Upon Further Review: Shea Patterson vs Vanderbilt Comment Count

Brian

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[Bryan Fuller]

CONTEXT NOTES: Patterson had five games against P5 competition before getting knocked out for the year after the LSU game. Two were grim hammerings at the hands of LSU and Alabama where he threw 5 INTs against zero touchdowns and failed to hit 50% completions. Games against Cal, Auburn, and Vandy were much better. This is the Vandy game, chosen first because there's a handy Shea-only reel on the Youtubes.

Now, you hear "Vandy" and expect the Keystone Kops but they were a respectable-ish 5-7 last year and were 17th nationally in pass D S&P+. Their sack rate was almost exactly average, which helped a lot. Initial reviews of the Bama and LSU indicate that the Ole Miss OL fell apart against top-end rushers and Patterson spent a lot of time running for his life.

OLE MISS OFFENSE NOTES: The Rebels ran a standard modern passing spread reminiscent of Penn State minus Saquon Barkley. All plays are from the gun; most are three-wide with a flex TE off the line of scrimmage or in the slot.

Their receiving core was stacked back to front, with DK Metcalf, DaMarkus Lodge, Van Jefferson, and AJ Brown all getting 50+ targets. Brown, a potential first round pick next year, is the shortest of those guys at 6'1", 225; he got put in the slot frequently in an effort to get him matched up against nickel corners and safeties.

The Ole Miss OL was also almost dead average in allowing sacks.

