Monday Morning QB with Devin Gardner
September 6th, 2022 at 1:01 PM ^
Has he ever been (high on Cade)?
He has some valid criticisms, but the man is clearly biased against McNamera
September 6th, 2022 at 1:06 PM ^
Cade didn't play great, so that's not a surprise really. I don't recall Gardner having an issue with Cade previously that was over the top...
September 6th, 2022 at 2:06 PM ^
Ehh I listened to MMQB every week last year and even when Cade had good games, Devin was a bit harsh. I wouldn't say his criticisms were unfounded, but he was very nit-picky about Cade's play to a degree that I thought was unfair
September 6th, 2022 at 2:35 PM ^
I think he's looking at it from more of how a college coach or NFL coach would grade the performance. Devin is not going to be looking at things through a lens that is sunshine and rainbows. He's going to give a breakdown and opinion that Cade would probably hear within practice or film sessions.
I find that more refreshing since it breaks the position down more and let's us fan know what things should be done by players.
September 7th, 2022 at 4:43 AM ^
I like Devin and Sam working together. I find it very entertaining. Devin does seem to be a little hard on cade but as someone here pointed out, that's because Cade is the starter and as a starter you have to have thick skin and go out and compete. There's always going to be another QB looking to take your spot and that's good for Michigan. I would add that in recent years, the top programs have had two great QB's because the position is one that is injury prone. You absolutely need a second guy who is just as good who can come in and win games. Devin isn't wrong for saying the things he's saying. Hopefully the right people are listening and trying to help Cade grow, instead of telling him how great he is. He's a Big Ten Champion because it was a great TEAM effort that he managed well. I'm with Devin, I want to see if JJ can start and manage as well game as well as Cade before we crown him as the better leader right now.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
They couldn't be two more different QBs, so I'm not surprised. I love Gardner and the fact he gave all at Michigan, but they are two different talents.
Gardner was a natural athlete who could do stuff not many other QBs could. Heck, he played wideout, and was decent. That athleticism bailed out his ad-lib tendencies on many occasions. He thought very well on the fly to add to that in-play talent. If Harbaugh had been his coach, I'm convinced we would have beat OSU at least once. Gardner was money in the clutch.
McNamara is not an superior athlete and knows it. I'm convinced pulls and runs is because he figures almost any forward play is probably better than him legging it. He's very conservative in his play style because he understands he has nothing to gain extending the play. I also don't think he thinks on the fly as well, which contributes to his post-snap struggles (such as the read option).
September 6th, 2022 at 2:10 PM ^
His criticisms last year of Cade were that he
- tended to rely too much on his pre-snap reads and then miss things that were open to him when the D shifted to take away his read
- wouldnt step up in the pocket and take hits in order to make plays and instead would check down or throw away
- missed a lot of wide open guys because he doesn’t seem to either see them or be willing to put a ball in play if he’s not 100% sure it can’t get picked off
He clearly believes that JJ is the more talented of the two and has highest upside but I wouldn’t say he has been unfair to Cade or that his criticisms are based on their different styles as players
September 6th, 2022 at 6:29 PM ^
I thought he criticisms of Cade last year were tough but fair.
However when Cade seemed to hit his stride late in the season it did not seem like the credit really followed.
September 7th, 2022 at 1:26 AM ^
Cade hit his stride? When?
September 7th, 2022 at 8:30 AM ^
Cade played pretty good football the 2nd half of the season. He PFF ranked above 70 in four of his last five games. He played excellent to beat OSU and excellent to beat Iowa and win the Big Ten.
September 6th, 2022 at 2:30 PM ^
Kid played out of his mind in The Game in 2013. Gave it more than everything he had (since it turned out that he played most of that game on a broken foot). When he threw that INT on the final 2 point conversion attempt, my first thought was to feel for him as he was sprawled out on the turf, likely physically and emotionally exhausted. My second thought was disappointment at having lost the game (and far from being the reason we lost, DG was the reason we even had a shot to begin with).
