A Thought on Shea
I’m seeing a lot of people bash Shea on social media for yesterday. I’m sure most of you understand how ridiculous that is. So to follow on that I had I thought which I wasn’t sure where to put:
I think Michigan may have hurt Shea’s future more than Shea has affected Michigan. It doesn’t matter what quarterback we had, we would still be in an equally bad position we are now. Shea’s had 6 losses in his UM career. There little to no chance even a Joe Burrow type player would’ve beaten OSU with the defense allowing 62 and 56 points, or Wisconsin when they had 300+ yards rushing, or Florida scoring 40+. Considering he played well vs ND last year and PSU this year, I wouldn’t shoulder those two on him either. Now from Shea’s perspective, he had to go through two new offenses in two years with no consistency, and we all saw what he could do in Gattis’ offense when things are clicking as he’s had 3 straight 300 yard+ passing performances. And then you have the perception that our receivers were elite and NFL bound (which I thought so too), when clearly we’ve seen that they disappear in big games like vs OSU and PSU.
I might be more biased because I’ve always liked Shea more than most, and granted he’s had a couple of really bad games here (vs Army is the most striking), but I’d feel bad for him that he didn’t transfer to a more competent program that gave him more of a chance to succeed and beat rivals.
Hopefully that next year, Joe and/or Dylan are given much better opportunities to win big games and show out. At the end of the day, Shea has definitely been an above average QB for UM, but won’t be remembered for anything really as a result of these things.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:28 PM ^
Shea is one of the best quarterbacks Michigan has ever had, as backed up by touchdowns, passing yardage, efficiency, interception rate, etc.
In The Game, he had a great 1st half, and the 2nd half wasn't on him.
I'm hoping for a great bowl victory for him with awesome numbers.
He deserves to go out with a good victory.
Unfortunately, even Michigan has a contingent of fans who are despicable and shameful.
December 1st, 2019 at 6:11 PM ^
Every athlete that chooses to play a sport at Michigan should be appreciated, especially those with the talent to be a starter.
It’s sad that the most vocal critics could never play at the level of Patterson or your average walk on.
December 1st, 2019 at 7:37 PM ^
These are the worst of the Wal-Mart Wolverines
December 1st, 2019 at 6:20 PM ^
As a QB, Shea was working with a RB group that has at best "Middle of the B10" like talent. Not gonna be able to beat that defense with essentially no threat at the RB position.
How far our talent has fallen since the Carr days. You could take it to the bank that every QB, RB and #1 receiver got drafted.
December 1st, 2019 at 6:52 PM ^
Michigan will have one of the deepest and most talented RB and QB rooms in the B1G next year.
December 1st, 2019 at 6:57 PM ^
RB yes but QB no. The offense will change as D-caff and Milton are total questionable.
December 1st, 2019 at 7:22 PM ^
No the offense isn't going to change much. It's a big question mark how well Dylan can pass, but I'd bet money he'll be a much better runner.
December 1st, 2019 at 8:59 PM ^
And he makes better reads. Dylan is a Trace McSorley type and I can see him leading us to a B1G title.
December 1st, 2019 at 9:13 PM ^
Trace McArmpunt wasn’t a great QB, he had an all pro RB for 2 seasons to bail him out. His SR year was garbage. His best attribute was his ability to run and avoid getting crushed.
McCaffery has what, 2 game-ending injuries in his first 35 passing attempts? Kid is a porcelain doll.
December 1st, 2019 at 9:18 PM ^
Seriously? He is 6’5 220 and has been knocked out of 2 games as a back up. He is a pocket passer with a good arm but no way he can be a runner and survive 12 games.
Milton has the size and speed to run zone read but his accuracy is questionable.
December 2nd, 2019 at 8:44 AM ^
Dude. Dylan is the fastest QB on the roster. You think Milton is faster because he's black? Lol.
December 1st, 2019 at 7:36 PM ^
LOLOLOL. Dude...are you one of the same guys that kept saying how Christian Turner was going to be all B10?
Who are these "talented" running backs you are speaking of? Is Haskins, Turner and Wilson all of a sudden going to turn into explosive players? All three of those are exactly what you have seen...average B10 backs. That's all. The only one that the jury is still out on is Charbonnet.
What top 15 team would say "Man, I would love to have Haskins as my starting running back!?" The answer to that is ZERO.
You are truly completely fan boy delusional...and they are a lots here that can't seem to look objectively at our talent...if you think our RB's are going to be one of the best in the B10. There is absolutely ZERO evidence to suggest that is or could be true.
