I missed a chunk of the game that corresponded with most of Mallett's snaps. Based on feedback here, I expected ugliness. So I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw on rewind: a reasonable-looking NFL backup quarterback. Strong arm, decent mechanics, didn't look flustered or overwhelmed. Field vision and timing/accuracy were just so-so, but he was also under more pressure than Brady, playing mostly behind o-linemen who will be out of work in a few weeks. And count me in the camp that puts most of the blame on Boyce for the endzone miss. He looks better to me than Cassel ever did in preseason, at least.
I'll agree on the last part - Cassel always looked terrible in the preseason, which in a nutshell is why I never panic anymore about the backup QB situation based on preseason play. If someone who looked as bad as Cassel did can manage when thrown into the fire, then who's to say that anyone else can't?
That said, in my eyes Mallett had a bunch of 'as expected/competent' plays, a couple of good ones, and a couple more bad ones. Mostly adequate with more bad than good thrown into the mix. Specifically, there were a couple of plays where I really didn't like what I saw. On second down of his first drive, backed up in his own end zone, he threw the ball way behind Dobson, then on the next play he threw it well ahead of Vereen, leading directly to a three and out and great field position for the Eagles. He wasn't under a lot of pressure on the second throw, and on the first he was under a bit, but he still had a good opportunity to make that play. He was throwing to real receivers, and if he'd completed either throw, that drive gets sustained.
On the following drive, he realized that the Eagles couldn't cover Fells, and that allowed Mallet to hit him repeatedly even without being as accurate as you'd like. His second throw on that drive was really good, and I'm not against blaming Boyce for the missed deep throw. Looked to me like Mallett overthrew it, but it would still have been catchable if Boyce had done a better job adjusting to the ball. I don't blame Mallett for the subsequent plays either (ditching the ball under pressure, Edelman fumble). By the drive after that, it just looked like he was playing pitch and catch with Dobson and Sudfeld, who just couldn't be handled by the guys who were supposed to be covering them.
Basically, what I saw was a QB with a strong arm who was pretty decisive but had so-so accuracy. and was pretty average under pressure. In short, he has the same limitations that Brady has, but nowhere near the exceptional accuracy, and the jury's still out on how quickly he makes his reads and his pocket presence. By the time he came out, I found myself disappointed with the overall body of work, although even at the time I realized that it was at least in part because I was comparing him to Brady, which is just unfair for any QB. We're used to seeing our QB hit easy throws 99 times out of 100, and even fairly difficult ones 9 times out of 10.
I agree that what we saw from him is plenty acceptable as a backup QB on a rookie contract, but count me among those who were hoping that he would be more than that and, to date, have been disappointed. Perhaps this is an unreasonable expectation, which is why I acknowledged that in the same post where I said that I was disappointed. We're used to seeing A+ play at quarterback, and he's nowhere near an A+. If we'd spend the last five years watching Mark Sanchez, he'd look like a godsend, and if we'd spend the last 5 years watching Ryan Fitzpatrick, he'd look fine.
