Ramsey, Brunell - Arms race

Does anyone else think Ramsey's passes took forever to get down field?
They just seems to float out there. I know that he's been trying to get more "touch" on his deep ball, but it looks like he is trying to "guide" the ball and not throwing the ball.

Brunell on the other hand is looking very good (to me). I don't think he can throw the deep ball, but the short and intermediate passes have zip. He looks comfortable in the offense.

Any thoughts?

Brunell has said he's not throwing the ball any harder than he did last year. I actually agree, I just think he's looked a lot more accurate than he did last season. Perhaps that's because he feels more comfortable, maybe it's because he's been playing against backup defenders, or maybe it's because he has better protection.

Ramsey's passes have seemed pretty darned hard too though. Ramsey has better, though imperfect, touch on his short passes. So, no I haven't seen any of Ramsey's passes really "float." He's made some bad throws, but I don't think that's because he's lofting them up there.

I think PR is still trying to find his touch especially on the deep stuff. He's worked hard this offseason to put more air under the ball, and he doesn't appear to have that down just yet. That INT in the endzone just needed a bit more under it and it would have been a TD. It looks like right now he's thinking too much and not just letting it rip.

I was just going to post something about their performances...

Basically this is what I think it comes down to:

Would I want Brunell starting even though he's shown that he's not the has-been we thought he was last year? No. And the reason behind this is that I believe Ramsey will continue to develop throughout this preseason and become a much more efficient quarterback. Granted, he had two interceptions, and I think that is Ramsey's only fault right now, his decision making. Sure, he under and overthrew a couple balls on Friday night but there aren't many QBs who can routinely hit those passes with every throw.

His deep outs to Patten were amazing and he made the majority of those throws. Also, take away the fact that there was no Cooley, no Portis and we ran a LOT of pass plays and there you have it. I think that Ramsey showed a lot of promise minus those two INTs. I LOVED the fact that we were willing to throw downfield AND he looked much more comfortable in the pocket.

Ramsey still has a cannon, he is just working on putting a little loft/air on the ball ... Brunell is working agasint 2nd teamers, has no where to go but up, has zero pressure, is on his last tour of duty, signed a rich contract so he is set, and is a fan favorite right now ...of course he is going to look better.


Ramsey passes at times look a little lazy, but he also has some zip, one incompletion over throw he had in the 1st quarter was a laser. One thing I notice, it seems at times that his arm is half-cocked when he throws, looks weired ...

At times you want passes to look soft like they're floating down softly into the receiver's hands. At other times you want the ball gunned through coverage. Ramsey seems to have a good grasp of when touch is needed and when a cannon is needed, he just needs to keep working on the execution. The accuracy isn't completely there yet.

I thought Ramsey looked 10 times better than he did the first game. But he obviously made some bad decision with the football. I watched the replay this weekend and wondered like Theisman commented on, if a couple of his really bad throws were not routes run a little wrong by the receiver. You know, like he was throwing to a spot on the field and his receiver was not there. The INT to Thrash in the endzone, was a bad decision, not a bad throw, he should have never thrown that ball. Betts dropped one and Moss lost one early in the lights that would have been a TD or at least a long game. He looked much more comfortable than last week. Hey, it is Preseason, so all of these things don't hurt you if you learn from them. If he can get healthy, I would like to to see 10-15 carries out of Portis this week against Pittsburgh.

At times you want passes to look soft like they're floating down softly into the receiver's hands. At other times you want the ball gunned through coverage. Ramsey seems to have a good grasp of when touch is needed and when a cannon is needed, he just needs to keep working on the execution. The accuracy isn't completely there yet.

I think the above summarizes the Ramsey issue nicely. He's like a fiddler crab with one enormous claw, and one baby claw. When you have that ginormous claw you tend to use it with impugnity. He has worked hard all offseason to to soften his B line throws, and I think its showing more and more.....the accuracy however is a whole other issue.

I watched the game on replay this weekend since I didn't have the benefit of watching it live.. I was more impressed by Ramsey than I thought I would be.. The 2 picks he threw were bad (especially the one in the end zone) but the preseason is for making mistakes and correcting them. I would hope in the future Ramsey will throw the 1st pass into the 2nd row. It was hard to tell on the 2nd throw. The one thing he did that scared me was in the 2nd quarter he was being tackled by 2 people and still tried to throw it.. EAT THE BALL PATRICK! That's one thing that he does that worries me, still trying to make a play when there's no way it can be completed.

jeez, last year everyone was on Ramsey for throwing absolute laser beams that were too hard for receivers to catch (especially dearly departed Rod) and now he's being crucified for being too femme with the ball.

i think us Skins fans are so desperate and paranoid right now, that we're too easily frazzled over any little negative thing.

Ramsey is obviously practicing "touch", everybody already knows he can drill it. the truth (and our season) lies somewhere in between, so let's hope he gets it down.