Upon Further Review: Defense vs Eastern Michigan

Brian, I have a question re: your critical philosophy going into the weekly UFR.

I guess I'm wondering what you consider your baseline "0" before doling out the standard (+1/-1) to respective offensive and defensive players. I'm a big fan of UFR because it's been refreshing to see the sort of analysis you do play by play, as it's been a great column for tempering over-enthusiasm or over-criticism of the offense and defense.

However, I'm beginning to get turned off by the individualized +s and -s.

Here's why: in my opinion, the baseline "0" I referred to above inherently has to be different depending on the player's experience, and perhaps the importance of the play (in other words, whether the 'negative' occurred on 1st down resulting in a mere 2 extra yards, or on 3rd down resulting in a first down).

Re: player experience, I've been hearing Coach Rod go on at length about all the "coachable moments" occurring in the games. This leads me to infer that each week, the coaches have an expectation of "coachable moments", at least with respect to their younger personnel.

Therefore logic stands to reason that the coaches don't anticipate perfection out of their players, but more realistically simply hope for averages to work in their favor. That, perhaps on a play you score player X a -1, the coaches are OK with the containment...but on a play you score the same player a "0", the coaches would have given him a +1 or 2 because his maintaining position on the field forced the QB to go to some other receiver for a turnover on downs.

In other words, where you uncover a -5 day on Cissoko, Coach Rod/Gibson/Robinson might see a 0 or +1 day for him given their expectations. Every defensive play is the sum of its parts: especially on passing downs, where simply being in position might mean you're not the lead tackler, but you're the reason the ball was thrown to a receiver easily wrapped up for no gain.

I'm not saying there aren't obvious chinks in our armor that the Defense UFRs do an excellent job sorting through. But at the very least, it seems to me that a play's importance should be rated first, before grading an individual player. It would make those individualized assessments much more weighty in significance.

As a secondary matter, with respect to two players in particular: Ezeh and Cissoko...before these two get the critical hammer that Stevie Brown had received: I argue that the coaches call plays with full knowledge of each players' personal strengths and weaknesses. I mean, on a play that Larry Foote may have stuffed for gain of 1 yard, I think Gerg anticipates Ezeh will likely give up 3-5. That makes his baseline "0" 3-4 yards, whereas Foote had a baseline of 1 to 2. So maybe on an important 3rd and 3, where Ezeh is in the correct position to stop a gain for 2 yards, and does, that should be a +2?

This has been a lot of words...what I really want to know is, 1) on a day where all players perform at "0", what result? And 2) is "0" in your mind consistent for each player or is it tacitly variable depending on some of the things I outlined above?

I hope this kid has a better year. The refs blew that PI call. Thank Goodness the game was not on the line. Boubacar is going to make some good plays for Michigan this year. I just hope he has a corner back's mind set of forgetting the past. This kid needs a shot of confidence. Well, Indiana is coming to town. He should have a interception or two.

That PI call was such an obviously bad call. Refs need to be nationalized. The regionalize version make too many mistakes. I'm surprised the Referee Police or whatever didn't put someone on review. Oh wait, they are still reviewing Golden Tate's dive into the MSU Band. Yes, that crap pissed me off!! Especially after Mouton's phantom, uncalled punch. Idiot Spartans aren't complaining... busters.

It's not his fault at all - he's a tall DE who lacks bulk and is being asked to play the 3-tech. Not surprising that he's not holding up that well on the LOS against running plays. Against spread teams it's not a huge issue, but against some of the power running teams in the B10 (11) ... yikes.

I can only hope that they're leaving him out there so much early in the year to get him some playing experience, but that when we play MSU/Iowa/etc. they'll adjust to get some more size out there on the DL.

Presumably RVB will be replacing Brandon Graham next year, and if he continues to struggle at that position then I'll be willing to pass judgment on his play.

I've been wanting to ask this for awhile: Does doing things like UFR's affect your game viewing experience while watching the game live? I know that after the game you break down the tape and plays for us, but I'm just curious if this hampers your ability to really enjoy the game while you're there watching it live.

Since i've been reading this blog, i've found myself watching a single player instead of watching the entire play develope. I get interested in seeing what said player is doing, and honestly, it pisses me off. I would rather watch (and hopefully enjoy) the entire play instead of focusing on one particular player.

Just curious if you find yourself taking notes and pointing out mistakes etc while actually watching the game or do you just enjoy it and then go home and review the tapes and give us the awesome UFR?