Ln Dn Ds O Form RB TE WR D Form Box Type Play Player Yards
M28 2 8 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel even 6.5 Pass PA hitch Metcalf 3
Quick pitch and catch, CB rallies to tackle ably. (CA, 3)
M26 3 9 Shotgun trips 1 0 4 Nickel even 6 Pass Sack N/A -8
LT smoked immediately. He gets a push in; Patterson can step up but has to break a tackle and gets delayed. Vandy rallies to finish. (PR, N/A)
M39 1 10 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel even 6 Pass Fade Metcalf Inc
An attempt at a bomb on which Metcalf does get over the top of the CB but gets no separation. CB gets an arm grab in and Metcalf can only spear at it with one hand. Throw is perfect. (DO, 2, route-)
M46 3 3 Shotgun 3-wide 1 0 4 Nickel over 6 Pass Improv Brown 19
Good pocket, ton of time. Patterson can’t find anyone and his timer goes off; he rolls out. He points his dude to the sideline and then nails him in stride right at the line . Tough call: want him to find someone given the time but he made it work for a chunk. Results-based charting. (DO, 2)
O35 1 10 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel over 6 Pass Circle Brown 8
(Probably) a clever counter to an Ole Miss staple as this looks like double slants to the field and Patterson pumps it; outside WR breaks deep but is covered. Backup plan is the slot converting his slant into a circle route in the vacated area. Open for a chunk. (CA, 3)
O27 2 3 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Base 3-4 7 Pass Dorf N/A Inc
Outside WR runs a go. Patterson throws a hitch. (NC, N/A)
M42 1 10 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Base 3-4 6.5 Pass RPO slant Metcalf 58
Basic RPO on which the MLB sucks up to the run fake and an OLB who should absolutely be dropping into this sits and watches the ball. That’s a first down, and then Metcalf and some comical S play turn it into a TD. (CA, 3)
O42 1 10 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel even 6 Pass Improv N/A Inc
PA and some Vandy hijinks confuse a G and get a DT through clean. DT gets tackled, holding call. Patterson bugs out. He avoids the DE, gets to the sideline, and throws it OOB. (PR, N/A)
M43 1 25 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel even 6 Pass Hitch Jefferson 2
I guess Ole Miss is expecting softer coverage? Or this is a busted screen? I don’t know. Two yard hitch, immediate tackle. This is more or less a screen. (CA, 3, screen)
M45 2 23 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel even 6.5 Run QB arc keeper Patterson 10
A good gain but a bit of a woof by Patterson, as the TE arc blocking from him has nobody to block since the entire front ignores Patterson. He gets forced inside by the slot LB and bursts up a seam. Patterson(-2) then slides down after ten yards when ten more beckon.
Ln Dn Ds O Form RB TE WR D Form Box Type Play Player Yards
O45 3 13 Shotgun trips 1 0 4 Dime even 5 Pass Dig Jefferson Inc
Decent pocket but Patterson has to step up as DEs get around the edge. He can, but he’s boxed in. He fires a dig route that’s debatably open; it’s batted at the LOS. Still gets to the WR but just past his hands. (BA, N/A)
M9 1 26 Shotgun trips 1 0 4 Nickel even 6 Pass Flare screen RB -5
This is dangerous, behind the RB and backwards. RB manages to spear it, and then gets blown up as a WR badly misses a block. (IN, 1, screen)
M4 2 31 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel over 6 Pass Slant Jefferson Inc
Well behind Jefferson and a tough out of frame catch attempt fails. (IN, 1)
M4 3 31 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Dime even 5 Pass Flare screen RB 12
Give up and punt. (CA, 3, screen)
M25 1 10 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 5-1 LB split 6 Pass PA fade Lodge Inc
Patterson misses another fade where his WR gets over the top without separation. Ball Is right at the sideline and only a yard or two off. (IN, 0)
M25 2 10 Shotgun trips 1 1 3 Nickel over 6 Pass Cross Brown 27
Blitz sees a standup DE slash inside the RT. Patterson resets outside that guy and fires an impressive crossing route that takes his WR away from the coverage and hits him right in stride. Brown breaks a tackle for a chunk. (DO, 3, protection 0/2)
O33 1 10 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel over 6 Run Zone read keeper Patterson -2
All six guys in the box attack the RB so Patterson pulls. This is a bad idea as Vandy has a clever trap on, converting from a two high look to a one high at the snap by shooting the field-side safety down. He contains, and Brown appears to be running an RPO slant so he’s not thinking about blocking. RPS -2.
O35 2 12 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel even 6 Pass PA Post Lodge 35
Massive coverage bust is free TD. (CA, 3, protection 2/2)
O27 1 10 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel over 6 Pass PA fade Metcalf Inc
Probably a quick-strike attempt after a TO. Ole Miss crams the boundary with players and gets one on on coverage with Metcalf barely outside a hash. He’s got a ton of room to the sideline; Patterson tries to hit him in stride as if that room doesn’t exist. He barely misses; ball deflects off Metcalf’s fingertips. (MA, 1, protection 1/1)
O27 2 10 Shotgun trips 1 1 3 Nickel over 6 Pass Improv RB 25
Patterson flushed as a blitz gets through. Poor contain allows him to get out relatively quickly, and the RB pops wide open after converting a dumpoff into something deeper. Patterson finds it and hits him in stride for a big chunk. (CA+, 3, protection 0/2)
Ln Dn Ds O Form RB TE WR D Form Box Type Play Player Yards
O4 2 G Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Goal line 7 Run Zone read keeper Patterson 4
Odd triple option-ish play as the TE runs what looks like an arc block for a second and then converts it to a flat route. CB covers it. WR to this side is blocking, though. Patterson(+1) is able to dodge as safety and impressively runs over a corner to score.
M35 1 10 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel over 6 Run QB arc keeper Patterson 7
