I have been off for a while and the only reason I’m on today is we are riding out the hurricane in Fort Myers. Relax we are fine, and winds are only supposed to hit 65 mph. Hell, we’ve had 100 mph winds in Colorado. Prior to this I had enough of the negative people on here and the fact we had to renovate a new location and get the clinic moved into a much bigger space. On to football.
I have kept up with of the articles that Josh and company have written and always enjoy their work. What I’m still struggling with is the true lack of football knowledge of people on this board. This is not meant to be an attack as people honestly don’t know what they don’t know. At the same point I’m quite sure I will ruffle a lot of feathers, but I really don’t give a shit.
Let’s start with the mess that is this 4-2 football team. This all goes back to Jim Harbaugh and JJ as far as the QB situation and the coaching problems that may or may not be the problem. Nothing Jim and JJ could do about making the playoff and playing football until after the portal deadline. I will go back further on the QB situation when Jim didn’t land a starting level in 2022 and 2023. Just two projects at best neither of which have panned out. That’s on Jim and Jim ONLY. Regardless of what JJ was going to do Jim did not secure a QB worth a damn. Plus, what QB would come to Michigan with Harbaugh flirting with the NFL and JJ not committing to the NFL draft. The portal closed before Michigan was even done playing football. Even after spring there was not a real option that came out of the portal that would not cost an arm and a leg for at best a MAC level QB or some unproven QB.
On to the coaching staff. Jim took the ENTIRE defensive staff with him. OK, I get it, he gutted his defensive staff in 2021. The difference he has a coaching tree and the help of his brother plus he had the advantage of gutting his staff early. As opposed to Sherrone, a first year HC with no tree and was given the reins when all the top coaches had already signed contracts with other top programs. This all goes back to Jim and his flirting with the NFL. Understand, I am a diehard Jim Harbaugh fan but he did not leave Sherrone much of a chance to succeed in the short term.
My favorite thing I laugh at is all the speculation on who and when to fire the coaches. This includes the HAND-PICKED successor Jim wanted in Sherrone Moore. It was actually in Jim’s contract. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t trust Jim on knowing talent and then want a guy he handpicked fired week 2 of the season. I laugh at people that try to blame Warde for “not doing a national search” for a head coach. I busted out laughing at the people speculating after a week 2 loss to Texas (the number one team in the country) on when Sherrone would be fired and I’m still laughing because Sherrone gets at least 3 years so get over it and quit talking about it. You are not in charge. Warde is not incompetent and get over Jim leaving. He ain’t coming back! Think back to John Beilein’s 2nd year and if many of you had your way he would have been fired. Did I mention all the negative people who had to backpedal their asses off after wanting Jim fired in 2020.
As far as Sherrone’s coaching selections. He had one of the top young DL coaches in football who can coach and recruit who made a mistake and Sherrone paid for that mistake also. Sherrone in effect could not start his coaching search until Jim was officially gone on January 24th. Taking Minter with him. Then Clink and Elston followed along with Herb. All up to a month later. So, he went and got a guy that Minter recommended for the secondary and a DL coach that came highly recommended. Throw in Wink who is the originator of the defense both Mac and Minter ran. Now it’s fire the whole staff. Fire Wink. Wink has a 3 year I believe guaranteed contract at $2.5 million a year. Fire Campbell. Now Campbell might be in over his head but he was an OC and he was reported to be a great QB coach according to JJ and the rest of the QB room. Campbell is a great recruiter so at the time it looked like a good hire. Campbell helped with JJ, Davis, Smith, and Hart. Newsome had to replace not 4, 5 but 6 olinemen. BJM has a proven track record and a solid to good recruiter so there’s that.
Now the season to date. All anyone needed to know about AO as a starting QB is when they started Davis Warren to start the season. Again, rehashing the lack of getting a portal QB is worthless. Tuttle was recovering from injury. Denegal was not the guy. AO is one hell of an athlete, but he is NOT a D1 QB. He will NEVER make it to the NFL as a QB. People have pointed to Milton having all this athletic ability etc. but Milton had 6 years to get there or was it 7? I lose track. My unpopular take is that they should have never pulled Warren though I do see the argument that he be benched after throwing 6 Ints. At least Warren can complete a pass over 5 yds. AO just can’t get through his progressions. I truly wanted AO to succeed. This is a critique not bashing. Bashing is when I say AO ‘SUCKS”(which I would never do) vs he is not a D1 QB!
