Scenario: McNamera and Brady parallels
First and most importantly, I am not trying to compare McNamera to the best QB in NFL history. This is more of a compare and contrast of their career path specifically while at Michigan. Tom went on to be the best QB that ever played the game. While anything is possible, it is fair to assume for the time being Cade will do.. something less than that.
Still, what is interesting to me is the parallels and overlap between their career paths and competition in the sense of a freshman phenom coming in to take each guy's job and how that might sound easier than done.
McCarthy is to Cade :: Henson is to Brady. What kept Henson and all his undeniable talent from taking Brady's job in '98 is that Tom Brady just carried that intangible when the game was on the line he could deliver when you needed it most. It's a mental edge that's hard to define.
It seems to me that Cade also has a little bit of that edge as well. Albeit perhaps not Tom Brady levels of the same moxie, but when you need a spark, a big throw, a 3rd down conversion a touchdown late, Cade seems like he can step up and deliver.
in terms of recruitment, both guys were considered solid 4* prospects and had offers to legitimate powerhouse programs (ND, Bama, USC, UGA, Wash., etc.). They both had a elite blue chip prospect come in ready to compete for the starting job right away as third year players.
In terms of the 2021 season, I am rolling with McNamera all-in. While it's tempting to break the glass on a true freshman like JJ with all that talent, I think McNamera has that underdog moxie that is at his best when the game is on the line. It's very reminiscent of the '98 season. I don't think Cade is giving up that starters job, much like Brady did. I think JJ may have to be more patient than what was anticipated to get his time as the guy (and he will get it), much like Henson did.
What say you mgoboard, do you see the Brady/Henson parallels? Is Cade or JJ our guy? Will make for an interesting dynamic as the season unfolds.
Go to sleep, bro.
Yeah....when you type “McNamera and Brady parallels”...and reread that and still hit post you are sleep deprived, in an altered state or need therapy.
Lol. Stop.
We have a garbage time drive against Wisconsin, an OVERTIME win against Rutgers, and a shitter against Penn State from Cade to compile in order to get to this.
You typed a lot of words though. Good job.
A couple caveats, when he enter the game vs Rutgers the team was down 17, and he played injured during the Penn St game.
Other than that you, yes, stop. Not enough of a sample size to know much about Cade. He showed flashes but so did Milton against Minnesota and John O'Korn against Purdue.
April 15th, 2021 at 10:25 AM ^
And Brandon Peters against Rutgers and Wisconsin
While McNamara showed a lot of promise, his time at the helm was so brief that I think it’s premature to make this kind of comparison in advance. Let’s wait and see if he gets the starting job in the fall first, and what he does with it.
Haha. Football. That’s what I’m talking about.
To Bill Brasky!
Bill Brasky threw a TD pass 198 yards and banged the prom queen!
To Bill Brasky!!!!
Quit drinking and go to bed
Maybe it was the "Electric Prune" juice that the OP drank.
I think McNamara looked very good prior to getting injured. Those were some very good throws he was making.
I like the set of McNamara, McCarthy, and Bowman. To me, it seems a good group for coaches to pick from.
I hope that this year's practices give coaches way better clarity than did last year's practices.
It is all interesting with new QB's and a lot of new coaches. I'm interested to see how it goes.
This is probably just BPONE talking but as long as our coaching staff remains the same I don't think it matters. You could replace Cade and JJ with actual Brady and Henson and I still think we fuck it up somehow. Whichever QB wins the job I am absolutely certain they'll be put in a position to fail. Sigh.
Yup....I’ll believe it when I see it. Other than everyone’s favorite Harbaugh qb Ruddock, qb performance has been one of the biggest letdowns of the Harbaugh era. I hope we see competent qb play this year but there’s no reason to think this will be the case.
I’m not sure I’ve seen someone spell a name wrong so many times in the same post.
2016 Speight was a pretty good qb until he got hurt in the Iowa game.
Rudock wasn't great either. It's just hard to knock him when he only had a year with a new team/staff and he did improve over that year.
One of the biggest? Bro its been the biggest by a mile. QB recruiting, development, retention, on field play, etc have been a complete shit show under Jim. The dong punch of all dong punches is Jim was f'ing brought with the understanding all things QB would improve. Well the joke is on us now. I just can't choke this down anymore and tell everyone it taste good like Sam and Ira.
April 15th, 2021 at 10:26 AM ^
I don't know if you've been paying attention, but they made a lot of coaching staff changes in the off-season.
April 15th, 2021 at 10:28 AM ^
Not the one that matters
April 15th, 2021 at 10:32 AM ^
That wasn't what you stated. You do smoke rocks, so I understand the confusion.
The word from camp is that Cade has not played well at all. And JJ does not have the offense down. I would say if JJ gets the game plan down better this summer, he will probably be the starter.
I read stuff where people said McNamara was pretty good in practices, but that's just the usual stuff we hear prior to the season.
Out of McNamara, McCarthy, and Bowman (threw a lot at Texas Tech and had good stats), I think we've got someone who can be good in 2021. I'm hoping coaches can find out who is best based on practices. I think there is a lot of variance in what practices show compared to real games. Beyond this year, I think McCarthy will be excellent.
In the game of football-at the position of QB your "there is a lot of variance in what practices show compared to real games" is the understatement of the year. And here Jim Harbaugh has failed mightily-because, not only do the fans not know if he should have played the next man up but neither does he. Here, Coach's inability to pull the trigger defies all sensibilities. Loyalty has its virtues but it also retains a measure of pathology. I am sympathetic as to the treachery of walking this "virtue" line but it comes with the territory of a head coach's responsibilities.
