Vernon Adams not the future

Alouettes de Montréal
1

[i]Yup, Johnny is calling this one right now. Vernon Adams is not our QB of the future. He is not anyone's QB of the future.

Now hold on, and let Johnny explain. First the good; and there is a lot of it.

-Adams is cold blooded and calm.
-Adams keeps his head up to find receivers, even when the protection breaks down.
-Adams has mobility.
-Adams has intangibles that cannot be taught.
-Adams has great elusiveness. Really great. On a few plays, he reminded Johnny of Damon Allen. NO JOKE. He made a bunch of defenders look foolish by making them miss tackles.

There is just one thing in the negative column for Adams. Unfortunately, it is a deal breaker.

-Adams is not a pro level passer, and never will be.

His throwing motion is awful. Look at pro QBs. When they throw a pass, their arm is extended and is much higher than their head. Adams has a really low arc to his motion. His throwing hand is at ear level when his arm comes forward to pass. His windup is also short and abrupt. That is not good.

The only other QB Johnny has seen with a throwing motion this weird, is college Tim Tebow. Pro NFL Tebow modified his motion (with Marc Trestman's help), but he still sucked.

Also, all of his passes wobble. He can't throw a spiral. A good tight spiral has the nose of the ball facing forward. Adams' throws all have the nose of the ball a little to the side, meaning the width of the football is crooked and facing the air. This is bad. The football is working against the air instead of with it. This football does not cut through the air, but fights it.

Forget about velocity, zip and long passes. He threw a better ball in US college ball. Maybe the bigger canadian ball is too big for his hands. He obviously cannot throw it properly. And no, it was not the rain making the ball slippery.

If we had a QB with Adams' intangibles, elusiveness and calm, with Cato's finesse as a passer, we would have the best QB in the CFL.

Calmness, football IQ can be taught to a certain extent. Throwing a pro level football, cannot. Sorry about Adams, but next man up...
[/i]

2

Weak arm, ugly ball and way too much air... The rest is quite good.

3

You mean to say Jim Popp gave a first round pick... for a QB with no arm?

4

Well the sampling is quite small and as we’ve seen with Masoli, maybe he’ll improve ?? :roll:

5

Agree with Johnny, Adams showed alot of very good qualities, except for the major one - velocity. Was it the wet ball or mechanics that may or may not be able to be corrected?

I thought he had decent accuracy, his receivers let him down a few times.

Adams reminded me of Masoli, but Masoli has a stronger arm.

The team can win games with Adams, but at best he looks like a very good stop gap until if/when the real one comes along.

6

Your are right on both counts.

With his arm, he may not be a starting quarterback in the cfl.

That said, if you draw up a few short yardage plays for him I think he can be a valuable asset.

He looks like he can beat the defense using his feet or short passes.

I hope we see him again and what he can do when it's not a soup outside like it was that game.

7

.....This kid is elusive...with a capital E...Has the scrambling ability of a cat, unfortunately he throws like a puss....I enjoyed watching Adams making those big rider D men look stupid BUT he has to have something more....He has some smarts and that will get better but how do you transplant an arm on the guy...Weak wobbly throws are going to get you in a lot of trouble especially against ball hawking teams...He also looked like a rag doll on some of those sacks...thrown for a loss and spinning like a top won't keep him healthy for very long...All in all I like Adams grit...I think the Als. can do something with him given time..

8

Fabulous post, Johnny. I hadn't looked at his mechanics too closely, but when I watched the game again, it was fugly, and no amount of qualification can cover it over.

Adams was lucky, in that the defense stepped up and won the game. For once, Thorpe managed to hold a lead in the fourth quarter. But what if SSK had scored on that third-down gamble? What if they had won on that play? Would we still be in here feeling confident about Adams, or would we be more inclined to assess HIS performance, rather than the outcome of the game?

If Cato had received that kind of elite performance from our D, he would have won more than the one game against Toronto. He is a better QB in just about every sense of the word, except for calmness, and that can be taught. Fixing a QB's throwing mechanics is a far more difficult endeavor.

Popp gave up a first-rounder for a guy who can't make the throws. It's time for Popp to go.

9

Football size should not be an issue as the CFL ball is within the variance of an allowed NCAA ball.

http://i67.tinypic.com/s46eso.jpg

10

Could be nerves. It is just one game and he won it, so we should be patient. He didn't turnover the ball which is more than can be said for the 400k veteran Durant.

11

Adams did throw one interception. Also, he didn’t “win” the game. He won because the defense held SSK to 12 points and made a heroic third-down stand in the fourth quarter. The kind of performance they haven’t turned in all season and which has led to many a loss for us.

