A Frustrating Observation On N'Keal Harry

[Ian]

I wrote about this in an entry this morning, but he's a guy who just doesn't seem like he knows what he's doing. He's late off the ball on quite a few snaps, which I highlighted in a post this morning but figured it was worthy of sharing here.

Take a look at these:



It's just crazy...he's literally the last guy to move in all three of these. I've tried to stick up for him, but man...this is just unreal

 

[Brotherblues]

First reaction is "yikes!"

Further look it seems these plays were just designed that way. For example the first one, he needed to wait for Bourne to pass in front of him and be his lead blocker (the play was a quick WR screen of sorts to Harry which I think went for about 8 yards iirc).

 

[jah]

I'm sure this is a point many hacks have made in the past few days, but I'll say it anyway: it seems pretty obvious that him playing almost every snap was a major contributing factor to the offense being so sloppy. The offensive line wasn't pass blocking well, and Mac was uncharacteristically inaccurate, but it really looked like Harry was in the vicinity of damn near every disaster in the passing game.

Good run blocker still, but this is what happens when you try to use him like a real WR.

 

[Ian]

First reaction is "yikes!"

Further look it seems these plays were just designed that way. For example the first one, he needed to wait for Bourne to pass in front of him and be his lead blocker (the play was a quick WR screen of sorts to Harry which I think went for about 8 yards iirc).

That's definitely true, but it's the only one of these three plays that would fall into that category. Still, his feet still hadn't even moved on the snap and Bourne was already well in motion at that point, which is a little crazy.

 

[Ian]

BTW, the top two plays were passes to Harry. The first was the 10yd completion on the 3rd down play @Brotherblues pointed out, the second an incompletion. The last one was a running play which, again, he was still late on the snap.

I noticed it after rewatching the first couple of plays from that series and was just shocked how delayed he was in moving on the ball.

 

[reflexblue]

BB hasn't cut him because he was BB's pick that year, and it would be embarrassing to admit that you blew a first rnd pick this badly.The wide outs that the FO passed on are astonishing, J Brown, Deebo Samuel, DK Metcalf etc. I held out hope that he would pan out, but he needs to go as a WR. Maybe its possible that he could be used like Cordel Patterson was

 

[Scotty]

mmmm ok , I will play the dummy , when I click on the videos they dont play !!.......maybe it is old man syndrome....lol

 

[Brotherblues]

That's definitely true, but it's the only one of these three plays that would fall into that category. Still, his feet still hadn't even moved on the snap and Bourne was already well in motion at that point, which is a little crazy.

Did you take these screenshots?

 

[Brotherblues]

mmmm ok , I will play the dummy , when I click on the videos they dont play !!.......maybe it is old man syndrome....lol

They are screenshots

 

[Ian]

Did you take these screenshots?

Yes. Was rewatching the game on Gamepass when I noticed him not moving when the ball was snapped.

 

[masterbouncer]

still don't get it how McD is using Harry, don't get why he is forced to run inside cut routes, where the only thing he might be good at would be a back shoulder pass on the outside where only he gets the ball or its an incompletion, everything that goes with Harry inside cut is just a waste of down and only increases the chances of a turn over as he is also not really running well those contested routes (next to that he seems scared at times bc of a possible hit)

 

[ohiopatsfan]

Maybe Harry will catch the Foxboro Flu for the last two games and BB can activate Tre Nixon. I'd like to see what Ernie Adams' pick can do in a real game before the end of the season. He doesn't have a very high bar to reach in replacing Harry.

 

[Pape]

Maybe that's one of those new fangled "Delayed Routes" akin to the delayed draw...







Hey! I'm trying to be positive here!

 

[signbabybrady]

So in other news, Nkeal sux.

 

[Scotty]

They are screenshots

Thanks, I did wonder but as you were explaining what the plays were I assumed we could watch the film.....I will go back and crawl under my rock and use my tablet and stone chisel

 

[Pape]

still don't get it how McD is using Harry, don't get why he is forced to run inside cut routes, where the only thing he might be good at would be a back shoulder pass on the outside where only he gets the ball or its an incompletion, everything that goes with Harry inside cut is just a waste of down and only increases the chances of a turn over as he is also not really running well those contested routes (next to that he seems scared at times bc of a possible hit)

he's been in as a blocker for most of the year... the buffalo game, his snap count ballooned to 95% of the offensive snaps... most likely due to Nelson Agony being out ...

 

[cmasspatsfan]

BB hasn't cut him because he was BB's pick that year, and it would be embarrassing to admit that you blew a first rnd pick this badly.The wide outs that the FO passed on are astonishing, J Brown, Deebo Samuel, DK Metcalf etc. I held out hope that he would pan out, but he needs to go as a WR. Maybe its possible that he could be used like Cordel Patterson was

When has BB ever stop him from cutting a player no matter when drafted if he doesnt perform?

 

[BadMoFo]

Really seemed like Mac was trying to get him the ball quite a bit, not sure why. At this point, just move him to tight end.

 

[Marko]

That's definitely true, but it's the only one of these three plays that would fall into that category. Still, his feet still hadn't even moved on the snap and Bourne was already well in motion at that point, which is a little crazy.

The 2nd one it looks like he might be chipping the edge rusher as he appears to be bracing himself., Overall though, you are correct, he seems to be thinking instead of playing. There was a play (not the first drop) where he turned and dropped the ball because he seemed like he didn’t expect it to be thrown to him. This could have been a miscommunication, but you always need to run every route expecting to get the ball. He just seems to have no confidence at this point, even when caught the one ball and ran he seemed very tentative and turned his back. I remember hearing Troy Brown talk about how doubting yourself is the kiss of death and how Bert Emanuelle, who was a veteran receiver, couldn’t catch anything once he lost his confidence.

 

[Ian]

The 2nd one it looks like he might be chipping the edge rusher as he appears to be bracing himself., Overall though, you are correct, he seems to be thinking instead of playing. There was a play (not the first drop) where he turned and dropped the ball because he seemed like he didn’t expect it to be thrown to him.

I'm with you - but at the end of the day, he's the only one out of 11 players whose feet didn't even move on the snap - at all. And I agree with you to a certain extent that it's a confidence issue and also agree he's thinking too much. At the same time, I go back to the play midseason where he lined up wrong, which shouldn't be happening to a guy in his third season in the system. It's just bizarre.