Last night on 97.5 The Fannatic, former Eagles quarterback and current ESPN NFL analyst Ron Jaworski was on the air with his co-host Joe DeCamara and they talking about Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford. Jaworski was giving out some information about his rankings of NFL quarterbacks, which is being revealed daily on ESPN. Jaws said he’s got Bradford ranked number 20 on his list.
The former Eagles quarterback says the key to Bradford coming back successfully will be his ability to get past his injuries to the point where he can stand strong in the pocket with a ferocious pass rush coming at him, and despite pressure, discomfort and risk, continue focusing downfield and deliver the football accurately. Jaws says former Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil called that ability in a quarterback, “Looking down the gun barrel”.
“In talking about the top third of the quarterbacks in the league, there was always a mention as I talked through their plays”, Jaws said. “He’s tough. He’s tough. He looks down the gun barrel. The rush doesn’t bother him. He’s oblivious to pass rush pressure……. Until you are able to anchor in that pocket and move within the pocket. You’re going to be at the bottom of my list.”
“I’ve always used the term, I got it from Dick Vermeil, the great Dick Vermeil Super Bowl winning coach. You’ve got to look down the gun barrel. You know that bullet is coming. You know that hit is coming. But you cannot let it affect you. It did affect Sam Bradford in St. Louis. The question is now. How will it affect him, if at all, when he’s the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback?”
Standing in the pocket and ignoring the pass rush after going down two years in a row with ACL tears won’t be easy. Standing in that pocket and ignoring the pass rush after getting beaten up during your time in St. Louis won’t be easy. It will take a very tough individual to that here in Philadelphia. We’re going to find out exactly how tough Mr. Bradford is.
I saw Jaws “Look down that gun barrel”. When we were teammates with the Eagles, I saw Giants Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor pound him again and again, but Ron would get up and stand in there and keep his focus downfield.
Jaworski, the former Eagles signal caller is concerned that Bradford is not going to face a real NFL pass rush during training camp or the preseason games because he’ll be wearing the red untouchable jersey throughout the training camp practices. And in the preseason games, Jaws doesn’t feel the NFL defensive coordinators really turn their guys loose. They wait until the regular season to really get after the quarterbacks
“We probably won’t know how Bradford is going to react to the pass rush pressure until the lights go on on Monday night in September in Atlanta”, Jaworski said.
The ESPN analyst wonders how Bradford is going to react when the big monsters of the NFL are coming after him and falling around his legs, as he stands in the pocket. How will Bradford react the first time one of them pounds him, then lands all his 300 pounds on him?
“It’s hard for a quarterback like Bradford who was beaten up in St. Louis to come back and stand strong in the pocket”, Jaworski said. The former Eagle believes Bradford is probably wondering himself how he will react when things gets serious.
Jaws expects Bradford and the Eagles offense to struggle early, then play much better as they get used to playing together.
The former Eagles signal caller thinks the Birds have made too many changes with their personnel on the offensive side of the ball to be able to play well together at the start of the season.
Jaws sums it up pretty well on Bradford…
After 5 Years in the NFL, He is what he is… A Talented, Nice QB with a High IQ and Arm who lacks the Leadership & Toughness Skills to will his Team to Win..
Changing Teams, Coach’s & Teammates or Cities is not going to make Sam Bradford all of a sudden become a Top 10 QB.. He is what many of us who follow Football, thought he was…
Paulman you have to admit though he didn’t have anything in St Louis no oline no wr no te he had Steven Jackson right before he fell off Bradford also had no great offensive coaches not to mention he’s never had a defense…. I’m just saying don’t get me wrong I rather have foles 13 million more to play with abd 2nd Rd pick next yr but let’s see what he does when he actually has talent around him… with good coaches
I am so tired of discussing this. We have no idea what will happen. If that O line sucks up the middle, it won’t matter because we will struggle to open holes and the QB will have people in his face no matter who he is. I think Bradfors is probably somewhere in the top fifteen if he stays upright. The system is QB friendly and we should be able to run. But it all comes down to the line. And the defense has to improve or it won’t matter what our record is. The playoffs will be brief if we continue to give up big plays, allow long scoring drives and fail to take the ball away. We need to bring back that Philly tradition on defense. This town has always struggled to find a special QB. We will have to win with a top five defense and a guy who just doesn’t fuck up. You know like don’t throw three passes to the same mediocre LB or throw four picks and vomit in the huddle.
I am tired of all the Excuses that have been made for Sam Bradford
Your either a Player in the NFL or your Not after 5 Years…He has shown very little in terms of the intangibles, with leadership and toughness in my opinion
Good to Great Players take and make their own opporturnites and make others around them better, I have not seen any of this with Sam Bradford
Quick, tell me the All-Pro OL in from Aaron Rodgers or Big Ben or Russell Wilson, or the Great Receivers or Offensive Coach’s that Mark Sanchez played with while at the Jets and went to 2 AFC Championships, or that Russell Wilson has to throw to..
It’s Put up or Shut Up for Sam Bradford and Chip Kelly and I blame Chip Kelly for even having the Eagles 2015 Season ride on Sam Bradford’s fragile mental and physical make-up
It was stupid to begin with for Kelly to have to go into Season #3 with a huge ? at the most important Position on the field which is QB…
We all hope it works out but I am not counting or expecting much out of Sam Bradford … He just doesn’t exude any confidence in my opinion..
Well paulman that’s a bad comparison rodgers,big Ben have more skilled position players around them then Bradford ever had and Wilson has lynch and a defense to play with plus,he’s a runner which Bradford has never been and Sanchez also had a defense when he was with the Jets as well as a pretty good offense with lt,green,holmes,Edwards so yes he’s played with nothing til now.
Whats bad about the Comparison Gloomy?
All I keep reading is that the Rams had crappy O/Lines ..
I ask again, what All-Pro OL have QB’s Rodgers, Big Ben, or RW been playing behind the last few Seasons…
Eagles traded a qb with toughness, example, the skins game, he took a beating
He is a leader
He’s got a great arm
He’s young and he’s cheap
Disastrous trade
Bradford. if you are talking about what he did five years ago against amateurs then it’s all I need to know about your football acumen it’s like talking about how bad Brady is because of his college career or Kurt Warner wasn’t that good. He stocked shelves in a grocery store as an undrafted nobody
All we hear about Bradford is how good hev was five years ago
I put the bet out here again
Foles outperforms Bradford this year in qb rating, yards passing wins, one large is the bet
Foles toughness? Hes been injured the last 5 years hes played dating back to college lol. Foles looked scared last year he was throwing off his back foot 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage what games were you watching? To suggest Foles is going to have good stats playing in that division with them weapons is comical.
Where’s your large dag?
Our QB situation is much improved…Sam Bradford will be fine with our renewed emphasis on a downhill, physical running game. Even if he gets hurt again, Sanchez is a capable backup that we can win games with…
Excellent Trade
Good Value
I cant wait until training camp starts
Go Eagles!
I don’t think its possible to say we improved at QB– at best its unknown- when you are talking about what a qb did 5 years ago in college as his body of work…. hmmm thats suspicious-
all the upside talk, is simply talk at this point- nothing more-