Picture Pages: UMass Counter Reconsideration

Look at how far we have come:

they seem like good tacklers and guys who take good angles.

Who could have said that for our safeties past two years. Just for this, I going to give Gerg some credit - and if they just keep doing this with some level of competence, I will take my chances against any team as long as our offense remains Denardastic!

To the coaches out there, why doesn't Mouton try to blow the TE back into the backfield instead of what he did?

Seems to me last year both Ezeh and Mouton would have waited longer and reacted slower, and this could have been 16 yards instead of 6.

but at times, especially on the play outlined above, it appears that these guys just don't trust each other.  If fundamentally Mouton knows that he is supposed to keep inside contain and force the RB into Floyd, is it that he just loses his mind and doesn't remember that Floyd will be there or is it that he doesn't trust what's behind him.  It's so strange.

I think Ezeh should get a -1. At pic 4 its clear the play is a counter but by pic 8 he is STILL 3yds from the LOS and getting engaged by the OL. I think by pic 8 he should have been at the LOS trying to make a play. If he where there that would have made flloyd and moutons decision that much easier.

I also think Martin hasn't done anything here to warrant a +1. looks like a stalemate for the NT to me.

They ran this play all day. I wonder how many plays Martin got +1'd for and Ezeh got -1'd for in similar situations. It might explain why Martin was so astronomically high and Ezeh might be pretty close to even if there enough plays like this.

The scary thing is that this is the same play that EMU ran down our throat last year, the difference being that UMass was able to bounce it outside more, while EMU had to cut it up for a gain of 4-8 yards.

I know this is pretty much a repeat of what Brian is saying, but if Martin or Banks can not beat a double team here, it seems by design that no one even has a chance to engage the runner until he has passed the LOS with momemtum.  I just don't see how this scheme can possibly not yield 3-5 yards minimum. 

  And just another thought, if Mouton does blow up into that gap and the RB bounces outside, is Floyd 1 on 1 against a RB in space a good option for Michigan? Maybe with UMASS, but if that's John Clay, yikes.

Given personnel, the idea that this defense is playing bend but don't break seems rational.  If so, you accept some long time-consuming drives, waiting for the offense to make a mistake (as we saw UConn and ND do).  UMass executed well, so they moved the ball.   I'm content to accept that outcome if it means avoiding the big play. FGs, not TDs! The faith in the safties taking good angles seems premature to me.

Amp up the aggressiveness when the risk is low (e.g. short field... or when your D is getting gashed anyway)  or when your opponent seems adept at executing (like UMass).  I don't have great faith in most teams in the Big10 doing that;  Bad OL or inexperienced QBs are abundant, so execution will be spotty. The defensive strategy will work well in that case. 

Against MSU and Wisconsin, who have good QBs and seems to execute pretty well, I'd be more inclined to shift the gameplan a bit towards aggression.  Against Purdue, Illinois, PSU and Iowa, I'd sit back and let them shoot themselves in the foot.

I could not agree more with the last bullet point (or arrow point to be exact).  We need to shoot a line backer from the interior into the gap when reading the run.  This can do two things:

1)  Martin gets double teamed all the time.  The O-Line will be thinking of trying to somehow to contain the linebacker shooting the gap.  A miracle might happen and the linebacker shoots up the right gap and makes a tackle for a two yard loss or the linebacker at least delays the execution of the play and help arrives minimizing the running back falling forward for one or two yards.  The latter most likely applies in our defense, but a different element is needed to our scheme.

2)  If your shooting guys from every gap at random, the offense will adjust and start looking for different zone blitzes.  However, it gets them thinking and reacting to what our defense is doing.  It seems our defense is always reacting to the offenses.  We just might be very inept on defense, I hope not.

...once again shows why I prefer my ILBs to key guards first, then backs.  Our ILBs are keying backs, and they have different gaps depending on flow.  What it looks like is the following:

• Ends have C gap.
• The Quick and the Will ("The Quick and the Dead?") scrape to the edge on flow to, empty A gap (the one not occupied by The Hulk) on flow away. 
• The Mike has B gap to flow.
• Kovacs is playing D gap (b/w the TE and Wing).
• The RB intial flow action puts the ILBs toward the incorrect gap, and the counter makes them late to the party.
• The OL is blocking inside zone but with a wrinkle: the backside T, TE, Wing base block, turning this into a designed inside zone windback/iso play into the backside B gap, but with no lead blocker.  UMass has done an excellent job scouting our defense, noticing that when flow goes one way, we are short a gap on the backside, since only 1 stack backer is left to play both the backside A and B gap.  Yes, we have 8 defenders for 8 gaps, but when the DE is in the C gap and the playside stack backer has edge, they're both in the same gap! Yipes, we're one gap short.
• If the ILBs had been keying guards, Mouton would've seen open window in that backside B gap, slow-shuffled with the initial RB flow, then when the RB countered to that backside, shot the B gap and nailed it for worst-case-scenario 1 yard gain.

