Josh Gordon put up great numbers last year, and he’s really going to miss offensive coordinator Norv Turner.
Right?
It was Norv Turner’s play design and philosophy that helped to make Gordon a breakout player. And that might all be lost with a new regime moving in.
That’s the theory anyway.
But as I am flipping through the numbers, I am surprised to see that while Gordon had a great overall season last year (and he was incredible) he was remarkably ineffective when the team was close to the end zone.
When the Browns were inside the 10 last year, they threw 11 passes to Gordon. He was the intended target on 11 throws. And he caught only 1 of those balls.
Seventy players around the league saw at least 6 pass attempts in that part of the field, and all of them caught a higher percentage of balls than Gordon in that part of the field.
Hmm.
Here’s the chart showing the guys with at least 10 attempts. On the touchdowns, those aren’t actually touchdowns but scores (touchdowns plus 2-point conversions, which are like touchdowns for studying purposes).
| RECEIVING INSIDE 10 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Team | Player | No | Att | Pct | TD |
| 1. | S.D. | Danny Woodhead | 10 | 12 | 83% | 3 |
| 2. | Balt. | Marlon Brown | 8 | 11 | 73% | 6 |
| 3. | N.E. | Julian Edelman | 8 | 11 | 73% | 6 |
| 4. | Den. | Wes Welker | 10 | 15 | 67% | 8 |
| 5. | Pitt. | Emmanuel Sanders | 7 | 11 | 64% | 5 |
| 6. | Chi. | Brandon Marshall | 10 | 16 | 63% | 9 |
| 7. | Dall. | Dez Bryant | 11 | 18 | 61% | 9 |
| 8. | Pitt. | Jerricho Cotchery | 6 | 10 | 60% | 6 |
| 9. | N.O. | Jimmy Graham | 10 | 17 | 59% | 8 |
| 10. | Hou. | Andre Johnson | 6 | 11 | 55% | 3 |
| 11. | Clev. | Jordan Cameron | 6 | 11 | 55% | 5 |
| 12. | Dall. | Jason Witten | 6 | 11 | 55% | 5 |
| 13. | Den. | Demaryius Thomas | 6 | 11 | 55% | 4 |
| 14. | Ariz. | Larry Fitzgerald | 7 | 13 | 54% | 4 |
| 15. | Den. | Eric Decker | 7 | 14 | 50% | 5 |
| 16. | S.F. | Vernon Davis | 6 | 12 | 50% | 5 |
| 17. | Det. | Joseph Fauria | 6 | 13 | 46% | 6 |
| 18. | Was. | Pierre Garcon | 5 | 11 | 45% | 4 |
| 19. | Det. | Calvin Johnson | 5 | 11 | 45% | 4 |
| 20. | G.B. | Jordy Nelson | 5 | 11 | 45% | 2 |
| 21. | Cin. | A.J. Green | 5 | 12 | 42% | 3 |
| 22. | S.D. | Keenan Allen | 4 | 10 | 40% | 4 |
| 23. | Chi. | Alshon Jeffery | 4 | 12 | 33% | 3 |
| 24. | Jac. | Cecil Shorts III | 3 | 11 | 27% | 2 |
| 25. | Clev. | Josh Gordon | 1 | 11 | 9% | 1 |
—Ian Allan