Another Chapter In The Thigpen Story
From San Diego, California.
If you want to know how much progress Tyler Thigpen has made in the last month, the evidence was clearly presented at the end of the first half on Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium.
The Chiefs had a seven-point lead with one minute 23 seconds to play. They also had the ball at their own 20-yard line.
This screamed for three running plays to kill what was left of the second quarter. That’s Herm Edwards-Chain Gailey offensive football; take the lead into the locker room at half-time.
And on first down, they did run the ball, gaining four yards with Dantrell Savage.
Then, on second down all the sudden Thigpen was back to pass. He threw for 11 yards and a first down to Tony Gonzalez. On the next play with 38 seconds left, another pass play was called as Thigpen ran the bootleg to his right. He ended up running and was tackled for minus yardage making it officially a sack.
The half ended with three running plays, although the last one was called for a Hail Mary throw. When there was nothing open, Thigpen took off on what turned out to be a meaningless run.
But what was shown in that final first half possession was the growing confidence level in Thigpen.
“I think they are starting to trust me with more things” said Thigpen. “I just wish we could have won the game. That’s what we need more than anything. It’s a win.”
That’s the only factor that keeps everyone from christening Thigpen as the franchise quarterback of the future. He’s put together three top notch performances, outperforming more veteran passers. He has not turned the ball over and he’s thrown touchdown passes each week.
His numbers for the last three weeks are: 66 of 102 (65%) for 710 yards (6.96 per attempt), six TD passes and no interceptions.
Yet, the Chiefs are 0-3 in those starts and in the end, that’s the only statistic that matters to quarterbacks.
“Any player should get better the more he plays,” said Thigpen. “I think I’m getting better. But if we don’t win it really doesn’t matter.”
There is no doubt that Thigpen has grown more confident. He’s doing a much better job of reading through his progressions. He’s looking off safeties and fooling corners with his body language. He’s running the spread offense like a grizzled veteran who has started four seasons rather than four games.
In fact, in what can only be considered a remarkable turn of events, the Chiefs maybe relying too much on Thigpen. He’s doing all this with a very inconsistent running game. Injuries and suspension had the offense down to fourth team on the depth chart Sunday against the Chargers; Savage was the team’s leading rusher with 44 yards on 12 carries.
Right now, Thigpen can use some help.
It’s amazing how deep the Chiefs are at RB. I don’t know about you guys but I wasn’t worried at all that Savage was getting the load after Charles went down. With Kevin Robinson shouldering the return duties, it was a very good time for Savage to be forced into the offense. I would have liked to see Jackie Battle get some of those 3rd and 1 carries, and that goal line carry that went to Mike Cox instead, but Savage did a nice job I thought.
Thigpen has been remarkable. He’s giving the fans a legitimate reason to believe in this rebuild, which is something the coaching staff and front office desparately needed.
I think Thigpen is the bright shining light of this otherwise drab season. Anyone unable to see the difference this guy makes over all the other Chief’s QBs over the years is smoking the carpet or something.
Gotta give credit to Chan Gailey for devising an offense that plays to Thigpen’s strengths and with a non-injured supporting cast, the Chiefs should and would have schooled SD yesterday.
However, a L is a L so in spite of the improvement that’s obvious, there will be those still clamoring for a QB to be taken high in the 2009 draft but I’m won’t be among them. The QBOTF has landed, he’s wearing #4, and will only get better.
Our top 10 (5?) pick this year will hopefully be a stud LB. I tried to think of a better use of our top pick, but with QB off the board now, and the other positions starting to get better (Sackintosh!!), I don’t know what would make a better pick.
how bout a pass russer, as a matter of fact…..how bout a couple of pass rushers!!
I had my doubts about Thigpen, but he seems to be getting better as each week goes by. I think JohnNDallas had him pegged right, good call. I also believe we could have won Sunday if we had a better pass rush. A Willie Lanier / Jim Lynch type LB should be our top pick or a top pass rusher. All in all they are starting to look better and better, leaves hope for next week, and more importantly next year! Go Chiefs!
Heck, the top passers in the 2009 draft are all underclassmen anyway. (Stafford, Bradford, Davis, Tebow, McCoy and Sanchez) What if none of them come out early? Then 2010 would be a HUGE QB draft. That wouldn’t hurt my feelings at all. Thigpen has quite possibly played his way into a starting role next year and that would give the Chiefs time to determine if he’s the guy or not. If not, 2010 would be the time for a new QB, head coach, GM, and stadium.
Herm’s future lies at Thigpen’s feet I’d say.
Herm’s fate lies in the continued improvement of this whole team. Thiggy is a huge piece that he was missing. There are more pieces to find. Nobody has mentioned but the O-Line is getting better. I know some of that has to do with Tyler’s mobility but funny how nobody notices them when they are doing their job. I haven’t heard a single good job Mac, and he has improved a bunch.
