Zach Pyron is a tough dude!

[slugboy]

What did you make these graphs with

They're from GameOnPaper.com. You can build them with one of the SportsDataVerse packages in Python or R.

 

[RamblinRed]

This is so correct. I was super impressed with our first scoring drive. I actually had hope that we were going to win the game at that point. I was surrounded by a ton of ND fans at the game. I stood up like an idiot and did a Superman pose highlighting the GT on my chest. It was the last time I did that the whole game.

We have scored a TD on our 1st or 2nd drive in every game against a FBS opponent this year. The issue has been getting the second TD has taken some time. We have not been able to score on 2 consecutive drives in the first half pretty much all year.

 

[gte447f]

Could be some of that but still Pyron was hitting receivers in tight windows down field better than i have seen all season. He can flat air it out, especially when he has time.

Pyron started out smokin hot (something like 9/9) and then was pretty dreadful after that (something like 11/27) for a total completion percentage of 20/36 (56%), which is subpar. Until the unc game, Haynes king was nearly 75% for the season.

 

[bobongo]

Pyron started out smokin hot (something like 9/9) and then was pretty dreadful after that (something like 11/27) for a total completion percentage of 20/36 (56%), which is subpar. Until the unc game, Haynes king was nearly 75% for the season.

Against the best passing defense Tech has faced all season. You left that little detail out.

 

[gte447f]

No I didn’t. It’s not relevant in disputing that we saw pyron hitting receivers in tight windows better than we have all season, because we didn’t see that.

 

[yeti92]

Pyron started out smokin hot (something like 9/9) and then was pretty dreadful after that (something like 11/27) for a total completion percentage of 20/36 (56%), which is subpar. Until the unc game, Haynes king was nearly 75% for the season.

Haynes throws a ton of passes at or behind the line of scrimmage that boost his completion percentage a lot.

 

[gte447f]

Against the best passing defense Tech has faced all season. You left that little detail out.

No I didn’t. It’s not relevant in disputing that we saw pyron hitting receivers in tight windows better than we have all season, because we didn’t see that.

 

[gte447f]

Haynes throws a ton of passes at or behind the line of scrimmage that boost his completion percentage a lot.

Yes, I know, I’ve watched all the games. It’s been a frustration of mine that King hasn’t been allowed to air it down field more. That doesn’t change the fact that what we saw from Pyron against ND was not up to the level of what Haynes King would have been expected to provide had he played. He would have most likely been better running and throwing the ball. He would have most likely been sacked less, and he most likely would have thrown fewer interceptions. I was simply refuting the notion that we saw anything new and improved from Pyron over what we would have likely gotten from King, because we didn’t.

 

[Bogey]

Yes, I know, I’ve watched all the games. It’s been a frustration of mine that King hasn’t been allowed to air it down field more. That doesn’t change the fact that what we saw from Pyron against ND was not up to the level of what Haynes King would have been expected to provide had he played. He would have most likely been better running and throwing the ball. He would have most likely been sacked less, and he most likely would have thrown fewer interceptions. I was simply refuting the notion that we saw anything new and improved from Pyron over what we would have likely gotten from King, because we didn’t.

King hasn't been throwing down field because his accuracy is way off from last year for whatever reason. Your refutation about Pyron is way off base. Check his passing yardage. If he hadn't passed effectively, our total yardage would have been miniscule.

 

[gte447f]

King hasn't been throwing down field because his accuracy is way off from last year for whatever reason. Your refutation about Pyron is way off base. Check his passing yardage. If he hadn't passed effectively, our total yardage would have been miniscule.

King hasn’t been throwing downfield because the play calling has heavily emphasized (over emphasized in my opinion) wide receiver screens, etc. in the flats. We don’t know why that has been the case. I personally don’t think it is because the coaches have lost confidence in king’s passing accuracy.

Why do think I’m wrong about what I think we saw from pyron? He didn’t perform any better than king has all season. I think it’s obvious he performed worse. He wasn’t terrible. He just wasn’t better than our best option (king) when healthy.

 

[Bogey]

Do you really think Buster would not call more downfield passes of he was confident they would work? And do you really feel your play calling would be better than his? lol

 

[Techster]

King hasn’t been throwing downfield because the play calling has heavily emphasized (over emphasized in my opinion) wide receiver screens, etc. in the flats. We don’t know why that has been the case. I personally don’t think it is because the coaches have lost confidence in king’s passing accuracy.

Why do think I’m wrong about what I think we saw from pyron? He didn’t perform any better than king has all season. I think it’s obvious he performed worse. He wasn’t terrible. He just wasn’t better than our best option (king) when healthy.

I wouldn't judge Pyron off of the ND game. ND had the #1 defense in the country, and we didn't give him much help (the rest of the team contributed 35 yards TOTAL rushing if you took away Pyron's rushing yards). Pyron still outperformed ND's QB if you look at QBR.

