Picture Pages: Check Yo' Self
HEY TOMMY REES
CHECK IT OUT I'M ALL GONNA BLITZ YO
LOL LOOK HOW CLOSE I AM TO THE LINE
WHY IS EVERYONE LOOKING AT YOU?
HEY MAN… I'M NOT BLITZING BE COOL
LOL JK YES I AM. HEY… THAT GUY IS OPEN
IF I WAS NOT BLITZING I MAY HAVE BEEN IN THIS AREA
TOMMY REES IS A JERK
I HOPE HE THROWS A BALL BACKWARDS FOR NO REASON LATER
VIDEO
OBJECT LESSONS
This happened a lot. Michigan would line up, show something unsound, and Rees would check into something that would punish the defense. Blue Seoul highlighted another instance where Michigan tipped its blitz:
![6140017897_160cb93a6d[1]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/6140017897_160cb93a6d1.jpg "6140017897_160cb93a6d[1]")
Result:
![6140018617_750076aa37[1]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/6140018617_750076aa371.jpg "6140018617_750076aa37[1]")
Also a result:
Michigan would line up in its okie package on plausible running downs like third and five, which caused Rees to check to runs up the middle. With no linebackers and Mike Martin dropping into coverage these went for about 20 yards.
![6140576478_514ea3d3d7[1]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/6140576478_514ea3d3d71.jpg "6140576478_514ea3d3d7[1]")
Hell, even when good things happened this was going on. Look at this dude on Kovacs's interception:
That is a 65-yard touchdown waiting to happen if Rees's brain isn't going FLOYDFLOYDFLOYDFLOYDFLOYDFLOYD. The difference between a great call and an idiotic call is Rees not being a true sophomore in his fifth start with deep man love for Michael Floyd.
Seriously. Michigan's defensive RPS is going to have huge numbers because Mattison is doing all sorts of crazy stuff. This defense is the philosophical opposite of the bland 4-3 cover twos of Iowa, Michigan State, and Wisconsin.
They show a bunch of different fronts, blitz from everywhere, don't bother to cover guys in the seam when there are no safeties… it's a freak show out there. Sometimes it works. When it doesn't it's ugly. ND's last touchdown is especially galling because Michigan had to know ND would see this massive bust on the Kovacs INT and check into "free seam touchdown" when Michigan checked to cover zero. In this instance there was at least a guy vaguely in the area, but they've got a lot to work on.
Blitzing is not such a good idea when you wave your hand and say "sir: I am blitzing." In the first half Michigan tipped their blitzes a lot. Matters improved when Hawthorne came in—I watched him blitz without so much as taking those anxious shuffle steps, let alone going LOL I'M AT THE LINE—but it's disconcerting to watch the Michigan defense freak out on a QB handclap so consistently. They should know by now that the clap often leads to a check, because the offense did that a ton last year.
So… where is Michigan's check after ND checks? You can't check all the time because then ND's check will be "let's change their play without changing ours" but you have to check some of the time, particularly early.
Avery could have done better here. He's beaten to the inside too easily and can't tackle on the catch. He is not capable of dealing with Mike Floyd. Not many are, but predictions in this space of a bust-out year are not off to a good start. It's early yet.
Not that it would have mattered: Avery can run his slant for Floyd and Eifert is still hand-wavingly wide open. Dude could have gone for 150 against us if Tommy Rees's brain wasn't going FLOYDFLOYDFLOYDFLOYD.
Another reason for worry. This defense is unsound. Does Mattison want it to be unsound because it makes Kovacs pop up for turnovers or does he have little choice in the matter because he's starting a walk-on (Heininger—Kovacs has graduated), a couple freshmen, and only 2.5 non-walkon seniors (RVB, Martin—Woolfolk is the half)?
I don't know, but I'm betting it's the latter. I am glad they've got a week to practice not leaving guys wide open all day. They're busting coverages every other play.
September 13th, 2011 at 11:47 AM ^
fewer Elite QBs this year.
But still, there is Ryan Lindley, Kirk Cousins, Nathan Scheelhaase, Dan Person/Kain Colter and Taylor Martinez to worry about. No Russell Wilson (thank Christ).
Something tell's me their experience, field vision and timing will be "slightly" (way) better than that of Tommy Rees.
That all said, thank God for the blitz. It's been too long.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:04 PM ^
Dan Person is indeed a very tough QB to gameplan. But just wait until the defense faces Sam Human and Ron Dude and Todd Homoerectus. I'm already wrapped up in yoyo nightmares.