Thanks
SLS

How we can have so many defenders that are so poor. I mean we recruited great prospects right?? and on defense its not as much about matching the player to the system as in offense (or so I assume D is more plug and play. I think they must have been neglected for sake of getting the offensive system up and running. I understand we are on our third DC in 3 years, but man can't they just run some standard defense and teach technique. It seems like our guys have the physical talentsl, but mentally they are confused. To me this is likely because D-fense is less about the intelligence of the player and more about reaction and athleticism. Adjusting to new system, terminology, coaching, every year seems to have really confused some of our guys who should really be great right now. Really wish, if he would have accepted, that RR would have kept on Ron English. I know he had his flaws, but it seems that he would have been great for continuity and recruiting and all we need is a servicible (sp?) defense with the offense clicking.

"...directly to Roh(+1), who brings it in for an INT"

I thought that Roh made a amazing play snatching that ball one handed while still engaged with the blocking offensive lineman. The replay from the endzone made it look even more remarkable than it was live. And then of course there are the eyebrows...

If you want to load up against it and grind down the field you'll have success doing it, though I wonder if teams will manage to score a lot of touchdowns with that sort of approach. Michigan's going to bend a lot; hopefully they won't break.

This has been my impression of Michigan’s defense as well. Considering the offense’s ability to move the ball and score and that fact that several sustained drives by opposing teams have resulted in no points for them, Michigan will generally come out ahead in this.

Although, some of the defensive play calling has seemed too passive for my taste, I think that Greg Robinson is indeed trying to mitigate his squad’s lack of depth and experience.

In your analysis, you said "[i]f Michigan can fix those [mental error] things—or, more conservatively, mitigate them—they appear to have the horsepower to be completely mediocre." What exactly do you mean by that in terms of points allowed: that we'll see consistency in that regard as we move on to stronger competition?

It seems to me that consistent defensive mediocrity is grounds for optimism in the win/loss column: there being actual support for success on the offensive side of the ball, especially with regards to our run-game.

Perhaps another shift in "W" probabilities for future games, and 'coin-flip' matches (especially those scheduled at home) edge to favor?

outside contain, as in years past seemed to be the biggest culprit on many of the big gainers. This is correctable with experience and added emphasis on assignment.

- re burning redshirts. RR has said, and he does not have the luxury regardless - that the players who give us the best chance to win are going to play. if Turner were able to help now, he would be playing. The one I am the most surprised about not getting any playing time is Emelien.

Yikes, you guys can be brutal. Yes, the defense may be average -as I understand it, currently 5th in the league. So, it may not get any better until defensive recruiting fills the gaps. But, we have won three games in a row on offense - an offense that is 3rd in the nation. Get that? Offensive players that have been dormant since they came to Michigan have sprung to new life under Rich Rod's spread. I saw and suffered through many a bowl game that we lost simply because our offense was so darn predictable and stodgy and couldn't score enough points to keep up with the opposition. And, total reliance on the defense in those close games did not work. Frankly, the decline of the defensive secondary showed under Lloyd Carr. I would cringe in close games as they picked it apart. But, anyway, Rich Rod's forte is scoring points, and we are going to surprise a lot of Big Ten teams and win by outscoring them!

The one thing that I do like about the defense this year is that Robinson seems be able to get our boys to make adjustments at the half. Its a work in progress, but I really like that they are better in the second half than the first.

I was at the game and I saw the throw coming before it was released. I immediately looked at the receiver. Cissoko could feel that the ball was in the air but he hadn't turned around to find it yet. He immediately slowed down and crouched with his hands slightly out, halting the receiver. Then Cissoko found the ball. All you see in the video is after Cissoko found the ball and I agree that if this is all that happened, the only call you can make is offensive PI (especially with that rake at the end). However, immediately when the ball was released, Cissoko bumped the receiver before finding the ball. I don't think it's worth calling and I think a defender like Warren is able to be more subtle about this where it's never called, but I wouldn't label it the "world's worst PI". Maybe I'm completely wrong. Maybe it's OK to slow down and bump a guy when you're running in front of him, but I don't think so.

I've never seen a starting Michigan linebacker run into more blocks, fail to read and react, over run plays etc.

He seemingly has the physical talent of a 4 start recruit and the awareness of a HS underclassman. He just does not have any FB instinct. At MLB instinct is critical and Ezeh just does not have it. He seemingly runs into blocks time and time and time again. It's not like he's filling the hole either, he's taking on the block 2-3 yards upfield from the LOS, that cannot be by schematic design.

Now, it could be because he's playing in his 3rd different defense in 3 years and he's simply not up to speed with the schemes -- but I just don't buy that excuse entirely.

At some point he has to play better or be benched. He has potential, but the light just has not gone on mentally for him.