[Barron]

Things Discussed

• Slants
• Injury update on Rashan Gary
• The lack of holding calls on Michigan's opponents
• Honestly, this was the best presser of the year and it's not close

[After THE JUMP: Don Brown gestures a lot]

 

So the hot-button issue, I guess, is the slant pass. I’m sure — how do you counter that?

 

“Well, let’s talk about that for a second, ok? They were 3-for-5 in the first half for 23 yards. They were 2-for-4 in the second half for 22. Not gonna say a whole lot about it. Schematically, I thought — one thing, I thought (Clayton) Thorson’s really good. He’s gonna end up graduating, I would bet he’s one of the top-25 throwers, probably in the history of the Big Ten. So, and when you — there’s two of his catches where the guy’s catching the ball like this (gesturing low), we’re like this (gesturing to indicate good coverage), and he puts it in a window about this big (indicates small window). So I’m not gonna stand here and say, geez we did a great job. But they completed 3-of-5 for 23 yards in the first half, 2-of-4 for 22 yards in the second half, and in the second half, we kinda tweaked it a little bit. And delivered a couple shots there on the slant. So, it is what it is. But let’s understand something: we’re not giving up … verticals to the #2 guy. Ok? So, that’s priority number one, ok? It’s like some quarters teams that’ll play off and give you this (gestures to indicate hitch). Well, we’re not gonna do that. So, everything has a strength and everything has a weakness. So, you just gotta try to do the best you can to kinda play the cat and mouse game to cover them up the best you can. I guess that’s the scenario that I probably go into — so they were 5-of-9 for 44 yards in the slant game. And, let’s see, they had 202 for the day. … Anything else?”

 

That wasn’t my criticism

 

“No. I’m not, you know, I’m just, you know, a little touchy about that. It’s tough, but obviously guys are working at it. The one thing that kinda gets lost with the expectations and some of the things that are kind of important is, it is what it is. You end up in a football game and you’re in a dogfight and you wake up and you’re down 17-0 on the road. Ok? So you look at that and say, ‘Alright, that’s not a good thing.’ And it’s not. Ok? It’s a tough road to hoe. To watch our guys fight their way out of it and record the second-biggest turnaround in Michigan history on the road — we’re missing the boat here. Ok? That’s all I’m saying. Everything’s always tilted that way. What about the second-biggest turnaround on the road? That’s pretty good, right? Am I right or am I delusional? So, just to watch our guys compete — and we’re not perfect. We’re not. Obviously the penalty issue — I stand up there every week and we talk about it, and we address it and we’re going through it. ANd sometimes, you just gotta shut up and play. And, so that’s my new tact. I’m not even gonna talk about it. But that’s gotta go away. That right there, if you wanna be critical, that’s the piece to be critical on and that’s the piece to be critical of me. Ok? Gotta do a better job of technique and fundamentals and we will. But, we were called for three — what, defensive holding, a PI in the end zone, and the one on Rashan (Gary) where he hits the guy. Do you mind?

 

No

 

(Brown puts his hand on a reporter to demonstrate the penalty)

 

“Ok. So that’s — those are the three. Unfortunately for us, two of them are in the scoring drive. So, that;s gotta go away. And we go nine drives in a row, there isn’t a penalty to be had from that point forward, and that’s a tough deal. I thought second half-wise, we did a good job of balancing pressure and coverage. I thought Josh Uche finally made his presence felt as a pass rusher. And obviously Chase (Winovich) is Chase. He’s playing at a really high level — that’s very obvious, right? And Kwity Paye, certainly has stood up when we needed him to stand up, along with the other guys. I think our secondary, obviously, second half played about as well as they could play. And was kinda one of those games.”

 

Will you have Rashan on Saturday?

 

“It’s day to day, so we’ll see. Not really sure right now. … The trainers, we’ll see if they can put him back together for the week.”

 

Kind of a loaded question, I don’t know if you’ve seen the chart of calls against offensive lines. And I see — Chase really expressed his frustration.

 

“You know the difficult thing? You know what’s shocking to me? Ok? We’ve played two Big Ten games, ok? We have 10 sacks and 24 TFLs, but we don’t get held. Take a look and compare that with the other teams in our league, ok? So, that one’s a little tough. Obviously we go back and forth and study the films very hard on Sunday. So, it is what it is. But it’s not like the three years that we’ve been here that we don’t have sacks and we don’t have TFLs. In fact, that’s a measuring stick for us, as you know. So, when you play two Big Ten games and you have 10 sacks and 24 TFLs, that’s a lot. So, you’re upfield doing things.”

 

What do you tell your guys — I think Jim (Harbaugh) said just keep doing you?

 

“Yeah. I mean, this is — I’ve never had to transition, versus, of getting involved with officiating. This is the first year I feel like I’m transitioning due to how things are officiated. … I don’t recall that ever in my coaching career, that happening, but now I feel it happens. So, kind of a tough deal, but you know, get it done. Make the transitions. But in the meantime, I think there’s some — obviously, there’s a lot of positive to take away from Saturday. I think there’s some — we’re looking at some comparisons of how we’re defending people versus other people that are playing the same opponents. Think we were kind of where we want to be, but if you said to me, ‘Hey, give yourself a report card,’ we gotta do a better job in the penalty area. I never apologize for my guys’ effort — that’s the one thing I’m probably most proud of. Everybody that talks about us on Monday and Tuesday said, ‘Man, those dudes play hard.’ So what else can you ask? I think there’s a lot to feel good about. We’re sitting, obviously, would love to have Notre Dame, the first half, back. It is what it is, you know, I mean, when you look back over a college football season, you talk about games, well I don’t even think it’s more — sometimes it’s more about, what about the first quarter? So if you look at the first quarter of Notre Dame and the first quarter of Northwestern, and maybe the third quarter of SMU, those are the three — it’s not about games, it’s about quarters. And that’s how precious playing at a high level is. … It’s little phases of the game. Now, I’m also gonna tell you this: a year ago, if the wheels came off, the wheels were off. This group has the ability — wheels off, wheels back on. So I think that’s a little bit of a sign of the maturity of this group and the quality and the character that our guys have.”

