Rookie QBs in preseason aren’t going to be pretty and I’m not going to pretend that this is going to be an article of pretty throws. It’s going to be a messy article full of overanalyzing tiny errors to point out where Bryce Petty needs to improve in the future. Most of the issues we’ll see here will likely not be there when he sees the field again next year in preseason but it’s fun to see just how much he needs in order to turn into an NFL capable player.

There’s far less Bryce Petty plays to look at this week, but we’re still going to focus on the ones that show some actual information worth digesting even though I will be posting all the throws. The Giants showed mostly man coverage and Petty at least for most of this preseason, has stuck to playing it extremely safe. Part of that has been the Jets scheming short throws and rollouts as his main plays, the other has been Petty immediately locking onto short routes and taking them without reading his progression.

Target Distribution by Distance

Outside Left Numbers Left Middle Numbers Right Outside Right 30+ X 20-29 10-19 C 1-9 X X CC Behind LOS C C

1st and 10 at NYJ 33 (9:35) (Shotgun) B.Petty pass short right to D.Posey to NYJ 35 for 2 yards (U.Unga, B.Meriweather).

2nd and 8 at NYJ 35 (8:48) B.Petty pass short right to W.Saxton to NYJ 38 for 3 yards (Co.Taylor).

Jets are in a 2×1 I formation set. Giants are showing cover-1 man on the pre-snap.

I’m just pointing this play out again because it’s something that the Jets have done with Petty since week 1. It’s been a staple of getting him comfortable, and he’s gotten better since week 1 at throwing this on the move, on target, and being consistent with it. It’s the same vertical level read, there’s Saxton underneath and then anther player further down that we can’t see running a dig.

3rd and 5 at NYJ 38 (8:11) (Shotgun) B.Petty pass incomplete short left to D.Posey.

Jets are in a 2×2 shotgun set. Giants show cover-2 man on the pre-snap. The man in motion helps make that obvious, but the stance and alignment of the CBs is another big tell.

Bryce Petty’s footwork took a step back on this play. In preseason week 2 against the Atlanta Falcons, Petty showed a lot of good timing and synced up drops. This play is so obviously off, you can tell that Petty has pre-decided this throw from the way he’s immediately taking one step, waiting, and looking right at the player he ends up targeting the whole way through while just bouncing around.

Petty’s feet enter a weird stance as he’s getting ready to throw, going from being in-line with each other, to them suddenly being side by side, kind of opening his hips. That weird stance could be what’s contributing to his bad accuracy here.

3rd and 5 at NYJ 24 (:14) (Shotgun) B.Petty sacked at NYJ 16 for -8 yards (Co.Taylor).

Jets are in a 3×1 shotgun set. Giants are showing cover-0 on the pre-snap, but adjust just as Petty is ready to snap into a cover-1 man blitz with 5 players rushing.

There’s only two options on this play, a quick throw (the slot receiver closer to the line of scrimmage is running a quick hitch and the other slot is running a quick out) or throwing this away. Although Petty has 6 blockers on 5 rushers, the Giants send all three of the lineman on the left side crashing towards the right, moving the entire line in that direction- opening the outside for the safety and ILB that’s coming around. The RB has a rough decision to make here, players are coached to always take the inside rusher first and in this case, that’s what he’s doing, but the time difference between the ILB and safety is far enough that maybe he should have taken the safety.

This is one where Petty has to make a decision instead of just waiting, but he doesn’t.

1st and 10 at NYJ 15 (13:52) B.Petty pass deep middle to D.Posey to NYJ 39 for 24 yards (J.Hosley).

Jets are in a 3×0 I formation set that they turn into a 2×0. Giants are showing a cover-2 zone on the pre-snap, but the rotating safeties are usually a huge tip off that this is cover-3.

It’s really unfortunate that we don’t get to see the full view, but from what it looks like- one of the ILB takes too deep a drop assuming that Posey’s route is actually turning into a post or vertical, but it’s a deep in. Because of the LB backing up, there’s a huge throwing lane opened for Petty to hit this throw that’s normally not there when facing a cover-3.

Petty’s play action is done well, it doesn’t hit the stomach of the RB but that looks more like because the RB is hurrying up to help on the outside rusher. One thing to note is that Petty is stepping up in the pocket as he’s getting ready to throw, but you want to see him get even further up into the pocket instead of just taking those small steps the way he does. For one, it’ll put more space between him and that rusher, and secondly it lessens the distance the ball has to travel.

1st and 20 at NYJ 29 (12:55) B.Petty pass incomplete deep right to S.Evans.

The Jets are in a 1×1 I formation set. The Giants are showing cover-1 man with 6 potential rushers coming up to the line.

The play call does all the work here for Petty to escape a pocket full of rushers, so all Petty really has to do is reset once he makes his decision and throw an accurate ball, whether that’s out of bounds or at a player. He does neither. Petty’s throwing from an incredibly wide stance (his feet aren’t even close to being underneath his shoulders the moment he throws) and it almost looks like he’s throwing entirely with his arm with none of his body underneath him.

Petty had issues resetting last week too, it’s something that’s going to have to be coached into him.

2nd and 20 at NYJ 29 (12:43) (Shotgun) B.Petty pass incomplete short right to Z.Stacy. Penalty on NYJ-D.Posey, Offensive Pass Interference, declined.

3rd and 20 at NYJ 29 (12:39) (Shotgun) B.Petty pass short middle to D.Posey to NYJ 37 for 8 yards (T.Wade).

There isn’t anything to really say about this play, but it’s worth making clear that this play looks like a downfield screen and it’s not just Petty checking down on 3rd and 20. Watch how the RB heads up the field and blocks a man without ever waiting for the ball to get caught.

3rd and 3 at NYG 49 (3:23) (Shotgun) B.Petty pass short left to D.Posey to NYG 44 for 5 yards (Co.Taylor, U.Unga).

There wasn’t much to see this week with Petty, he obviously only saw a few meaningful passes. This preseason has shown some flashes of Petty’s arm skill and smart throwing potential but overall it’s been a story of his lacking ability to go through reads (I believe in the three games so far, Petty’s never gone off his first read), a lot of mechanical questions involving resetting and the wide stance he has, and my most hated of all: his issues with overexcitement causing horrible accuracy. Petty was drafted as a project and so far he’s shown to be exactly that.