Boston College Athletics
BC Leaning on Brown's Experience Under Center
September 24, 2019 | Football, #ForBoston Files
Sometimes the true story goes beyond the stat sheet.
A good day at quarterback doesn't always look like it should on paper.
That's what happened this past weekend for Anthony Brown, at least. On paper, Rutgers quarterback Arthur Sitkowski statistically outplayed him. He had 206 yards by halftime with seven completions to running back Raheem Blackshear. It was a virtuoso performance for a quarterback that started last season, and it made the scoreboard entirely too close at hafltime, even though BC led, 17-13.
The BC offense, though, long decided to do something different. The Eagles only led by four, but held confidence in their offense because they determined to run the ball right into the teeth of the Rutgers defense. They had a definitive advantage against the Scarlet Knights, and head coach Steve Addazio knew he could keep pounding a combination of AJ Dillon and David Bailey into the point of attack. It would crush the Rutgers front line, all but handing an opportunity for BC to kill the clock and force the Scarlet Knights to play desperation football in the game's latter stages.
"When AJ was getting tired, David was in, and he was fresh legged," BC head coach Steve Addazio said. "You put David in the game, there's another 250-pound guy coming at you. What happens is (a defense) gets gassed and wants to come out of the game, especially the way that we play."
It created a scenario where Anthony Brown played successful football without a statistical advantage. BC succeeded in its attempt to bruise the Rutgers defense, negating any need to pass the ball with regularity in the second half. The Scarlet Knights, meanwhile, had to work quickly to score points, though they made mistakes in their desperation. It placed pressure on Sitkowski to execute an aerial assault, and after a first half in which he succeeded, he failed in the second half. He only threw for 100 yards in the entire half, finishing the day with some attractive statistics, but only 16 points on the scoreboard.
BC, meanwhile, played the complete opposite style. The success in the running game meant Brown didn't have to throw the ball at all. He went 2-for-2 on a 13-play, second quarter scoring drive lasting over four minutes but became a runner entrusted with scoring the team's touchdown on the elongated drive. He didn't hit paydirt in the second half, but Dillon did, and Brown finished the third quarter with only two more attempted passes - including a 26-yard completion to Korab Idrizi.
It paved a path into the fourth quarter where the Eagles ran 27 plays with only three attempted passes. Brown completed two of them, but spent most of the quarter on the ground. He carried three times for 30 yards during BC's 18-play touchdown drive that ate virtually half the quarter. He later iced the game with a two-yard carry for a first down on the game's last drive.
"At the end of the game, we had an 18-play drive," Addazio said. "At the end of that drive, when we were punching it in the end zone, we were surging off the ball. I didn't realize it on the field as much as when I saw it on the tape. They were getting knocked back, and we were surging. (It's) because we had two tailbacks that are still relatively fresh, and they've still got some juice left in them (while) defenders are getting worn down."
It's a story where a quarterback has a very good day despite losing the statistics battle to his counterpart. He undeniably missed throws, but finished with 200 all-purpose yards. He didn't commit a turnover, finishing instead with one touchdown on the ground in the first half. His rushing numbers simply augmented his passing numbers, a product of the team's gameplan, especially in the second half. He completed passes when required, even though it was only on a handful of occasions.
It's part of an ever-fluid evolution of the BC offense where statistics aren't always the full story. Brown was downright dominant against Virginia Tech at the beginning of the season, throwing for 275 yards and two touchdowns, and he torched Richmond for three scores in limited duty. His performance was categorized as a struggle against Kansas, though, even though he finished with over 200 all-purpose yards and a touchdown. It's part of a larger, collective effort where the quarterback, always under a constant individual microscope, is simply part of the team's entire unit, one part of cog-based machinery.
"We've been pretty tight on what we're trying to do (in the throw game)," Addazio said. "I think there's some things that people do better than others. I want to make sure that we're doing the best things for our guys, for what their (collective) skill-set is. Our percentages are pretty high, but the preciseness of our routes and the exactness might help a little bit. You see a ball on the back hip sometimes and think the quarterback needs to be more accurate, but sometimes the route might be a little short or it might drift as opposed to a tighter turn. We need to tighten some of that up."
It keeps attention on Brown for another breakout performance as he heads into the Wake Forest game. Last season, he torched the Demon Deacons for 300 yards and five touchdowns, registering the second-best quarterback rating by an Eagle since 1996. Four different receivers had explosive catches in that game, including Kobay White and Ben Glines, as part of a day where the Eagles scored 41 points without a single red zone touchdown. There's no guarantee he will need to do something similar this year, but there's a confidence that it will be there with the right tweaking and corrections.
"We have really evaluated some of the things that we're trying to do," Addazio said. "I think we're looking to make some tweaks and changes to help. It's not just one thing. We do some things extremely well right now, and we are a real threat for people. To help our consistency, we think there's some things that we can do a little bit to help in that regard. To put that on Anthony isn't right or fair. I think we are looking at things we can help with on that front."
