A realistic assessment of Jacoby Brissett

[George Peterson]

1 game to go in the season, I think it's a good time to take a step back and evaluate the job our replacement starter has done for us.

 

There's a lot to like and a little to dislike IMHO.  He's proven himself to be a roughly average starting quarterback in his first year with an 81.5 season QBR to this point.  He's got some mobility, he makes some mistakes, he's got a long release that's gotten him in trouble because of our weak offensive line.  For a first year starter. 81.5 (if that's where he finishes) is NTFB, especially on a team with a lot of other holes. 

 

The result of the season is that Jacoby couldn't put a weak team on his back and carry them to wins.  He did a fair job of keeping the Colts in fights they should probably have gotten destroyed in, at least 10 of the games were highly competitive, I think at least 12 of his starts were 1 possession games going into the 4th quarter -- often in our favor, only to be crapped away in the last 15 minutes.

 

As an aside. I don't want to crap on the D, they had a lot to do with keeping us in the fight, but whoever's ultimately responsible for the conditioning of the defensive players needs to be fired.  Whole lot of games, at least 5, where the D simply ran out of steam in Q4.  That's completely unacceptable in a pro league, you HAVE to be at least as ready to play physical football as the other team.

 

My opinion is that Jacoby Brissett is an average quarterback.  Not terrible, will never be great.  You can win with the guy, but he probably won't take a team to the Superbowl.  A team on the rebuild could do a lot worse, but if you have playoff dreams right now, you're praying for health from Luck.  Just my $.02.  I'm interested in your thoughts, since I'm out-of-region.

[mahagga73]

That assessment is very good actually . Average isn't very good in the NFL. He has the arm . Still hasn't learned how to throw the ball away in a timely fashion or check down. However, he looked to make improvement in the Baltimore game.  His accuracy is not very good , and unfortunately that's like velocity in baseball , it's not likely to magically appear . Either have it or not.  He isn't the kind that is going to lead a comeback , hasn't done it all year.  However , he is still basically a rookie.  Line hasn't been good.  He's just a guy.  A backup , good one.  

[RockThatBlue]

Having an average QB as your main back up is a great thing, IMO.

[coltsfeva]

   There are some positives with him and some things that he can improve on. 

   But he’s not very elusive and I’m not sure if that can improve or if it is intuitive. 

    At very least, I would like to see some competition.

 

[#12.]

4 hours ago, George Peterson said:

He did a fair job of keeping the Colts in fights they should probably have gotten destroyed in,

He did?  Brissett  did?  Brissett basically did nothing in crunch time.  He had no signature drive, no signature moment.  The Colts only scored a handful of 4th quarter TDs on the season.  Not only that, a good number of their losses were due to Brissett turnovers.

 

Just to look at his QB rating and say he's an average starter - I wouldn't go there either.  There aren't many starters in this league an organization would actually choose Brissett over, and I can't imagine there is a team that would trade for Brissett and view him as a starter.  If we find out tomorrow that Luck is finished, would the Colts view Brissett as a starter?  No way.  They are upgrading the position.  In fact, regardless of Luck's status, I expect them to draft and develop another QB.

[BOTT]

I reserve judgement on Brissett until we see him with a competent coaching staff.

[throwing BBZ]

4 hours ago, George Peterson said:

1 game to go in the season, I think it's a good time to take a step back and evaluate the job our replacement starter has done for us.

 

There's a lot to likHe and a little to dislike IMHO.  He's proven himself to be a roughly average starting quarterback in his first year with an 81.5 season QBR to this point.  He's got some mobility, he makes some mistakes, he's got a long release that's gotten him in trouble because of our weak offensive line.  For a first year starter. 81.5 (if that's where he finishes) is NTFB, especially on a team with a lot of other holes. 

 

The result of the season is that Jacoby couldn't put a weak team on his back and carry them to wins.  He did a fair job of keeping the Colts in fights they should probably have gotten destroyed in, at least 10 of the games were highly competitive, I think at least 12 of his starts were 1 possession games going into the 4th quarter -- often in our favor, only to be crapped away in the last 15 minutes.

 

As an aside. I don't want to crap on the D, they had a lot to do with keeping us in the fight, but whoever's ultimately responsible for the conditioning of the defensive players needs to be fired.  Whole lot of games, at least 5, where the D simply ran out of steam in Q4.  That's completely unacceptable in a pro league, you HAVE to be at least as ready to play physical football as the other team.

