Is it time to unshackle Rudock?

Rudock is who he is--an average, at best, quarterback. 

2 things

1. Rudock unshackled is pretty much the game he's playing right now. He's not going to turn into Chad Henne or Brian Griese overnight because of different play calling.

2. I think what you're saying is you want him to throw the ball down the field more? IMO he has to be more consistent with short/mid-range before we open it up like that. And the turnovers. Those will kill us against NW, MSU and OSU. 

Getting sick of these Rudock threads people need to get off his jock. 

He's got the best coach in history of the universe in Jim Harbaugh.  He will be the best possible QB he can be and our staff will work to his strengths.  He has weaknesses, just like everybody else, and those will be coached up over time.

Michigan is beating just about everyone's expectations, and Rudock is doing the most important thing a QB should do which is to advance the ball down the field and win games.

Will he struggle against higher caliber defenses?  Maybe but so what Michigan is not a one dimensional team.  Man people need to count the abundance of blessings that we have with this team instead of focusing on a single player.

Rudock can play better, for sure, but coaches are trying to win the games, and they have succeeded in all but game #1, which hardly anybody expected us to win, and in which we had our chances.

Not a question of "shackling" Rudock, but establishing our base power game, off of which the bigger plays are schemed.  

He is getting more comfortable and better with his reads by the game.  They are not shackling him, they are playing to his strengths, a strategy that escaped the former regime here.

The way NW and MSU play defense, I suspect the more creative downfield stuff will be on greater display.

Hopefully Rudock can get it downfield better than he could against Utah, but in a way, it was his best intermediate to long passing day.  He missed a couple of potential long TD's, but I suspect they are going to come.

More to the point though IMO, line has to play well, backs have to block well when there is pressure, and receivers need to make plays when they have opportunity.  It is a team sport, and especially against good teams, a whole team effort is required to win.

If Rudock can step it up a little, we are going to be very tough to beat.

One thing I noticed from Rudock is that I wish he would give our big ass wide recievers and tight end the chance to make plays on the ball. Instead of trying to float balls down field and making our big receivers run under him I wish he would do what Henne used to do with our huge receivers under Lloyd Carr, throw it high and a little short give them a chance to go up and make a play. Thats why Chesson and Darboh have trouble on the deep passes they arent the type of receiver to make adjustments on sailed balls.

Reference the play Butt made against Utah, a high thrown ball that Butt had a chance to get his hips around and box out several defenders and go up and get the ball. Id like to see more of those.

Dude, we just got off of GARDNER. Just thank your lucky stars we aren't still averaging 3 picks a game.

because he's been "shackled" by Jim Harbaugh?

This makes as much sense as the notion that Taysom Hill will be our QB next year.

Crikey.

I feel like Rudock is somewhat self limiting. Possibly trying to compensate for obvious shortcomings.Saying that, I'm still happy to have him.

"Let him play loose throwing to receivers even though there may be good coverage AND not be handcuffed to one read and then run."

So you honestly think that he has the ability to make 3-4 progression reads but our staff has instructed him to instead lock onto one read then tuck and run if it isn't open? That is absolutely absurd.

You also think it's a good idea for him to start throwing to receivers that are well covered? Doubly absurd....

This is the type of post material that is best left at the Sunday morning hungover breakfast table IMO.

Can we stop with the Rudock threads already? What we've seen so far in the the first 4 games is what we can expect going forward. Rudock didn't have a great game yesterday, but he wasn't atrocious either. Let's not forget that outside of Chesson's long rushing TD, the run game pretty much didn't show up to play (against a pretty poor run defense).

The bottom line is that this Defense is going to keep Michigan in EVERY game it plays from here on out. That is the constant. The variables are: 1) Will the run game be able to produce against quality opponents? 2) Which QB shows up, Rudock or Ghost of Rudock? 3) Can the defense produce more turnovers (I know they got 3 yesterday, but outside of that, turning the ball over has not been an area of strength)?

This teams success going forward is not going to hinge entirely on Rudock.

.... are pretty. 

I don't think he's leashed, I think his upside is just not very high. It's just not random that Ferentz cut him loose, let him go anywhere, and Iowa is undefeated with Beathard.

We'll have a QB in the next year or two who can take us into the top 5. Rudock ain't that QB, though.

Our offense is going to hold us back this year. Period. That said, our defense is considerably better than I expected and both ohio and msu are worse than I expected, so I think we will compete in those games.

it might be possible for him to learn to think more quickly, within the limitations of his own capacities.

The process reminds me  of playing golf.  When you are learning a stroke or changing it, you have to think what you are doing--and that often makes you even worse.  In FB, it also probably makes your reads slower.  That is because the neural circuits in the brain that control consicious intention notn only operate more slowly but  may actually interfere with those that promote smooth, automatic movements.   To an extent, that could be happeninng with Rudock in the process of learning from Harbaugh and getting accustomed to a new scheme.   But a lot of practice and intense motivation could help speed up the process of making his "reads" more automatic, faster, and more accurate.

Tom Brady has a clinic devoted to teaching athletes about methods to speed up these processes.(the TB12 center in Foxboro, ma).