Through Google I obtained today's status of both David Foucault and Devon Carter. Foucault is on the practice squad of the Carolina Panthers. Devon Carter was waived by the Indianapolis Colts on Sept 5. On Sept 6 he was signed to the Colts practice squad. So we won't see them here this year.
It was interesting to play around nfl.com for news on players who were waved. In doing so, I looked at info on Brandon Bridge who, last season was one of 5 NCAA guys who were singled out as potential for signing in the NFL. Some of this stuff was on earlier Forum notes. They perceived him as having a super strong arm. At 230 lbs and well over 6 feet tall. He was noted " his size and strength are just what the NFL is looking for". Evidently what is required for him is to work on the mechanics of his throws. There was film of his days in the NCAA which demonstrate both his running and passing skill, this is rather impressive video material. It caused me to think that perhaps Calvillo can help him with these mechanics, and perhaps help him move to second/third spot at our QB position. In contrast, I don't think Marsh was such a NFL candidate. Brandon was certainly tentative in his third and one situation but, should the team help him develop? Does he have better future chances re the mechanics than Marsh?
Niagara, good points about Bridge's scouting report. He certainly has the size and athleticism that NFL types typically seek at quarterback. And I feel a whole lot more confident in AC's ability to work with Bridge than I ever did when Schonert was QB coach.
Ya…thanks Timothy.
I’m sure others have apologised for the comments of the deranged Dap.
He would like you to run your posts by him first. He is the self appointed cop here. I’m sure we can oblige.
Partir de Montréal, et passer par Sherbrooke pour aller à Amos.
T'es ben fin la mais faut arreter de lui donner de l'attention.
Yes DP can be a little testy at times. He is somewhat like Kent. As we have seen, Kent can greet his group with smiles and can also show his frustration with his group. Kent and DP are alike in these terms but, we must remind ourselves that their positive formulations of offensive football is well acknowledged by both Kent and DP's group of reference. Kent, of the two, can be seen to visibly blow off steam- its visible to all ( God bless the player who took a stupid penalty). With DP we never have seen him blowing off steam although, we can presume his testiness through examining his writings. Both, however, are quite successful in their focus, be it on a football field or in a public forum such as this one. Lets just continue with our interactions with Kent and DP as the product they both produce is very valuable. Kent is presently at the top of the hill on the football field and, DP continues to come up with the X's and O's of good offensive football.
As I have noted Brandon Bridge obtained enough success with the NFL scouts to be labeled as one of the five NCAA football players to achieve special notice of positive potential re making an NFL team. He was viewed as having the physical strength, he's 230 lbs and well over 6 + in height and, possess an extremely strong arm. Using nfl.com, there is exciting film of his NCAA playing worth examining. He can throw long and short and is very successful as a QB who can indeed run. I would hope that our team will provide him with the coaching he requires to become a successful QB here in the CFL.
I might be testy, as Niagara says, but I am always willing to bury the hatchet if the other person meets me halfway. Conciliation is a two-way street. 
Im not sure if Im correct or not on this, but to me a QB is either accurate or hes not. Once a QB reaches pro level, I dont think accuracy can be taught or improved upon.
We didn`t see any improvement in Troy Smith, Crompton or Marsh. Tim Tebow another example of a QB who is still not accurate despite working with different QB tutors and changing his motion.
And I have to say that while Bridge might have the body type and arm strength, the small sample size I`ve seen of him in training camp and pre-season shows he is not all that accurate. I certainly hope to be proven wrong.
On the other hand, you see a QB like Collaros completing passes chased from the pocket, off his back leg ,etc. He was almost on his rear end when he completed the TD pass to Tasker over Ellis.
Yeah, sheldon, I’m almost inclined to agree with you. How do you teach accuracy at the pro level? Maybe you can improve a bit on certain types of passes, but if you are consistently inaccurate, ain’t no coach gonna be able to help you. I mean, Marc Trestman couldn’t even improve Tebow with one-on-one attention! By contrast, Rakeem has been deadly accurate since day one. That kid knows how to throw the ball on a rope.
On est loin de Carter, mais je vais y aller de ma contribution.
Je crois qu'un quart-arrière peut améliorer sa précision dans ses premières saisons professionnelles, dans la mesure où il l'entreprend assez jeune. Certes, il faut qu'il ait d'abord un assez bon niveau de précision. Mais il peut ensuite travailler à mieux exécuter ses mouvements pour placer le ballon là où il peut être attrapé par son receveur, et dans un monde idéal, seulement seulement son receveur. L'apprentissage des lectures de couvertures et une bonne progression de ce côté est nécessaire pour y parvenir, mais il demeure que ceci permet d'accroître la précision des passes en identifiant plus rapidement où le ballon peut être lancé en minimisant les risques de revirement.