 

My opinion is that Jacoby Brissett is an average quarterback.  Not terrible, will never be great.  You can win with the guy, but he probably won't take a team to the Superbowl.  A team on the rebuild could do a lot worse, but if you have playoff dreams right now, you're praying for health from Luck.  Just my $.02.  I'm interested in your thoughts, since I'm out-of-region.

 

  His receivers are cr__, his line is ___, and give me a break, the D is tired because they play too many minutes
 because of injuries, a lack of talent, and the Offense. And we have NO IDEA how good he will be in 3 years.

[MB-ColtsFan]

If we find out, before the draft, that we don't have ALuck for all of 2018 I would still draft other needs before drafting a QB.  A very good line can make an average (though I think he is above average) QB look very good.  On the other hand, as we've seen, a very good QB looks crappy behind a bad line.

 

I still think Brissett can be much better starting QB with a full camp and better O and D.

[MacDee1975]

What do you people expect from Brissett, playing for a completely incompetent coaching staff and a garbage offensive line?

[George Peterson]

8 minutes ago, MacDee1975 said:

What do you people expect from Brissett, playing for a completely incompetent coaching staff and a garbage offensive line?

That's why I'm giving him credit for putting up a reasonable QBR with little more than TY Hilton and the corpse of Frank Gore.

 

He's not bad.  People need to avoid the mistake of assuming that because there was theoretically a more perfect way every single play could have gone, that Brissett or any other QB should be expected to find it in the heat of the moment.  There's plenty to nitpick about the performance of ANY quarterback. 

 

It's NOT the quarterback's job to do everyone's job.  His job is to do his job, and by any reasonable standard Brissett was decent at his job this year.  Not great, not terrible, decent.  Good enough that with a strong supporting roster you could make something happen with him.

[RockThatBlue]

41 minutes ago, BOTT said:

I reserve judgement on Brissett until we see him with a competent coaching staff.

This is a good point too. Do not think Chud is helping Brissett out much. Play calling has been underwhelming this year, to say the least.

 

Also Brissetts been behind a poor line too. Hard to make too big of a judgement on him. 

 

He has played pretty well all things considered though.

[George Peterson]

21 minutes ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

  His receivers are cr__, his line is ___, and give me a break, the D is tired because they play too many minutes
 because of injuries, a lack of talent, and the Offense. And we have NO IDEA how good he will be in 3 years.

I disagree strongly about the defense.  They had flashes that made me feel like the talent was there.  I think conditioning and preparedness factor heavily into what happened in the 4th quarter.

 

The 4th quarter collapses happened frequently enough for me to belueve that something structural was wrong.  The D were actually not on the field an absurd amount of time.  They should have been up to the task of maintaining their level of play for 60 minutes even if they had to play 40 of those minutes.  Games like that happen, you *HAVE* to have your players ready for them when they do.  That's why I call this a failure of strength and conditioning.

[#12.]

Basically, Brissett plays like Russel Wilson, but without the escapabilty and athleticism.  Wilson holds the ball, then escapes and something magical happens.  Brissett holds the ball forever, hoping something magical will happen, instead a 7 yard sack for a loss happens.

[HarryTheCat]

If you're looking for a backup QB who can come in for a few plays here and there when your QB gets dinged, he's fine in that role. If you're looking for a backup to come in and start several games for you, he's just not that guy. Sure, the patchwork O-line, goofy coaching, and several other issues hurt him, but he really didn't show much improvement in decision-making or accuracy from Week 2 to Week 16. 

[MacDee1975]

57 minutes ago, George Peterson said:

That's why I'm giving him credit for putting up a reasonable QBR with little more than TY Hilton and the corpse of Frank Gore.

 

He's not bad.  People need to avoid the mistake of assuming that because there was theoretically a more perfect way every single play could have gone, that Brissett or any other QB should be expected to find it in the heat of the moment.  There's plenty to nitpick about the performance of ANY quarterback. 

 

It's NOT the quarterback's job to do everyone's job.  His job is to do his job, and by any reasonable standard Brissett was decent at his job this year.  Not great, not terrible, decent.  Good enough that with a strong supporting roster you could make something happen with him.

