Let's Not Forget About Notre Dame QB Drew Pyne
Written by Dave Beaudin
Why is Drew Pyne being somewhat dismissed from the QB1 discussion at Notre Dame?
The answer probably lies somewhere with those who view football through the “Underwear Olympics” lens.
Is he a weight room All-American? Does he have Lamar Jackson’s speed? Josh Allen’s arm or height? The answer to all of these is, of course, a simple ‘no.’ However, he obviously had enough physical traits to be a “take” for Notre Dame in the first place.
So, what does Pyne bring to the table? The answer is neither technical nor complex. Here is what Pyne does… He does the right thing.
And, not only does he do the right thing, he does so consistently, has proven to do so in big moments against top competition and was able to do so without the majority of first-team reps.
In my humble opinion, doing the right thing and decision-making is completely underrated and undervalued. Is it talked about? Sure, but very few properly value this trait at all levels, until they are burned by it. It’s not “sexy,” so as coaches, we are all guilty of leaning towards traits that are more eye-popping or eye-catching, while the consistent decision-maker (therefore consistent winner) sits by idly waiting his turn.
The irony here is Drew Pyne has some traits that do “pop,” as he can make all the essential throws while also making plays with his legs.
First, let’s look at the situations Pyne was thrust into. Did he play against any top competition? Only the #1 and #10 defenses in the country in Wisconsin and Cincinnati, respectively.
Big moments? Tied 10-10 in the 3rd quarter with the Irish offense struggling, Pyne entered the game and the Irish closed out with a 41-13 win. Sure, there were two defensive touchdowns and one on special teams for ND, but Pyne proved to be cool under less-than-ideal conditions for a young quarterback.
Oh, and he continued to just do the right thing.
Pyne then took the ball down 17-0 versus Cincinnati and made a real run at playing catch-up. Cool, calm, collected, and just did the next right thing.
Let’s take a look at some of this decision-making ability and how Drew Pyne made plays for the Irish.
Albeit a small sample size, the magnitude of the moments and situations involved, coupled with leading three touchdown drives in 3.5 quarters of play in these moments, lead me to at the very least pose the question: Shouldn’t we take a deeper look at Drew Pyne as ND’s signal-caller?
Let’s dive into some of the moments and plays Pyne had this year.
In his first called pass play of the season, Pyne makes something happen with his legs, as Wisconsin loses any edge. Pyne escapes to his right and shows great patience by waiting on Avery Davis to pop open late. Right away, Pyne shows he won’t panic and will wait for things to develop, even in scramble mode.
Next up, let’s take a look at Pyne on 1st-10.
He takes the snap from a 2X2, 12 personnel set. Wisconsin is showing a pretty basic 8-man front, 3 Deep defense. Arguably the #1 pass call against a simple Cover 3 is 4 verticals (possibly 2nd to Curl/Flat concept). While I recognize the outside receivers don’t run full verticals here, it is common to snap off their routes versus “soft” corners. Thus, this is still a 4-vertical concept for the Irish.
While difficult to see through this gif, Pyne stealthy and brilliantly works his eyes here. The free safety is rotating away and down the middle. Pyne astutely starts working the weak-side hash. In 4 verts, always work this side when available, simply for the easier throw.
Although it is only for a millisecond, Pyne looks off the free safety to take him away, and checks the tailback, which gets both weak side LB’s (inside and outside) to drive on the back. All of this results in no one carrying the seam route by Mayer. Pyne delivers a strike in rhythm and on time.
Simply just doing the right thing.
Next up, you can see more of Pyne using his eyes to manipulate a defense. The Irish come out in an empty set. Wisconsin is in a Quarter/Quarter/Half Coverage, meaning, the Badgers are Quarters to the field/3 WR side and Cover 2 to the boundary/2 WR side.
Wisconsin also runs an exchange blitz, by plugging the weak-side LB, taking the DT to loop for weakside contain and dropping the weak DE into coverage, as shown here: Pyne stays calm and in the pocket while taking his eyes, and therefore the middle LB, to the stick route by the #3 WR to the field. Pyne simply comes back to the inside skinny slant for the touchdown on the backside.
While this isn’t exactly the same as a full “stick” concept with double slants on the backside (or option routes on the backside), this is something another QB made a living out of with the New England Patriots for years. Oh, by the way, that guy wasn’t the sexiest player either (see TB12 Combine photo), but continued to always do the right thing.
Before I get everyone up in arms, I am in no way comparing Tom Brady to Drew Pyne. However, Brady was another classic case of sticking with the guy who moves the ball and wins you games, over the - in that case – rocket-of-an-arm QB.
Brady would throw stick out of empty repeatedly, forcing the middle LB to move out to cover it. Brady would then come back and torch defenses throwing to the backside #2 WR.
Something very similar pops up in the Cincinnati game. Take a look at Pyne right off the bat, after being inserted in a very difficult situation at home.
