Brandon Graham wants 4 Down Linemen:

Submitted by w2j2 on

“I think Coach Robinson is real good,” he said. “He was somebody who really tried to teach you the game. ‘These are why we’re calling these plays or these blitzes now.’”

Graham said his concerns were purely schematic.

“You’ve got to have four down linemen. You’ve got to,” he said. “Or five. You’ve got to stop them holes, and you got to get to the quarterback. You got to trust the cornerbacks are going to do their job.”

http://www.annarbor.com/sports/um-football/is-the-3-3-5-the-source-of-michigans-defensive-woes-brandon-graham-thinks-so/

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SlymCyke

November 4th, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^

We're still giving up 80+ yard drives with the "bend-not-break" defense.  Why not try sending more men at the quarterback?  Yeah we may get torched a couple times, but it's no different than giving up long, sustained drives. 

Apparently Avery played more man coverage in high school, so this would actually play to his strength.  It's worth a shot at least.  With Illinois having a freshman QB, I think it's more important get to him quicker, forcing him to make bad decisions. 

Joined: 08/21/2009

MGoPoints: 297

Blue in Yarmouth

November 4th, 2010 at 10:55 AM ^

"What difference would it make...We're still giving up 80+ yard drives with the "bend-not-break" defense."
 
I think the philosophy is that the opposing team is far more likely to make mistakes when they have to run 10 plays to get that 80 yards than when they only have to run 1 or 2 plays to gain those yards.
 
Our defense can't force turnovers so we have to hope they screw up. I am not saying I love this game plan, I hate it as much as anyone. I am just not sure selling out on every play and leaving this secondary to play man to man is the answer.
 
I get the "let's try it, it can't be worse" thing, maybe they will try and it will work better than what we are seeing now....I would love that, but with theplayers we have I think there is always the potential for things to get worse.....unfortunalely.

Joined: 02/18/2009

MGoPoints: 6522

SlymCyke

November 4th, 2010 at 11:29 AM ^

Maybe it's just the knee-jerk reaction, or buying into the "definition of insanity".  I understand the only way they'll really get better is through experience, tackling better, fundamentals, etc.  It's just frustrating.  You just hope something can change that will ignite a spark, although deep down you know there really is no instant cure-all.  Although, I really do believe we need to rush more guys, especially against a young QB.  We'll see this Saturday, either way.

Joined: 08/21/2009

MGoPoints: 297

Wolverine90

November 4th, 2010 at 11:11 AM ^

No you're right.  Let's just use 2 down linemen, and toss the rest of the D in the secondary to support our corners, so we can get gashed for 6-8 yards through the porous line every play, giving up huge runs game after game.  Let's also protect our secondary by giving them 15 yard cushions off the line of scrimmage on 3rd and 7. 

Let's keep not trusting our young secondary, and keep bleeing 80 yard, 7 minute, demoralizing drives, vs a scheme that shuts down the run, gets an occasional sack (wtf is a sack?  I forgot what they look like), maybe gets a turn over or two, but yeah, gives up 4 or so bombs each half.

I'll take my chances.

Joined: 10/02/2008

MGoPoints: 157

griesecheeks

November 4th, 2010 at 11:49 AM ^

suicide is about all we've got... the only chance we have is getting to the QB quickly, and that's only happening with pressure. I'll go with Brandon Graham's opinion over yours. Those young corners need to grow up fast. if we get to the qb quickly, we would actually be helping them along, rather than hoping they can cover someone for 10 seconds,

Joined: 09/06/2008

MGoPoints: 643

MgoDlu

November 4th, 2010 at 3:31 PM ^

Honestly maybe it's because I watch a lot of philly eagles football, but I would like to have a lot more dline pressure and put our purest corners on their wr and let them learn the hard way if necessary. This death by a thousand paper cuts is no way to go imo. It takes away opportunities from our O, tires our D, and just seems like a big momentum killer after giving up a first down on each third and long. Even I can complete those passes with the amount of time other teams qb gets.