 

This is a pretty strong response, in my opinion.

[Four2itus]

Considering that there are not 32 starting QB's doing an adequate job, judging back ups by any standards that demand signature drives, or carrying the team on their back, is woefully unfair. If Andrew is to come back fully healthy next season and Jacoby is still his backup...the Colts would be extremely fortunate. 

[IinD]

You'd need a Peyton Manning to make this team look good.

 

Jacoby has done well on a trash team. There's a reason we're picking in the top 5..

 

We'd be winless without him.

[NewColtsFan]

6 hours ago, George Peterson said:

1 game to go in the season, I think it's a good time to take a step back and evaluate the job our replacement starter has done for us.

 

There's a lot to like and a little to dislike IMHO.  He's proven himself to be a roughly average starting quarterback in his first year with an 81.5 season QBR to this point.  He's got some mobility, he makes some mistakes, he's got a long release that's gotten him in trouble because of our weak offensive line.  For a first year starter. 81.5 (if that's where he finishes) is NTFB, especially on a team with a lot of other holes. 

 

The result of the season is that Jacoby couldn't put a weak team on his back and carry them to wins.  He did a fair job of keeping the Colts in fights they should probably have gotten destroyed in, at least 10 of the games were highly competitive, I think at least 12 of his starts were 1 possession games going into the 4th quarter -- often in our favor, only to be crapped away in the last 15 minutes.

 

As an aside. I don't want to crap on the D, they had a lot to do with keeping us in the fight, but whoever's ultimately responsible for the conditioning of the defensive players needs to be fired.  Whole lot of games, at least 5, where the D simply ran out of steam in Q4.  That's completely unacceptable in a pro league, you HAVE to be at least as ready to play physical football as the other team.

 

My opinion is that Jacoby Brissett is an average quarterback.  Not terrible, will never be great.  You can win with the guy, but he probably won't take a team to the Superbowl.  A team on the rebuild could do a lot worse, but if you have playoff dreams right now, you're praying for health from Luck.  Just my $.02.  I'm interested in your thoughts, since I'm out-of-region.

 

One if the things I figured out when someone invented internet message boards is to never use the word....   NEVER!   (See what I did there?)

 

Never is a very, very long time, and stuff happens.

 

Quarterbacks improve all the time, especially with better coaching and a new system.   That's how you get guys this year like Jarred Goff, Case Keenum, and Nick Foles.     

 

It's way too soon to know what Brissett is, or isn't.    You may be 100 percent right.   Brissett may not improve much and may never be more than a backup.   But since he's got a poor offensive line and very few quality weapons, I think it's unfair to slap any label on the kid.    Just way too soon.

[Andrew Luck fan club]

He missed open guys quite a bit. Either by being too hesitant to throw the ball, or because he just doesn’t see them. 

[Andrew Luck fan club]

[mahagga73]

2 hours ago, BOTT said:

I reserve judgement on Brissett until we see him with a competent coaching staff.

I would like to think we will never see him again.  

[BOTT]

16 minutes ago, mahagga73 said:

I would like to think we will never see him again.  

I was going to add that to my post lol. I figured that part is understood.

[NewColtsFan]

46 minutes ago, mahagga73 said:

I would like to think we will never see him again.  

 

If you're really talking about Brissett, then I think you're going to be very disappointed...

 

[ColtsBlueFL]

2 hours ago, HarryTheCat said:

If you're looking for a backup QB who can come in for a few plays here and there when your QB gets dinged, he's fine in that role. If you're looking for a backup to come in and start several games for you, he's just not that guy. Sure, the patchwork O-line, goofy coaching, and several other issues hurt him, but he really didn't show much improvement in decision-making or accuracy from Week 2 to Week 16. 

 

I want to see Brissett with a new HC and OC / Playbook that he learns and encompasses his strengths.  One that is built for Lucks first, but Jacoby next.  and a full training camp.

 

1 hour ago, Xander said:

 

Maybe, but I also see a potential pick from the deep safety.  Clearly, JB didn't get the safety to look/move the other way first.  That deep safety is already moving to where the sideline where a deep ball would end up.  NFL DB's cover a lot of ground fast, when they see/anticipate something.

