Delivery
I think the sidearm delivery is a conscious choice on Schaub's part. As someone said during the Gameday thread, maybe this developed as a reaction to getting more balls knocked down in practice but it looks to me like Schaub has been studying while he was injured. And it looks to me like he was studying Rich Gannon and Brett Favre.
I think this sidearm delivery thing IS a reaction to the batted balls. I think it's a conscious choice on his part to find better throwing lanes and I think it's improving his accuracy and allowing him to get more zip on the ball. He's looking a lot like Rich Gannon did in his prime. He's getting the ball out from different launch points and he's getting it around guys. He's sneaking it in to some tight windows.
The Stepback
When Schaub is under pressure up the middle now, he seems to throw even as he's stepping back. It almost looks like cowardice but then at other times, he stands tall and takes the beating. He's no coward and he's willing to take a beating. I don't think anyone can call out Schaub when it comes to toughness.
But the guy who used to do that throw/stepback thing all the time was Brett Favre. It seems counter-intuitive to me that this stepback approach would be a good thing but it's hard to argue with the results.
So. I think that having to sit and watch TJ take this team into the playoffs really had an impact on Matt. I think he really sat down and evaluated his strengths and weaknesses and made some decisions to build on what he can and can't do to become a better QB. And I think he's really upped his game.
In the Raven's Gameday thread, CnD speculated that possibly there's a problem with Schaub that he's making more sidearm deliveries and this might be a recurrence of Schaub's shoulder issues. But I don't think that's it. Other people are noticing more zip and more accuracy.
I've noticed Schaub doing 2 things that I don't recall seeing him do before: the sidearm delivery and the stepback after the throw.
The Sidearm Delivery
I think the sidearm delivery is a conscious choice on Schaub's part. As someone said during the Gameday thread, maybe this developed as a reaction to getting more balls knocked down in practice but it looks to me like Schaub has been studying while he was injured. And it looks to me like he was studying Rich Gannon and Brett Favre.
I think this sidearm delivery thing IS a reaction to the batted balls. I think it's a conscious choice on his part to find better throwing lanes and I think it's improving his accuracy and allowing him to get more zip on the ball. He's looking a lot like Rich Gannon did in his prime. He's getting the ball out from different launch points and he's getting it around guys. He's sneaking it in to some tight windows.
The Stepback
When Schaub is under pressure up the middle now, he seems to throw even as he's stepping back. It almost looks like cowardice but then at other times, he stands tall and takes the beating. He's no coward and he's willing to take a beating. I don't think anyone can call out Schaub when it comes to toughness.
But the guy who used to do that throw/stepback thing all the time was Brett Favre. It seems counter-intuitive to me that this stepback approach would be a good thing but it's hard to argue with the results.
So. I think that having to sit and watch TJ take this team into the playoffs really had an impact on Matt. I think he really sat down and evaluated his strengths and weaknesses and made some decisions to build on what he can and can't do to become a better QB. And I think he's really upped his game.
in his future!