If a QB gets sacked six times, throws for under 50% completion and fewer than 200 yards while tossing up one interception, he didn’t “win” the game. It just so happened that 19 points was enough for us to win against a non-playoff team.

12

Yup. Wally fleeced Popp on this one.

13

I agree with all the positives you list but want a larger sample size before I judge his arm. Condiitons were not ideal and the passes I really felt were problematic involved him not being able to step into/through the throw; and throwing motion is one of the few physical elements of a QB’s game that can be altered.

14

The guy helps to win a game and you’re still hating on him?

After Cato started to sack himself last week it was nice to see a quarterback use his feet to get out of trouble.

Also the play where he ducked a tackle and passed to Lewis was awesome.

Cato would have hit the dirt, yelled something and sulked on the sideline on the other side of the field.

And given our o line right now, maybe we need a elusive qb.

15

Johnny,your article was excellent with respect to our present QB picture, your comparing Adams and Cato, your five examples of Adam's strengths and, your conclusion that he does not appear, at this time, as the answer to the Alouettes need for a QB. We saw a couple of his long passes were just too short of the mark and, your deduction that his "football does not cut through the air but fights it" is very perceptive. We'll have to see if the bigger Canadian ball might be a issue here. However as the respondents did note- the teams were playing with a wet ball, Masoli is an example of a QB who certainly did improve his throwing mechanics, Adams is great at scrambling and, is certainly a running threat.
It has been clear that with Sutton out of action, Rutley alone cannot fill the bill as a valid running back. Adams represents, to me, a QB who will require a solid running game which, might take some of the heat off him to some degree, The opposition would put less attention on Adams's passing if Popp brought in more strength at the RB position. This has been the second year that Sutton has been injured so, Popp will have to acquire another quality RB if our team is able to meet the status as a running team delux. We'll need another Mike Pringle. Recalling Tracy Ham's very average QBing, it was the play of Pringle that made up for Ham's success in moving the offense in those days. Our existing two QBs have differing limitations. Success with either would be enabled with an improved OL and, a running back of stature.
I'm hoping to see both these players in action in the remaining seasonal games.

16

First of all, no. I had JUST said that this win was much less about Adams and much more about the defense turning it up against a sad-sack SSk team. 19 points on the board is nothing to write home about.

Second, no, I’m not hating on him. Please stop the strawman arguments.

After Cato started to sack himself last week it was nice to see a quarterback use his feet to get out of trouble.
Yeah, getting sacked six times, wow, that was an MVP performance in elusiveness. :roll:
Cato would have hit the dirt, yelled something and sulked on the sideline on the other side of the field.
Cato would have won any game in which his D allowed 12 points and the HC finally made the changes to the O-line that should have happened games ago .. against a bottom-dwelling SSK team.

The Riders are not the same as Calgary, or even Hamilton.

And given our o line right now, maybe we need a elusive qb.
Elusive how? Forget the optics for a second and focus on what Adams actually did.

He got sacked 6 times. Only ran twice for gains.

He passed for under 200 yards, including one interception.

His completion percentage was below 50%.

Every long ball was late and/or behind receiver.

So what was so amazing about Adams? The fact that the defense held in the fourth quarter. Oh wait, sorry, that was the DEFENSE, not Adams.

Adams may grow into a good QB but nothing about yesterday suggested it will happen. If the D doesn’t stop SSK on third and goal that’s yet another loss for us.

17

Another way of saying it is: doesn't Cato deserve an O-line without Ruby on it and a 4-3 front that can actually stop other teams before a long, clock-chewing drive?

18

I feel much more confident with Adams going forward, and most likely so do the coaching staff and offensive players. The arm strength will have to be monitored, but he has enough assets to win games with game planning suited to his skills. The team has all off-season to create an Adams playbook.

He doesn`t appear to be in the Reilly/BLM league, but in the last 4 years in the whole CFL the only real quality QBs to come in have been Jennings and Franklin. And even Franklin is basically unproven.

And it might even be a good thing for Cato. The pressure is off, he can continue to be mentored, and maybe even bulk up a little.

19

The sad thing with Cato. If he's not starting I doubt the Als will keep him around because of the temper issues. Frankly who would not want to see him throw the ball behind a solid Oline ?

20

Chris Jones doesn't mince words here:

[i]“We were playing against a sub-par offensive football team with a rookie quarterback,? said Chris Jones, Saskatchewan’s irascible head coach. “Later on in the game, we know we have to keep this cat in the pocket. The only way he can make a play is outside the pocket. He can’t make a play in the pocket. We allow him to get outside.

“Give him all the credit in the world. He got outside the pocket, beat our front and (that) allowed him to throw the ball in the end zone.?[/i]

"He can't make a play in the pocket." This is the guy everyone is now convinced is our starter going forward. :roll: