Cade “Cyanide” McNamara’s cyan circle
Hello all! Long time reader, first time poster. This may be my last (only) post here for a while. (Still not sure what posts here are deemed relevant or satisfactory as legitimate message board posts after 10 years in this space) This may get me negged to hell, but there seemed to be enough discussion of the Cade “Cyan” topic on this site to create a thread dedicated to this discussion. I am hoping this thread reaches our fearless leaders attention on the blog and we can get some explanation on this Tom foolery! Is Cade booty cheeks in our bloggers eyes? Is this some sort of unspoken reversal jinx ( if so, I know I am ruining everything, sorry!)? Does the cyan circle an every evolving set of rules/ meaning? Please feel free to go at it below!
October 8th, 2021 at 11:53 AM ^
I don't think Cade should be cyan. I also don't think this deserved it's own thread, but what do I know.
October 8th, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
Honest question, what deserves a thread here? ?
October 8th, 2021 at 11:58 AM ^
Michael Barrett/Justin Feagin
October 8th, 2021 at 12:29 PM ^
And Michael Bolton (apparently)
October 8th, 2021 at 12:33 PM ^
Don't forget Demar Dorsey.
October 8th, 2021 at 12:40 PM ^
O LET DO IT!
October 8th, 2021 at 2:32 PM ^
If Keith Jackson were ever to pass away, I'd like to see a nice tribute post on him.
October 8th, 2021 at 11:43 PM ^
I have some sad news for you.
October 8th, 2021 at 2:37 PM ^
Can someone explain to me the new Michael Barrett meme?
October 8th, 2021 at 3:22 PM ^
Basically, if anything needs to happen within the confines of the football program, Michael Barrett is your guy. Then it's really extended out to whatever area you think he could help in. Lights out at Schem? Barrett is a master electrician. Need a gourmet meal cooked? Michael Barrett happened to study under Gordon Ramsey.
October 8th, 2021 at 4:36 PM ^
Thank you! Any idea how it originated?
October 8th, 2021 at 6:15 PM ^
People kept posting random stuff about Michael Barrett playing fullback or starting this game to spy Martinez. Then everybody started MGoTrolling them in the comments. LMAO. So now anytime anyone can work in a Michael Barrett reference, they do.
October 8th, 2021 at 7:35 PM ^
To be fair, Barrett does have an all time passer rating of 310. ?
October 8th, 2021 at 5:57 PM ^
WWMBD
What would Michael Barrett do?
October 8th, 2021 at 12:01 PM ^
If everybody in the original thread talking about this are all making the same few points, maybe there isn't much room for interesting discussion about this topic.
October 8th, 2021 at 12:06 PM ^
More to the point, the cyan is understandable to those who are assimilating the Xs and Os content on the site (which is what makes this site superlatively valuable in a way that other fan bases don't have). So, I'd redirect people to the main page content even more than to the comment thread about it.
October 8th, 2021 at 2:33 PM ^
I get your point, Cade has not to this point been an all-conference level performer at quarterback. Through 5 games however, he has not turned the ball over or taken a sack, and is averaging 9 YPA on an undefeated team.
In no objective reality does that make him a "trouble spot" starter. Quarterback's miss throws and blow reads. It's part of the game. There can't be enough time in the day for Seth to chart Cade against every other B1G quarterback, but I would imagine save for OSU and (probably) PSU, every other coach in the B1G would gladly trade Cade's efficiency and ball security from their starting quarterback.
I really enjoy and appreciate Seth's analysis, and I think he knows a lot about football. I respect his opinion, but I disagree with him on this topic. Objectively, Cade is a perfectly adequate game manager quarterback and that by no means makes him a liability to the offense.
October 8th, 2021 at 12:04 PM ^
Dog anal glands & Urban Meyer.
October 8th, 2021 at 1:16 PM ^
Why repeat yourself?
October 8th, 2021 at 1:23 PM ^
Keith Jackson
October 8th, 2021 at 1:32 PM ^
Honest question, what deserves a thread here?
Overtaking ass
October 8th, 2021 at 4:16 PM ^
Overtaking ass--definitely thread-worthy.
October 8th, 2021 at 5:12 PM ^
Gravy and gravy recipes
October 8th, 2021 at 1:31 PM ^
OP: “I see people are discussing something. I will create a topic on that discussion to create a discussion.”
October 8th, 2021 at 3:12 PM ^
Discuss Man?
October 8th, 2021 at 11:53 AM ^
I would try to respond, with meaning, but dont know what you're even talking about.
October 8th, 2021 at 11:54 AM ^
The Michael Bolton thread made more sense to me.