This one is a bit more complex as Cincy is throwing a simulated pressure (purists will argue the Bearcats do end up rushing 5) at Pyne.
The defense is an Odd Front, with all 3 LB’s mugged up and bluffing a blitz. This is a tough look versus an Empty set, as you need to account for 6 defenders rushing, with 5 to protect. The Irish pick this up masterfully and Pyne again sees a Cover 3 look, here Cincinnati rotates down on the weakside to create a 3-Deep/3-Under look.
Pyne again beautifully takes the middle LB to the stick route on the strong side. From here, he is able to read this weakside combination fast and get the ball out. Had the weak-side safety on the boundary side drove on the under route by Mayer, Pyne would have thrown an earhole shot to Kevin Austin.
This all happens in less than 3 seconds and the Irish are moving the football for virtually the first time all game.
Doing the right thing in a big way!
Next up, the Bearcats are again throwing a lot at Pyne. It can be argued as to what the original call was for the Cincy defense. However, I can tell you how it plays out.
The strong safety is rotating down and the free safety is rotating to the middle of the field. Initially, it looks like a typical 5-Man zone pressure which will again be 3-Deep/3- Under. However, the Bearcats do send a 6th rusher (Sam LB) on a delayed blitz, for a total of 6 rushers. My guess is he was responsible for the RB. Since the RB stayed in to protect, the Bearcats could bring the extra man.
Usually this would be some type of man coverage, but you can see the CB’s both zone-turn and the free safety free down the middle.
QB’s are often taught to throw “away from safety rotation.” This is not a cover-all for quarterbacks, but in its simplest form it is done, especially for quick game.
Pyne is able to recognize a lot here in a short amount of time. Remember, all of this movement is happening post-snap, therefore it has to be done in less than 4 seconds.
Pyne throws to the field here, actually to the rotation-side. This is because the rotating strong safety sticks with Mayer from a tight set, leaving plenty of space to the field side.
In whatever order, he was able to see and process safety rotations, Mayer being covered, CB’s bailing and zone turning - all after the snap!
Pyne’s ball dies a little here to the long speed-out throw. This can be attributed to him using a little too much of his body to get it out (an argument for a lack of elite arm strength, maybe) or simply that the pocket was collapsing and it is the best he can do. It is probably the latter, but in all honesty - who cares? The ball gets to the right spot when needed, netting in a nice first-down game on a simple speed-out.
Once again, just doing the right thing.
Much like all quarterbacks, there cannot be perfection. Here, Pyne and the Irish don’t connect on a key 3rd & 5.
While this is incomplete, it has nothing to do with the decision to throw this or any lack of physical abilities. In my opinion, it is a simple technical correction.
The Bearcats play man-free coverage here, but only rush 4 with the 2 ILB’s zoned up and possibly going to “banjo” the back (whichever side he releases, the LB to that side would take him).
Pyne is smart to go to the field if he plans on throwing the slant, gives him more room to work with. He can take the slot fade against this coverage, but it is a lesser-percentage throw on a conversion down.
In my opinion, if Pyne hangs on the inside ball of his back foot here, the slant throw comes out a split-second sooner and is possibly a completion. Because he does not, you can see him drop his weight at the last second to make the throw, therefore having to try and fit it in before the LB makes the big hit. This half-second could possibly be the difference between a crucial first down or not.
The good thing on this is once again, it is a great decision and it is something that can easily be coached and is fixable.
Much like this next play. Pyne wants to create more of a QB/RB mesh by riding this with two hands.
It works out anyhow and Pyne actually fixes this later in the game, but it is something that will not only help the RB and run game in general, but also help him in play action passes and RPO’s.
With everything being thrown at you in a big-time game, small details like this don’t tend to be a priority. But they will come with experience and repetitions. Once again, this is a coachable and easily fixable item.
Back to the many positives, here is 2nd & 2 and Pyne takes the “Gift” route on a called mesh concept.
This is another great example of Pyne not waiting on the Mesh to develop against another zone blitz from Cincinnati, but rather takes the easy hitch on time to Mayer with a corner bailing to the field.
There is genius in simplicity. Take what they give you and continue to just do the next right thing.
Even in a small sample size, you can see that this is a tale as old as time. As coaches, at every level, we see quarterbacks in non-contact work over 95 percent of the time throughout the year, whether it is drills, 7v7, workouts, meetings, film, and even via practice team periods.
It’s easy to forget the QB who simply gets things done when it matters, runs the show, leads, makes great decisions, gets into the right play or protection, correct checks, and more.
Despite all of this, the QB’s who do these things keep having success over and over again at every level.
I wrote this not as a knock or condemnation of any other quarterback on Notre Dame’s roster. Rather, I wanted to point out that we should not forget about the guy who continues to do the right thing! In my experience, that guy is too often overlooked and I won’t be making the mistake of overlooking Drew Pyne.