Another advantage of Denard

Submitted by michgoblue on

We all know that Denard is very difficult to game plan for.  His speed and ability to break one off at any time give our offense a huge advantage.  This has been discussed to death.  There is, however, another advantage that Denard looks to be able to give us if he continues to perform at this level as we head into Big Ten play - a mental advantage.

This is a commen occurrence in sports - once the hype train gets going (especially on the worldwide leader), the build up to playing against the hyped player becomes so big that opposing players lose focus and over-anticipate.  With Denard putting up video game numbers, his mere presence has the potential to get into opposing teams' heads. 

If this continues, I can see opposing teams' defenses making stupid mistakes because the hype around Denard's unstopability gets into their heads.  Not saying that good coaching cannot mitigate this, but I could see, for example, MSU's defense focusing so much on being the first team to shut down Denard that he will have a host of opportunities to find open receivers when MSU stacks the line on every play. 

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blueheron

September 13th, 2010 at 5:10 PM ^

There might be some overlap with the people who are annoyed that Michigan is 2-0.  They see Rodriguez's failure (and ultimately, firing) as inevitable and they're worried that our timing won't be right to capture Jim Harbaugh from Stanford.  To them the good start is just complicating matters.  (Aside: They no longer seem to be on the Les Miles train.)

I'm not joking -- I've met two self-described UMich fans that hold this view.

Joined: 03/26/2009

MGoPoints: 30594

justthinking

September 13th, 2010 at 11:08 PM ^

....was trashing Rich before the game even started. Another guy in his row (not in his group) looked down the row at him and said, "I support Rich. He's our coach." I turned around to the guy who said that and gave him a high-five. The idiot behind me immediately shut up.

I turned around and high-fived the Rich supporter every time Michigan scored (in spectacular fashion, I might add). Either you're ALL IN, or you're NOT IN at all.

Joined: 09/16/2009

MGoPoints: 2120

TheOracle6

September 13th, 2010 at 4:44 PM ^

Denard gives us many advantages.  A mental advantage is just another way of saying that teams are going to be more focused on stopping Denard then the rest of the offense, which opens up big play opportunities for the likes of our RB's and guys like Daryl Stonum and Junior Hemmingway along with the rest of our skill players.  I'd like to see J. Gallon get in the mix soon, which adds yet another dimension to an offense already as explosive as any in the country.  So excited moving forward.  Great to be a Michigan Wolverine!

 

Joined: 09/02/2010

MGoPoints: 1636

Togaroga

September 13th, 2010 at 4:56 PM ^

...appeared to be open all day.  It probably will be all season.  When he finds the necessary touch on the deep ball, defenses will have to choose between three ugly options:

A.  Leave one or two safeties back and get shredded on the ground.

B.  Or put two safeties in the box, get shredded in the air, and probably also on the ground.

C.  quit

Joined: 11/10/2009

MGoPoints: 504

justthinking

September 13th, 2010 at 11:31 PM ^

Someone needs to create a hype video of all the times Denard burns the opposition with that one play this year. Bet it goes 10 minutes long. I don't ever remember a play that Michigan has consistently run, where our receiver is sooooooo wide open for a big gash or an untouched TD than this one.

It is a thing of beauty.

Joined: 09/16/2009

MGoPoints: 2120