[Andrew Luck fan club]

29 minutes ago, ColtsBlueFL said:

 

I want to see Brissett with a new HC and OC / Playbook that he learns and encompasses his strengths.  One that is built for Lucks first, but Jacoby next.  and a full training camp.

 

 

Maybe, but I also see a potential pick from the deep safety.  Clearly, JB didn't get the safety to look/move the other way first.  That deep safety is already moving to where the sideline where a deep ball would end up.  NFL DB's cover a lot of ground fast, when they see/anticipate something.

Like he said, it’s a common tendency. This is just but one example. 

[P'Son]

He'll make a great backup to whoever the Colts draft at QB with the third pick

[George Peterson]

We have too many other needs to get cute with the third pick this year.  If we pick a QB in the third round, with Luck potentially coming back and our worst case scenario being an average starter like Brissett, then we've just cut off our nose to spite our face.

 

Don't make the mistake so many very bad teams make -- the one we made when we sucked for Luck in the first place.  Get your house in order, THEN go looking for the franchise guy.  That's what the good teams do.  That's what happened when Wilson took over from Hasselbeck, when Brady took over from Bledsoe, when Roethlisberger took over from,Maddux.  That's what we DIDN'T do when Luck took over after we lost Manning -- and look where it got us

 

Yes a great quarterback can make an average team into a great one, but they can also get absolutely DESTROYED by the follies of a bad team before they ever get there. look how badly we squandered Luck's potential by going QB first.  It's a crime and a travesty.  Build the cake first, THEN go shopping for the cherry on top.  It's really not a difficult concept.

 

This draft needs to be spent getting young and adding talented depth to as many key positions as possible.  We have young, talented depth at quarterback already.  We need help at O-line, D-line, running back and WR.  We don't have spare picks to waste on quarterbacks right now. Everywhere else on the team is below average or worse, our worst starting QB is an average player.  QB is literally the last of our problems.

[superrep1967]

11 hours ago, George Peterson said:

1 game to go in the season, I think it's a good time to take a step back and evaluate the job our replacement starter has done for us.

 

There's a lot to like and a little to dislike IMHO.  He's proven himself to be a roughly average starting quarterback in his first year with an 81.5 season QBR to this point.  He's got some mobility, he makes some mistakes, he's got a long release that's gotten him in trouble because of our weak offensive line.  For a first year starter. 81.5 (if that's where he finishes) is NTFB, especially on a team with a lot of other holes. 

 

The result of the season is that Jacoby couldn't put a weak team on his back and carry them to wins.  He did a fair job of keeping the Colts in fights they should probably have gotten destroyed in, at least 10 of the games were highly competitive, I think at least 12 of his starts were 1 possession games going into the 4th quarter -- often in our favor, only to be crapped away in the last 15 minutes.

 

As an aside. I don't want to crap on the D, they had a lot to do with keeping us in the fight, but whoever's ultimately responsible for the conditioning of the defensive players needs to be fired.  Whole lot of games, at least 5, where the D simply ran out of steam in Q4.  That's completely unacceptable in a pro league, you HAVE to be at least as ready to play physical football as the other team.

 

My opinion is that Jacoby Brissett is an average quarterback.  Not terrible, will never be great.  You can win with the guy, but he probably won't take a team to the Superbowl.  A team on the rebuild could do a lot worse, but if you have playoff dreams right now, you're praying for health from Luck.  Just my $.02.  I'm interested in your thoughts, since I'm out-of-region.

IMO He's a good backup, not a starter. 

[George Peterson]

Just now, superrep1967 said:

IMO He's a good backup, not a starter. 

By every objective standard, Jacoby Brissett is somewhere in the middle 10 of NFL starters.

 

I'm not sure the best quarterback that ever existed could have gotten wins with this skeleton of a roster.

[superrep1967]

1 minute ago, George Peterson said:

By every objective standard, Jacoby Brissett is somewhere in the middle 10 of NFL starters.

 

I'm not sure the best quarterback that ever existed could have gotten wins with this skeleton of a roster.

It Colts had a good starter they would have won at least six games. I think a healthy Luck would have given us at least 6-7 wins. 

[George Peterson]

That's reasonable, but it just goes to show how terribly weak our roster really is.  What a waste of an elite quarterback's potential a 6-10 or 7-9 season would be. 

