Miami is becoming “QB U” again…with a modern flair. Once again, the portal has delivered an NFL draft declared QB from the heavens and drawn me out of my hole to profile them here. Carson Beck is this year’s portal gift and at just the right time. Miami has a glaring need for experience and security at the QB position and Beck offers both while we wait for a winner to emerge out of the Nickel, Williams, Anderson trio.
But how did he look on film? Follow along with me as we put Carson Beck under the
Upon Further Review microscope.
What Game Did I Choose:
I chose to focus on the Alabama-Georgia game for a few reasons; First, it is a big-time game when both teams were hyped. Second, it has All-22 broadcast available via Skycam. Third, he had some struggles in this game but rebounded, so we see the spectrum.
Game Film:
Alabama takes the kick and scores a TD. This impacts a road game like this by obviously amplifying things for the crowd and making it even more difficult on the QB. Defense has a typical 3 x 2 triangle coverage against the two-receiver set to boundary. Mike is tracking the RB to flats, single-high S is tracking both seam and field vertical routes. Beck goes through his reads to boundary and then gets back to his field read backside. If he throws that slant blindly, it’s a pick-6 by Mike, but he waits for the slot to clear behind that Mike and it’s a huge gain.
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This is an aside to Beck, but something you saw from Georgia receivers a lot was just a tendency to try and do far too much and leave yards on the field. This pass was perfect from Beck, and I have no idea why Lovett is trying to run horizontally here. Hit that seam and go. He truly runs right into the defender here and actually goes backwards from where he caught the ball. He’s not even tackled by the defender he’s running towards because he goes backwards and gets tackled by the CB. Get your foot in the ground and get upfield.
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I am going to break down quite a bit of Beck identifying and recognizing defenses because to me, that is why he is such a better prospect than maybe the general perception is of him. Quick glance at defense. Single-high, S buried on the boundary hash. Beck looks at his receiver and confirms the look. Motions the TE to other side to move #8 over the slot and shift the defense even further away from that matchup he wants.
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Friends, this is the human reenactment of the meme where the guy is sitting in his chair and then sits forward. This is pure bliss from a QB prospect in a huge spot. Dropped. He could not have walked down the field and placed the ball any better. You go from a 1st down in the red zone to 3rd-and-10. From the 28, two yards from far hash, to the opposite numbers, at the 19-yard line. ~58 yards in the air, on a dot. I could use the Pythagorean Theorem and get the exact yardage, but hopefully you’ll accept the rounded off number and keep it moving.
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This is a 3rd-and-6 here and he decides to again do with the deep throw outside. I get it because again you’ve got a matchup outside, but this time Alabama bails at the snap and changed the picture to get into a two-deep. Beck didn’t see it (it’s hard to see when your first read is boundary side). He completes this deep to #6, but he pushed off for OPI. He could’ve had this out route for the 1st down if he had seen the slot bail.
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Now you’re down 14-0 and it’s time to feel some nerves. On the road, rocking crowd, national television at night.
They roll the pocket on 1st down and flood the field side. Beck is reading that defender on the 30 here. If he gets depth to take away the middle layer, you dump it to the back. If he sinks to take back, you throw the middle layer, which is what happens here. It’s not a
perfect pass, but the receiver drops it again. Now, you’re 2nd-and-10 instead of a 1st down and moving again.
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The OC did a fantastic job in this game of taking the opportunity to run the ball on 2nd down most times that there was an incompletion on 1st down. What he did there, in doing so, was make every 3rd down as long as possible for his QB (this is sarcasm and criticism of the OC to be clear). Great job. Now you’re 3rd-and-8, down 14-0, in a crazy environment. He tries to check the play call here.
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His receiver doesn’t get the play call adjustment and doesn’t run the slip screen that Beck throws here. Friends, Beck checked into the right play call that is an easy 1st down. #4 gets the call because he is going to block that outside guy. This might have gone for a TD if the receiver breaks a tackle. Instead, it goes right to that defender that #4 is going to block and this is an interception. An example of excellent QB play resulting in an interception.
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The WR doesn’t make the adjustment that everyone else made. You can see the linemen released. They got the call. The slot is blocking. He got the call. WR didn’t. Pick. He gets that call and it’s a huge play. It was the perfect adjustment to the defense. Look at all the space.
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Something I’ve noticed already is how much Beck uses motion to identify clues from the defense and identify reads. This is a great skill and something I look for in my QB’s, but it will be something to look for when you translate a fit into Miami, which is a bit more RPO/Play-Action than it was motion based last year. It also means that Beck trusts his reads based on the information he gets and he could be prone to mistakes if the picture changes (such as we saw in the single-high morphing into two-high earlier in this game).
Here, he’s changing the play and using the motion to study the defense, as just another example of what I’m seeing from him in that regard. He pushes #6 & #7 to numbers on one side and then #8 to hash to field side. It gets to a light box and leads to a run of eight. Beck is asked to do a ton in this offense that most QB’s are not asked to do.
