Sam Bradford’s 14 Interceptions in 2015

Sam Bradford threw 14 interceptions during the 2015 regular season. In this series, we will take a look at some of these plays and determine what caused them. In my previous article, we took a look at his 19 touchdowns continuing with the quarterback touchdown-interception series this off-season.

Before I begin, this article is split into two pages. The first page is a detailed stat breakdown. The second page is a closer look at some of his interceptions using All-22 film. Please take a look at the other articles I have written about the Philadelphia Eagles during the season.

Interceptions by Distance

First, we will take a look at his interceptions by distance. Note: This chart is created by my tracking of the distance from the line of scrimmage to the actual interception location and should relate directly to the following table. 

Interception Location

The next table breaks down more accurately where the ball was thrown using the same yardage designations as above. 

Interceptions by Quarter

The following table breaks down his interceptions by quarter. 

Intended Target on Interception

Here are the intended recipients of his passes that were intercepted during the 2015 season. Note: This does not designate fault. 

Interceptions by Route

The next table breaks down the interceptions by route thrown. Similar routes were combined together based on the distance and type of pass. 

Interception Blame Game

The final table looks at the blame for each interception he threw during the 2015 season.

Note: This is obviously subjective, however there are clearly cases where it’s 100% the fault of the quarterback. For example, when he throws it to the wrong team thinking it’s his own receiver (the “Matt Ryan” - seen here) or he throws it deep hoping for a miracle while unleashing the dragon (the “Rex Grossman“).

Conversely, there are times when the quarterback is not at fault. For example, the ball is perfectly thrown, but it bounces out of the hands of the receiver into a defender’s hands. For the plays that could not be definitely assigned to just the quarterback, I assigned them to the “partially at fault” category. 

On the next page we will take a look at a few of his interceptions to illustrate what caused them and what he can do better in the future. These plays were selected based on: (1) the general trend of his mistakes, (2) an incredible defensive play that I wanted to analyze further, and (3) the hilarity of the interception.

Forcing the Football to Zach Ertz

The first play we’ll look at was Bradford’s first interception of the season. This was against the Falcons in Week 1. It’s first and 10 on Philadelphia’s 20. Atlanta is leading the Eagles 13-3 with one minute left in the second quarter.

The Eagles have 11-personnel on the field (1 RB - 1 TE - 3 WR) and line up in shotgun trips right. The Falcons have two safeties on the field with the free safety deep hovering towards the right side while strong safety #25 William Moore is at the top of the box anticipating a potential run play.

After the snap, Sam Bradford locates the deep safety and then moves onto his first read with tight end (#86) Zach Ertz running a deep hitch route inside of the left numbers.

The Falcons drop into Cover 3 where the linebacker lining up across the tight end runs to the flat, while Moore stays on the left hashmarks reading the quarterback. Upfront the Falcons run an end-tackle stunt looping Grady Jarrett around the left tackle who misses the stunt altogether. In under three seconds, Jarrett crashes on Bradford tackling him the backfield right after he releases the football.

First, this was awful offensive line protection by Eagles’ left tackle #71 Jason Peters. Second, Sam Bradford completely misses Moore dropping into his hook/curl responsibility over the middle forcing the ball to Ertz. He should have held the ball and taken the sack at the very least.

Another instance of this happened versus the Cowboys in Week 2. After the snap, Bradford targets Ertz on a drag route in the back of the endzone. Ertz attempts to slip Cowboys’ inside linebacker Sean Lee but is not successful. Bradford stares down Ertz and throws the ball behind him right into the lap of Lee. Terrible decision and throw.

Inaccuracy Caused Three Interceptions

The most egregious example of a poorly thrown football came four weeks later when the Eagles faced the New York Giants at home. The game log claims Bradford was targeting Riley Cooper, but I’ll show you why I think they are mistaken.

It’s first and 10 on the Giants’ 49-yard line. The Eagles run a flood concept to the left side of the field. Riley Cooper runs an inside breaking go-route, Zach Ertz runs a deep crossing route, and running back #43 Darren Sproles runs to the left flat. This sets up a three level read with Riley Cooper being Bradford’s first read and where the ball should have gone.

Instead, Bradford’s pass splits the difference between Ertz and Cooper and falls into the hands of Giants’ #28 Jayron Hosley.

Based on the endzone view in the play below, I don’t think Bradford had enough arc on the football, as compared to some of his touchdown passes, to get it to Cooper. This is why I think the ball is actually intended for Ertz on the sideline but it slips out instead. Or maybe this was a simple case of Bradford holding the “X” button a bit too long causing the bullet pass…Who knows? Either way, the important thing to note is that this interception was definitely on Bradford.

Later in the same game, Sam Bradford attempts to pass the ball to Zach Ertz on his corner route, but he leaves the ball too far inside allowing Landon Collins to make a play on it.

Going back a week, the Eagles faced the New Orleans Saints at home. Sam Bradford and the Eagles drove down the field getting into the redzone by the end of the first quarter. The Saints put seven in the box to stop the run, leaving cornerback #40 Delvin Breaux in man-to-man coverage versus Miles Austin.

Austin takes a hard step to his right, then sprints on his go route to the endzone. Breaux is on the outside and cuts underneath the path of the throw for the interception making a diving catch into the endzone.

First, this was an incredible defensive play by the cornerback put in a difficult situation. Second, the fake handoff to the running back slowed Bradford’s rhythm losing the initial edge Austin had at the start of his route. The only way I see this play working is if Bradford lobs the football to the back of the endzone allowing Austin to use his superior height and size to fight for the football.

In summary, I give a lot of credit to Breaux. In an ideal world from Bradford’s perspective, you have to hope that Breaux at best deflects the pass rather than completely intercepting it.

The interceptions that weren’t Sam Bradford’s fault were due to Jordan Matthews dropping two passes, Brent Celek dropping one, and a deflection at the line of scrimmage, which I attribute to a good defensive performance as opposed to a mistake on Bradford’s part.

Looking at trends, ten of Bradford’s interceptions came in the first half of the season, while he only had four after Week 10. Bradford did not play for two weeks due to injury in the second half of the season, but he looked more comfortable in the offense as the season progressed.

In order to be successful in a west coast offense that Doug Pederson will bring to the Eagles this season, a quarterback has to be a quick decision maker and accurate in the short and medium routes. I think Sam Bradford is a good fit for this offense, but he needs consistent game time to keep getting better. Will he stay healthy for a full season? That’s the question that has haunted his development, since he entered the NFL in 2010 and a major reason why the Eagles traded up to draft Carson Wentz.

Follow Samuel Gold on Twitter: @SamuelRGold.