Bonus Film Review: QBU

Joe Burrow reminded the nation that he’s one of the league’s best Quarterbacks, and Jayden Daniels showed the nation the potential to join him.

As a Bengals fan, I’m obviously pretty upset about the 0-3 start and the existential questions it raises about the organization’s ability to meet Burrow and Chase halfway, but I won’t pretend I didn’t have a lot of fun on Monday night.

There was one simple curiosity I had as a teenager that started my whole journey into Xs and Os….why are LSU’s Quarterbacks (at the time Anthony Jennings and Brandon Harris) so bad??? What are they struggling with? How can it get better? That curiosity led me right here, to this post by my predecessor Seth Galina, now with PFF. I was gripped. The sport I had loved since 2nd grade had suddenly burst into a million different colors I never knew existed. It was also a bit grim because, well, LSU’s QB situation was pretty bad!

Let’s fast forward to September of 2024, roughly 9 years later. Here I am, on that same site, trying to maybe make this football content thing into a life, writing about LSU Quarterbacks. Only this time, they weren’t misreading seam throws against South Carolina or airmailing crossing routes because of poor mechanics…..they were captivating the nation, Heisman Trophies and a National Title in hand, on Monday Night Football.

It’s rather poetic that Jayden Daniels, who lived to some degree in Joe Burrow’s shadow at LSU, was able to dish the National Champion a taste of his own college experience.

Jayden’s Commanders scored on every single possession, dealing Burrow a hard-luck, Jacob deGrom-esque loss in which he played the kind of stellar football we’ve grown used to.

So as we break this down, use this as an opportunity to reflect. Think about where we’ve been as LSU fans, your memories of Burrow and Daniels, the moments and milestones they remind you of in your own lives, and maybe even where we’re headed with now Garrett Nussmeier and hopefully later Bryce Underwood. Things aren’t perfect under the lights of Tiger Stadium, but the birth of LSU as a QB factory is something we as a fanbase should be able to uniquely enjoy.

Joe Burrow’s Return to Stardom

The Bengals offense, despite the team’s 0-3 start, has undergone a bit of a renaissance. As I wrote 2 years ago now about the Bengals spread-only offense:

The Bengals invested in TE this offseason, drafting Erick All (who looks like a stud both in the formation and catching the ball) among other moves in an effort to become more diverse in what they present to defenses. They needed to be able to punish teams for keeping bodies deep to take away Chase and Higgins vertically. On this touchdown, the Bengals are under-center in heavy personnel with both a run and a pass called. The hard count gets the S to tip that he is rotating down into the run fit which automatically checks the Bengals into a shot which is open.

It was awesome. The Bengals have found a way to get explosive again and properly weaponize Ja’Marr Chase’s vertical ability and Burrow’s high-end playmaking. The newly-emphasized run game is really good too, ranking 5th in the NFL per Sumer Sports (as of last week’s games, these should be even higher now) in both EPA/Rush (expected points added) and Success Rate (percentage of plays with a positive EPA). If defenses have to choose between that and these receivers/QB, it’s a hard, hard offense to play against.

Burrow’s arm, confidence, and elite placement aren’t 100% back yet, but they’re pretty close and that’s enough for him to push the ball at a high level.

As always, Joe continues to be a surgeon throwing and making tough reads over the middle.

He’s also still great against the blitz, diagnosing pressure and sorting out protections to keep himself clean while quickly finding resulting voids in coverage. He was great on Monday, but his defense, as is now QBU tradition, stole this one from him with some help from…

Jayden Daniels, That Adult

Baseline Pocket Operation

With the huge caveat that the Bengals effete pass-rush afforded him the cleanest pockets he will see in his entire career, Daniels’ was asked to handle more real pocket operation this week and passed the test. With a rookie, the first thing you want to see are the foundational elements of pocket-passing. How are your eyes? Can you handle these reads at NFL speed and maintain proper timing? Can you maintain rhythm and work through when your first looks aren’t there? Here, Daniels sees the MIKE LB stay with the over-the-ball (OTB) route. Once he’s at the top of his dropback he’s off that, quickly reading the flat defender (24) and hitting the slant behind him. He misses a touch low, but the read and throw are on-time.