 

Has Chase taken it up another notch?

 

“Yeah, I think he has. He’s playing way more physical in the run game. He’s active, more active in the run game than he’s been. … His TFLs, it’s not just the chasing of the quarterback, it’s the impact that he has in opponents’ backfield. That’s a value deal, when you can get him off-kilter. … And that’s what you — that’s part of the equation that we’re so deeply immersed in, that’s important to us at the end of the day is, put them in bad situations and get yourself off the field. Again, I really gotta give credit to Northwestern. I thought they did a good job — they came out, they threw the ball quick, we talked about the slant patterns. He was very accurate. The longest pass play from scrimmage Saturday was 36 yards. You know where it was caught?

 

The line of scrimmage

 

“On the line of scrimmage. So, we don’t tackle well and it’s not one guy, it’s like five guys. And the thing ends up down on the 1 and ends up in the end zone. So, here we are … and give up the big plays and the snap — the ball caught on the line of scrimmage ends up being a big play. That’s football. So, it’s not how far he was throwing it, He just kinda kept things alive and then we had the penalty in the end zone. It is what it is. So now you’re 17-0 and you gotta dig your way out. Thank God we were able to do that, and just at halftime, you just knew. If we gave up one point, it was gonna be over. So, it was nice to see our guys just put the hard hats on. And the other thing that kinda goes quietly there, is they got the ball at the end now. And he’s gonna go back, and he’s gonna throw it in the end zone, ok? Now, he wasn’t in great shape, but to end the game with a sack by Uche and not give him a chance — cause you don’t know. Ball gets hit, you’re back there, you’re boxing out, doing all this. Teach all those great little things. You put the three guys (back). We’ve all seen it. So it was — it’s a nice feature when, goes right around the tackle and boom. And ends it like that, that’s kinda what you’re looking for. And I thought that was a litmus test. Because we gotta get off the field. It’s in your lap, and I thought our guys handled it with poise. And the only thing that I did a poor job is, I was coaching it on Sunday, don’t get up so quick. Don’t rush up. We tackled them on the field of play twice. Oooooh. Take your time. But I thought that was a good litmus test for us, and every experience you go through, positively, that you can build on, that’s really what you’re looking at doing. Is try to get your guys to build on the positive, so that they, later in the season, can go to recall and say, ‘Hey, we’ve been here before. We know how to handle this situation.’ And so, really, I thought a lot of value in that victory. Lot of value. Lot of positive things can be had. Shea Patterson did a heck of a job getting us down the field there a couple times, so life is good.”

 

With that in mind, did you go back after the Notre Dame game and sort of erase that first quarter, when you’re going back and coaching them?

 

“You don’t erase anything. Everything kinda — unfortunately, it’s like two mornings ago, you wake up and you go, ‘Ah, we did so poorly in that first quarter. Why?’ And you’re trying to put a hand on it, put a finger on it. I really don’t have an answer. Again, you try to just move on and what changes can we make, and we’re talking about it all the time. Working on pregame approach differently, that can help us come out of the tunnel ready to go. There’s something there, obviously, so we’ve gotta remedy it. And we’re working on it.”

 

It’s an interesting line, we’ve had this conversation with you before where you guys are #1 in total defense, top-3 in pass defense, top-something in all the countable state, yet anytime anybody completes a pass against you or scores a touchdown, it’s like, people are shocked. Do you look at that as a compliment or is it frustrating pr is it just you don’t care?

 

“Well no, I mean, here’s what I care about: be critical of the old guy. Don’t be critical of the players now. That’s crossing the line, now. In my opinion, and I don’t know, I guess that would be a topic we could stand here and argue, but all they do is do what they’re asked. What a beautiful statement that I just made. Do you realize how little gross error we have? It’s really a testament to the guys I coach. That they’re trying their tail off to do whatever we tell them to do. We’ve played five games. I don’t make the schedule. I’m just asked to compete in the schedule. And compare how we’ve done against the opponents’ offense, and how other people have done. Take a look at that one, ok? And just kinda see how we — but we’re #1 in this and that. You know something? I’m gonna be honest with you. I’ve been part of that for four years in a row. Around that at some point in time. You know what matters? It doesn’t matter at the end of the day. It matters at the end when you can sit down and you go, ‘Alright, what are you gonna fix?’ ‘Well, we gotta take care of these vertical routes. We gotta do this.’ It’s the measuring stick that helps you try to keep — you’re trying to squeeze it out all the time, ok? And now it’s like, how do we stay aggressive? Because the day they say, ‘Hey, you know,’ you know what I’m gonna say? Have a nice day. And I think if you say that to the players, I think they’d have my back on that. That, to do that, it’s — there’s a lot of time invested, there’s a lot of scheme, there’s a lot of repetitions, and you’re just trying to squeeze out as much as you can. And if you do that, it gives you a better chance to win the football game. And that’s really all we’re searching for, is to try to win a football game at the end of the day. And move onto the next week. Sometimes it’s a relief and sometimes it’s a joy. I’m just saying, think it was (Michigan SID) Dave (Ablauf) who said it to me, second-biggest comeback on the road in Michigan history. And I kinda like all that stuff. So that’s a tribute to the guys. Because a lot of groups at that point in time — ‘I’m good, let’s go home.’ Some guys, not so good. And they’re gonna continue to fight and I just think it’s a testament to our head football coach and the program that he’s developed here. That’s just me. Ok?”