This is something I’ve been pondering for a couple of months. Our inability to complete long passes is troubling and also somewhat inexplicable. I have come up with three possible reasons, and am interested in the opinion of others. Worthy’s Hand-eye Coordination In addition to his obvious inability to consistently catch the bottle, I believe that there is a hand/eye coordination / tracking issue. He is either not seeing the ball early enough and adjusting to it, or he hasn’t learned to adjust to the ball once it’s in the air. Actually catching the ball is obviously an huge issue, but there may be other reasons, as noted above. While I haven’t gone back over the season carefully, from memory, I’m not sure that Worthy actually caught more than one long pass. Some believe that the end zone drop against Alabama was not a great pass. I would disagree. That ball seemed almost perfect, and it did not require that he dive for it. Trajectory This may be an odd take, but the more I think about it, the more I’m starting to wonder. Given how many throws Worthy didn’t adjust to – and may not have seen early enough, and given some of the long throws we saw that missed the target by yards not feet (example A: Cain), I’m starting to wonder if there is a trajectory issue with respect to Ewers’ long throws. Simply, are they so flat that the receivers are not picking them up early enough? I wouldn’t discount that possibility. While historically there have been many quarterbacks, famous ones, who threw low trajectory passes, most of those quarterbacks played in a different era, when offensive and defensive lineman weren’t as tall. Watching passes fall incomplete 5 yards from the receiver leads me to believe that there’s some other factor in play here, and ball trajectory might be one of them. Inaccurate Throws Certainly always a factor, but perhaps less of one than many of us had thought previously.
I think the long ball from Ewers is veery high, in fact I have thought often that he throws even the medium passes too ‘soft’ for lack of a better word. More often than not the short passes get there more quickly than I would expect from him but overall his throws seem to have quite an arch to them, imo.
In two dropped passes in the Alamo bowl, Worthy’s head had turned upfield before securing the ball. He was more interested to score or make a highlight reel than to catch the ball.
It’s damn curious isn’t it. I’m certain at least on several balls that Ewers is getting rid of the ball too quickly based on Worthy’s expectations. Guys play off Worthy so when he’s going downfield his head doesn’t get around as quickly as if pressed because he’s still working his route. So Worthy is late to pick it up so there’s no adjustment, and it looks like there’s no effort. Combine that with the thought that he’s not great at tracking it. And there is probably an element of trajectory that does not allow him to run under it either.
I used to think that but upon further analysis, I’m not so sure. The pass last night was perfect, as was the drop against Alabama. Ewers certainly hasn’t been perfect, but the drops have been terrible: Worthy, an epidemic. Who can trust him to catch the ball? Sanders - one drop may have cost us a game. Love him, but… Whittington - Several. One or two hurt us. Still, on balance, Whittington is one of my MVPs on this team. Had an argument with my buddy about the first throw Thursday night to Worthy. I thought Ewers had missed badly. He didn’t agree. Upon further analysis, it does appear that Worthy — as usual – was unable to adjust to the ball. Good receivers do that.
Even the first long ball Worthy made no attempt to adjust to the ball. Good receiver comes back for that as a back shoulder throw. Not saying that was the intended play, but Worthy never tracked that ball at all. 2nd long pass Worthy just needed a slight adjustment that didn't happen. 3rd one was a plain drop. Conclusion for me. Worthy is a track guy, not a top end receiver. He can effectively use his speed on the edge and catch the open balls where he doesn't need to adjust. But he can't high point the ball and doesn't make the necessary adjustments. I'm hoping he's not our #1 next year or he gets a hell of a lot better at being a receiver.
I will be a literal on your definition of perfect. I’m not sure Ewers has thrown a perfect deep ball except maybe the face mask catch versus Bama. My definition is a very high standard but not my expectation either. And it doesn’t have to be perfect to be an easy catch. On that first ball to Worthy versus UW, that was one that came to mind of the ball being delivered before Worthy was ready. I believe it was a double move with the corner playing off. Ewers absolutely gets rid of the ball quickly. You can feel it in the game, but his average time to throw supports that feel. And getting rid of quickly is not always a benefit. I am not going to blame him for lack of effort on this one. To me, it’s more of a timing issue. The QB needs to understand that with corners off it’s going to require more patience.
Keep in mind that Ewers and Worthy don't just "hook up" in games. Every practice may consist of 10+ attempts for the pair. Every practice from Spring thru December 28.
As I watched Worthy race past the Washington secondary and drop a sure touchdown pass, I mused whether or not he might be related to Bullet Bob Hayes.
Additionally to the above...I think he is a small guy and can't physically fight for position to catch the ball and win against most average size DB's.
Bravo, Very fair defense, except I seem to remember Herkie Walls Tony Jones Bill Boy Bryant Adams kid from San Antonio Les Koenig, Jr Quandre Diggs Brent Duhon (Sorry for the omissions but my daughter is calling me for dinner) None of whom had a problem fighting for the ball and getting it. Some wise person once said, "it's not the size of the dog in the fight as much as the size if the fight in the dog". GO GET THE DAMN BALL OR COME SIT WITH ME IN THE STANDS AND PAY TUITION!
Your Right. Instead of being nice I should have said this small dog doesn't have much fight in him... and at 6'1"/160 lbs he is also batted away like a fly
All of the the folks who say that QE throws too soon, would any of you be the same folks concerned with the blocking of our offensive line? Anyone remember QE getting drilled in the Alabama game? The other point I find interesting is whether QE puts too much air under his throws. If he instead threw bullets would we be complaining that he didn't give his receivers an opportunity to adjust? Lastly, they're both freshmen...