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This is a big play here. He goes to throw it and sees the DT get his hand up and pulls it down, but doesn’t reset his feet. I would’ve liked to see him just layer it over instead of pull it down and get off-balance. He misses his throw and they have to punt and you just can’t miss it. The RB could’ve caught it, but a good pass and it’s a huge gain and you keep the ball. (To be fair, Georgia had an OPI call and it wouldn’t have counted, but he didn’t know that at time)
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Alright, you’re down 28-0 at Alabama in a crowd losing their minds to barely start the 2nd quarter. Not ideal. Now you’re 3rd & 10. Not an easy way to live. Where do you go with the ball here? Your RT is getting worked as the protection slide was to the other side. Beck scrambles for nine and it’s 4th-and-1 that gets picked up by a run.
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A good example of how fans see wide open players that the QB doesn’t throw to. Beck is reading this play left-to-right. #1 furthest outside, #2 inside. That means if first read is open you throw it there. He’s open, but if you’re a fan watching broadcast copy you see #2 is wide open. Since #1 is open the QB isn’t even going to look to #2 before releasing the ball. It was caught for a 1st down, but was a meh throw that #86 made a nice catch on.
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Another not great throw here that should be caught. He’s got a WR running an out with a clearout deep outside. Beck puts it a bit behind, but you gotta catch the ball. I thought Beck came off #84 down the seam a bit quick.
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Running a Smash concept (my favorite) and you can see Beck is reading the defender on the 30. If he sinks, he takes #7, if he stays, he takes the corner route. This is an NFL throw all day long and was a seed.
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Gimme gimme more. Run it in for the score from there.
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Get the ball back off a turnover deep in own territory. Beck is called for one of the worst intentional grounding calls I’ve ever seen. Refs are starting to call passes that are far off from a completion, but often times the difference you’re seeing is a QB expecting it to be taken deep and a receiver breaking it off short etc. and that’s what happened in that instance.
The very first play of the game saw a very similar concept where the Mike was covering the flat and moved to open the slant window behind him. On this play, the Mike doesn’t take the flat and instead is jumping the slant to #6 (who I think runs this route poorly both times with far too much weight on his right leg, telegraphing the slant cut). Incomplete and could’ve been six. Beck predetermined this is where he was going the entire time and it was the wrong read.
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We go to the 2nd half with the score 30-7 and this one completely over on the road. Right?
Smash again and this is a misread. The outside defender sinks and he tries the corner when he had the whip/out on this one. He’s been getting pressured relentlessly over RT, who is having an awful game.
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This is the way plays go when you’re down 30-7 and facing 3rd-and-10. One blocker to take two as 55 messes up and 63 has to block two. Sack.
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This is a dart. Rolls to his right at snap again and he hits the TE in that soft spot.
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But as you expected. Dropped.
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Another 3rd-and-long, another pass rush breaking through. Where do you go with the ball? Checkdown or scramble. He scrambles and gets stopped just short. That defender eyeing him is watching both checkdown and QB run. They pick up the fourth on a dive.
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Beck is pressured again. Why does every route from Georgia seem like no one is looking at the QB? RT gets beat again, pushes him wide, QB steps up and takes off. Good technique by Beck to have two hands in pocket and shift ball away from the defender trying to swat it away.
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Huge play on a swing pass called back by WR hold. Putting them behind chains again after Beck had gotten you eight on first down. Then a false start and you’re backwards again.
3rd and 10 screen gets you seven and it’s another fourth down. I am telling you Georgia is putting everything on Beck. The whole game is on his shoulders in impossible spots.
Back pedaling to give him time as a defender is free, he throws a dime to an in-breaking receiver to pick it up.
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That’s what he sees as he lets it go. It’s an NFL level play.
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Great play by defense, but a wonderful throw into #86 just tipped.
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I’m not sure the world where this wasn’t called at least holding or pass interference. But another deep ball perfectly thrown that hits your receiver in the hands. Beck really likes to throw deep on 3rd down, mainly when he sees press man outside without a safety. That’s what is being talking about when you see “pre-snap” read. That’s almost always a first choice if a QB sees a look prior to the snap and doesn’t read anything else at that point but make the throw.
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Another fourth down. This time the slot defender grabs the slot receiver on the out-route and gets flagged. It would’ve been a completion without the grab. (Not pictured)
Little slip screen that #6 (Lovett) admittedly made a really nice run-after-catch on gets them into red zone. Beck throws that outside horizontal screen very well. Quick release, tall, velocity. Perfect for an Air-Raid system that utilizes this play as an extension of the run game. (Not pictured)
Beck catches Alabama trying to change the picture after-the-snap here and sees it early that he has the seam for a TD. Alabama tries to put a robber into that hook zone baiting Beck into a short throw but he sees it and gets the TD. You can call that wide-open, and it was. You can say Alabama messed up on the back-end there, and they did. But the QB has to see this quickly and Beck did.
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