Vandy again appears to leave the edge open but fills with a safety. This time the arc TE cuts off a linebacker to the inside; Patterson(+1) is one on one on the edge and gives that S the Forcier with a decisive upfield cut to get a solid gain.
M48 1 10 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel even 6 Pass Fade Metcalf 34
Another jammed boundary and one vs one in a lot of space. Metcalf loses the route pretty definitively; Patterson should be using the space to the outside—they’re running on the numbers—but instead just throws it like usual. Metcalf makes a Prothro catch to make up for it. (MA, 1, protection 1/1)
O18 1 10 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel even 6 Pass Throwaway Metcalf Inc
Only get a portion of this play. When we come back an OL is five yards downfield on some sort of RPO, Patterson is rolling out, an attempted double move gets crushed, and Patterson dumps it. (not charted, 0)
O30 1 10 Shotgun quad 1 1 3 Dime over 5 Pass Slant Brown 11
Fake the screen everyone runs out of quad into some routes; this time Patterson throws it a bit behind Brown because a linebacker is about to run under him; he keeps the ball away from him and turns a potentially dangerous play into a reception. (DO, 2, protection 1/1)
O19 1 10 Shotgun trips 1 1 3 Nickel even 6 Pass Dumpoff RB Inc
All day in the pocket. Patterson can’t find anyone and dumps it down to the back, turfing a short throw. (IN, 0, protection 3/3)
O19 2 10 Shotgun trips 1 1 3 Nickel over 6 Run QB draw Patterson 5
RG gets pushed back in Patterson’s lap in an uncomfortable way so he has a choice and bounces out; he’s able to beat a DE to the corner and get a few(+0.5). Weak late hit flag after.
O6 2 G Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Okie zero 7 Pass BSF Lodge 6
The perfect, unstoppable back shoulder fade. (DO, 3, protection 1/1)
M48 1 10 Shotgun trips 1 0 4 Nickel even 6 Pass Comeback Lodge 14
23 seconds left in the half, 2 TOs, Vandy rushes three and leaves a LB in a two-yard zone. Woof. All day, Patterson throws a rope to Lodge for a chunk. (CA, 3, protection 1/1)
O38 1 10 Shotgun trips 1 0 4 Nickel over 6 Pass Deep out Metcalf Inc
Blitz gets a guy through up the gut. Patterson backs off and throws off his back foot; the resulting soft 15 yard out is in the perfect spot but the CB has time to rally because of the velocity and can get a PBU. Pretty good throw all the same since it was either his guy or no one. (CA, 1, protection 0/2)
Ln Dn Ds O Form RB TE WR D Form Box Type Play Player Yards
O38 2 10 Shotgun trips 1 0 4 3-2 dime 5 Pass Improv N/A Inc
This is pretty weird as Patterson takes a drop after getting the snap and ends up ten yards behind the LOS. Maybe for the best as line lets a DE through untouched. Patterson has time to survey because of the drop but then has to start moving around. He tries a late sideline throw that doesn’t come off. Think you have ot take your shot here even if it’s a bad idea throw in a normal circumstance. This play starts with 9 on the clock. (BR, 0, protection 0/2)
O38 3 10 Shotgun trips 1 0 4 3-2 dime 5 Pass Hail Mary N/A Inc
Hail Mary is incomplete.
O29 1 10 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel over 6 Pass Slot seam Brown 29
PA and the safety turns his back to the slot receiver? And settles down on the boundary hash? No redirect from slot corner. This leaves a slot seam for Brown open and Patterson calmly nails it. (CA, 3, protection 1/1)
M21 2 9 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 NIckel even 6 Pass Dig Brown 14
Lot of time and a clean pocket; Patterson surveys and throws a bit high but not too bad to Brown, who converted a very covered hitch into a dig route and got open. (CA, 3, protection 2/2, Brown route +)
M35 1 10 Shotgun trips 1 1 3 NIckel under 6 Pass Bubble screen Brown 8
Very very soft coverage on the outside; S can’t make a one on one play on Brown. (CA, 3, screen)
M43 2 2 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel over 6 Pass PA hitch Jefferson 11
CB blitz might be telegraphed as both WR and QB are prepped for it. Quick hitch before the S can get over for a solid gain. (CA, 3, protection 1/1, RPS +1)
O46 1 10 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel over 6 Pass Throwaway N/A Inc
All day, nobody on the screen, no throw, eventual rollout and throwaway. (TA, N/A, protection 3/3)
O46 2 10 Shotgun 4-wide 1 0 4 NIckel even 6 Pass Sack N/A -7
Patterson’s first read is not there and then he’s buried. (PR, N/A, protection 0/2)
M47 3 17 Shotgun trips 1 0 4 Dime even 5 Pass Comeback Lodge 11
Good protection; second or third read from Patterson finds Lodge coming open on a comeback route well short of the sticks. Patterson pulls Lodge off his feet with a slightly low throw. (MA, 2, protection 2/2)
O14 1 10 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Nickel under 6 Pass Stop Lodge 9
Another CB blitz that converts a route, it looks like, as Lodge just stops when his guy goes in. Patterson sees it and throws it; Lodge runs over the filling S to near a first down. (CA, 3, protection 1/1, RPS +1)
M35 1 10 Shotgun trips 1 1 3 Nickel over 6 Pass Flare screen RB Inc
LT fails to cut the playside DE and he bats the ball down. This is not a BA because it’s a screen he has to throw. (not charted, screen, protection 0/1)
M35 3 10 Shotgun trips 1 1 3 Dime even 5 Pass Screen RB 12
Wide open and an easy conversion. (CA, 3, screen, RPS +2)
O49 2 5 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 Base 3-4 8 Pass Fade WR Inc (Pen +15)
Strange all around here as Vandy goes zero on second and five; instead of running a post or something that would take advantage of it it’s another fade route. This one is way long but probably because the CB latched onto the WR and slowed him, drawing a flag. (not charted, N/A, protection 1/1)
M25 2 1 Shotgun 3-wide 1 1 3 3-2 dime 5.5 Pass Hitch Brown 10
Easy conversion as the CB lined up over Brown slides down into the box and then tries to recover. Expecting a run, I guess. Easy pitch and catch. (CA, 3, protection 1/1)