Six years in, changing most of your coaching staff and some administrators is not an exonerating strategy. The only thing being confirmed here is the level of chaos and dysfunction of the previous years. This team has enough talent to win at least 9 games and if I am the AD this is a requirement for the HC to retain his position. The players deserve competent coaching.
The fact we didn't have the staff in place until the evening before Spring practice started is not a good sign at all.
And I think people are missing on how big the changes are on the staff. I know we complain about QB play here, but McDaniels is a very good QB coach, losing him is not going to make the QBs better.
Most of the plays consist of handing off to the fullback (or sometimes the tight end). Shouldn’t be too difficult to master.
Is it the error of McNamera? Or is it the era of McNamara?
Ohhhh, so this diatribe is about former US Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara!
I know Tom Brady. Tom Brady is a friend of mine. Cade McNamara you’re no Tom Brady.
Is Cade or JJ our guy? Yes.
Not to be too too nit picky, but Brady was a 4th year player when Henson arrived. That, combined with the fact that he is Tom MF Brady, helped him fend off a 5* phenom.
Tom Brady was a 4th year player who had never started a game, had thrown 20 career passes for 129 yards and had 0 touchdowns to 1 interception. He did have a 75% completion percentage (15 for 20).
While Cade is only a 3rd year player, he has started and has thrown for 425 yards (43 for 71) with 5 TDs to no interceptions. He also has a rushing touchdown.
I think it is hard to argue that Brady entered his competition with a clear edge in experience.
You can argue who had more experience between McNamara and Brady. McNamara had very little time as second string, but started a couple of games. Brady spent longer learning and getting ready to take over. And no matter what his experience level was, it's folly to compare people to Tom Brady.
McCarthy is working hard to win the job from McNamara. Henson, on the other hand, spent his summer after graduating HS playing pro baseball. When the season started Brady had been on campus over 3 years and Henson had been there 2-3 weeks.
I remember last year the comparisons between Milton and Newton. That seemed to be fair and accurate.
Well, having witnessed portions of the Brady / Henson competition as it was at the tail end of my undergraduate years, I do not hesitate at all in answering your question with a hearty "No fucking way is this similar".
"McNamera"
I love the smell of MLive posts in the morning.
In retrospect thank god for Ruddock and first season Speight. Remember O’korn? Glad he was here but it wasn’t good. Glad we got Shea, he potentially saved us from the abyss, but he did not live up to the hype. How we screwed up Brandon Peters, Dylan McCaffery and Joe Milton is beyond me. I don’t care who plays QB so long as they can make plays.
Once I saw "McNamara" was spelled "McNamera" I lost all interest in reading the argument. If someone cannot spell the person's name correctly I automatically think their level of intelligence is low and therefore don't waste my time in reading what he/she has to say. This is because I conclude that it's likely that their argument will be "dumb".
Didn’t read. Read the title and came to tell you to stop
You should read the first line of the body text. It's pretty funny when paired with the title.
Did you sign up for some experimental drug testing?
Old mac-name-ra had a farm
e-i e-i o
And on that farm they threw some balls
e-i e-i o
With a catch catch here and a catch catch there
Here a catch there a catch everywhere a catch catch
McNamera's play felt like he at least has a good feel for the game and was making consistently good throws that put his receivers into a position to make a play and it did not feel like an oh shit moment each time he was in a passing down - albeit with very limited game-time against meh competition - up until he was broken too.
Over the last several years it just always has felt like 3rd and more than 5 was going to be an adventure where you might catch 2-3 missed opportunities on each play - glaringly open receiver not thrown too (e.g. Nico & Peoples-Jones) or just a QB winging it 10 yds too far, behind them, etc.
It will be interesting to see how this fall plays out.
please dont do this
I hate the saying "nothing good happens after midnight" but if I didn't, this would be Exhibit A.
Both qbs come into this competition with impressive HS credentials in terms of both stats and tgeir ability to win.
McNamara set multiple Nevada records and was a two time State player of the year. He threw for almost 13,000 yards and 146 touchdowns in HS. In his last three seasons, he led his team to a 35-3 record. In its previous 11 seasons, the team only had 2 winning records.
McCarthy was the player of the year in Illinois as a junior and the player of the year in Florida as a senior, As a senior he led IMG to an 8 and 0 record and had 16 TD passes to 0 interceptions. For his career he threw for almost 8000 yards with 94 TDs to 13 interceptions. He had a 36-2 record as a starter.
If you want to read a story to support the OPs, McNamara has moxie, read tgis:
A little sample:
“In an early-season game against Spanish Springs, McNamara broke the transverse process on two vertebraes. Not knowing of the injury, he played the following week and broke a rib. An X-ray showed the broken rib but the transverse process breaks weren’t revealed until a CT-scan a few days after that. Still, McNamara only missed one game, returning about a month early so he could face Manogue. Playing at less than 50 percent, per his dad, McNamara threw for 290 yards and five touchdowns in a 63-28 victory over the Miners.”
April 15th, 2021 at 10:43 AM ^
Real classy parents booing the kid from the stands. Reminds me of Walled Lake teams that we played throwing F bombs at us and their players throwing N words at our black QB.
April 15th, 2021 at 11:16 AM ^
So he's not going to make it through the season healthy. He's tough but seems to break to easy. He made it through one game and a quarter before hurt last year. He's broken ribs and vertebrae in h.s. against much weaker competition then he will face in the big 10. This is not going to end well for his body.
Ok nice now that we have QB figured out we just need to work on TE, receivers, o-line, d-line, DBs, running backs, linebackers...
Oh god make it stop.