Doc Walker interview on end of season

http://www.extremeskins.com/forums/showthread.php?&threadid=87866

Extremeskins: Now that his seven-week “audition” is over, what do you think about Patrick Ramsey? What are your impressions of his strengths and weaknesses?

Doc Walker: Well, if you don’t throw ... a quarterback is not judged by handing off. A guy with a big arm has got to be allowed to use it. If you don’t use it—development in [terms of] the scheme and being comfortable is good, because he got mechanics practice—but if you don’t [see him] throw, how can you evaluate throwing? I think we’re ahead of the game because he got some experience, but their offense was so bad in that respect—passing—that I don’t know if anybody can look at that and say, “okay, we’re there.” I think they’d be fooling themselves.

ES: I don’t think anybody’s ever really questioned the man’s ability to throw the ball. I guess if there’s any remaining question it would be whether he processes information quickly enough on the field—in terms of reading defenses and making the “right plays”—to be an outstanding NFL quarterback. Is that fair?

DW: That I don’t know ... I don’t think he was put in enough situations to evaluate that. It’s not like he had to put the team on his back; he had some nice drives to set up things, but we’re talking about two or three drives a game, not four of five. I think you saw what quarterbacks do in this league—you saw [Ben] Roethlisberger carry the Steelers to victory. You saw him moving on the run, hitting passes. Patrick’s like a primary drop-back pocket quarterback—my thing is, why? He’s a young guy, he’s athletic ... why can’t he run a little bit more? I saw Patrick throw balls out of bounds on third downs ... why can’t he come out of the pocket and be a little bit more creative? That I don’t know.

Maybe I can offer Doc Walker some help here:

Ramsey is not asked to run around much because he is SLOW. He has the mobility of a manatee on Quaaludes. If the Skins design an offense predicated on Ramsey's feet and his mobility, we'll be yearning for those golden days of Mark Brunell.

Ramsey is a pocket QB with a good arm. Either you find a way to exploit those skills - - as Indy has done with some kid named Peyton who is also not very mobile or fast - - or you go and find a mobile QB to do what you want your QB to do.

"He’s a young guy, he’s athletic ... why can’t he run a little bit more? I saw Patrick throw balls out of bounds on third downs ... why can’t he come out of the pocket and be a little bit more creative? That I don’t know."

HA! And while he's at it, why doesn't he go ahead and run for 100 yards a game too?

Ramsey is kinda like Rypien, and they won a Super Bowl with him. They just need to use his strengths

While I agree that Ramsey is not a mobile QB by any stretch, I think the gist is that while he is slow, he can move some, and could be used on roll-outs and such a little more. I think working on improving Patrick's footwork was a big reason Musgrave was brought in, aside from just bringing a different perspective to the offense.
As for evaluating Ramsey, we all know that he can throw the ball. But we did see great improvement in his game management. Don't fault him for not throwing it downfield when the plan was usually for for him not to throw it up there so much. His 66% comp percentage and improved TD to INT ratio once he became the starter definitely show progress and something to build on.

While I agree that Ramsey is not a mobile QB by any stretch, I think the gist is that while he is slow, he can move some, and could be used on roll-outs and such a little more. I think working on improving Patrick's footwork was a big reason Musgrave was brought in, aside from just bringing a different perspective to the offense.
As for evaluating Ramsey, we all know that he can throw the ball. But we did see great improvement in his game management. Don't fault him for not throwing it downfield when the plan was usually for for him not to throw it up there so much. His 66% comp percentage and improved TD to INT ratio once he became the starter definitely show progress and something to build on.

I was just about to post a similar thought.

We saw a lot of the designed rollouts with Brunell in there, Ramsey is certainly capable of doing the same. Rypien was never an overly mobile QB, but Gibbs never shyed away from rolling him out. Perhaps Gibbs didn't want to put too much on his plate and that's why we didn't see him rolling out as much as Brunell. Ramsey is never going to be mistaken for Vick, but he's no less mobile than guys like Manning or Brady.

I did see Gibbs throw in a few bootlegs at the end of the season. I thought Ramsey ran them very well and if memory serves me correctly, he completely nearly all of them.

Didn't his TD / INT ratio go down this year? I know he was one of very few QBs to have more TDs than INT's as a rookie.

Yeah, I think it was the result of all those relief apperances where they KNEW he was going to throw the ball.