Valenti on 97.1FM
October 27th, 2008 at 3:07 PM ^
October 27th, 2008 at 3:17 PM ^
October 27th, 2008 at 3:19 PM ^
October 27th, 2008 at 3:22 PM ^
Poster ChitownBlue posted these quotes from Shafer after the game on the WLA site; STOP F****** BLAMING SHAFER. What more can he do? Shitty LB and S recruiting, inexperience, and attrition has caught up and reared its ugly head. There might have been a few things here and there that Shafer has botched, but in general he's putting in the right calls and schemes, but players aren't executing. Call him out for playing slow LBs on slot receivers, but who else going to play?
"Guys have got to make plays when the ball is in the air," defensive
coordinator Scott Shafer said. "That's all there is to it. When the
ball is up in the air and a guy is there, he's got to make a play. It's
as simple as that.
"A couple of touchdowns they got on us we practiced all week. The quick
slant they got on us [for a 61-yard touchdown to open the scoring] we
probably practiced five times. The exact same play. The wheel route, we
practice that every week. You've got to make the play. You make it in
practice; you've got to make it in the game."
Shafer shrugged his shoulders when asked if he could consider substituting other players into his struggling secondary.
"If you have 'em. If you have 'em," he said. " They compete during the
week in practice. Kids are making plays in practice to play, and there
are other kids we've tried to put in at other times and the result was
not as good, so you keep playing the kids.
"We tried to rotate them in that corner position, and [freshman]
Boubacar [Cissoko] looked like he did some good things with Morgan
[Trent] and Donovan Warren at the corner. The safety position, we ran
out of guys. The only other option is Mike Williams, who had a
concussion. We had certain packages we couldn't run after he got hurt.
You're limited, who to put in. There are only so many guys.
"You try to simplify so you can work on fundamentals, then you say, 'we
need to do a little bit more, give the kids a chance.' Then you try to
do a little bit more, have a missed assignment or two, then you say,
'where is the middle ground?' But that's what we signed up for as
coaches."
October 27th, 2008 at 3:29 PM ^
October 27th, 2008 at 3:47 PM ^
If this is a real Shafer quote (no source noted), I can completely understand the dilemma. Any D-coordinator that wants to get after the QB, he would prefer a 4 man line and blitz off of that. However, when your "best" LBs continue to get beat on 3rd and 15 or 20 because they cannot drop into their lanes properly (on the exact same routes game after game), he is left with very few options. You have to go to a 3 man line and hope 8 guys can keep the offense from getting a first down. When he does go with the four man line, that leaves guys like Stevie Brown to make touchdown saving tackles. With all due respect to the young man, he would tell you that is bad news.
Side note about our LBs: I payed special attention to them on Sat to get a feel for their abilities outside of UFR. Mouton seems to really be starting to come along and plays with some instincts. Instincts that Obi Ezeh just does not have. I understand gap responsibilities, but sometimes you want your MLB to see where the play is going before it develops, and smash somebody at the line of scrimmage. About 18 games into your career as a starter(just a guess), it should start happening and I'm not seeing it. And he's horrible defending those vertical routes in the slot. Why he hedges towards the sidelines when they throw the ball past his left shoulder everytime just boggles the mind. When it keeps happening, the only blame I put on the coach is that he keeps you in the game. Thompson is just a guy... but he can smack you if given the chance. Would really like to see Fitzgerald more, only to see if he could man the middle, with a possible move to SLB for Ezeh next year.October 27th, 2008 at 3:55 PM ^
October 27th, 2008 at 4:04 PM ^
October 27th, 2008 at 3:16 PM ^
Most of the D's lack of success on 3rd down has to be attributed to the 3 man rush combined with pathetic zone D by the secondary. The D line is rarely getting to the QB in these situations. Against MSU, I saw the D in a 4 man front on a 3rd down only to have 2 of them drop back into pass coverage after the ball was snapped. I just don't get it. You give a QB that much time, especially on 3rd down, and anyone, including Hoyer, will pick you apart.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:41 PM ^
October 27th, 2008 at 3:44 PM ^
Our best players on defense are the lineman. Taking any of them off the field is a mistake. Does it really matter if the secondary is forced to play more man coberage? Its clearly not working playing zone.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:48 PM ^
D Warren has been injuried most of the season and isn't at full speed
M Trent is way way overrated and only has straightline speed
Cissoko is only a true freshman
And you want us to play man to man?
October 27th, 2008 at 3:58 PM ^
October 27th, 2008 at 4:00 PM ^
WE. RAN. A. 3. MAN. FRONT. TWICE. Two times. Dos tiempos.
We did blitz - Brown had a sack, Mouton had 3 TFL's on which he ran up the gut on the snap.
October 27th, 2008 at 4:02 PM ^
Chitown,
One of the two times we ran the 3 man front we got burned. Big time. That is the entire point. NO MORE THREE MAN FRONTS!!!!
It's.
Not.
Working.
October 27th, 2008 at 4:16 PM ^
We got burned 4 times running 4-man fronts. Should we stop running those?
Your argument makes no sense unless you're prepared to argue that a 3-man front should not be used, ever, in any situation.
Look at context: there was 1:15 left in the half, MSU had the ball on their side of the field, and no timeouts. You're expecting them to pass. Further, how many tackles were missed on that play? 4?
I just think it's insane to blame our defensive incompetence on Saturday on a defensive alignment we used TWICE the entire game. There HAS to be a larger issue.
October 27th, 2008 at 4:22 PM ^
October 27th, 2008 at 4:45 PM ^
Do you think that our Defense gets any quality practice or learning experience against any of our offensive units right now?
October 27th, 2008 at 4:54 PM ^
October 27th, 2008 at 7:58 PM ^
October 28th, 2008 at 9:35 AM ^
Why the hell are you quoting Valenti? Or listening to him talk about Michigan football for that matter? Dude was born in NY, graduated from MSU and hosted their tailgate show...
He's an irrelevant MSU slappy and so are his listeners.
BTW, Bobcat your downy softness continues to amaze me. "He hates Michigan because of our fans..." No, he hates Michigan because he's a douche.
Regarding Shafer, def coordinators don't tackle. I can't tell you how many times I've seen us behind the line of scrimmage or in place to make a play and our guys simply don't execute. He's fine and doing what he can. Give this team some time, on both sides of the ball.
I'm seriously disgusted with the amount of negativity a single crummy football season brings to our "fanbase". What are you assclowns doing for the program right now? You think recruits want to come to a team where they have no idea who will be coaching them?
October 28th, 2008 at 6:42 PM ^
I'm seriously disgusted with the amount of negativity a single crummy football season brings to our "fanbase". What are you assclowns doing for the program right now? You think recruits want to come to a team where they have no idea who will be coaching them?
I don't know what recruits want or don't want, but personally, if we had the opportunity to clearly upgrade our coaching staff, I'd be perfectly happy letting a few recruits go. I'll make that trade any day.