Can you "coach around" a bad O-line?
I have a belief that the O-line is the very foundation of the whole team.
A great O-line opens the running game, the running game then opens the passing game, both of which then leads to Time of Possession advantage, which rests the defense so they can be top notch on the field. I cannot remember a championship team that did not at least have a "good" O-line.
Most of all- a good O-line reduces the chance of your QB (the queen of the football chessboard) from getting injured.
But am I wrong? I do not know nearly as much about football as the collective readers here know.
Can you "coach around" a bad O-line?
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:27 PM ^
Joe Moorehead won a BTCG doing exactly that.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:28 PM ^
Of course ... we don't have Joe Moorehead.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:37 PM ^
Oh, but we do have Jim McElwain.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:59 PM ^
Or Saquon Barkley.
If we don’t abandon at least 75% of the Schembechler/Harbaugh archaic manball/power football plays, we are doomed.
September 2nd, 2018 at 1:09 PM ^
It truly feels sometimes that JH loses touch with reality (being serious here) and that Harbaugh wants to be Bo and wants to play and win the way Bo did. All the way to wearing the same style of glasses.
His play calling was archaic. It lacked imagination. If you know you have an atrocious OL, then why don't you utilize like crazy your embarrassment of riches at WR and TE. Use misdirection. Keep them on their toes. Our play calling allowed ND's Defense to just pin their ears back and go nutso.
So yeah, I you can win with a bad OL. Go Shotgun virtually 100% of the time. utilize bubble screens, spread the field out and hit quick slants. Roll the QB out. Hit your TE's. Create plays that can happen without much time for the QB.
September 2nd, 2018 at 1:51 PM ^
In 30+ years of following NFL and CFB, an inescapable truth I've observed is that the best teams recruit and develop OL well. As Lions fans know too well, you can bring in the hottest QB, RB, WR, etc. but it will mean nothing without a solid, dependable OL (with depth!)
September 2nd, 2018 at 2:04 PM ^
I feel like Harbaugh is like the player who's at the end of his career, but still thinks he can play and beat the young guys and do it the way he played in the past. I think he can't figure out why this isn't working since it always used to. His biggest move he could ever make would be to hire an OC and just let him have total control. That's hard for a guy like Harbaugh, but it needs to be done if we want to compete with the big boys.
September 2nd, 2018 at 2:14 PM ^
Patterson and McCaffrey did combine to go 24-36 for 249 yards, and Patterson may have been limited somewhat with his cramps. I don't know that the overall gameplan was bad. It just seemed that we always had a brutal drive-killing play whenever we got in their territory - the two killer sacks when deep in their territory, and of the course the fumble.
September 2nd, 2018 at 5:00 PM ^
I agree with most of your post, but get “embarrasses of riches at WR and TE” narrative has to stop. Our WR are average to sub par at the moment. Collins and Perry looked decent. DPJ has no idea how to run a route and get open. He might have straight line speed, but he has not shown the ability to get in and out of breaks. So unless you are throwing him five yard outs he is a non factor in the passing game. Both Gentry and McKeon gave us nothing yesterday. Gentry might give you a down field play from time to time but McKeon is as vanilla as you can get at TE.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:35 PM ^
Yeah that requires adaptability as a coach which Franklin understood when he completely revamped his team and won the Big Ten.
September 2nd, 2018 at 2:03 PM ^
Anyone else feel like crying at the fact that Franklin has a Big10 Championship and Harbaugh hasn't even made it to the game.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:24 AM ^
I used to, but at some point you have to eat what you cook.
Franklin had enough sense to do something about his limitations.
Harbaugh does not want to let go where he needs to.
So you get Franklin with a Big Ten Championship and Harbaugh with 3rd place in his division.
It's kind of fair.
September 2nd, 2018 at 1:31 PM ^
The loss of him and Saquon in the same year is why I think Penn State is going to drop off a cliff this year.
September 2nd, 2018 at 2:01 PM ^
They did pretty good yesterday. Over 200 yards both on the ground and through the air.
September 2nd, 2018 at 2:04 PM ^
You can tell who watched it and who didn't. Defense was their issue yesterday.
Not surprising given all the medical retirements and graduations.
September 2nd, 2018 at 2:12 PM ^
I watched the game and thought they looked pretty good, but they were also playing against Appalachian State, who only returns 5 defenders from a meh Sunbelt team.
September 2nd, 2018 at 2:29 PM ^
And App is the 2nd youngest team this year in college football.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:30 PM ^
Yes with quick hitting plays, screens.quick slants . Shorter routes Eventually the pass rush will slow down because you’re getting rid of the ball quickly .. Then you hit them
September 2nd, 2018 at 1:11 PM ^
I didn't notice much shotgun from us last night- doesn't that buy the QB some time? Why didn't we use it? Is it a "high risk" type of snap in CFB?
September 2nd, 2018 at 1:59 PM ^
Huh? How could you miss the fact that we ran shotgun formation for almost the entire game? Patterson was in shotgun constantly. Heck, the first drive of the game was almost exclusively shotgun, and Tirico talked quite a bit about how it was a change in how Michigan did things.
September 2nd, 2018 at 1:45 PM ^
Or they just get their hands up and start batting down a lot of your passes.
The other issue is that you need targets on those shorter routes with good hands. Gentry/McKeon had some rough drops yesterday.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:33 PM ^
You can protect a bad o-line by not going empty set, and by using backs and tight ends to chip edge rushers.