 

[gte447f]

Do you really think Buster would not call more downfield passes of he was confident they would work? And do you really feel your play calling would be better than his? lol

Of course Buster must be calling the plays that he thinks will work. And no, of course I don’t think I could call plays better than Buster. These questions don’t seem to be real questions, or have anything to do with Zach Pyron or Haynes King.

 

[billga99]

Not being able to run the ball against ND would have made any QB struggle to have a great passing day. No way to know if King would have added more rushing based on his speed but when you get to be one dimensional, it is not easy to move the ball

 

[gte447f]

I wouldn't judge Pyron off of the ND game. ND had the #1 defense in the country, and we didn't give him much help (the rest of the team contributed 35 yards TOTAL rushing if you took away Pyron's rushing yards). Pyron still outperformed ND's QB if you look at QBR.

I’m not condemning Pyron. I think he is a serviceable backup qb. I was responding to a comment that said we saw passes to receivers downfield into tight windows like we haven’t seen all season. I don’t think we saw that all. He completed 56% and threw 2 interceptions. Both of those stats are significantly worse than king’s performance all season.

 

[forensicbuzz]

King hasn’t been throwing downfield because the play calling has heavily emphasized (over emphasized in my opinion) wide receiver screens, etc. in the flats. We don’t know why that has been the case. I personally don’t think it is because the coaches have lost confidence in king’s passing accuracy.

Why do think I’m wrong about what I think we saw from pyron? He didn’t perform any better than king has all season. I think it’s obvious he performed worse. He wasn’t terrible. He just wasn’t better than our best option (king) when healthy.

I don't understand this argument. Are you saying that a RS Sophomore backup QB who hasn't started in over 2 years and has very limited real-game experience didn't perform as well as the healthy starting QB who has played every game for a year and a half? If that's your argument, then no one will dispute you, but that's a "no duh" argument.

The question is was Pyron a better option than an injured King? The answer is yes. The question is whether that performance is the standard for Pyron or will he be get better at all things QB as he sees more playing time. The answer is he will absolutely, most likely, improve, dramatically.

King has had issues throwing downfield all year. His accuracy has been less than last year and it appears his injury may have affected his throws. This is speculation, but it's speculation based on visual observations and analysis of existing data (i.e., he's injured). When the season is over or King is gone, I suspect there may be more information that comes out about why his throws have been limited.

I know I may be jumping into the middle of a discussion, but I wanted to comment specifically on your past two posts on this subject. Edit: last comment above explains why your asking. His serviceability will improve with more action.

 

[cpf2001]

We saw some lasers early to Boyd and Janneh that particularly stood out as throws King hasn’t been hitting as much this year.

Obviously the accuracy was not there all game and there were some struggles as the D got more pressure and we got further behind. But there were some bright bright spots.

 

[Root4GT]

King hasn't been throwing down field because his accuracy is way off from last year for whatever reason. Your refutation about Pyron is way off base. Check his passing yardage. If he hadn't passed effectively, our total yardage would have been miniscule.

going 11-27 from the point we scored our first TD is dreadful. No chance to win when you include 2 Interceptions in the 16 incompletions. It was a tough opponent to have his first playing time in 2 years. He started great. Then it went down. His last drive was solid. Between the 2 TD drives he was around 5-19 passing with 2 Ints! That is very bad during that stretch. I believe it was important that he got the last TD drive. Should restore some confidence for himself and his teammates that he is fully capable of playing well at QB.

 

[bobongo]

No I didn’t. It’s not relevant in disputing that we saw pyron hitting receivers in tight windows better than we have all season, because we didn’t see that.

I don't know if it's "better than we have all season", but I saw Pyron hit some tight window passes.

 

[yeti92]

Yes, I know, I’ve watched all the games. It’s been a frustration of mine that King hasn’t been allowed to air it down field more. That doesn’t change the fact that what we saw from Pyron against ND was not up to the level of what Haynes King would have been expected to provide had he played. He would have most likely been better running and throwing the ball. He would have most likely been sacked less, and he most likely would have thrown fewer interceptions. I was simply refuting the notion that we saw anything new and improved from Pyron over what we would have likely gotten from King, because we didn’t.

HK was 50% passing the week before against UNC, and that was WITH all the short passes. He sailed several passes way over open receivers' heads, and he's done that in multiple games this season.

Would he likely have been better running, probably. I don't think it would have magically made the whole offense start working, but yes he is faster than Zach.

Would he have been better throwing, no.

Would he have been sacked less, maybe.

Would he have thrown less interceptions, probably but we weren't going to win by throwing 2 incompletions instead of interceptions which is what Haynes would have done. Zach did the same thing Haynes did numerous times last year - the game got out of hand and he started to make riskier throws to try and get us back in the game. Haynes got picked off a bunch last year in the same scenario. Part of that is game experience, but part of that is just not getting in those scenarios.