Why does Denard not scramble?
The biggest thing I see lacking in Denard's game is his scrambling ability. It seems like if he drops back, he's passing no matter what. There's no threat for him to run unless it's a designed run.
Anyone have any insight on why this might be? It seems like for young, inexperienced quarterbacks they have a tendency to scramble too often, but with Denard it's the opposite.
November 13th, 2010 at 4:45 PM ^
Yeah, I've wondered too. Maybe they put a bit too much emphasis on having him stay in the pocket? Like it's gotten to him and he keeps looking for the pass for too long.
November 13th, 2010 at 4:47 PM ^
I thought the same thing, but with such an emphasis on his running game in the gameplan I don't know if that's the case. It's just really weird that with someone with legs like his, if the running lane is there, take it..
November 13th, 2010 at 4:46 PM ^
maybe he has been taught, as a quarterback, to keep his eyes downfield. Now, I prefer this Denard to the Denard that just tucks and runs at the first sign of a pass rush, but I agree, he needs to scramble more than he has been (although against Illinois there were like 3 different times where he didn't scramble and made an great pass for a big gain). It's all a maturation process, and its awesome that's he's growing into a great QB.
November 13th, 2010 at 4:51 PM ^
Whatever the progression, after the internal clock says "nothing is there" it's time to go.
A QB can keep his eyes downfield when the scrambling starts. I don't understand 2 things:
Why he is giving on the ZR an inordinate amount of time. Defenses are not committing multiple guys to take away his lanes. From what I've seen, he usually has one man to beat and that man is a LB or DE.
And, why he doesn't run when the clock in his head says to run.
November 13th, 2010 at 4:48 PM ^
I completely agree. Its especially frustrating when its third down and he could easily make the first if he took off. Yet he decides to chuck it deep. It happened a couple times against Illinois. It worked out for some big plays, but also cost us too when he threw at a tightly covered guy and we had to try a field goal. My thought is on third you got to just get the first if its there.
November 13th, 2010 at 4:50 PM ^
Not only can he gain more yards running, but by scrambling, the db's may come off the receivers opening up some passes downfield. Kinda like when Tate scrambles.
November 13th, 2010 at 4:51 PM ^
wants to prove to everyone that he's a QB and not an athlete playing QB so he'll look to pass on every pass play even if he can scramble it for a first down
November 13th, 2010 at 4:56 PM ^
Possibly because he is just a true sophmore in his first season as a starter. I'm sure the scrambling is something you'll see as he matures and gets more comfortable with the offense.
November 13th, 2010 at 8:33 PM ^
usually it's the other way around. younger guys tend to have the happy feet.
November 13th, 2010 at 4:56 PM ^
From what I see, it seems like he's just too slow in getting through his progressions, which is just inexperience. Tate makes the reads faster, so you'll see him take off (a lot) more.
November 13th, 2010 at 5:04 PM ^
See, you got negged there because obviously, by suggesting that Tate does a single thing better than Denard, you committed heresy. How dare you?
November 14th, 2010 at 12:16 PM ^
It's funny because it's true.
November 13th, 2010 at 4:59 PM ^
he could get HUGE yardage with the defense dropped into coverage. Just make sure to slide when it looks like he has all there is to get, or the color of the field changes.
November 13th, 2010 at 4:58 PM ^
nursing some bruises so he doesn't want to take additional hits if they can be avoided? Who knows, next year when he is stronger he may take off more often.
November 13th, 2010 at 5:06 PM ^
Gerg has in his contract that his hair cannot be messed up. After a few scares early in the year, they have not allowed Denard to run past Gerg again because of his precious hair.
November 13th, 2010 at 5:08 PM ^
Last year he started out running without even bothering to look downfield. They probably mandated that if it was a pass he had to read it in practice, and now he keeps reading and reading until something appears open. This is his first year making reads, and the 'take off' read is a bit down the road for him.
November 13th, 2010 at 6:40 PM ^
I'm not sure he scrambled any more last year. It was more that we didn't call many pass plays for him.
November 13th, 2010 at 6:51 PM ^
Against Western Michigan they called a couple passes and he completely disregarded the play. They stopped calling passes for him after they saw this.
November 14th, 2010 at 2:21 PM ^
Denard has admitted that there were times last year when he forgot what the play was, being so new to the offense. Those were probably some of those cases.