DG had like three offensive coordinators in five seasons, including a total idiot in Doug Nussmeier who for some reason thought Shane Morris was a better option. I can't think of another Michigan player who was so deserving of much more success than he got to experience (Brandon Graham would be the other name that immediately comes to mind).
September 6th, 2022 at 5:06 PM ^
He would have beaten OSU in that game if our coaches had called a different play after OSU checked out our formation on the conversion, called time out, and decided how to defend it. That was malfeasance of the highest order.
September 6th, 2022 at 3:20 PM ^
If Harbaugh had been his coach, I'm convinced we would have beat OSU at least once. Gardner was money in the clutch.
Gardner's like the quasi-mirror image of Henson to me, one of the biggest what-ifs in Michigan football history. I'm convinced that if Henson came back in 2001 instead of signing with the Yankees, he'd have won the Heisman and been the #1 pick in the NFL draft. (Especially the Heisman, given he would only have had to beat out Eric Crouch, who won with one of the lowest percentages of the vote in Heisman history).
Gardner did stay, but never had the coaching. Put him under a competent QB coach and I think his ceiling was a lot higher than just "beat OSU at least once"...
September 6th, 2022 at 3:27 PM ^
Gardner is an even bigger "what if" than Henson because he was screwed over by circumstances completely beyond his control.
Regarding his coaching: I actually think he had somewhat competent coaching under Al Borges. His best years were when Borges was the OC/QB coach. Unfortunately, our OL was so terrible that DG often found himself running for his life or picking grass out of his facemask.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:24 PM ^
He's had beef with Cade like they own an Arby's together.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:31 PM ^
He's a little over the top, I can remember a time last year where he kept "slipping" and calling him by the wrong name (I think he was calling him Shea, but not sure).
September 6th, 2022 at 3:12 PM ^
Yeah, the Shea stuff was downright obnoxious. It get better as the year progressed but just feel disrespectful for no good reason.
September 7th, 2022 at 5:04 PM ^
What evidence is there that Devin ‘is clearly biased” against Cade? I’ve only seen, read and heard objective analysis of Cade’s plays and JJ’s plays. Please provide some actual support for your statement.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:07 PM ^
He’s got a point. Everything Cade does looks pre-determined. Especially those worthless RPOs.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:09 PM ^
Devins mentality has always been to push it downfield. The gunslinger mentality and obviously Cade will always err to the side of caution. Devin sees windows that your normal fan probably does but Cade won't put the ball in harms way even if it takes a big play off the table.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:12 PM ^
And thats why Cade won a Big Ten title his first and only season as starter, and Devin did not, in multiple years.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
I think that has more to do with the coaching and team around Devin vs. the coaching and team around Cade.
September 6th, 2022 at 2:09 PM ^
I'm not sure Cade makes it through the 2013 & 2014 seasons alive behind those OL's. Devin was super mobile and able to dodge tacklers and his bones were dust by the time Ohio State rolled around
September 6th, 2022 at 1:20 PM ^
There's a LOT more to it than that! Devin had a bunch of shit stacked against him by Hoke. He was recruited to run Rich Rod's offense, and then Hoke started a slow transition to a pro set. Devin was murdered behind a shitty-ass OL playing the position in a way he never should have - told to stand in the pocket.
Did you even watch Hoke's slow motion, dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks 4 year transition to a pro style offense?
September 6th, 2022 at 1:20 PM ^
Ya there were nothing else different about their relative situations. Good point…..
September 6th, 2022 at 2:13 PM ^
Devin had the worst offensive line in Michigan history. Give him a Harbaugh coached team or put him on the 2021 Michigan team and we actually give Georgia a run for their money.
September 6th, 2022 at 2:20 PM ^
Cades gets killed behind the OLine of '13 and '14 and I would contend that we would have been more competitive against UGA with Gardner as our starter....
September 6th, 2022 at 3:06 PM ^
Devin got robbed behind some truly awful offensive lines. We can disagree with his commentary without ignoring all context.