September 13th, 2011 at 9:18 PM ^
Person man, person man
Hit on the head with a frying pan
Lives his life in a garbage can
Person man
Is he depressed or is he a mess?
Does he feel totally worthless?
Who came up with person man?
Degraded man, person man
Triangle man, triangle man
Triangle man hates person man
They have a fight, triangle wins
Triangle man
September 14th, 2011 at 6:22 AM ^
A woman came up to me and said
"I'd like to poison your mind"...
September 13th, 2011 at 11:51 AM ^
So the question is do we have the talent to pull off this "NFL Mad Scientist" defence by the time we roll into EL, or is this scheme just a bit to complex for college
September 13th, 2011 at 12:03 PM ^
I remember that Jim Herrmann was knocked for making his player think too much in the scheme and react too slowly. The default was a vanilla Iowa scheme that allows players to play fast or substitute easily since it is rather basic in scheme (and has been pretty successful). I don't know the correct answer. Ideally our guys grasp the nuances better with more experience.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:21 PM ^
My sense is that the defense would work with more experienced (and better) players manning key positions. With a good LB core and a line that can generate some pressure, those blitzes don't get stopped up/checked out nearly as often, and then tend to cause more problems for the offense. The problem is that the defense basically goes out there with an intention to blitz, shows it, and then either the coaches don't have an alternative check (which seems highly unlikely) or the players don't recognize it and check out quickly enough to be effective. I suspect that next year, with guys like Demens, Kovacs, non-Martin linemen, etc. returning with another year in the offense, we should see less confusion.
I do think this defense will work in college, but it will be typical boom-bust until the talent improves. As Dr. Sat pointed out in a tweet, the reason Mattison was able to run these types of schemes so well in Baltimore was because he had HOF'ers like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, not JT Floyd, Kovacs, and Herron.
September 13th, 2011 at 2:13 PM ^
experience. (Way to dis' on the players ...) As we see with Kovacs, the system works if you have smart guys - or in the Baltimore case - experienced super athletic guys.
Hopefully, as they gain experience across the next two or three games, and as Cam Gordon comes back, and Troy's nose and hand heal, this gets better. It seems like it is getting better in the games, and they are getting a better feel for who to use when. So hopefully ...
Still - the prediction models across the summer predicted the Defense could get better, but not exponentially.
September 13th, 2011 at 3:32 PM ^
I'm not trying to belittle the players, but the reality is that there are talent issues on both sides of the ball, and those deficiencies limit how effective both units can be. I respect everything JT Floyd has done for the team and would never call for his head or say he should be kicked off the tema (something others have intimated), but that doesn't mean I'm going to sit here and say "yeah, just keep putting him out there despite the fact he looks lost against above-average WRs". Brink is a great story, but when you have a 5* being passed by a walk-on, and not because said walk-on is dominating competition, then you have some questions about the talent on the team.
I do think that these next couple of games should really help the maturation of the team. Not only do they have one more legit test before the beginning of the league season (SDSU), which should help in terms of in-game changes and tweaks, but players like Troy will be able to get healthy. And I honestly do think that ND might be one of the best 2-3 offenses UM sees all season, so some of the shredding is probably due to that as well.
All that said, I like the direction of the defense. The run defense was really, REALLY bad until Kelly went conservative, but beyond that it looked like a unit with some direction and wrinkles, which is a departure from last year under GERG and his hodge-podge of schemes.
September 13th, 2011 at 11:52 AM ^
It'll get better. After not blitzing much at all last year, they need to learn how to time it, and that comes from experience. Better timed blitzes will lead less time for QB's to find the hot read when they weren't expecting to look for it. This better happen by MSU by the way, I'd prefer to see Cousins beaten up like we're Alabama than him picking us apart like a better Rees.
September 13th, 2011 at 11:53 AM ^
what other tricks do we know Mattison has up his sleeve?
September 13th, 2011 at 2:55 PM ^
Recruiting. Recruiting. Recruiting.
September 13th, 2011 at 11:56 AM ^
I'm still amazed we haven't given up any really long plays thus far, but yea, despite the defensive performance feeling better there was a sinking feeling watching the amount of space they were able to get, both running and passing.
September 13th, 2011 at 11:58 AM ^
Given the defenses that the Ravens deployed for two years, I'm guessing this is "young players in a brand new defense will blow assignments sometimes."
