Mark Schlereth won Super Bowls before the age of analytics really arrived, including one in DC, and if you think Brian Mitchell downplays numbers versus the eye test a lot…well, you’re gonna be shocked hearing his former teammate Stink absolutely hammer math as an indicator.
Stink is now an Audacy insider but was, of course, an offensive lineman, so seeing Sam Howell get sacked umpteen times a game and watching the line get some of the blame for that hits close to home – but as you might expect, and don’t kill the messenger here, he says it ain’t all on the Hog Mollies, because in an ideal world, others would make their job easier at times.
“When you're talking about protection, there's a lot that goes into not only the players you have, but the scheme that you run and the way that you call plays,” Schlereth told Grant & Danny during a Wednesday appearance on the show. “To me, protection is as much about the guys up front as it is about the play calling. Ultimately, you have to say, ‘hey, we’re gonna throw it 35 times this particular game, how do we get that down to 12 times where we have to hold up in protection?’ And if you can’t hold up in 12 attempts after you have that kind of versatility, then you guys suck as a group up front, and you need new players. But, a lot of that goes into play calling.”
Stink also believes that if you give up seven or eight sacks a game, you also ‘suck as play-callers,’ so there’s symbiosis between the offense as a whole and the coordinator to make sure it all works.
That’s when Grant brought up analytics into the conversation, and looking at pressure to sack rates and things like that…and, yeah, didn’t go well for that young whippersnapper.
“I’m not a big analytics guy, because a lot of people grading the analytics don't know what they're looking at anyway. Math has never made one tackle, it's never blocked one guy,” Stink said. “I always get this conversation about going for two, like you have to do it – how many two-point plays do you think we have in any game plan? One, maybe two? Oh, but let’s just go for it every time? A lot of that stuff is garbage to me.”
And he wasn’t done.
“Analytics tell us to go for it here…really? Does analytics tell you you’re blocking Aaron Donald this time one-on-one, and you haven’t blocked the three-technique all day?” Stink asked. “No, it’s over the course of time, so I think a lot of that stuff is garbage, and I don't pay too much attention to it.”
Perhaps, at least in Schlereth’s eyes, one of the problems with the current crop of QBs, Howell maybe included, is that they’re not old-school enough?
“One of the things you have to understand is when you take the quarterback, it's not about the best college quarterback, it’s about the best guy that’s going to be a pro, meaning that he has played in some pro-style system,” Stink said. “One of the issues that most guys have had that have grown up playing quarterback is they played all 7-on-7 – they’re in shotgun the whole time so there is no pass rush, and you never work on your footwork.”
That, he says, is the key to a successful QB.
“The timing of the offense is kept in the feet of the quarterback, so every step you take is perfectly planned and lines up with a route or route combination,” Stink said. “So, if I hit that third step, and then two more steps, then the ball is supposed to come out – and if it doesn’t because the guy's covered, you hitch up one step and now it comes out. That's how, that's how the timing of the offense works, and if your footwork is not on point, then you're not ready to throw the ball when the when the receiver comes out of his break and you’re off-structure a little bit. They don’t have the footwork down, and that’s why a lot of guys are late or off-schedule.”
All that said…Schlereth actually said “there’s a lot of qualities to like” in Sam Howell so far.
“Big-time arm talent, touch on the football, and the dude’s all balls,” Stink said. “He ain’t afraid, he’ll stand in there and scramble around and get hit. He has that toughness and competitiveness, and you see that. The guys you respect are the guys who are tough, and will stand in the face of danger, and one thing about Sam is he has some toughness.”
Take a listen to Schlereth’s entire call-in above, which includes thoughts on the current crop of rookie quarterbacks (against his evaluation of footwork), the Giants' fall from grace, and more!