There's No Way Mallett Makes This Team

i'm no more ready to write Mallett off after one bad outing than I was to say he was either Brady's successor or worth a first rounder before. There are only two people who, after years of observing him, can make that determination: BB and Josh, and somehow I think BB gets the final say.

I am very interested in seeing Garoppolo get a series with the first unit in one of these games. That kid has a lightning release, and did not waste time making reads. It may be completely different with veteran defenders in there, but the same accrues as a benefit for him if he's throwing to Edelman, Amendola and Gronkowski. If he can read and decide on where the ball should go with the starters like he did with the third stringers, we have ourselves a guy who can develop the way Brady did behind Bledsoe.

Whatever people may think, Garoppolo is the polar opposite of Tebow last pre-season.

I don't see Mallett as being any different than he was a promising rookie, frankly. I agree with the previous poster that Mallett looked "lost" on about half his throwing downs. It seemed to me that Mallett was watching the pressure and not locked in on what was happening downfield.

Sciz said:

Last night no, but one preseason game doesn't undo what has been consensus superiority by Mallett all offseason.

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Except he doesn't have to worry about being hit all off season and perhaps that's the issue.

IcyPatriot said:

Except he doesn't have to worry about being hit all off season and perhaps that's the issue.

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Yeah, it was his first time facing a live pass rush in almost a year, and the OL was garbage. I'm assuming there's considerable room for improvement if he can get a little more comfortable with bodies around him and get a little better protection. If there's not, then that's a problem.

As a more tongue-in-cheek response, I find it hard to judge Mallett's pocket presence when he was never given a pocket in the first place.

Sciz said:

Yeah, it was his first time facing a live pass rush in almost a year, and the OL was garbage. I'm assuming there's considerable room for improvement if he can get a little more comfortable with bodies around him and get a little better protection. If there's not, then that's a problem.

As a more tongue-in-cheek response, I find it hard to judge Mallett's pocket presence when he was never given a pocket in the first place.

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Concur. If he had had all of the 1st team guys in there, it might well have been different. Having said that, watching him last night reminded me of many games I watched during the Bledsoe years. He never had a serious O-Line either, and so spent (it seemed) half his time running for his life.

Gonna be fun watching the rest of the pre-season, though.

KontradictioN said:

Mallett has pretty much every problem that you do not want a quarterback to have in the pocket. His footwork is bad, he has an overreliance on his arm and is not stepping fully into his throws, he stares his receivers down, and his pocket presence is crap at best. I don't think the Pats will outright cut him and leave only a rookie from a small school backing up Brady but, to this point, Mallett has been a waste (and I used to defend him on here). Consider this: Garoppolo looked better in his first game last night than Mallett ever has. I'm aware that Garoppolo was playing against scrubs, but Mallett has before as well and never has look as comfortable as Garoppolo did last night. In all, I think Mallett makes the team but we better pray that Brady remains Iron Man. If not, they're screwed.

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Its Brady or Bust regardless no need to kid ourselves Mallet showed what he is last night and that's below average jag. I CANNOT see BB carrying Mallett over a postion player at this point.

PatsFanSince74 said:

i'm no more ready to write Mallett off after one bad outing than I was to say he was either Brady's successor or worth a first rounder before. There are only two people who, after years of observing him, can make that determination: BB and Josh, and somehow I think BB gets the final say.

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I agree, and am always ready to note that these players spend a great deal more time with coaches behind the scenes than they do in televised events thus we get a very small sample of what these players can and will do so mine is not an informed opinion on the subject. And Mallett does have ability. My concern with him remains I have witnessed very few positives and plenty of negatives in his opportunities to shine in preseason. He remains very much an enigma and is not in his first or second year.

I was sayin this in others threads forever and I'd rather have Hoyer than Mallett.

Taking the Wayback Machine and it's 2008... Nothing has changed.

AzPatsFan said:

Taking the Wayback Machine and it's 2008... Nothing has changed.

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I know you wish that were true...

IcyPatriot said:

Except he doesn't have to worry about being hit all off season and perhaps that's the issue.