WELL I CERTAINLY FEEL REFRESHED

welcome back

LET'S TALK ABOUT OUR LORD AND SAVIOR SHEA PATTERSON

Sacrelicious as always, I see.

GIVE ME THE GOOD STUFF NOW

This game was sort of muted? Three of Patterson's touchdowns were gifts from Vanderbilt safeties, another long completion was a WR bailout, and aside from one drive that started off in first and 26 somehow, Patterson was almost always operating near midfield or closer to Vandy's goal line. When you get 58 yards on a basic RPO slant…

…you're gonna have a good time. Also when the one-high safety turns his back on the slot receiver and goes to the wrong hash.

The other long TD was so open it wasn't worth clipping.

Despite the ease of the big plays, add it up and it's another level than Michigan's QB play from a year ago:

SHEA PATTERSON

  Good   Neutral   Bad   Ovr
Game DO CA SCR   PR MA   BA TA IN BR   DSR PFF
Vandy   5 16(4)+     3   3   1 1 4(1) 1   74% -

What's more, those negative events were almost all of the benign variety: inaccurate balls on tough downfield sideline routes, a ball thrown away despite a lot of time, a failure to understand that the half was about to end. Other than a couple of passes batted at the line (one did not get charted because it was a screen), no Vandy defender touched the ball. There are no starred ohshit throws. The worst thing he did was throw a flare screen behind his running back on the one drive Ole Miss was backed up.

And while he was provided some easy long TD he hit every one of those throws with precision. Patterson's accuracy in this game was impressive. He wasn't just hitting guys, he was hitting them in the facemask. This qualified as one of his less precise throws.

I mentioned it in the table, and then thought "why am I mentioning this completely standard throw?" Because it wasn't in a guy's facemask.

Five DO throws? Are we grading on a hope curve?

Well, I never. While Patterson's TDs were mostly routine throws there were a selection of eye-openers. Ole Miss threw a lot of fades last season—I'm betting that that's one reason they got crushed vs LSU and Alabama—and Patterson displayed excellent, consistent touch on them. Ole Miss's crew of burly WRs is capable with the ball in the air, but they're not exactly blazers. This was a fairly typical outcome of the many fades:

There's not a lot of window there and Patterson hits it. When he missed it was usually a narrow thing. One glanced off DK Metcalf's fingertips…

…others were very good, accurate throws to blanketed receivers, like this Prothro catch:

This is a perfect throw if the WR didn't get beat up on his route. Since he did and your formation—everyone in the boundary, solo WR to field on the hash—is designed to give your WR a ton of room to the sideline on a fade route, I assume the back shoulder is option 1B and should be thrown. There were a couple of these.

OTOH, the back shoulder is in his toolbox and was the throw on Patterson's most impressive TD:

He looked the part of the five-star in this game.

