Baumgardner reviews Gattis debut positively
Nick Baumgardner (now at The Athletic) reviewed Gattis' debut as a play caller and OC very favorably. Behind paywall (I recommend spending the $ for the Athletic) but here's a relevant quote:
"Michigan went through a lot of experimentation Saturday. The dual-quarterback stuff got in the way. Some things worked better than others. The second half featured very little through the air (only seven pass attempts). When Gattis was running the full offense in the first half, and Michigan wasn’t messing around with gadget packages, it all worked..... In one day, Michigan got dynamic looks with its run game on tape, explosive plays out of 12 personnel, a handful of RPOs, various actions in the screen game and more. That’s a lot for opponents to think about."
https://theathletic.com/1179697/2019/09/03/michigan-film-study-josh-gattis-offense-is-attacking-from-all-angles/?source=dailyemail
September 4th, 2019 at 11:39 AM ^
I guess he saw what the rest of us saw. Have to be an Eeyore to be down on the Offense's prospects
September 4th, 2019 at 11:52 AM ^
The offense was...
September 4th, 2019 at 12:56 PM ^
The Eeyore ratio of this fan base it at alarming levels. Down with BPONE
September 4th, 2019 at 1:36 PM ^
Or a concern troll:
September 4th, 2019 at 11:39 AM ^
He's not wrong.
September 4th, 2019 at 12:25 PM ^
agreed. I do wonder how much of it was playing around to see if funny stuff worked, knowing we had an opponent that we could do that with, vs. running the full offense
September 4th, 2019 at 12:39 PM ^
Not necessarily seeing if stuff would work, as much as just make teams prepare for certain things, and muddy the waters for future plays.
September 4th, 2019 at 12:43 PM ^
yeah maybe; but if its an outright dud I would be shocked if teams still prepared for it, but I could be wrong from my armchair over here
September 4th, 2019 at 12:59 PM ^
Look at it in terms of pain avoidance, which is how DC's are trained to see the world on many levels. It's on tape, so even if it failed in this other game, if they run it against you and it kills, you're dead with your head coach. You can't say "Well sure they did it against MTSU, but it sucked, so I didn't prepare for it." You'll be fired. You can certainly prioritize the things that worked, but it's on tape so you have to cover it and think about things that can come out of it.
September 4th, 2019 at 1:11 PM ^
fair enough, thanks for the insight!
my numbers brain says the opposite and I would have prepared for the 95% use case and if a tail event hit then I would have shrugged it off.
September 4th, 2019 at 1:02 PM ^
I assumed we were throwing a whole bunch of stuff on film for opponents to have sensory overload. Then hit them with something they haven't seen.
I wonder if the 2 QB stuff will be solely Patterson/McCaffrey until the Wisconsin or Iowa game and then it turns into either Patterson/McCaffrey with Milton. Just a little something to throw off the defense.
September 4th, 2019 at 1:40 PM ^
I thinks this is absolutely the case with Army coming up this week.
September 4th, 2019 at 2:30 PM ^
Seriously?? Can we stop with this?
In the SAME thread, the Board both: (1) cheered at *not showing* anything new to future opponents so they come unprepared, while also (2) cheered at showing *new* things to future opponents so they prepare for the wrong things. That's some serious 3d chess right there.
Every year -- we're like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football, and every year we get to OSU and realize, yes, that's all we had for the Pepcat.
September 4th, 2019 at 11:44 AM ^
KingCarr reviewed Gattis debut as neutral. Email me and I'll give you my hot take.
September 4th, 2019 at 2:29 PM ^
No thank you.
September 4th, 2019 at 3:06 PM ^
No thanks, we already got the hot take and don’t give a damn about the “analysis” behind it.
September 4th, 2019 at 4:32 PM ^
just emailed you. check your mgoblog inbox
September 4th, 2019 at 11:56 AM ^
This article was well written. He shows that Michigan has multiple options on basically every play. His film breakdown shows just how versatile some of these play calls are. We are going to see a lot of big plays this season. Gattis is off to an excellent start, and he is putting in the foundation for an explosive offense. Sure, splitting Dylan McCaffrey out wide seems questionable at best, but everything else shows great promise...
September 4th, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
September 4th, 2019 at 12:26 PM ^
defense comes first usually, no?
September 4th, 2019 at 12:39 PM ^
It's funny, in the past four years under Harbaugh I was always more interested in the defense UFR. Now I am more interested in the offense UFR.
Offense (Hansel) is so hot right now.
September 4th, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^
Brian usually does the interesting one first.
September 4th, 2019 at 1:39 PM ^
UFR Offense is going to be challenging this year as the volume of plays run will increase dramatically
September 4th, 2019 at 12:01 PM ^
If you're one of the people who'd rather have Dylan at quarterback over Shae, following that same line of thinking, you have to like this offense.
If you're not, you should still like this offense more than what was displayed the previous 2 seasons. Not very profound. I know.
September 4th, 2019 at 12:41 PM ^
Shea.
September 4th, 2019 at 3:11 PM ^
Haha Done purposefully, mimicking what they do.
September 4th, 2019 at 3:41 PM ^
Don't.