September 13th, 2011 at 12:03 PM ^
I think it's also possible that some of the schemes that work when you have Ed Reed don't work as well when you don't have Ed Reed, but I don't know nearly enough about football to answer that one one way or the other.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:10 PM ^
The schemes are also being used against non-NFL offenses so you dont' necessarily need a player like Ed Reed. But considering these players haven't even played this defense for 2 full games yet, it's obvious they will make mistakes. It will be interesting to see how they play once the Big 10 schedule starts.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:30 PM ^
I kind of agree. I do think that fretting about a defense after 1.5 games is a fool's errand, but having elite performers at key positions (Reed, Polamalu (sp), Woodson, Revis, Suh, Willis) can mean all the difference between an average defense and a very good/elite one. I do think that Mattison's blitz-heavy defense will work in college, but it might take some time before the talent and experience it needs to run at top speed arrives.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:26 PM ^
Sounds eerily simlar to the argument that the spread offense doesn't work if Denard isn't running it. I have no strong opinion on it.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:57 PM ^
I sincerely doubt Greg Mattison is confusing anyone on our defense for Ed Reed, and is then gameplanning based on this confusion.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:24 PM ^
Brandin Hawthorne was a mirror without reflection. He sucked the whole world into his grasp. That's all the defense is and was and should be.
Also, Mich D left the TE open because Rees had exclusive sex eyes for Floyd. Mich D knew what ND QB gone do and ND QB done it. ND QB stalked Mikey with his tossin arm.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:01 PM ^
It looked to me that the reason he picked off Rees is that Rees was staring down Floyd. I could be wrong, but I think Rees was looking at him the whole way, which is why Kovacs left his zone. Which is why the guy who was running through his zone was wide open. I don't think Kovacs picked that pass off because he was playing out of position, and Rees made a bad read. Now, if Rees would have come off of Floyd....that would have been bad. But, he didn't do that one time in the game, so I think Kovacs felt it was worth the risk.
In other words, I'm giving Kovacs the benefit of the doubt. I think it was a fantastic play that was anything but an accident-which is how Kovacs plays.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:04 PM ^
that defense was risky/unsound. At least, that was the conclusion I reached here.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:44 PM ^
...even though I could be wrong on both accounts. If you take a look at your 4th, and 5th photos, you'll notice that Kovacs and Ryan(? or whoever is playing that linebacker spot..cant see the number) are literally 4 yards apart the whole way...and really we end up with 3 guys within the same cover area when Kovacs makes the interception. Now, that is unsound. But, Kovacs is lined up directly over the slot and backpedals exactly 2 yards. At this point (your 5th picture) Rees is looking directly at Floyd and the slot is right behind Kovacs. Now, we can either say that a) this is a blown coverage and Kovacs, who presumably knows that the deep help is coming from all the way across the field, just let the slot run free or b) Kovacs let his guy go because Rees was staring down Floyd. B sounds much more plausible to me, given what we know about Kovacs and what the pictures might show.
I really think that this was going to be quarters coverage. If you look at both CB's they are sprinting with their backs turned, the backside safety is also running right up the hash( where if he were the deep middle guy, he would have been taking a diagonal route) and he only rounded towards the center of the field after he looked over and saw the wide open slot (almost 15 yards later). Look at the backside safety's path in picture 3,4 and 5. He starts on the hash on the 37(3) and runs straight up the hash until the 49 yard line (4,5). So, unless he was taught to run to the correct depth and then cut straight over, I don't think he had deep middle. I'm pretty sure that Kovacs abandoned his deep responsibility because he saw immediately that Rees was throwing to Floyd all the way and then made a play.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:25 PM ^
That's not the case. In the first still you can see Kovacs running out to undercut Floyd and Rees looking at the other side of the field. This was a massive bust by someone, not a great read.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:38 PM ^
That zone drop is a very common zone drop from that position. You can also see a DB busting ass to get back on the top of the screen. It seems there is a busted coverage/someone out of position, but I don' think that person is Kovacs.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:40 PM ^
Didn't mean to imply it was Kovacs. Kovacs is obviously flying out to his proper zone. Someone else biffed.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:57 PM ^
I don't think anyone biffed the coverage. I think they're playing 3 deep zone and got caught in the 4-verts, 3 deep problem.
If you look at the first still of the play above, whichever player is on the top hash (guessing it's Gordon) is hauling ass to get deep. The problem is, if he's the deep safety, he's on the opposite hash from the dude running wide open down the seam and he started basically at the line of scrimmage. By being pulled way up to the line, the design of the defense means he has to cover about 30 yards on his pass drop with responsibilities for the entire middle deep third (as both outside receivers are running vertical routes keeping the CBs near the sideline. This seems to be a defense based on hoping the QB gets confused and doesn't see the seam routes. And hey, it worked!
