Neck Sharpies: Flinging Fullbacks at Frontside Gaps
or
That Time Wheatley Donkey’d Peppers
I’ve been so enamored with Brown’s defense lately that we haven’t discussed Harbaugh’s run games, which is a shame because they’re brilliant. He kept the fancy stuff in the barn of course but the Spring Game did show a neat thing and got a big chunk out of it.
For completion’s sake here’s who’s on the field. Those likely to see extensive action in 2016 are in bold, and non-Kovacsian walk-ons have hashtags:
| Offense | Defense | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | # | Player | Pos | # | Player |
| QB | 3 | Speight | FS | 18 | Pearson# |
| RB | 32 | Isaac | Rover | 29 | J.Glasgow# |
| FB | 80 | K.Hill | MLB | 46 | Wroblewski# |
| TE-H | 88 | Butt | WLB | 10 | Bush |
| TE-Y | 8 | Wheatley | SAM | 5 | Peppers |
| RT | 70 | Ulizio | Anchor | 43 | Wormley |
| RG | 63 | Pliska# | DT | 99 | Godin |
| C | 52 | Cole | NT | 90 | Mone |
| LG | 76 | Bushell-Beatty | End | 33 | Charlton |
| LT | 77 | Newsome | CB | 6 | Washington |
| WR | 2 | Mitchell | CB | 28 | Watson |
Only a few of those matchups can be at all enlightening, but I’d count the highlighted one among them.
1. THE PLAY: POWER WITHOUT THE PULLING
The defense is in a 71 (base over with the NT covering the center) front with the SAM (Peppers) up on the line to counteract that extra TE. The offense starts by motioning that TE.
The defense shows it’s in man, with the boundary CB (Washington) rolling with the motioning H-back (Butt). When Butt stops between the LT and LG, the WLB (Bush) comes up like he’s going to blitz that gap. That’s a good thing too because the called run goes right over his ass:
get along little doggies
Absent Harbaugh’s playbook I don’t know how to name it, but we saw a fancier version last year against BYU, and Space Coyote drew it up as “Power Lead.” That time it was run to the C gap, with the receiver coming in to crack a linebacker. This is the more vanilla version.
If you can picture it, the same blocks are happening as if it’s Power, but the fullback is doing the kickout block, and the H-back is the “puller” leading through the intended hole. The running back then picks a hole through the carnage, typically to whichever side of the H-back’s block that a defender isn’t in.
[After the jump: The defense solves this the Don Brown way, then breaks down]
2. DEFENSE SOLVES THAT WITH AGGRESSION
That intended gap is about to get blown up by said Bush, who attacked that B gap with authority, blowing back Butt, the lead blocker.
The above is at the handoff and you know what they say about running when your Butt’s in the backfield. With Butt back there and Bush controlling both sides of him not only is there no running room in the intended gap, but Hill’s got a rough go to make his kickout block. The running back has to put on the breaks. Problem solved.
So: the RB’s at a dead stop, and the intended gap has a linebacker a yard behind the line of scrimmage occupying both blocky-catchy guys. By now the free safety has had time to come down. Meanwhile JBB, the left guard, got hung up on Mone for a split second and doesn’t have control of the MLB, who took a step playside and…
…over-pursued. Yeah okay this is a walk-on who’s listed as a DE on the roster, not Gedeon, so we’ll cut the guy a break, even though he then compounded his situation by losing the ball and fighting to the wrong side. Plus this is a pretty hard offense to stop when the offense knows how to run it. And we’re about to see a 5-star running back show how to run it.
3. ISAAC FINDS THE BACK DOOR OPEN
Rather than force it into the hole like some 5-star 2013 running backs not naming any names that are an ugly color, this RB sees the middle linebacker getting too far from the hole he was supposed to be guarding, and cuts back. Let’s watch these frames because this is special:
That’s 60 FPS so five frames is .08 seconds to go from a stop to speeding through the lane. We can talk about how clever Harbaugh is to create extra gaps and all but here’s pure athletic ability and body control turning a cutback lane into death for a defense.
4. AND IT’S OPEN BECAUSE BLOCKS
Lineman footwork is getting pretty technical but when you’re watching the gif above see the first steps of the RG (Pliska) and RT (Ulizio). This is a Drevno coaching point, where the backside blockers take their first step away from the play’s direction, then sidestep downfield to seal.
It’s not the hardest thing to do when your defenders are trying to get into the gap you’re opening for them, but it’s a point in favor of Power/man-on-man blocking as opposed to zone blocks, where you face the guy you’re blocking and try to let him pick where to go. So long as they don’t go in weird gaps, committing to these backside seals lets you get away with blocking two excellent DL in Godin and Wormley with blockers who should not be in their class.