September 6th, 2022 at 4:22 PM ^
Once again, awful take on your part.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:41 PM ^
I wonder what Harbaugh would do if Gardner played for him? What the playbook would look like? How would Gardner "fit" into a Harbaugh coached team?
JH would probably see Gardner similarly to the way he sees JJ
September 6th, 2022 at 2:35 PM ^
See Kaepernick, Colin
September 6th, 2022 at 3:23 PM ^
Or Cam Newton. If Harbaugh could have developed NFL passing ability in Gardner (and I think all the pieces were there if he had gotten competent coaching) the sky would have been the limit. QBs that are NFL-quality passers and have Devin's athleticism go #1 overall...
September 6th, 2022 at 4:23 PM ^
I think Kaepernick was the example because he’s a guy with a somewhat similar skill set that actually DID play for Harbaugh. So there’s a direct example of what that may have looked like.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:09 PM ^
I'm not gonna listen to the guy who couldn't win a Big Ten title, only to pile on someone who did..... Fuck this... Cade won, and ALOT, might not have been as pretty as everyone wants, but he won. Gardner didn't, so he should shut his mouth.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:13 PM ^
Thanks for chiming in, Cade.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:13 PM ^
Dude played during the Hoke/Borges regime. I'll give Poor Damn Devin Gardner a break there. Plus, he almost beat OSU with a broken foot. He's earned more right to criticize than the armchair QBs out here.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:24 PM ^
So Brian and Seth should stop doing UFRs and giving any minuses to the team because they have not won a B1G title?
September 6th, 2022 at 2:27 PM ^
That seems correct to me, but I also have not won a big ten title so who can really know for sure
September 6th, 2022 at 1:29 PM ^
By your logic Trent Dilfer is a much better QB than say Dan Marino, because Trent won a Super Bowl and Marino never made one.
September 6th, 2022 at 3:04 PM ^
I will take Dilfer because he never did Isotoner commercials.
September 6th, 2022 at 2:11 PM ^
I’ll go with the analysis of someone who played major college ball sunshine
September 6th, 2022 at 2:27 PM ^
Well how about RG3? He pointed out on one of Cade bailout from the pocket that he was too locked in on the corner route when he had a crossing open "wide open" (RG3's words not mine) for a TD. This is the same consistent item that Devin has pointed out repeatedly. Cade is a very good QB, but he is no where near perfect. If you can't take the heat, then you are in the wrong spot.
Gardner has backed up each of his points with film, it is not like he is making statements off the cuff....
September 6th, 2022 at 3:06 PM ^
Until RG3 can bench press that Mazi Smith 325-LBs points are moot.
September 6th, 2022 at 10:09 PM ^
Didn’t they say Mazi pushes that 25x or some nonsense? Something something he’s using 100lbs more than combine weight and getting similar reps?
September 6th, 2022 at 3:06 PM ^
Pretty sure RG3 never won a Big 10 championship either...
/s
September 7th, 2022 at 1:37 AM ^
Clearly RG3 is also biased. ;)
He also never beat OSU nor won the big ten. So we can't listen to him either. Plus he had those funny socks.
September 6th, 2022 at 2:32 PM ^
Put Cade on those 2013 or 2014 Michigan teams and put a Devin Gardner without his ribs turned into dust on last year's team. What do you think happens?
September 6th, 2022 at 4:24 PM ^
Mineral King = Shea
OSW = Cade
September 6th, 2022 at 7:55 PM ^
I’m not going to listen to someone who doesn’t know that A LOT is two words not one.
September 6th, 2022 at 9:22 PM ^
This has to be the worse take EVER on this board . . . and that's saying a lot. Devin Gardner was a WARRIOR for Michigan, sacrificing his body and even his position (QB) to make help the team win. He's played the QB position at a high level, so actually knows what he's talking about. And he defends every opinion he makes. If you listened to the video, you'll hear him effusively praise Cade when he makes the right decision and throw. But he also doesn't pull punches, nor should he, when the opposite happens. As a fan, not a former player, this kind of insight is golden.