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It's the one thing you can't simulate in any type of workout or practice rep. Some guys just can't do it when the pressure of a hit is on. Blaine Gabbert has proven to be Plain Garbage for this one reason alone.

Oinko said:

It's the one thing you can't simulate in any type of workout or practice rep. Some guys just can't do it when the pressure of a hit is on. Blaine Gabbert has proven to be Plain Garbage for this one reason alone.

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Shotty OL play or not, there was no indication that Mallett was looking past his first read. That appeared noticeable and is concerning if it becomes a trend.

I'm not giving up on mallet yet. The entire team was flat yesterday, and Brady would not have done much.

The biggest thing going against mallet is timing and circumstance. He never got a chance for any decent playing time and now the time is up.

For once though, I would like to see him with the real first unit for a few plays

BradyFTW! said:

I see that the "let's wildly overreact to a handful of preseason snaps" floodgate has opened. I don't like Mallett either, but every criticism of him was equally applicable to 2008-preseason Cassel.

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I agree it is out of control. Mallett was without the top 3 WRs, top 2 TEs, and had a makeshift OL. I don't love him either but he didn't throw 5 picks.

Sciz said:

Yeah, it was his first time facing a live pass rush in almost a year, and the OL was garbage. I'm assuming there's considerable room for improvement if he can get a little more comfortable with bodies around him and get a little better protection. If there's not, then that's a problem.

As a more tongue-in-cheek response, I find it hard to judge Mallett's pocket presence when he was never given a pocket in the first place.

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i agree ... the year Brady got injured Matt did look like garbage in the pre season and he played better than that. But still I think it's fair to ask is he capable of processing the info quickly enough when the play isn't going so well or the wrong call is made for the defense presented.

Here's my impressions of Mallet. Last night Mallet reminded me of Drew Bledsoe...at his worst. He has terrible pocket presence. He can throw a frozen rope 10-15 yrd out pattern as good as anyone, but that's about the extent of his game. Today's NFL is predicated on quick reads, eluding the rush, getting rid of the ball fast and accuracy. Defenses are all about pinning their ears back and getting to the QB. Perhaps Mallet's game would have translated 25-30 years ago, with a team with a good run game, but based on his performance last night, I don't see him progressing into a successful NFL QB in today's era.

I don't understand why a certain poster decided to throw Tim under the bus. I guess they just have to continue on with their spiel against that player like they did last year.

Now back on topic: Not a fan of Mallett. He has a lot to work on and didn't look good out there last night. He has some strengths, but not many as indicated in game play. However, In the future he may get better or he may remain the same. Nonetheless, I wish him the best of luck.

You can see if a QB has the instincts needed to make it in the NFL regardless of who is on the field. JAG looked pretty good with the same circumstances. Quick read and throw. Pocket presence. Intelligent play. Just because Mallet had high expectations coming out does not mean we should carry on with him when he has never shown any glimpse of success. We rolled the dice in the 3rd round with this guy but he stinks. Nobody is going to give us anything for him. He does not deserve someone getting cut to preserve a spot for him. And Andre Johnson is not an option. His salary will never fit on our cap. Nothing to see here, let's move on. Mallet gets cut.

Mayocks next article: Mallett will still prove the doubters wrong and be a starting QB in this league.

Article after that: I have no idea what i am doing

Mallet had a big target in Lafell who was playing well and KT also played really well, and was wide open just about every other play. He had Vereen in the backfield, and several open rbs later in the game. He managed to bounce a pass of KT's foot, sent a few balls into the middle of nowhere (including a floater into double coverage that should have been picked), missed a screen pass, and miscommunicated with a wide open rb on a swing pass.

Meanwhile the completions he did have, while impressive in arm strength, were notable b/c he eyed the receiver through the entire play, and allowed the db to read his eyes and the receivers were subsequently forced to make really difficult pressure catches. It didn't help that his release was a very unBledsoe like cadence.

Yea he had a few problems with the OL, but he didn't help things by his pocket mobility either (like JAG did).

Overall, I think he is an above average backup in this league, but just has no place in a starting lineup.