Wadlington on Ewers. I have felt for awhile now that he is biting his tongue on the Ewers vs. Arch deal. Like going back to the spring.
"The 10-20 yard intermediate balls hitting receivers on the move that used to be a fixture of the Texas offense have all but disappeared."
"27 of Ewers’ 36 attempts were targeted behind the LOS or 0-9 yards down the field. That’s 75% of all drop backs. Unsurprisingly, his average depth of target for the game was a modest 5.5 yards.
While the deep ball hasn’t been a significant part of his game most of the season, he has always created explosives through the intermediate game (10-20 yards), which was a co-equal part of his passing attempts.
For the season, Ewers is completing only 50% of of his intermediate balls and they’ve made up only 19.1% of his total attempts. Since the injury, they represent 16% of his passing repertoire.
In 2023, 28.6% of his attempts were intermediate and he completed 68.6% of them at 12.6 yards per attempt.
#3’s stat line of 27 of 37 for 288 and three touchdowns is nothing to denigrate – yards is yards – but two interceptions and four sacks contributed to scoring friction. Both interceptions were on play action. The first a batted RPO, the second a play action tip. I don’t think you can really attribute either play to the QB – it sort of goes into the column of “stuff that can happen when you throw those concepts” – but this isn’t the first time we’ve seen it. Perhaps some QBs are more prone to this sort of thing dependent on their timing, ability to find passing windows or their release point.
On the season, Ewers is dead last in the SEC in ADOT (average depth of target) and ranked 285th in college football of all QBs. Stats often lie, but those don’t.
Texas has been reduced to a nickel and dime passing offense."