EDIT: would be more accurate to say that it worked here, and then blew up in our face at the end, b/c I think this is the exact problem that MRob found himself in on ND's last TD. This might be a look you can get away with once a game.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:22 PM ^
It is troubling that I am sort of on my own disagreeing here with what the coverage was supposed to be, especially because I think this could be the same defense that gave up the 4th quarter touchdown play. The big difference between the two plays is ball placement. In the 4th quarter the ball is on the right (from notre dames perspective) hash, and Gordon is already in the middle of the field. In the picture paged play, the ball is in the middle of the field. Also, in the 4th quarter Gordon seems to be looking at the open receiver as he is sprinting back. I don't know why he didn't run towards him. The two plays look similar, but I'm not sure they are. I'm no coach nor am I an expert.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:54 PM ^
So I just wanted to clarify for others really.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:01 PM ^
That's who I thought messed up. What else could his assignment have been but to follow that slot/TE? He is standing in no man's land guarding no one while Kovacs is busting ass to get under Floyd.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:16 PM ^
I think that's the LB's zone. It's protecting against the crossing routes which are wide open if he follows the seam route (IDK, maybe he's supposed to, it certainly seems better to try to mitigate disaster than give up a 12 yard gain on a crossing route).
Here's the picture just before Rees throws the ball...
Things to notice:
-The LB (Ryan?) settline in the underneath zone, with two receivers on the opposite hash running either hooks or crossing routes into his zone.
-Demens and Hawthorne kind of running into each other. Don't know what they're doing. I think that's a bust that has no effect on the dude running wide open down the hash.
-Kovacs running out to the underneath zone.
-Robinson hauling ass to get deep, but on the opposite hash from #80, who's raising his hand.
-Rees rolling, meaning a throw to the wide open guy would be across his body.
Again, I don't think anyone's busting this coverage, apart from maybe Hawthorne and Demens, and that's kind of immaterial to the play. This is RPS, not player error.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:26 PM ^
if this was 3 deep. His job should be to get to the center of the field. Also, why would both Ryan and Kovacs have the underneath (or is that Roh next to Kovacs)?
September 13th, 2011 at 1:38 PM ^
I think Robinson's trying to angle toward the inside but doesn't want to get caught in whatever's going wrong between Demens and Hawthorne. The next still shows him cutting toward the middle (admittedly almost exactly when the pass is thrown). It looks like if Rees floats a pass to the open guy because he's rolling, Robinson might be able to get there to break it up, might.
Kovacs and Ryan look close in the photo above, but I think Kovacs is running to the sideline to get into the underneath flat while Ryan is dropping into a hook/crossing zone.
Rees also leaves this pass way too far inside, allowing Kovacs to pick it off.
Here's the next frame, where you can see Robinson angling toward the center deep zone:
September 13th, 2011 at 2:03 PM ^
It just looks so ugly. He cut over about 5 yards late if he was clearing the hawthorne demens mess. If this is 3 deep, I hope they don't run it again until its down pat a little more. ND could have scored twice out of this look.
September 13th, 2011 at 3:37 PM ^
I see your point, that this looks like a three deep zone, but if the linebacker there has absolutely no one to cover, shouldn't he do something else besides just sit there. I mean get deeper/ride the TE/Slot guy a little longer until Robinson can get over. By the way, if you are right and this is a three deep zone w/ Marvin Robinson the deep center, he is WAAAAYYY to slow to get where he needs to be on this kind of play. I miss Ray Vinopal.
September 13th, 2011 at 4:13 PM ^
September 13th, 2011 at 12:55 PM ^
I thought about that when I started writing, but Rees looked to that side for a total of like .02 seconds( I made that up), and Kovacs did not sprint directly from his starting point out to that zone. I really think he was supposed to be deep-(I replied above using the other guys picture page). I might be giving Kovacs too much credit, but I think the actions of the backside safety as well as the outside corners lend a little credence to that.
edit: "that" means kovacs was supposed to be deep
September 13th, 2011 at 2:01 PM ^
Or, maybe it wasn't a bust. One of the most fundamental aspects of coverage whilst running a zone defense is that players should not cover receivers that the quarterback isn't looking to throw the ball to. This becomes even more important when blitzing from a zone defense.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:06 PM ^
I saw the same things live and wondered how they got Tom Brady's ability to check out of things into Tommy Rees' head so quickly. I do have 2 caveats, both dealing with the homie who's wide open on Kovac's INT.