Also Mason Cole got under Mone and drove him a critical yard downfield to open up the lane. Cole’s All-American candidacy begins now.
5. SPEAKING OF ALL AMERICANS DIDN’T ONE GET DONKEY’D ON THIS PLAY?
It wasn’t relevant until the cutback was successful, but Tyrone Wheatley took Peppers for a RIDE, then shed so far downfield Wheats was able to get a block on the Rover/Strong safety/Next Glasgow too.
This turned a seven-yarder into a huge gain, made even huger by Isaac then juking Peppers too. It may mean that Peppers as a nearly-DE linebacker is a bit undersized to take on 290-pound dudes with freak athleticism. It could just mean said freak plays for us.
6. WATCH IN SLO MO TO OBLIVION MUSIC
Music: “Petal” by Oblivion, Ann Arbor, MI
April 26th, 2016 at 10:20 AM ^
Don't have a grasp of the technical aspects of the blocking/defense alignments, but I recall many discussing the eventual "Standfordization" of the offense - and it's fairly easy, even to the untrained eye, to see how this is taking shape. I tend to look at the old Stanford vs VT game as a baseline for how cohesive the blocking appears to be, and yep...can see elements slowly popping up here and there. Not the earth-plowing-blocking-in-unison quite yet...but getting there.
April 26th, 2016 at 10:22 AM ^
Our TEs can be as good or better than any TE group Harbaugh had at Stanford, and that's saying a lot. Butt and Wheatley on the field together present huge matchup problems for anyone.
April 26th, 2016 at 10:32 AM ^
Also Bunting, Hill...
April 26th, 2016 at 11:06 AM ^
I salivate when I watch Stanford. That's the end state, and it looks fascinating
April 26th, 2016 at 11:21 AM ^
April 26th, 2016 at 11:26 AM ^
I like fast.
April 26th, 2016 at 12:46 PM ^
#FredJackson'ed
April 26th, 2016 at 10:35 AM ^
Everything about this makes me feel good inside.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^
Coach loves competition, seeing these coaches trying to outfox each other is such a welcome detour from the usual boredom of Spring Games.
April 26th, 2016 at 10:37 AM ^
It appears that there is a play to be made by the MLB (#46, Wroblewski?) but he manages to find a block. While the quick decision by Isaac likely creates that hole, I have to imagine that decent/good linebackers likely stuff that for little to no gain.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:07 AM ^
um...
MLB, who took a step playside and…
…over-pursued. Yeah okay this is a walk-on who’s listed as a DE on the roster, not Gedeon, so we’ll cut the guy a break, even though he then compounded his situation by losing the ball and fighting to the wrong side.
This guy had a rough spring game. Like as bad as I've seen. But what good does it do us to focus on guys who are never going to play? His screwup was advantageous for us since it gave us an opportunity to see things like:
- Ty Isaac can spot a hole created by an overpursuing linebacker and cut to it with authority
- Drevno's power blocking is taking, and you can see how it's different from the zone stuff we're used to.
- This isn't an easy play to stop--on Power you normally pull a guy, deleting a backside gap for it to appear elsewhere. Linebackers have to respond to that shift in front by getting playside aggressively. This play attacks the playside but like with inside zone it punishes the defense for overpursuing to it.
I didn't want to get overly technical but I'm sure Space Coyote will appear in this thread shortly to explain that when you run this against Under fronts you kinda watch the MLB and see if there's a cutback because it makes life hard on that guy (against an over front usually the frontside is where it's at, for obvious reasons when you look at the alignment). This was an over front when the defense put its hands down:
But by the snap the offense's shift has made it an under front. This:
as far as what each player is doing, is basically this:
April 26th, 2016 at 11:23 AM ^
MIKE has to account for two gaps, one playside, one on the backside. He's aggressive crashing to the front side of the play trying to beat the combo from reaching him. Ty sees it, cuts it back where there isn't a defender to account for him.
Against a standard Over front (Michigan is running an Over front, but the LBs are aligned more like an Under front), the backside LB will be there to fill that backside gap, so the play is frontside, as you noted.
April 26th, 2016 at 12:01 PM ^
It looks like Pearson (FS) was coming down to plug the front side gap that the Mike jumped into. Had Wroblewski stayed on the backside A Gap would that have stopped the play? Further, was the gap he jumped into accounted for by the FS or is this where gap blocking runs creates more gaps as players fill?