September 2nd, 2018 at 2:31 PM ^
This happened quite a bit, ND would have six guys up on the line. There are only 5 OL and one their DE or LB was set on the end for a speed rush with no one there to block. The coaches cannot play an empty backfield set with a speed rusher coming in at your QB unblocked.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:33 PM ^
Our coach is apparently tooo stubborn to try.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:35 PM ^
You seriously think that?
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:52 PM ^
Yes he’s very stubborn
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:33 PM ^
Funny that the offense looked better in Jim Harbaugh's first 2 years, when he took over a bad offensive line from Brady Hoke. The offensive line is worse than that now?
Maybe the difference that we have seen now is the change from Jedd Fisch to Pep Hamilton.
September 2nd, 2018 at 1:47 PM ^
Fisch may well be better than Hamilton but our offensive tackles right now are bad, much worse than what we had in '15/'16.
September 2nd, 2018 at 2:46 PM ^
I'm not sure of that. Weren't there injuries on the o line both those years?
September 2nd, 2018 at 2:56 PM ^
It's as if you just started watching Michigan football this year. Makes one wonder
September 2nd, 2018 at 4:32 PM ^
Harbaugh benefited from Hoke's first two year of good OL recruiting, Hoke's last two disastrous recruiting years, and Harbaugh not really being here to recruit before his first season, has caught up to him. Hey, its going to take a few more years before the OL is good again.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:34 PM ^
This offense needs to be all spread formation and quick hitters. As someone already pointed out, the best options are slants and screens. But we’re not going to do that. Harbaugh is going to keep trying to play man ball and taking 5-7 step drop back passes.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:36 PM ^
Spread isn’t a formation.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:38 PM ^
I think you understand what I meant smart ass.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:39 PM ^
Michigan ran slants yesterday. They moved the pocket too.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^
It seemed like they did move the pocket.....early. But got away from it in the 2nd half? Patterson throws a nice ball on the move.
September 2nd, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^
I’ll give Jim some credit; he’s at least got Shea taking snaps from the shotgun...what he wants done next is a freaking mystery.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:35 PM ^
An offensive line is somewhat of a unit. A good play system understands what individuals can and can't do and covers those weaknesses.
It seems clear the tackles aren't capable of executing the current play system against what's probably the best defense Michigan will face until Ohio State (unless they've morphed into the Tecmo Bowl Ohio State we saw yesterday). That's a lot of time to figure things out - assuming they noticed what we all noticed about the tackle play.
I'm less discouraged than most. Partially because I just don't give a damn about any game not involving the Big Ten and partially because this team clearly has a lot of talent. Unfortunately, we won't know more for a few weeks.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:35 PM ^
"... Are you gonna have a fullback Jimmy?"
"Yessir. You bet."
"... Are you gonna have an offensive line Jimmy?"
*Scribbles "offense line" on a Wal-Mart receipt; crinkles it up and shoves it into the pocket of his new khakis*
"Uh, yes...YESSIR?"
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:36 PM ^
Ed Warinner, is one of the best offensive line coaches in America. He’s not a great play-caller or recruiter, but the guy can flat-out coach the offensive line.
The key to play calling with a bad offensive line is getting the ball out quick and using the defense’s aggressiveness against them, because they will start pinning their ears back and attacking.
September 2nd, 2018 at 12:43 PM ^
I don't think Ed Warinner is, or will be, a problem. He defiitely is one of the best OLine coaches in America. He was a great hire by Coach Harbaugh. It is clear his offensive line coaching has been fantastic everywhere he has been. And I expect the same here.
I am not, though, impressed with the offensive pass coaching.
September 2nd, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
We get it you don't like Pep - you don't need to create 20 posts saying the same thing
September 2nd, 2018 at 1:33 PM ^
Is the passing game good?
September 2nd, 2018 at 2:03 PM ^
you forgot to switch your accounts
September 2nd, 2018 at 1:35 PM ^
When did I say I don't like Pep? Why did you make it personal?
September 2nd, 2018 at 2:10 PM ^
Let me refresh your memory and dude you need to seek help you clearly haven't stopped drinking
09/01/2018 - 9:24pm FIRE PEP HAMILTON NOW!!!!!!!…
09/01/2018 - 9:30pmFire Pep Hamilton already!…
09/01/2018 - 10:19pmPep Hamilton been fired yet?…
09/01/2018 - 10:23pmI TOLD YOU DYLAN MCCAFFREY… (hello MK)
09/01/2018 - 10:55pm Still hjaven't seen anyone tell me the game where the passing game has looked good since Pep Hamilton was hired.
09/01/2018 - 11:16pm The offense looked better with Jedd Fisch.
09/01/2018 - 11:26pm Name one game where the passing game has looked good since Pep Hamilton has been hired.
and on and on https://mgoblog.com/users/skypanther
September 2nd, 2018 at 2:40 PM ^
I am aware of those comments.
You didn't comprehend what I said. This happens a lot on the internet.
You made it personal, like I was talking about Pep Hamilton as a person.
September 2nd, 2018 at 3:05 PM ^
Obviously you are still up in the air about how you feel about Pep. Ha!
Quit drinking and look after your newborn, 2nd generation, Nigerian American, 20 year old Michigan student.
September 2nd, 2018 at 5:54 PM ^
I see. This too hard for you.
September 2nd, 2018 at 5:58 PM ^
That is a seriously strange thing to say. What are you talking about?