Upon Further Review 2010: Defense vs Notre Dame

Very happy with the D's performance last Saturday, all things considered. I'm just happy in general.

You don't spit into the wind.

You don't step on superman's cape.

And you never just rush 3 men!

Why you let the QB have more time to locate an open receiver with weak DBs is beyond me. And, why you let the QB have enough time to throw deep is beyond me. And, why you let the QB have enough time to survey the field on the last play of the game and throw into the end zone is beyond me.

It is impossible to know what would have happened without the 3 man rushes. What we do know as a fact is that the go-ahead TD (95 yds) was thrown against a 3 man rush. As was the first TD (37 yds to the 3 yard line).

Perhaps screwups are more likely the longer DBs have to cover.

I think Brian brings up a very good point that I think he could add onto.  We don't attack down field much and that probably isn't seen by C Gordon a lot in practices.

Where I would add on is, Denard throws a very straight, line drive deep ball.  The position Cam was in on his screwups (although still bad) it is possible to make a play on a more line drive pass. 

Im concerned but at the same time not.  He doesn't have a great feel for staying out of Oh Shit position, but, there is no better way to learn it then experiencing the Oh Shit moment.  And even better walking away with a win as well.

I don't think I've seen an NT perform like this guy at Michigan since, hmm, Rob Renes maybe.  I expected Martin to be a beast, indeed, but he is exceeding that.  Playing nose in a 3-man front and not just clogging the middle, in and of itself, is an accomplishment (maybe the 3-3-5 stack is different?) but this guy is making plays. Huge plays. BG-ish plays.

Thanks for this - these are great.

But, I have to disagree with the -5 for Gordon on the 53 yard td.  I think it should be RPS -5, as well as on that linebacker (I can't see who it is on the replay).  The defensive call probably gives the corner responsibility for the flat.  That leaves Gordon with two receivers to deal with.  I don't think he can take a better angle, because he still has to worry about that second wide open receiver in front of him, so he can't break until he sees where the ball is going.  

I think its just a great offensive call - running two deep receivers into that zone and taking away the corner with the TE.  To defend this I think you want the linebacker in coverage to take the TE, and let the corner take the outside receiver with help over top from the safety.  Unfortunately, I think we'll be seeing this call a lot all year.

I thought the refs were Big East at least Im sure that is what the announcers were saying at the beginning of the game.

I see LBs getting positive grades, and I be like dang!

I think Gordon can learn to err on the side of not giving up the really big play.

Spare the flag, spoil the OL - I hope we don't encounter too many more fatherly advice type refs who give out warnings rather than flags.  Or ones who can't recognize that our guy getting hugged isn't brotherly love.

Can someone please explain why on earth Woolfolk was supposed to play corner and not free safety?

both teams has a lot of possessions(17 for ND and pretty sure it's 16 for Michigan) in one game.  All things considered, Michigan defense was solid despite the total yardage given up.  It's one thing to have 10 possessions and give up 500+ yards but to have 2/3 more, I think the defense is solid in that regard.

Jibreel Black was in on the 5th play of the 8th drive charted.  I was just surprised to see him in when watching the clip.

Love how Denard ran over to find Teo at the end. He hugged him and said something. I wonder what he said... 'man, you were everywhere, my team would have ran for alot more yards if you weren't there!"

I feel pretty good about our defense.  The number of stops they got after giving up the field goal in the second half was very impressive.  Both Rodgers and Floyd are out performing my expectations.

I also think Cam Gordon will be fine.  As mentioned not seeing a lot of deep balls in practice can't help, but on both the 2nd half bombs he was in position to make a play and made horrible reads.  As he adjusts to the position hopefully he'll improve on reading the flight of the ball. 

I guess I'm just reassured because on each of his busts it was clear what his intentions were, and that he has the skills to play the position, but he just failed to execute.

Wooooo! Our D isn't that sucky. Hopefully they continue to play well and Cam Gordon improves quickly.

I know, I know. He's a freshman. BUT he's making some pretty basic mistakes AND he can't catch a freaking TE over the course of 50-60 yards?  Your free safety HAS to be able to run down a TE or he isn't fast enough to play FS.  Yes, he should improve, but thinking about how painful that learning process is going to be, plus his lack of adequate speed, makes me worry.