Daniels’ quick (sometimes too quick) eyes appear early to have made the jump to the NFL. On this play, Daniels has the deep over from the slot on “alert,” which means that if he gets Cover-0 or any look that might make this an option, he can take it. If not, you get into your normal progression. He first peeks the over to confirm that it’s not gonna be an option, moving then to the frontside stick concept which is covered, and gets his eyes to the backside curl/flat, hitting the curl on time. The ball is out in 2 seconds, which is good for getting this deep in the progression.

On this cool 4 strong, post-wheel-out-flat design, he realizes that, because the D is in a Quarters coverage structure, the MIKE (55) is going to be in conflict between the TE’s out and the flat. Daniels reads off him quickly and gets the ball to the TE, holding him up with the ball to avoid leading him back into the MIKE.

He looks comfortable making his own rhythm when the normal timing isn’t there. The slant to McCaffrey isn’t there in the first window so he holds, allows it to clear, and hits it (pass rush cannot allow this).

This is a learning moment. Typically this post would go where he put the ball, but because of the coverage over the top (before he falls), McLaurin flattens this route off. Daniels needs to understand that he is supposed to do that and flatten the throw with him, but this will come with time.

The aggression downfield is definitely still there from last year. He trusts McLaurin to win vertically and puts enough air under it to allow only his guy to be able to run under and get it. The confidence is cool to see and hopefully will continue to grow, but the placement and anticipation are great here.

A Useful Crutch

It seemed at times in Daniels’ first year at LSU that his scrambling ability was the entire offense. It never felt right or sustainable, but you looked up and LSU was staying ahead in the sticks and staying efficient (and explosive, nobody could catch him) despite not getting much open in the pass game or RB run game. Jayden’s legs raised the floor of that offense massively as it developed. So far, he’s helping the Commanders do the same. Per Sumer Sports (again BEFORE this game), Daniels was 2nd in the league in scramble rate, 3rd among QBs in total EPA on the ground, and 2nd among QBs in rushing yards. In total, the Commanders ranked 5th in the NFL in EPA/Play on offense and 6th in success rate, numbers that figure to be even better after this explosion. It’s a bit of a mirage, but to even be here is impressive. As you can see above, when everything is covered, the pocket breaks down, or the young, developing QB makes a misread, he allows the Commanders a chance to find positive gains and stay efficient even anyway. This get out of jail free card provides a crutch for a young QB to stay functional through growing-pains as a pocket-passer.

The Blitz Test

Every elite passer is a weapon against the blitz. It stresses everything hard about the position at once as your film-study, knowledge of your protections, post-snap processing speed, athletic ability, arm talent, and toughness are all at a premium. As a result, you can tell a lot about a guy just on how he performs when defenses heat him up with extra rushers. Here, Daniels knows who he has to account for and makes a play to move the sticks.

On a key 4th and 4, he IDs the pressure from the second level and gets the ball to the void behind it to move the sticks and keep the ball away from Burrow.

This is the play that has me feeling full permission to move the hype-train onto the tracks. This is an S-tier, elite QB play with no rookie caveat. The situation is huge, on the road with a 3rd and 7 up 5. If they fail to convert, Burrow will get the ball down only one possession. Cincinnati is sending everyone and daring a rookie QB to make a play far above his station. Once he sees the look pre-snap, Daniels knows that he’s going to be hot and have a free runner in his face, but that he’ll have a 1 on 1 with his best receiver. He gets the ball, stares down the rusher, and drops it 40 yards downfield in the bucket to ice the game as he gets wrecked. This is a Mahomes, Allen, Burrow play. We may be past welcoming Jayden to the league. NFL, welcome to Jayden Daniels. Nobody wants to give it back to That Dude with an opportunity to tie, and That Kid never gave him the chance.