Shea Patterson’s clean pocket and throwing on run statistics through Week 3

The data is piling up and the sample size is getting bigger.

I’ve been tracking Shea Patterson’s throws on the run and throws made with a clean pocket each week this season, and Patterson had yet another solid showing in both facets of the passing game during Michigan’s victory over SMU.

Click Here for the Week 1 recap and methodology, Click Here for Week 2.

Clean Pocket

Michigan’s offensive line got off to a slow start but ended up performing admirably against SMU, allowing Patterson time to throw more often than not.

On the day, Patterson was 8-of-10 for 154 yards, with 3 TD and 1 INT. Four of these were over 25 yards, plays which needed time to develop.

Through three games, Patterson is now 24-of-30 (80%) for 365 yards, along with 5 TD’s and 1 INT. Three of these incompletions have been drops by Zach Gentry, who’s had a strong start to the season otherwise.

The interception occurred in the first quarter against SMU, where Patterson forced a pass into the end-zone, and the corner jumped the route. After the game, Patterson acknowledged he can’t make throws like that.

Patterson has shown exceptional accuracy down the field, it isn’t easy throwing balls on the money that travel more than 15+ yards down the field (ask Sam Bradford), and Patterson is doing it with relative ease when he has a clean pocket.

Throws on the run

There wasn’t a lot of new data that trickled in on this end during the SMU game. The offensive game-plan was tailored to limit the amount of running Patterson had to do on passing plays, and it worked out.

Patterson only threw 4 passes on the run versus the Mustangs, going 3-of-4 for 42 yards.

SMU had a couple long drives that took away multiple possessions Patterson may have been able to throw the rock around, so the stats are a bit skewed (14-of-18) when also factoring in the run-heavy approach Michigan favored for most of the afternoon.

Through three games, Patterson is 15-of-17 (88%) for 187 yds when throwing on the run.

Check back in next week, as I’ll be updating these numbers after every game.