I love the deep shots with Malik! Keep them up. What do you say?
- Obviously, deep shots keep the defenses honest. No sitting on possession routes during the whole game. If you watched the Super Bowl where the SeaPigeons destroyed the Broncos, there was a play where Peyton Manning threw a pass into the flat parallel to the line of scrimmage to a WR and Richard Sherman is covering him right there! He was NOT worried about being beat deep. Don’t forget when the opposing defense has to scheme for the deep shots, that takes their focus away from the run game and short passes.
- Deep shots during a real game, hopefully, will lead to increased trust and timing between Malik and the WRs. Yes, an 18-yard square-in also leads to trust and timing but I think deep shots can be just as effective. And maybe, just maybe, the deep shot will be permanent part of the offense. During the Raiders game, Malik threw an INT on a deep shot but if you look closely, he threw off his back foot. A Big IF; IF Malik steps into that throw even with the bad route (pointed out by Mark Schlereth) it is a TD. IMHO!
- Deep shots are fun to watch and can be de-moralizing to the defense when they hit. If you ever listened to Coach Howard Schnellenberger (who himself coached for Bear Bryant), he knew the average completion percentage for EVERY type of pass. His knowledge was scary and he had a really DEEP voice which it made his statements sound like Moses. I think he mentioned 9% for a deep shot success rate. I don’t want to get into statistics and expected probabilities etc but the Raiders won 3 Super Bowls titles throwing deep shots (Cliff Branch STILL gives me nightmares). I am not saying this is the best path forward, but I like the GUTS and BRAVADO for trying.
This is for SDPhinsFan! (I think that is the handle)
Keep on bringing facts: Yes, the Phins led the league in LEAST number penalties for years but that can be totaling misleading. I break penalties down into two types : pre-snap procedural stuff and the actual real penalties (pass interference, holding, late hits, etc). I do not know if the Phins had the LEAST in both of those categories. So that would be good to know. Did Shula really intimidate the refs? Perhaps!
This is for everyone else!
Better than the NFL!
You all do realize the fans are an annoyance
for the league and the owners? If they cared at all, the powers that be would fix the officiating. Maybe they think fans getting angry is good for the game, like negative publicity was for the Who and the Rolling Stones? Look at the WNBA: if you wrote this in a movie, they would say you are making this up. An evil league commissioner plots against its star player. If I am a DA, I would investigate the WNBA for collusion against Caitlin Clark and the reasons that it is allowed. I would have done the same thing for the NBA for Michael Jordan. David Stern should be in prison for what he allowed to happen to Michael Jordan. I will repeat myself: the anti-trust exemption needs to be removed from every pro sports league. After that, we subpoena the league records for the officiating (we could do this before removing the anti-trust exemption BUT this will get their attention) flaws and what the league actually thinks and why they don’t try to fix it. I know this sounds like conspiracy theory talk but I have seen Outkick articles (one by the great Armando Salguero) this week about it, so there is traction. But don’t forget that this is the good ole boy network and one phone call from Roger Goodell to the Murdoch folks and this goes away until the next officiating SNAFU, which will be tomorrow. Go Phins!