I HAVE DISDAIN FOR THAT WORTHY PUNK. If I remember right Worthy ran past the ball on a deep pass and the ball fell on turf BEHIND HIM, YES ON THE FIELD BEHIND HIM. That t*rd should be on the sideline. It urks me that so many balls are thrown his way. He is so amateurish. When I played football it was so easy to plant a foot and go inside to catch a ball or slow down to catch a ball. ADJUSTING TO THE BALL IS EASY. I SURE HOPE HE IS NOT OCCUPYING A POSITION NEXT SEASON BECAUSE I KNOW THERE IS SOMEONE ELSE MORE WORTHY, PUN INTENDED. I know he is occasionally successful but I believe someone else would be more successful. Also he needs to learn hand placement on the football when catching it. simply put one hand out front on the nose to prevent the speed of the ball from going through the hands and then trap the ball with the other hand. It's a timing thing that should be practiced to perfection.
Creaky ol Chap, I am not overly concerned about the Oline blocking. I’d like it to be better and more consistent. But he too often, my opinion, guesses on the coverage then throws too quickly. And even though Worthy is most obvious every pass catcher we’ve had has been surprised by the balls arrival so soon. But using the example of the Alamo Bowl, both Cain and Worthy were going to be open on double moves. Only one pass was close, but both were thrown too early. And I don’t believe the pass rush was an issue for either. Even though we didn’t connect much deep this year, UW played off. So they weren’t necessarily “biting” on the move. Generally speaking the WR won’t turn and find the ball until even or clearing the DB on such a play. But since the DB is deeper that changes the timing of probably of what was worked on in practice. So if the ball is on you quicker, less time to find it, less time to react to it. There was one similar in the OSU game. I’m not sure it was man or zone, but Worthy basically was splitting two defenders. The ball was on him while quickly after he worked his route to where he was ready for the ball. Prior to the bowl game, I had looked and Ewers average time to throw was 2nd quickest of P5 teams or something like that. Lot of variables but he does get rid of the ball.
Comparatively speaking Worthy has terrible hands when catching a football. All power 5 football receivers should have excellent hands or they should be out on the intramural fields where success is not as critical. oh, he is pretty good at catching the ball coming into his body but he misses some of those too. Can we find another Duvernay, the man with stickem hands? Catching a ball is a mental thang also. I think he only partially believes in his catching ability, not completely. I know, I have been there. But there is a zone that you can get to, that you know that you know you're fixin to make a catch without any fear of dropping the ball. That's a sweet feeling and I know Duvernay knows it. Perhaps Worthy is trying to do too much, or he is thinking about YAC. Catch the ball first!!! Those 5,8,12 yards that the ball is traveling downfield in the air are valuable in itself. Yes sometimes the ball is not accurately thrown (and I have my thoughts about that) but he has to track it like a cheetah going for the kill. Everytime the ball was thrown my way I attacked it, tracked it, and considered it mine to get no matter who was around me. For him though, it's like he is too prima donna to go get it. I know SabreHorn feels the same way.
Worthy has multiple issues, including his unreliable hands, his hand eye coordination, and his inability to adjust to the ball in the air. Like Pompoms, I am also annoyed by the ongoing drama associated with this player, and the portal. Although he won’t say it (out loud), Sark has to be tired of it as well. What message are these shenanigans sending to the other players? If Worthy wants to avoid the ongoing criticism — criticism that would be coming from “any” fan base, he needs to aggressively work on this skills, and also put to bed the speculation. “Dude, are you committed to the team, or not?” In the meantime, we badly need another (and a reliable) go-to WR. Maybe that will be Neyor. Perhaps it will be Cook or Niblett. Or just maybe Evan Stewart will see the light and the upside for him at Texas. In the meantime, until his skill set improves, I would use Worthy as a deep decoy in 2023, and throw to him mostly on routes 25 years down the field and less. He catches more of those, and he is a threat to take it to the house “if” he makes the catch.
would love to see Evan Stuart take at least half the throws away from Worthy. I hear, haven't seen him play, that he is a beast on the field.
Sark coached teams won’t lack for receivers. Stewart, Neyor, Red, Cook etc should all be weapons next year. I think Neyor is the game changer for our offense next year. Speed, hands, height and goes up for balls. I tend to agree that Worthy is most valuable on curls/outs, screens and to some degree, RPO slants. He has to make a lot of body catches. His agility makes him dangerous with ball in his hands and is a talented route runner, but adjusting to balls deeper thrown is a major issue. Neyor was the proper acquisition to compliment Worthy. Don’t want any more of this stupid drama either. Hope he improves this season as he has a lot of potential, but glaring holes in his game. Improvement for Ewers will be welcome.
YW your comment reminded me of the catch for a TD Bijan made when he had to turn to get the ball from behind him. Nice catch. And by a running back.
Which game? I remember the great catch down the middle versus ISU but not sure which one you are referencing. In reality there are a limited number of “perfect” throws to receivers moving downfield away from the Qb. And I’ve read that many times when reading boards and people disparaging a QB about their lack of accuracy. So is that what I’m doing? No, in my mind, I’m giving Worthy a vine to counter those that are trying to kick him more.
