Tag: Andy Dalton

By The Numbers: Comparing Saints QB Derek Carr to his predecessor Andy Dalton

By The Numbers: Comparing Saints QB Derek Carr to his predecessor Andy Dalton

We saw a lot of raised eyebrows and questioning takes from the pro football world when the New Orleans Saints announced a four-year contract with Derek Carr valued at up to $150 million, an average annual payout of $37.5 million. That number ranked tenth among NFL quarterbacks at the time of signing, and it’s since fallen to 13th around the league after a couple of young pros signed lucrative extensions.

But Carr has not played like the 13th-best quarterback in the game. He ranks 17th in passer rating (89.8), 20th in ESPN’s quarterback rating (50.7), and 16th in adjusted net yards per pass attempt (5.96), a metric which accounts for touchdown passes, interceptions, and sacks relative to passing yards and attempts. His passing grade at Pro Football focus ranks 23th (67.5). At best, you could argue Carr is playing like a league-average quarterback, but the numbers suggest he’s closer to mediocre, and that’s certainly what the viewing experience has felt like each week.

Let’s go back to that $37.5 million figure. The Saints paid Carr so highly because they believed he would be a big upgrade over Andy Dalton, the veteran backup who surprised everyone by starting 14 games last year after Jameis Winston was injured, and who received just $3 million from the Saints in his one-year contract. They could have paid 12.5 Andy Daltons for the price of one Derek Carr.

So has Carr been 12.5 times better than Carr? It’s a little premature to compare them head-to-head with Dalton having started 14 games last year and Carr just 10 games into his Saints career, but there’s enough data to work with to analyze some trends. So how do they stack up against each other?

Carr is averaging more passing yards per game (223.1) than Dalton’s pace last season (205.1), but that’s because he’s also throwing more often. He’s clocking 33.4 pass attempts per game against Dalton’s 27. Dalton had a slightly better completion percentage (66.7%) than Carr (65.9%) while averaging a full yard more per attempt (7.6) than Carr (6.7).

One thing Carr has done better than Dalton is protect the football. He’s thrown just four interceptions (1.2% of his attempts), turning the ball over at half the rate Dalton did (nine interceptions; 2.4% of his passes). But Carr has fumbled four times this season, losing the ball twice, while Dalton fumbled five times last year, losing once. Altogether that’s 6 turnovers for Carr in 10 games and 10 giveaways for Dalton in 14 games.

Last year, the Saints ranked 21st in red zone efficiency (521.%), with 25 of their 48 drives into the opposing 20-yard line ending in touchdowns. They’ve regressed this year with Carr at quarterback, posting the 24th-ranked red zone conversion rate (48.6%) while going 17-of-35. Poor execution in scoring position was a major criticism of Carr throughout his Raiders career, and those issues — questionable decision-making, inaccurate passes, and folding under pressure — have continued in New Orleans.

What’s more distressing is that Carr hasn’t hit the big plays outside the red zone, either. He’s thrown 8 of his 10 touchdown passes in the red zone. In his career he’s thrown about 35% of his touchdown passes from outside the red zone, out in the open field. This year he’s done so just twice. Even Dalton was able to hit on those deep touchdown passes from outside the 20-yard line last year (7 of 18; 38% of them).

That’s inexcusable for a quarterback with Carr’s experience and some of the best young deep threats in the game available to him. It’s past time he figure out whatever chemistry issues are putting a rift between him and Chris Olave. Rashid Shaheed deserves even more touches than he’s getting. Juwan Johnson has been a non-factor after breaking out last season with Dalton under center. At least Carr is throwing to Alvin Kamara more frequently, but it’s come at a detriment to his downfield weapons.

Carr is the veteran in the room, the Pro Bowl quarterback with 153 starts behind him. It’s past time he play like it. Or else it’s going to seem increasingly certain that the Saints miscalculated what he would bring to the table. If he can’t outperform Dalton, it’s worth asking whether they should have even made a switch to Carr, much less overpaid him so badly.

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Jason Pierre-Paul picked a unique new jersey number to wear with the Saints

Jason Pierre-Paul picked a unique new jersey number to wear with the Saints, representing his fourteenth year in the NFL:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Czo9tHMPBjC/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

The newest member of the New Orleans Saints has made a unique choice for his jersey number: Jason Pierre-Paul announced his formal signing with the Saints practice squad on Tuesday, including an edited photo showing the pass rusher in his new uniform, featuring the No. 14 jersey. Pierre-Paul said it’s to represent his 14th year in the NFL in a post from his official Instagram account.

Though it isn’t reflected on the team’s website roster (where Pierre-Paul is not yet listed at all), this means that Pierre-Paul will be designated as a linebacker, even if he primarily plays defensive end. The No. 14 jersey only recently became available for linebackers and defensive backs after being limited to offensive players, kickers, and punters. If Pierre-Paul were listed as a defensive end, the only other options for him would have been Nos. 59, 60, 61, 63, 65, 66, 69, 72, 76, and 79. For the most part, those are all thoroughly swaggerless.