1. Everyone on the field and sidelines knows that Rees picks off flower petals thinking of Floyd going "he loves me...he loves me not." That doesn't excuse anyone being that ridiculously wide open, but it's a gamble that proved right.
2. I'm not sure this isn't a read/fortuitous blown coverage by Kovacs. That route is basically a clear out so that everyone and their brother can run drags and outs to flood that zone. Kovacs clearly isn't in man, and I don't think his zone is that deep flat, if you will. In order to hit that seam route, Rees would have to divorce Floyd, set his feet, and probably throw across his body, depending how far he rolled out.
I could be wrong about 2, but it really did strike me as him using his best asset, his instincts.
Edit: looks like I got beaten to the punch on my main point by the above poster.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:03 PM ^
Brian, this analysis is obviously just another expression of your deep abiding man love for Rich Rodriguez. Hey man, can't you just let it go? Hoke is our coach now. He poops gold, magic, gold magic, and magic gold. And Mattison? Greg Mattison is like Jesus wrapped in a Snuggie proffering a hot beverage on a cold day.
(cleansing breath)
I will say that Mattison is in an extraordinarily difficult position. Our base vanilla defense is eminently gashable, as Carder and Rees demonstrated to great effect. So he kind of has to go high risk/high reward, which by definition is highly risky and highly rewardy. So for every Kovacs interception you get plays like this one.
But I can live with that. I much prefer this attacking, kamikaze style to the second half of Wisconsin last year, where Tolzein threw one time and we still gave up a million yards. Hopefully as the weeks go by he'll get a better feel for when to play vanilla 4-3 and when to crank up the crazy.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:49 PM ^
thinks, in a non-egotistical way, "Hey man, i know more about defense than a lot of college coaches and even more about changing looks. I will screw this Rees kid and Kelly up royally---shit why did you just do that (insert M defender here)?"
I do agree that blitzing with our players is a necessary thing. We don't get 4 man pressure and so far the base looks aren't working. But I do wonder if some of this is him being so fresh from the NFL, where scheme and deceit is everything.
And one last question: given our talent (lack) is it ever a good idea to have Mike Martin drop into coverage?
September 13th, 2011 at 1:40 PM ^
so long as Coach Mattison never utters the phrase "decided schematic advantage" I'm willing to write it off to new guys/complex system and wait for it to become 1997-ish at some point in the future
regarding your question about Mike Martin- I saw the Ravens this weekend drop Haloti Ngata into coverage on one play and he sacked the QB on the next, so while I hear what you are saying, I would again defer to the Coach
September 13th, 2011 at 1:39 PM ^
double post. my apologies
September 13th, 2011 at 1:41 PM ^
While Mattison was a fantastic pro coordinator, he isn't a Charlie Weiss with limited experience in college. Even though the pro years were more recent, I doubt he has forgot that much of what he can and can't get college kids to do over the entire rest of his long career.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:41 PM ^
While Mattison was a fantastic pro coordinator, he isn't a Charlie Weiss with limited experience in college. Even though the pro years were more recent, I doubt he has forgot that much of what he can and can't get college kids to do over the entire rest of his long career.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:52 PM ^
I sincerely doubt Greg Mattison temporarily confuses our defense for an NFL one.
He is being unconventional with his play calling, because as of right now, being unconventional is one of our only advantages defensively. We are, as of yet, largely incapable of lining up and "out-executing" the other team. So, our defense has to mix up play calling and keep the other team off balance.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:45 PM ^
I think you're basically right. Running base defense gets our early defensive results...or see all last year. low risk low reward. We're going to have to come to grips that outside of QB, some pretty good wide out talent, and the odd one guy at certain positions, we're lacking a lot of talent, and mostly on defense. They can't play straight up and win. So they play aggressive, and hope to make the other team screw up to be as bad as they are, and even things out (easy TDs vs. TOs). Because turnovers are stops (duh); marching down the field slowly at will aren't. When the defense has more players he can trust, from maturity or recruiting, I think you'll see more vanilla. Ideally he'd never blitz because his front 4 was so fearsome...but we're a ways away from that. Then you choose your situational blitzes as a change-up or big play game changer. Right now, it's just holding on for dear life.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:03 PM ^
Unfortunately, unless Roh and Black can find a way to pressure the QB, the blitz seems to be the only way to pressure the QB into hurried throws/mistakes.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:29 PM ^
Rees also got the ball out extremely quickly and had a wideout he could depend on to be open (except for twice). It was only when corners forced Carder to come off their first read that we started to get pressure against WMU. The DEs aren't getting any pressure, but even if they were beating their guys, I think the ball would have been out already against ND.
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