Are you still on this Tate Forcier comparison?

Tate Forcier is a nice comparison! The guy failed out shortly after declaring it was impossible to fail out, yeah. While on the field, he was really promising as a pass-first run-second spread QB. Patterson is also that. Here's his best Tate vs ND impression:

He's not exactly dynamic. He's going to lose in space against a DB or linebacker most of the time, and when Ole Miss did pop him open for a chunk play he slid way too early.

We talked about this a ton last year, but sliding like that is probably more dangerous than just getting tackled.

The other point of comparison with Forcier is Patterson's ability to slide around the pocket, or break outside, and make a play out of busted protections. This incompletion might be Patterson's most impressive pass on the day, as it's a pinpoint back-foot throw that nearly results in a 15-yard out despite the pressure:

Here he's able to re-set in the pocket and find Lodge for a chunk:

He's extremely comfortable on the move, even when rolling left as a right-handed QB.

Patterson's ability to keep plays alive and then strike downfield is very Tate-like… and by God if there's any team configuration that cries out for a Tate-alike, "this team is awesome except for the worst pass protection in the country last year" is it.

What does it mean for the future?

Judgment is withheld until I can get handle on the dual LSU/Alabama debacles, but Patterson's extremely consistent fade delivery leapt out in this game, as did his comfort when throwing from non-standard-pocket-statue body positions.

I think I phrased some of my talk about Patterson poorly, causing folks to think I'm relatively down on him. When I said he doesn't look like a typical five star, what I meant was he didn't look like your typical pro-style lumber-cannon, like Stanford's endless procession of five-star guys who don't quite work out. He looks like a scrappy underdog sort who gets ranked #159th. Then he uncorks those fades.

Comments

Tim

May 7th, 2018 at 1:41 PM ^

FWIW, Vandy was better than they felt this year, particularly on defense. Expectations were low coming into the year ("Derek Mason gets fired" low), and the Dores exceeded them thanks in large part to that D - though in the end the numbers didn't end up that pretty, anyway.

BornInA2

May 7th, 2018 at 1:52 PM ^

Making bad teams look bad hasn't been an issue in recent years. What's been an issue is making good teams look bad. Hoping whoever starts at QB this fall can help with that.

TrueBlue2003

May 7th, 2018 at 4:24 PM ^

"Initial reviews of the Bama and LSU indicate that the Ole Miss OL fell apart against top-end rushers and Patterson spent a lot of time running for his life."

*Checks OT depth chart*....FML.

While it's great to have what appears to be a really good QB, if you can't give a QB time, it doesn't matter much who's back there. Please, Warinner, please work some magic.

Catchafire

May 7th, 2018 at 4:51 PM ^

I've been saying the exact thing for a long time now.  Jesus could have been our QB last year and would have been running for his life behind our line.  Having to run for your life week in and week out doesn't instill any type of confidence in your QB...



Behind a solid line, all three of our QBs that played last year would have been servicable to great.

BornInA2

May 7th, 2018 at 5:43 PM ^

The OL/QB thing gets painted as binary (if the OL is bad the QB will be bad) when I don't think it's quite so simple. No QB is going to do well getting pile-driven into the turf every drop back, true. And we've certainly had a good share of that (still so sorry, Mr. Gardner).

And...the reality of last year, as I recall, included a non-trivial number of "where was the 9 foot tall receiver to whom that was thrown?"/tacopants.

A QB who can pick out and hit a target quickly will take some steam out of a mad-man dline rush. We didn't have that last year (or the year before). See also Jake Rudddddddock, the count of years being three ago.

LDNfan

May 8th, 2018 at 4:48 AM ^

That's an unrealistic bar.

You are not going to make the really good teams look bad but what UM hasn't had is a QB that could just hold his own against good teams from start to finish. I mean the really good teams are at that level for a reason and you are not going to beat them regularly if you are expecting your QB to play lights out against them.

UM likely beats OSU the last two season (and the team makes the playoffs two years ago) if the QB play is just less erractic. Not great...just not horrible at the worst possible times. 