Joined: 08/07/2010

MGoPoints: 739

DamnYankee

November 4th, 2010 at 9:11 AM ^

1) It sounds like RR is forcing Gerg to run something in which he either doesn't have expertise or  a high comfort level

2)  It hints at the major internal philosphical differences on the staff which leads to confusion on the field.

Joined: 07/15/2008

MGoPoints: 755

imafreak1

November 4th, 2010 at 9:17 AM ^

This is like 6 levels of assumption.

My problem regarding this 3-3-5 stack mandate from RichRod idea is, he must have told the DC's before they took the job this is what he wanted. They must have said "yep, OK, will do." That is if all this comes as a mandate from RichRod. If that's the case, then I can't see how the DC would be mad about it now.

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 2844

imafreak1

November 4th, 2010 at 11:20 AM ^

BG says he doesn't know why they switched.

You ASSUME it was because RichRod mandated it.

You just said it.

That assumption has some merit. The second point the dude made regarding the 'great philosophical differences' leading to confusion on the field took it a step further into fantasy land. 

It's not like the defense went from lights out in 2009 to this. It wasn't very good in 2009 either and then lost 32 DBs and the two best players.

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 2844

DamnYankee

November 4th, 2010 at 9:32 AM ^

With quotes like this from BG

“Let Coach Robinson play his defense,” Graham said. “Let him do what he knows. He was thrown off, I would say. I know the 3-3-5 is what he (Rodriguez) has been doing for so long. He’s just got to adjust to the Big Ten.”     and this....

“I’m surprised they didn’t stick with what Coach Robinson was running,” Graham said of the 3-4 the team deployed in 2009, its first year under Robinson.

This sounds like it was strongly "suggested" from above.

 

Joined: 07/15/2008

MGoPoints: 755

mejunglechop

November 4th, 2010 at 9:41 AM ^

“Let Coach Robinson play his defense,” Graham said. “Let him do what he knows. He was thrown off, I would say. I know the 3-3-5 is what he (Rodriguez) has been doing for so long. He’s just got to adjust to the Big Ten.”

Joined: 07/09/2008

MGoPoints: 6618

wolfman81

November 4th, 2010 at 9:23 AM ^

And to be consistent, RR should listen to this:

“Let Coach Robinson play his defense,” Graham said. “Let him do what he knows. He was thrown off, I would say. I know the 3-3-5 is what he (Rodriguez) has been doing for so long. He’s just got to adjust to the Big Ten.”

Especially since there was a large group of people who wanted Rodrigues to basically keep the offense the same (do spread-lite) in his first year here until he had a bit more talent.  And he said (I'm paraphrasing) "We're going to coach what we know."  Doesn't Greg Robinson get the same consideration?

I don't know that the 3-3-5 must fail in the Big 10, but I'm pretty sure that a teacher is only effective teaching what he knows.  You can't take the world's best english literature professor and stick him in a french lit class and expect him to be just as dynamic and knowledgable.

Joined: 12/17/2008

MGoPoints: 2078

jerseyblue

November 4th, 2010 at 9:24 AM ^

I want BG to stalk the sidelines and Schembechler Hall and have him crush people ala Terry Tate when he sees we're doing something wrong.(like not going with 4DL like many of us have been begging for.)

Joined: 12/20/2008

MGoPoints: 8295

BlueinLansing

November 4th, 2010 at 9:30 AM ^

enough people to run 4 downlinemen and what cause do we have to trust our CB's especially now that we are starting a true Freshmen and a 5th year, 1st year seeing the field player.

Joined: 09/01/2009

MGoPoints: 23520

lilpenny1316

November 4th, 2010 at 9:34 AM ^

NFL and college teams run 3-4s with plenty of success.  His old teammate on the western side of the state, Lamar Woodley, plays in a 3-4 with the Steelers.  The three down lineman scheme is not the problem.  How we are coaching and executing it is the issue.

I want someone to explain how using 4 down linemen all the time will suddenly turn this into an average defense.

Joined: 11/19/2009

MGoPoints: 61787