michgoblue

January 14th, 2011 at 2:39 PM ^

No, but when he got here, he clearly didn;t have the pieces necessary to run the spread.  Rather than try to introduce his spread slowly, he tried to "fit the square peg into the round hole" and impliment the spread immediately, effectively throwing the 2008 season away.

When RR was hired, people immediately voiced this concern, and many said that "RR will mold his spread to suit his talent."  I think that RR even said it in some of his early interviews.  This is clearly not what he did, and the result of it was that the 2008 season was so bad that he never recovered.

Joined: 11/16/2009

MGoPoints: 32166

RDubs

January 14th, 2011 at 3:46 PM ^

I'm sure if he had inherited a talented (or at least capable) pocket passer, he probably would've molded the offense around him, and eased into that transition.  I remember everyone citing how much he threw the ball with Sean King at the helm, which proves he will throw when that is the best option.  In reality, he probably looked around and saw what he had in walk-on Nick Sheridan competing with RS freshmen Steve Threet, and said ef' it, let's get this show on the road. 

The results were painful, but it was probably the right move, considering that neither of those guys was going to lead an offense capable of competing at the top of the Big 10 anyway.

Joined: 09/09/2008

MGoPoints: 1123

jmblue

January 14th, 2011 at 7:22 PM ^

RR was not the head coach at Tulane.  We don't know if that offense was purely his idea, or some compromise between him and the HC. 

Everywhere he's been the HC (Glenville, WVU, Michigan), he's run essentially the same spread offense, with the only real difference being the number of running plays he's called for the QB. 

Joined: 11/07/2008

MGoPoints: 102736

griesecheeks

January 14th, 2011 at 5:07 PM ^

problem is, he had very little talent to work with.

Had Mallett and Manningham come back, you might have seen more of a compromise in scheme, which would make sense given the world of talent those two brought to the table.

With Threet & Sheridan, um, he had basically nothing to work with. I emphatically support his decision to implement the spread right off the bat. Why not? It's not like either Threet or Sheridan have been superstars in pass oriented pro-style offenses. I had the pleasure of watching THreet live this year against Cal. same old mechanical issues, poor accuracy and terribly decisionmaking. I thought he looked more competent running the spread, to be honest.

Hoke's inheriting a MUCH better situation, talent-wise. It makes a lot of sense for him and Borges to orient their offense to the existing talent. It's not like they are starting over with freshmen and backups on the roster. It's essentially fully-stocked. If they want to run a different scheme in the long-run, that will start with next year's recruiting class.

Joined: 09/06/2008

MGoPoints: 643

markusr2007

January 14th, 2011 at 1:47 PM ^

That he should have run a pro-set offense with Nick Sheridan and Steven Threet, I suppose?

Arizona State's Dennis Erickson would like to talk to you about 5-6 and interception ratios.

Joined: 10/21/2008

MGoPoints: 19372

ebbtide

January 14th, 2011 at 2:29 PM ^

The Horror was worse. RR wasn't fielding an NFL talent laiden team coming off a potential national championship season.  LLoyd's team was also very, very healthy starters. The Toledo loss team was mostly 3rd stringers.

Joined: 09/01/2009

MGoPoints: 140

turd sandwich

January 14th, 2011 at 1:55 PM ^

This is my favorite part:

Denard is 6-feet tall, like Michael Vick. He can run and he can throw and make things happen. If Michael Vick can do that with the Philadelphia Eagles, why can't Denard Robinson do that at Michigan?

TINGLY BITS!

Joined: 01/04/2009

MGoPoints: 647

Blue boy johnson

January 14th, 2011 at 1:56 PM ^

One of RR's puzzling statement was contending that Denard could handle 29 carries a game. I hope he throws more and carries the ball around 10 times a game. We have a fleet of RB's let's use them.

Joined: 03/15/2009

MGoPoints: 6647

Blue In NC

January 14th, 2011 at 2:44 PM ^

Chris Perry would like to have a word with you.

 

Season Rush
Att		 Rush
Yards		 Yds/Att Rush
TD		 Long Recv
yards		 Recv
TD		 Total
offense		 Points
scored
                   
2003 338 1674 5.0 18 63 367 2 2041 120

 

That said, your point is well taken that having Denard run less would likely be better for his health.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 8550

jmblue

January 14th, 2011 at 7:29 PM ^

338 carries in 13 games amounts to 26 carries a game.  Yeah, he had the one insane 51-carry game but otherwise averaged fewer than 24 a game.

All that is beside the point, anyway.  A tailback only needs to be healthy enough to carry the ball.  A quarterback needs to be healthy enough to carry the ball and throw it with accuracy and speed.  He's got to protect his upper body more than a tailback does.  You probably don't want a QB to get tailback-levels of carries.

Joined: 11/07/2008

MGoPoints: 102736

08mms

January 14th, 2011 at 3:11 PM ^

Are there any Eagles Football fanatics on here who would like to do a diary on the Eagles offense this year for those of us who didn't see many games?  How did it work, what was awesome/failures, what pieces other than Vic seemed inexpendible?

Joined: 07/02/2009

MGoPoints: 2141

Go Blue 1997

January 14th, 2011 at 3:57 PM ^

For gods sake, he said they will run a hybrid pro-set tailored for Denard. Let them run it and see what happens.

As far as the negativity on here, especially by Brian, man up and lets get behind these guys.

 

You can only whine so much before your audience gets jaded, dude.

Joined: 10/05/2010

MGoPoints: 16

ijohnb

January 14th, 2011 at 4:05 PM ^

thing that Denard needs to improve on is reading defenses and coming back to third and fourth options when the other two are not there.  I am not convinced at all that he cannot do it.  In Rich Rod's spread, true the offense was built around what Denard does best, but I don't think we have seen whether he can really read defensive converages to pass when the situation mandates.  He certainly got a healthy dose of reading defensive ends, but I feel like he was responsible for so much before it was even time to check down and make a proper read that he was mind-f#%ked by the time he actually had to react to a defense in the pocket.  Can he be effective in a pro-style set, I really don't think we have a shread of evidence suggesting one way or the other, but I for one can't wait to find out. 

Now, first thing first, taking a snap in the eye formation without a sole shattering fumble on the QB-Center exchange.  He seems to struggle with that at time.

Joined: 09/21/2009

MGoPoints: 69986

Hugh Jass

January 14th, 2011 at 4:26 PM ^

Denard to pass more -  it is vital that Michigan hire a very solid QB coach!  To my knowledge that position has not been filled yet......I could be mistaken though

Joined: 01/03/2011

MGoPoints: 2373

NJWolverine

January 15th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^

Borges runs a west coast style offense and talked about Mike Vick's role in the Eagles offense.  I think that's a good comparision because the Eagles continue to run the west coast offense with Vick.  Here's Vick's stats for this year.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/5448/gamelog;_ylt=Atn8L3UKu7SKnoFSc…

Notice the remarkable consistency in rushing attempts.  Every game, Vick would average between 8-11 rush attempts, with zero deviation.  I believe that's a bit too low for Denard given his running ability, but adapting the scheme to allow 12-15 rush attempts for Denard while still incorporating the west coast offense would be a nice compromise.  Plus, I think it's a good sell to tell Denard that an improved passing game means he can be a high level QB in the NFL. 

Joined: 08/31/2008

MGoPoints: 840