Meta: Chill out

Lindley didn't have a good day, bu I'm not ready to sign on to the notion that they played poorly.  He had a lot of pressure.  He had to throw early and typically they were uncatchable throws, often to no one.  

Did someone say Martian Law?

At least it should not be.One can still be a fan AND be critical. I found your post to be akin to  the "America: Love it or Leave" phrase jingoists grunt whenever someone criticizes American foreign policy.

The guy is a subpar passer. That is a legitimate concern, particularly give how he performed last year vs OSU and MSU. Granted, that was his first year as a starter and so he deserves a significant break for that.

However, this is a new year. A year in which we hope the losing streaks to the Buckeyes and Spartans come to an end. That means people are going to fret over potentially fatal flaws.

Some have gone too far. I'll admit that. But his throwing ability is a legitimate concern. I don't think it is "whining" to mention a concern over his poor performance thjrowing the ball today.

Yes we won. Yet even if DRob is better than Tom Brady, people are still entitled to discuss his weakness.

Denard should not be a QB.  He cannot throw.  He was only 6th in the Heisman voting last year as a QB, which is not good enough for Michigan.  He should transfer so we can use that scholarship. 

Also, derp. 

we did not cover against eastern, the bellhop in Vegas who saw my mich shirt was eager to inform me of that

OP, get a life.

All Michigan fans are thrilled to be starting 4-0.  Same scenario as last year,  except at this time Denard was completing about 70 percent of his passes.  The we ran into teams that actually knew how to play defense.  If some of us are concerned, we have a right to be.  We all love Denard and we all see improvement with our defense, but the part of our schedule that really matters starts next week, and if we need our passing game to win games, based on what I'm seeing, the Michigan fan base has cause for concern. 

When we are negative about what we are seeing it isn't something personal about Denard.  I love Denard and he is an extremely talented runner.  But, I also have to be realistic with his abilities and admit to myself that it will be difficult to beat a team with a strong defense when your QB can't move the ball through the air.  I personally can't see us beating the likes of OSU, MSU, or Neb and that's frustrating.  I think we expected him to improve his throwing abilities and it looks like he's regressed so far.  Love the kid, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating to see such glaring deficiencies.  I would love to be wrong here.

I was wondering what would happen once we couldn't bitch about Ezeh and GERG.  I never thought it would be to bitch about Denard and then yell at each other about it.  I guess this is better?

About moving Denard into the slot - Look, we got pleanty of slots running around.  Just because he is fast doesn't mean he can play reciever or even catch a football.  No thanks, I would rather have him touch the ball every offensive play. 

About Devin starting - I am sorry, but this is one of dumbest things I have ever heard.  People are entitled to their opions, but this is almost enough to make me learn to embedd stuff so i could get one of those "Not sure if serious" pictures that all the kids love so much.  Look, if Devin could move the offense better than Denard, don't you think that the coaching staff would have him playing?  If you say "No," then explain to me why they are sticking with Denard.  

Denard is not, repeat not, going to win the Heisman this year.  He is a flawed passer.  He may always be.  He is also the best QB on the roster right now.  Tom Brady is not walking through those doors and we will not go 12-0.  We have to accept that for this year.  8-4 looks seriously realistic, maybe even 9-3.  That is not too bad for this year given all the history and the change in style and coaches.

but you can see that the coaches and the players are getting it together.  Denard and the offense had their problems, but they did put 28 on the scoreboard which should be enough to win.  I'm glad to see that we have a real defense emerging as they learn the system and learn how to play with each other.  What an improvement over the "down the field escort service" we provide the last two years.  Defense needed to step up at times and they did it. The seniors are very aware how good starts turned into less than stellar finishes the last 2 years.  They don't want a repeat experience and this coaching staff is going to tell them to work hard, keep improving, and never be satisfied.  Give the team and Denard some space to do that.

Everyone does need to step off a ledge. We handly beat a team a lot of people thought would upset us. Our defense is miles better than last year's, and at this point is decent, which is incredible considering where we were last year. Our RBs are also seemingly much more producitve this year.

Yes, we have put Denard on a pedestal. All the people saying he needs to be taken out as QB are ridiculous. He has struggled passing, but so far he has more for made up for it running the ball. If we take him out, Devin might throw more effectively, but he won't run as well, and the option reads won't work nearly as well. The reason our RBs get the holes they do is because everyone flocks to Denard, leaving the RBs lanes to run. That won't happen with Devin in.