That's what happened this past weekend for Anthony Brown, at least. On paper, Rutgers quarterback Arthur Sitkowski statistically outplayed him. He had 206 yards by halftime with seven completions to running back Raheem Blackshear. It was a virtuoso performance for a quarterback that started last season, and it made the scoreboard entirely too close at hafltime, even though BC led, 17-13.
The BC offense, though, long decided to do something different. The Eagles only led by four, but held confidence in their offense because they determined to run the ball right into the teeth of the Rutgers defense. They had a definitive advantage against the Scarlet Knights, and head coach Steve Addazio knew he could keep pounding a combination of AJ Dillon and David Bailey into the point of attack. It would crush the Rutgers front line, all but handing an opportunity for BC to kill the clock and force the Scarlet Knights to play desperation football in the game's latter stages.
"When AJ was getting tired, David was in, and he was fresh legged," BC head coach Steve Addazio said. "You put David in the game, there's another 250-pound guy coming at you. What happens is (a defense) gets gassed and wants to come out of the game, especially the way that we play."
It created a scenario where Anthony Brown played successful football without a statistical advantage. BC succeeded in its attempt to bruise the Rutgers defense, negating any need to pass the ball with regularity in the second half. The Scarlet Knights, meanwhile, had to work quickly to score points, though they made mistakes in their desperation. It placed pressure on Sitkowski to execute an aerial assault, and after a first half in which he succeeded, he failed in the second half. He only threw for 100 yards in the entire half, finishing the day with some attractive statistics, but only 16 points on the scoreboard.
BC, meanwhile, played the complete opposite style. The success in the running game meant Brown didn't have to throw the ball at all. He went 2-for-2 on a 13-play, second quarter scoring drive lasting over four minutes but became a runner entrusted with scoring the team's touchdown on the elongated drive. He didn't hit paydirt in the second half, but Dillon did, and Brown finished the third quarter with only two more attempted passes - including a 26-yard completion to Korab Idrizi.
It paved a path into the fourth quarter where the Eagles ran 27 plays with only three attempted passes. Brown completed two of them, but spent most of the quarter on the ground. He carried three times for 30 yards during BC's 18-play touchdown drive that ate virtually half the quarter. He later iced the game with a two-yard carry for a first down on the game's last drive.
"At the end of the game, we had an 18-play drive," Addazio said. "At the end of that drive, when we were punching it in the end zone, we were surging off the ball. I didn't realize it on the field as much as when I saw it on the tape. They were getting knocked back, and we were surging. (It's) because we had two tailbacks that are still relatively fresh, and they've still got some juice left in them (while) defenders are getting worn down."
It's a story where a quarterback has a very good day despite losing the statistics battle to his counterpart. He undeniably missed throws, but finished with 200 all-purpose yards. He didn't commit a turnover, finishing instead with one touchdown on the ground in the first half. His rushing numbers simply augmented his passing numbers, a product of the team's gameplan, especially in the second half. He completed passes when required, even though it was only on a handful of occasions.
It's part of an ever-fluid evolution of the BC offense where statistics aren't always the full story. Brown was downright dominant against Virginia Tech at the beginning of the season, throwing for 275 yards and two touchdowns, and he torched Richmond for three scores in limited duty. His performance was categorized as a struggle against Kansas, though, even though he finished with over 200 all-purpose yards and a touchdown. It's part of a larger, collective effort where the quarterback, always under a constant individual microscope, is simply part of the team's entire unit, one part of cog-based machinery.
"We've been pretty tight on what we're trying to do (in the throw game)," Addazio said. "I think there's some things that people do better than others. I want to make sure that we're doing the best things for our guys, for what their (collective) skill-set is. Our percentages are pretty high, but the preciseness of our routes and the exactness might help a little bit. You see a ball on the back hip sometimes and think the quarterback needs to be more accurate, but sometimes the route might be a little short or it might drift as opposed to a tighter turn. We need to tighten some of that up."
It keeps attention on Brown for another breakout performance as he heads into the Wake Forest game. Last season, he torched the Demon Deacons for 300 yards and five touchdowns, registering the second-best quarterback rating by an Eagle since 1996. Four different receivers had explosive catches in that game, including Kobay White and Ben Glines, as part of a day where the Eagles scored 41 points without a single red zone touchdown. There's no guarantee he will need to do something similar this year, but there's a confidence that it will be there with the right tweaking and corrections.
"We have really evaluated some of the things that we're trying to do," Addazio said. "I think we're looking to make some tweaks and changes to help. It's not just one thing. We do some things extremely well right now, and we are a real threat for people. To help our consistency, we think there's some things that we can do a little bit to help in that regard. To put that on Anthony isn't right or fair. I think we are looking at things we can help with on that front."
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