Hokepoints: On Packages and the Pop Pass Comment Count

Seth

The way we were

Drew Hallett has a series on MNB called "Film Focus" that's a lot like the stuff Space Coyote used to diary here, i.e. screenshots with the play drawn on them. A few weeks ago Drew called for Michigan to add a packaged bubble screen to the zone read running game that briefly resurfaced in the 1st quarter on Saturday. Then he called this a "pop pass" and referred to the QB OH NOES play from 2010.

I started a long reply to make it clear that those are really two different things from two different offensive play groups, though both are predicated on the same spread concept of using the QB to add another player to the running game. Then I made drawings. Then I had video. Then I had a Hokepoints to save for OSU week.

Interesting things people do on offense are so far from topical right now at Michigan, but between interesting offense and Michigan's offense, which do you really want to read about this moment? Exactly.

Spread offense has been around several decades now, and has therefore had time to branch out and expand. A truly great offense will be great at all aspects: zone read running, WR screens, option routes, pre-snap reads, and packaged post-snap reads. But you don't really get that much time in college football to practice them all, so spread offenses become specialized.

Zone Read and Bubble

Drew showed that the bubble screen could be incorporated as a packaged play with the zone read, and yes teams do this. In fact it's so common now that last adapter in the world Al Borges deployed a packaged run-bubble last year.

The zone read/bubble was the base of Rodriguez's offense at West Virginia, and the genesis of the Rodriguezian slot smurf who could best take advantage of that space, but there's a key difference between RR's West Virginia offense and the "packaged play": when that bubble read is made. At WVU it was a pre-snap read, based on the position of that nickel/SAM/Spur/HSP guy. If he tiptoed into the box: bubble. If he stayed spread out like a good boy Rodriguez could continue running his zone read game.

Packaging makes that read after the snap:

zoneread

The problem is you now have two reads, i.e. a triple option. Asking a QB to read more than one thing on a play takes a big commitment to that offense, and a quarterback who can/will put the time into it. Denard was an amazing player, but Michigan didn't get very far running the zone read offense with him because for reasons of time (he didn't get to redshirt and was a sophomore when he became a starter) and the level of commitment he could put into film, etc., when dude was constantly rehabbing injuries and trying to be a student.

Keep in mind defenses have seen the zone read for two decades now. They run scrape exchanges, and CB blitzes at it, and deploy dudes like MSU's Marcus Rush (the best I've ever seen at this) who can shut down an entire option game by delaying, delaying, delaying that first read until the rest of the defense arrives to bottle it up. By that point the field corner and safety have beaten those outside blocks, and the harassed QB throwing the bubble is an invitation to a pick six, a slotback blown up in the backfield, or even a backwards pass fumble. The defense has some other schematic things it can throw against it to take advantage of a QB who's too green at reading the package, but the point is they're already trained to blow this up in more ways than walking the HSP down.

[Jump for more fun things that Michigan doesn't do for religious reasons].

So to make this worthwhile for Michigan to burn practice time on teaching Gardner a second read, they'll also need to install counters, and counters to the counters. I totally would have been down with Michigan installing this very thing starting last Spring; at this point, with Gardner hobbled by the ankle and the everything, and an inside zone game that's finally showing results, it's probably too much to do as more than once a game in reaction to an opponent who's pinching too much. Michigan makes it easier on Gardner by having the bubble just be a called play, and the threat of that play being called is supposed to keep the defense honest. Working in a pre-snap audible is fine and they probably already do it; punishing the HSP when he comes after the snap is a whole 'nother world of offense that Michigan hasn't touched since 2009.

The package doesn't end there; you saw Maryland's longest play on Saturday was a fake bubble where the outside WR (would have been Stonum in the diagram above) ran a fly route. The field corner (Taylor) had to set the bubble edge and the safety (Thomas) was coming in close the bubble, and this allowed the WR to get behind the defense on a good old-fashioned "go deep!" That's the counter to the counter. To be safe from that, the defensive backs can't cut inside potential blocks from the WRs to shut down the bubble while also playing the run. Unless the front seven can shut down the run, life for the DBs will be hard. It's a good college offense.

It's not the offense Michigan ran in 2010.

