rfkmichman

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Recent Comments

Date	Title	Body
5 weeks 4 days ago	Defending Denard catch-22	If this is indeed true--and I think it will be--Denard will be the ultimate catch-22 for defenses.  He will hurt them running, but more importantly, he will hurt them because he could run.  The MSUs and Va Tech's of the world will put 9 in the box, but Al and Denard will be able to counter that with quick hitting throws Denard will actually understand.  The defenses drop back to counter that, but can't play a completley base defense because Denard could run.  MGoBlog has harped on--and rightly so--constraint plays for years.  A Denard that understands and can correctly implement a sophisticated passing scheme creates a constraint out of every QB sweep and zone read.  They will run it not just because they will be effective, but to remind defenses that they can.  Meanwhile, Gallon and Roundtree--and Fitz running--will comfortably rack up yards because QB iso will no longer have to be bread-and-butter.  Nevertheless, defenses will have to respect it and therefore give Fitz one more step or Roundtree and Gallon one-on-one coverage. Too bad we have four months to wait...
5 weeks 4 days ago	Some things we may have learned from both the game and Al	They are really, really happy with Denard.  If they weren't, Denard plays more than two series.  We also got some quantitative data out of Al of why they're happy with him: he cut his picks by four times.  Just think about that: if he cuts his picks this season by as much as he did in the spring, he throws less than 4 interceptions the enitre year!   Based on hints that Al dropped about depth and such, I wouldn't put much stock in Burzynski playing with the ones.  I feel like they were playing a lot of the guys on the line in a "what if" scenario because the depth is so shallow on the line.  What if a guard goes down?  The backups have no game-ish experience.  That was the concept of playing Russ and Devin so much. Given the playing time of Russ yesterday, his actual play, and Al's comments about him and Devin, I really do think we will see Gardner at receiver some this year.  I think they are comfortable with Bellomy being the #2 if Gardner was to be injured playing receiver. I was so dissapointed when Jack threw that pick...He's always been my hero, walk-on QB and physics major...I have two physics degrees and was a walk-on QB for my intramural flag team....
24 weeks 16 hours ago	Man, you beat me to it.  I	Man, you beat me to it.  I was going to say something about uniting sci-fi and fantasy nerdom with football.  In fairness, Brian has long ago proved this by doing UFRs; what fan breaks down football plays with such detail without a little arm-chair tactician in him?  This post made me want to revisit Babylon 5 on Netflix.  And the creepy thing?  Delany does look like a plausible Centauri.
25 weeks 1 day ago	Hoke is not Carr or RR (wow, I'm a genius)	I totally agree that Hoke/Borges offense adaptdability is also where Brian was wrong.  RR treated the spread like Carr treated 3 yards and a cloud of dust (2008 Capital One Bowl aside); they stuck with it even if it wasn't working well.  Ironically, Hoke is different where Carr and RR were similar; he allows his coordinators to adapt to the personell.  After all, he's just a Defensive Line coach...
25 weeks 1 day ago	Hoke is not Carr	Though Brian's January predictions have proven true, his total 180 on his opinion of the future stems around one main thing: in January, Brian thought Hoke was going to be simply another Carr, with his conservative play calling and stoic, boring media appearances.  In a couple recent posts, he has flat out stated that he was wrong.  Hoke is not Carr.  In comparison with Carr, he is a gambler; not in the vein of a Myles who's got two nines and calls, but like a person who seems like he reads the Mathlete and makes educated, smart "gambles".  On this Blog, those are called "statistics" and "expected points."  Where Carr would punt on 4th and 2 from the 40, Hoke keeps Denard's helmet on.  Where Carr would kick a field goal, Hoke pulls a guard and a tackle and has a skinny, white holder run off tackle for the first down to the one.  Carr's gambles were running the standard, once-a-year-for-twenty-years-from-the-same-formation trans-continentals to Navarre.  Hoke's is points look better than 20 yards in field position.  Mattison and Borges have a lot to do with that (and Brandon getting the $$ to secure them).  Without a defense, going for it isn't as many expected points.  Without an offense, there's no confidence to get the first down.   But equaly important is the coordinator's (and Hoke's) press conferences that consistently endear them to the football technicality lovers on this blog.  I LOVE to read the transcripts of the coaches explaining what happened and using football terms to matter-of-factly explain why something didn't work.  And the "bubble screens?" retort from Borges was amazing.  If Rodriguez and his coordinators would have had press conferences like these, where even when they're not coaching a team to victories they're winning over fans with their simple desire to talk football, he may have still been around. After this season, I'm glad he's not.* *I read Three and Out and felt bad for the guy.  I feel like he still could have been succesful if given a fair shot, but I'm glad that chapter (or book...ha) is behind us.
25 weeks 1 day ago	Caps	Does THE KNOWLEDGE ever get tired of hitting shift?  He probably gets yelled at by the mods on MMOs.
42 weeks 3 days ago	Excited for Trek and Denard	Man I can't wait for the new season to start.  And the new Trek movie.  I guess until Sept. 3rd, I'll just have to read MGoBlog and dig my copy of Star Trek out of the DVD collection.
49 weeks 2 days ago	Good post	My favorite part:  "It totally depends on whether you saw doom coming (Brian) or didn't (the rest of us)" Brian is rather doomy.  Do the rest of you check up on him and make sure his head isn't between his knees and rocking back and forth?   In all seriousness, the contrast between all of the writers is what makes this a great site.
1 year 34 weeks ago	Read-option	I flew up to the game from Nashville and commented to my brother that Denard made a terrible read on the play he "may have read wrong" from above.  He read it terribly.  The DE was sitting high just waiting for him and he should have handed off.   But that's the beauty of Denard: even great quarterbacks miss-read a play, but even if he does, Denard has the ability to make something of it, like that 20 yard scamper.   What's even better is that he hasn't miss-read many plays at all!  That means he can "make something of it" already 5 yards down the field.  Take someone who can consistently turn his mistakes into positive gains add to it a person who hasn't made many mistakes plus dilithium and you get DENARDED.....