Colin Kaepernick's "Holy [Bleep]" Moment

[mascho]

 
 
 

I know what you are thinking: “Another film breakdown?”
 
Look, sometimes the pieces that I put together for this site are a bit…dry. I break down game tape, trying to take readers inside the Xs and Os of coverages, routes and schemes. I wax poetic about the virtues of rub routes and enjoy the art of using pass routes to influence defenders. (Yes, I believe there is an art to that). But sometimes it is nice to take a step back and just say, “forget the film, that is simply something that no human being should be able to do.”
 
Enter Colin Kaepernick.
 
Article here.

 

[H78]

I appreciate the work you put into this article, but I'm not finding myself quite as floored as you are by the play.

I think the biggest takeaway is he escaped the rush to throw the ball about 55 yards down field. It's a really nice play, but I feel like it's not super uncommon for NFL quarterbacks to have that kind of arm strength.

Take, for instance, Brady's nearly-completed bomb to Moss at the end of SB42. That was a much more impressive effort to me, especially when considering that he, too, had to roll out a bit to avoid the rush. He threw that ball from his own 12 yard line to the Giants' 18 yard line. 70 yards in the air. Six more inches on it and it would've probably been completed and would've likely went down as the greatest play in Super Bowl history.

I'm not trying to trump a Kaep play with a Brady play, more just pointing out that, IMO, Kaep's play was nice but nothing that blew my doors off.

 

[Just a bit outside]

I just want to say I appreciate the film break down more than any other football articles.  I guess I am boring and dry.

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

I appreciate the work you put into this article, but I'm not finding myself quite as floored as you are by the play.

I think the biggest takeaway is he escaped the rush to throw the ball about 55 yards down field. It's a really nice play, but I feel like it's not super uncommon for NFL quarterbacks to have that kind of arm strength.

Take, for instance, Brady's nearly-completed bomb to Moss at the end of SB42. That was a much more impressive effort to me, especially when considering that he, too, had to roll out a bit to avoid the rush. He threw that ball from his own 12 yard line to the Giants' 18 yard line. 70 yards in the air. Six more inches on it and it would've probably been completed and would've likely went down as the greatest play in Super Bowl history.

I'm not trying to trump a Kaep play with a Brady play, more just pointing out that, IMO, Kaep's play was nice but nothing that blew my doors off.

Just about every QB in the NFL can throw the ball 55 yards in the air. Heck, Drew Brees did it Sunday on the Jimmie Graham non-gamewinner and Brews has pretty bad arm strength. What makes this throw by Kaepernick amazing is that he hardly has time to set his feet and then just tosses it up there from a pretty normal stance. Most times when QBs throw bombs (including that Brady throw), they need a lot of space, take a big shuffle step forward, and then really step in to the throw to heave it downfield.

 

[IdiotKicker]

Just about every QB in the NFL can throw the ball 55 yards in the air. Heck, Drew Brees did it Sunday on the Jimmie Graham non-gamewinner and Brews has pretty bad arm strength. What makes this throw by Kaepernick amazing is that he hardly has time to set his feet and then just tosses it up there from a pretty normal stance. Most times when QBs throw bombs (including that Brady throw), they need a lot of space, take a big shuffle step forward, and then really step in to the throw to heave it downfield.

 
Yeah, it's really the fluidity and easy by which he stops, sees the receiver, and unleashes.  It's just unreal athleticism.

 

[Red Right Ankle]

Just about every QB in the NFL can throw the ball 55 yards in the air. Heck, Drew Brees did it Sunday on the Jimmie Graham non-gamewinner and Brews has pretty bad arm strength. What makes this throw by Kaepernick amazing is that he hardly has time to set his feet and then just tosses it up there from a pretty normal stance. Most times when QBs throw bombs (including that Brady throw), they need a lot of space, take a big shuffle step forward, and then really step in to the throw to heave it downfield.

 
 

 
Yeah, it's really the fluidity and easy by which he stops, sees the receiver, and unleashes.  It's just unreal athleticism.

That didn't really come through in the article.  Basically, there was this line:
 

 
 
The QB’s mechanics are flawless. It is not just the arm strength, it is the footwork, technique and athleticism that allows this “whoa” moment to happen.

 
and that's it.  The play gets broken down, and there's some good stuff there (e.g., Kaep's amazing mobility and how it forced the safety to adjust, leaving Crabtree open; Kaep's vision), but the the stuff MMS outlined re: mechanics didn't get fully sketched out for the reader.  It would have had more impact if you'd side-by-sided gifs of a couple of similar throws, e.g., the Brady throw or the Brees throw, to show how a QB normally throws deep versus what Kaep did.
 