April 26th, 2016 at 12:13 PM ^
But I don't think he accounts for an interior gap here. He's there as an extra defender. The MIKE shouldn't be relying on him here to make a playside interior run fit, which would be a very difficult play for the safety to make. Pearson is more there if the play bounces outside to the alley.
It does seem like there is an alignment issue on the defense. There really aren't enough bodies aligned to strength (4.5 defenders for 5 blockers)
I don't know enough about Brown specifically to know exactly what he teaches in the defense, but there's either a problem with alignment or with the players filling their responsibilities. Wroblewski biffed his gap assignment, IMO, but you also have Washington and Pearson to help fill the alley. I have seen some defensive coordinators use that safety (Pearson) to fill a gap up front, although I'm not enamored with that idea as a coordinator. It seems like a major flaw in that defensive scheme to have Wroblewski accounting for two gaps, but then again, run support can be an issue when you play two high safeties.
I'd like Sharik to weigh in since he watched more than I did, but I watched a lot of Brown's D this winter and I came away believing that he's got some 3-4 in his defense. Often you'll see his Anchor playing a soft edge, and most plays you'll note his linemen attack dudes not gaps right off the snap--only then do they control a gap. His playbook has a lot of two-gapping but those are mostly for passing, with a safety or linebacker or CB responsible for the edge against a run.
On this play as best as I can tell the gap responsibilities are as follows:
However the MLB on a power play becomes a help defender once the RB is committed or his gap doesn't exist anymore. The CB is a force defender and the two safeties are help defenders. The MLB clearly had the A gap--the question is just when is he supposed to abandon that gap? I can't think of anyone else on this play who should have been in the backside A gap. Only thing you can "should" is that Godin should have fought to make the gap smaller by pushing a walk-on guard back. What I don't believe is that a basic 8-man front like this doesn't have an answer for the cutback lane.
I see what you're saying about the MLB being a help defender on a power play, but this is not power, per se. This is more of a double iso. The Hill-on-Washington kickout block is more of an iso block than a kickout, because Washington is not setting the edge.
Meanwhile, I'm sure Brown has an answer for this, but the problem with the scheme here (IMO) is that we seem to literally have three players playing C gap (Charlton, Washington, Pearson). The one guy with B-gap responsibility (Bush) plays it will, but that extra gap is created by the extra back in the backfield.
I think this defense is fine if Wroblewski plays A gap and if Pearson steps up to support the B gap to become that extra defender. It's not ideal, but neither is playing two high safeties against essentially a Power I formation. I don't know what Wroblewski (a.k.a. the MIKE linebackers) is taught to do on plays like this, but we tell our linebackers not to abandon their gaps until the back reaches the lineman's heels.
I would bet that's his instruction too. But in the noise of a night spring game for a guy who's been waiting all his life for this chance to get on the field and prove himself, and who's been cocking it up all night so far, never underestimate how far that instruction might be from his mind at that moment.
April 26th, 2016 at 10:32 PM ^
Right. I'm not trying to get down on Wroblewski. I'm just trying to point out the strengths/weaknesses of the scheme and run fits. It was a nice run by Isaac, but I shrugged my shoulders about the WR/OL/LB/DB play from the walk-ons all night. I can't get too mad about Ken Sloss getting bested by Kareem Walker Jr. or Drake Harris, Jared Wangler not being able to get separation, etc. They're walk-ons for a reason and they're doing their best.
I didn't mean to point out that you missed something or didn't go over the guy's responsibilities, but that this doesn't seem to be an expected outcome vs defenses of quality that feature a good LB play.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^
This play is a good example of what happens when your offense correctly targets and blocks: it is difficult to defend.
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April 26th, 2016 at 11:35 AM ^
The MIKE has two gaps to account for, one on the front side, one on the backside. He chose to attack the front side, as that's what Brown is teaching. LINK
Hitting the cutback is one of the methods to counter act this sort of defense. It's actually the subject of a post I'm writing up now, that includes things like pulling an OG on PA, boot action, false pulls, and pulling without pulling. This play just happens to have a pull without a pull (H accounts for the pulling OG) and finds the cut back from an aggressive backside LB.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:28 AM ^
It's a hard play yes but remember a 4-3 under (which the defense ends up being after the TE shift) has to work like a 3-4. A free MLB has to read and react, and still control his gap as long as the gap exists.
Mone did him a favor (at risk of a hold) by keeping the guard from releasing and leaving the MLB free to react to whatever the feet of the RB are doing. Technically when the front flipped the MLB became the WLB. He's got to think like one: hold your gap until the RB can't get to it, and stay clean. This guy is fighting to get to the frontside B gap when Isaac is running right by him.
