NFL Draft: Scout’s Notebook

This is NFL Draft Scout’s Notebook, where Matt McGuire will list the notes he took while scouting players for the 2011 NFL Draft, 2012 NFL Draft and beyond.
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Posted Nov. 4, 2010

Andrew Luck vs. Jake Locker


Jake Locker

1st – 12:46 – Nice run by Locker … good burst and acceleration … nice toughness in taking a beating and lowering shoulder

1st – 8:30 – Outstanding throw on run with pressure and hit … ball is kind of low, but WR doesn’t make a play here – hits him in the hands.

1st – 7:38 – Nice dropback and quick footwork … Horrendous blocking by offensive line … right guard gets beat easily and not much Locker could do – all his WRs were covered. Fumble and recovers … nice awareness to jump on ball.

1st – 3:34 – No receivers open … eats ball and takes sack. Nothing Locker could do here.

1st – 3:04 – Absolutely no time to get throw off … Offensive line is getting killed.

2nd – 14:49 – Terrific mobility in the pocket … great job seeing the field and finding the open man – great vision … very nice throw and picks up first down.

2nd – 13:48 – Great job eluding pass rusher … throwing on the run … receiver completely covered and Locker throws ball in ground … not a very well thrown ball, but Locker was under durress and this was an extremely difficult throw to make

2nd – 13:43 – Slot receiver runs wrong route … looks like an inaccurate throw from Locker, but slot was supposed to run slant.

2nd – 8:00 – Bad incompletion here … ball not even close on slant (slipped in hand from rain?)

2nd – 7:55 – Ball high, but receiver wasn’t open at all on post … could have been a throwaway

2nd – 4:50 – Offensive line not giving Locker enough time to operate in pocket to go through progression reads

3rd – 10:50 – #15 quits on slant route … nice throw by Locker, but because 15 quit on the route, it is an interception. Plays like this make me sick, because Locker is perceived badly when it’s his teammates fault and nobody points this out.

4th – 13:18 – Very little room in pocket to operate … mediocre footwork by Locker, but under pressure … overthrows receiver for INT … Locker had to try to make a play down 38-0 in the 4th quarter

Summary: This game was not nearly as bad as I expected as I saw on Twitter how much hate Locker got. Bottom line is he plays on a terrible team, his offensive line doesn’t give him time, his receivers don’t ever make plays on the ball, and his defense flat out sucks.

Locker is tough, he’s a good leader (never quit on his team; kept competing), and he is a very efficient quarterback when you watch the tape. He makes plays in the passing game when he can. His first interception was his receiver’s fault; while his second interception is on him, but you can also make the case he was down 38-0 and desperate to make a play. A couple of his throws were off, but that’s the case for any quarterback in any game.

I continue to not understand why Locker gets so much hate. He’s still my No. 1 quarterback, and if he slips out of the top three picks, some team is getting an absolute steal.


Andrew Luck

1st – 10:28 – Nice throw throwing across body on the run … tight end wide open.

1st – 10:02 – All time in pocket to throw … ball comes out smooth … accurate throw on out route.

1st – 9:30 – PA bootleg … great job avoiding sack by instinctively getting rid of football … hit WR in hands – incomplete

1st – 8:46 – Defense completely fooled by read option … solid speed by Luck, but it wasn’t like he was juking people out on this 51-yard TD run … Wide open gap and no secondary to stop him. Poor discipline on Washington’s defense.

1st – 6:10 – Good timing on skinny post … solid accuracy … very clean pocket to throw in … Luck never under durress.

1st – 2:02 – Wide open receiver and very clean pocket … not seeing how Luck is overcoming any adveristy or dealing with stress in this game.

2nd – 11:03 – Stares down receiver … good job stepping up in pocket … unimpressive defense from Washington.

2nd – 2:22 – Hangs the deep ball up (does this consistently) … easy swat for DB

2nd – 1:35 – Pressured on MIKE blitz … good job eluding and throwing ball away

3rd – 5:11 – Very clean pocket … ball is low for WR on post … under no stress

3rd – 0:04 – Could get ball out a half second earlier on slant on goal line

Summary: Luck is a very productive, instinctive prospect with good talent who makes great decisions with the football. However, I’ve never watched one game tape where he was under any sort of pressure for four quarters, and this scares me. How good will he be once he actually faces a pass rush?

He’s worthy of a top-five pick, but I’m not sold on him as this once-in-a-generation quarterback prospect. His deep ball is about as bad as it gets, and it looks like it will be a very difficult habit for him to break hanging it up again and again.






MISSING





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