Drops!
July 20th, 2019
No, Michael Clayton was not involved in this story.
The Bucs seem to be in the top-ten of a category that is not something to brag about. Further study suggests this is overblown.
Per the Twitter feed of @NFL_Stats, the Bucs were one of the worst teams in the NFL for dropped passes. This unofficial site claims the Bucs were ranked tied for No. 9 in drops in the NFL last year with 19.
Joe has in the past noted the statistic for dropped passes, not an official NFL stat, is highly subjective. What may be a dropped pass to one guy is an uncatchable ball to another. But here is why Joe thinks the number from this source is nothing to sweat:
The Bucs launched 625 passes last year, fourth in the NFL. Of those attempts, if only 19 passes were dropped, that’s pretty damn good.
Passes Dropped – 2018
Jaguars – 33
Broncos – 29
Colts – 28
Bengals – 25
Chiefs – 24
Patriots – 23
Raiders – 22
Vikings – 22
Browns – 20
Packers – 20
Giants – 19
Jets – 19
Bucs – 19
Eagles – 18
Ravens – 18
Falcons – 17
Cardinals – 17
Bills – 16
Lions – 16
Titans – 16
Saints – 16— NFL Stats (@NFL_Stats) July 19, 2019
July 20th, 2019 at 8:11 am
Chiefs & Patriots…..more drops….in Super Bowl……….drops are a small part of the overall game…..
July 20th, 2019 at 8:22 am
It’s no surprise that one of the worst teams in the NFL is also one of the worst for dropped passes. But I always am leery of stats. A very fair point is the distinction between dropped passes and uncatchable passes and the subjectivity there. This also takes me back to catch radius, where if the Bucs didn’t have guys like Evans, that number (dropped passes) could be much higher. That is, Evans hauling in those off-the-mark throws could be a huge impact–we are lucky to have Evans; Godwin is also fearless in jumping into the mix to grab and bring one down. So YAC must looked at to factor in…where we’d perhaps expect that could be lower than average, indicating another problem with accurate delivery. I like to look at various stats together and ask “why?” I’m not suggesting Joe doesn’t do that with stat takes like this…but many like to offer a placard of numbers in ill-fated attempts to make their point. In some cases, like a book that’s out, the author actually makes up a new stat to try to show the Bucs turnovers aren’t so bad. Stats can be maniuplated to make any case. The Bucs WRs are clearly doing most things well in their passing game and Bucs passing game is clearly a strength.
July 20th, 2019 at 8:26 am
Pretty stupid for them to look at the number of drops without considering the number of attempts.. Almost as stupud as ever hiring Mike Smith or Lovie, but not quite
July 20th, 2019 at 8:31 am
LOL that is a pretty damned good percentage! BUT WAIT THAT WOULD SUGGEST WE ACTUALLY HAVE A GOOD QUARTERBACK!!!!BUT THAT CANT BE TRUE BECAUSE HE ACCEPTED SOME FREE CRAB LEGS, TRIED TO PICKUP A GIRL AND IS BLACK RIGHT!!????
People are hopeless
July 20th, 2019 at 8:58 am
Bucemup,
That site also provides the % of drops/attempts.
So in your opinion, TD’s, INT’S, sacks, FG ‘s totals are stupid .
How do you credit winston for his receivers not dropping passes?
A couple years ago dropped passes were blamed on the receivers (Check the JBF archives) not winston. Now it’s the opposite.
July 20th, 2019 at 9:20 am
Stats are for losers. Oh wait, that means us
July 20th, 2019 at 9:32 am
@Joe … “The Bucs launched 625 passes last year, fourth in the NFL. Of those attempts, if only 19 passes were dropped, that’s pretty damn good.”
Meaningless statistic Joe without putting it in its full context. Yes our QBs threw 625 passes in 2018, of which 408 were caught (65.3% completion rate). Another 26 passes were intercepted (4.2%). So since only 19 were dropped, what happened to the remaining 191 passes (30.5%)? Were they all throwaways? Were they all knocked down by opposing defenders? Were they all so far off target that they were uncatchable?
The 19 that were ‘dropped’ represent LESS than 10% of those that ‘were thrown but not caught (217 passes).’ I agree with you 100% Joe … that’s AWESOME. Matter of fact, our team QB completion rate of 65.3% is also AWESOME IMO. Don’t know for sure, but I doubt that the Bucs have ever had a season with a completion percentage that high. Should bode well for this year with the new coaching staff calling the shots. Now if it just wasn’t for those pesky turnovers …
July 20th, 2019 at 10:00 am
Jax would be #1 by far having thrown 150 less passes and the Bills threw over 200 less passes. The Giants, Ravens, and even the Patriots threw substantially less which is surprising about the Patriots.
July 20th, 2019 at 10:02 am
BucEmUp Says:
July 20th, 2019 at 8:31 am
LOL that is a pretty damned good percentage! BUT WAIT THAT WOULD SUGGEST WE ACTUALLY HAVE A GOOD QUARTERBACK!!!!BUT THAT CANT BE TRUE BECAUSE HE ACCEPTED SOME FREE CRAB LEGS, TRIED TO PICKUP A GIRL AND IS BLACK RIGHT!!????
