So when I started watching this, which is one of those hokey Sports Science comparisons between a pro athlete and some rather arbitrary metric, I thought there was no way that Drew Brees was more accurate than a world-class archer. Well, I was very, very wrong. Watch below. (Brees's throwing picks up at about the 4:10 mark.)
Monday, August 10, 2009
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12 comments:
In defense of Olympic archers, they have to hit a target 70m away not 20 yards.
Fair enough. The comparison is a bit silly (if not unfair), but Brees's performance -- and perfection -- was still rather impressive.
Holy lord. That's insane. Guess that's why he has no trouble thriving in the NFL despite his size handicap.
I would be very curious to see the results of this test from other quarterbacks, particularly ones without great technique.
Amazing. The physics of the spiral are so cool. In the civil war, spiral grooves were etched into musket barrels ("rifled barrels" which is where the name "rifle" is from), greatly increasing accuracy. Accuracy was also increased by pointed, rather than spherical projectiles (like the modern football). This increased accuracy of weaponry for the civil war was a large factor in making it the bloodiest war in American history.
BTW, you can append #t=04m10s to the end of the URL to have the video load right at that spot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVoqA-LKGb4#t=04m10s
Great for those long boring intros
Do you think JaMarcus Russell could even hit the board?
^^^Haha, I was thinking the same of Tavaris Jackson, especially after again recently seeing the end of the Vikes-Phill playoff game last year.
Otherwise, it's incredible how accurate a mechanically-sound quarterback can become with a little routine practice. I spent no more than a week or so (after drilling mechanics hard) out in the back yard aiming for this shoebox-sized rock that was about twice my height. I'd nail the thing from maybe 15 yards on 2 of 3 or even 3 of 4, exclusively due to working on mechanics and concentrating.
Of course, it's a bit different when there's a 1200-lb. wall of D-line bent on consuming you...
That is the coolest thing I've ever seen. Ever.
I hate it when documentary makers twist facts to make the story more interesting than it actually is. Granted, I love the physics behind the spiral of the football. But why not just leave it at that? Why twist the facts and completely ruin the piece by misleading the audience to think that archery is THAT inaccurate? The target they were using isn't even a standard target for 20 yards. And forget about world class archers, I was able to consistently hit the center ring of that target from the distance it was meant to be shot at (30 meters) with only 2 years of training.
Hmmph. Clearly it was the USB plug that stabilized the flight of the ball...
;)
In the end, archers are a lesser class of athlete. They're holding a tool, and not really doing much of anything. Brees is superior in just about every aspect, regardless of targets. Maybe all of you archery fanatics should just go back to being a lesser class of human.
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