Nelson Bandwagon

[woot]

Cool post. I have always wondered about that. But I have a question for you. I would guess that nelson was constantly throwing when he was younger either baseballs or basketballs, maybe just as much as Heaps. So is armstrength a combination of factors? And if so, what %'s would you assign to the different factors?

That's tough to say. Certainly one's throwing mechanics have a lot to do with it. Heaps has a really high release point, which in addition to making it harder to knock his throws down, also serves to lengthen the lever arm, allowing a lot more energy to put into the throw. Riley's got a bit of a shotput motion, which is great if you're throwing something really heavy, as it puts a lot less strain on soft tissue, but it makes for a slower football. If we can assume that Riley was also throwing every day as a teen or even younger, and assuming that his bones reacted the same way to the stress (not a safe assumption, although it is pretty consistent) we could pretty much blame his mechanics entirely.

Clearly, muscle strength also plays into all this, but especially at this age I'd reckon it accounts for very little of the variation.

Here's the result of a google image search for "baseball pitcher" (I don't know who this is):


That's the kind of thing I'm talking about here. I would bet that guy has a really nice fastball. A normal person's arm can't do that.

Edit: Here's an even better example:

Try to do that with your arm. I was very active as a kid but I can barely get past 90 degrees, and that guy is past 180. Crazy.

[jay santos]

My boys play competitive soccer. I've watched their teams develop from when they were young. There's always a couple kids who develop just crazy, strong kick. Little soccer nerds that can boom the ball across the field. If you put them on a leg press machine, I don't think they'd be any stronger. But their kicks go 50% stronger than other kids on the team, that also grow up practicing soccer. And 200 - 300% stronger than other kids with similar strength who do not play soccer. It's related to form, mechanics, and individual practice and repetition, IMHO.

[ERCougar]

Honest question: would you rather have Riley or Wynn?

[SeattleUte]

Yesterday's fourth and nine play on the final drive summed up why Riley is your qb. You're down 4 against a mediocre team and no one except immediately intereste fans is watching, it's fourth and nine and the coaches don't have enough confidence in their qb to call a pass even in that situation. The call is a draw, and Nelson gets the first down mainly by desire and non-armstrength athleticism. The coaches feel safer with that kind of desire than whatever Heaps brought.

[woot]

Yesterday's fourth and nine play on the final drive summed up why Riley is your qb. You're down 4 against a mediocre team and no one except immediately intereste fans is watching, it's fourth and nine and the coaches don't have enough confidence in their qb to call a pass even in that situation. The call is a draw, and Nelson gets the first down mainly by desire and non-armstrength athleticism. The coaches feel safer with that kind of desire than whatever Heaps brought.

Ouch. SU doesn't know the difference between a draw and a scramble.

[smokymountainrain]

Honest question: would you rather have Riley or Wynn?

Riley. They are similar as passers, but Riley can get it done with his feet.

[MarkGrace]

Yesterday's fourth and nine play on the final drive summed up why Riley is your qb. You're down 4 against a mediocre team and no one except immediately intereste fans is watching, it's fourth and nine and the coaches don't have enough confidence in their qb to call a pass even in that situation. The call is a draw, and Nelson gets the first down mainly by desire and non-armstrength athleticism. The coaches feel safer with that kind of desire than whatever Heaps brought.

ha. They called a pass on that play.

[SeattleUte]

Ouch. SU doesn't know the difference between a draw and a scramble.

I didn't watch the game. The espn summary said a draw. Looks like you're wrong.

[San Juan Sun]

I didn't watch the game. The espn summary said a draw. Looks like you're wrong.

This is even better. You're trying to speak authoritatively about a game you didn't watch.

[woot]

I didn't watch the game. The espn summary said a draw. Looks like you're wrong.

I had assumed you didn't watch the game, but seeing as how that play is one of 3 that ESPN has replayed a couple dozen times, I did assume you would at least have seen the play.

But if their written summary called it a draw it was definitely a draw. I'm sure Riley stood in the pocket looking for receivers so long because he wanted to really sell it.

[jay santos]

I didn't watch the game. The espn summary said a draw. Looks like you're wrong.

lol, idiot.

[Hsaru]

I didn't watch the game. The espn summary said a draw. Looks like you're wrong.

This can't be serious.