by Team Del Genio
Monday, Sep 16, 2024Rookie Caleb Williams struggled in his professional debut, and there are several reasons why his successful transition to the NFL may take some time. The Bears won their first game with him as their starting quarterback last week with their 24-17 victory against Tennessee, yet he completed only 14 of 29 passes last week for just 93 passing yards. His passer rating was a low 55.7 in that game and he averaged -0.39 expected points per pass play.
Williams became only the eleventh quarterback in the history of the NFL to throw the ball at least 25 times in his first professional start yet fail to pass for at least 100 yards. He joined a club with such illustrious names like Tommy DeVito, Desmond Ridder, and Brett Hundley, and the track record of the other ten quarterbacks on the list in their second career start is not good. Those quarterbacks lost twenty-two of their twenty-seven second starts with a 10-16-1 ats mark. While improvement from the first and second start is expected, those numbers suggest that Williams will not be able to simply flip a switch with an adjustment or two.
Williams seemed surprised by the speed of the opposing defense. In taking several bad sacks, he discovered that his great mobility is not as dynamic at the NFL level as it was facing Pac-12 defenders. His accuracy was never top-level at USC, and those concerns continued in his debut. Too often, he stared down his intended wide receiver target which led to two of his passes being knocked down. Williams thrived in college with his ability to improvise and make big plays. It was this skill that rendered comparisons to Patrick Mahomes. Yet Mahomes only started the final game of the regular season in his rookie season after learning as an understudy under the veteran Alex Smith. Williams needs to improve his understanding of working in the pocket whether it be reading defensive schemes, working progressions, and avoiding the rush but resisting the urge to break the pocket.
Rookie quarterbacks had only won twenty-five of eighty-two games when starting in a prime-time game. It's even worse for these rookies early in the season as they had only won four of the fourteen games when a rookie was a starting quarterback in a prime-time game in the first four weeks of the season. This was one of the reasons we were the Houston Texans to cover the -5.5-point spread. The Texans narrowly covered that number with their 19-13 victory.
As Chris Collingsworth pointed out frequently during the game on NBC for Sunday Night Football, there was plenty to like from Williams' performance against the Texans. Most importantly, he seemed more focused on staying in the pocket and not bailing too early on the play. He also respected the speed of the opposing defenders and accepted negative plays rather than make things worse with ill-advised decisions to try to use his athleticism to extend plays. He got sacked times but did a good job of taking his medicine and not making things worse. He got hit eleven times which is an indictment of the play of his offensive line. Williams did a nice job in choosing when to use his legs to gain yards. He ran the ball five times for 44 yards, yet he did not take off and run too early on the play. As opposed to rookie Jaylen Daniels, Williams knows how to slide when rushing down field to avoid injury. His work with the slip-and-slide which was documented on Hard Knocks last month helped him get comfortable with that skill.
Yet Williams still has plenty to work on. His accuracy continues to be a work in progress. He only completed 23 of 37 passes. He threw two interceptions. Too often, he was late on throws or wildly off the mark. He has a ways to go in being consistently effective in the pocket and completing passes in tight windows.
Good luck - Team Del Genio.
Williams became only the eleventh quarterback in the history of the NFL to throw the ball at least 25 times in his first professional start yet fail to pass for at least 100 yards. He joined a club with such illustrious names like Tommy DeVito, Desmond Ridder, and Brett Hundley, and the track record of the other ten quarterbacks on the list in their second career start is not good. Those quarterbacks lost twenty-two of their twenty-seven second starts with a 10-16-1 ats mark. While improvement from the first and second start is expected, those numbers suggest that Williams will not be able to simply flip a switch with an adjustment or two.
Williams seemed surprised by the speed of the opposing defense. In taking several bad sacks, he discovered that his great mobility is not as dynamic at the NFL level as it was facing Pac-12 defenders. His accuracy was never top-level at USC, and those concerns continued in his debut. Too often, he stared down his intended wide receiver target which led to two of his passes being knocked down. Williams thrived in college with his ability to improvise and make big plays. It was this skill that rendered comparisons to Patrick Mahomes. Yet Mahomes only started the final game of the regular season in his rookie season after learning as an understudy under the veteran Alex Smith. Williams needs to improve his understanding of working in the pocket whether it be reading defensive schemes, working progressions, and avoiding the rush but resisting the urge to break the pocket.
Rookie quarterbacks had only won twenty-five of eighty-two games when starting in a prime-time game. It's even worse for these rookies early in the season as they had only won four of the fourteen games when a rookie was a starting quarterback in a prime-time game in the first four weeks of the season. This was one of the reasons we were the Houston Texans to cover the -5.5-point spread. The Texans narrowly covered that number with their 19-13 victory.
As Chris Collingsworth pointed out frequently during the game on NBC for Sunday Night Football, there was plenty to like from Williams' performance against the Texans. Most importantly, he seemed more focused on staying in the pocket and not bailing too early on the play. He also respected the speed of the opposing defenders and accepted negative plays rather than make things worse with ill-advised decisions to try to use his athleticism to extend plays. He got sacked times but did a good job of taking his medicine and not making things worse. He got hit eleven times which is an indictment of the play of his offensive line. Williams did a nice job in choosing when to use his legs to gain yards. He ran the ball five times for 44 yards, yet he did not take off and run too early on the play. As opposed to rookie Jaylen Daniels, Williams knows how to slide when rushing down field to avoid injury. His work with the slip-and-slide which was documented on Hard Knocks last month helped him get comfortable with that skill.
Yet Williams still has plenty to work on. His accuracy continues to be a work in progress. He only completed 23 of 37 passes. He threw two interceptions. Too often, he was late on throws or wildly off the mark. He has a ways to go in being consistently effective in the pocket and completing passes in tight windows.
Good luck - Team Del Genio.
