Use of Our Wide Receivers
The year is 2030. You sit down to watch Monday Night Football. The color commentator makes the point that two of the receivers for one of teams, Tarik Black and Nico Collins, and one for the other team, Donovan Peoples-Jones, were all in the same recruiting class at Michigan. You think to yourself, "Damn, all those guys were all on the team at the same time? How were we not awesome then?!"
I'm starting this post to try to genuinely understand why were are not featuring these three more in our offense.
Exhibit A: Ronnie Bell (who seems like a nice player and a good guy, so I'm not disparaging him) has the most receptions on the team and more than any two of Black, Collins, and DPJ combined. Why? Shea is obviously keying in on Bell when his lizard brain kicks in. Why is he not being coached to make Black, Collins, or DPJ his first option?
And why are we not building our offensive identity (which is clearly lacking) around the three NFL prototype receivers? I feel like Harbaugh overthinks things like this too much. These three receivers would have twice as many receptions apiece if they played at a program that better leverages its strengths. Lots of NFL teams have a "vertical passing" offensive scheme. Doesn't this seem like a logical base offense for us given the unique talent we have at receiver? Use the threat of the pass to loosen up the middle of the field to get the run game going.
It's all the more frustrating because Black, Collins, and DPJ have looked outstanding in the few instances where they do get the ball. Anyway, it was a little better this last game, but overall, I can't shake the feeling that we're wasting a one-in-a-generation embarrassment of riches at receiver.
September 29th, 2019 at 11:50 AM ^
Even with a 52-0 win this weekend has made me more depressed than the last. We still aren’t moving the ball with ease. Couldn’t get push on the oline against a mac level opponent. And to make matters worse ohio state looks unbeatable and we had idiots on this blog taking about how we should go independent cause we can’t beat ohio state. Just typing this makes me nauseous
September 29th, 2019 at 11:59 AM ^
I believe that we will continue to get better throughout the season and get the ball into the hands of our playmakers. That said, we are on the second level in the big 10 with PSU, MSU, and Wisc. Yes, I believe if we play Wisconsin at our best and home or neutral site it’s anyones game. OSU is alone at the top and at this point are easily a playoff team. Get used to it.
September 29th, 2019 at 12:42 PM ^
This years OSU team thus far looks better than the teams from the last few years. Their offense looks just as strong but their D is much better this year. Justin Fields unfortunately does not suck either.
September 29th, 2019 at 12:53 PM ^
Remember going into the season, we were finally going to have the QB advantage against TUOS?
About that...
September 29th, 2019 at 2:51 PM ^
It’s not just the qb. Ohio state has an advantage at every position.
September 29th, 2019 at 9:53 PM ^
Thanks for that little morsel of knowledge. Who knew?
I was merely referring to the thought that a returning Shea would be better than a 1st year Fields.
September 29th, 2019 at 1:11 PM ^
Have you seen him hand the ball off? Wow!
September 29th, 2019 at 1:31 PM ^
Will be interesting the first time they aren't playing a cupcake! Early season schedule hasn't been "challenging".
September 29th, 2019 at 12:43 PM ^
MSU struggled against Indiana at home on homecoming and lost to Arizona State at home.
how is Michigan second level to that?
only one team has truly been dominant over Michigan and that is Ohio state.
wisconsin happened yes, still have to play others, but I still see it as Ohio state, Michigan, and then the rest.
it will continue to be Michigan vs Ohio state for the division for years to come.
ohio state looks unbeatable for now. Michigan has a lot of work to do. That last game is a long ways still.
September 29th, 2019 at 1:18 PM ^
How can you possibly rank Michigan ahead of PSU?
They won a B10 championship and throttle us every other year just like Wisconsin.
September 29th, 2019 at 1:26 PM ^
Would that be the same PSU that is 1-4 against us in the Franklin era?
September 29th, 2019 at 1:58 PM ^
September 29th, 2019 at 1:30 PM ^
Penn State throttles Michigan every other year? Michigan has won four of the last five. Harbaugh is 3-1 against Franklin. Your math doesn't work.
October 1st, 2019 at 5:17 PM ^
And the year PSU won the Big Ten, Michigan beat them very badly.
September 29th, 2019 at 6:58 PM ^
We are a whole lot more MSU than we are OSU. Michigan, MSU, Wisc, PSU are all 2 steps off OSU at this point.
OSU and UM at the top of the big10 might have been accurate in the 90’s but it’s not now.
September 29th, 2019 at 8:23 PM ^
You realize Michigan struggles with Indiana every year too right? And also struggles with MSU and loses often enough that yeah, M is not ahead of MSU.
October 1st, 2019 at 5:16 PM ^
70-36-5 is not really “often”. MSU has some good teams while rich rod and Hoke coached at Michigan.