 

We need fresh impact talent all over the place.   The last thing we need right now is an elite quarterback that can hide the fact that we need fresh impact talent all over the place.  The Colts management has been whistling past that particular graveyard for far too long as it is.  I'll take a 2-14 season if that's what it takes to wake the front office the heck up.

[MB-ColtsFan]

6 hours ago, HarryTheCat said:

If you're looking for a backup QB who can come in for a few plays here and there when your QB gets dinged, he's fine in that role. If you're looking for a backup to come in and start several games for you, he's just not that guy. Sure, the patchwork O-line, goofy coaching, and several other issues hurt him, but he really didn't show much improvement in decision-making or accuracy from Week 2 to Week 16. 

I would actually disagree with the last part of that statement.  He showed a nice "touch" when he lofted the ball over the defender's head to TY (forget what quarter) for a nice gain, and although his throws are still a bit high, he has shown that he actually can throw a screen pass as evidenced a few times last night.  I did not see him completing either of these types of throws at the beginning of the season.

 

I did see improvement in his accuracy - though it can clearly get  better -  and I think his decision making is getting better.  He threw the ball away late in the game to preserve the FG for AV.  He didn't do that earlier in the year.

 

Small signs, but they are positive signs...

[oldunclemark]

It doesn't matter how good Jacoby is because Andrew Luck is our starting QB. 

That's realistic..

 

Jacoby Brissett will never be the starting QB of the Indianapolis Colts

[jameszeigler834]

12 hours ago, George Peterson said:

1 game to go in the season, I think it's a good time to take a step back and evaluate the job our replacement starter has done for us.

 

There's a lot to like and a little to dislike IMHO.  He's proven himself to be a roughly average starting quarterback in his first year with an 81.5 season QBR to this point.  He's got some mobility, he makes some mistakes, he's got a long release that's gotten him in trouble because of our weak offensive line.  For a first year starter. 81.5 (if that's where he finishes) is NTFB, especially on a team with a lot of other holes. 

 

The result of the season is that Jacoby couldn't put a weak team on his back and carry them to wins.  He did a fair job of keeping the Colts in fights they should probably have gotten destroyed in, at least 10 of the games were highly competitive, I think at least 12 of his starts were 1 possession games going into the 4th quarter -- often in our favor, only to be crapped away in the last 15 minutes.

 

As an aside. I don't want to crap on the D, they had a lot to do with keeping us in the fight, but whoever's ultimately responsible for the conditioning of the defensive players needs to be fired.  Whole lot of games, at least 5, where the D simply ran out of steam in Q4.  That's completely unacceptable in a pro league, you HAVE to be at least as ready to play physical football as the other team.

 

My opinion is that Jacoby Brissett is an average quarterback.  Not terrible, will never be great.  You can win with the guy, but he probably won't take a team to the Superbowl.  A team on the rebuild could do a lot worse, but if you have playoff dreams right now, you're praying for health from Luck.  Just my $.02.  I'm interested in your thoughts, since I'm out-of-region.

They wouldn't have been so worn out if the offense would sustain drives in the second half of games.

[oldunclemark]

Our QBs have been sacked 100 times in the past 2 years.

That Jacoby Brissett is not on injured reserve says everything we need to know about him

[Superman]

Brissett is awesome. Think about his circumstances. Only in his second year, he gets traded from one of the best run organizations to a program that has had its challenges recently. In Week 1. The differences in scheme and verbiage from the Patriots offense to the Colts are dramatic, to say the least. Yet, Brissett plays in Week 1, and starts in Week 2, playing reasonably well. He leads the Colts to a win in Week 3. He barely knew anyone's name.

 

His OL is one of the worst in the league. He's taken snaps from five different centers, and three of the other four positions have basically been manned by committee throughout the season. He got sacked 10 times in a single game this year. When he was asked whether he was hurt in that game, he said 'I'm the QB, I don't come out of the game.' 

 

The defense has given up more big plays than almost any team in the NFL, and has some of the worst numbers across the board. The coaching staff has literally cost the offense points. His receivers have dropped passes, fumbled possessions, been manhandled, etc. 

 

Through all of this, Brissett has never said anything that could even be misconstrued as a negative comment toward any of his teammates, his coaches, or the organization. He's even been a strong interview, solid with the media (who, at times, doesn't deserve it, IMO). He hasn't missed a single snap; I don't think he's missed a practice. 

