Are we under utilizing Grant Perry and DPJ in the short passing game?
Last night and over this season as a whole I couldn't help but wondering why Grant Perry and the short passing game in general isn't more a part of our offense. We do utilize some dumpoffs and Wr screens but there seems to be a lack of slants, out routes, or "sitting down in a zone (at least that are being targeted) by our receivers.
Grant Perry's route running seems like it would be a huge asset in getting "bread and butter" pass plays for 7-10 yards where Perry simply beats a guy 1 v 1. DPJ is less of a route running savant but slants, outs, and drags would be a good way to get him the ball on the run and let him make some plays like Penn St does with KJ Hamler (I know DPJ and Hamler on different players but both are fast and dynamic with the ball).
Is there an explanation for this or is this something they should do more of? Or am I totally off base? (Which I probably am)
If this is too Snowflakey please delete.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:08 PM ^
We’re under utilizing a lot of playmakers.
September 30th, 2018 at 11:43 PM ^
Yeah, as in securing and developing O-line recruits.
Everything on the offense starts with the offensive line. Period.
Higdon played like a warrior and had to do a TON of dancing in the backfield, which the box score won't show. And Pattersons successful scrambling netted us at least a handful of first downs/avoided sacks.
Our O-line is still below average, and we're scheming/playmaking around it.
It doesn't matter who you have at RB, WR, TE, etc. if you can't block/protect effectively.
October 1st, 2018 at 7:14 AM ^
2016-2017 Penn State disagrees with you.
October 1st, 2018 at 9:10 AM ^
great so all we need to do is get saquon barkley
and have him overlap with mcsorely
do you think the pistons best move is to get lebron james too?
maybe durant as well but thats just a guess
September 30th, 2018 at 3:10 PM ^
We're underutilizing lots of things created after 1950...
September 30th, 2018 at 3:16 PM ^
Except sewer systems, amirite?
September 30th, 2018 at 3:22 PM ^
Never has man invented a more efficient Clown Delivery Mechanism than the fresh water sewer system. Thank you, Romans...
September 30th, 2018 at 3:42 PM ^
I think you mean Evil Clown Delivery Mechanism. And yes, as with many things, Romans invented the Evil Clown.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:39 PM ^
Space monkeys?
September 30th, 2018 at 11:55 PM ^
Also invented by the Romans.
October 1st, 2018 at 2:47 PM ^
The aqueduct?
September 30th, 2018 at 3:11 PM ^
I think that pass to him in the endzone was:
1) bad
2) better suited for Collins or Gentry
September 30th, 2018 at 3:29 PM ^
Bad pass, supported by Patterson’s reaction after. I think Klatt nailed it—Patterson was caught between floating it in there and driving it down there. He went with the drive and should have gone with the float.
September 30th, 2018 at 8:04 PM ^
Yes, I find it hilarious they seem to ignore Perry accept on fades. Just insult to injury.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:14 PM ^
They don't create space very well. I'd rather see Gentry get more targets, he's a mismatch that they don't seem to exploit.
September 30th, 2018 at 4:21 PM ^
I mean, they do, but I would agree not enough.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:14 PM ^
Just all comes down to the offensive playcalling. It simply is not good enough. While I don’t believe we have elite assets on offense, we do have good ones. And it’s really frustrating we’ve had very little success against any defense with a pulse.
That better change because if our passing game doesn’t improve, we aren’t beating any of the teams coming up in murderers row.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:43 PM ^
The offensive play calling was perfectly fine.
I went back and watched all of Michigan's offensive drives. Other than the first two and obviously the TD drives, there were plays to be made on each one that ended up costing Michigan points.
Drive 3: McKeon drop, Collins fails to push forward for a 1st down on 3rd and 2. Stuffed on 4th down.
Drive 5: Collins again doesn't get forward after the catch fast enough to make 4th down more manageable in NW territory. Gentry false starts on 4th and 3. Punt.
Drive 6: Patterson scrambles for 1st down negated by Runyan hold. Collins catches a 3rd and 3 pass for a first down but fails to get his feet down. Punt.
Drive 7: Patterson overthrows an open Perry in the end zone. FG.
