Looked like Brown found a fix for our edge issues

Submitted by coachdad on

I thought that Brown made an easy adjustment to help fix our edge issues defensively. Looked like he put one of our DE's in a ghost 9 and then walked Peppers up to the line on the opposite side. Indiana never got the edge after that adjustment was made. Then McCray and Gideon did not have as much pressure on them to get the edge and were essentially cutback players. Thought it worked well for the most part. Will require great inside linebacker play inside the box, but alleviated some of the problems we have been having outside by relying on DB's to set force.

Night_King

November 21st, 2016 at 10:29 AM ^

I thought the defensive line was outstanding against IU. Wormley, Taco and especially Glasgow played fantastic. Let's wreak more havoc this Saturday against a very shaky OSU line. 

robpollard

November 21st, 2016 at 1:35 PM ^

(Shocking, I know)



Wormley was running step-for-step with Redding and if he had turned around (though I'm glad he was focused on covering; expect DB /Jourdan Lewis-level ball skills for a DL is a bit much), he could have picked off the pass; the announcers said Peppers could have done this.



Peppers was in the area, but didn't have a chance at it, and didn't need to, b/c Wormley had it locked down.

charblue.

November 21st, 2016 at 11:31 AM ^

who are not great pass catchers, OSU's speed is more of a mirage. Weber is a great back and Barrett is an extremely effective runner, not fast, but smooth and shifty using his body well to avoid tackles and big hits. The key to stopping this offense is what Michigan has done this season, pressure the zone read look and get after Barrett who is their primary ball carrier.

Two things, Weber as a freshman will not be counted on to do as much as a more experienced back and Samuel is more like Peppers, a utility piece for the offense, playing multiple spots. The key to stopping this offense is breaking down the zone read and containing Barrett inside the pocket.

I like their tight ends who when they put four in the backfield with Samuel and Weber along with Barrett and  Baugh really challenge the defense with their option look. But I am not impressed with their outside pass receivers.

While Michigan fans always think that the best way to beat Ohio State is to employ a lot of gimmicks, traditionally this game is played straight up by both sides with execution of the best game plan and ability to run the ball most effectively, usually is the winning formula. Like every game winning the LOS is the key to victory. 

Not that that has mattered in recent times due to OSU's talent domination. But Michigan has played the Buckeyes tough in Columbus, making their most recent encounters there fourth quarter contests.

oingoboingo

November 21st, 2016 at 1:21 PM ^

" The key to stopping this offense is breaking down the zone read and containing Barrett inside the pocket."

I'll give you the last half of that sentence - keeping Barrett inside the pocket will be critical. Ohio State doesn't run as much zone read as they used to and Meyer has stated that defenses have changed enough to take it away. I think they moved away from it, as much as they have, as preparation for Brown's defense. 

If I'm the coaching staff, I am expecting the unexpected. Part of Michigan State's success, early, was running right at Peppers and putting a blocker on him. Expect that. Part of Iowa's success in passing was short passes into the middle, like a Texas concept, providing an athletic mismatch against the LBs, expect that. Meyer and Warriner are going to try and make the Michigan defense uncomfortable - they will show new looks, new pre-snap motion, and they will spread the field 53 yards wide, and make the Michigan defense cover the whole field. 

Its gonna be a doozy! 

reshp1

November 21st, 2016 at 10:52 AM ^

They have better athletes, but they aren't close to 20 times better. They put up ridiculous numbers against bad teams because when they can run their offense with the athleticism they have at the skill positions, it gets out of hand fast. But their OL has struggled against good teams and it really limits their offense when JT Barrett can't get comfortable and the RBs are dodging people behind the line. They kind of remind of RR offenses actually, ridiculous talents at some key positions, but with weaknesses that get exposed against good defenses. Holding them to 20 points seems pretty realistic, as long as the offense does their part and doesn't keep going 3 and out and giving the ball back before the defense can recover. 

Hail-Storm

November 21st, 2016 at 11:15 AM ^

Both Michigan and OSU have put up some historic numbers on offense this season, but the game could end up being a low scoring defensive struggle. It could be the exact opposite of the 2006 game where both defenses showed cracks to excellent offenses after dominating during the year.

evenyoubrutus

November 21st, 2016 at 11:33 AM ^

YES. I was thinking this exact thing while listening to the podcast this morning.  OSU (this year only of course) is so much like Rich Rod's offenses, when we would put up ridiculous numbers against average or bad teams but then get completely shut down against teams that had a pulse. 

