SportsTuesday
SportsTuesday Column: At
QB, quantity isn’t quality
T
here’s an old football plati-
tude that if you have two
quarterbacks, you actually
have none.
It’s one of those folksy cliches
you hear when
the Miami
Dolphins are
sifting through
the pile of rub-
ble to decide
whether Gus
Frerotte or
Sage Rosenfels
should be the
one to lead
them to a 4-12
season.
As it pertains to this Michigan
football team and its quarterback
room, that sentiment couldn’t be
further off. The Wolverines have
two capable quarterbacks in Shea
Patterson and Dylan McCaffrey.
They are a good football team,
with aspirations to be a great one.
There are (or should be) no ques-
tions about which of the two is the
starter.
In the quarterback room, the
lone question left to answer — how
do you best maximize both of
them? — is one of immense luxury.
This group is a far cry from the
John O’Korn/Wilton Speight/
Brandon Peters wilderness that
came to define the early Jim
Harbaugh years. But that ques-
tion is still one that seems like it
will continue to linger, and in the
modern era of college football, it’s a
question that must be treated with
caution.
Still, while Michigan’s quar-
terback depth is one of this team’s
biggest strengths, that doesn’t jus-
tify using it on some milquetoast
gimmicks. This is not a position in
which an excess of quantity on the
field generally translates to quality.
Frankly, if there is a single impor-
tant play this season in which
Patterson isn’t under center, some-
thing has gone wrong or someone
has erred.
Saturday’s display was a clear
example of how excess creativ-
ity could backfire. McCaffrey’s
first appearance against Middle
Tennessee came in the middle
of the first quarter, lined up as a
wide receiver. He came in motion
while Patterson faked the handoff
and eventually gave the ball to
Christian Turner for two yards.
Moments later, Michigan was
flagged for an illegal substitution,
with confusion swirling. The very
next play, McCaffrey came in
motion, while Patterson once again
faked the handoff. McCaffrey then
caught an ill-conceived screen pass
and took two body blows on a one-
yard gain.
The drive stalled. The Wolver-
ines punted. Tensions heightened.
Later on, with the game well
in-hand, McCaffrey led two drives
as the quarterback. Harbaugh said
after the game that Patterson had
been banged up and that he want-
ed to give McCaffrey some zone
read looks in order to avoid exac-
erbating any nicks and bruises.
He scored on a 6-yard read-option
rush. In the context of the game, it
made sense.
Harbaugh has consistently
stated his desire to play both quar-
terbacks, starting at Big Ten Media
Days in mid-July. Doing so, the
thinking goes, keeps both (mostly
McCaffrey) engaged and ready,
while also using the skill set he
possesses.
Some of this reasoning is sound.
McCaffrey is faster and therefore a
better weapon in option looks. Giv-
ing Patterson a breather here and
there could help ensure his health
when it matters most. Getting
McCaffrey ample in-game looks
could help appease any qualms
he has about sitting second on
the depth chart for another year,
avoiding the disgruntled trans-
fer that has become so prevalent
throughout college football.
And if all goes according to plan,
McCaffrey will be atop the depth
chart a year from now. From all
we’ve seen, he has the potential
to be a high-caliber Big Ten quar-
terback. For now, he’s vital depth.
Soon enough, he’ll matter far more.
None of that is to degrade
McCaffrey’s value to this team
right now. Newsflash: Football is
violent. People get hurt. Things
do not go according to plan. If Pat-
terson — Michigan fans, knock
on wood — were to go down, as
Speight did in 2016 and 2017, as
Peters did in 2017 and as hundreds
of other football players do every
year, this team has the great for-
tune of not folding up shop and
calling it a year.
That, more than any trick plays
or fancy packages, forced gim-
micks or out-of-rhythm rotations,
is the value Dylan McCaffrey
brings to this team. It should stay
that way.
Marcovitch can be reached on
Twitter @Max_Marcovitch or via
email at maxmarco@umich.edu
Patterson shows off ability
in Josh Gattis’ new scheme
After eight months of hype and
hysteria, it was only expected that
Michigan’s new offense would
be a motif when Shea Patterson
spoke to the media following the
opener. Nobody, though, expected
the senior quarterback’s response
to be a repeated shake of the head,
followed by, “I gotta take care of
the football.”
