mitchewr

January 8th, 2021 at 8:47 PM ^

How is it that you’re so incapable of comprehending the fact that fans can still support the team while not having confidence in the coaching staff??

Supporting the team doesn’t mean blind faith and trust in its leaders and singing their praises 24/7. It means cheering them on even when they’re terrible while still hoping and desiring for necessary changes so the team can improve.

You’re either a huge troll or willfully obtuse. Either way, your shtick is worn out and tiresome.

Joined: 08/29/2016

MGoPoints: 13773

nowicki2005

January 8th, 2021 at 7:18 PM ^

Is Gattis the problem? No matter who was the offensive coordinator under harbaugh, there  has been no pace or tempo. Its like Harbaugh won't let them practice a two minute drill. We can be down 10 with three minutes to go and you just know we don't even have that small chance of winning.

Joined: 06/28/2011

MGoPoints: 3080

Eng1980

January 8th, 2021 at 7:39 PM ^

That has been bugging me since 2016 Orange Bowl.  36 seconds isn't much to work with but damn they looked awful with no pace and no composure and no idea what to do.  I knew that squeaking out a field goal was a lot to ask but they didn't even get off one good play.

Doesn't everyone want to practicing taking a game back in the final seconds?  Just to prove you can do it and maybe practice composure in the face of difficult circumstances?  Or maybe not have to burn a timeout to start the game.

Joined: 04/28/2016

MGoPoints: 12095

Watching From Afar

January 9th, 2021 at 9:17 AM ^

Think of this on the other side of it though. Yes, they still can't run up-tempo, but they also can't run the basic stuff Harbaugh's offenses used to run under Fisch, Drevno, and Pep. I'm not talking specific plays, I'm talking coherent scheme. The offense under Gattis, for 2/3 of the last 2 seasons, has looked completely lost. Worse than 2017 when O'Korn playing QB (because that offense could piece together a good ground game).

Harbaugh could be having too much influence over Gattis getting his stuff fully implemented, but they don't even have Harbaugh's old stuff implemented. And if they did get Gattis' stuff downloaded, I don't know why we would assume it would be good considering we've seen almost nothing to prove he has "it."

Joined: 10/10/2016

MGoPoints: 16096

Haskin’s Bandaid

January 8th, 2021 at 7:24 PM ^

Sure thing! Passing game coordinator/WR coach. Haven’t read the comments yet but I’m guessing this has already been said at least 8 times...

Joined: 07/06/2019

MGoPoints: 3005

MichAtl85

January 8th, 2021 at 7:37 PM ^

Indeed. I really hope Josh Gattis is afforded the opportunity of moar tweets about moar offenses! He needs a new tag line. It doesn’t have to have any practical meaning just like his speed in space. 
 

Perhaps: sCoRiNg In SpAdEs

tWiTcHiNg In TiGhTs

FuMbLiNg In FiElDs

bumbling in boxes? (Perfect for the MSU gameplan)

 

 

Joined: 09/21/2019

MGoPoints: 12352

StirredNotShaken

January 8th, 2021 at 7:44 PM ^

Keep him. Harbaugh thought he was the guy to take over the offense two years ago, so Harbaugh should stick with him and give him more time. Just like the AD is giving Harbaugh more time. 

Joined: 12/09/2011

MGoPoints: 4582

tybert

January 8th, 2021 at 7:53 PM ^

Unless you are changing the O scheme, I expect he will be back in some way. Moorhead may get the OC role and Gattis get some kind of associate HC title. I thought the offense was playing pretty well at the end of 2019 - 2nd half vs PSU, ND, MSU, Indy, 1st half vs, OSU and Bama.

Patterson and his inaccuracy in the 2nd half of those last two games was the problem. The plays were there to be made - as the WRs were open. 

Joined: 11/17/2008

MGoPoints: 8536

JFW

January 9th, 2021 at 10:00 AM ^

True. But I believe that Warinner also was helping out at that point with the run game, helping to diversify the offense. 
 

Gattis is a good guy and apparently a good recruiter but the playcalling hasn’t been ideal. 
 

I wish they’d go back to something more Harbaugh or Warriner influenced. 

Joined: 10/20/2010

MGoPoints: 15285

MaineGoBlue

January 9th, 2021 at 9:38 AM ^

I’m not a fan of what he’s done or his play calling.  BUT he hasn’t had a good QB to run it.  Any play caller is handcuffed when your starter can’t hit the broad side of a barn.  This year he had an injured and depleted OLine.  I’m not making excuses just stating facts.

The OLine should improve, I don’t know if we have a solid QB next year, hoping McCarthey is the real deal and can step right in.  But even if Gattis is gone, without a good QB our offense will still be “meh”.

why do you not want him back?

Joined: 12/30/2016

MGoPoints: 1427

Decatur Jack

January 9th, 2021 at 9:00 PM ^

Two reasons.

1. I think it's been proven that he wasn't ready for a Power 5 OC position, much less a premier spot like at Michigan. His offenses have been too disjointed and there are things we do that simply make no sense. When you're on the goal line, why the heck are you running from the shotgun?? It'd be one thing if we had a guy who looked like he knew what he was doing, but Gattis hasn't shown that. If anything he's shown the opposite.