That's not to say OSU is getting competely shut down but those insane numbers are not at all indicative of how good their offense actually is (or isn't).

1VaBlue1

November 21st, 2016 at 10:32 AM ^

That can happen when there is virtually no threat of a pass game to the intermediate and deep levels.  Not sure it will work so well for OSU, but I sure hope it does!  I'm counting on the DB's to be their usual self Saturday and not allow a damn thing to go uncontested.  If Barrett is focred to make perfect throws, he'll have a tough day.  And the M secondary has forced perfect throws all year.

Magnus

November 21st, 2016 at 10:37 AM ^

I agree on the adjustments that Brown made against Indiana. They were solid and we held the edge better than we did against Maryland. 

If we do this against OSU, then I think OSU will probably run more of their spread power stuff inside. They're not quite as good at it this year with a weaker OL and without Ezekiel Elliott, but it can still hurt us. 

Either way, it will be interesting to see what Brown cooks up for Ohio State.

dragonchild

November 21st, 2016 at 10:46 AM ^

But I think they can be flustered into a bad day.  If you can force them to execute the counterpuches that they're not quite as good at, they can stall their own drives.

We did need an answer for the edge stuff because we were getting gashed and OSU is miles better at it than anyone we've faced.  I'm not nearly as concerned about the inside stuff or downfield because with the exception of some gameday curveballs like Iowa whamming Mone, offenses have been getting nothing up the middle all season and if anything have been actively avoiding our D-line.  And downfield, we've got the #1 pass defense by a mile.  It's why offenses started testing the edge in the first place.  They'd much rather face Stribling the run defender than Stribling the cover corner.

BlueKoj

November 21st, 2016 at 4:03 PM ^

No Lewis and Taco is a huge factor. This is a much different D with them (to a much lesser extent Mone too). Even so, CO O had 3 TDs, and went 1 for 2 in the RZ. UCF and CO benefitted from the injuries, and the big plays which have largely been put to bed.

I hate to say it, but Sparty was the most successful O in terms of driving it right at this D, but they still went on a 45-minute drought and also had a lot of yards in the lose with dignity portion of the game.

931 S State

November 21st, 2016 at 12:06 PM ^

Michigan matches up so much better this year vs the OSU inside power run game with healthy versions of Glasgow & Hurst. Running between the tackles is still the hallmark of the OSU offense. M needs to get four quarters of sure tackling from LBs, disruptive DT play, and contain from the DEs to keep it low scoring and force Barrett to beat us through the air. Play the field position game and take advantage of our superior ST matchups.

The Fan in Fargo

November 21st, 2016 at 10:49 AM ^

The only chance they have in doing anything in their passing game is getting lucky with JT throwing up some deep balls with his shit accuracy. You know god damn well they are going to go for it right away too. They know Brown and Co. are coming for JT so they are going to want to hit the home run early before he gets beat up. He's going to get his ass handed to him and kicked in by the way. Just to make sure you all know that. Wormley, Charlton, Glasgow and Godin won't let me down this game. 

dragonchild

November 21st, 2016 at 11:20 AM ^

His job will be to make the offense uncomfortable.  He can blitz, pursue sideline-to-sideline, or bail all the way to a deep safety position from a linebacker spot.

I don't see the point to a spy on Barrett because Wormley and Taco are excellent at contain and Glasgow isn't going to let a QB run by him up the middle.  Lewis can cover Samuels if need be and the safeties can clean up on the edge.  The 4-2 should handle anything on the inside by themselves, freeing up Peppers to keep Barrett guessing as to what he'll do.

My main concern (aside from OUR offense) is rotation.  Mone, Gary and Winovich all still have holes in their games, Godin is Will Heininger the 3-tech, and if Lewis is on Samuels then either Pepper's going into coverage more often than we'd like, or we're putting a third CB on the field for long stretches.  Brown definitely wants to put the pressure on OSU but it became very tough to do so at all 11 positions when Jeremy Clark went down.