I don’t think it’s an overreaction to say that they might try to move Moore to the practice squad if he can’t get past these drops. It’s a crowded position. They practice squadded a 5th rounder last year. It’s been a consistent issue for him for almost a month now. If he can’t demonstrate the ability to catch, the chances he gets claimed are low.
Now I don’t think that will happen. I think he will figure things out well enough to get on the roster. But I don’t think it’s too strong to say that he might lose his spot if he doesn’t.
Let's recap a few things and break down Moore's performace so far, in detail.
Against the Titans, Moore had 3 catches on 9 targets for 27 yards according to the ESPN box score. He missed on a tough diving ball early and then there was the wide open deep ball drop, the latter an especially bad look. James Jones had the same problem, dropping several of those balls over a couple of years and they stuck with him. In Jones' case, it was so bad I thought he needed to get his eyes checked. You don't throw away a guy who gets that kind of separation, which Moore also showed on his play deep ball drop. Moore and the young Jones have a positive similarity I've perceived. While they don't have/had that 5th. gear/long speed of a pre-ACL Nelson, they have/had that 3rd./4th. gear burst that CBs have/had trouble reacting to. It's why Moore got that separation on the deep ball and it's why PIT corners were trailing and grabbing.
So, lets consider a some details taken taken from the espn.com play-by-play from the Titans game that do not show up in the box score, in case anybody forgot about these plays:
1st & 10 at GB 36
(8:08 - 2nd) B.Hundley pass incomplete deep left to J.Moore. PENALTY on TEN-K.Reed, Defensive Pass Interference, 28 yards, enforced at GB 36 - No Play.
4th & 2 at TEN 3
(8:02 - 3rd) (Shotgun) D.Kizer pass incomplete short left to J.Moore. PENALTY on TEN-R.Gafford, Defensive Pass Interference, 2 yards, enforced at TEN 3 - No Play.
Against the Steelers, Moore had zero catches on 2 targets according to the ESPN box score . I believe that was supposed to be 3 targets, with another play where Boyle threw way behind Moore running the same route as the one noted below. We don't know who made the mistake there. Let's call it 0 for 3. The first 2 were these so-called "drops". The first was clearly a pass interference no-call. It's kinda tough to catch a ball if one of your arms is hooked. The second was borderline. He was hooked again, but in my opinion he was hand checking too late into the catch. But we also have to consider the following which was a terrific route with separation.
3rd & 9 at PIT 39
(5:56 - 3rd) (Shotgun) T.Boyle pass short middle to J.Moore to PIT 21 for 18 yards (M.Thomas, N.Berhe). Penalty on GB-A.Judd, Offensive Pass Interference, declined. PENALTY on GB-J.Spriggs, Illegal Use of Hands, 10 yards, enforced at PIT 39 - No Play.
He's been watching Adams. He had that Adams chop step against press coming off the line then sudden burst inside, leaving that guy in his exhaust, then showing good confidence at the ball in the danger zone. Thanks, Judd. Thanks, Spriggs. Yeah, lets hold on a quick slant. Entirely unnecessary. From a Moore evaluation standpoint, I give him 1 catch on 4 targets for 18 yards.
So, lets rolli it altogether for these two games using my Pittsburgh adjustments and see what we've got:
- 4 catches on 13 targets for 45 yards. Yeah, he's not making anybody's fantasy team on those numbers, if anybody should care about that. They should not.
- Including the two actual defensive interferance calls, his targets come up to 15.
- Of 15 throws coming his way, he's drawn 2 INT flags against the Titans, drew another clear interferance with no flag against Pittsburgh, drew a second borderline interference which I grade as a Davminus for arm jousting too late into the route. Nonetheless, that corner was trailing and felt compelled to hook him. And he smoked a corner on that deep ball that he dropped.
- It's probably escaped the notice of most posters, but Moore has been out there blocking on kickoffs. That makes sense. We saw an enthusiastic run blocker in his college tape. However, in that role, he drew a holding flag in the Titans game and a block-in-the-back flag in the Pittsburgh game, things I did not notice until going through the ESPN play-by-plays.
Here are my takeawys so far:
- The first question you have to ask yourself is why, on 15 throws, did corners interfere 4 times, one kind of mutual? And how was it he smoked that corner on the deep ball? In terms of route running and separation, this is no Deangelo Yancey. For my money, Moore's signature college highlight play is at 2:55 in the following link: [
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] Yancy can't run that route in that way except in his dreams. That's another Davante Adams suddeness point of comparison.
- There's only one way Moore gets cut with the intent to put him on the practice squad. He'd have to be told he has a bright future and they pay him more than the PS $130,000 minimum or whatever the exact figure is. I'm pretty sure one the other 31 will make at least a strong PS pitch where he may see an earlier path to the field in that organization.
- He needs to clean up that special teams play if he wants to get on the game day roster.
- I'm more concered with his emotional maturity at this point than the drops. A pre-draft interview had a large dose of false bravado. During OTA's he said he hoped to contribute "some day". C'mon man. And then there was the excuse-making over the scout team flash cards after Rodgers' criticism. C'mon man, don't you know that was a test? They want to see focus and processing speed. And when you make a mistake, don't hang your head. Forget about it. A short memory is required. Study Alexander's and Jackson's way of doing business. Few words, no excuses, shut up and play, and get a short memory.