October 8th, 2021 at 11:54 AM ^
The defense of it is that he hasn't made a correct run read since Rutgers last year and if you listened to the roundtable he missed reads in the passing game on deep shots vs Wisconsin that kept upwards of 20 points off the board.
October 8th, 2021 at 2:30 PM ^
Yea, but what's the standard? Do other quarterbacks always make the proper read, and, if not, what is the threshold where enough missed reads warrants a cyan? How is no sacks, no interceptions figured in? If there's no standard basis for comparison, then the data has no context and no real meaning. And what standard could there possibly be that assigns a cyan to McNamara, but not to Mertz?
Ordinarily -- and frankly I think this is QED -- a college quarterback with 61.7% completions, 9 ypa, 5 tds, 0 ints, 0 sacks and 157.9 passer rating is considered pretty good. Instead, he gets a cyan, which, from my observations over time, is given to only to the worst starters in the league.
October 8th, 2021 at 10:04 PM ^
It’s all relative. I mean there’s a difference between missing a couple reads here and there and being able to count on one hand the number of times he makes a correct read (in the run game) that wasn’t a designed give from the start.
Cade is in this weird place where he’s still productive and not directly hurting the team, and his decision making holding the offense back. While that hasn’t led to losses or anything, it’s still a “trouble spot” to have your QB holding your offensive potential back.
We have the ability of being able to analyze that much closer than we do other teams, so comparing Michigan cyans to opposing team cyans probably isn’t a wise or accurate exercise.
Personally I’d give Cade the half cyan that the Wisconsin left tackle had last week. He’s been fine or better in every other aspect as a QB, but in an offense that is build on the QB run read it’s a big anchor to have a QB consistently making the wrong read. Fortunately, it hasn’t hindered the offense to the point of being nonfunctional and we’re still scoring plenty of points. But yards/points are being left on the table.
October 8th, 2021 at 5:32 PM ^
LOL, should have put up 58 on Wisco?
Had Cade gotten all of those throws right, we'd be talking about a STAR/SHIELD right now bro.
there's no in between?
October 8th, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
Alright, the Friday Drinking Thread started early!
You were right about being negged to hell.
October 8th, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
Cyan means "trouble spot" not "he sucks." I wrote a whole UFR section about this. Michigan bases out of a split zone and uses zone read, arc read, RPO slants, and belly to punish crashing ends. McNamara's bad reads are making all those counters ineffective against defenses crashing the edge to beat split zone, thus split zone is ineffective.
If it goes away, or if Michigan goes to a different base that doesn't need Cade to make post snap zone reads on crashing ends, so does the cyan. But if it takes multiple games to earn a designation it shouldn't take multiple games to lose it. Right now this is a major weakness.
I will ask Alex to please include explanations I send along with the charts.
October 8th, 2021 at 11:58 AM ^
From Fee Fi Fo Film Defense front-page article by Alex, Cade is a cyan ring "trouble spot"
October 8th, 2021 at 12:02 PM ^
Water is wet, I get it. But there was legitimate discussion on what “trouble spot” meant.
October 9th, 2021 at 1:51 AM ^
Yeah, I'm not getting this Nebraska's-Blackshirt-defense-is-tough thing.
October 8th, 2021 at 12:01 PM ^
Problem is, you have a hard time even justifying "trouble spot" aside from one facet of his game that hasn't had a significantly negative effect on the aggregate results of offensive performance. And it seems to ignore everything else he's done that's ranged from "good" to "excellent"
October 8th, 2021 at 12:03 PM ^
I respect your unwavering opinion.
October 8th, 2021 at 12:16 PM ^
Hey thanks!
I, uh, respect whichever of your quads is more eastward at the moment
October 8th, 2021 at 3:26 PM ^
I respect my unwavering opinion that South Quad was cyan. Too many damn fire alarms.
October 8th, 2021 at 12:09 PM ^
Than Vastardis should have his star removed as he is a trouble spot when Michigan faces anyone with a decent NT/DT.
October 8th, 2021 at 12:13 PM ^
Personally, given all of his recently revealed talents, I'm more upset that Michael Barrett has not been identified as a Dangerman!
October 8th, 2021 at 12:18 PM ^
Seth, I could agree with a "half-cyan," but by your justification we should also cyan Josh Ross (pass coverage) or Roman Wilson (blocking) or a variety of other guys who have a weak area of their game. Everything other than run read options is positive or extremely positive for Cade's game (no turnovers, no sacks & avoids them marvelously, solid comp %, best deep ball since at least 2015, etc.) Also, to say that he is beginning to hold up the effectiveness of split zone and our actions off of it is more of a coaching trouble spot than a QB one, IMO. Know your players' strengths and weaknesses and play to them, not against them.