The QB Oh Noes/Pop Pass

Note that in 2010 Rodriguez scrapped his own (zone read) offense in favor of QB power (or ISO), mostly because his quarterbacks never really seemed to pick up the zone read like Pat White had. For all of the wonders of Denard, he wasn't good at making that read; it seems to be a talent that some guys possess and others don't (also: true sophomore).

QB Power is a play right out of the Wildcat playbook. The running back is lead blocker and the quarterback becomes a direct-snapped-to RB. When it debuted it looked like this:

QB Power

It was an offense uniquely suited to Michigan's weird talents. The OL was still a work in progress (Lewan and Schofield and Barnum wouldn't be starters until later on), and the WRs were good blockers but not good route runners, and Denard was the best running back in the country who could throw some. So they ran the above.

Defenses responded by playing more aggressive against the run. Played straight-up, the size of the hole was based on how fast the WLB (labeled MLB in the images because of ND's 3-4 system that played Te'o there) could attack the "C" gap when he read run. If the lead block occurred downfield there would be epic space; if the LB could blow that block up in the backfield there would be precious little.

The other guys QB power had to worry about were the safety (the man covering the quarterback) and that nickel/SAM/Spur/HSP/whatever dude hanging out in the flat. The bubble screen could keep him out there, but he could also close down that same gap, and had just a slot receiver stopping him.

Pop Pass2

With a guy like Denard carrying the ball, defenses were almost forced to activate those two defenders against the run, trusting their athleticism to keep the offense from taking their top off. In the above diagram, which is the alignment on the first pop pass, you can the SS was creeping up, confidant as he was that Martell Webb wasn't going to threaten him too badly. Rodriguez invited the aggressive run posture. He wanted the SS and the nickel and the LBs to be creeping up with "Stop the Run!" on their minds, because this doesn't work otherwise.

The most powerful lure for this trap, of course, was letting the defense watch Denard take a snap and start running QB Power just as they had all day. THAT GUY IS RUNNING AT YOU! GET UPFIELD! BLOW UP HIS BLOCKS! DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE! HA HA WE GOT HIM CORRALLED, WE…

Pop Pass

Suckers.

Lessons. The takeaway from this isn't "Michigan should run the pop pass!" because there's no way given the Gardner situation and the depth chart situation behind him that you can subject Devin to 20 power runs a game, and given the state of his ankles that's not going to strike fear into the hearts and minds of defenses so that they have to react so brazenly.

The lesson is rather than Michigan's offense can't be very threatening because it's still not good at anything. It was highly frustrating to watch players who were awesome at the above never run it, and that's why all the bitching about offense under Borges. Most of that talent is gone now, the final vestiges broken to bits. You look at what they were recruiting for—pushing dudes off the line and taking the top off the defense with leapy receivers—but they're not good at that stuff. At this point it's fair to say they are what they are.

Comments

MGlobules

November 25th, 2014 at 10:57 AM ^

Anatomization of RR's offenses! Love it.

More to the point, this is clear, simple evidence that the current staff has not made the offense work, according to their own approach or anyone else's.

maize-blue

November 25th, 2014 at 10:46 AM ^

Maybe I missed it posted or discussed somewhere but didn't they run spreadish type stuff during the 1st quarter of the Maryland game?

BiSB

November 25th, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^

Was a zone read option, where Gardner made the correct read (the end crashed, and Gardner kept). The problem was that Devin Funchess, the receiver to the play side, ran a slant or chased a pretty pretty butterfly towards the middle of the field or DGAF or something, and he left the boundary corner completely untouched. So instead of being one on one with the safety to decide between three to five yards or a big play, he was eating two unblocked guys at the line of scrimmage.

After than my eyes bled too much to care.

dragonchild

November 25th, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^

At the same time I marvel at Chesson's eagerness to block.  On the punt fake he made a vicious block downfield, and by "downfield" I mean like 20-30 yards downfield that gave Kerridge an extra 10-15 yards or so.  That means he blocked his guy and raced downfield just to murderdeathkill somebody else.

