Picture Pages: This Is Not A Stack

I have no idea what Greg Robinson is trying to accomplish. This puts me in the same situation as Greg Robinson. 

Awesome, just awesome.  /s

autopsy...err I mean analysis.

This and BWS's picture page of a 2nd and 21(link below) make me realize that these players are not only green and inexperienced, but they are also put in a position to fail by the coaching staff.

http://www.burgeoningwolverinestar.com/2010/11/2nd-and-21-no-problem.html)

at the end of all this, I really feel sad for D-Rob and the offense. D-Rob does have heisman numbers yet no love from the media all because our track record. I feel irritated at the defense... I know the players are trying hard but when you make the same mistakes game after game (both coaching, where we run the predictable man coverage and players for some stupid decisions  in some cases) it sort of makes even the sane fans angry. I still like RR and I think he should continue next year. The major fault I find in him is a few clock management issues, but yet as a head coach I think he should get more involved with the defense.

What you describe has been my biggest complaint.  The coaches just are not giving these kids a chance to make a play.  Doesn't matter if they are fr/so or jr/sr, if the coaches can't give them a chance to make a play they won't.  

That's not something that changes by being a year older, wiser, and bigger.

demens' position makes sense if roh's hand is down.  otherwise he's essentially a delayed blitzer on a mission other than to blitz.

I've seen a lot of comments here that boil down to "Wow I want a drink/to get drunk".  Until now, I thought they were facetous.  Until now.  It is a serious effort to not walk out of the office and into a bar after reading this and the BWS piece.

"Michigan's deployment of the 3-3-5 isn't really a 3-3-5."

This is what RR and GERG said before the season isn't it?

It would be interesting to know if they are coaching the MLB to play that close to the line or if the MLB is choosing to do that in the game to try and gain an edge?  Is this where the quotes of "guys trying to do too much" comes into play?

on a brighter note, looking at those Rutgers and WVU uniforms - yikes. 

I really wish this defense was 2 years more experienced.  We wouldn't be looking at these pages like this.  They'd be "Picture Pages: Us owning them."

Wondering what if any kind of shakeup/adjustment is even possible before the Illinois game.  You have to assume the defensive coaches are poring over the films but you don't what the group dynamic is at this point. Are they together on this or have they already devolved into blaming and finger-pointing among each other?  RR says he is going to be spending more time in the D-meetings - sure that will be a happy situation.

is it that the coaches cant see this???

I hate Greg Robison so much. I feel like a child who wants to cry not because they are sad but because they are frustrated and just want to burst because the thing is doing bad thing and nothing makes sense.

So if I am understanding this right, and its possible that I'm completely off but our run defense could be improved if Demens moves back 4 yards?

And yet, we will run this same scheme and get gashed again on Saturday. What a bummer. These kids have worked so hard and I feel bad for them.

I think we've gone off the rails.   We don't run WV's 3-3-5.   So we don't know what is the point of having the MLB so close.  How about we contact someone who knows about playing up so tight and see what the pros and cons are?

I think you answered a key question Brian.  You said no one got off theri blocks so the only way to stop the was outnumbering them.   So what do you want GR to do?   Keep yelling get off blocks to guys like Banks and hope or do you play games trying to guess right and actually get a stop?   Not sure the answer, but it is a pretty tough gig. 

This is just another argument for the bad coaching camp. This is showing that GERG doesn't understad how to run the 3-3-5 and raises the possibility that if RR would just remove himself from the defensive scheme and allow GERG to run hs own scheme that he understands and has run before it may improve defensive play.

Not sure what his responsibility is here. It's never good when linebackers play parallel to the line of scrimmage. He needs to play 'down hill'. He has zero chance against a FB/H-back. He's running laterally and has to stop and turn to take a blocker on. Notice he starts the play at a depth of 4 yards, and that's exactly where he takes the block on. The PSU blocker has 7 yards of momentum behind him by the time he reaches Mouton. It seems we're playing a 3-3 with a linebackers resonsible for contain. Perhaps Gerg is going with the philosophy this will confuse the blocking scheme because this is so dumb of a concept they will have never seen it before.

and it's hard to disagree seeing it laid out like this.  What I've read about the 3-3-5 says that the point of the defense is to be multiple in itself.  So you create fronts based on what you know about the offense's plan of attack rather than actually changing up to a 4-3 or a 3-4.

http://www.football-defense.com/creating-fronts-in-the-3-5-3-defense/

If you want a 4-3 under, you line up your DL and blitz the appropriate backers to get the 5 man front and leave two to scrape.  4-3 over requires one blitzing backer.  But you're either on the line actually blitzing or far enough removed to be able to actually play linebacker. 

Penn State had to be running these same plays in 2006, when we had our last really good defense. It would be interesting to see a similar play from the 2006 season picture paged to get a sense of how a "traditional front" defense with more experienced players would handle this particular situation, or at least similar situations. Wouldn't surprise me if there was more than one 2nd and long.

Hurr hurr i'm a gerr gerr gerg.

It appears RR takes an interest in the d and stuff falls apart. Was some of this debacle RR taking an interest? Or was this all on Gerg?

If RRod wants to protect his guys so badly he just promote one of them to DC and get it over with already.  No excuses at that point.

Doesn't it seem unfair to criticize our deployment of the 3-3-5 when it in fact isn't a 3-3-5? The coaches were saying this before the season when everyone was like OMG 3-3-5 WTF - this was NEVER going to be a 3-3-5 stack like it was at WVU, so it seems kind of pointless to compare the two. Would I rather see that same scheme, yes, but that doesn't matter because that's not what it is. The depth at which the MLB plays is far from the only difference between the two schemes.

Frankly - and this is no shot at Brian - I think scheme is a little overrated when you have guys like Banks who can't get off blocks, Moutons who refuses to tackle with anything more than just one arm, and a secondary with no experience. Not to mention a Mike Martin who hasn't been healthy since the 4th quarter of the MSU game.

Do I think we need to make some adjustments on the defensive staff? Sure. But I think when we're at the point when the coaches are just running guys out in different positions to see what sticks, it's time to consider the fact that maybe no FBS team in the last 10 years has had such an uphill climb in terms of fielding a defense. And yes, a lot of that is on the coaches, but a lot of it is just plain old terrible luck.

The coaches are not getting the kids in position to make plays.  It also appears that against a known running team (us vs. PSU, WVU vs. Rutgers), if you run the stack you need to have six guys attacking the LOS with the MLB running free and not straight into a block.  As Brian points out, Demens has no momentum and is getting swallowed by a guy 60-70 pounds heavier.  At least if he has a few more yards to work with he can properly react and potentially crush the blocker if he has enough momentum.

The kids can only make plays if the coaches put them in the right position - I've heard this from so many coaches I know it makes me crazy, and in this case, it appears to be completely true.