Deep Thoughts with Bruce Gradkowski

[Pick6]

part of what made simms-to-galloway so dangerous was that simms just knew galloway would get past his guy.  grads will learn.

Simms has a great deep ball and laser rocket arm, but he wasn't all that last year IMO.  In the wildcard game he constantly failed to see wide open receivers, and that form carried over to this season.  Now if Simms could get better instincts and pocket awareness we would really be in business.

i agree with you completely, i was only referring to the deep passes to joey g that chris was hitting and bruce is struggling with...my point was that the deep ball is almost automatic for simms...it's been a staple of his game at least since texas - he's got the mechanics and mindset down cold, and understands how to take advantage of a dominant deep threat since the roy williams days.

grads has to get there, i feel good about him doing it.

you can't underestimate adjusting to what it means to work with seriously elite athletes. he's never thrown to a dominant deep threat like roy williams or a joey galloway, his comfort level for when a guy is open will take time to recalibrate from his targets in toledo

Here's a Buccaneers.com article about Grads and the deep ball:

http://buccaneers.com/news/newsdetail.aspx?newsid=5531

At least this gives the impression that the possibility is there for the deep ball to "click".  Galloway's comments have mirrored this sentiment.

Then we could be "that juggernaut that we plan to be".

YEAAYAAH!!!

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ first Thanksgiving Day appearance turned into a blowout in Dallas. It was quite close, however, to developing into a shootout.

Not for the first time this year, missed deep-ball connections left the Bucs wondering about what could have been. Days after the game, rookie quarterback Bruce Gradkowski at least knows why they didn’t happen, and it has nothing to do with arm strength. Gradkowski says the problem was with his feet.

Two plays in particular fell into the ‘what-could-have-been’ category for the Buccaneers’ offense, which had nearly 200 yards at halftime before hardly seeing the ball in the second half. It might have been close to 300 yards – and, more importantly, 24 points instead of 10 – if two possible deep-ball hookups between quarterback Bruce Gradkowski and wide receiver Joey Galloway had come to fruition.

One was a deep corner route on the first play of the Bucs’ third drive of the game. Galloway went up the middle of the field and angled right, behind the cornerback and away from the deep safety. The other was a fly down the left sideline on third-and-eight from the Dallas 28 midway through the second quarter. Galloway got well past cornerback Anthony Henry and had a cushion of several yards as he streaked into the end zone.

The Bucs have done some very good things in the passing game in the eight games since Gradkowski, the rookie sixth-rounder out of Toledo, took over as the starter, and they’ve also struggled at times. The struggles have involved all parties – receiver have dropped balls, linemen have allowed pressure and Gradkowski has missed some targets. On these two incidents, however, Galloway succeeded in getting open for big plays and the line gave the quarterback time to throw.

On these two occasions, Gradkowski missed, just barely under-throwing the ball both times. On the first one, a deeper and/or earlier throw very well may have taken the safety, Roy Williams, out of the play. Instead, the throw was a bit behind Galloway and it gave Williams time to cut underneath it for the interception, which in turn set up Dallas’ go-ahead touchdown drive.

Cowboys Head Coach Bill Parcells acknowledged his team dodged a bullet on that one, as did Williams. “I’m happy the quarterback lofted it up a little bit and gave me a chance to go up and grab it,� said the Pro Bowl safety.

Gradkowski says the ball wouldn’t have floated on him and come up short of the target if he had executed his drop and follow-through as he has been taught.

“I can say that’s the reason I missed Joey on that second deep ball, just the timing,� he said, referring to the pass Williams intercepted, which came after Gradkowski had already hit Galloway for a 53-yard completion on the game’s first drive. “I had the wrong footwork. It’s just little things like that. If I can correct them, we’ll be on the right path. It’s the footwork, it’s the rhythm, the timing that you throw the ball in, and that’s one thing [Quarterbacks] Coach [Paul] Hackett stresses a lot.�

On the second missed opportunity, just another six inches or so of length probably would have done the trick. A pass that hit Galloway in stride or led him a bit would have been an easy touchdown, but the receiver was still had a chance to twist back and catch the ball coming in behind him. At least that was before Henry, in an all-out, last-ditch dive, managed to tip it away at the last instance. Galloway showed his understandable frustration by kicking the nearest pylon, but he has been nothing but supportive of the Bucs’ young starter. The two G-Men have hooked up for some big-gainers during Gradkowski’s tenure under center, including two completions of over 50 yards and four other touchdown passes.

