D.C. Reeves
TideSports.com Managing Editor
After Saturday's 41-0 win over Florida Atlantic, the newest turn on the hotly-debated quarterback competition at Alabama is about verticality of the offense with each quarterback in the game.
Blake Sims' 12 completions traveled to receivers a combined 30 yards downfield.
While starter Blake Sims was more efficient and threw for more yards, more of Jake Coker's pass attempts went down the field, opening up yet another compartment of the debate about which quarterback could lead Alabama to long term success.
So for the sake of this discussion, we'll measure the distance passes traveled from the line of scrimmage to the intended receiver. That means in some cases, a bubble screen or screen pass will have a negative number as the receiver caught the ball at least a yard behind the line. (It is also why the yards after catch will not necessarily add up to the total passing yards for each player).
Sims was very efficient Saturday, completing 12-of-14 passes. Half of those 12 completions were caught by receivers behind the line of scrimmage. Only two of 14 pass attempts were intended for receivers more than eight yards past the line of scrimmage.
All told, Sims' 12 completions traveled a combined 30 yards, a 2.3-yard average. Last week against West Virginia, Sims' 24 completions went to receivers an average of 5.3 yards down the field.
Sims' receivers got plenty of work, however. Alabama pass catchers amassed 198 yards after catching a Sims pass, a robust 16.5 yards per catch.
Coker took more vertical shots with eight of his 24 pass attempts were delivered to receivers at least 13 yards downfield. He completed four of eight.
Coker's 15 completions traveled a total of 130 yards, an 8.7 yards traveled per completion average. His 24 attempts traveled to receivers an average of 11.1 yards downfield.
The numbers from Saturday's win:
Category Sims Coker
Completions-Attempts 12-14 14-25
Completion Percentage 85.7 56
QBR 99.4 74.5
Pass thrown behind LOS 6-6 5-6
Yards traveled per Attempt 5 11.1
Yards per Completion 2.3 8.7
Yards after catch/AVG 198/16.5 75/5.4
So what should you glean from these numbers?
There's no mystery that when Coker came in, he took more shots down the field than Sims. When asked about it after the game, Sims even admitted that was more of Coker's strength than his.
"He has strengths where my weaknesses are, and I have strengths where his weaknesses can be. We're a team," Sims said. "Everybody wears the Crimson jersey out there. We're just happy to have Jacob Coker come all the way here and play for the Crimson Tide."
Coker more than doubled Sims' yards traveled per attempt and more than tripled Sims' yards traveled per completion.
But does that matter?
Sims was more accurate than Coker, posted a better QB rating and scored three touchdowns on the four drives he was in. They both had one big mental error apiece (Coker not getting a field goal before the half/Sims miscommunication on play call inside the 5 leading to a fumble).
Some things to think about when it comes to this discussion:
Sorry, I couldn't get the columns to line up right in the table.
TideSports.com Managing Editor
After Saturday's 41-0 win over Florida Atlantic, the newest turn on the hotly-debated quarterback competition at Alabama is about verticality of the offense with each quarterback in the game.
Blake Sims' 12 completions traveled to receivers a combined 30 yards downfield.
While starter Blake Sims was more efficient and threw for more yards, more of Jake Coker's pass attempts went down the field, opening up yet another compartment of the debate about which quarterback could lead Alabama to long term success.
So for the sake of this discussion, we'll measure the distance passes traveled from the line of scrimmage to the intended receiver. That means in some cases, a bubble screen or screen pass will have a negative number as the receiver caught the ball at least a yard behind the line. (It is also why the yards after catch will not necessarily add up to the total passing yards for each player).
Sims was very efficient Saturday, completing 12-of-14 passes. Half of those 12 completions were caught by receivers behind the line of scrimmage. Only two of 14 pass attempts were intended for receivers more than eight yards past the line of scrimmage.
All told, Sims' 12 completions traveled a combined 30 yards, a 2.3-yard average. Last week against West Virginia, Sims' 24 completions went to receivers an average of 5.3 yards down the field.
Sims' receivers got plenty of work, however. Alabama pass catchers amassed 198 yards after catching a Sims pass, a robust 16.5 yards per catch.
Coker took more vertical shots with eight of his 24 pass attempts were delivered to receivers at least 13 yards downfield. He completed four of eight.
