Michigan Linebackers Exposed
After reading some of the free PFF (Pro Football Focus) free college football content as I do every week and I highly recommend this site to anyone who really likes to read in depth analysis and they pointed out the obvious, 11 Missed tackles at the second level of the Michigan defense allowed the Iowa Offense to move the ball on the ground without every really needing to throw the ball on longer down and distances.
Link to PFF
Here are some of the stats from the link:
- Lewis and Stribs allowed a combined 14 yds. This was a big A++
- Michigans defense had 11 missed tackles in this game. Big F considering how well the hawkeyes tackled the entire game.
- Gedeon and Peppers were both subpar.
Michigan was in base 4-3 or if you consider peppers a secondary player who was covering the slot during this play, we could say 4-2. Never the less it looks like Tyree Kinnell is lined up over the TE on the right side of the O-line and left side of the defense. Stribs is right behind Kinnell and this is the direction Iowa attacked.
Peppers on the slot was a non-factor. The push of the Oline with perfect downhill man blocking and great second level blocking by the uncovered RG on Mike Mcray, combined with the TE driving Taco to the inside gap while the FB sealed Kinnell at the edge, Wadley used speed and vision to attack Michigans defense. The play was made easier because Michigans defense was standing still waiting for the action instead of attacking downhill and forcing Wadley back inside.
This was not the only play Iowa attacked Michigans front 7 aggressively. Here is more evidence as Wadley runs over two players, Thomas and Hill. Michigan actually attacks downhill but Iowa's ability to block the linebackers attacking the gaps and Wadleys vision made it difficult for Michigans defense all night.
November 13th, 2016 at 1:21 PM ^
or did Jabrill Peppers basically disappear outside that one hurry he had on Beathard? Not even talking about offensively, but a very disappointing game on his end. Needs to be better. Also speaking of the linebackers, losing Devin Bush that early had to hurt.
November 13th, 2016 at 1:25 PM ^
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November 13th, 2016 at 1:54 PM ^
Yeah, it seems pretty clear that teams have figured out how to neutralize Peppers. Too often he's been reduced to an undersized inside linebacker, and the results are predictably bad.
November 13th, 2016 at 6:08 PM ^
Michigan has helped neutralize him on offense. Almost all of the playcalls when he's in the game are predictable and easy to defend. Outside of the flea flicker play in the Maryland game, its tough to remember a play where he was a big plus or upgrade over another running back when he was on offense. Would like to see some plays with him, Evans, and Smith in the backfield. Hell, throw in McDoom too, although his play calls are super obvious now as well.
On defense, whoever the annoucer was in the Michigan State game pointed out MSU's game plan of just running at Peppers. Since we don't have any another good LB options, going manball and just running at him is a pretty good option since we can't hide him and it exploits the weak linebackers. Defensively, I don't know what else you're supposed to do there. He's good LB/S to have for spread teams, but probably a liability vs manball teams like Iowa and MSU.
November 14th, 2016 at 9:41 AM ^
think you will see everything but the kitchen sink with Pepper against OSU. Iowa would have been a really nice game to win, but winning or losing it did not determine our fate. Assuming we can beat Indiana, and I am assuming that, I think we were able to go pretty much the whole year without really showing our hand with Peppers offensively.
November 13th, 2016 at 2:39 PM ^
I don't understand why they're not getting more creative with his usage. Why not have him in the backfield with Evans and send McDoom in motion. THAT would cause the defense to think. Right now it's like they think he will just run around people like he's a Tecmo Super Bowl character.
November 13th, 2016 at 10:31 PM ^
The hopeful little boy in me is thinking that Harbaugh is deliberately using Peppers the same way nearly every single time he is in on offense so that Ohio State cannot prepare for the full gambit of what Peppers is capable of on the 26th.
The cynical jerk in me thinks what we have seen is all Peppers is capable of consistently doing on offense, and that we drank too much of the kool-aid in thinking he is superman.
The paranoid schizophrenic in me thinks that we all need to pay more attention to the aliens on TV that are trying to fry our brains with gamma ray's. I am watching you Herbstreit. Or should I call you by your real name Supreme Admiral Knejehm of the Galatic Star Empire?
November 13th, 2016 at 4:51 PM ^
I know he can catch the ball, so why not move him around like in the slot or at RB? IDK maybe they're waiting for OSU to break that out, but it seems like him in the slot would open up space for the RB, or him at RB would open up play action. I'd think it'd be hard to shut down both Butt and Peppers at the same time. I'm no coach, but that seems obvious. Maybe that will happen next week.
November 14th, 2016 at 2:12 AM ^
Agreed. I like him more at RB or slot or WR. Just too obvious when he's in at QB vs any good defense now.
November 14th, 2016 at 9:32 AM ^
It seems to me that a team like Iowa is the kind you would bump Peppers back to safety and get bigger SAM in there instead. He can still play at LB depth, it just seems odd to not have a beefier lineup against them.
November 13th, 2016 at 1:25 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 1:30 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 2:12 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 3:57 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 4:08 PM ^
Slot receiver? He has 2 catches for 3 yards.
He's an elite returner and he's elite as a blitzer from the LB position. He's below average as a corner, above average as a safety, and very good as a RB. His versatility overall is what makes him a weapon.
Glad we have him, he's great overall, but it's also OK to recognize he's not good at a few things.
November 13th, 2016 at 4:59 PM ^
You don't know what you are talking about. As soon as you said below average as a corner i realized you are clueless.