Night_King

May 7th, 2018 at 1:56 PM ^

So you're telling me if DPJ or Tarik Black are running ever-so-freely 30 yards down the field, he can actually hit one of them for a TD once in a while??

lawlright

May 7th, 2018 at 2:41 PM ^

That was actually one of the first things I said watching this game too. Couple times when a player was so wide open most of us could have made the throw, and then watching Shea just make a solid throw directly to the receiver and be caught for a TD was oddly refreshing?

stephenrjking

May 7th, 2018 at 2:45 PM ^

Hard not to think about that looking at some of his deep throws down the sideline. Except for late-season Jake Rudock we've been waiting the entire Harbaugh era for a guy that can consistently punish teams downfield. 

If Shea has time and our receivers develop as expected and he hits them deep consistently, that makes a huuuuuuge difference for this offense. The inability to make teams pay for crowding the LOS was a tremendous challenge last season. 

If Shea has time. 

1VaBlue1

May 7th, 2018 at 8:48 PM ^

When he hits a couple out of PA the LBs will have to drop back a little.  And there's the time he needs for DPJ and Black to get downfield.  It also opens up the middle a little for Higdon and Evans to make guys think twice about dropping deep.

I really like the sound of my typing, here!

MGoFoam

May 7th, 2018 at 2:02 PM ^

OK, now I'm nervous. 0 TD/5 int against Alabama and LSU, but he looked good otherwise? JOK 2.0? We need a QB who can execute the offense against good teams.

RoseInBlue

May 7th, 2018 at 2:50 PM ^

Exactly.  We weren't even beating up on bad teams last year which we at least did in Harbaugh's 1st 2 years.  We need to get back to destroying cupcakes before we can even think aobut beating good teams.  I'd be perfectly fine with destroying both good and bad teams but if you can't soundly beat the bad teams, there's no reason to believe you can beat the good teams.

stephenrjking

May 7th, 2018 at 4:51 PM ^

The Florida game was the high point of the season on the field, honestly. The defense was dominant, the offense was hitting some big plays and experiencing fixable glitches (two pick sixes, the Crawford overthrow) and looked pretty good. But the game utterly broke our QB, the OL problems were exploited by future opponents, and the offense never looked good again.

It's hard to look at the other games you listed there and think of those as comfortable blowouts. The team looked awful against Cincy and Rutgers, and was highly dependent on defense to keep Minnesota and Purdue pinned down for long enough to allow the offense to finally put up enough points to salt those games away. And my memory suggests that Maryland was way too relaxed and productive in the second half of that game. 

None of these games resembled the 2016 blowouts in any way. 

ak47

May 7th, 2018 at 2:07 PM ^

Yeah if pocket breakdowns causes his accuracy to dip to below 50% and throw 5 interceptions we aren't going to be grea this year either. Our pass protection would have to take a massive step forward to get to average. Honestly it Patterson vs Peters is going to have way less of an impact on the outcome of this team than the LT battle and Warinner vs years of shit performance.

Kevin13

May 7th, 2018 at 4:01 PM ^

Shea will have better talent around him then he did at Ole Miss, and we don't play the likes of defenses that Alabama and LSU put out there very often.

You have to expect that Shea will improve from last year also which sort of makes those game a moot point now. Heck if we just had average QB play last year we probably win 2-3 more games.

TrueBlue2003

May 7th, 2018 at 4:54 PM ^

why does everyone blindly assume Michigan has better talent than any supposedly inferior program?

Read the article.  Ole Miss had really good receivers.  They even had an average sack rate allowed (we were abysmal last year).  Ole Miss had better offensive players - not even including the QB - than Michigan had last year. Ole Miss had the 9th (!!!) ranked S&P+ offense last year!

The M receivers could take a big step forward and be better than Ole Miss receivers last year.  Big if though in just their sophomore seasons.  And then, woof, that gaping hole at OT is extremely likely to be worse than what Ole Miss had last year.

Yes, our defense was and will be dominant again and could win us some tough games but it'll be an impressive coaching job if our offense doesn't get crushed by elite defenses this season.

