Killer instinct: a tale of two sides of the ball

Submitted by NashvilleBLUE on October 12th, 2019 at 5:05 PM

Now that I’ve had a bit of time to think about the game and how we went from having our foot on their throat to being backed against the ropes, I think it comes down to the lack of killer instinct on the offensive of side of the ball.

When looking at Don Brown in both his personality off the field, his high intensity coaching on the field, and the product that he puts on the field: you see calculated aggression. There is no doubt that although their defense has flaws, one of them is not aggression and a desire to totally dominate opponents. They want their appointment to score 0 points at all cost and they take it personally when they give up any play.

 

On the offensive side of the ball compare that to Harbaugh and his constant turtling. Whenever he gets a lead he takes his foot off the gas in an effort to protect a win instead of going and dominating to ensure the win. Perfect example is the end of the first half. We have a chance to go into a high tempo offense with a minute left and timeouts remaining against a defense that we have been gashing and an offense then has been able to do absolutely nothing up to that point. We have a chance to see if this offense can even do it. We’ve heard insistently that the offense is doing it in practice, but what better place to see if we can replicate it then on the field against the natural opponent. Instead we run the clock out and go into halftime as if we were in a dog fight and didn’t want to swing the momentum of the game with a turnover.

I know everyone can say that he is not running the offense or calling the plays, but after five years of this exact same mentality with a bevy of different offensive personalities that have come and gone, the only constant is Harbaugh.

 

The last point I’ll make is that you can see the difference in these philosophies by viewing the demeanors of the players on each side of the ball and how willing they are to be aggressive. Shea Patterson looks scared to death out there and that has to be a product of inheriting your head coach’s belief that not making a mistake is more important than having the liberty to play freely and “go attack them”. 

NashvilleBLUE

October 12th, 2019 at 5:22 PM ^

I actually still think Jim Harbaugh is the right coach for this program and I absolutely think he will turn this into a championship level team, because he has shown a will to change things. I think he just needs to find a Don Brown on offense (maybe Gattis is the guy, but too early) to pair your offense and your defense together effectively.

Joined: 10/08/2016

MGoPoints: 7219

Reggie Dunlop

October 12th, 2019 at 7:14 PM ^

2016 OSU for one. Allowed 17 points in regulation to a playoff team and around 250 yards of offense. That's good.

2018 Notre Dame for another. Held a playoff team to 300 yards of offense and 24 points.

The fact you cant even come up with that says all anybody needs to know about you and anybody who shares your opinion. Our defense has had plenty of great games against really good opponents. You'll dismiss all of them for various reasons to promote a horseshit narrative.

2016 Penn State. 2018 Penn State. 2016 Wisconsin. 2018 Wisconsin. You'll trash those teams because they sucked, but then we get run by Wisconsin a few weeks ago and I'll bet you were one of the braintrust saying Brown couldnt get it done against the "Big Boys".

Our defense is very good. Often elite. It's not this year, but it's still this team's backbone and without it we lose to Army and Iowa. Our defense was good enough to beat OSU in '16 & '17 if not for Speight and O'Korn shitting pants in the 4th quarter.

Michigan scored 39 points against OSU last year and lost by a billion. You know how many times Brown's teams have allowed 30? 7 times. And all 7 times Michigan has lost. 

In that same time span, Ohio State has allowed 30+ nine (9) times. They're 5-4 in those games.

In that time span, Alabama has allowed 30+ points 7 times. They're 5-2 in those games.

In that same time span, Clemson has allowed 30+ points 7 times. They're 6-1 in those games.

Brown and our defense is excellent. No caveat. He just has no offensive help ever. Nobody shuts down everybody. 

I shouldn't have to tell you all of this. You're supposed to be a Michigan Football fan. Try paying attention to college football.