I enjoy the film breakdowns though, Mark!

 

[mascho]

1. Thanks for reading everyone.
 
2. I missed on putting into words how impressive the athleticism is from Kap on this play, but a comparison is a great idea. So, here's a gif I just cut of Brees's Hail Mary:
 

 
Brees drops back to the 43-yard line and then uses five yards or so of forward movement to get his throw off. If you look back at Kaepernick, he stops at the 16, sets his feet with a short crow hop, and throws. So he has the athleticism to break the pocket and keep the play alive, the vision to even find Crabtree on the other side of the field, and the arm strength and footwork to stop on a dime, plant, and throw without needing 5 yards of forward momentum behind the toss. Simply incredible. 

 

[coremiller]

Kaepernick is an incredibly frustrating guy to watch/root for.  He does something like this nearly every other game that is just mind-blowing athletically.  Other recent examples include his TD to Boldin against St Louis rolling to his left, his TD to Gore against Philly where he threw the ball back across his body off his back foot to the other side of the field, and his TD to Boldin in the NFCCG last year, which is maybe the greatest pure physical throw I've ever seen from anyone  -- he threw a 35-yard jump-pass fastball on a line from mid-air with his feet off the ground!  I've seen shortstops do that kind of thing in baseball, but never in football, and obviously a baseball is a lot easier to throw.  Everyone forgot about that play after the game because 10 more important things happened in the 4th quarter, which is a shame, because it was utterly amazing.
 
Then he has games where he gets the deer-in-the-headlights look, can't adjust to blitzes, throws dumb interceptions, fumbles, takes stupid delay-of-game penalties, etc.  

 

[mascho]

Kaepernick is an incredibly frustrating guy to watch/root for.  He does something like this nearly every other game that is just mind-blowing athletically.  Other recent examples include his TD to Boldin against St Louis rolling to his left, his TD to Gore against Philly where he threw the ball back across his body off his back foot to the other side of the field, and his TD to Boldin in the NFCCG last year, which is maybe the greatest pure physical throw I've ever seen from anyone  -- he threw a 35-yard jump-pass fastball on a line from mid-air with his feet off the ground!  I've seen shortstops do that kind of thing in baseball, but never in football, and obviously a baseball is a lot easier to throw.  Everyone forgot about that play after the game because 10 more important things happened in the 4th quarter, which is a shame, because it was utterly amazing.
 
Then he has games where he gets the deer-in-the-headlights look, can't adjust to blitzes, throws dumb interceptions, fumbles, takes stupid delay-of-game penalties, etc.  

 
I believe this is the throw you are referencing, which is equally absurd:
 
http://vid809.photobucket.com/albums/zz11/mascho030916/ScreenCaptureProject40_3.mp4

 

[crystalline]

I appreciate the work you put into this article, but I'm not finding myself quite as floored as you are by the play.

I think the biggest takeaway is he escaped the rush to throw the ball about 55 yards down field. It's a really nice play, but I feel like it's not super uncommon for NFL quarterbacks to have that kind of arm strength.

Take, for instance, Brady's nearly-completed bomb to Moss at the end of SB42. That was a much more impressive effort to me, especially when considering that he, too, had to roll out a bit to avoid the rush. He threw that ball from his own 12 yard line to the Giants' 18 yard line. 70 yards in the air. Six more inches on it and it would've probably been completed and would've likely went down as the greatest play in Super Bowl history.

So close. So close. Aaargh.

 

[coremiller]

 
I believe this is the throw you are referencing, which is equally absurd:
 
http://vid809.photobucket.com/albums/zz11/mascho030916/ScreenCaptureProject40_3.mp4

 
Yup, that's the one.  That's a great angle of it too.

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

 
I believe this is the throw you are referencing, which is equally absurd:
 
http://vid809.photobucket.com/albums/zz11/mascho030916/ScreenCaptureProject40_3.mp4

 
That throw encapsulates the whole Colin Kaepernick experience.  Bolt from the pocket at the first sign of pressure instead of looking to slide around (thus missing the short crosser when he comes open). Use your insane athleticism to make a semi-ill advised throw (given the Seahawk who easily undercuts the receiver and picks that off a lot if its a foot or two lower) no other human on the planet can make.  Profit?

 

[coremiller]

That throw encapsulates the whole Colin Kaepernick experience.  Bolt from the pocket at the first sign of pressure instead of looking to slide around (thus missing the short crosser when he comes open). Use your insane athleticism to make a semi-ill advised throw (given the Seahawk who easily undercuts the receiver and picks that off a lot if its a foot or two lower) no other human on the planet can make.  Profit?

