He is smack dab in the middle of the pack in terms of eff rating. The telling stat keeping him back from the leaders is the 7 yards per attempt. The leaders are mainly between 9 and 10 yards per attempt.
I attribute it to the lack of opening up the playbook early in the season plus the fact when he had his chances vs ULL to hit one long he didn't complete any of them.
there is no reason that our skill players should be getting tackled behind the line of scrimmage on the edge, by the defenders we have played. Our receivers need to do a better job of blocking on the edge, and not letting cornerbacks make tackles at and behind the line of scrimmage.
This is also attributed to JJ inability, thus far, to hit the receivers in stride. Slowing them down to make those catches takes their momentum out of the equation, allowing defenders to key in on them.
I have noticed this a lot. Go back and watch the games and you will see what I mean. I think the main thing hold JJ and the passing game back is timing. You will notice that on hitches and curls (where the receiver is basically stationary) he usually right on so it's not really accuracy. But even on short routes where the receiver is moving they usually have to stop, jump, or dive to make the catch. He's got the arm strength and makes good decisions, he's just having trouble with timing. JJ is young so hopefully this will come with experience. If he can get to the point where he is hitting the receivers in stride on slants and deep routes than look out. Teams will no longer be loading the box I'll tell you that. Then all of a sudden the running game will start to improve. Watch this video from 2001. Ro hit Reed perfectly on those slants. (~1:24 in) That was fun to watch. [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFpWqvwzfWI[/MEDIA]
