Jordan Love Down, Malik Willis Up: Film Review

welcome everybody to the very first episode of sideline Cinema your favorite source for easy to digest NFL content college football content anything related to football now let's jump right into things the whole point of this video is because Jordan love is obviously going to be out for the very minimum of the next few weeks because he suffered an injury very late in last night's game with just a few seconds left and it looks pretty rough I mean you see his knee pop and you could chalk this up to just his knee pad kind of Shifting in his pants off of the contact embraced from the defensive tackle down here obviously what happened to his knee looks rough but if his knee is fine and somehow magically he escaped no injury here he's not going to escape both no injury here and his ankle he's hurt somewhere in his leg pretty badly his ankle looks rough down here that's a very abnormal angle for your foot to be going at especially while you're going to the ground so my guess is he's going to miss at least a few weeks and that means backup quarterback who the Packers recently acquired late in August just a couple weeks ago in Malik Willis is going to take over this video is going to be a lot more targeted towards Packers fans or maybe people in a 32 team Dynasty League that are going to have to start Malik Willis now just to give you a general idea of what to expect with Malik Willis as your starter now I will point out some of his flaws now his biggest flaw by far is not only just a way he throws the football but the way he moves around in the pocket leads to him throwing the football in a very awkward way a lot of the time his footwork is very inconsistent that leads to a lot of inaccurate balls specifically on the intermediate routes or the intermediate sections of the field he has a hard time targeting those areas and that's with him throwing to guys like Nick Westbrook Aina and traylen Burks who are not fast receivers at all so when you go into the Green Bay Packers wide receiver room you look at who you're throwing to you've got quite a bit of speed in there so his inaccuracy may only look worse in Green Bay if he doesn't touch up some things before his next start and about a week this first rep is going to demonstrate exactly what I just mentioned to you with his pocket awareness in general the way he moves around in the pocket um this is from the titans most recent preseason game where he did make things interesting for the quarterback two battle in Tennessee But ultimately it was won by Mason Rudolph and the Titans did write to Malik Willis by giving him a fresh start somewhere else because he definitely needs it you'll see why now this first play I'm going to show you not his fault at all but I did save it because there are some things I want to point out and you can call me nitpicky if you want but the way he runs play action all of the time is just so effortless like so careless he doesn't care about the play he just ready to throw the football right here the running back has just started moving he's done pretending to hand it off it's such an obvious pass and like you can call it nitpicky if you want but I am serious about this stuff you want to sell this look at guys like Joe burrow um Patrick Mahomes Dak Prescott who are good at selling play action very good and they run quite a bit of play action in those areas um this is not his fault turns into a really bad sack on an unblocked Defender coming off of the edge so I'm not going to blame him here it's just I'm very nitpicky with the way he runs his play action does even the hand I didn't even notice this doesn't even hand the ball off on the right side like he is just not giving his all right here just plain and simple turns into a sack now this next W of Malik Willis is pretty bad one just watch how he moves around in the bucket his heels click there this is going to lead to inaccurate throws every bit of your form will lead to inaccurate throws I don't like when you have your heels clicking be very you know Stern with your footwork uh he's very loose With It Go watch Dak Prescott go watch good comparison will Levis my favorite quarterback in the league as a Titans fan go watch how they move around in the pocket go watch their feet when they're moving they very pretty accurate quarterbacks um with very good footwork but malis that's besides the point you got to have the awareness throughout this whole rep really to understand that your tackle is being grabbed by his shoulders and thrown to the ground okay sure this could be a penalty but it's not so you need to have the awareness as the quarterback to understand what is happening on this part of the field where you'll see he's basically staring directly at the mess in front of him look it's not your Blind Side you should see it happening you should see what's forming over here on this part of your line um but he just straight up doesn't and doesn't even try and make a reaction until he's going down to the ground basically and obviously it's going to turn into a sack something we saw a lot this preseason from the Titans was shotgun formation a lot a lot of shotgun formation that's what this play is it's shotgun formation it's going to just be beautiful pass Pro by the way beautiful pass Pro the addition of Bill Callahan easily the greatest o line coach in football history uh has shown to be pretty effective for the Titans so far look at how much space he's got he's got an open receiver he's going to make a nice throw here and it's going to be a touchdown now the reason I am so picky about footwork in the NFL is because if you watch guys like Patrick Mahomes if you watch Dak Prescott Joe burrow Tom Brady uh and Tom Brady is the exact quarterback any Young quarterback should be paying attention to when it comes to footwork pocket presents and the way you move in the pocket because he was the greatest at it ever that is the guy