Quarterbacking Made Simple

Submitted by joeyb on

I posted this in a comment in the "We have enough talent to win now" diary, but I think it's a good enough article to post on its own. I know a lot of people are worried about the QB situation next year, but having Jim Harbaugh as our coach should be enough to alleviate many of those concerns.

http://grantland.com/features/quarterbacking-made-simple/

Regardless of what you think his coaching abilities are, I think this insight into the system that he uses on offense should show how QBs are able to improve almost right away under him. The passing game becomes so much simpler that you can win with just about anyone at QB, which is what he has shown everywhere he's gone.

MGoBoard
Football
Harbaugh

goblue16

December 31st, 2014 at 2:37 AM ^

Actually I'm not that worried. He's got 4 pocket passers to work with. If he was taking over in 2011 then id b a little more worried when your only qbs are denard, Gardner, and Bellomy. Not taking anything away from these guys but it would have made for a more difficult transition

Joined: 03/28/2010

MGoPoints: 17468

BlueHills

December 31st, 2014 at 3:22 AM ^

One thing Harbaugh has shown is the ability to understand his talent and maximize what they do. I'm confident that there will be improvement in his quarterbacks.

 

Joined: 10/31/2010

MGoPoints: 7468

CoverZero

December 31st, 2014 at 3:57 AM ^

Harbaugh will play the QB that protects the ball the best, and is most accurate.  Im not sure that will be Shane.

Joined: 08/30/2014

MGoPoints: 14571

CoachBP6

December 31st, 2014 at 5:00 AM ^

I agree that simplifying the offense can be great And sight adjustments can be tricky. I have been lucky enough to coach football for the past 5 years. Started as a WR coach but have been OC for 3 years (HS and men's semi pro) sight adjustments are easy to teach if you have a student of the game at QB. Alex smith is a smart guy, but being smart pre snap is much easier than post snap. Film doesn't lie, prior to Harbaugh Alex smith really struggled with sight adjustments and the traditional pro style passing tree. Alex thrives in a simpler system, which is why he was great at Utah with Meyer and with Harbaugh. Sometimes being great at the simple things works wonders. I think in our case with no QB that has established himself, Harbaugh has the perfect system. It will really help our young qb's learn the game the right way, getting more complex as the mastery of the system occurs. Can't wait to see the results!!!

Joined: 12/18/2013

MGoPoints: 7967

Blue Carcajou

December 31st, 2014 at 6:35 AM ^

I actually believe we're going to be perfectly fine at the WB position starting next fall and going forward. We have the best of the best now and he hasn't and won't tolerate anything less. The kids finally understand who they're playing for; not an outsider (Rodriguez) or an imposter (Hoke). We'll be fine.

Joined: 08/10/2013

MGoPoints: 6978

Everyone Murders

December 31st, 2014 at 7:41 AM ^

Are we sure that under Nussmeier's system the QB was tasked with making sight adjustments?  If so, the Chris Brown article would help explain some of the maddening DG INT-fests that cropped up at times in his career.

So, did Nuss have built-in hot routes and check-releases?  Did he rely on sight adjustments?  Or did he have some hybrid of the systems?

Joined: 12/14/2010

MGoPoints: 65552

Space Coyote

December 31st, 2014 at 9:49 AM ^

Nuss didn't typically build in hot routes. His hots were typically accomplished by the slot or by converting an outside route to a hitch. Some plays by nature have them built in for every playbook (double slants is double slants, for instance).

Borges had some built in hots (probably more than Nuss), but that's representative of his WCO philosophy. In 2013 he essentially scrapped sight adjustments in favor of 7 man protections, likely in an effort to simply the offense (Nuss took a different approach to simplifying the offense in that he ran fewer protection schemes, and therefore maintained similar responsibilities for all involved rather than running his full suite of plays/protections). He only sporadically utilized hots with Denard because: 1) Denard would have likely struggled reading them due to his height and issues reading defenses, and 2) he rarely needed them, his legs were an adequate "hot" and teams were typically afraid to blitz him anyway.

 

Joined: 06/18/2009

MGoPoints: 38962

JTGoBlue

December 31st, 2014 at 11:31 AM ^

I don't recall Bellomy's pedigree, but the other three were all highly ranked and heavily recruited (esp Morris..top 3 in the country). I know, stars aren't everything, but this seems like an awful lot to work with for a guy like Harbaugh.



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Joined: 08/31/2009

MGoPoints: 4536