November 13th, 2010 at 5:17 PM ^
Man Ive been saying this all year and today was complaing to my friend as we watched the game. The first series that Tate was in he looked downfield saw everyone was covered so he took off. Denard would have still been sitting in the pocket looking if he was in on that play. Help me on this stat, but I think he has only taken off when receivers are covered a couple of times. Is he just trying to prove that he is a pocket passer as well? I just dont understand it at all. He takes off on half of those plays and he has 50 more yeards easily.
November 13th, 2010 at 5:29 PM ^
Yeah, and I think that would also really open up the passing. Hopefully they work on that this week.
November 13th, 2010 at 5:19 PM ^
Patience, Patawan. The internal clock and not forcing things comes with maturity.
November 13th, 2010 at 5:33 PM ^
I have heard is reluctant to scramble because RR runs him so much that he doesn't want to take those extra hits and tire himself more. Same reason he doesn't keep it more during option plays.
November 13th, 2010 at 5:42 PM ^
And what source on the team have you heard this from?
November 13th, 2010 at 5:40 PM ^
I've seen a couple of times where it looks like he should take off and easily run for the first down but whenever I'm sitting there screaming run, he seems to wait a few more seconds and hit someone for a bigger gain than if he just ran, notably Hemingway last week and I think once or twice today as well
November 13th, 2010 at 5:40 PM ^
I knew this was going to be a point of discussion coming out of the game. Tate is much more willing to scramble, and it often works. But Denard has numerous plays where it looks like he could take it to the house and he forces it. I'm thinking its an aversion to opening himself up to big hits. Hopefully they will tell him to let loose a bit more next week.
November 13th, 2010 at 6:24 PM ^
You look at Vince Young and TP for example...........almost all of their runs are off of scrambles where DR runs are all designed. This would be especially effective on a day like today where you just want to move the chains.
He makes me nervous when he starts patting the ball in the pocket. Three pats then run!!
November 13th, 2010 at 6:43 PM ^
Though it pains me to admit this, another guy who did this well was Troy Smith at OSU who was very effective and absolutely destroyed Michigan repeated by scrambling selectively.
November 13th, 2010 at 6:31 PM ^
He is saving it for the Buckeyes, he will then proceed to Fuck.Shit.Up.
November 13th, 2010 at 6:36 PM ^
The reason is Denard is actually a pocket passer whereas Tate is definitely not...Yet another reason why Denard is the future of the QB position at Michigan...
November 13th, 2010 at 6:38 PM ^
Are you being sarcastic?
November 13th, 2010 at 6:38 PM ^
It works the opposite way as well. If there is a designed run play, denard catches it, tucks it away and then runs. I wish he would sell it as a pass alittle more to get the LBs in motion. But the LBs see him put it away 5 yards behind the LOS and they come straight for him without hesitation.
November 13th, 2010 at 8:26 PM ^
He'll figure it out. Also, we still don't know how dinged up he actually is. My guess is that the coaches have been hammering in his head to look to throw because guys will be open, and he probably doesn't completely trust his instincts when he should take off and gain 7-8 yards.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:13 PM ^
He needs to run when guys are covered rather than forcing it deep. He could easily scramble or even run designed QB draws off of pass looks and get more yards than the designed runs. And, it would open up the pass more because the DBs need to be aware of the scrambling.
November 14th, 2010 at 3:21 AM ^
I know that's not one word normally, but it should be.
His best non-scramble of the year that he clearly should have scrambled on was that 45yd TD to Jr. last week... the one where Hemingway made those 3 Illini look like they were blindfolded.
I'll forgive him for that one.
November 14th, 2010 at 10:20 AM ^
I scream and throw things when he can run for an easy first down, but decides to throw it. It has worked several times this year, but I don't get the risk. Fine with me on 1st or 2nd down, but on 3rd, I wish he would tuck it, get the first, and slide down. One of the first series Tate had yesterday he did exactly that, but ran out of bounds. I understand the "going through reads" answer, but to me, if it is 3rd down and you can run for a first, you do it.
November 14th, 2010 at 2:12 PM ^
While I would like him to scramble more it isn't a bad thing that he hangs in there. That's actually a sign of a good QB. When the pressure is on and panic sets in he stay's in the pocket.....His first thought is to stay put.