One of the biggest issues about dual-threat QB's vs pure pocket passers is that the later can usually scan the field faster, because they don't have an overburdened mental stack, and that has been the case with Drake. A dual-threat QB always has to make a decision between reads, whether to run or not, if the first read isn't opened, should he run, if the second isn't open, is the time now or should he continue scanning. Once the defenses started to control his running in the playoffs, he was holding the ball far too long, either waiting for a long route to develop, or being slow in his progressions.
That's by far his biggest weakness right now, one which he didn't or couldn't fix in such a short period, always playing Madden football and hoping for big plays instead of taking what the defense is giving, whether a short pass, throw away or eating up the sack.
All of his 11 turnovers, and several other passes he was lucky not to be picked off, were due to his stubbornness or unwillingness to throw a check down, or accept a sack when there was too much pressure. I thought the Chargers game would be an aberration due to nerves, the first playoff experience, but even by the fourth quarter in the SB he was still doing it, either waiting too long for a route to develop, refusing to secure the ball and take the sack, or throwing the ball in triple coverage when there's no need to.
He has expressed a certain distain about ''Check-down Charlie'' several times in his interviews, so it's not just an instinct, it's a conscious decision to play that way. Until he accepts that 4+4+3 equals a first down, and 5-6 first downs result in a TD that both tires the defense and rests your own, everything else we suggest or talk about his improvement would be futile. You don't get style points for scoring. Every time people were seething that Brady was a ''dink and dunker'' because he would take the percentage throw over the 50/50 one, i was laughing at their idiocy, because winning is always the best strategy, and playing smart is always better than playing gung-ho football. Once Drake starts playing the percentages, the long ball will also be more open, because teams will also be forced to defend the short stuff. There were a dozen times in the SB that the check down option was wide open but he wouldn't even look at them.
And to underline how bad of a strategy that is, even Brady in his prime wasn't always immune to it, late in the SB against the Eagles, he ignored both James White and Amendola who were WIDE open to his right and in front of him, but he was fixed on Gronk running a deep route, he got stripped, and we lost the SB, where a long pass was not a necessity by any means, it was 2nd and 1 with more than 2 minutes to go.