December 1st, 2019 at 8:06 PM ^
Props to you for being a rational UM fan. Have you seen OSU's rb room? Teague, Crowley, and Chambers are all better than any rb on UM's roster. PSU's rb room is pretty deep too with Brown, Cain, and Ford.
Haskins and Charbonnet look very pedestrian.
December 1st, 2019 at 8:11 PM ^
Ok we need to stop with the RB stuff. Michigan fans are in denial if they think UM has an elite RB group. Haskins is average. ZC is a clone of Ty Isaac - no breakaway speed or vision. And Blake Corum has a legitimate shot at winning the starting position next season.
UM didn’t face a single defense that played Michigan to stop the run. Every single defense sold out to stop the pass unless it was an obvious running down.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:01 PM ^
What a stupid take. Are the RBs supposed to create the holes AND run through them?
December 1st, 2019 at 8:41 PM ^
Patterson was a good QB, but see, it does an equal disservice as the OP when you say he was "one of the best we've ever had", which isn't true when compared to all the QBs we've had. It diminishes the best we've had, whether you realize it or not. It is hard to agree that he was one of the best we've had when he didn't win a title, and was spotty... He finished strong, yes, but there are a good ten QBs better in our long history...so no..he wasn't one of the best....he was a good QB, and average historically when it comes to Michigan QBs. I view him equal to Speight, who was a good QB, and average historically, here. Gardner too.
He wasn't in the "one of the best" category as, if we only take recent history... Brady, Henne, Henson, Wangler, Grbac, Griese.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:29 PM ^
Saturday the WRs were not good. I counted 8 drops, two for TDs. Shea was dealing it and at the top of his game.
December 1st, 2019 at 6:19 PM ^
Shea was great, but not all those drops were on the receivers. The refs were not calling pass interference in the 2nd half. DPJ and Collins were at times literally hopping mad.
December 1st, 2019 at 6:51 PM ^
Great players make those plays.
December 1st, 2019 at 7:32 PM ^
The referees also did not call DPI in the first half. Okudah got away with three egregious fouls in the first quarter.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:34 PM ^
Feel bad for the kid. A different coordinator every year, wasn't until late this year we really played to his strengths. I don't think anything he could have done would have made a difference yesterday, other than to make the score a little closer. We had 7 or 8 drops by NFL talent - that's not on Shea.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:45 PM ^
NFL talent? One has to question that evaluation. What NFL team (other than the Lions) would take receivers whose hands turn into waffle irons in big game situations?
December 1st, 2019 at 6:33 PM ^
Nico Collins might be a real NFL talent at this point. I'm not so sure about the others.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:36 PM ^
A 2nd thought: LOL
December 1st, 2019 at 5:36 PM ^
At one point in the first half Shea was 10/13 and all 3 of those drops were egregious uncalled DPIs. Second half he missed a few guys but primarily it was a ton of drops. Shea played fine this game. We lost because we had no shot stopping their run game, all the breaks went OSUs way (as always), the receivers stopped catching the ball, and we kicked field goals. Dobbins could have had 400 yards if they just ran it every down.
As Coach says, it's hard to beat the cheaters, even moreso when you're the unluckier team.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:48 PM ^
We're not really going to use cheating and luck as excuses, are we?
December 1st, 2019 at 6:12 PM ^
Have seen very few threads the last couple of days that have not mentioned bag men. Nevermimd that we poached the former #1 ranked prospect in the nation away from f-ing Ole Miss post recruiting scandal. I’m tired of the “they cheat” thing. It’s weak.
December 1st, 2019 at 6:12 PM ^
20% of the comments over the past 24 hours have been about cheating
December 1st, 2019 at 6:15 PM ^
Meh it's all they got at this point.
December 1st, 2019 at 6:29 PM ^
Who is this cube guy and why is he so negative ? Uofm has been a top 10 team since Harbaugh arrived, coming off 7 years of a losing big ten record. For people like this jabroni nothing short of a national title is acceptable. If Ohio State was on the level of Oklahoma or Georgia and Harbaugh was 2-3 against them, the entire narrative would be different.
December 1st, 2019 at 10:12 PM ^
The Cube is Maizen FYI
December 2nd, 2019 at 6:42 AM ^
"UM a top 10 team since Harbaugh arrived"! Seriously dude! "If OSU was on the level of Oklahoma or Geogia", well they are not, but if, if, if! SMDH
December 2nd, 2019 at 8:23 AM ^
They have been a top 10 team? How? You guys are so focused on "getting to the level of OSU" that you don't understand, you are watching Harbaugh teams having to battle every year to keep 3rd place in the freaking division. Harbaugh finished 2nd in the division once. He finished 4th in the division once, and has finished 3rd every other time. He is averaging a 3rd place finish in his own division, not sure how that translates to a top 10 team.