you want to look at the reason I am so picky with it is because if you watch any of the guys I just named you will notice their heels don't click ever the the reason you don't want your heels clicking is because if they are clicking if you got up out of your chair you're off of your couch wherever you are right now and you were going through an NFL rep as a quarterback if you were backing up if you were dropping back you do not want your heels clicking because you will easily realize I don't know how it doesn't click in heads that it takes longer for you to get in a proper stance before you can throw the football because your heels are so close together your ankles are so close together you cannot throw a comfortable pass in that position it's harder for you to plant your feet get your feet down get your feet in place and throw the ball because they are so close together now it is subjective if you're running play action I'm fine with it while you're going through the motion of handing the ball off but after that your heels shouldn't click the perfect example of that the perfect example of that is Will Levis you can go find it in any of his games and I'm pulling it from his third ever Professional Drive in his NFL debut week eight against the Atlanta Falcons dressed in the Houston Oilers uniforms watch this rep Man in Motion it's going to be play Action Man in Motion is trailing Burks down here not useful though well Levis heels are going to click here while he's going through the motion of handing the ball off look heels don't click he jumps back he's hopping around he's not letting his heels click so his feet are always planted so he's always ready to throw the ball if pressure comes he's ready he does not have to worry about setting his feet or trying to escape he's ready to throw the ball obviously this is a pretty famous play everyone saw because it's his first first passing touchdown and it was a bomb to DeAndre Hopkins I agree this is offensive pass interference but wasn't called and hey tighten up now with that out of the way before we continue with this rep Malle Willis has his heels click every single time he drops back and it really frustrates me because it makes it hard for you to really be ready to pass the ball it leads to a lot of inaccurate passes especially when you're running behind some pretty bad offensive lineman which that's not to say the guys in front of him right now are bad but he's had a really bad Supporting Cast over the past few years in Tennessee we all know that and he has done himself no favors now besides the point this is a touchdown I prefer to drag your foot across the ground when you're already going through the throwing motion instead of lifting it up it kind of creates a little bit of an imbalance and can also lead to some inaccurate throws so I kind of guess the point I'm getting at is when you see inaccurate passes go look at how he's throwing the ball go look at what his feet are doing a lot of the time it's his own mistakes that are leading to inaccuracy or pressure or sack but nonetheless it's a still a good pass um touchdown pass that's it for preseason film we are into regular season film 2023 week seven against no sorry week six in London against the Baltimore Ravens Ryan Tan hog gets hurt in the fourth quarter late Malik Willis steps in sound familiar just happened to Jordan love except Malik Willis wasn't good enough in this game and the Titans were like yeah we got to go with Will Levis instead and who knows could have been a great decision we'll see time will tell anyways first and 10 U Malik Willis rolls out play action footwork isn't as important as pocket footwork um but he does throw this ball a little bit behind Nick Westbrook a causes them to kind of get puffed here but it is what it is you kind of you want to lead these play action passes outside a little more outside and up is how I like to you know that's where I want them LED but he leads this one behind uh just not the greatest throw but it's play action so it's kind of harder to evaluate but in my opinion uh I think on play action you're either going to want your receiver to be coming back so they don't take as hard of a hit so have them come back up this way a little bit uh kind of in this area or try and Lead it more like in this area so he's not going to get hit and he has the potential to get some Yak here instead of just going straight to the ground now this next play Packers fans you have something to be excited for it's his legs this is a really good play in my opinion it's going to be play action here no heel clicks hopping around like I mentioned he's doing the right thing he makes now okay one I got to say these London Games always have crazy camera angles why are you zooming out like are you in the upper deck zooming out like the camera angle is just so bad but Malik Willis escapes the pressure he recognizes everything he has good foot work it leads to a decent Rush you'll see it from another angle here in a second again play action he already senses the pressure on the right side the interior is breaking down which is where he clearly wanted to go to begin with um that's breaking down he sees a hole to his left he hits this hole and then takes it for a first down sorry close to a first down um now this is an older rep obviously this is from last year older than the Reps I was showing before so this shows he still got inconsistencies and flaws but watch his feet here watch him no heal click not even on the fake handoff he's just hopping around I like hopping like a bunny in the pocket that's what we like to see just a really good rep overall um need more of this a lot more of this hopefully we see more the coming weeks this next play kind of circles back to what I said about inconsistency I think he kind of got lucky and bailed out by his own athleticism so chock that up to however you want I think he doesn't make the best play here but because he's malleous