As I was watching the game, I just kept thinking: GB should just mush rush and keep Trubisky in the pocket. He relies as much on his legs as his arm (400+ yards rushing in 14 games last year). And when that's the case, most (not all) of these kinds of QBs prove to be marginal passers from the pocket. They do best on the run.
Not surprisingly (at least to me) I read this from 2 GB defenders in an article in SI this morning about the game: “If his first read isn't there, then he will turn and run,” Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander said.
”We wanted to make [Trubisky] play quarterback,” Williams said. “We knew they had a lot of weapons. We knew they were dangerous. We knew all of those things. We knew if we could make [Trubisky] play quarterback, we would have a chance.”
"Play QB". In other words: it's the job of a QB to distribute the ball to the Receivers.... not to be an optional RB. It's the job of a QB to read the field, go through his progressions, and make accurate throws to the right Receiver..... not to take a quick look and bail.
QBs who are real athletic and have always been able to gain significant yards with their legs usually are less effective when forced to stay in the pocket. Not to mention, they tend to get injured (Trubisky missed two games last year for this reason, and Wentz has yet to play a full slate of games, even in college).
True pocket passers in order to be good MUST learn to go through their progressions and stand in the pocket, anticipate, and throw accurately from imperfect angles and foot positions because they aren't good runners and don't want to run. Highly mobile QBs have always used their legs to augment their game, and instinctively will leave the pocket earlier than a pocket passer because they believe they can avoid a negative play with their running ability. And, it almost inevitably leads to serial injuries.
Running QBs are exciting to watch and so get a lot of media attention; coming out of school are usually labeled "the new generation of NFL QBs". It's never panned out. Pure pocket passers win Superbowls and have long careers.
I'll take the pure pocket passer over the highly mobile QB. Again..... there are exceptions to the rule with the chief one at this time probably being Russell Wilson. But guys like this don't come along very often. Trubisky is not Russell Wilson. Although Mahommes might be.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2019 04:34AM by RockRam.
