Except that those drops stats are total B.S.
Listen, at the end of the day I am a Packers fan and I don't wish ill of any players and I don't want to talk negatively about our players. I want to see WINS and I would rather praise their good deeds that highlight their bad deeds....BUT...
Finley has a lot more drops than 5. I am sure Nelson has more than 6 too. I actually like Finely as player. That being said his drops resonate more with me than anyone else because they are just so... obvious I guess. I don't know how this statisticians come up with a number of 5. They must have a very strict criteria for what counts as a drop because for multiple games in a row Finley dropped at least 2-3 passes. I mean the ball is coming in and he either misses it, or it hits him in the hands and falls incomplete or SOMETHING. I am thinking the real number of drops is somewhere around 8 or 9. If I could go back and rewatch all the games I would, then I would count all the drops for EVERYONE.
As I mentioned earlier, these statisticians must be counting balls that came into the receiver, smacked his hands, and fell incomplete. I however, count balls that should have been caught that weren't. I am talking balls that hit the receiver and weren't caught, or balls that went THROUGH the hands, not off the hands.
Also, I am not just picking on Finley, because I really like Finley as a player and his abilities and most of all his potential. I hope that he turns into a Tony Gonzalez or a Kellen Winslow Sr. type of Tight End for us. I am just using him as an example because he has the highest drop % and I remember yelling his name most of all.
You're partly right and partly wrong, I think.
STATS, LLC probably uses a lenient criteria...something you might call an incontestable drop. They probably don't count anything where there is defender contact, a tipped ball, a fingertip miss...something like not making a routine catch for an average NFL receiver. PFF seems to be a tougher grader, though they don't publish for free stats on a weekly basis for us to compare. I would not be surprised if they counted 8 or 9 as you say.
Here's the thing. I don't think STATS, LLC is cutting Finley any special breaks. They would use the same measure for Finley and Nelson, or Jimmy Graham for the matter who leads the league in drops by their count and has a higher drop rate than Finley.
Maybe I'm biased having played WR (but I don't think so since I also played some QB and DB), but there have been several Finley "drops" roundly b*tched about on this board that I would never count as drops...defender contact or laid out with ground contact. I recall one that drew particular ire...a laid out attempt that was a difficult catch. Driver hasn't laid out for a ball since 2009...can't blame him...he's old...but the fact remains.
If you see a ball, if caught, that gets you to say "great catch", then if he misses it you shouldn't call it a drop.
Here's the problem. Everybody wants Finley to shut up about how great he is/will be. But then they go ahead and apply Finley's standard to what they see, even though they didn't want to hear it in the first place!? I can understand why that happens, but it doesn't have anything to do with what actually happens on the field.
Has Finley dropped too many balls? Sure. But he doesn't "suck". Overpaid? Yes, if he doesn't turn it around and MM and Rodgers keep him buried deep in the progressions.
One thing you can be sure of...if they don't throw Finley the ball more, he will be gone regardless of any drops or great catches. You just don't pay a guy that kind of money and keep him on diminished targets. Right now, I'd say Finley's 100% correct in saying that Cobb is getting his routes. I don't see what might change that, but with defenses taking away the wideouts with cover 2, maybe something could be done.