he's so athletic he's a bigger dude 62 235 240 somewhere in that range he's put on a little bit of weight he's bigger he's still fast he's strong he was able to bail himself out another collapsing pocket kind of walks right towards all of the pressure uh but he's athletic again just able to get out so look forward to his legs if you're a Packers fan if anything um he can still make plays again the inconsistencies are showing that was a good rep just two plays ago another one under pressure a lot of pressure on this drive um a lot of pressure in this game he kind of caused a lot of it himself steps back fine footwork Kyle vanoi in his face 92 in his face and he just steps up right into him man right into him like I don't get it this one turns into a sack if I recall correctly yep like there's better decisions to make here if your interior collapses this early in a play just get that off to the running back man you got a running back over here can't see the routes like I said the camera angles in this game are really poor so I'm just chucking it to the running back even at his feet just get the ball away because in my opinion sacks are a lot more detrimental to your team than picks turns into a sack though negative play another negative play back to the inconsistencies some good footwork on this drive so far boom heel click H and then heals crossover although he's able to plant before you know any pressures there it doesn't matter I think the heel clicks are bad regardless it's a bad sign he's got a clean pocket he could make a throw right now anywhere man anywhere but his problem is he can't go through more than one or two reads and I can't really show it on this film because the camera angles are so bad but just you know if you watch his head doesn't like ever move when he's going through his progressions because he kind of just sets on one guy he goes to his second progression here um and then decides he's going to bail out of the pocket which is a good decision uh knowing the Titans receivers in the 2023 2022 2021 uh they probably had no separation anyway so it's fine and this turns into a positive play and you know what I'm going to point something out they're playing a pretty good pass rush in the Colts a decent pass pass rush in the Titans a really good pass rush in the Vikings all back to back if Malik Willis is starting these three games I have no confidence for the Packers I'm going to be so blunt because again his footwork leads to a lot of pressures sacks inaccurate throws Etc um and he's not facing the best pass rush right now in the Ravens I mean they Blitz a lot but they're not really blitzing okay so this next rep is pretty rough actually um completely forgot about this one but we're going to pause and take a minute to realize how bad his footwork has been to this point right it's costus him inaccurate balls we haven't seen him throw really a lot of balls other than really short passes and that one deep pass against the Saints this one is a perfect example of everything I've tried to explain throughout the video so far going to drop back heel click his feet aren't set properly because of the said he'll click because he didn't have so much time to you know get the ball out pressure's coming he sees Kyle Phillips breaking out he's going to be open because they're in zone coverage and uh couldn't tell you who this is that could be Tai Spears um he's kind of just on what I like to refer to as a decoy route it's pretty commonly referred to that uh just try and pick up any extra defender or get in the way of them covering whoever is over here um but he's on this breaking route he sees him break he's going to throw the ball his feet aren't set because his heel clicked his heels clicked it's such a bad part of his footwork and I hate seeing it in quarterbacks Daniel Jones has the issue and year six or whatever year he's in and look at what the ball is placed because of that Kyle Phillips has to fall down to get to this ball and guess what that's not going to be the only time you see this in this game that's not going to be the only time from another angle even worse because you can see the footwork on full display on these angles heel click heel click and he's just not properly like really set he's not fully set in stone to throw this ball again lifting your foot not a fan of it creates a little bit of an imbalance and this ball is going to be significantly behind Kyle Phillips where where he has to oddly contort his body to try and get it get his body in position to catch that football it's just so so bad I hate it sorry this is not not Tai Spears this is Nick West Brook Ain I correct my mistake from earlier but just everything about how he goes about passing is really really shaky I don't know who's taught him this stuff this is not even the same quarterback I watched at Liberty and albe it he played at Liberty but goodness now flashback to when I said now flashback to when I was talking about early pressure you know dump it off to the running back so at least it's either not intentional grounding or you even give him a chance to make a play with especially with someone like Tai J Spears who can make plays he makes a lot of plays especially receiving he's a very Shifty very Shifty running back um you're going to see some early pressure on this drive or sorry on this play not as much as the other play but a little bit he senses it he comes out he even thinks about throwing this ball one you think about it a little too late in my opinion like here's where you should be thinking about it if you understand what route he's on you should be throwing across the middle Patrick Queen was not ready for this you should have recognized this already you should be ready to throw it he's just a little too late uh and then the pressure is in his face so this is going to turn into a sack because obviously he's trying to prepare himself trying to plant or stop himself be ready to throw