Category Reads Listens Views

Reads Listens Views 3/2/2012

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Hurricanes QB Jacory Harris had an uneven college career and Miami, but he did play in a pro style offense and his arm strength is pretty good. Accuracy? The hips tell the story, see below. Photo by Greg Hartmann.

For more analysis like this at every skill position, purchase the Rookie Scouting Portfolio available here on April 1, 2012.

For past issues (2006-2011) email me: mattwaldmanrsp@gmail.com

Friday’s Quick-Hitter: Miami QB Jacory Harris’ Delivery

Here are two glaring examples of a mechanical flaw in a quarterback’s delivery that contributes to inaccurate passing. Continue reading →

Reads Listens Views 2/24/2012

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Lot’s happening right now. Here’s a partial list:

2012 Rookie Scouting Portfolio News

April 1 is just around the corner, and I’m still studying film for the 2012 publication. So far I have evaluated 144 prospects at QB, RB, WR, and TE. I’m expecting to watch another 10-20 players before I publish. The 2012 RSP will be available through a link I provide here for $19.95. Past issues are also be available (2006-2011).

Beginning this year, 10 percent of each 2012 RSP sale will be donated to the organization Darkness to Light. Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse should be a top priority in this country and this organization provides programs that “raise awareness of the prevalence and consequences of child sexual abuse by educating adults about the steps they can take to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to the reality of child sexual abuse.”

Learn more Continue reading →

RSP Combine Contest: Guess the 40 Times

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Can you guess RGIII's 40 time at the 2012 NFL Combine? If you do, you could win a free RSP. Photo by cmiked.

I’m not big proponent of 40 times. They have their place, but I’ll take a 4.6 RB with great vision, good initial acceleration and balance any day over a 4.3 guy with a lot less of those other three qualities. So to make the 2012 NFL Combine more interesting, I’m holding another contest.

Your job is to guess the 40 times of Robert Griffin III, Chris Polk, and Alshon Jeffery. The closest person to guess any of these times correctly (the first person for each player)  wins a free copy of an issue of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio from 2006-2010. Here’s the details:

  1. Go to my Rookie Scouting Portfolio Page on Facebook.
  2. “Like” my Facebook page.
  3. List the 40 times under each wall post I’ve created (How fast will Robert Griffin III run the 40? How fast will Chris Polk run the 40?, etc.) .
  4. Don’t post the times on my personal Facebook wall, in a Twitter response, or on this blog – those entries will be disqualified.

If one of you guesses all three correctly (to the 100th of a second), I will give you this year’s and 2013’s RSP free.

Are you ready to be a human stopwatch? Go to my Facebook page and give it a shot.

Reads Listens Views 2/17/2012

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Here’s What A Once In A Lifetime Player Looks Like

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Lather, rinse, repeat . . .

Thank You And More Comin’

NFL Draft Season is clearly underway and there’s a lot of great information available online. For those of you just getting acquainted with the Rookie Scouting Portfolio, thank you for visiting – and thank you for the massive (at least for me) immediate following on my RSP Facebook page. Check it out and like it if you haven’t (I gave away 8 free copies of past RSPs there yesterday). If you’re a long-time listener be a first-time caller and leave me a post about the RSP on the wall.

Best of all, Continue reading →

Stacking Up To Jason Pierre-Paul

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A good template for any aspiring, 4-3 NFL defensive end is Jason Pierre-Paul. Jene Bramel breaks it down as well as anyone. Photo by Mike Morbeck.

By Jene Bramel

Editor’s Note: Dr. Jene Bramel is a staff writer at Footballguys.com where he is among the best in the fantasy football business analyzing individual defensive players and player injuries. His top-notch work includes the columns “Reading the Defense,” “Second Opinion,” and his popular segments on The Audible podcasts. You can find more of his analysis of Quinton Coples against the run and the pass. Follow Jene on Twitter @JeneBramel.

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When asked at the Senior Bowl to compare his playing style to that of any current NFL defensive lineman, Quinton Coples chose Jason Pierre-Paul – the latest in a recent line of talented New York Giants’ defensive ends.

The comparison isn’t unreasonable. Both players are long and athletic and capable of stretches of dominant play. At times, when he uses his refined and preferred inside swim move or is able to get under his opponent’s pads and set a strong edge against the run, Coples’ play resembles that of Pierre-Paul.

