matt weiss was a madden kid

[Patrick Barron]
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95

Unverified Voracity Has Notified Person
Brian • January 18, 2023 • 11:28am

A sponsor note of a different variety. The long-term sponsor of this post, Richard Hoeg, is a good guy and and excellent lawyer who we've had on our podcast a couple times. He also recently suffered a stroke. His family has a gofundme up as he embarks on his recovery.

It's already done quite well because Richard had spent years building his own online community, which you may know if you leaked over from here to there. If Richard was important to you in some way I encourage you to donate.

I have informed the guy whose job it is to do the thing I just did. Harbaugh back, hooray, but also this is a pretty weird way to go about informing the world:

Ono tweets a lot about the stuff he's doing but as of yet I haven't detected a tendency to self-aggrandize. They're mostly anodyne boilerplate things. The Harbaugh's back tweet stands out, and has caused the conspiracy-minded sections of the internet to wonder if this is fallout from a frosty relationship between Warde Manuel and some combination of Ono and/or Harbaugh. Harbaugh's quote on the matter mentions Ono but not Manuel:

This kind of thing usually doesn't happen even if there is some tension between the parties. I'd caution against reading too much into it; on the other hand "I have communicated the news to our athletic director" is indicative of a process that the athletic director did not accomplish himself.

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[Bryan Fuller]
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43

Preview 2022: Five Questions, Five Answers On Offense
Brian • September 2, 2022 • 11:47am

Previously: Podcast 14.0A, 14.0B, 14.0C. The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver. Tight End. Offensive Tackle. Interior OL. Defensive Interior. Edge. Linebacker. Cornerback. Safety. Special Teams.

1. We demand a quarterback prognostication.

Well, here's Harbaugh breaking it down:

The way I've been evaluating them is them being able to be a passer. By passer: arm talent, who can make all the throws. Both of them have the arm talent to make all the throws and it comes down to accuracy, timing, decision making, taking what the defense gives you as a passer. Cade is a little bit ahead there at this point.

Then the next category is playmaker. The guy that can turn water into wine, using his athleticism, his speed, arm talent. Runner, scrambler, plays smart, makes a play when there's no play to be made. Running ability, moves the chains as a runner. Augments the running game. Risk/reward, turn a one-yard loss into a positive play, but doesn't make the bad play worse, avoids the fumbles, the interceptions, the sacks. I have JJ ahead in that category.

And then field general — coach on the field, facilitator to the other playmakers and the offensive line. You trust them to handle the ball and every play. Is a ball protector, fix the calls, the formation, the protections, gets the checks right. Leads the unit drive-by-drive and points per possession really is what you're looking for. They're both pretty even there in that category. Maybe Cade the slight advantage there.

You can read this any way you want: McNamara wins 2/3 categories: McNamara. McCarthy is clearly ahead in playmaking while McNamara is only a "little bit ahead" or has a "slight advantage" in the other two. Meanwhile chatter from inside the program has been a muddle, with one guy ahead one day and the other ahead the next day. Alex's summary from early in camp:

What we're hearing: Right now Cade McNamara and JJ McCarthy are locked in an extremely tight duel, according to just about anyone who has offered insight. We've heard all kinds of phrases to describe it, "50-50", "a battle", "reps split down the middle". That appears to be the most factual description, while different insiders have consulted their own sources to try and interpret what it means, with Balas' source trotting out the ole "Cade will start the year, but JJ will pull through mid-season" theory ($). Those who have gone through the hassle of trying to describe individual practices are mostly rehashing what we know, that Cade has limitations with his arm and (occasionally) accuracy, while JJ makes the back-breaking naive error trying to do too much in between stretches of brilliance.

And from later in camp:

Let's start with McNamara. In his corner, we have an insider on the record flat out saying that Cade is the starter ($). Every update on the QB battle, no matter who the author is, has the same points about McNamara: 1.) he has made real improvements to his game, 2.) he protects the ball and has a good feel for the offense, and 3.) he "leads scoring drives" ($). Dependability and consistency also get brought up in reference to Cade.

As for JJ McCarthy, we hear a lot about the boom or bust moments. We hear that he's improved from last season and is on track to be an All-American during his Michigan career ($) but that right now he still has too many moments where he tries to do too much ($). Where Cade is talked about in reference to his consistency, JJ is described with the term "upside". This is all more of the same, but what is new in JJ's corner is a take from Sam Webb, claiming that McCarthy had an excellent scrimmage over the weekend, one that has left the QB room far from settled ($). Sam describes how McCarthy started fall camp with rust from his injured spring and has needed time to catch up.

In all my many years of trying to decipher camp chatter I don't think I've ever come across a situation like this where things are genuinely up in the air. I believe that the two quarterbacks are neck-and-neck to the point where nobody from Jim Harbaugh on down knows who the starting quarterback is going to be.

Our inside baseball says this is because both guys are doing well—really well. The main dynamic is that McCarthy continually threatens to push past McNamara by doing absurd things and then throws an interception. McNamara has "come very far" and the ball rarely hits the turf when either guy is throwing. So… I mean… I don't know. I genuinely do not have an assertion to make here. I put a gun to my own head for the Stupid Predictions below and ended up changing my prediction from one guy to the other, complete with explanations, four times.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[After THE JUMP: Weiss vs Gattis]
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