Coker's 15 completions traveled a total of 130 yards, an 8.7 yards traveled per completion average. His 24 attempts traveled to receivers an average of 11.1 yards downfield.
The numbers from Saturday's win:
Category Sims Coker
Completions-Attempts 12-14 14-25
Completion Percentage 85.7 56
QBR 99.4 74.5
Pass thrown behind LOS 6-6 5-6
Yards traveled per Attempt 5 11.1
Yards per Completion 2.3 8.7
Yards after catch/AVG 198/16.5 75/5.4
So what should you glean from these numbers?
There's no mystery that when Coker came in, he took more shots down the field than Sims. When asked about it after the game, Sims even admitted that was more of Coker's strength than his.
"He has strengths where my weaknesses are, and I have strengths where his weaknesses can be. We're a team," Sims said. "Everybody wears the Crimson jersey out there. We're just happy to have Jacob Coker come all the way here and play for the Crimson Tide."
Coker more than doubled Sims' yards traveled per attempt and more than tripled Sims' yards traveled per completion.
But does that matter?
Sims was more accurate than Coker, posted a better QB rating and scored three touchdowns on the four drives he was in. They both had one big mental error apiece (Coker not getting a field goal before the half/Sims miscommunication on play call inside the 5 leading to a fumble).
Some things to think about when it comes to this discussion:
- This was Coker's first action, and he entered leading 21-0 against what should turn out to be one of the nation's worst defenses this season. It's understandable that Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin are going to want to experiment and have Coker play to his perceived strength. It's not safe to assume that these would be the throws Coker would be making if he entered a tie game against Florida in two weeks.
- Blake Sims played 16 snaps to start the game and eight more to start the second half. In those first 16 snaps, Florida Atlantic was playing so far off of Alabama receivers that Sims would have been foolish to take anything else. Of his 10 throws in those first 16 snaps, Sims hit receivers at these distances: 2, 5, minus-1, minus-5, minus-1, minus-1, 24 (incomplete), 8, minus-2, minus-2.
Those nine completions went for a total of 169 yards and two touchdowns.
- Florida Atlantic had just been crushed by the short passing game for Sims to the tune of three straight touchdown drives, so it's likely some adjustments were made and the defensive backs were moved closer to the line of scrimmage as Coker entered. Would Coker have thrown more short passes if he had started the game and had the same looks at Sims? If the roles reversed and FAU tried to take away the perimeter stuff from Sims, would Sims have had more shots - and maybe even been more accurate - throwing down the field?
- Coker admitted that some of his deep throws weren't perfect - he had two completions going 40-plus yards that were brought in with nice catches. In this small of a sample size, if one of those is dropped Coker and Sims' numbers would be significantly closer.
"Obviously I made a few throws today that weren't very good throws downfield and they were still caught," Coker said. "It was nice to still count on those guys and it was real fun being out there being able to sling it around a little bit."
- All things being equal - and in a QB competition they usually aren't - there is absolutely value in having a player who can stretch the field with deeper throws. If the QB can show the ability to complete passes downfield, it stretches the back seven of the defense to allow more running room and make play action more impactful.
- Writing off Sims as just a beneficiary to superior athletes at receiver is shortsighted. Half the battle on bubble screens, quick strikes to the perimeter and swing passes is ball placement. Throw behind a receiver and he's tackled for no gain, throw ahead of him and he's off to the races. Sims was clearly better in the short passing game with only one subpar throw (which was still hauled in by Amari Cooper). For example, with no pressure, Coker threw way over the head of Cam Sims on a simple bubble screen behind the line of scrimmage. Coker also wasn't as consistent getting short throws out fast and on the money.
While going vertical is more intriguing, and when done well, can be a major asset, Kiffin's scheme is always going to call for the quarterback to make these kinds of short perimeter throws no matter who is under center.
- Is there value in being able to stretch a defense? Absolutely. No quarterback or offensive coordinator would prefer to not have that option. But what statistics can't show is whether throwing deeper was the correct read. Throwing a deep incompletion doesn't necessarily mean it was the right decision, especially if someone was open underneath. How far throws travel doesn't parallel offensive success.
Sorry, I couldn't get the columns to line up right in the table.
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