Georgia Football: Bulldog offense is feeling The Daniels Effect

Georgia football’s offense is feeling the benefits of The Daniels Effect.

Georgia football’s offense sputtered through the first six weeks of the season. However, since JT Daniels has taken over at quarterback the offense has done a complete 180. One of the main reasons for that is Daniels gives the offense a legit passing threat. When you have a balanced offense the defense can’t just focus on one element and it makes the entire unit better.

The major thing Georgia football’s offense was missing at quarterback was accuracy. Daniels’ accuracy is a huge upgrade over the quarterbacks that started before him. Out of Daniels’ 54 passing attempts only seven have been deemed uncatchable by SECstatcat.com. That is just 13 percent of his throws. By comparison, 23 percent of Stetson Bennett‘s passing attempts were uncatchable and 40 percent of D’Wan Mathis‘ passes were uncatchable.

It is not just Daniels’ accuracy that makes him a better quarterback than Bennet and Mathis though. A quarterback’s ability to process what he is seeing is something that gets lost in the more glamorous stats a lot of the time. Daniels is processing a bit faster than the other two. This is shown in his average of 2.20 seconds between the snap and getting the ball out.

Bennett averaged 2.25 seconds and Mathis averaged 2.75 seconds. This ability to see things and get the ball out of your hand usually leads to fewer sacks on a quarterback,  however, that hasn’t been the case for Daniels. He has dropped back 54 times and been sacked five times. Now, that could just be because he is rusty, but Bennett was sacked four times in 147 dropbacks while Mathis was sacked five times in 40 dropbacks.

Daniels did show some mobility in the pocket against South Carolina, so maybe Daniels is still getting to where he can trust his knee and that is why he is unable to avoid defenders in the pocket at the moment. Another thing he can be better about is throwing the ball away. In his 54 passing attempts, only one was a throwaway to avoid a sack.

However, surely Kirby Smart would take a few more sacks from Daniels in exchange for him not turning the ball over. Daniels has thrown just one interception this season and it wasn’t even his fault. The receiver he targeted juggled the ball and the defender caught it on the deflection. This is far and away better than the nine combined interceptions Bennett and Mathis have thrown on the year.

Before Georgia football’s passing attack finally got rolling defenses were keying in on their running game and daring their quarterbacks to beat them with their arm. This strategy stimied Georgia’s running attack for most of the season. In fact, as a team, Georgia only ran for over 200 yards in two games before Daniels took over. In just Daniels’ second game at quarterback, they rushed for over 300.

This is the Daniels Effect. Georgia now has a legit quarterback and the entire offense is feasting. Before Daniels took over at quarterback Georgia football’s offense was averaging 383 yards a game and 5.42 yards per play. Enter Daniels and Georgia’s offense is averaging 440 yards a game and 7.15 yards per play.

Now, you could say “but that was against Mississippi State and South Carolina.” True, it has been, however, Arkansas is giving up 452.7 yards a game, and Georgia’s offense only wracked up 387 yards on them. Kentucky is giving up 387 yards a game, and Georgia’s offense only put up 346 yards on them. Florida’s defense is giving up 381 yards a game and Georgia’s offense only put up 277 yards on them.

So the weak competition excuse doesn’t hold any water. The fact is, Georgia football’s offense is just simply better with Daniels at the helm. Todd Monken finally has a quarterback that compliments his playcalling and it has this offense hitting, nearly, on all cylinders. This Bulldog offense is definitely feeling The Daniels Effect and it’s an exciting thing to watch.