Also, I think Brian overrated Roh's day a little bit and underated Mouton's day. I'd go so far as to say that, net total, Mouton was more disruptive to their offense than Roh was.

Having said that, I agree with the general consensus that, thanks to GERG, the 2010 defense will (hopefully, probably) be better than it was in 2008 and 2009.  Of course, that's not saying much.

Rogers shouldn't get a -1 for the 53-yard TD pass to TJ Jones.  Here's why:

In a Cover 2 defense, the flat defender (Rogers) is supposed to play any receiver in his zone.  If no receiver enters his area, he's supposed to gain depth.  On that play, an underneath receiver entered the flat zone; furthermore, the QB was rolling to his side.  When a QB rolls to the flat defender's side, there will always be a receiver in the flat - that's just how plays are drawn up.  So when that receiver enters his zone, Rogers had to suck up closer to the line of scrimmage.

Meanwhile, Cam Gordon's job is to play the deepest man on his half of the field.  Whether one, two, or three receivers enter his zone, he has to play the one who runs farthest down the field.  It was a well designed play to pick on an inexperienced safety.  Gordon got caught looking in the backfield and didn't see TJ Jones streaking up the sideline.  By the time Jones came open, he was no longer the responsibility of James Rogers - that was all Cam Gordon.

This is the exact reason that Michigan wants to run a lot of Cover 3.  Gordon doesn't have the speed/experience to cover a deep half, and Kovacs doesn't have the athleticism to make a play on the ball, either.

Both linebackers are to blame here, IMO, as they have to realize that the down blocks and the pull indicate a power off tackle is coming, but both of them shoot up into the play, with Mouton taking out a lead blocker and Ezeh unable to scrape outside in time because: there's no leverage on the ball. Floyd is in a ton of space and forces the RB inside, where he makes a good open field tackle(+1) with help from a recovering Ezeh. -1 Ezeh, -1 Mouton. Also, Kovacs gets a -1 for getting blasted all the way across the formation.

I disagree with your assessment here, Brian.  By alignment, it looks like Kovacs has outside contain to the bottom of the screen.  He steps down to get a jam on the TE and replace his feet, but he then gets caught inside.  If Kovacs can keep contain here (like he did earlier in the game when he fought off a block from the pulling OT), he's funneling the running back to the inside.

If Kovacs holds the edge, Mouton is stepping up to take on the pulling OL.  Ideally, Mouton would stuff up the OL, cut his legs, or take him on with the inside shoulder and force the RB further inside.  But Mouton gets caught up in the wash of Kovacs getting blown down the line.

Meanwhile, Ezeh is scraping unblocked and would presumably make the tackle after a minimal gain.

I thought this was a pretty fair UFR this week, but these two plays (the 53-yard TD to Jones, and this outside run for 9 yards) stood out as being a little unfair toward Rogers, Mouton, and Ezeh.

That was the best I've seen 4th Jonas Brother Mouton, especially on the INT.  Didn't bite on the fake, baited QB, great catch with contact coming on the INT.  I know we're not allowed to bad-mouth him, but holy crap it looks like Kovacs is on roller skates on most plays, and IMO his INT, he was covering one of our players and was in the wrong place at the right time.  I checked the replay again, he's covering Mouton (who makes another great play). I don't hate Mouton!

I hope our team does not look past UMass,  we are clearly not good enough to slack off on D vs. Umass, they could have one of the better pass offenses we have faced - UMass was only 6 spots lower than JMU in the national poll before JMU beat Virginia Tech and VT was ranked #13.

Can this guy play safety?  How hard can it be to let a TE or WR run past you and catch the ball?  M. Rob should be able to do as well as Cam Gordon.

I was suprised he couldn't catch a big TE.  Is he that slow?

I thought we learned our lessons about 3 man rushes from the Carr and Hermann eras.  They don't work, plain and simple (and certainly 2 man rushes are even worse a la Cordell to Westbrook).  The best way to stop a college QB is to put pressure on him.  They can't make the same reads as NFL QB's unless, of course, you give them all day to sit in the pocket.