So I'm pretty convinced the guy who's running himself out of the play when everybody else is being useful is the culprit. In fact I thought he was the culprit on a lot of the white team's offense in spring.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:42 AM ^
Mone does a good job keeping the MIKE clean and allowing him to be in a position to make a play. He also gives up some ground (he's getting doubled, it's a tough job) that allows this cutback to work faster. He made one good play and countered it with a bit of poor play (though not blown off the ball by any means).
The biggest mistake the MIKE makes is that he loses sight of the ball. He's actually in decent position to shed the blocker either side when JBB finally gets out to him. But he gets too focused on the block and loses the ball, then actually fights playside away from the ball. Gotta have eyes on the ball.
I went through the play clip a number of times because I was initially disappointed in his play -- he sure didn't look like he solved his problems with aggression; in fact he looked a lot like Joe Bolden -- but as I tried to clarify my complaints I realized just how tough a situation that was.
I don't buy walk-on as an excuse to make the wrong read or lack in effort, but they do have an athletic disadvantage. Also, one thing that worked for this play isn't just how quickly Isaac cut, but how close it was. Butt was pushed into the backfield -- frontside was dead -- but instead of lazily arcing backside, Isaac cut at Butt's hip. When JBB's in his face Wroblewski still hasn't found the ball because at that instant Isaac is literally on the opposite side of the mess. If I'm a walk-on MLB catching a block from a releasing scholarship OL I figure I'm not going to 2-gap him very well and the RB's not going to be in the backfield all day (this isn't just about positioning but also sensing when something's going to happen). So I think he went "eff it" and picked a 50/50 to at least win the block and -- if he guessed right -- make a play. . . he just guessed wrong.
If it was someone like Ross or Bolden he's probably fearlessly rocking JBB backwards to go find the ball, but Wroblewski may lack the confidence to win, or is just being pragmatic. He looked for the ball as long as he could, but Isaac did a good job hiding his intentions and getting trucked by JBB would've made Wroblewski a complete non-factor, so fighting playside was probably his way of solving his problem with aggression.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:38 AM ^
I agree that it's a tough play, but that's still his gap. The thing about an extra offensive gap being created is that you need one of your players at the point of attack to win his one-on-one battle with a blocker. In Wroblewski's case he abandoned his gap and totally lost track of the ball carrier. I won't be too hard on him, either, because he's a walk-on who switched positions during the spring, but I would still expect a starting MIKE to play that better.
April 26th, 2016 at 10:41 AM ^
Bush appears to have read the play pre-snap and gets a good start on blitzing the gap. He also stood up Butt's block really well.
Did Bush make a lucky guess? Or is this a sign that he has a lot more on-field football understanding than most Freshmen?
Whether a lucky or smart, Bush forced the play away from the intended hole. (I am assuming that the play is designed so that Butt would engage the LB past the line of scrimmage rather than at of even behind the LOS).
Also, assuming the MLB did not screw it up, this would have been a 2 yard gain, right? So the big gain had three necessary condtions. The nice blocks from the right side of the line; the great vision and cut back from Issac; and the screw up by the MLB. Any one of the three conditions being absent would have resulted in a very short gain, correct?
April 26th, 2016 at 10:56 AM ^
I recall reading that Bush has good instincts for the position and that makes him more field ready than most. If this play was just a good guess or if he actually knew what to do, I can't answer that.
If he can make the right reads on a consistent basis, there's no reason why he shouldn't get some serious playing time this year.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:02 AM ^
April 26th, 2016 at 11:30 AM ^
Bush is blitzing here. He will blitz a lot. It may be a formation check when the H motions across the formation, but it's not a read from Bush that results in him shooting the gap.
The MIKE doesn't do great here, but there are two issues that really let this play go. Seth pointed out Cole getting solid push on Mone (with the help from JBB). That extra yard allows for a fluid cut back. If that's a stalemate, Ty has to cut laterally instead of diagonal, and the defense can react.
Second, Pliska dominates Godin and seals him on the backside. If Godin gets into a straight up position, where he can two gap a bit, even if he doesn't make the play, he slows the play down.
Then, if Peppers doesn't get destroyed on the LOS, he can flow to the play.
Lastly, Jordan Glasgow is lost in his pursuit angle as a safety (and Peppers is essentially pushed back into him, Wheatley is blocking two guys with one). This is a terrible job letting an 8 yard gain turn into a huge gain. I really wish they would have pulled Glasgow on board with being a FB from the get go. I think he has the athleticism, frame, and mental capacity for that position. I don't think the same can really be said for safety. But he's a walk-on, he's meeting expectations for a walk-on, just not the ones his brothers set.