December 1st, 2019 at 6:21 PM ^
9 out of 10 scientists surveyed say that your stat is totally fabricated.
December 1st, 2019 at 6:49 PM ^
60% of the time, I’m right every time
December 1st, 2019 at 5:38 PM ^
These are the results that make me nervous for the future
We need players who can compete in the big ten, we get them, then do nothing with them and bash them
Why would anyone EVER want to play qb at Michigan over OSU? This goes for every position too. This is not a good situation we're in
December 1st, 2019 at 6:31 PM ^
I think every fan base has clueless idiots who bash the players unfairly. Just saw a video on IG of some Bama fan calling a player an idiot viciously for minutes straight.
I doubt Michigan fans are any worse than other schools who expect to win every game.
December 1st, 2019 at 7:42 PM ^
Trying to take a sensible approach after yesterday. The uncalled PI's, especially in first half were killers. While the game was always in doubt, the killer was the end of the 1st half. Patterson fumbles in the red zone. D makes a stop, Hudson offside. 2 plays later TD, time go out and rake more leaves.
Comes down to talent. OSU has been a recruiting - talent machine going back to Tressel, scumbag Meyer enhanced and now the new guy is a genius that will have NFL knocking at the door. Comes down to a simple math problem, how many of our starters would start at OSU?
December 1st, 2019 at 7:55 PM ^
You're right. Those were some talented officials on OSUs side.
December 1st, 2019 at 10:55 PM ^
A few of the contested throws certainly could've drawn flags but at no point did I feel like the extra flags would've helped us win. We were not going to win a track meet with OSU. Our D simply could not get off the field when the game was still within reach. Same story as last season's game.
December 1st, 2019 at 8:08 PM ^
As an OSU fan I would say 2. Onwenu and Collins.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:40 PM ^
Shea had a strong game minus the fumble. Saturday was NOT on him.
I second the point that this group needs a strong bowl game to finish well.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:43 PM ^
I was down and pretty hard on him with my posts up until the PSU game.
He has done a really good job at improving and I appreciate the fact he stepped up his game.
The last 2 games he has been excellent.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:44 PM ^
I think Shea is a good quarterback, but wasn't put in the best position to succeed during his career here. If we had the pass first offense we've shown since the PSU game his entire career, it could have been much much better.
Also, to your point that no QB could have won the game because the defense gave up 56 is bullshit. OSU wouldn't have scored that many points if our offense was better and more consistent. Had we not had 8+ drops or given OSU very short fields from failed 4th down conversions, they would have only scored in the upper 30s or low 40s. Which in today's age of college football, is something our offense needs to be able to match.
December 1st, 2019 at 6:33 PM ^
Offense was as good as anyone could ever hope for in the first half, and OSU still had 28.
can’t blame the offense for having no DTs who could plug up the interior.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:45 PM ^
Shea is awesome. I really hope he finds a spot in the NFL and does well.
December 1st, 2019 at 6:16 PM ^
It would be great if he could “carry a clipboard” as a backup for a couple years and get comfortable with the speed of play in the NFL. Then catch a break and get a starting job.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:46 PM ^
It really sucks to see him go out like this. He's the last person that anyone should blame for yesterday's travesty. He threw all over OSU like nobody else has this season.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:47 PM ^
My main criticism for this game is the fumble which was a huge mistake and largely turned the momentum of the game. The second half was a mess but seemed to be more about receivers not getting separation and dropping good passes. I think he has been an ok QB and the best Harbaugh has had but still far short of what is needed to compete with top programs like OSU. He has a weak arm, panics in the pocket, and has questionable accuracy. I also question his leadership skills which I think has something to do with the mental makeup of this team. Not all QBs are born leaders and I think it doesn't come easily for him either.
December 1st, 2019 at 7:04 PM ^
The defense held after the fumble. It was the offsides on the punt that changed the whole game. And that’s a game theory thing that is directly on the coaches. We have been playing with fire all season (actually all of Harbaugh’s tenure here) with a very reckless punt block and it has bit us in the ass on numerous occasions. The 2015 game turned on a ridiculous roughing the kicker when we were going to the ball on their 40 yard line if we had just let the man punt the ball. Had back to back(!) roughing against Iowa in ‘16 that lead to a score as well. Other teams punting the ball to us is a very dangerous play for Michigan under Harbaugh.