Grading the Griz, pre-fall camp

[go96griz]

its funny how people always refer to ssh as 'the guy' in 2012. he only started three games. his completion pct (61.2) was better than j.j.'s in either season (56.7, 59.8). mckinney was 65.4 in 2012.

You appear to have forgotten that in 2012 the only passing game utilized was the short passing game. There were a ton of high percentage swing passes and screens that were less and less effective as the season wore on. There was virtually no deep or intermediate threat which allowed the defenses to sneak up closer to the line. This affected both the short passing game and the run game after the first several games.

I don't care how high of a completion % SSH and TM threw in 2012 because there was zero deep threat. Not only did JJ throw a ton of deep balls that were caught in 2013, he also did it with a shoulder injury that affected his completion % the last 1/2 + of the season.

Henderson was underutilized in 2012 because SSH and TM couldn't get him the deep ball.

we didn't throw deep much last year either. most of our long pass plays had a lot of run after the catch. j.j. doesn't have a strong arm.

That's not accurate. The bulk of the long pass plays were longer passes, not catch and runs. Especially the ones to Henderson. JJ has a fairly strong arm. He improved his arm strength and distance in his off season.

PR is right. You apparently forgot that in 2012 we pretty much only threw short passes. Then in 2013 there was a slew of long passes that you also apparently forgot about. Don't you recall all the bitching about going deep too often? Sorry GG, but you are wrong about passing play in both 2012 and 2013.

 

[PlayerRep]

While Henderson improved from year to year, of course, his stats were vastly different:

In '12, 23 receptions, with an average per catch of 15.7, a long of 45 and 2 TD's.

In '13, 43 receptions, with an average per catch of 23.4, a long of 71, and 14 TD's.

Dude, about 10 posts ago, you were downplaying the improvement of Henderson:

Henderson had a great year in '13. However, only 20 more catches than the prior year.

Pointing out that Henderson had only 20 more catches in '13 is just a fact, and isn't downplaying Henderson's improvement. However, while Henderson certainly improved and had a great season in '13, much of the improvement is the result of JJ to throwing to him and running the offense. Had S-H or McKinney been the qb's in '13, Henderson would not have had nearly as good of a year and would not have had the phenomenal average per catch and high ratio of TD's to catches.

In '11 with JJ at qb, Gratton had 36 catches. In '12 when he was expected to have a great year but ended up not having JJ at qb, Gratton had only 29 catches.

 

[getgrizzy]

if its simply just j.j. then why do you keep saying you are waiting until you see us play to give us your season prediction. it couldn't be because you're waiting to see how good the players around him are is it?

 

[PlayerRep]

if its simply just j.j. then why do you keep saying you are waiting until you see us play to give us your season prediction. it couldn't be because you're waiting to see how good the players around him are is it?

The difference between '12 and '13 are largely due to JJ. In addition to his play, his presence and leadership helped the team significantly. There are huge changes in the offensive line and all new starters at linebacker. I think the TE position will be fine, but I'd like to see some practices and at least one game to confirm. UM has a very difficult schedule, so it's not a great year to be breaking in 4 new o-line starters and 3 new linebacker starters. Would like to see that Van is healthy, see how good the transfers are, and see if anyone expected doesn't show up. It's not like the talent level and new player changes from '12 to '13, which were not significant. Perhaps all will be good, but that is not absolutely clear at this point.