Patterson
fumbled
on
the
season’s first play from scrimmage
Saturday night, handing Middle
Tennessee
State
the
ball
in
Michigan territory, and soon, a
7-0 lead. He fumbled again later,
pouncing on top of the ball before
things could repeat themselves.
The Blue Raiders’ lead didn’t
hold up and never had much of a
chance of doing so — in the end,
the Wolverines won 40-21 without
much consternation — but it never
strayed far from Patterson’s mind
as he took questions afterwards.
Asked about the offense in
general terms, the first words
out of Patterson’s mouth were, “I
gotta take care of the football.”
After a follow up, he finished
complimenting his receivers, then
said, “We gotta play better.” After
a question regarding Michigan’s
use of two quarterbacks at a time,
he replied, “I don’t know how to
answer that, but yeah. I got the ball
in my hands every single play, and I
gotta take care of it.” As he talked,
his lips barely moved. He did not
bear the demeanor of someone
paying lip service to improvement.
“A win’s a win,” Patterson said,
“but I think everybody in that
locker room knows that we didn’t
live up to our standards.”
Patterson,
in
reality,
was
his own worst public relations
manager on a night where, by and
large, he played just fine and maybe
even better than that. Patterson
completed 17 of 29 passes for 203
yards with three touchdowns, no
interceptions and a 151.6 rating,
which is squarely in the middle
of the pack during his time at
Michigan.
This is different, because it
came against a clearly inferior
opponent, it was Patterson’s first
time in Josh Gattis’ offense and it
wasn’t the beatdown that everyone
from Michigan fans to Vegas
oddsmakers thought it would be.
Still,
he
orchestrated
the
Wolverines’ best moment of the
game, a four-play, 67-yard drive in
just over a minute at the start of
the second quarter. He pulled the
ball and found Tarik Black on two
straight run-pass options, then
found Nico Collins on a well-placed
throw to the end zone, putting it
where only Collins could get it.
Two
of
Patterson’s
three
touchdown passes, Jim Harbaugh
said, came from plays where
Patterson got to the line of
scrimmage and checked Michigan
into something different. That kind
of quick-strike decision making is
what Patterson can bring to this
offense, and it’s what an offense
predicated
on
no-huddle
and
option football requires from its
quarterback.
“He was outstanding in that
regard,” Harbaugh said.
As he himself was more than
happy to say, Patterson had his
issues, ball security chief among
them. According to Harbaugh,
he was also evaluated for an
undisclosed injury at halftime,
which likely helps explain why he
threw the ball 25 times in the first
30 minutes and four in the latter 30
minutes.
But when you’re playing in a new
offense and the biggest concern
after the first game is ball security,
that’s a good problem to have. It’s
not a commentary on the offense,
nor his fit in it, that Patterson
fumbled twice. Harbaugh pointed
out that the quarterbacks handle
the ball a lot in this system, but ball
security hasn’t been a major issue
for Patterson in the past and likely
won’t be in the future.
What
matters
is
Patterson
making the right decisions at the
line of scrimmage. What matters
is his comfortability in playing fast
and putting the defense in conflict.
What matters is his doing all that
while being the same effective
passer he was last season. And
for now, what matters is that he
checked all of those boxes on
Saturday.
In all of his morosity at the
podium, Patterson offered one
moment of clarity.
“I think we definitely know who
we are. From Day One, I think we
knew who we were right when the
guys came in, coach Gattis came in.
We worked so hard all spring and
all summer.
“It’s just a matter of taking care
of the little things.”
ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Shea Patterson threw for 203 yards in Michigan’s win on Saturday.
Behind new offense, Michigan bests Middle Tennessee, 40-21
As the crowd filed toward the
exits, the clock ticking toward
zero and the score meandering
toward a 40-21 Michigan win,
the Wolverines’ slow start —
and the fleeting doubt over
Saturday night’s result that
came with it — had faded into
memory.