I am cautiously optimistic because yes, M's offensive coaching was masterful in the OSU game so if they can repeat that, and hopefully the repeat that every game, Shea will hit those throws and put up a lot of points.  Not sure where that coaching was the rest of last season though (reminiscent of the Borgesian OSU game in 2013 - where was that all season!?).

DoubleB

May 8th, 2018 at 2:47 AM ^

asked themselves why Michigan's offensive coaching was masterful in that one game?

Ohio State ran man coverage virtually the entire game which is exactly what Michigan sees throughout the season from their own defense. Just dust off the spring ball and camp stuff and roll with it.

That entire game is an exercise in watching two offenses try to handle man defense. Ohio State generally ran the QB to get numbers and Michigan generally tried to throw it.

LDNfan

May 8th, 2018 at 5:06 AM ^

Don't know if UM will have better overall talent on O but it should definitely have a better running game and you have to have some balance to have a shot against teams like LSU and Bama..or the best teams in the B1G. 

 

andrewG

May 7th, 2018 at 2:05 PM ^

"Initial reviews of the Bama and LSU indicate that the Ole Miss OL fell apart against top-end rushers and Patterson spent a lot of time running for his life."

So given our OL situation, those games should be pretty informative for games we're actually interested in? 

[stocks shelves with the strong stuff in preparation for football season]

lawlright

May 7th, 2018 at 2:37 PM ^

Yes but also OM's running game was not good neither. I think UofM running game going to be pretty good this year. And from what my eyes told me watching the game, OMs OL may have also been slightly worse than UofMs. Idk, hard to compare bad to bad and declare a "who's a little better" of just eye test and no metrics, but it's possible they were slightly not as good.

What I've always said about UofMs OL for the past 5 years or so has not be able the talent and/or ability, it's been the mental part of it. Idk why but they just seem to bonehead things like let a guy run directly through G/T with one of them not blocking anyone... Or just let a DT slip right throgh on the snap untouched. Or heaven forbid a simple twist stunt would completely destroy them. All of these were just simple fundamental things learned in rocket football, that for whatever reason have been missing from UofM players in recent years.

When the UofM OL locked on and engaged they were good, just a lot of bonehead WTF were you thinking type plays. Seldom (but still happened) were players just flat out beat, most of the time it was just mental breakdown, I think?

That's why hearing from the players that the OL got "simpler" may be a good thing, start with the idea that you have to at the very least block the dude lined up on your face, and proceed with building blocks from there. 

andrewG

May 7th, 2018 at 3:55 PM ^

So this is the real problem:



"And from what my eyes told me watching the game, OMs OL may have also been slightly worse than UofMs. Idk, hard to compare bad to bad and declare a "who's a little better" of just eye test and no metrics, but it's possible they were slightly not as good."

It doesn't matter if our OL is a little better than Ole Miss's, it's probably still in the same range.

Mongo

May 7th, 2018 at 2:22 PM ^

a 5-star Tate Forcier could be dynamite ... smart / skilled enough to actually run the plays as called, but athletic enough to "make a play" when the plan breaks-down.  Shea sounds exactly like the QB that this OL needs for a higher success rate, meaning all those stunts and blitzes we faced in 2017 might need to be dialed-back or opponents risk getting burned by the QB scramble.  That Shea-threat should work to increase the overall passing game results.

Also, another encouraging sign is Shea's vs Vandy stat-line improvement year-over-year:

  • 2016 ... 108 QBR / 20-46 (48%) / 220yds / 2 TDs / 0 INTs
  • 2017 ... 185 QBR / 22-35 (63%) / 351yds / 4 TDs / 0 INTs

Shea has taken off those frosh training-wheels and should be able to consistently deliver high QBR games.  Here is hoping he can pick up the offense quickly and build strong chemistry with the WRs over the summer and into fall camp.  5-star-Tate-Forcier meets N-D in only 117 days  ...  Go Blue !!!

stephenrjking

May 7th, 2018 at 2:42 PM ^

Initial reviews of the Bama and LSU indicate that the Ole Miss OL fell apart against top-end rushers and Patterson spent a lot of time running for his life.