The FannMan

November 25th, 2014 at 12:33 PM ^

I recall Anthony Thomas running for a TD against (I think Northwestern) when he ran through two holes.  One created by the offensive line and the second 15 yards down field where the WR were blocking two DBs.  The Michigan player's backs were toward each other, with about five yards of space in bewteen.  Our WRs kept the blocks and allowed Thomas to run through the hole they created.  It was a thing of beauty that will be a joy forever.

dragonchild

November 25th, 2014 at 11:13 AM ^

I've been reading football for years and I still don't know what "power" means for the same reason.

The takeaway I'm getting here is that RichRod changed his offense to suit the talents of his players, which is something Michigan has had problems doing since they kicked him to the curb.  I think Nuss is trying but DG is broken for some reason and Hoke screwed him by not addressing the QB depth situation.

Space Coyote

November 25th, 2014 at 11:24 AM ^

Be that a kick block or a lead block, that was what "Power" referred to, hence why it was "Power O" to signify a lead blocking RB and a pulling "Opposite" OG. As people began using other names to not confuse it with the more popular Power O play, "Power" became synonymous with Power O. However, as many spread-to-run teams began reaching back to Wing, Split-back, etc offenses, "Power" again became a term to also describe what you see above.

So basically, the confusion stems from how offenses have transformed over the years and the cyclical nature of football in terms of schemes, play calls, etc. 

RJWolvie

November 25th, 2014 at 11:03 AM ^

as people & leaders & representatives of UM football, but are we not allowed to say they just were not good QBs? As Seth himself says here, his beloved RR had to give up heart of his offense b/c DRob couldn't run it. (Though we are ideology-bound to hasten to add that it's not his fault, not having red-shirted.) Two OC's haven't figured out a way to use Gardner that produces consistently, but of course that's entirely because the coaches ruined him & none because he, like most of the other 5star QBs his year, didn't pan out. Sooner or later at least some part of these last 7 years of awfulness lies at the feet of turnover prone QBs who can't pass well enough to get fewer than 9 in the box from opposing D's, and aren't superhuman enough in the ground game to run it consistently against good D's with 9 in the box. Right? Some chunk of these last 7 years of disappointment rests with the QBs, even though I hate to admit that as much as the next poster (& blogger) here

Sauce Castillo

November 25th, 2014 at 11:35 AM ^

If you’re just looking at one stat (passing yards) then yes, but that’s not telling the whole story.  It’s funny you left out all his interceptions?  He was T-28 last yr and this yr he is T-7 and has almost double the amount of picks to TDs.  I would be interested to see statistics relative to that era across college football because Devin sure as hell has a lot more attempts compared to former great QBs.  DG can bottle it up for one or two games and light world on fire, it’s the other 9,10,11 games that terrify me.  Hopefully he sets the world on fire Saturday.

GoBLUinTX

November 25th, 2014 at 6:28 PM ^

John Navarre 2003 threw 456 pass attempts for 270 completions, 59%, and 3331 yards.  Which translates to 7.3 yards per attempt and 12.3 per completion.

Devin Gardner 2013 threw 345 pass attempts for 208 completions, 60%, and 2960 yards.  Which translates to 8.6 yards per attempt and 14.2 per completion.

As of his INT against MD, Gardner tied Navarre for career interceptions.  Of course Navarre had an additional season to throw his total.  On the other hand Navarre places twice in the top ten for lowest INT rates for a season (Min 100 attempts) at Michigan, taking the #1 spot and the #9.  Gardner doesn't figure.  Navarre is also #2 lowest INT rate for career (Min 200 attempts).

Personally I think Jim Harbaugh was the greatest Michigan QB, as we define QB in the current venacular, of all time.  His combined assets of running, passing, game presence, and leadership, aren't easily matched.

bronxblue

November 25th, 2014 at 12:23 PM ^

He accounted for 32 total TDs last year, and his 21 TD passes are ahead of everyone not named Henne, Grbac, or Harbaugh.  And yes, football is different now than it was even 15 years ago, but at the same time last year's Michigan team was demonstrably worse than any team those guys played on.  