There has been good QBs come through here and go on , due to a combonation of things, Tyler has ben able to do it is way . Being over coached can put you out there thinking about what your supposed to do , more than what you can do . Good SHOW ! Thats it , the greatest show on Sunday , The last three games have ben three of the best or better games I have ever seen . Thank you ALL , Im on my feet a lot , in front of a TV .
I’m definatly with Jim here. These last few games have been edge of the seat type games. It has been really great to see a little passion out there. I also agree with thegr8one, we need a couple of knock down drag out pass rushers. A couple of studs who will knock the socks of a qb and make him get up wondering where on earth he is. We need the D. Thomas/N. Smith effect once again baby. Our offense is not great by any stretch, but they are on the cusp. You can kind of see something brewing. I’m teling you, we’re a few pieces away….just a few little pieces. This could be fun to watch develope.
hell yeah i agree with all of you its good to see with all the bad things that have happend this year were not all sitting here calling for herms head, chiefs really do have the greatest fans
If Brodie Croyle had turned in the QB performances from the last three games, there would be no dought as to who the QB of the future should be. Tyler needs the same consideration since he actually did it. We need to use our draft choices next year on linemen (offense and defense) as weel as linebackers. Lets see how far Thigpen can take us.
Look i agree Bob. Getting Larry back would be a tremendous help to this offense. I truly think if we would’ve had Larry the last 3 games all of those games would be wins. This just shows how valuable he is to this team. I’m looking at this offense and saying “Now when Larry comes back teams can’t stack 8 in the box. And if they do Thigpen is going to make some big plays.” I just don’t want this lost to consume the team or head coach. Progress is being made. A month ago we were getting ran off the field by the Titans and Panthers and now we’re competing. Its just a matter of time before we’re winnning.
My thing is Larry is back that should help the running game. Combine him with the way this offense is throwing the football now you have a potent offense similar to what we produced when Vermeil was here. Then if the defense can play with that kind of heart and passion on Sunday we should be able to be the Saints and win some more games down the stretch.
If you want to see statistical evidence of Thigpen’s progression, consider the following statistics used to calculate the passer rating.
Overall ‘08 stats:
104 of 192 (54.2%), 1102 yards (5.7 avg.), 8 TDs, 4 INTs and a passer rating of 76.3.
Nothing special here as his completion percentage ranks 31st in the league, average per attempt ranks 30th, TD pass frequency is tied for 13th, with a TD pass thrown every 24 attempts, and INT pass frequency is 12th best (meaning lowest), with an interception thrown every 48 attempts. His passer rating ranks 24th in the league.
See how much better these stats are when considering only his 4 starts to date (including the Atlanta disaster):
80-138 (58%), 838 yards (6.1 avg.), 7 TDs, 3 INTs, and a passer rating of 83.6.
Completion percentage rank increases to 26th best, yards per attempt rank increases to 28th, TD pass frequency dramatically increases to 6th best, throwing a TD every 19.7 attempts, and INT frequency rank drops one rank to 13th, throwing a pick every 46 pass attempts. His passer rating rank improves to 20th.
NOW, consider his last three games/starts against the Jets, Bucs and Chargers:
66-102 (64.7%), 710 yards (7.0 avg.), 6 TDs, 0 INTs, and a passer rating of 104.6.
Thigpens numbers in his last three starts are pretty good. His completion percentage ranks 11th best in the league. Average yards per attempt ranks 18th best in the league. TD frequency ranks 3rd best in the league with a TD thrown every 17 attempts (Only Rivers and Romo are better). And Thigpen ranks first in the league in interception frequency as he has not thrown a pick in his last three starts. His passer rating ranks 2nd only behind Rivers.
This, of course doesn’t mean Thigpen is the answer, but considering he is playing behind a suspect line and with a questionable running game, it is reason enough to be optimistic.
we need to keep tyler on the field to see what he really is and if we get blown out we need to see who gray is so we can keep weak bones brody as second string because if gray isnt the right guy to backup tyler because then we will need to draft
Good game Tyler. A couple things Tyler needs to improve on as a quarterback. One blitz pick up. On that two point conversion Shawn Phillps came in unblocked and that is what through that whole play off toward the end of the game.
Next would be learning how to throw accurately from under center in a 3 step drop. Larry will be back in there this Sunday and for him to have effective runs we can’t run him alot out of a spread formation. Therefore to keep the opposing defense off balance we need to be able to throw effectively from I-formations and things like that. Because if they see that formation they’re going to automatically think run then we can play-action with some pass.
Last thing i would suggest so far to Tyler continue to be accurate and spread the ball around. Don’t try to force anything to Tony especially if he’s in double coverage. With Bowe and Bradley emerging as good receivers continue to use those guys to open things up for Tony down the middle. Other than that keep working hard kid and keep trying to get better every week.