Pierre-Paul wore No. 4 with the Baltimore Ravens last year; before that, he had only used No. 90 in the NFL and in college at USF. He wore No. 91 at College of the Canyons in California and No. 9 at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas after using No. 98 at Deerfield Beach High School in Florida.

So he’ll be using No. 14 for the first time in his football career. Former Saints quarterback Andy Dalton used it last season after running back Mark Ingram II wore it a year before; the number fell in disuse for decades until wide receiver Tommylee Lewis brought it back in 2020. Let’s hope Pierre-Paul wears it well.

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Derek Carr has been exactly the kind of QB his critics warned the Saints about

There’s enough blame to go around. Derek Carr has been exactly the sort of underwhelming quarterback his critics warned the Saints about:

There’s enough blame to go around after the New Orleans Saints’ hugely disappointing 26-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, and we’ve got to acknowledge a really uncomfortable possibility: Derek Carr’s critics appear to be right about him. He’s playing like exactly the sort of quarterback they lambasted when the Saints signed him this offseason. He’s struggling to manage an offense that has averaged just 13.8 points per game through the first four weeks.

Carr has not elevated the talent around him. In some ways he hasn’t gotten enough out of weapons who looked like obvious fits — big tight end Juwan Johnson broke out last season and was often compared to Carr’s favorite Raiders target Darren Waller but was targeted just a dozen times through the first three games, only once in scoring position inside the red zone.

On Sunday Chris Olave was held to single-digit receiving yards for the first time in his career, finishing with a single 4-yard reception on 5 targets. Michael Thomas didn’t catch his second pass from Carr until there were six minutes left in the third quarter. Carr funneled a ton of passes to Alvin Kamara (who caught all but one of his 14 targets), but they went nowhere, gaining just 33 yards.

Carr did lead the league in completions and yards gained on throws of 20-plus yards through the first two weeks, but that’s because he also led the NFL in pass attempts at that distance. He was being forced to do it against his nature. The Saints have been trying to make him someone he’s not and we’re seeing those limitations now. That might explain why offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael has dialed up so many plays with receivers streaking downfield and few safety valves underneath. They’re desperate for him to connect on those big play opportunities.

This all describes a quarterback who is too eager to check it down, who lacks accuracy and a willingness to attack downfield, and who isn’t a big upgrade over the passers who preceded him. Certainly not to the tune of $150 million, which is how much Carr can earn if he plays out his four-year contract. The Saints structured it without a viable off-ramp until 2025.

Look at what was being written about Carr over the summer. NFL.com’s Mark Sessler ranked him one spot ahead of Andy Dalton (Nos. 23 and 24) during his split with the Raiders, saying that Carr was “destined to be oversold to fans as a solution.”

CBS Sports analyst Will Brinson put Carr in the NFL’s fourth tier as someone who cannot be expected to “take you on a deep playoff run or win you a Super Bowl without a really stout defense/run game combo or the stars simply aligning.”

And Pro Football Focus summarized Carr’s recent performances as such: “Carr’s big plays declined and he was notably less accurate overall. His adjusted completion rate dropped by more than 6 percentage points from the year before to his lowest level since he was a rookie.”

That all lines up with what we’re seeing from him now, which is really unfortunate to admit. The Saints signed Carr believing he could singlehandedly fix many of the problems with their offense while keeping Pete Carmichael at offensive coordinator with the rest of the starting lineup intact. They appear to have lost that gamble.

That’s not to say there isn’t time for Carr to prove his doubters wrong. It’s a long season and he and the Saints still have 13 games to figure things out. But it’s about to be Week 5 and they’re already well behind schedule. Instead of sitting on top of their division after the first month their in a tie for second-place (if you’re generous; tiebreakers have them in third in the NFC South standings).

But this wasn’t the vision the team had. It isn’t what head coach Dennis Allen foresaw when he introduced Carr as their new starting quarterback early this year. Things have gone awry and a lot of people have their hands dirty: Allen, Carmichael, general manager Mickey Loomis, and Carr himself. All they can do now is work to clean up this mess. That might start with some uncomfortable conversations about some peoples’ job security. What they’re doing isn’t working and they can’t try someone besides Carr in his role. So another aspect of the operation is going to have to change if they want different results. Hopefully that all gets sorted out behind the scenes so Carr can put his best foot forward and prove those critics wrong in the end.

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Frank Reich explains why he called more deep balls for Andy Dalton

On Monday, Panthers HC Frank Reich explained why he called more deep balls for Andy Dalton in Week 3 than he has for Bryce Young.

Dormant through the first two games of the season, the Carolina Panthers’ passing game finally woke up in Week 3—thanks, in part, a bit of downfield action. Why the change?

On Monday, head coach Frank Reich explained why his offense took more deep shots under backup Andy Dalton than they have under Bryce Young—and it’s not because the rookie is gun shy.

“I wouldn’t say that that was the case,” he replied when asked if Young hadn’t taken the same openings Dalton did on Sunday. “I probably called a few more. And there were one or two things that Andy specifically asked for, which I don’t wanna go into detail on. But there were a couple things that he specifically asked for.”