I am making the following analysis of this play based on the assumption Ezeh reads the guard in front of him (to the left of Martin) through to the action of the nearest back (ball carrier), Roh is reading the guard to Martin's right and through to the RB and Mouton is reading the same keys as Ezeh.

Ezeh: has Guard action down (doubling Martin). Because Martin has already slanted to his right a nice hole opens up in front of Ezeh. Two things- Ezeh's keys tell him "run" and his first step should be forward and right; however, since Martin is slanting right his first step should be forward into the hole created by Martin's stunt and the double team block action.

Roh: has Guard action at him (reach block), his first step should be right and forward attacking the guard's inside shoulder. RVB's appears to have outside contain to this side.

Mouton: has same read as Ezeh. Based on Kovacs' action it appears the defensive play call dictates Mouton has outside contain.

I think Mouton play is correct, although I would have liked to see him be more aggresive in taking on the TE.

If Ezeh steps into the hole the guard has no chance to block him. He either makes a TFL or the RB has to bounce outside right now to a waiting Mouton.

We are lucky the ball carrier's vision and feet aren't elite because Roh's missteps create a huge cut back lane.

OK, I said all that to say Ezeh could have played this better, but it was a good play by the offense.

EDIT: I type way to slow. Didn't see the SS's ILB read post.

One of the biggest problems we have is when RVB or Banks slant they slant so hard the Olineman only needs to use his momentum and push him in that direction creating a huge hole behind him.   Why our DTs slant that hard makes no sense.  The slant is to get them in the gap they are slanting to and restrict it.  But our guys allow their momentum to get them blocked.

I've felt this way since the first analysis of the defense against UMass went up.  If the LBs are not going to consistently react well to these plays I would rather see them aggressively shooting into gaps created by the defensive lineman and make at least some zero-negative stops.  It would cut down on the ability of the RBs to watch the line and make decisions.  There have been way too many of these slow-developing runs go for 5-10 yards.  Make the offense commit earlier - they will break off some plays but it will be less consistent and we'll have a chance for some big plays from our defense.

I'm OK with this however they played it. I think we'll see more run blitzing in the B10 season

What I could not stomach was repeatedly getting destroyed on the edge in terms of contain

Our B-B-Don't-B D can't do that

Nice analysis Brian.

I kind of agree with the last point about sending LBs into the gaps when it is clearly a run, or at least sending one guy.  While I understand the logic that predicts college offenses will make enough mistakes to slow themselves down if you just play bend-but-don't-break, that -3/4 yard stop on first down also tends to screw with offenses, especially ones like UMass that execute a couple of plays very well.  We saw them give up on a couple of third-and-longs that seemed manageable, and the safeties and DBs should be able to cover any gaps that are created with the lost LB.  Plus, Ezeh and Mouton seem far more dangerous as straight-ahead tacklers than a guys who try to flow across a line and maintain containment, as they seem to be lost in the wash far too often. 

For the life of me, I do NOT know why we have Kovac crashing inside the EOL, only to get pinned in by the end or slot.  Even if the entire rest of the line is slanting to the right (in this case), I would have Kovacs maintain outside leverage while the LB would have responsibility for the C gap.

Kovacs isn't big enough/Barwisized to fight off a seal block from a bigger tight end or a slot who has position/leverage on him.

Brian quoted a scout a few posts ago saying the problem he has with GERGs defense is too passive...most people (myself included at the time) probably took this as "does not blitz alot" or "3 man rushes argh" but the "i'd rather them shoot the gap then read and react" seems this fits into that comment's thesis. LBs and the box safety waiting for the play to come to them instead of shooting the gaps or forcing the play. I don't know if its a trust issue with the LBs/safety (be it their talent level to effectively shoot the gaps, their ability to read the run correctly and shoot gaps instead of just shooting gaps nonstop) or if its schematic. It sure looks intentional but it would be interesting to see what the scheme would be for the LBs if we had better LBs.... It seems Mouton and Ezeh have the talent and skill set to be effective at the aggressive force the play idea but don't have the brains to effectively read it making it too risky in the event that its a PA or slow developing pass which would == burn.

It seems rare that anyone but Martin, although Roh did well at ND, ever just beats their man on a run play.  If Banks, RVB, Sagesse, Roh, and the rest of the crew could make a couple more plays a game (as a group, not each)  instead of just occupying blockers it would make a huge difference.