The game’s early uneasy
feeling started before kickoff,
when junior receiver Donovan
Peoples-Jones was dressed in
street clothes and a walking
boot — an early blow to new
offensive
coordinator
Josh
Gattis’ promise of a high-flying
spread offense built around
the Wolverines’ slew of star
receivers.
And when a Shea Patterson
fumble ended Michigan’s first
drive on the first play from
scrimmage, doubt continued to
creep into Michigan Stadium.
Even if the Wolverines would
still stroll to an easy win against
an overmatched opponent, the
grand reveal of Gattis’ offense
was temporarily on hold.
The dominant, make-you-
read-it-twice scoreline No. 7
Michigan (1-0) might have been
hoping for against MTSU (0-1)
never came — two turnovers in
its own half and inconsistency
on the offensive line made sure
of that. But the diversity of
Gattis’ offense shown through
plenty
in
the
Wolverines’ five-
touchdown day.
“I was pleased,
really, with the
way (the offense)
operated,”
said
head coach Jim
Harbaugh. “… A
lot of the offense
that we’ve been
practicing,
we
ran. All facets of
it — the play-action pass, the
drop back, the RPOs, the inside
zones, the outside zones.”
Tarik Black — part of a
talented,
but
often
under-
utilized junior receiving trio
featuring
himself,
Peoples-
Jones and Nico Collins — put the
Wolverines on top by streaking
down the field, unguarded on a
go route as he allowed himself
to collapse beneath the ball for
his first touchdown since the
first game of his career two
injury-riddled years ago.
Two minutes into the second
quarter, his stat line stood at
four receptions for 80 yards
and a touchdown — better than
or equal to his
totals from a
year ago on all
three
counts.
Black was also
the
leading
beneficiary
of
Michigan’s
run-pass
option, one of
Gattis’
most
anticipated
offseason
introductions.
“He’s gone through a lot and
when healthy, we have probably
one of the best receiving corps
in the country,” said fifth-
year senior linebacker Jordan
Glasgow. “So seeing an athlete
and a receiver as good as
him be able to come back out
here, make plays and get that
touchdown. … I’m just happy
that (he) got back out there,
able to make plays.”
With Black and Collins at
full throttle, bursting the top
off the MTSU defense at ease,
Saturday’s game had already
served its intended purpose
by the time Collins capped off
Michigan’s fifth drive with a
leaping touchdown catch.
The Wolverines’ lead stood
at just 17-7, but any hope
for
a
MTSU
miracle
faded
into the night
with
junior
cornerback
Ambry Thomas
coming up with
an interception
and recovering
a
fumble
on
consecutive
drives.
On
the
other side of the ball, Gattis’
proclaimed staples of downfield
passing and RPOs manifested
themselves
in
a
first
half
that looked unlike anything
Michigan
showcased
last
season — to the point, Patterson
attempted 25 passes in the first
half, matching his full-game
average from a year ago.
The dream-like domination
many envisioned when Gattis
arrived only shone through
in spurts, hence the 19-point
victory in a game that closed
with
a
36-point
spread.
But
while
Patterson’s
first
words postgame included the
phrase
“I
think
everybody
in that locker room knows
that we didn’t live up to our
standard,” Harbaugh offered
a more balanced
perspective.
“This offense,
they
handle
the ball a lot,”
Harbaugh
said.
“It’s a lot — the
snap, the ride,
the decision, the
pull and throw.
So actually it’s
quite
good.
Obviously, we’re
not taking a deep, long bow. We
know we can play better. That’s
an area we’ve got to get better
at, be more efficient at.”
As
for
that
early
doubt
over the Wolverines’ nascent
offensive identity?
“I think we definitely know
who we are,” Patterson said.
“From day one, I think we knew
who we were, right when Gattis
came in.”
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Editor
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Junior wide receiver Nico Collins scored one of Michigan’s five touchdowns in its 40-21 win over MTSU on Saturday.
I’m just happy
that (Tarik
Black) got back
out there.
This offense,
they handle the
ball a lot. ... It’s
quite good.
MAX
MARCOVITCH
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Quarterback Dylan McCaffrey played in multiple two-QB sets Saturday.
2B — September 3, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com