Lions | Two key wide receivers not impressing the coaching staff

[SC Skins Fan]

Originally Posted by Daseal

That Guy -- How many of Moss' yards came on throws under 10 yards this year? I believe a majority of them. He got a few over the top, but most were dinks and dunks that his speed took advantage of.

Part of the problem with young players is you need a coaching staff to keep them focused. It's a sad day. I really liked CHarles Rogers at Michigan State and I hated Mike WIlliams at first but he grew on me. THat said, he was never exactly skinny and in shape.

Either way, I really want to see the Lions do well. I've been pulling for them ever since they've had the best player in league history IMO (Barry Sanders). Feel bad for teams who are consistantly in the basement.

From ESPN.com article by KC Joyner . . . just shows that by the numbers the "dinks and dunks" were less than half (though only slightly, but still far from a majority) of Santana's numbers. The deep ball was critical.

The reason Washington's deep pass numbers were so high was the performance of Santana Moss. Take a look at Moss's metrics from 2005:

Moss

Short 55/87 616 yds 3tds 2ints 29pen yds 7.4yds/att
Medium 12/20 189 yds 0tds 0ints 0pen yds 9.5yds/att
Deep 16/27 678 yds 6tds 0ints 36pen yds 26.4yds/att
Total 83 1483 9 2 65 11.6

Before I conducted this analysis, I thought Moss would have incredible short pass numbers, as it seemed for a few weeks last year that Moss was running 50 yards with a short pass. His short pass numbers are actually quite good, but those deep pass numbers are simply phenomenal. When you consider that Moss was the only legitimate deep threat on this team for much of the season, these numbers are even more impressive. To put these numbers in a team perspective, consider the Redskins attempted 35 deep passes to receivers other than Moss (including tight ends and running backs). They completed only four of these attempts and drew penalties on three others. The other receivers gained a combined 206 deep pass yards for an incredibly low 5.9 yards per attempt. Randle El should add a much-needed vertical threat to the Redskins' offense.