Joined: 10/24/2018

MGoPoints: 4389

turtleboy

October 12th, 2019 at 9:49 PM ^

For your 2 examples of good performances against good teams I can give you 10 examples of humiliation at the hands of good teams. I won't talk shit about you or take any petty cheap shots like you did, however.  Let's start with this year.  2019 wisconsin 35 points and over 300 yards rushing. How about Florida 2018 with 41 points, or 2018 Ohio State with 62?! We scored 39 in that game, seems like the defense got plenty of help there, guy. Maybe the 31 we allowed the year before at home was a great performance against Ohio State,  or letting South Carolina turn in 239 passing was noteworthy. I know I was sure impressed when Penn State hung 42 on us that year too! 

The truth is the offense doesn't give the defense much help, but the other ugly truth is we beat up on bad teams on defense, and struggle with any spread team, and every team with a pulse on the road. Florida State torched us for 33 points.  We're good at defending average B1G teams, and that's it. There aren't "many successes against really good teams." Any time we face a good team they have their way with us. 

Joined: 04/22/2011

MGoPoints: 35130

Eng1980

October 12th, 2019 at 7:20 PM ^

Here is an example to think about.  Last year, OSU game, Michigan offense starts with a 3 and out.  Who here thought Michigan was going to win at that moment?  The point is that in most every game the defense was good enough if the offense could get a first down at key moments in the game.  

The bar is pretty high when the counter argument is always that Harbaugh/Brown couldn't beat a three time national championship coach, an a opponent with better talent/recruiting classes, on their home field in a rivalry game when the opponent plays (without doubt) their best game of the year.

As always, it is not a big win if Michigan wins because the opponent isn't undefeated.

Joined: 04/28/2016

MGoPoints: 11970

Indy Pete - Go Blue

October 12th, 2019 at 5:11 PM ^

The offense got 42 points. There were fumbles again, which is a problem, but fumbles do not signify fear or a lack of a killer instinct. The killer instinct showed with the 79 yard drive when the game was on the line. 

Joined: 01/23/2018

MGoPoints: 157226

snarling wolverine

October 12th, 2019 at 5:12 PM ^

I don't know.  Today we built that 28-0 lead mostly by running the ball.  I thought we went away from the run (and particularly with Haskins) too much in the 3rd quarter and that was part of our problem.

Joined: 12/14/2011

MGoPoints: 98364

turtleboy

October 12th, 2019 at 5:13 PM ^

This is a good post. Not like I'm a good judge, I haven't posted a topic in a year, but I appreciate the effort. I also happen to agree. The defense gets after other teams and tries to be proactive, while at many times it feels like the offensive coaches can't be too careful, and simply hope for the defense to carry them. It's boom or bust, at times, but at least they're going for it.

Joined: 04/22/2011

MGoPoints: 35130

UM Fan from Sydney

October 12th, 2019 at 5:16 PM ^

Good comment. I was saying in a group chat during the third quarter that UM has no killer instinct whatsoever. OSU ahead 28-0, you know it’s over and that they’re going to win by at least six touchdowns. UM doesn’t have that.

Joined: 09/17/2015

MGoPoints: 58076

Teeba

October 12th, 2019 at 7:17 PM ^

We have the opposite problem. When something goes wrong (Mason’s fumble at Wisconsin) the team panics. The same thing happened today, only Illinois sucks too bad to take advantage. Fortunately, we had built a big lead and were able to weather the storm until the team could calm the fuck down and remember they were playing Rutger West.

Joined: 09/25/2019

MGoPoints: 3282

The Geek

October 12th, 2019 at 5:17 PM ^

Honestly, we were up big and it’s human nature to take the foot off the gas, that doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is how long it took us to respond and return to dominant football. At least we recovered strong and have something to build on heading into the gauntlet portion of the schedule. 

Joined: 09/08/2009

MGoPoints: 24821

SWFLWolverine

October 12th, 2019 at 6:59 PM ^

And that should have been in the drive to end the half. Illinois just scored and we had a minute and 3 timeouts. Why wouldn't you like to go down the field and get some points? You get the ball to start the second half and score again and at that point you can get your bench some experience. Instead you signal to your players to let up because the game us in hand.....and they played with little inspiration until it became  1 possession game again.

Joined: 07/28/2010

MGoPoints: 2348