As far as developing and offense to ‘fit AO’s skill set. That’s not how things work. This offense is predicated on the threat and the ability to complete passes. Doesn’t have to be thrown 40 times a game but passes have to completed at a high rate and must move the chains. See JJs 3rd down completions last year. Many advocate that we run a RPO type offense to accommodate Ao’s skill set. Problem is most on here do not know the difference between a read option offense and a run pass option. Read option is strictly a running play where the QB reads the end and decides whether to hand it off or keep and run outside (see remember the Titans though that was a veer triple option). RPO is a Run Pass Option where the QB reads the LBs. If the LB comes forward to stop the run the QB hits the slot or another WR. There is a 3rd option where the QB runs but the primary objective is for the RB to carry the ball or for the QB to throw the ball. Once people figured out that AO can’t get through his progressions and could not complete down field passes, they never back o off their safeties out of the box. So here we are with people wanting to change an offensive scheme that has been successful for 3 years. 40-3 with 3 B1G championships, 3 CFPs culminating in a 15-0 NC. Sherrone had 2 choices. Change a HIGHLY successful offense that a QB has been in for 3 years “to fit that QBs skill set” or coach the QB up and hope for the best. I will add that the true choices were to change the scheme to fit the QB or change the QB the fit the scheme. That’s why Warren started the season and now Tuttle who would have been the QB day one if not for surgery.
Injuries and post operative care are my areas of expertise so I will address this. When athletes have elbow surgeries it takes several months before they can start a throwing program. Depending on the damage and the surgery throwing programs vary. I might add there is a big difference between a pitcher coming back from elbow surgery and a QB. Pitchers do not get hit by 320 lb. DTs or blitzing LBs. What also goes with throwing programs is the possibility of tendinopathy some call this tendonitis its semantics. Tuttle experienced some of this and this leads to not being able to strengthen the arm because pain inhibits muscle activity. So, when you question what took so long that’s your answer among other reasons.
On the topic of Tuttle let’s keep in mind he was cleared the week before the UW game. He took 30% of the 1st team reps so let’s get off his ass. He was not the reason for that loss regardless of the turnovers. He had part in it but he was not at fault! The oline was a big problem and going down 14 pts in the first 20 minutes was not on Tuttle he wasn’t even in the game.
On to the defense. This defense misses Rod Moore more than anything. A close second is Mikey. Not just their play but Moore’s ability to set the defense and Mikey being and emotional leader. Now there is a huge problem with open field tackling and being out of position. Nobody can argue against that. Is that coaching, is it youth, talent or a combination or all 3. I have no idea. Those that think they know are just spit balling at best. The LBs are playing well. The DL is elite. Is blitzing the problem? Maybe but nobody knows that until we clean up all the blown coverages and missed tackles. BTW if you only send 4 that’s not blitzing because you dropped a DE into coverage. Minter did this quite a bit the last 2 years.
As far as the defense “getting gassed”. The main reason is not playing complimentary football. How many drives have been 3 and out in the 2nd half? How many turn overs have there been in the second half? How many short fields have there been because of short punts or piss poor coverage? This is not a matter of depth it’s a true matter of complimentary football though they could use some help on the interior it truly comes down to not sustaining drives and scoring points in the 2nd half. I might add some really bad luck also. Like Dono slipping with a hole you could drive and aircraft carrier through. Or a terrible non PI call on Klein. Or how about only Michigan having players slipping in that game?
Those who always say these types of things are excuses and yet say they “live in the real world” just prove (at a minimum) their true ignorance on life or they are truly clueless. These are all facts! What bothers me most is all the constant gloom and doom. People come off as if it’s more important to be right than it is for this team to succeed. People couldn’t wait to attack after the Texas game. They were chomping at the bit. They are more concerned with being right than for this team to succeed. Literally calling for or predicting that Sherrone to be fired the 2nd game of the season is just asinine. Throw in predictions of a blowout loss to USC. Then go on to predict and still are predicting a 4-8 season. So, if all this gloom and doom comes to fruition is it going to make these people feel better that they were right? Good god what a bunch of bullshit! Is your life that pathetic that you have to be so negative all the damn time? I just don’t see how anyone can call themselves a Michigan fan and bash individual players and coaches non-stop.
These are the people that have no idea how to argue constructively on a subject without making it personal. They attack the person not the argument. They love name calling vs content and context. They lack the ability to present a well thought out argument. Some take utter joy from stirring things up just to watch people fight and argue. These are not fans these are people who don’t want to contribute they want to draw joy from other people’s misery.
Are there problems with this team? Absolutely! As I mentioned poor open field tackling, very poor QB play leading to turn overs, players out of position on D, piss poor pass pro, and poor special teams play. Can they be fixed? Yes. Will they get fixed…NOBODY KNOWS so don’t think you do! There is a way of discussing these problems without constantly attacking players and coaches.
Like many others I joined this blog along with the 2 other sites. I dropped those other 2 because of all the B.S. that is creeping in on here. Like most on here, I look at this as my barstool where I can sit around and talk Michigan football/sports. I have seen others who try to and, in some cases, have high jacked this blog at times and not respect the opinions of others. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t mean you have to attack them. Don’t take it personally. I will always respect a great argument vs someone attacking players, coaches and other members. Just leave people’s names out of it and get rid of the name calling…its quite juvenile.
I have been a Michigan fan for over 60 years. I will always be a Michigan fan. I will always remain optimistic. I will always support this team unconditionally. That includes players that make mistakes and coaches that make mistakes until the powers that be remove those players or coaches. This will be my last post for quite some time if at all. So. Please feel free to bash away as I will not respond. It’s not worth my time.
GO BLUE