Gardner threw the ball 345 times last year in 12 games.  For comparison, Henne threw the ball (# of games) 399 (12), 382(12) , 328(13), and 278 (10), and his best completion percentage was a shade over Gardner's last year.  (61.9 vs. 60.3).  was was also protected by #1 overall draft pick Jake Long that whole time, had a record-setting RB in Hart behind him, and a slew of NFL-caliber WRs to throw to.  I think Gardner has been bad this year and he makes bad decisions at times, but he has been a good passer in the past and in a different situation than the Hoke tire fire he'd be a terrifyingly-good player.

tolmichfan

November 25th, 2014 at 3:50 PM ^

Everyone knows what's changed. It's been obvious all year including the app state game. Gardner has an undisclosed injury that prevents Nuss from attacking teams vertically.

I suspect it's so bad that the staff keeps him from truly practicing all week. These are the some of the many issues Hackett mentioned in his press conference.

It's sad that people won't give credit to this staff for what they have done with the offensive line. It is really really hard to have a consistent running game when you are constantly running into an 8 man box.

If I, just a normal football fan, can see Gardner's inability to throw the ball we all know defensive coordinators do too. I watched Maryland not even bother to put a safety over top of funchess all game. It's been the same all year, every team does it they jump the comeback routes because they know that's all gardner can complete. It's not the coaches fault, it's not gardner's fault it's just the situation we are in. It sucks but it's the reality of the situation.

I personally think it would be dumb to change a whole staff out because of it. I know it's probably going to happen. But I hope cooler heads in the AD prevail, because next year if Shane can keep defenses honest with a vertical threat just think about how good our run game will be. This year the oline has gone through a crucible of 8 and 9 man fronts and has proven they are good. Gardner hasn't been touched the last three games. And he hasn't been mobile all year.

bronxblue

November 25th, 2014 at 6:08 PM ^

I wouldn't be surprised if he was injured, but then you have to wonder why the coaches didn't try to use his legs a bit more.  At least then, you might get a safety to cheat up and then it doesn't matter if Gardner has a bum arm because his receiver will be open by 15 yards.  

I've been a big fan of the improvement on the offensive line with the caveat that it isn't "good" even with the improvement.  But it went from a tire fire to competent, and that's huge in a year.  But it has also faced three bad defenses in the past 4 weeks, and the one time it ran into a good run defense (MSU) it didn't hold up all that well.  

I think if this was the year after 11-2, people would be more understanding.  But there are lots of issues that extend beyond struggles at the QB position, and I don't see how Hoke would be able to fix them if he hasn't thus far.

Eye of the Tiger

November 25th, 2014 at 6:47 PM ^

I was super excited for Nuss to come in, as I felt his scheme would benefit our running game. And it has, to a degree.

But there's clearly been a drop off in the passing game, and I suspect at least part of it is schematic. It may be that Borges was just better at coordinating the passing game, or that Nuss is asking our WRs to do things that haven't been well trained to do, and not to do the things that they are well trained to do (like exploiting size mismatches downfield).

(It's also at least partially the fact that we graduated Gallon and Dileo.) 

tolmichfan

November 25th, 2014 at 7:54 PM ^

I agree with undervaluing Borges, but I also don't think Nuss is terrible.

If Devins arm is as bad and inaccurate in practice as its in games then how do receivers get into a rhythm? I mean he misses easy throws by a lot, like the fourth down Brian highlighted.

I was listening to Trent Dilfer talking about cam newtons struggles this year and they sounded very similar to what is going on with devin. The difference is the NFL has to disclose injuries college doesn't.

tolmichfan

November 25th, 2014 at 8:03 PM ^

I like the qb oh no's as much as anybody. I just don't know how offenses don't get called for illegal man down field all the time. Or like Meyer's option pass he throws in with zone read. Both plays tend to have line man down field which should get flagged. But if the refs don't call it then keep running it.

I haven't been able to watch a lot of Arizona games, does RR still run that play?

GoBLUinTX

November 25th, 2014 at 6:35 PM ^

Suffered when, and to what part of his body?  You said his arm, what part of his arm?  The shoulder, elbow, wrist...thumb perhaps?  Who else knows about this secret injury?  Does this injury afflict Morris as well?  He hasn't thrown down field when on the field.

tolmichfan

November 25th, 2014 at 7:46 PM ^

Watch how he threw the ball in the previous two years and watch how he throws this year. The coaches tend to keep arm injuries secret. Look at Denard when he had a staff infection in 2011, and when did his ulnar nerve injury happened. He was having trouble throwing even before the Nebraska game.