 

TL;DR -- I admire Jacoby Brissett. 

 

As for his play, I have several criticisms of his ability, decision making, poise, etc. And I'll detail those at some point after the season is over. Some people suggest the Colts could trade Brissett for a solid draft pick; I strongly disagree, at least based on where he is now. But despite my problems with his play -- and there are several -- I feel as good about the Colts backup QB position as I ever have. 

[Coltfreak]

10 hours ago, MB-ColtsFan said:

If we find out, before the draft, that we don't have ALuck for all of 2018 I would still draft other needs before drafting a QB.  A very good line can make an average (though I think he is above average) QB look very good.  On the other hand, as we've seen, a very good QB looks crappy behind a bad line.

 

I still think Brissett can be much better starting QB with a full camp and better O and D.

This has been my line of thinking for a while.   If Luck is not there next yr I think you consider a QB with the 1st pick but ONLY if you feel he is the real deal and a franchise QB for the next 12 years.   Otherwise build the rest of the team.  This is not a one year rebuild for a SB run without Luck.  

 

I would not be opposed to Brisset as starter next yr and build the rest of the team around him through the draft.  I also would look at QB's like Alex Smith as a FA to come in for a few years until we can find Andrews future replacement.

 

All that said I truly believe Luck will be back and be as good as new.  So this is all hypothetical 

[lennymoore24]

I honestly don't think much of him.  He seems to only want to throw the ball if he believes the target is wide open.  He doesn't take risks and holds the ball way too long.  If you think about what he did this year, most often it was a big play or bust.  TY would catch a ball and run 45 yards for a TD.  He was terrible at consistently moving the ball.

 

I hope the Colts pick a QB later in the draft to develop as a backup.  I don't think Brissett is that good.

[Coltfreak]

2 minutes ago, lennymoore24 said:

I honestly don't think much of him.  He seems to only want to throw the ball if he believes the target is wide open.  He doesn't take risks and holds the ball way too long.  If you think about what he did this year, most often it was a big play or bust.  TY would catch a ball and run 45 yards for a TD.  He was terrible at consistently moving the ball.

 

I hope the Colts pick a QB later in the draft to develop as a backup.  I don't think Brissett is that good.

Blame  Chud for this 

[IinD]

2 hours ago, Superman said:

Brissett is awesome. Think about his circumstances. Only in his second year, he gets traded from one of the best run organizations to a program that has had its challenges recently. In Week 1. The differences in scheme and verbiage from the Patriots offense to the Colts are dramatic, to say the least. Yet, Brissett plays in Week 1, and starts in Week 2, playing reasonably well. He leads the Colts to a win in Week 3. He barely knew anyone's name.

 

His OL is one of the worst in the league. He's taken snaps from five different centers, and three of the other four positions have basically been manned by committee throughout the season. He got sacked 10 times in a single game this year. When he was asked whether he was hurt in that game, he said 'I'm the QB, I don't come out of the game.' 

 

The defense has given up more big plays than almost any team in the NFL, and has some of the worst numbers across the board. The coaching staff has literally cost the offense points. His receivers have dropped passes, fumbled possessions, been manhandled, etc. 

 

Through all of this, Brissett has never said anything that could even be misconstrued as a negative comment toward any of his teammates, his coaches, or the organization. He's even been a strong interview, solid with the media (who, at times, doesn't deserve it, IMO). He hasn't missed a single snap; I don't think he's missed a practice. 

 

TL;DR -- I admire Jacoby Brissett. 

 

As for his play, I have several criticisms of his ability, decision making, poise, etc. And I'll detail those at some point after the season is over. Some people suggest the Colts could trade Brissett for a solid draft pick; I strongly disagree, at least based on where he is now. But despite my problems with his play -- and there are several -- I feel as good about the Colts backup QB position as I ever have. 

I'd like this a dozen times if possible.

 

In a sorry season like this you've got to try and get some sort of positive thing to be talk about. 

 

He's been dealt a terrible situation and survived an entire season and didn't miss any time. Tough kid.

 

We see backups cone in every year and can never (none I can remember honestly) last an entire season and try to keep a team afloat while totally learning on the job, a bad job at that (being a Colts QB).

 

He's had some glimpses to take from the season.