Unlike Coples, Pierre-Paul has learned to play with a consistent pad level on every snap. In my last post, I highlighted two plays in which Coples quickly and cleanly beat the tackle off the ball but fail to finish the play due to poor technique. In this post, I’ll contrast Coples’ sloppy pad level, footwork and pass rush angles with those of the technically sound Pierre-Paul. Continue reading →

Reads Listens Views 2/10/2012

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More Tannehill? More coming. Just not today. Maybe late tonight.

Note: I had a late night with family in Atlanta and didn’t get home until 15 minutes ago. This means the additional RyanTannehill analysis won’t be posted today. I’ll have it up this weekend. But if you haven’t seen my analysis of David Wilson, Kendall Wright, and (apparently) one play of Terrance Williams, check them out here:

  1. David Wilson Series on Vision: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV
  2. Kendall Wright Analysis: Routes and The Money Catch
  3. RyanTannehill Series on Pocket Presence: Part I

I already have the rest of this Friday segment written so I’m posting this note with it to let you know that more Tannehill is on its way. Also expect to see some analysis from some of these players during the next 7-10 days: Arizona State QB Brock Osweiler, Oregon RB LaMichael James, Oklahoma State QB Brandon Weeden, and Georgia TE Orson Charles.

RSP Writers Project Update

Sigmund Bloom has delivered his preliminary salary cap-player rating structure and Continue reading →

Random Post-Super Bowl Thoughts and Rants

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The Super Bowl game is kind of like Michelangelo's famous work. The spectacle, not so much. Photo by Nathan Rupert.

I turn 42 today. I don’t feel 42 except when my knees feel like they’re 60 after playing Jene Bramel in a pick up game of basketball and it serves as confirmation that I still have to shed another 20 pounds. Since it is my birthday, I feel like sharing my thoughts on the spectacle in Indy that was the Super Bowl. So if you will indulge me I’ll take it as a birthday gift.

“Super Bowl Sunday”

I want you to to look at Michelangelo’s sculpture of David.  The craftsmanship and the detail raise the aesthetic beauty of the human body to a spiritual level. It’s a great work of art.

Now I want you to imagine David dressed in an Armani tux, surrounded by singers and dancers in Goliath costumes performing to a light show that begins with dry ice clouds and ends with fireworks, and the display hall draped in Budweiser and Geico banners. That’s what the Super Bowl has done to the NFL Championship Game. Overkill.

I understand why the NFL dresses its big game in emperor’s clothes. Just don’t tell me that I have to like it. The game is beautiful and compelling without its commercialization.

I admit I enjoy the television commercials, the Kia ad with Motley Crue, Chuck Liddell, and the surreal sequences of a rodeo rider on a rhino and two lumberjacks sawing a gigantic sub was terrific. So was the Chevy truck ad set post-Mayan Apocalypse. However you know what I thought of the halftime performance that delays the third quarter?

I can’t tell you because I didn’t see it. It seemed like a good time to do the dishes and clean the litter box.

Ahmad Bradshaw

The Giants runner had an uneven game and his “accidental touchdown” could have cost his team a championship. However, I feel sympathy for Bradshaw.  Continue reading →

Super Bowl Linkstravaganza

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Ahmad Bradshaw and Aaron Hernandez have been two of my current favortes at their positions. I understand why Bill Parcells mentioned them as pivotal players to watch this weekend. Photo by Ted Kerwin.

Here’s some notable posts past and present from here and elsewhere to get you prepped for the game:

Super Bowl Preview: Bill Belichick’s Blitz Package – I may be an offensive guy, but I love Blitzology. I feel like I should be paying this blog for the lessons.

Jokers – Why Aaron Hernandez is the ultimate chess piece for the Patriots.

Pats Two-TE Sets: A Long Time Coming? Later this year, I read a good Yahoo! piece on Belichick experimenting with this two-TE set in Detroit with Charlie Sanders and David Hill.

Ode to the War Daddies – Chris Brown’s fantastic piece on the way Belichick approaches defensive schemes.

Play Defense, Not Defenses – Jene Bramel paving the way in Week 1 with this thought Brown elaborated on at Grantland.

 

Reads Listens Views and Caption Contest Winners 2/2-2/3/2012

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Love, peace, and soul, Don Cornelius…Love, peace, and soul.

It was a fun week of football analysis at the RSP Blog. If you missed any of the David Wilson series, there are four parts to check out at your leisure. I’ll be doing more film analysis of 2012 draft prospects in the coming weeks. Most of them will likely be shorter spotlights on technique or something I see that’s revealing abut a player or the position he plays. I already have a play of Kendall Wright’s that will be a post next week. Continue reading →