Take away that fluke punt...which happened I know...but it’s 3-1 Harbaugh over Dantonio. I know it’s 2-2.
and MSU over the last 3 seasons has a .500 record in the Big Ten (since they did beat northwestern and Indiana this year or they would have a losing record). I am sure it will be back to below .500 with games against osu, wisc and psu coming up.
September 29th, 2019 at 12:20 PM ^
Some point last year when we were rolling and ohio state was struggling I checked their boards and pretty much their fans sounded like us on this board now. Lets just enjoy the season you never know what will happen.
September 29th, 2019 at 1:18 PM ^
Even with a 52-0 win this weekend has made me more depressed than the last.
From a poster named "RXwolverine" . . . I feel like there's a joke in there.
September 29th, 2019 at 1:54 PM ^
this joke was not intended but i will take credit for it
September 29th, 2019 at 11:51 AM ^
DPJ has been hurt until yesterday and has barely played this season so I'm not sure you can really count him as someone Shea has been avoiding.
I've been pining for Black and Nico to get more targets all offseason, so I dont necessarily disagree, but I'm not sure we can throw the ball any more than we did over the last two games.
The thing that jumps out at me more about our passing game is that we seem to have almost no YAC. Its a lot of deep shots down the sideline or diving receiptions up the middle and very few receptions where guys can catch and run. There's still very little "speed in space" where you get the ball to a guy with a chance to beat a defender one or one. That is the kind of thing that Ohio State excels at and why they get so many explosive plays. I thought that was supposed to be what Gattis was bringing to the offense, but we haven't seen as much as a glimpse of that yet.
September 29th, 2019 at 12:36 PM ^
I dunno, the 47-yd TD pass play on the first drive was pretty much was I expected when Gattis' philosophy was unveiled. So there are bits and pieces of it showing.
The long crossing routes are the most concerning -- is that by the play design (if so, wrong, and will not work against better defenses with regularity) ? Or is it Shea screwing up and missing the quick-hitting plays? I just don't know. Some others on here may, though.
September 29th, 2019 at 1:08 PM ^
Dunno, watching the parkinggod highlights you can see a decent amount of YAC (including the first TD). I think it'll come more as everyone gets more comfortable and in sync.
September 29th, 2019 at 1:12 PM ^
Yes, that, and very little fast-tempo offense either. We're still wasting tons of time before the snap substituting players, getting the play in from the sideline, scratching our asses, and who knows what else. I saw one play yesterday where it looked like they were trying to get the next play off fast - near the goal line I believe.
September 29th, 2019 at 1:23 PM ^
How much of that is Shea throwing to open guys vs. anticipating and throwing guys open?
We've seen the offense try to create YAC opportunities:
- Early returns are that the slots will get the plurality of WR/TE targets so YAC should be there if the ball is out on time. Bell has had some really good catch and runs
- They've tried to get backs involved which is all about YAC but the timing has been bad
I hope the Nico catch and run is a sign of more to come on the outside given that's an easy read for Shea and big WRs are hard to tackle.
September 29th, 2019 at 10:35 PM ^
Shea is who he is. He doesn’t have or doesn’t trust his velocity which is ultimately how you throw guys open. This is not going to change. Matthew Stafford can fire at will into any single coverage he sees. Same with Rogers, Brady & most NFL QBs. They can get the ball to a spot before any dangling S or NB can react & make a play on the ball. This is the essence of a dominant downfield passing attack. IMO that is the WR corps we have right now. Shea looks better suited to have played with Gallon, Dilleo etc. Guys who’s specialty is flashing open off their first break and catching short to medium passes. Edelman is a completely different tool than Randy Moss and is a lot harder to utilize without a big arm. I’m not anti Shea, he’s a solid college QB with the tools to win games but Milton has the tools to make this offense unstoppable at tha CFB level. Imagine how badly Aaron Rogers with our WRs would shred OSU.
September 29th, 2019 at 10:43 PM ^
Yeah imagine how we would look with an all-time great NFL QB. Come on man. All this talk about Milton being great is silly too. It's based on nothing more than hope in a big arm. That's it.
September 30th, 2019 at 10:35 AM ^
I know that’s not realistic, think more of freshman Henne with these WRs. Milton may or may not be a great QB. We can’t know yet. What IS obvious is the arm strength and the stature to see downfield. Those are NFL tools that simply cannot be taught. No matter how much we coach Shea, he’s gonna bail on clean pockets cuz he’s 6’ tall and can’t see. He’s not going to throw into tight windows downfield because the DBs can & will break on his ball that floats much more than Milton’s. Once again, it’s a choice between a guy with a high floor(Shea) or the guy with the NFL ceiling.