So yeah, there are multiple issues on the defense. The MIKE doesn't do great. He's the most obvious thing to point out. But there are other areas here where the offense whoops the defense or the defense does a poor job.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:22 AM ^
I don't think it would have been a two yard gain. The MLB takes a couple steps to his right at the beginning of the play, as he is supposed to do when the entire backfield starts flowing that direction. When Isaac starts to cut it back, the LG already has an arm on him. It's a difficult block, but even if the MLB reads the play correctly from that point forward, he still needs to disengage, move a couple yards laterally, and tackle a RB who has a full head of steam.
I think if the MLB had played it correctly, this would have ended up as one of those runs like you see in Alabama games, where it looks like there's not a huge hole and the defense made the tackle quickly, but then you notice that the tackle actually happened 6-7 yards down field.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:25 AM ^
April 26th, 2016 at 10:45 AM ^
April 26th, 2016 at 10:58 AM ^
Peppers gets blown 8 yards off the line by Wheatley, but then does a nice job of preventing Isaac from cutting back inside of him one on one in open space, and there was plenty of space considering they were one on one starting at about the right hashmarks.
Maybe I'm too used to watching Bolden over pursue and have guys cut back inside but I'm pretty pleased with how Peppers forces Isaac to the sideline. Especially given that Peppers was the only person who could have prevented a touchdown at that point. Isaac looks really fast on this run too.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:21 AM ^
he was not blown off. in that formation he has to respect the te releasing done field, he cant just allow a clean release, that is part of the reason he is up playing on the te .
April 26th, 2016 at 11:32 AM ^
Yes, he needs to respect a pass route, but once it was clear run and Wheatley was blocking, Peppers still got pushed back and struggled to get off the block. That's a bit to be expect for an undersized LB going up against a huge TE.
Also, Peppers should have forced the ball back inside. He had outside leverage all the way on this play. He needed to get outside Wheatley and force the play back to his Rover (Glasgow). Wheatley killed on this play.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:39 AM ^
the real mistake was by the safety behind peppers. once the cb vacated to the other side he has to protect that side of the field. peppers is fighting with wheatley but in real time he has to be real carefull not to get caught at the line with no help behind him. very tough play, even for peppers.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:40 AM ^
But he has help inside (notice he's rolling to the center of the field). Peppers has help on the pass route. He can stay on the outside hip of Wheatley if he releases into a route. He just gets blown up here (he gets sealed inside once the ball cuts back). It's ok, Peppers isn't perfect. He's still got things to work on with his run fits.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:44 AM ^
In that case he was defending the 'run right at you and grab you between the shoulder pads and drive' route very well.
Also, Wheatley was the only pass threat on that side of the formation and Peppers has safety help over top. His primary responsiblity was not covering Wheatley man to man 8 yards downfield. Peppers has to read run and shed that block much faster. Hard to do once a man 80 pounds heavier than you puts you on ice skates though.
April 26th, 2016 at 10:59 AM ^
This is amazingly well writen. I think I am in the majority of people that really don't pay attention to little things like the footwork of backside lineman. Great read, thanks Seth.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:06 AM ^
Why does he still get a hashtag? I get he might not be kovacsian, but still.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^
Ryan Glasgow graduated to the Blessed Order of St. Kovacs as a sophomore, and might have the order renamed for himself.
Jordan Glasgow was the rover on this play. While he's got the bloodlines and is at a position where depth issues certainly leave room for a walk-on to become a long term starter, he's nowhere near that yet.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:27 AM ^
April 26th, 2016 at 11:48 AM ^
That's a good idea.
April 27th, 2016 at 10:00 PM ^
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April 26th, 2016 at 11:24 AM ^
Jordan Glasgow, the walk-on saftey, was the only Glasgow brother in on this play.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:13 AM ^
It was briefly mentioned that Ulizio did a good job, but not that he was up against Wormley and directed him outside when it looks like he wanted to go inside. Pretty good play for a RS Fr against a top senior DL.
April 26th, 2016 at 12:27 PM ^
I watched him a fair amount of time the second time I watched the spring game. I thought he did well. I wouldn't be surprised to see him be a multi-year starter. He reminds me of those linemen Iowa gets that makes me wonder, why can't we get some of those guys? Well, we may have found one.
I don't think what happened there with Ulizio is anything noteworthy. Wormley's just staying in his gap. If Ulizio screwed that up, it would be a *huge* red flag.
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