2. I'm just not a fan philosophically of the spread. To me, it's the "SPERD." Our program and our conference (with very rare exceptions) is largely built to run power. That's what we best or at least most easily recruit to, that's what we do well. When we've been winning, that's what we've done. Give me manball every day of the week. I know people got fed up with Lloyd and Borges, but just because you do manball doesn't mean it has to be stubborn or braindead. Play to your strengths. We've gotten away from that.

On the QB situation: another reason why I want more of a power running offense is because it isn't as dependent on the QB. Who is our best QB under Harbaugh? Jake Rudock. All he did was complete open passes and move the chains on 3rd down. We don't need a Trevor Lawrence or a Joe Burrow. A competent signal caller who limits mistakes can win a lot of games here.

"BUT WHAT ABOUT OSU?!?!" Yeah, yeah, I've heard this a million times. I want to be Wisconsin, and Wisconsin can't beat OSU. News flash, no one beats OSU. It's going to take a lot more than sniffing Rich Rod's underpants to get us competitive again in that game. In the meantime I'd rather run over everybody else. The gap between us and OSU, imho, is largely recruiting, not scheme. If we can't close that gap, what we run won't matter and we'll always get beat.

Joined: 09/20/2011

MGoPoints: 9488

Gree4

January 8th, 2021 at 8:07 PM ^

An inaccurate QB will kill any offense Gattis or Harbaugh are trying to run. Its seems we are bringing two decent QBs back next year. 

Joined: 09/04/2020

MGoPoints: 13942

bamf_16

January 9th, 2021 at 8:56 AM ^

When coaching QBs, there’s a lot coaches can do to develop a player but it’s mostly the mental part of the game, reading defenses, decision making, clock management, etc.

 

There isn’t nearly as much a coach can do for a QB with arm strength & accuracy, though working on fundamentals can surely help.

 

Where did we see development in Patterson vs. not? How would we describe most of his misses & poor throws? I’d contend the problem was he threw more often than not to the correct receiver, but he wasn’t accurate enough with those throws. The major exception I think would be 3rd quarter I think it was of 2019 OSU where you could tell he wasn’t seeing what the defense was doing, and by the time he did, the game was out of reach. But against Alabama, he missed open receiver after open receiver. I think in 2019 you could see the mental parts clicking for him, making decent reads (with the exception of the RPOs, which he just never seemingly could) but the execution was something that plagued him until the end.

Joined: 11/20/2010

MGoPoints: 14218

JFW

January 9th, 2021 at 10:04 AM ^

Whatever happened to the idea of a game manager QB and an offense robust enough to at least be functional without an all star QB. Or even a system that makes a QB look better (anyone remember the term system QB?)

One of my complaints with the spread is that having a super QB seems baked into the system, and if you don’t your offense is worse than just average. 

Joined: 10/20/2010

MGoPoints: 15285

bamf_16

January 9th, 2021 at 10:42 AM ^

Not a bad point, though I think we can acknowledge there are significant differences between various spread offenses. For instance, one of the observations of the RR spread offense is that it is VERY dependent on a QB who fits it. The drop off is ridiculous compared to many other offensive systems.

It’d be helpful too to get a shared understanding of the terminology. To me, a system QB and/or game manager at QB is a guy who is relied upon very little to improvise and make pre-snap reads or audibles. The “system” pre-determines everything that’s done.

Rich Rod’s spread was in a lot of ways a system offense, but so much was dependent on QBs making reads. At first, it was read the DE to see if he crashed or stayed put, then when defenses caught on, they started using LBs and S in ways that made the QB read the DE, or the OLB, or the S, and not know who to read until after the ball was snapped at times. 

I think when Patterson was at his best, he was a system QB who managed the game. 

Joined: 11/20/2010

MGoPoints: 14218

uminks

January 8th, 2021 at 9:01 PM ^

I like Gattis and his idea of a modern spread offense. Only problem is that he seems unable to execute such an offense on the field. I'm not sure if this is because Harbaugh is still fully in charge and he is unable to call the plays. 

Joined: 11/10/2009

MGoPoints: 32207

username03

January 8th, 2021 at 10:11 PM ^

It will continued to be impossible to evaluate him because he will still be shackled by his boss's insistence on running as few plays and scoring as few points as possible.

Joined: 02/12/2016

MGoPoints: 14535

uminks

January 8th, 2021 at 11:44 PM ^

2019 showed what Gattis offense could be like with a good QB. This season Milton could not run this offense and did not have the legs to run quick or the arm to pass accurate. Things improved a with Cade as QB. I would just have Cade and JJ fight it out in camp and who ever wins will be the starter and plus we will have a great backup QB. I see a lot of talent on offense and think the offense will really improve in 2021. I'm more worried about the defense or lack there of one. Harbaugh really needs to hire a great DC, fire the money cannon on one.

Joined: 11/10/2009

MGoPoints: 32207