WR Camp Battles Continued:

Zach Pascal

Next up is Zach Pascal. This 6’2 219lb. player from Old Dominion grinded his way onto the roster last year. Undrafted in 2017, Pascal carved out a role on special teams showing his ability to field kicks. His limited offensive snaps allowed him a handful of times to prove that he’s capable of being an NFL wide receiver. You could definitely see the results of his progress through the season. One constant for him has been improvement. He has consistently improved in all areas including offensive production since he began at ODU. One of my favorite Pascal plays with his improved route running on display late in the year. Here’s Peyton Manning in a short YouTube clip breaking down the play against Houston: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiNnWdxBBvQ.

Take Peyton’s word for it, Pascal ran a phenomenal route with excellent salesmanship and a strong finish to the pylon. It allowed Andrew Luck to help burn Shareece Wright a different way from this time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5STc2_bM7k. Pascal was an Exclusive Rights Free Agent (EFRA) which made it easy to bring him back and compete for a spot. Unfortunately, many of his drops last year happened at inopportune times. It was the same story for Rogers early in the season as some of the drops led to interceptions. I believe a more reliable set of hands would’ve helped overcome those deficits. Truthfully, it could have made a big difference in helping win games during a 1-5 start.

Mostly all the games during that slow stretch were extremely close (Bengals, Eagles, and Texans stick out). Each one had maybe only one or two plays separating victory. Although that’s typical for NFL competition, too many crucial plays got left on the field due to inadequate receiver play. It’s a team game from all positions, but deficiencies can be highlighted in crunch time.

An example of a drop turning disastrous happened in the Colts only primetime matchup. Week 5 against the Patriots was probably the least close game of the first five. I say ‘least close’ specifically because Luck tried to keep them in matchup. Ultimately mistake after mistake killed any positives the offense tried to put together. A bad drop by Pascal ended the Colts hopes of pulling within one score at the Razor. See 9:40: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAbYY3iguis.

Another premature end to a drive that hands the ball right back to the wrong #12. Costly turnovers and drops were abundant in this game with the whole cast dropping passes against the ‘Evil Empire’. In early October, we thought this just was a losing young team trying to figure itself out. Now the expectations are higher and they need to be able to knock off this team specifically. Turnovers do that and although Luck is plenty guilty of turning the ball over, he’s earned the trust of coaches to push the limits. Again, it wasn’t just Pascal that had plenty of drops. He also showed some of the greatest improvements so it’ll be interesting to see where he’s at.

Good teams avoid having breakdowns in the fundamental areas of football; like catching it. Another example of those drops came in the infamous Week 4 home game vs. the Texans. Luck was a juggernaut that day. Having already thrown for well over 400 yards, he was moving the ball effortlessly down the field again. Then Marcus Johnson drops a clean 3rd down pass that was unfathomably deflating. A touchdown would have ended the division game in their first drive. Instead, the drop meant settling for a field goal. We all remember what ensued next. On their second OT drive, Luck threw a fourth down pass that landed at Chester Rogers’ feet. I was more distraught from the missed opportunities than I was about the audacity of Reich’s risky 4th down decision.

You certainly can’t blame all of the early losses on the receivers because its a team game. But drops in situations like that become the difference between winning and losing. Despite less down the stretch, Pascal must show drastic improvement to erase some of last year’s early mistakes. Otherwise, I don’t believe he’ll be on the final roster. I love him as a football player and it would be one of the tougher cuts to make. The team might just be better for it in the long run. On the bright side for him, he’ll have every chance to put those plays behind him in camp and preseason. Plus with Deon Cain presumably beginning on the PUP list, it opens up an extra spot starting out.