2009 Defensive Formations and Stevie Brown
What do you guys thing we will see a lot of in 2009? Earlier in the season we saw a lot of the 3-3-5 which proved to be a huge disaster. Towards the latter part of the season we used a 4-2-5 which worked out relatively well, as we were able to get pressure on the QB.
The 3-3-5 failed b/c the quarterback had all day to find open recievers, and our linebackers were pretty horrific in pass coverage.
I was thinking that if we are going to continue to use the 3-3-5, we should consider using Stevie Brown (or possibly Isaiah Bell) as the SLB in that particular formation. Even though he made a bunch of large mistakes at safety, his speed will allow him to cover far more ground than John Thompson was able to this past yr. Of course this only works if Brandon Smith becomes a viable option at safety, along with Mike Williams.
Im not necessarily saying that Brown should be converted to LB permanently, althou im not entirely opposed to it. That really depends on Brandon Smith's (and Vlad Emiliens) progression, bc we are very light on safeties as of now. But stevie was pretty good in run support, and i think he would do better in pass coverage at the LB spot.
November 27th, 2008 at 6:16 PM ^
The glaring weaknesses at Safety and OLB really made the defense look very ugly.
It appeared (not having inside knowledge) that the Michigan Defensive staff had some devisiveness in terms of scheme. Shafer is not a 3-3-5 guy, but was saddled with assistants that are.
As an outsider, not in the locker room...you have to look at the jumbled mess of schemes used this year and ask:
a) Was this done because the staff knew that certain positions simply were inadequate to execute the aggressive 4-3 approach that Shafer wanted to use?
or
b) Was this done due to some indecision among the staff as to how to adequately utilize the talent, while trying to cover for the obvious inadequacies such as Brown, Harrison, JThompson and Stewart....?
or some combination of the two.
Is Shafer really a schemeologist, or an old school coach who believes more in effort and positional technique?
Well the defense failed in both respects...
As for Steve Brown... imo, he should be given 1 more chance to learn to settle down and accept the reality of his position. He needs to stop trying to be a selfish playmaker and learn to play Team Defense.
(the same would apply with Stewart and Harrison, but they are gone now)
Main Entry: 1safe·ty
Pronunciation: \ˈsāf-tē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural safeties
Etymology: Middle English saufte, from Anglo-French salveté, saufté, from salf safe
Date: 14th century
1: the condition of being safe from undergoing or causing hurt, injury, or loss
2: a device (as on a weapon or a machine) designed to prevent inadvertent or hazardous operation
3 a (1): a situation in football in which a member of the offensive team is tackled behind its own goal line that counts two points for the defensive team — compare touchback (2): a member of a defensive backfield in football who occupies the deepest position in order to receive a kick, defend against a forward pass, or stop a ballcarrier b: a billiard shot made with no attempt to score or so as to leave the balls in an unfavorable position for the opponent c: base hit
November 27th, 2008 at 9:37 PM ^
I'm not that sure that Stevie did that great a job in run support. There were a number of times he took a really bad angle and ended up behind a LB rather than filling a whole. See NW's first TD. In Stevie's defense, Harrison did the same thing against OSU. Maybe it is an inexpicable coaching techinque? Brown also missed a number of tackles, see MSU's first TD when the coaches got him into position and he falt out whiffed. He had two nice picks the last two games. He is a better ball hawker than run support. Maybe play him at free safety??? I just don't have confidence in him at LB. Frankly, he may not play all that much next year if the new talent at safety pans out.
November 28th, 2008 at 1:07 AM ^
was assuming tha the had a decent cover secondary.
I loved the hire of Scott Schafer because he believes the defense should blitz, make sacks and be opportunistic.
But Schafer either didn't know or realized too late that the Michigan secondary was a poor one. Morgan Trent, Charles Stewart, Brandon Harrison and Stevie Brown could not cover man or zone. They could not tackle well.
I'm mean if you're going to blitz 7 guys, that's cool . But given Michigan's cover technique with these veteran players, this approach is a major gamble. And against teams with above average QBs, it's just suicidal.
Michigan has no designated secondary coach, and it really showed last fall.
The 3-3-5 is complete nonsense, unless you have fast LBs with outstanding openfield tackling technique and experienced, solid cover secondary. Even then, this set gives up major yardage against the run.
The 4-3 worked much better for UM last season in almost every game.
As far as Stevie Brown is concerned, I just hope RR puts his money where his mouth has been and forces serious, open competition all year long at safety. Michael Williams, Brandon Smith, Justin Turner, maybe some of the 3-star sophomores - good God anybody that attacks the ball at the highest point and doesn't let people get behind you..ever! You know... the stuff your learn in high school ball.
November 28th, 2008 at 2:41 AM ^
Tony Gibson the secondary coach?
November 28th, 2008 at 8:12 AM ^
http://michigan.rivals.com/viewcoach.asp?Coach=588
But remember Kirk Gibson, who played for Sparty, and Aaron Gibson, who was a bust when drafted by the Lions, and my father-in-law, who's an Ohio State fan. So we might as well not have a secondary coach!
Or, uh, something like that.
November 28th, 2008 at 8:42 AM ^
You guys should really, really, really, read Coach Gsimms' 3 and out blog: http://gsimmons85.blogspot.com/. Coach Simmons is a defensive coordinator for a top-division high school team in NC, and runs many of Schafer's schemes (and was successful doing so).
If you do you'll learn a few things:
1. Only at one point this year did Michigan run a 3-3-5. This was against Purdue. It is true - Schafer is not a 3-3-5 coach.
2. What Schafer DID run much of is the "Okie" defense - which he also ran at Stanford. The "Okie" is not a 3-3-5 - it's a 3-4, but uses the personell of a 3-3-5. In other words - that 5th defensive back is playing outside linebacker. You know how in the last 3 games, the defense played a 4-3 but essentially replaced John Thompson with a safety? Many referred to it as a "Nickel" but the extra DB wasn't playing as a safety - Harrison was lining up as linebacker.
3. Your complaint is about a three-man front, really. Not the 3-3-5.
4. The big issues that the defense had this year were due to two main problems. First, the Linebackers, as a group, were miserable in pass coverage, and couldn't hold their deep vertical responsibilities. This is why you frequently saw Michigan get eaten up over the middle - the safeties played their deep coverage, but the linebackers consistently got thrown over. Second, as the linebackers got eaten alive, the safeties began playing further up - is the LB's couldn't cover that portion of the field the Safeties had to get more aggressive about doing so. The problem of course, is that it's hard to ask most safeties to do two things (have deep responsibility but also to watch the deep portion of the LB's zone), and our safeties, clearly, weren't the best. As they came up to help the LB's, they got thrown over, or were caught in awkward positions and angles as the receivers caught the ball (see Stevie Brown's myriad missed tackles on slants). The safeties weren't good, but an exposed LB corps made them look much, much worse.
Finally - Michigan has a secondary coach. His name is Tony Gibson.