Unless someone's about to filibuster, I'm ready to take this to a vote!
October 8th, 2021 at 12:38 PM ^
by your justification we should also cyan Josh Ross (pass coverage) or Roman Wilson (blocking) or a variety of other guys who have a weak area of their game.
Michigan's defensive scheme and philosophy isn't heavily predicated on Ross being in pass coverage. Michigan's offense doesn't rely heavily on Wilson run blocking (though the do try to shove him in there sometimes).
As Seth described, a large chunk of Michigan's running game can be (but not always) clunky when you're not threatening with a running QB.
Also, to say that he is beginning to hold up the effectiveness of split zone and our actions off of it is more of a coaching trouble spot than a QB one, IMO. Know your players' strengths and weaknesses and play to them, not against them.
Personally fine with this. It's a problem no matter where it comes from and it's hard to "know" who the problem is. Regardless, it's an issue.
October 8th, 2021 at 2:13 PM ^
On one hand I can see why considering a QB in the modern day of football a "trouble spot" is viable because all QB's nowadays need at least some athleticism. I think Tom Brady is probably the last QB in the NFL who truly lacks mobility. Everyone else had decent 40 yard dash times and isn't a statue in the pocket.
On the other hand, we never considered guys like Wilton Speight a "trouble spot" because they lacked mobility. We had other, more important, reasons for that.
I guess at the end of the day, a QB's main job is distributing the football (I would add "running the offense" to that for NFL QBs only). If his lack of athleticism hampers his ability to do that consistently then I can see the justification for the cyan circle. Personally I don't think we've reached that point with Cade yet because he's shown some solid decision making and has a damn fine deep ball.
October 8th, 2021 at 2:52 PM ^
On the other hand, we never considered guys like Wilton Speight a "trouble spot" because they lacked mobility.
He was under center and was never part of the run game. The blocking scheme and philosophy accounted for that. Brady led offenses run out of the gun but don't option off a DE or something in hopes that they might pause because Brady might pull it and run. Michigan, for some reason, runs an offense that hopes to make that DE pause because Cade maybe might pull it this time, but rarely (if ever) does.
Saw a better analogy on here somewhere but can't track it down. Better than my stupid demolition derby one at least:
It would be like running a 5 out offense in basketball with Ben Wallace at the 5. The offense is, to some degree, predicated on all 5 guys being able to step out, stretch the floor, and hit 3s. The offense can still work even if the Center is only capable of dunking the basketball (and putting Shaq in corner to feel bad about himself on defense) BUT the offense is not fully efficient because that 1 player (who is still good - Cade is good) does not fully round out the entire offense.
October 9th, 2021 at 8:18 AM ^
He’s not a “trouble spot” because he lacks mobility. He’s a “trouble spot” because our entire run game is predicated on him making reads in the running game off of split zone and it’s counters, and him repeatedly making the incorrect read there.
That is costing us yards. Which is costing us possessions, field position, and points. We’ve been fortunate that it hasn’t cost us any games and we’re good enough in other areas to make up for it against the teams we’ve faced so far. But the fact of the matter is that it’s been an anchor to the potential of this offense.
He doesn’t need to have Denard athleticism to do this. He doesn’t need to take off on a 60 yard run. But the field is there. The blockers are there. He can easily get out and get a 10-15 yard run, and he hands it off to the back for a 2 yard carry. Multiple screen grabs in the offense UFR highlighted this. Where keeping it a few times forces the opponent to respect that aspect, thus opening holes for the running backs and causing linebackers to freeze on the mesh point, opening holes for the receivers in the RPO game.
Our entire offense is built on those reads, and he’s consistently making the wrong one. While we’ve been good enough in other areas to make up for that (run blocking/rb talent, WR athleticism) it still can’t be totally ignored that your QB is hindering your offensive potential. As I’ve said before, I’d go for the half cyan instead of the full one. He’s not “hurting” the team with his play, just limiting the offense.
October 8th, 2021 at 12:22 PM ^
I genuinely could not care less about this, because I understand it is an opinion, and I find your explanation reasonable, but --
Graham Mertz did not have a cyan ring, and he has been so dreadful this season that I would find any explanation for a lack of a cyan ring absolutely unreasonable on its face. A QB with 6 interceptions in 3 games heading into our matchup not being considered a "trouble spot" is insane.
Anyways, keep up the good work. You've become the main draw, for me.