Shea Patterson vs. Jolton O'Peters, for the record. . .

I'm wondering if he's under orders to keep the lid on things while the offense develops and focuses upon a grind down clock approach through the run game, thus keeping your defense fresh (which has been an issue in prior years).  It feels like this offense is more about controlling the game through time of possession and grinding out first downs and controlling field position than it is putting up points on the board and giving the opponent a chance to do the same.  The opportunities are there, for sure, which is great.  But sacrificing those opportunities for the sake of controlling your opponent's possessions, there is a long-term gain over a less-likely short-term gain.

I think this is all part of Harbaugh's master plan to keep Shea another year. 

/s 

I agree with the above and a lot of the comments. I don't know that it's just a question of being "conservative," however. It's more about making smart reads and accurate throws. I can think of a few instances (including against MSU) where we were damn lucky not to have a pick. I think the biggest issue is Shea getting comfortable with both our system and, especially, zone defenses in a system that relies much more on him making sophisticated reads. At Ol Miss, as I understand it, he had much simpler reads and a simpler offense. I think the off week, and more "time on task" as Harbaugh likes to say, will work wonders.

I absolutely love that we're mildly grumbling about Shea not taking some chances on throws versus the combined QB and O-Line clustercuss that defined last year.    We're in a much better place this year.  

A couple of quick thoughts:

• Might be worth adding QBR or something to the piece to add more color.  Conclusion will be the same, but more data couldn't hurt.  Also the rushing yards and sack avoidance are part of the benefit of having Shea back there beyond just the stats you mentioned.
   
• The other point that can't be undervalued is the fact that we have a top-5 defense and thus playing field position and turnover avoidance will benefit us more.  We don't need a gunslinger because about the only way our D is going to give up more than 14 points is if we hand them free field position or scores.  

That being said, I think there are still 2-4 times per game we need to see Shea just take a shot that one of his big, tall, athletic pass catchers will win a 50-50 ball.  

Truly night and day from last year. I do agree he needs to launch it up deep to a tall receiver on 3rd and long about once a game more, but at this point I’m nit picking. Shea has been exactly what we need this year.

I have these visions of next year with Patterson still here, thoroughly understanding the offense and Harbaugh trusting him that this could be a juggernaut of a team.

Or it could just be the mushrooms 

Shea has had at least a half-dozen near-interceptions, including three against MSU (the two tipped balls plus the Grant Perry PBU). So I think his TD-INT ratio favors him superficially. The UFR rating is more accurate.

This is all context.  The strength of the team is the defense, full stop (especially early in the season).  They are going to protect that defense by 1) running the ball, keeping the defense off the field, 2) not turning it over and putting the defense in a bad spot, 3) playing field position like this: take risks as you move across the 50, or when they see an alignment or defense the staff believes provides an opportunity worth that risk.  It's been that way all season, and it's not going to change.  A lot of the frustration on playcalling can be relieved if you see the season in this light. 

I think Shea can take more shots downfield, meaning deep balls, but that's it.  Everything else I'm OK with.  Remember the near pick that Perry poked out?  All of the "route combos/need slants/high-low them/etc" is an accumulation of opportunities on some plays that people disparately see, and they are probably there, but continually taking those shots are too risky for the staff.  Maybe Patterson throws some picks in practice, so they've put the regulator on pretty tight.  And he may be growing now and gaining more trust - that slant to Collins into the teeth of the Sparty defense was the best pass all day -, so we may see more of it.  But the offense will be based on the above unless Michigan gets behind. 

This is good stuff here.  

I rewatched most of the MSU game in 60 minute form on BTN and I feel like a little shine is going to come off the tackles, in particular Runyan, who seemed to have trouble getting a handle on Willekes.  Credit to MSU as they incited a number of throwaways due to quick pressure.  Credit to Patterson for safely throwing those balls away instead of winging a ball out over the middle with a guy in his grill.