Le premier exemple qui me vient en tête s'appelle Anthony Calvillo. Calvillo était un quart qui était doté d'une relative précision dès le départ. Mais à partir du moment où il a commencé à travailler avec Tracy Ham, il s'est amélioré à chaque saison dans cette précision et on peut dire qu'il a atteint son plein potentiel dans cet art en 2002.
Un autre exemple moins flamboyant est Darian Durant. Dans ses premières saisons, Durant forçait plus souvent le jeu et n'avait pas toujours une précision optimale. Lorsque finalement les Roughriders ont opté pour une attaque plus équilibrée, Durant s'est mis à avoir plus de précision dans ses passes et limiter les revirements.
Un autre cas récent serait Travis Lulay. Ayant de bonnes dispositions dès le départ, Lulay a rapidement progressé pour devenir un passeur précis. La différence a surtout été sa capacité de lire les couvertures et prendre de meilleures décisions de jeu en conséquence de ses lectures.
Je serais surpris de voir Drew Willy jouer avec une ligne offensive digne de ce nom. Je crois que Willy pourrait s'avérer plus précis qu'il ne l'est maintenant.
That’s a great post, LeStaf, and a valid point, too. I guess we’re talking about incremental gains here. As in, you can improve as a passer, but mechanically it won’t be a huge improvement. To put it another way, you’re not going to become super-accurate if accuracy is a big issue for you starting out. For example, I’d say Lulay and Durant both still aren’t the best with the respective issues you noted – reading coverage (Lulay) and accuracy (Durant). They’ve improved, but they’re not elite in that category. Or even with Calvillo, he was never a great touch passer, even though he got better at it as time wore on. I also think that reading the field is mostly a function of experience and film study, which are more easily attained through hard work and time, whereas mechanical accuracy might just reflect the athletic limits of the QB involved.
The issue is what is the cause of the inaccuracy. Bad reads can actually be an issue if it impacts the timing of throws or causes the QB to panic and make hurried throws. Mechanics can put a QB off-balance or just cause throws to sail. Simple confidence plays a big role; drop back worried about having time/ completing the pass and you likely won’t, drop back confident the team will execute and you are more likely to do well.
But the further along their career path I believe the harder it is to teach an old dog new tricks.
Comme le Staff mentionne, la mécanique du quart arrière elle s'apprend avec le temps. Ceux avec un niveau de type "élite" au niveau de la précision partent généralement avec une longueur d'avance (Calvillo l'était, sans avoir le bras le plus canon, mais comme mentionné plus haut sa technique devenait chirurgicale d'année en année). Ricky Ray pour moi est l'exemple parfait. Ce gars la est une machine de précision lorsqu'il est en bonne santé.
Cato a définitivement ce petit côté élite en devenir, ça se voit juste dans la manière dont il peut livrer ses passes tellement rapidement en plus de sa lecture de jeux.
Soyons patient, on a un diamant brute dans les mains :cowboy:
The life of a successful QB must start early. Those with Netflix can dial up " Friday Night Lights" which illustrates the youth at which our US QBs get proficient coaching in their first year of high school. A HS freshman, who might have played Pee Wee Football, continues his education as a freshman in high school with a qualified coach. Our Canadian QBs can enroll in a HS which has a football team perhaps coached by the geography specialist who, himself might have played Senior or university ball but, the coaching is no way near what our US cousins get. We have HS football here in Niagara Falls. I'm not sure to the degree other communities have such. We do not hire a football coach which does happen at university.
I believe the mechanics of football can be acquired by good coaching. I recently read about a player in double AA baseball who was having difficulty, at that stage, with hitting. A coach at that level instructed this young man to change the position of his feet while at the plate. Success, his hitting was greatly improved. I believe good coaching can help the young QB with his game. As noted, hard work, film study, etc, as noted by your comments are in the mix.
^ exactly
Just look at Pedro Martinez (Expo) when Felipe Alou coached him and he transformed completly his pitching style.
He became a legend
Great point
This is the key to me, and especially as it pertains to mechanics, which are hard to change to begin with and even harder to alter the older a QB gets. Confidence can be built up; reading the field can improve with film study and experience (though even the physical act of scanning the field involves an athletic component at which some can be better than others). But mechanics – changing the way your body responds in the half-second of a football moment – is much harder to change. Under pressure, a QB will often revert back to the bad footwork or throwing motions that have become second nature to him.
Reason # 127 why I haven’t watched an NFL game in about 20 years. Our game is better, so are our people.
Well, I like the NFL too, don’t get me wrong. I’m a CFL fan first, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy NFL games. I just feel that some of those NFL franchises don’t have their heads screwed on straight when it comes to assessing talent. They’re so hung up on body type and draft position that they often miss out on good players.
Histoire de clore la rubrique, Carter avait effectivement signé un contrat le 6 septembre avec les Colts pour être sur leur équipe de pratique.