HOWEVA. Denard's passing is a big concern to me. No matter how you slice it, 8-16 with 2 INTs is just plain bad. Once we get to the meet of our B1G schedule, if Denard can't tear up a team running like he has, I don't feel confident putting it on his arm at all. Improvements must be made, and quick.

The past two years started in similar fashion -- what da ya know, SDSU was just like Western 2009, and UConn 2010 -- and any little hickup is sending convulsions through our system based on what we've been through in the past.

We'll feel a lot better once we've done in Sparty, brought Paul Bunyon home, kept the Brown Jug home, and knocked off everyone else leading into the Nebraska game.

I was somewhat worried about WMU, flat-out expected Michigan to lose to ND, and was worried about SDSU.  I'll take 4-0.   I also think it's interesting that people (apparently) take it for granted that Michigan's QB will run for 200 yards. 

To think that going 4-0 is a double-edged sword, simply because we all went through two years of starting 4-0 and ending 5-7 and 7-6. So, as a result, rather than relishing the early victories we look beyond and think "how will we collapse this year"?

Screw the last two years. This team is different. The coaches are different. The sky is still the limits. There are issues of course, but damnit I believe this team can beat anybody right now. We just handily beat a team many picked as upset-special-of-the-week. We held a darn good offense to 7(!!!) points. We beat ND with the same passing attack that needs so much work. Through all this talk of concerns with Denard's passing, what gets lost is how awesome our D was today, how much they've already improved over last year. Even there, obviously still concerns. But this team has shown through 4 games the ability to will a victory, to win despite deficiencies and at times ugly play, and all witha  coach who basically says "we suck...lots of practice to do" after a 3-touchdown victory (which is good imo)

Sky's the limit.

I agree with this guy.  I don't think the fanbase will ever be happy with a performance. Denard had a shitty day throwing (again) but we won by three touchdowns! Yet, people will focus on everything that wasn't good and start having a panic attack over it. 

WE GOT A WIN.  And it wasn't in a 67-65 3OT fashion.  It was a sound win.  Ryan Lindley couldn't buy time to find a receiver and we kept Ronnie Hillman out of the endzone.

What more do you want?

I was getting bored of this ledge anyway.

Petition: Chill out

I fixed it for you.

From this URL

http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/27141/robinson-pierce-run-aw...

I learned in 2010 Denard had 688 rushing yards through 4 games, for an average of 8.7 yards per carry.

In 2011, Denard had 552 rushing yards through 4 games, for an average of 7.8 yards per carry.

We need a thread panicking over the lower rushing yard per carry figures!

Those starry-eyed optimists who were confidently predicting 10-2 have reason to be concerned. Those who were thinking 8-4 are probably thinking "they're right about where we thought they'd be." Those in the latter group were far more realistic.

The thing I'm most encouraged by is that our defense has consistently gotten the big stop or turnover at key situations in all of our games so far, even if they've been giving up big plays during the game overall. Getting those critical stops or turnovers was a huge problem during conference play during the last three seasons. This defense is going to give up plenty of yards to MSU or Iowa or NW, but if they can keep them from converting third downs at critical junctures they can stay in the game even if our offense is sputtering.

this post is UNACCEPTABLE

We are turning into a bunch of pussies. I don't know if the Emo of this site feeds into it, or attracts it, or if there enough people around who can't remember or have forgotten about what it's like to win (and expect it). Because if right after a dominant win against a team that it was thought we'd struggle against, to go 4-0 in a season everybody knew we weren't going to be a great team all people can do is complain...what the hell are you going to do after we lose? And we will, because we're a few years away from being a great team. And even then, guess what- teams full of teenagers don't play perfect games every week, and the number of teams across the country that look like they could demolish everyone in their path and are bad ass in every facet of the game are pretty rare.



Will our problems keep us from going undefeated? Uhm, yeah. You should have known this coming in. Till then, act like you've been there before, stop fretting how every oncoming light in the dark is a train, and learn how to enjoy the wins. Because you're not going to find a way to enjoy the losses. The last 3 years should have taught you that if nothing else.



Why do you even watch football if the wins give you no pleasure, and the only way you're going to be happy is to win 63-0? Find a new hobby before you give yourself a stroke.

Our last 4 games are challenging, at Iowa, at Illinois, Nebraska, and Ohio State at home.  God I don't want to lose 4 in a row.  At the end of the day the fan base will be happy when we win.  If we go 8-4, yeah that's better than last year.  But, if we go 8-0 or 7-1, then lost 3 or more of our last 4 games that would heartbreaking.  So in my mind we need to find a way to at least split MSU/OSU and split Iowa/Illinois.  But, without a consistent passing game I find that a challenge.