Miami quarterback Darian Mensah doesn’t need much time to remind everyone why he’s been one of the most effective passers in the country. One play against Pittsburgh said plenty: a defender came charging at his legs, Mensah stayed composed, and fired a pass to Malachi Toney downfield between three defenders.
The throw was on target. The finish wasn’t.
Toney was hit by Pitt safety Tony Forney and couldn’t hold on, but he still gave Mensah his due afterward.
“That was a great ball,” Toney said. “I should have caught it.”
Even on an incomplete pass, the moment captured the trait Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson values most in his quarterback.
“That’s probably his superpower - he’s extremely accurate,” Dawson said. ” … He’s typically on point with his decision-making. The ball goes where it needs to go.”
Mensah’s accuracy has been the driving force behind his season. He leads all quarterbacks with an 81.4 completion percentage, and he has stayed sharp even when defenses send heat his way. According to Pro Football Focus, Mensah is completing 89.7 percent of his passes against blitzes, the best mark in the nation among quarterbacks who have been blitzed at least 30 times.
When pressure does reach him, the numbers dip, as they do for most quarterbacks, but Mensah has still managed to keep Miami moving. He has completed 53.3 percent of his throws under pressure, which ranks 27th nationally, and he has thrown only one interception.
“He’s just an unbelievable player,” Toney said. “(He) puts the ball wherever it needs to be.”
Mensah said part of that success starts before the snap, when he’s reading the defense and trying to anticipate what’s coming.
“I think I have a pretty good pre-snap process and a pretty good idea of what the defense is going to do pre-snap,” Mensah said. “Obviously, they can shift post-snap, but just focusing on my keys, focusing on where your eyes need to be on every single play can help and kind of (eliminate) the want to wander your eyes at certain stuff when the defense is trying to show different blitzes. But I’d say that, and then I just have a lot of trust in my guys up front to protect me and my guys to get open, as well.”
The pressure hasn’t stopped him from producing. Under duress, Mensah owns a 79.6 offensive grade from PFF, fourth-best in the country, along with an 80 passing grade that ranks third.
His completion percentage under pressure sits outside the national top 25, but he has averaged 10.2 yards per attempt in those situations, tied for eighth nationally. He also has seven big-time throws, tied for second in the nation.
Dawson has also pushed Mensah to use his legs more, whether that means extending a play or taking what the defense gives him on the ground. That part of his game has shown up more in recent weeks. Over Miami’s last four games, he has scrambled eight times for 91 yards, according to PFF.
“To sit there and think you’re going to play 75 to 80 snaps and throw it 35 to 40 times and not get pressured is a little bit naive,” Dawson said. “And so when those situations pop up, he typically does one or two things: He either stands in there and takes the hit and delivers a throw that’s typically pretty accurate, or he will see it and extend (the play). And that’s what you want to see from a quarterback.”
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