11 Warriors on Shea Patterson

Decent article, though (a) it looked like they only watched the Cal game, and (b) they tried to make a distinction without a difference based on the the whole "we don't read defenses" discussion. Ole Miss's offense does rely on winning matchups, but you could tell that a lot of those plays were absolutely drawn up for the receivers to run, at most, two different routes based on how their defender matches up. So maybe a deep crossing route of he goes outside or a comebacker if he plays inside. Stuff like that. Patterson has to read that and respond accordingly. It's perhaps not the same as doing a lot of pre-snap checks, but at least to me, it's not demonstrably different. It certainly doesn't look any different than what OSU's passing offense is. Also, they sort of lost me when they alluded to the fact that even Vandy had a passing defense. I'm not saying they are elite, but that was by far his best game against a good defense and as we saw in Brian's analysis, it was a solid outing for him even with some of the gifts Vandy gave him.

I don't see a post in this thread from UMBig11 as referenced in OP's edit. Am I missing something or is OP mistaking Mineral King for UMBig11?

I wonder what they have to say about UFMs passing offense.

I think rival fans believe Michigan fans see Shea Patterson as their savior and this is just not the case. Most of us just expect a noticeable upgrade (solid QB play) compared to last years debacle. He doesn't have to be Johnny Manziel. As we all know, if Michigan had just average QB play, there's a good chance that they beat both MSU and especially OSU.

It was a fair accurate article that says Shea obviously has some elite tools but it isn't just going to be plug and play of a great QB.

it doesnt matter because were signing Hunter Johnson right? 

First, I'd guess if Patterson is relying on WRs beating matchups that DPJ, Black, Perry, McKeon, & Gentry will beat a lot of DBs/LBs.  I'd guess they have an athletic and/or size advantage against everyone with only a handful of possible exceptions on our schedule (OSU, ND, & maybe Wiscy & PSU). 

 

Two, from what I've seen Patterson's feet are both a blessing and a curse.  He uses his feet to get out of trouble and throw from positions that most QBs can't or wouldn't be advised to throw from.  However, Shea can and often does successfully throw in odd positions with his feet once he breaks the pocket as this is when the play breaks down & often WRs are wide open at this point as coverages breaks down and/or DBs leave WRs to chase the QB or lose track of the WR altogether so the throw requires less precision.  Although his feet & body do some difference things (ala Manziel), his throwing motion and release seem pretty fundamentally sound and quick.

 

Third, I don't know enough about the simplicity of reading coverages and the complexity or lack thereof of various offenses for a QB.  However, it appears that Harbaugh has made an effort to simplify the offense for both the QB and the o-line.  In addition, at least in this case, the QB will have the benefit of the WRs to have a year under their belts whereas last year a number of guys were really inexperienced.

 

At the end of the day I would expect some bumps along the way and some growing pains.  I think Shea is probably over hyped a bit as we get really excited about stuff and things rarely live up to our expectations.  However, I think Shea is also going to mix in a lot of big and exciting plays we just didn't see last year.  I also expect Shea to improve over the course of the season & to be a vast upgrade over JOK.  That, and I'd expect our backup (Peters) to be a better version of himself over last season after his experience playing last year.  The QB, WR, and o-line options should all together be better off than last year which should ultimately give us a much better offense.  If you combine that with our defense which should also be better than last year, this should be quite a strong team that should peak at the end of the year.