My thoughts on this are that Harbaugh is teaching him how to be a QB at a pace Shae is comfortable with.  He ran the simplest of simple offenses at Ole Miss - I mean, DCaff's HS offense was more complex!  He's still learning to read defenses, and probably still learning some of the variable route structures built into the offense.  It's possible that he never knew to look for DPJ down that sideline because that was never covered in drills. 

Seriously - if Harbaugh thinks a reeled in Shae is enough to win the game, okay.  Bring him along at whatever pace he's comfy with, rather than overloading him.  But, IMO, he's going to be ready to pick apart a zone when it's necessary to do so.  Hasn't really been necessary, yet...  And I think it's fairly easy for Harbaugh to see when his team can ToP an opponent to death, and not need to go deep when caution can sort things out just fine.

Yea but come on...I want.

While its not apparent from the time stamp, following the MSU game Shea retweeted this tweet that Chris Frey posted right after the Notre Dame game:

Damn last year was rough...

I think this is a bad post. Period. Shea is not “risk averse” or “conservative.”  Watch the tape, he has made a bunch of tough throws and taken some chances. He’s always been know as an aggressive player. The fact is, he has missed some open receivers and that’s different than being conservative. He has also not been given a whole lot of attempts. Further, he’s very likely been asked to pay close attention to caring for the ball.  I see Harbaugh asking him to reign. It in is different than him being conservative. I like how he’s played this far. 

" This has been frustrating to watch, I ain't refuting that."

Speak for yourself.  I have not been frustrated by watching Shea play at all.

And his legs get critical first downs ... combination of conservative passer and effective runner is a winner given our defense.  Time of possession is the goal to keep Don's dudes fresh and at their elite level for all 60 minutes.

Last year we lost the OSU game because O’Korn wouldn’t make downfield throws that were available, and instead did a lot of scrambling around and taking bad sacks. Which was weird because his reputation was definitely on the “gunslinger” side  

Obviously, Shea is more talented and more successful than O’Korn, but the fact that he’s showing some of that hesitancy is still worthy of some critique. 

It’s not that I want him to sling the ball all over the place from his own 20, it’s that I want to see smart caution, recognizing high upside situations where it’s good to gamble. On the offensive 35 with a great defense and DPJ running downfield? You’ve got a great D, it’s 3rd down, an interception isn’t the end of the world. Take a shot!

And besides that, not throwing to a guy that’s open isn’t “caution” it’s a bad read.  

I’d be curious to see what the breakdown of Shea’s unsuccessful DSR plays to Jolton. I suspect we’d see a much lower rate of “IN”, because when he throws he’s usually accurate. And a lower rate of BRX, which is usually “ill advised throw that gets picked off”. But maybe a similar or higher rate of “TA” (throwaway). One thing DSR doesn’t show very well is if he throws a catchable ball on a dumpoff, improv, or other play where a better read was open but he held on too long. I think those are the plays Shea can improve on the most. 

With a #1 defense, running a risk averse offense is not a bad strategy at all, especially against the teams that you supposedly to beat. I just hope that when play against teams that requires certain level of risk taking, Shea will take what it is given to him. 

On the other end, you should give your five-star WR a chance any time he is covered one-on-one in the end-zone.

Pre-injury Speight was the best quarterback play we've had since Henne.

But, I'll take Patterson every day of the week.

“I get the feeling Harbaugh has been relying on Shea as little as possible while he works on getting him more comfortable instead of trying to re-write his instincts.”

I’m pretty confident it’s actually the exact opposite and that he IS trying to re-write his instincts. What we are seeing is the product of Harbaugh’s coaching to make him MORE patient and less of a “gunslinger” type QB. If you compare his play this year to his play at Ole Miss it is like watching a completely different QB.

Definitely feel a ton more relief this year each time M drops back to pass as compared to where we were a year ago.

Only worry is that he seems to get a little careless with the ball being away from his body and in a single hand when he's scrambling.

Your comparison is ridiculous in the absence of a comparison between last year's OL and this year's. There's a good chance that Patterson would have been out for the year after ND if he had been working behind last year's line.

This blog is the greatest intersection of "good, quality sports information" and "good, quality use of humor" that the world will ever know.    And those of us that come here and play nice are better for it.