From Jerry Rice in 1995 to Johnson in 2012, fans have witnessed countless colorful and gorgeous seasons of receiving. Every time an outsider breaks a single-season catch record, he can keep the record for many years.
This season, Matthew Stafford and Cooper Karp not only ended up in the Super Bowl, but in fact nearly broke the nearly decade-old record for the number of yards for receiving the ball.
The versatility of the rugby position is that Tyrek Hill and DK Metcalf are both external receivers, but the body type and the style of play are very different. There is no single path to success for the receiver, some are good at catching the ball and advancing, such as Dibo Samuel, while others are good at aerial work, such as Mike Williams. And then there's Taylor Lockett, who might be able to grab a piano that falls from the sky.
However, some of the receivers have all-round qualities: the ability to catch the ball, the route running and the number of yards after receiving the ball, such as Cooper Karp this season. However, having these skills is not enough to cause a sensation. When you meet and team up with a great quarterback, greatness like the 2021 season will come.
The division match against the Pirates was one of the best matches for the two.
The attack above perfectly demonstrates Karp's all-round ability to catch the ball, as well as Stafford's perfect long-pass accuracy. Even after receiving the ball, you can use the security guard that changes direction over the bottom of the pocket.
Some pass combinations have good efficiency, but not every game has a good performance. Stafford and Karp performed well even with a large sample.
Karp has 32 percent of the team's passing percentage, the league's number one. It's worth noting that DJ Moore is third on this list, despite the average level of quarterbacks who give him passes. And good receivers like Hunter Renfrew and Mike Evans deserve more firepower.
Like a running back, as the season progressed stronger, the link between Stafford and Karp never wavered in all 17 games of the season. While others are supposed to wear and tear later in the season, the Rams duo remains elite throughout the season.
Stafford and Karp never slowed down, and other pass combinations always came to a halt: every additional pass was not completed, the EPA fell. Mahomes and Cheetah Hill are another great pair of connections this season.
In addition, Sean McVeigh's ingenious design in the attack also paved the way for the two.
The above GIF, Xiaobei ran from the slot to stafford before kicking off, which seemed to be a short pass to Xiaobei, attracting a lot of defensive attention, making Cap open the door on the Wheel route, which was McVeigh's biggest help to the two.
In addition, part of the reason why they were able to achieve great success in large sample sizes was that they were able to solve problems frequently in three gears.
We can see from the EPA data that Karp is the big devil in three gears, especially when it comes to 6 to 10 yards from the first attack.
What is Karp's third gear in the league:
The red circle indicates Cap, but the most striking figure above is Dibo Samuel directly above.
His ability to push after receiving the ball is unmatched by anyone else, but he's only average in the three EPA. Karp is excellent in the EPA in three gears and the receiver's propulsion ability, so he is in the first quadrant in the top right corner. His catch was 3 yards above average, while the EPA in three gears was twice the average. Because of his huge sample size, this means that he can resolve various three-gear situations.
So, what situation is Karp best at defusing?
As can be seen from the red circle in the picture above, the highest efficiency of Karp is about two gears, and the distance is about 8.5 yards. It is reasonable to assume that players in more difficult situations may perform less well on the datasheet. For a player like KJ Osborne (top right corner), it wouldn't be more successful to have him deflect longer yards in second and third gears.
In the above GIF, we can still see the perfect cooperation and efficient operation of McVeigh and this transfer combination. They needed three gears of conversion, and the duo also crossed the first line. They've actually broken down their characters into a science, and their chemistry has come close to perfection, so with each additional fit, the connection between them only gets better.
When we talk about receivers getting empty spots and pushing forward after finishing the catch, no one does a better job than Karp (top right corner). Samuel and Jamal Chase, who are also in the first quadrant, are also excellent because they also have a good number of yards after receiving the ball, but they can't create a catch space like Karp, which highlights their ability to squeeze out yards after receiving the ball.
The receiver's pass rate is high, which doesn't necessarily mean he has a high share of first readings at quarterback, as in the chart below.
Karp's (red circle) EPA in Stafford's first reading was very successful, but it was equally outstanding in the second reading. This means that it doesn't matter if Karp doesn't read for the first time at Stafford, he can always let Stafford find himself in subsequent readings. Another great receiver, Davante Adams, is in the fourth quadrant above, and his first reading of the EPA is much higher than that of the second reading, which means that he has performed well in the set attack, but may not be able to attract the attention of Brother Long after reading multiple times. Of course, this may be because he is not listed in the slot as often as Karp, but it is also telling.
This prompted us to do our research again to see how efficient Karp was at each position.
In line with our impression stream, Caprie's destructive power in the slot is strong enough, and it is definitely the top of the league. However, when he is listed on the left side of the formation, the efficiency is extremely low. In the past few playoff games, Karp's highlight moments have basically come from the opportunities he ran out of slots and on the right.
Create a composite score
Creating composite scores is one of the ways to comprehensively assess the transmission lines, we consider their combined abilities and synthetic data in all dimensions, and score them overall.
A series of data such as the number of yards and EPA after receiving the ball are also comprehensively considered, and finally a data chart with a full score of 100 is made, as follows:
If you're still skeptical, the image above should make it clear to you: Stafford and Karp are the best pass combination of the season, followed by Rogers and Adams. Both are over 98 points in three dimensions, which is incredible. Equally interesting, Full Class and Kendrick Born are third on this list, something that many people didn't expect. Due to the high EPA of the connection between them, they eventually came in third. In addition, you can see that Boro and the three main battle receivers are all in the top 20, which shows the ability of the three external receivers.
conclusion
We've seen how incredible the connection between Stafford and Karp is. Their range throughout the season is unmatched by other teams.
The Rams' destructive power in third gear is really terrible, with a third gear conversion rate of 45% the fifth highest in the league, largely thanks to Stafford and Karp, of course, without McVeigh's tactical design can not be completed.
Can this pair of connections be so outstanding in history?
There is no doubt that since 2006, the Rams pair have been the first to be efficient this season, and the standard lines of Stafford and Wei Zhentian, Matt Lane and Julio Jones have also soared.
Super Bowl LVI uploaded to Karp 10 passes 8 92 yards 2 touchdown, overpowered Aaron Donald to become Super Bowl MVP, and three days ago became the third OPOY-honored receiver in history, Karp's achievements this season are great enough, the only question that is difficult to answer and unanswerable is, if Stafford came to the Rams earlier, would Karp's peak come sooner?