Dalton finished his first start of the campaign having completed 34 of a career-high 58 throws for 361 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. By comparison, Young amassed all of 299 passing yards, two scores and two picks in his two outings.

By further comparison, Dalton—per NFL Next Gen Stats—attempted seven passes of at least 20 yards in the 37-27 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Young totaled four between Weeks 1 and 2.

One of Dalton’s long balls resulted in a 47-yard touchdown to wideout DJ Chark—one Reich credited offensive coordinator Thomas Brown and passing game coordinator Parks Frazier for.

“And the one we hit to DJ for the touchdown—that was, obviously, great execution by the offense,” Reich added. “But also a good job by Thomas and Parks Frazier and the whole offensive staff—that was a play design that we saw something in the way they played their coverage that we thought we could expose something.”

So perhaps—Reich, Brown and Frazier can see even more when their prized passer gets back under center.

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Best and worst PFF grades from Panthers’ Week 3 loss to Seahawks

Andy Dalton, in his first start for the Panthers, earned the offense’s highest overall grade from PFF.

There were plenty of numbers put up in Sunday’s matchup between the Carolina Panthers and Seattle Seahawks. But none of them translated into the number that actually mattered—at least for the team that’s now 0-3.

Now, let’s take a look at some of Pro Football Focus’ tallies for the Panthers in the 37-27 loss:

Panthers fans react to Andy Dalton’s impressive team debut

Andy Dalton sparked Carolina’s struggling offense on Sunday. But, of course, Panthers fans didn’t have some completely crazy hot takes on the outing . . . right?

His start didn’t result in a win, but Carolina Panthers quarterback Andy Dalton let it rip throughout his 2023 debut on Sunday. The 35-year-old veteran completed 34 of a career-high 58 throws for 361 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

But what did Panthers fans have to say about the outing?

If you dare, let’s take a look . . .

Studs and duds from Panthers’ Week 3 loss to Seahawks

When he wasn’t signing autographs on Sunday, Panthers OLB Brian Burns was writing Geno Smith back—with a handful of QB hits.

The Carolina Panthers swung and missed for the third straight time to start the season, striking out to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3. And while the defeat came with its underwhelming showings, it also came with a few encouraging ones.

Here are the studs and duds from the 37-27 loss:

Biggest takeaways from Panthers’ Week 3 loss to Seahawks

The Panthers offense finally came to life under Andy Dalton in Seattle. But it still wasn’t enough.

The Carolina Panthers left Lumen Field on Sunday with some bothered ears, some bruised egos and their third loss of the season.

Let’s examine the three biggest takeaways from their 37-27 defeat at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks:

Andy Dalton on 0-3 start: We’re too good not to get fixed

Panthers QB Andy Dalton: There’s too many good players, too many good coaches, too many good people in this organization to not get fixed.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Andy Dalton had himself a busy day in his spot start for Bryce Young. Nonetheless, it probably didn’t translate the way he wanted it to.

The 35-year-old veteran tossed for a career-high 58 passing attempts in Sunday’s 37-27 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. He was asked about all that work after the game.

“I wouldn’t have thought I would throw 58,” he said. “I just think how the game went on and how things went—I mean, especially when you get into the end of the game. I mean, obviously, you’re going to be throwing almost every down. Tryin’ to claw your way back in it. I think that inflates the number there, too.

“But we have to find a way to be balanced. We gotta find a way to run the ball better than we did. And we didn’t run it good enough today.”

Dalton’s activity led to a bit of productivity in the box score, as the team finished with 334 passing yards (361 for Dalton) and two touchdowns. But as the 13th-year veteran alluded to, there was a considerable lack of balance—as the ground attack came out with all of 44 yards on 14 tries. (Heck, they had only six more rushing attempts than they did false starts.)

Luckily, he thinks the Panthers—even at 0-3—are too well-equipped to keep dragging along.

“We keep fightin’,” he replied when asked for signs of encouragement. “There’s no quit in this team. That’s one thing you can’t coach. It’s the mentality of just this group. We gotta find a way to get it fixed, though. There’s too many good players, too many good coaches, too many good people in this organization to not get fixed.”

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WATCH: Andy Dalton, DJ Chark silence Seahawks fans with 47-yard TD

The Panthers offense finally got themselves an explosive play thanks to Andy Dalton and DJ Chark.

How’s this for an explosive play?

Coming into Week 3, the Carolina Panthers were one of just two teams—along with the Las Vegas Raiders—not to record a passing play of at least 25 yards. Well, now there’s just one.

Quarterback Andy Dalton, starting in place of an injured Bryce Young, found wide receiver DJ Chark for a 47-yard touchdown in the team’s matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. The score, which was also the first end-zone visit of the afternoon for either team, helped give Carolina a 10-9 lead at the 4:54 mark of the second quarter.

That catch and run capped off an eight-play, 75-yard drive for what has been a struggling offense. Prior to the possession, the Panthers recorded all of 61 total yards over their first three touches.

Dalton, to that point, completed 11 of his 16 passing attempts for 130 yards and the touchdown—which was Chark’s first since Week 14 of the 2022 campaign.

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