Pretty much. The pass wasn't even high enough -- Earl Thomas actually got a finger on the ball. The throw just had so much velocity that Thomas couldn't react quickly enough, like a hitter who can't catch up to a fastball. It was incredible.

I think the "bolt the pocket" thing is as much a coaching point as lack of pocket instincts, he does it so frequently and consistently that I assume he's coached to do that.

He's had a very up and down year. His stats look much worse than last year, but this is a classic example of stats not telling the whole story. He's been given a lot more responsibility in the passing game (SF was 32nd in pass attempts last year, and is up to 25th this year), with some spread looks and a more complex system, and he's shown flashes but also struggled at times. The line has been MUCH worse this year, which means not just that he's been pressured a lot more, but with ineffective run blocking their play action staples have been not nearly as effective. The receivers have also let him down a little with uncharacteristic drops -- they had 8 or 9 last week alone.

Something curious I've noticed is that he's running a lot less this year, especially lately. After averaging almost 9 carries per game in the first five games, he has only 15 carries in the last four games. I wonder if he's carrying an injury. Last year I thought they intentionally saved Kaep's running for the playoffs (they had a whole set of fake-pass Kaep draw runs they used against Seattle in the NFCCG that they hadn't used at all the rest of the year), but this year they don't really have that luxury.

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

Take, for instance, Brady's nearly-completed bomb to Moss at the end of SB42. That was a much more impressive effort to me, especially when considering that he, too, had to roll out a bit to avoid the rush. He threw that ball from his own 12 yard line to the Giants' 18 yard line. 70 yards in the air. Six more inches on it and it would've probably been completed and would've likely went down as the greatest play in Super Bowl history.

 
Fucking great.  You just made me open a bottle of wine at this hour.  I hope you're happy.
 
That team deserved that pass to be completed.  It was the team's destiny, to rule the galaxy as father and son snatch victory from the deepest depths of despair, and they just went and flushed that legacy down the proverbial air shaft.  Although I remember it as being overthrown rather than underthrown... but I definitely don't have the heart to look it up now to see for sure.  Either way, that probably would have been deemed the greatest pass in NFL history and taken the place of the Dwight Clark catch in NFL montages.
 
Shee-it.

 

[Spacemans Bong]

Kaepernick is an incredibly frustrating guy to watch/root for.  He does something like this nearly every other game that is just mind-blowing athletically.  Other recent examples include his TD to Boldin against St Louis rolling to his left, his TD to Gore against Philly where he threw the ball back across his body off his back foot to the other side of the field, and his TD to Boldin in the NFCCG last year, which is maybe the greatest pure physical throw I've ever seen from anyone  -- he threw a 35-yard jump-pass fastball on a line from mid-air with his feet off the ground!  I've seen shortstops do that kind of thing in baseball, but never in football, and obviously a baseball is a lot easier to throw.  Everyone forgot about that play after the game because 10 more important things happened in the 4th quarter, which is a shame, because it was utterly amazing.
 
Then he has games where he gets the deer-in-the-headlights look, can't adjust to blitzes, throws dumb interceptions, fumbles, takes stupid delay-of-game penalties, etc.  

 
Hell, you could have just mentioned the other plays on the same drive. A few drops by Boldin that were frustrating, but a lot of deer in the headlights scrambling and throwing it away as well as some passes that were nowhere near the mark.
 

 

[Deathofthebambino]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF4WQNp4t-k
 
Watch number 4.  If you want to talk about pure arm strength the ability to use it while on the move.  Michael Vick changed the game in his prime.  He still has a fucking rifle, but he could literally flick the ball with his wrist 60+ yards.  Check out this video of his top 10 plays (a lot of which are pure running) and that one, where he throws it 50+ yards in the air, with his feet nowhere near as set as Kaepernick's were is really all you need to see. 

 

[mascho]

The first few weeks of law school I dated a girl who had just graduated from UVA undergrad. She was super excited to bring me to Charlottesville for a game, when UVA just happened to play VaTech. This was the first big time college game I had ever been to (my games were not exactly "big time") and I got to see Vick play in person. He made a throw on a go route against Cover 2 that was literally a "holy #$#(" moment for me. I mean really, in the midst of all the kids wearing their white button down shirts with the orange and blue ties I screamed out "holy #$# look at that #@(#$ing throw." I got a bunch of dirty looks but man...that throw.
 
She was really hot too. Very crazy though, especially when she'd been drinking....well, more like certifiably insane when drinking. I've said too much...