Gradkowski knows he can get it to his prime deep threat; he simply needs to redouble his efforts to learn the fundamentals of the position, the issues laymen rarely realize are so important, such as footwork.

“There’s no question about it, I have the arm strength,� he said. “I’m confident in that. That one time, it was the timing. If it had been a split-second sooner…that’s why I said the footwork was all wrong. Knowing that it’s things you can correct is positive. Being able to connect, that’s what I have to do.�

Gradkowski believes both plays should have been touchdowns. If they had indeed found the end zone, there’s a good chance the Bucs would have taken a lead into halftime. Instead, Dallas scored late in the half to make it 21-10, then got the ball first after halftime and drove straight down for another touchdown. The Bucs got few opportunities after that to make up the difference.

The suddenly large deficit contributed to Gradkowski finishing the game with pedestrian numbers. Still, Gruden saw what his young starter is capable of, and also saw what needed to be done to help him achieve it.

“That’s a tough setting, when you’re way behind against a team like that,� said Head Coach Jon Gruden. “There are some things he did that I’m really pleased with it; there are some things he obviously still needs to work at. But what can I say? That’s why we keep working.�

[DanTurksGhost]

He has the arm strength. Being able to throw the ball 50 yards in the air is sufficient. Deep accuracy, not deep ability, is the issue. And Paul Hackett is a good coach to be helping him get it down. Hackett may not be everyone's cup of tea as an OC, but he's a very good QB coach.

[Runole]

Tend to agree Dan,

Grad is a rook and so far I like what I see.  It probably is a footwork,timing, and release issue more than anything.

He has the arm strength. Being able to throw the ball 50 yards in the air is sufficient. Deep accuracy, not deep ability, is the issue. And Paul Hackett is a good coach to be helping him get it down. Hackett may not be everyone's cup of tea as an OC, but he's a very good QB coach.

I'm not even sure that it is so much accuracy as not timing the route and throw correctly.  He get's around to it and lets go too late.

Maybe, what I mean is that it's not an accuracy problem in the sense of not being able to hit a spot.  He can hit a spot.  He just has poor judgement of the speed at which things happen downfield.

[Pick6]

he waits for the receiver to be visually open before throwing, instead of seeing his WR is about to beat his man...on a designed deep play, you've gotta be cognizant of when your WR has gotten a step on his man, not wait until he's gotten past him.  if you do that, the throw will always be late.

i just can't believe how open JG has gotten at times this year against good defenses. part of what made simms-to-galloway so dangerous was that simms just knew galloway would get past his guy.  grads will learn.

he waits for the receiver to be visually open before throwing, instead of seeing his WR is about to beat his man...on a designed deep play, you've gotta be cognizant of when your WR has gotten a step on his man, not wait until he's gotten past him.  if you do that, the throw will always be late.

i just can't believe how open JG has gotten at times this year against good defenses. part of what made simms-to-galloway so dangerous was that simms just knew galloway would get past his guy.  grads will learn.

Well, part of the reason that teams give us that deep route is because they are daring us to try it; they don't think we can make the play.  We have to prove them wrong.  Also, I thik that what Simms' strong arm did give him was a larger margin for error when Galloway wass going downfield.  Grads, since he doesn't have the pure arm strength, he needs to recognize it that much earlier.

[mjs020294]

he waits for the receiver to be visually open before throwing, instead of seeing his WR is about to beat his man...on a designed deep play, you've gotta be cognizant of when your WR has gotten a step on his man, not wait until he's gotten past him.  if you do that, the throw will always be late.

i just can't believe how open JG has gotten at times this year against good defenses. part of what made simms-to-galloway so dangerous was that simms just knew galloway would get past his guy.  grads will learn.

Simms has a great deep ball and laser rocket arm, but he wasn't all that last year IMO.  In the wildcard game he constantly failed to see wide open receivers, and that form carried over to this season.  Now if Simms could get better instincts and pocket awareness we would really be in business.

[DanTurksGhost]

he waits for the receiver to be visually open before throwing, instead of seeing his WR is about to beat his man...

This is very much the case. It is common with rookie QB's because the defenders are typically so much faster in the NFL.