September 29th, 2019 at 2:43 PM ^
On one of the postgame shows it was pointed out that Wisconsin and Rutgers played two safeties deep most of the game to take away the deep routes. Without a run game, 2 yards per rush versus Wisconsin and 3 yards per rush versus Rutgers, most teams are selling out to stop the pass.
September 29th, 2019 at 7:06 PM ^
I think you should call JH / Gattis and let them know they passing plays they’ve designed don’t get YAC ... Except all the times they do.
#HawtTake
September 29th, 2019 at 11:51 AM ^
This post is just as bad as the one I posted just this last friday night.
September 29th, 2019 at 11:53 AM ^
But not as bad as getting the ball to your wrs down the field
September 29th, 2019 at 11:52 AM ^
Is it really that hard to believe that Ronnie Bell, while obviously not being close to as physically freaky as the other three, might just be better at getting open on the routes that Patterson is good at finding?
I 100% agree that Black, Collins, and DPJ should get more touches, but it’s certainly not like Bell getting as many targets as he has so far has been an issue.
September 29th, 2019 at 12:03 PM ^
There's a fair chance that Bell is capitalizing on the other WRs being a bigger focus of the defense. There are implications for that. On the optimistic side, if defense's adjust this year, the other WRs could get easier jobs and figuratively take off. On the pessimistic side, if Bell's productivity to-date relies on getting easier challenges, he could theoretically improve each season but regress in productivity in future years when he becomes the team's #1 WR.
September 29th, 2019 at 12:47 PM ^
Correct.
See Edelman and other slot receivers.
Not the biggest or most talented but get the most catches and most yards often.
September 29th, 2019 at 1:49 PM ^
Seriously. Shea obviously looks for him and for a guy who doesn't read defenses all that great him looking for someone in particular probably means there's a reason behind it...that reason me thinks and from what we've actually seen, is he just gets open.
September 29th, 2019 at 10:38 PM ^
Ronnie Bell is damn good. He might be the biggest Oliver Martin is at Iowa.
September 29th, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
I already explained this last weekend. Patterson is mad at the other three because they beat him at Xbox Tiger Woods golf all summer long
September 29th, 2019 at 12:01 PM ^
Ronnie Bell gets the most separation. He’s also our most fluid and athletic receiver IMO. But since he doesn’t look like an “NFL Prototype” and wasn’t a Top 100 recruit, I guess we should throw the ball elsewhere.
September 29th, 2019 at 12:38 PM ^
You think he's getting less attention than the big names, making it easier to get open?
September 29th, 2019 at 12:02 PM ^
I stupidly thought the shit posting would cease with a big win. If anything, this is worse.
September 29th, 2019 at 12:04 PM ^
Still need to throw the ball more. Our running game is not good so we should be throwing nearly twice as much as we are.
Lewerke had as many attempted passes in one half as Shea did through 3 quarters. Also had 300 yards.
Psu Qb had 398 yards passing
Minnesota QB had 396 yards
We have a ridiculously talented receiver group yet still throw the same as we have in previous years
September 29th, 2019 at 12:53 PM ^
It is of note that Shea Patterson didn't get over 300, and the team rushing total is 141 yds, against a very bad team.
September 29th, 2019 at 1:00 PM ^
We may also note that Shea played less than three quarters in a blowout.
September 29th, 2019 at 1:14 PM ^
Get out of here with your FACTS dangit, this is Michigan, we must RaBBLe about bad things in a 52-0 blowout!
September 29th, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
Other QBs that had over 300, and even over 400, in blow outs, played 4 qtrs?
September 29th, 2019 at 1:37 PM ^
My man, Shea had 7 drives *Total * and they scored on 5 of them. The TD drive lengths were 61,53,15, and 40 yard drives. Add in the 48-yard FG drive and it’s an average of 35.8 yards per scoring drive. Pray tell me how Shea could possibly have gotten more yards than he did?
September 29th, 2019 at 1:40 PM ^
Of the guys mentioned above, the MSU and Minnesota QBs were in four-quarter dogfights and needed to pass often, while PSU for whatever reason loves to run up the score on cupcakes.
I'm fine with more pass attempts (and said as much below) but a 52-0 game where we pulled him in the 3rd quarter isn't the game to complain about.
September 29th, 2019 at 1:10 PM ^
Lewerke also only completed 50% of his attempts decent day for him yardage wise but he wasn't exactly on point all game.
September 29th, 2019 at 12:07 PM ^
It just is what it is at this point. Having McKeon out helped, they seem to force 3-4 throws to him on purpose when he is the least explosive player on the field. They are under used, but I wouldn’t say they are totally wasted in this offense. I think Shea has a hard time seeing the field with how short he is. And his arm just isn’t strong enough to consistently make those long down field throws. He’s a very good QB, but not elite. I think we will see a game however where each have 5 catches and we all think what could have been...