.
.
If the crab legs were really on the up-and-up, why did he feel a need to STUFF THEM DOWN HIS PANTS?
So you are an idiot and a race-baiter. Thank you for your contribution, Mr Sharpton.
July 20th, 2019 at 10:09 am
A little under 1.2 a game that’s not bad at all. We had to have many games that we had none. Because it seems like the drops come in bunches in certain games at the worst time that’s why I remember so many of them. Like on an opening drive at midfield and on 3 and 4 we drop what would have been a 10 yard gain and just out of field goal range with a new set of downs. But we have to punt opposing team goes right down the field and score and it 7-0. And I just keep thinking had he caught that ball we probably get 3 maybe 7 and this is a different game. But some times the drops are not as horrible as they look. Like when mike evans on his 15 yard comeback he turns and the ball is right on his chest and he just drops it. Looks like an easy catch to all of us watching. But he has to turn his head find a 60 mph football wizzing at him while moving his feet and just gets on you quicker than you thought. To him it was bang bang blink of an eye. To us in super Hd slow motion looks like an easy catch. So I don’t really care about dropped passes as much as other people do. It is part of the game. They do hurt at critical times. The stat that I’m worried about is leading the league in turnovers every year. That’s what needs to be fixed. And hopefully Arians can do that. If jameis has under 15 turnovers this year we have a winning record and a quarterback finally gets a second contract with the bucs. If he has over 15 we have a losing record and our first round pick will be a qb.
July 20th, 2019 at 10:11 am
Bucemup, its clear you lack some important life experiences that would provide you with the perspective that grabbing a girls crotch (Uber Driver) is not appropriate behavior in law or social norms. In your case, I hope you learn from others mistakes instead of your own, unfortunately Jamies does not seem to have that capacity either. Its called immaturity at best and criminal at worst. (btw stealing crab legs is also criminal)
In.BA I Trust!
July 20th, 2019 at 11:16 am
Dropped passes is one of the worst stats to look at in mine opinion. I compare to errors in baseball that don’t mean squat how good a defense is.
It usually takes a lot for a pass to b classified as a drop so it’s only looking at a tiny percent of plays…….It takes into no account how many times a player makes a catch the most receivers would have little chanse of even getting to. This stat only counts mental errors. It don’t begin to tell you how good a player or team is a catching the ball. In the Bucs case we make receiving plays every week that other teams cannot make. That’s real talent!!!
19 is about one a game so if we are gonna drop one but make 2-3+ unbelieve catches per get I’ll take that without a second thought!
Chris G had one bad stretch with a lot of drops but if I want one guy to improve it’s O.J. he consistently has dropped routine catches.
July 20th, 2019 at 11:18 am
Compared to attempts this isn’t awful
July 20th, 2019 at 11:26 am
Correction – Tied for 11th with two other teams
July 20th, 2019 at 11:35 am
The one drop that haunts me to this day is Cam Brate vs New England. He will never see an easier TD catch in the rest of his career. Gotta call it like I see it and he choked…..he puckered up….couldn’t handle the pressure.
It wound up costing us 7 full points and pretty much the game. That was pivitol moment for this team. A win against that team is a confidence boost and a momentum train. The entire fate of this orginazation could be completely different with a win in that game. Don’t care what y’all say that was a huge game for this franchise. And they blew it!!! I’ll point my first finger at Dirk but Cam is second…..I hope for Cam to get a chance to redeem himself but we have to play a meaningful game for that to happen.
July 20th, 2019 at 11:57 am
LA I wanna correct your correction……It’s tied for 13th.
And had Godwin not dropped his career highlight TD we would be tied for 15th…….But we were losers so he did and it’s back down to 11th.
P.S. Joe was wrong with but I think he didn’t count Patriots cause he refused to acknowledge them.
July 20th, 2019 at 3:58 pm
Agree with Joe. Total number of dropped passes is not a very good metric. It should be percentage of “catchable” passes dropped. That is the better reflection of the quality of your receiving corps.
July 20th, 2019 at 5:19 pm
Out of 19 of those drops I would say Godwin probably had the most.
July 20th, 2019 at 7:19 pm
So divide # of drops by total pass attempts for a drop%.
We dropped passes on 3.0% of attempts. The Jaguars were worst at 6.2%.
Only 12 teams dropped less than 3.0% of passes. 13th best in the NFL, not bottom 10.
Evans 7, Hump 5, Godwin 3, Brate 3, Jackson 2, Barber 2, Jones 2, OJ 1, Cross 1
OJ dropped one ball with 35 catches, Jones dropped 2 while catching 7, Rodgers dropped none while catching 38.
July 20th, 2019 at 7:51 pm
Jimmy,
They aren’t tied for 13th, they’re tied for 11th.
1. Jaguars – 33
2. Broncos – 29
3. Colts – 28
4. Bengals – 25
5. Chiefs – 24
6. Patriots – 23
7. Raiders – 22
7. Vikings – 22
9. Browns – 20
9. Packers – 20
11. Giants – 19
11. Jets – 19
11. Bucs – 19
14. Eagles – 18
14. Ravens – 18
and so on….