this football but he backs out of the decision um because he saw it a little too late and it's going to turn into a sack if you get sick easily look away because this play makes me nauseous watch how good the pass Pro is here from the Titan o line look at how much space Malik Willis has in the pocket he could be hitting the na right now hitting the douge in the pocket no one would touch him no one would see him because his pass Pro is so good okay before we see it though I'm switching the angle watch this again could be hitting the douge could be hitting the na he's got so much time so much space to work with in the pocket so much everything he's being given the whole world the whole world by his offensive line on this play he does make the right read in my opinion choono is the guy you want to go to here but again sorry I just need a second the way he throws the football the way his like your right leg's kind of changed man because watch chozi makako should not be throwing himself to the ground to try and catch this football that is not a very far throw Malik Willis that is a 15 yard throw and you are making it so hard for your receiver to get to that ball now imagine that's not a tight end imagine that's Jaden Reed imagine that's Christian Watson some pretty quick guys especially Christian Watson imagine you're trying to get it to him I don't think Malik Willis's arm can keep up with these very fast receivers or you know these significantly faster receivers than a tight end or Nick Westbrook a or whoever he's been throwing to recently I really don't think his arm is going to keep up especially if he can't fix his footwork if he can't fix his throwing motion I think this could be a recipe for disaster I just really don't like anything mik Willis does except run the football first and goal you need a touchdown to tie this game if I'm not mistaken or you need six points here in general Malik Willis you could do anything again you could do anything but take the sack here sacks are more detrimental than interceptions they are Drive Killers I care if you're at the 10 yard line they are Drive Killers Malik will is going to take one here I don't agree with it you had a decent amount of time to try and make anything happen roll out uh try and force a ball to you know one of your receivers which you know probably won't end well because it's the 2023 Tennessee Titans but instead you take a sack on first and goal halts all momentum in my opinion you can watch the rep tell me what you see here and then I'll tell you what I see one more time just in case you need it now I'm going to say something right now comparing Malle guis obviously to Lamar Jackson is extremely unfair but when it comes to Russian quarterbacks Lamar is a standard for who you want to watch who you want to study if you are a rushing quarterback in football ball Lamar Jackson if he looks at pressure he's gone he finds the nearest exit and disappears because he's fast guess who else is fast Malik Willis but the difference is when Malik Willis sees the pressure when he stares pressure directly in the face he gets lonely and clingy in the pocket and he wants a hug from the D lineman so he just stands there and takes the sack that's what happens here heel click heel click going through his reads that's good doesn't always do that looks directly at the pressure right before this looks directly at the pressure coming through just stands there just takes it basically and I get I really do get that he didn't have a whole lot of time to react but that's what you should be taking off right up the middle right now not looking back to your right seeing what's there walking a little bit to the right like just take off man take off or toss the football somewhere tried to make any play also not to be that guy but Tai Spears was abusing Patrick Queen on this drive I mean I keep pointing it out but like brother brother brother like geez Louise anyways go next play anyways do you want something positive about Malik Willis well I'll reimburse the fact that his legs are pretty good he's a strong guy pretty athletic but he's pretty stupid at times um you're going to see it again second down you just took a sack it's first or sorry second and goal and you need a touchdown okay well we're going to take another sack here because my name's Malle Willis and that's what I'm known for you can't make it up man you just can't make it up anyways I'm done torturing Packers fans we understand that his footwork is very sloppy he has a awkward throwing motion and obviously that's not the worst thing that's not the end of the world because there's some pretty good quarterbacks in the NFL now that have awkward throwing emotions in my opinion but the way he was around in the pocket the way he recognizes the way he recognizes pressure deals with pressure everything related to the pocket basically reminds me a lot of Daniel Jones and take that as you will that's a six-year NFL starter but it's also Daniel Jones I don't know if he's a top 32 quarterback in the NFL and Malik Willis is on his floor right now and that's not a great thing in my opinion I think he has upside still and maybe a change of scenery helps him out in Green Bay but I really just don't see the vision of mly GIS anymore even though he was my favorite player out of his respective draft class now the point of this video again was to just point out his Pros and cons and there's not a lot of Pros I mean he's strong he's fast that's about it and his cons list is obviously very strong but I wanted to point those out I wanted you know veteran NFL fans to be able to recognize hey you know you're right this is an issue with him but I wanted it to be easy to understand for new NFL fans as well or new football fans in general and I hope I did a good job at that if you did enjoy this video I would appreciate a like and a subscribe or just one that's fine and until next time hopefully it's not about mly Willis