ISD Debate Club: Red Zone Dilemma
Welcome to the ISD Debate Club!
Everybody loves a good sports debate (just look how many comments there are each time LeBron vs Jordan comes up on the board). With that in mind, we’re hoping to have some fun arguments about past Notre Dame players, teams, and scenarios.
We’re kicking it off with a hypothetical about situational football and two former Irish greats that are amongst the best to ever play their respective positions for the program.
Miles Boykin made one of the greatest catches I have ever seen when he scored the eventual game-winning touchdown against LSU in the Citrus Bowl. He followed that up with a spring that saw him emerge as the top receiving target on the team. It has taken him longer than some expected, but he finally looks like matchup nightmare a 6’4” 227 pound athlete should be on the outside.
This fall he’ll get to prove whether or not he can do it consistently. He should be given every opportunity to do so with numerous 50/50 balls directed his way. He could very well end up being the red zone target that Equanimeous St. Brown and Corey Robinson were supposed to be.
While those two flashed some great ability at times, they never came close to producing the spectacular grabs in traffic that Michael Floyd and Tyler Eifert did. Floyd and Eifert were special. They were first round picks for a reasons and in a class of their own during the Brian Kelly era when it came to making improbable catches.
It’s almost hard to believe that those two were stars on the same team back in 2011. Floyd finished that season with 100 catches for 1,147 yards and 9 touchdowns. Eifert put 63 for 803 and 5 touchdowns. Those numbers don’t even do justice to how good they actually were either.
Despite the issues at quarterback, those two made the Irish offense exponentially better in the red zone in 2011 too. Notre Dame was 28th in touchdown percentage that year. In 2010, 2012, and 2013 the offense was 87th, 112th, and 100th in that category. (You probably didn’t need math to prove to you that Floyd and Eifert can make your offense significantly better at scoring touchdowns in the red zone, but there it is in case you did.)
If Tommy Rees was throwing up a pass to Floyd or Eifert in the end zone, they were going to come down with the football more often than not. But if you had to choose just one to throw the ball to, who would it be?
This is the question for the first session of the ISD Debate Club: if it’s 3rd and goal and you had to throw it up to one player to make a play, would it be Eifert or Floyd?
The case for Floyd
21 touchdowns in his final two seasons says a lot. A catch like this where he adjusts to a ridiculously inaccurate ball with a one-handed grab says more.
Things haven’t worked out for him in the NFL as expected, but Floyd was on a higher plane of existence at Notre Dame. No matter who the quarterback was, he made plays. It’s easy to forget how great he really was because fans were just spoiled with a gamebreaker like Will Fuller more recently, but Floyd was spectacular in a different way.
For one, if he caught the ball short of the goal line, he’d probably run through a tackle or two to get into the end zone. Two, he would win battles for the football that he shouldn’t have all the time.
This fade that wasn’t really a fade is Exhibit A.
He’d leap over defenders. He boxed out corners using his big body to gain a favorable position. He seemed to absorb just about every ball that was thrown his way. He was one of the toughest players to cover in college football, especially in the red zone.
The case for Eifert
The touchdown numbers (only 11 total in his career) don’t accurately reflect how terrific Eifert was. If anything it shows that he should have been given more opportunities and better quarterback play could have made a big difference in his production.
The film doesn’t lie. Eifert had special ball skills. I don’t recall any player being better at holding on to the football while fighting through contact. This is a ball that so many receivers drop (and kudos to Rees for fitting in this throw).
With Eifert, it just seemed like it would be an automatic that he would still have the ball despite the distractions around him.
He could go over top of defenders like on this remarkable catch between the corner and safety against Stanford in 2012.
Eifert knew how to push off and gain separation when it mattered too. That’s how he was able to get away from future 1st round pick Kevin Johnson against Wake Forest on this grab.
Too athletic for most linebackers and too big for most corners, he was an enormous talent and nightmare for defenses who tried to cover him one on one.
The choice: Floyd
There is no wrong answer here. These are two great players that any quarterback would love to have as options when they need to get six instead of three. However, Floyd would be my guy because they can get the ball to him in more ways than Eifert. Or at least get the ball to him a better chance to score in multiple ways.
Both of them can go up and get it. Both can use body position to box out defenders in coverage. Floyd has the edge because he was a consistent tackle breaker after the catch. They can throw a hitch to him and he can still get in like he does here.
They can throw a slant, hit him four yards short of the line, and he can carry a corner into the end zone. He will run past or run through a defensive back to get it done in a way that not many others could. He may not have wanted it more than any other players, but it sure looked like he did whenever he touched the ball.
If it’s 3rd and goal and the game is on the line, Floyd is the receiver I’m calling a play for.