I know what you’re thinking.
“Blasphemy!”
“Can that really be his headline?”
“Is he channeling Drew Sharp?”
I know that in the wake of Michigan’s epic fourth quarter comeback versus Notre Dame that it’s utterly taboo to describe Denard Robinson as anything but a mythical god-like creature that consumes oppenents “with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his arse.”
- "I am William Wallace!"
It’s undeniable that Robinson put up astounding numbers against the Irish, and for the second straight year, no less. But it’s also undeniable that for three quarters, Robinson struggled mightily and the entire Michigan offense was effectively rendered impotent.
The numbers don’t lie.
Robinson was 2-9 for 48 yards in the first half, and at the end of three quarters, he was 4-14 for 136 yards, with two interceptions. And of the 136 yards, 120 came on two plays: a ridiculous jump ball in the first half that Junior Hemingway turned into a score, and an incredible display of strength that allowed Robinson to maintain his feet with a defender wrapped around his ankles before finding Hemingway over the middle of the field.
Thankfully, and quite miraculously, everything changed in the fourth quarter, during which Robinson was 7-10 for an absurd 202 yards, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Throughout the game, and in the days that followed, it seemed en vogue to rip new offensive coordinator Al Borges for neutering Denard, for forcing him into becoming a pocket passer and eliminating his ability to get outside the pocket and make plays with his feet.
The message board at TheWolverine.com was littered with (completely irrational) posts calling for Borges’ head. Brian over at MGoBlog was none too happy with the play-calling, saying he hated "the way the offense made Denard mortal." And good ole’ Mike Rosenberg (whom I will never, ever link to) openly questioned Borges’ decision to have Robinson drop back and throw, opining that “U-M needs to make better use of his unbelievable running skills.”
(Aside: Nevermind that if Rosenberg really thought Robinson should be primarily used as a runner, perhaps he should have refrained from employing some of the most deplorable tactics ever seen in sports journalism while spending the last three years hell-bent on getting a coach fired who was hitching his Michigan career to Denard's wagon. But that’s neither here nor there.)
The point is that for those of us who actually understand that it’s players who are supposed to, you know, make plays, Borges’ gameplan was sound; his quarterback simply couldn’t execute.
Oh, you want examples? Sure!
How about this one, which has to go down in the annals of incredibly bad screen passes. Notice that Denard is lined up in the shotgun (gasp!), so we can’t really blame his lack of drop-back skills for this one. It’s just an awful, awful throw. And while the RB screen was almost entirely absent from Rich Rodriguez’s playbook, there’s no question that screens can be quite effective if and when the ball is actually thrown properly, and to a receiver wearing the same uniform. Don’t believe me?
Denard is very clearly lined up under center (yikes!), and is anyone really going to tell me that this play call doesn’t maximize his effectiveness? Anytime Denard rolls out, the defense rolls with him en masse, which in this case allowed the diminutive Vincent Smith to weave his way through very few defenders on his way to the end zone.
“But Andrew,” you say, “Denard made any number of bad throws from under center, too.”
And you’re exactly right; this one, in particular, comes to mind. This is your old-school, play action. Classic Michigan. Bo's Michigan. And Denard, with oodles time in the pocket, promptly threw right into double coverage, all but handing the ball to whichever of multiple Irish defenders opted to reach out and take it. Awful play call, right? Not so fast, my friend.
- Yo!
Watch the play again, but this time, when the ball is in mid-flight, take a peek up to the top of the screen, where you’ll find a WIDE OPEN John McColgan on the wheel route.
- Gah! Look up!
This was not a case of Al Borges calling a terrible play. This was a case of a quarterback not yet comfortable going through his progressions and instead throwing a ball that he had no business throwing.
I get it. The detractors believe that if Robinson isn’t ready to make the right reads, then those plays shouldn’t be called. But is that not how players learn? It’s easy to sit here and say that Denard should learn to go through his progressions in practice, but c’mon. How much can he really learn when he’s not allowed to get hit? It’s practice!
If the 2010 season taught us anything at all, it was that a Denard Robinson-led Michigan team cannot survive the B10 season with Denard carrying the ball 20+ times a game while employing no downfield passing game whatsoever. B10 defenses are too fast, and Denard, mythical creature that he may be, is simply too fragile. And unfortunately, the uber-cool run-fake automatic-touchdown play really only works once a game.
On the contrary, Michigan will ultimately go as far Denard Robinson’s arm will take them, for if and when he learns how to throw the ball downfield, he would truly be an unstoppable force... for any offensive coordinator.
But in order to improve as a passer, he has to attempt passes, and fans are going to have to deal with the inevitable mistakes. The key will be Denard's ability to learn from those mistakes, just as he did versus Notre Dame. Remember the missed read on the wheel and subsequent horrible pass? You can bet Denard did (notice that Gallon was NOT his first choice).
And how about this downfield pass from a guy who supposedly should never be under center?
Ballgame.
