Denard and Oline
Besides coming off as a genuinely nice guy, the thing I love about Denard is that in all 3 post game interviews that I saw he gave the credit to the offensive line one time saying that the offensive line was "blocking hell in there they were real good". What a great team player, the line is going to continue to love blocking for this guy with his attitude.
September 5th, 2010 at 8:44 AM ^
Plus, I was objectively wondering if any other player in the nation had a better opening game than DRob.
Betcha dollars to donuts TPryor is jealous as hell.
September 5th, 2010 at 8:56 AM ^
Denard knows (as does anyone that actually knows anything about football) that without the OL he can not succeed. The great thing about the team is that the OL has improved as much (if not more) than the QBs. That is a deadly combination.
September 5th, 2010 at 9:50 AM ^
September 5th, 2010 at 10:13 AM ^
Everyone loves blocking when you know your block could be the block that springs a kid with Denards ability ... even the WRs want to block on the outside because you know it only takes 1 more block and DRob is gone.
September 5th, 2010 at 10:15 AM ^
Also to throw into the mix is the blocking by the receivers that opened up extra yards for the ball carrier, can't wait for next week.
September 5th, 2010 at 10:38 AM ^
I felt like I was watching Lloyd Carr's offense yesterday, mutated in the form of a bedreaded dilithium-fueled QB. We had three drives lasting over 5 minutes. The drive that opened up the third quarter lasted 8:05 seconds at a time when UConn need a stop to get back to within striking distance. The scheme may have changed, but this is a philosophy Lloyd and Bo would be proud of. Pound away at the ground, ride your best horse, and take control of the game.
September 5th, 2010 at 12:46 PM ^
Yesterday was a great illustration of an old adage: run until the opponents prove they can stop it.
My favorite takeaway from this game is that, after years of watching Michigan be the team that gets shredded by fast QB's, it feels great to see Michigan be the team with "that" QB. Watching various highlights today, I think I have a more valid comparison than the one I made with Barry Sanders yesterday:
Denard looks like Jeff Demps with a QB's head and arm. Watching both of their long TD runs from yesterday, their strides, speed, and shifts are almost identical. I know that Demps has better "track speed" than Denard, but I think a lot of that could be technique, just as Denard has the technique to play QB and Demps doesn't. I am guessing that two or three tenths of a second can be gained or lost in the starting blocks alone.
Because of his track exploits, Demps has been handed the unofficial title of "fastest man in NCAA football." To me, though, they look a lot alike on a football field, and I'm not so sure Demps could beat Denard if both had a standing start and were carrying a football. Maybe we'll get a better sample on January 1.
September 5th, 2010 at 1:26 PM ^
Honestly, this didn't remind me of Carr's offenses, and not just because we had a running quarterback. As the Carr era went on, our offensive lines seemed to get worse, especially regarding run blocking (Jake Long obviously notwithstanding). Carr philosophically believed in the ground game, but we evolved more and more into a finesse team under his watch. This was the most frustrating thing about Lloyd. Carr's offenses frequently struggled to move the ball until he unleashed the "scoring offense" that threw the ball downfield.
September 5th, 2010 at 10:43 AM ^
I love every one of his interviews. He has such a sense of humility in his tone. Not to mention how about after that touchdown when he got down on one knee to pray. I love watching and rooting for this kid! GO BLUE!!
September 5th, 2010 at 11:05 AM ^
I'm in love with the fact that QB EAGLES is in fact a real person and that he plays quarterback for our football team.
September 6th, 2010 at 12:32 AM ^
Now we just need to teach Denard that he can forever avoid tackles by running diagonally back and forth.
September 5th, 2010 at 7:08 PM ^
The O line was great, So many close plays for Drob to busting a huge 70 yard run i noticed a few times. One cut in a diff direction and it would of been curtains.