Drive 8: Initially I thought Patterson missed the throw to Collins on a slant that would have at least been a 1st down on the two. Instead, after reviewing it, I think this was more Collins failing to make a play on a catchable fall. Looks like he was trying to avoid being hit. FG.
Drive 9: Phantom holding call drive. Also, Patterson had Collins open on third down and overthrew him. Punt
Drive 11: Michigan nearly runs out the clock with a Patterson first down and then Higdon falling just short of another. I think he stumbled a bit. If he had stayed up right, he makes it. Worth noting this came after DPJ's punt return of 20 yards into NW territory was negated by a terrible call.
September 30th, 2018 at 8:47 PM ^
This was my initial take. It seemed like the playcalling was fine, but penalties and missed opportunities short circuited a lot of the drives.
September 30th, 2018 at 9:19 PM ^
Playcalling has been great for all of Harbaugh's tenure, its just the popular fan hot take when something goes wrong.
September 30th, 2018 at 11:27 PM ^
Whoa, whoa, whoa wait a minute there pardner - are you saying that our coaching staff might be more knowledgeable when it comes to play calling than fans are?
September 30th, 2018 at 3:45 PM ^
Even the 1st drive saw DPJ slip on third down which probably screwed that play up. Gentry was open for a check down and it looked like Patterson saw him, but would have been well short of the first down.
2nd drive was really the only one where it looked like Michigan's coaches couldn't scheme anything open.
September 30th, 2018 at 9:05 PM ^
HAWT TAKE...blame the play calling again!!!
September 30th, 2018 at 3:16 PM ^
Yes. I have no idea why we can't exploit Perry in the slot more often.
I blame Pep.
/s?
September 30th, 2018 at 3:20 PM ^
Maybe. He is technically Michigan's passing game coordinator. I'm fine with having the run be the foundation of the offense, but they need a younger/fresh offensive mind to bring some new wrinkles in the offense.
October 1st, 2018 at 8:11 AM ^
Yeah. No sarcasm, I think. Pep is an NFL guy and doesn't seem to have the creativity in the college arena. I would like to see McElwain given a chance to see what he can do. He was an excellent offensive mind in a prior life. He was just awful at running his own program.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:17 PM ^
In general Michigan rarely throws in the middle of the field. Almost all throws are screens or thrown to the sideline where there's not really a ton of opportunity for WRs or TEs to make a play on their own. They should really have more checkdown options in the middle so that they could get a chunk of yardage even if WRs on the outside are covered
September 30th, 2018 at 3:29 PM ^
Several times that Shea bailed there were open recievers in the middle of the field (TE's?) and he still had a clean enough pocket. Not sure if he is panicking or if they are just decoys.
September 30th, 2018 at 4:17 PM ^
This is correct and frustrating. Too much fear of the INT. You have playmakers, let em play.....
September 30th, 2018 at 6:06 PM ^
I have noticed the lack of throws in the middle of the field as well and I think it may come down to two issues related to Shea. One is that he is not prototypical tall qb and thus has some trouble seeing over his lineman which makes throws over the middle more difficult for him.
Second relates to a specific play in the 4th quarter. On 2nd and 9 Michigan went empty with Higdon as a WR and Shea threw a first down pass to Gentry. He did not go for the easy throw to Higdon over the middle or take the more difficult throw to a late breaking Perry who had crossed the middle of the field and then breaks downfield. Shea also had two go routes on the left side that were not open and seem like decoys. Instead he hits Gentry on the medium corner route. The lack of passing to the middle of the field may be a result of Shea being afraid to hold the ball long enough allow some of the deep middle stuff to open up. On that play Shea gets enough time from his line and moves up in the pocket to make the throw. If he holds it just a moment longer he could have hit Perry for more yards, but it was a tougher throw and required him to trust that his backside was clean. Given the pass protection issues I do not blame Shea for taking the throw that had presented itself.
That play had two separate routes run in the middle of the field, a dumpoff to Higdon and a crossing route by Perry that he either breaks off of to run down the seam or was a designed option for him (unclear to my eyes). I dont think that the playcalling has avoided the middle of the field so much as either Shea is not seeing the throw or is not comfortable making it.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:19 PM ^
GP hasn't had the production from last year when younger receivers weren't as productive or reliable, so maybe this year is more about DPJ stepping up along with Gentry, Collins, Martin, etc.. One thing is certain, please stop using all of the shorter receivers (like GP), for end-zone fade routes!