I think you live in Texas and don't get to go to the games. But watching it live you can see defenses don't respect anything vertical. On tv it's hard to see because you don't have an all 22 view.

Maryland didn't even respect a fade rout on the goal line. Everybody saw funchess matched up against their shorter CB and the fade route at the time was set up so perfect it was criminal they didn't run it. So I don't think Nuss is that bad at calling plays that he wouldn't run it unless he knows gardner can't make that throw. That's a call that high school teams use and isn't a hard throw for healthy QBs.

I wish I could imbed videos of highlights from last year and then show his throws from this year. (If you could imbed a highlight real from last year and this year it would be helpful) But he just can't make the same throws. Then on top of that people forget how bad his ankle/ feet injuries have been. Hoke even said before the Penn State game he would like to see more QB runs.

bronxblue

November 25th, 2014 at 12:14 PM ^

Sure, some blame rests with the QB, but that's true for any offense that struggles.  Hell, John Navarre was the most "QB" you could get at UM and those offenses weren't perfect, and some of that blame fell on him.  Saying that the team has struggled offensively and some blame falls on the players isn't disputed.

But the goal of a QB is to move the football forward and score points, and Denard (and Gardner before this year) did that pretty well.  Gardner was the best runner Michigan had last year (Fitz had more yards, but Gardner was the guy who moved the offense), and Denard was a record-setter running the ball and, given a bit more WR talent and more than 1 year of seasoning in RR's offense as QB1, probably puts up some good numbers.  The fact that Michigan QBs have historically been cannon throwers with dubious mobility (save recently for Henson) doesn't mean other QBs wouldn't work, and I suspect that if RR had been around Gardner would have put up the numbers you see out of guys at Oregon, Auburn, etc.  

ca_prophet

November 25th, 2014 at 6:10 PM ^

Denard was such an awesome running back that any relative weakness throwing the football was worth it, aided by the advantage you get by running him from the QB spot. QB Oh Noes only works when, as Seth points out, the D must commit and commit hard to stopping that threat.

Gardner ... is more of a mixed bag. He has been hosed by circumstance (Denard, the move to WR, injury, two coordinators in his two full seasons at QB) and has been extraordinary at times ... but the explodes-in-all-directions tag exists for a reason. How much is on him, how much is on his coaches, and how much is due to circumstance is, I suspect, an impossible question to answer from the outside. It may be impossible from the inside as well.

As an aside, I understand the carping about Borges when it comes to Denard and not running the offense built for him. I do not agree with the Coaches-had-no-QB plan meme - they took the best guy in 2011, and could not get anyone they wanted in 2012 (IIRC, they looked at a few and decided that their third choice wasn't as valuable as say, Ben Braden). That's sort of on them, but more on circumstance - it's not like if you just work hard enough, you get everyone you want. They took a desperate gamble to shore up our WR spot by moving Devin, and it didn't pay off; it wasn't a stupid move, just the best of a set of bad options.

And say what you will about Borges, but he has a skill that would come in really handy this year - designing route trees that get people open - and was the OC that designed the game plans and coached the QBs for two of the best performances in the history of The Game.

jbibiza

November 25th, 2014 at 11:24 AM ^

Thanks Seth. You bring back the memories of when we had the smartest offensive mind on our side of the field. Water under the bridge but still frustrating to remember what might have been... but hope springs eternal as we await the 'Hello JH!' post.

mGrowOld

November 25th, 2014 at 11:32 AM ^

God that video clip makes me so sad.  I was at that game and remember thinking that we fucking OWNED the future cause we had the best offensive mind in the game wearing our colors.  Watching that play, and how utterly unstoppable it is, and then comparing to the dredge that Hoke thinks passes for offense literally makes me sick to my stomach.

 

Sugaloaf

November 25th, 2014 at 12:39 PM ^

Oh man. I like the content, but I can't wait until Hokepoints dies a quiet death. Every time I see the title it reminds me of how far we have fallen. Great work Seth. Now let's kill Hokepoints.




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