November 13th, 2016 at 5:44 PM ^
Peppers is a liability in outside coverage and we've all seen enough proof of that to know it's true. Why do you think he's now playing LB as opposed to safety? He's an elite athlete that just isn't good at pure coverage.
November 13th, 2016 at 6:21 PM ^
He played safety last year under Durkin's defense and now plays closer to the LOS to take advantage of his speed and quickness to fill gaps, blitz and run down plays on the edge. He fills so many different roles that if he concentrated on pass coverage only, then I'm sure his game would improve, though when was the last time he blew a coverage? Michigan didn't lose to Iowa because of poor pass coverage, They lost because they couldn't stop Wadley off tackle and on the perimeter. They lost because they failed to make plays on special teams or blew too many special team plays, failed to control field position, and never established anything on offense which led to what many regard as poor play-calling.
I would say that one of the oddest occurrences last night was the fact that Ty Isacc scored Michigan's only TD on a play that was never again repeated nor was Isacc given another opportunity to play. Now maybe he's hurt or something else. But I just thought tthat Isacc is a pretty effective off-tackle and outside runner and receiver. Michigan never throws to its backs out of the backfield. They never tried much misdirection and should have won the game witout concern for the clock since Iowa had three timeouts with under two minutes left.
You challenge your team to get a first down and since they didn't, they were subject to all the consequences that followed and led to the game-winning field goal.
November 14th, 2016 at 5:02 AM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 3:08 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 3:17 PM ^
really stupid of me for some reason I can't think of before I post this, but what if Peppers was used as a running back most of the time? Certainly, he has the moxy to be a great blocking back? He shows he can make guys miss and gain yards after contact. He also has shown the ability to hit the home run if he breaks out of the backfield. Wheel routes? Check.
November 13th, 2016 at 3:59 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 8:03 PM ^
Or Percy Harvin.
November 14th, 2016 at 12:55 AM ^
November 14th, 2016 at 11:35 AM ^
Their defense is pretty quick and Deveon is just going to be running into guys the entire game. Peppers has a much better chance of getting to the 2nd level on most plays against them.
November 13th, 2016 at 4:23 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 5:58 PM ^
I've been saying this since last year. I said he should be used primarily on offense in the big games to start out. He is the best running back they have and it isn't even a question. They could get by without him at linebacker for 1st and 2nd downs. I'd bring him in on obvious passing situations on third down. Doesn't matter though now. Against the Buckeyes he is going to (have) play offense a ton and stay in the game. No coming in and out for a play here and there. If Michigan loses that game there is no B1G championship game so it won't matter if he's burnt up that game. Not to talk disrepect towards using him like that but he has to have a nightmarish game in Cbus. We've all played both ways in high school for the whole game. No reason the best athlete or one of the best cant do it for one damn game. Get it done Pep!
November 14th, 2016 at 9:46 AM ^
97.1's Valenti rants about this ALL THE DAMN TIME and it kills me to agree with him because he's, well, you know, Valenti.
November 13th, 2016 at 6:59 PM ^
game. He was insane and Harbaugh said after the game (rightly) that if we didn't have Jabrill, we would have lost the game. He's been very good in many other games. This is just overreaction to one game. A game that our defense actually played incredibly well aside from a few run plays and gave up only 12 points, all three scores on short fields that required the offense to barely gain any yards.
If not for complete failure by the offense, we wouldn't be talking about the defense at all.
November 13th, 2016 at 6:40 PM ^
November 14th, 2016 at 11:04 AM ^
I wouldn't necessarily say he didn't show up, although he didn't have a great game, but he is just undersized for the position when playing power run teams. Against an offense that spreads the field, Peppers is able to play in space and make plays. When a team is going to run downhill and get big blockers out in front of the play, it neutralizes his athleticism and he can't hold up to those blocks.
November 13th, 2016 at 1:20 PM ^
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November 13th, 2016 at 7:02 PM ^
We allowed 40+ points in those games and nearly 300 yards of rushing. We allowed 162 in this one which isn't great, but that was on 49 attempts. Our defense gave up 12 measly points on only three scores, all of which were thanks to short fields (the two FG drives barely required any yards to be gained).
November 14th, 2016 at 8:19 AM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 1:20 PM ^
Our linebackers will be faster/better next year right?
November 13th, 2016 at 1:22 PM ^
Devin Bush seems to play with some fire. Seems quicker than what we got now.
November 13th, 2016 at 1:25 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 2:46 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 3:27 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 8:54 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 10:20 PM ^
November 14th, 2016 at 9:47 AM ^
The '70s version, if you will.
November 13th, 2016 at 1:31 PM ^
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November 13th, 2016 at 2:56 PM ^
is going to be one guaranteed. He looks great already, and I'm assuming it'll be Bush.
November 13th, 2016 at 3:24 PM ^
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November 13th, 2016 at 1:22 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 1:23 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 1:46 PM ^
Harbaugh was consistently taking shots downfield and Speight just couldn't hit anything. He tried to do some exotic pitches and sweeps to the outside which got blown up. We didn't play not to lose, if anything we got a little too fancy at times and got away from just letting Evans and Isaac have a shot to gut out some yards
November 14th, 2016 at 12:32 AM ^
Isaac? You mean the one guy that got only one carry for whatever reason.
November 14th, 2016 at 11:39 AM ^
we'd better have some other plan to move the ball. Iowa was limiting our running game. I think we needed to be more creative in getting the ball on passes underneath to guys in space. Maybe try a few screens? Throw to a FB coming out of the backfield? I didn't see enough adjustments by the coaches in this game, especially in the 2nd half.