September 4th, 2019 at 1:04 PM ^
I'm not sure why people would prefer Dylan. Shea looked great in the first half and I chalk up his less than stellar second half to the ribs.
Either way, I'm giddy at what this offense will look like with a healthy DPJ.
September 4th, 2019 at 12:06 PM ^
I'm not a fan of the 2 QB system at all. Nick saw what I saw, drive killing plays. Stick with Shea and really open up the playbook. This team could be really exciting come November.
September 4th, 2019 at 12:18 PM ^
Agree. The only 2 QB system we would be running is putting in McCaffrey in the 4th quarter after we’re up 30.
September 4th, 2019 at 12:20 PM ^
Even though everybody agrees with this take some people are really sore if you bring it up. (See the thread below.)
September 5th, 2019 at 12:21 PM ^
I'm just not sure why everyone wants to see both of them on the field. Dylan broke his collarbone last year and last time I checked LB's love to hit WR's or anyone going for the ball across the middle. The last thing we need is to have Shea get hurt and have Dylan already on the bench with another injury. This could literally derail an awesome season and puts our goals of winning the Big Ten and beating those savages in Columbus in jeopardy.
September 4th, 2019 at 12:47 PM ^
I’m sure Harbaugh and Gattis are setting up the two QB deal to give McCaffrey the option to pass the ball. I think we can see that coming.
September 4th, 2019 at 1:13 PM ^
Which is stupid, btw. A trick play loses all of it's effectiveness if it's foreshadowed so badly us fans can see it coming. Wisconsin knows what we can run off the 2 QB look already, and can start planning for the counters they can expect off it. Instead we could have waited until week 4 to show the formation at all. Then first time both are on the field, double pass their ass to a free 6 points. In other words, can't promise tomorrow, but I promise tonight, dale.
September 4th, 2019 at 12:20 PM ^
The haters simply refuse to think rationally. So many people seem to think UM was going to come out in GAME ONE with nothing but hurry/no huddle offense, scoring 65+ points. There was no need to do all that in game one against MTSU.
September 4th, 2019 at 12:33 PM ^
As much as many of us wanted to see what you are saying you are thinking about this logically. It was game 1 fergodsakes.
September 4th, 2019 at 1:05 PM ^
If anything I feel like we were playing TOO fast at the beginning of the game. Shea was a little too aggressive putting his body on the line after already getting the first down. Seems like it cost him some sore ribs to go with the lost fumble. Then the defense was over-aggressive at the start, and having that aggressiveness used against him. Seems like teams know Don Brown defenses are going to start a little too hot. Early misdirection often burns us. Forget the offsides that gave them the free play, we had three guys in the backfield running uncontrollably at the QB. Dwumfour and his cast wasn't the only reason we wasn't tackled in the backfield. Even our offensive 2nd drive seemed to be too rushed, getting to the line and running plays right away instead of the doing the "check with me" stuff that getting to the line so early allows for.
September 4th, 2019 at 1:18 PM ^
The sore ribs came from a blindside hit...had nothing to do with his aggressiveness on early runs. He does need to be more careful on those runs to avoid contact though.
September 4th, 2019 at 1:23 PM ^
If anything I feel like we were playing TOO fast at the beginning of the game. Shea was a little too aggressive putting his body on the line after already getting the first down. Seems like it cost him some sore ribs to go with the lost fumble. Then the defense was over-aggressive at the start, and having that aggressiveness used against him.
It's almost as if they all were super amped up because it was their first game of the season in front of 100,000+ fans at night or something.
September 4th, 2019 at 2:36 PM ^
Yep they really wanted to come out blazing and looked a bit rushed especially Patterson
September 4th, 2019 at 12:21 PM ^
The first half offense of Gattis' debut looked better than just about anything Michigan rolled out after Jed left.
There were execution problems but the scheme was really good. That two point conversion was absolutely great and would have been an easy walk in had they executed it properly.
The only real issue I had with it was the amount of punishment that the QBs seemed to take. Hopefully that was execution too.
September 4th, 2019 at 12:30 PM ^
Ya gotta protect The Man
September 4th, 2019 at 12:31 PM ^
In the modern era, you have to keep your entire QB room involved or your risk transfers.
We want JM to stick around.
September 4th, 2019 at 1:15 PM ^
I love speed in space. But please tell me we'll remember I-formation, power football on the goal line. I didn't like staying in the shotgun inside the 3-yard line. I hope it's still in the playbook for Wisconsin and beyond.
September 4th, 2019 at 1:15 PM ^
I love speed in space. But please tell me we'll remember I-formation, power football on the goal line. I didn't like staying in the shotgun inside the 3-yard line. I hope it's still in the playbook for Wisconsin and beyond.
September 4th, 2019 at 2:42 PM ^
I'm fine with the change. Mason getting stuffed multiple times trying to get a yard to two against OSU is something I'd be happy never to see again.
September 5th, 2019 at 9:41 AM ^
Sort of an I-formation in this thread response.
September 4th, 2019 at 1:41 PM ^
Reading this quote, one thing I’ve wondered about is “saving the playbook” for the big opponents on the schedule actually beneficial? On one hand, you are saving those plays, but on the other you’d be putting more on tape thus giving the opposition more to prepare for and more assignments.