September 30th, 2018 at 9:45 PM ^
He has 62 career catches for 683 yards in his career, yes, that is 62 more than ScottyP, but I just don't understand why we all think he's been so productive or a route master, etc... maybe he just isn't that good, sorry to be mean to GP, just my opinion.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:24 PM ^
Not sure but the receivers seem to have a hard time getting open and they do a poor job blocking and I don’t know what the reasons are for both.
Oliver struggled with blocking in the Frost game and I’m not sure if that’s why OM didn’t play yesterday.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:31 PM ^
He played—he was on the field for one of Eubanks’ catches. Just didn’t play as much.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:27 PM ^
I wonder if Patterson’s height impacts some routes like slants, for example. We rarely ever throw them.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:34 PM ^
The QB for Oklahoma is like 5’10” and he scored seven touchdowns yesterday - threw for five of those.
September 30th, 2018 at 4:41 PM ^
Oklahoma runs a 21st century system.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:34 PM ^
I’m surprised by the lack of slants too
September 30th, 2018 at 3:38 PM ^
Harbaugh has definitely been surpassed in terms of innovative pro-style offensive design/coaching. It's really disappointing.
September 30th, 2018 at 4:04 PM ^
The offense is not what any of us expected. The O-line, as we have discussed ad nauseum is part of the problem, but it would seem that the O is why we are paying Harbaugh megabucks. On O, we aren't getting our money's worth.
Does anyone know when Black/Evans are returning, assuming Black comes back this season? JH seemed to not discount that possibility.
September 30th, 2018 at 11:01 PM ^
Read somewhere that Black is Nov 4
September 30th, 2018 at 3:45 PM ^
Not to mention virtually nothing to RBs out of the backfield. I realize they're protecting QB much of the time, but this is another way they could be more creative.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:48 PM ^
After re-watching the game, here was my biggest takeaway: the team misses Tarik Black.
If he progressed from the guy we saw last year, he'd have the Collins' minutes. Collins is good, but he is raw. He can go up and get a ball and box out a DB, but he lacks in a lot of other areas. A large number of the mistakes in the passing game fell on him.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:49 PM ^
As we move into the elite part of schedule, what fans and coaches haven't seemed to learn is that there are certain opponents must be outscored.
Even elite defenses will give up 24 points to the likes of OSU, PSU and Wisconsin. This mean you can only win if you can score more than 24.
PSU lost last night because they went into the old “time management” mantra with the lead. Elite teams have 5-star playmakers that can score in just a few chunk plays.
We need some more offensive players to step up and the coaches to get off the conservative playbook.
September 30th, 2018 at 5:22 PM ^
Right. It seems Harbaugh leans heavily on the defense. Conservative play calling with a seeming emphasis on not turning the ball over (no throws over the middle). Its playing not to lose mentality.
Its sometimes painful to watch this offense. Almost like pulling teeth to get a guy open, with pre-play motion, odd formations and what not. What gets me the most is that the offense perpetually seems watered down since Jedd left. Marginally, more variations and schemes are revealed each week, which is nice, but it doesnt seem like it will be enough in the weeks to come.
Watching PSU and OSU go at it last night made me envious of all the modern, fast, and yet simple schemes going on with both offenses. Personally, I think Jim is in a flux between his old offensive philosophy and the modern, up-tempo nuances that suit Patterson. The problem here is that it is hard to be both. Find an identity and stick with it. Put your chips on Patterson being a play maker, or keep them in your pocket and let him manage your offense. My vote: give Patterson the reins and let the dude win you games, like he did yesterday.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:52 PM ^
The tight ends have been excellent. Hope to see them even more.
October 1st, 2018 at 9:20 AM ^
If you mean Gentry and Eubanks, yes. Not sure why McKeon gets any balls. Dude is dependably not clutch.
September 30th, 2018 at 3:59 PM ^
I heard this for a couple seasons. The offense you are seeing now will be the same offense you see against Wisconsin and MSU and PSU. Guaranteed
September 30th, 2018 at 4:09 PM ^
Yep, players are just not "executing well enough". We will run one reverse that won't work because we telegraph it and then go back to between the tackles runs.