Sam Webb Utah Postmortem: The Drive Killers
I was already on the fence about doing my semi-regular "drive killers" diary after losses this week, but Sam Webb has it covered so that makes it easy
http://michigan.scout.com/story/1453977-utah-postmortem-the-bad-the-ugl…
The rest of the article is well worth a read so click through
Utah Drive Killers
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On Michigan’s second drive after a big 24 yard pass play to Devin Funchess got the ball out to the Michigan 43, an Erik Magnuson holding call made it 1st & 20. The Wolverines were forced to punt a few plays later.
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Michigan’s third drive began with a three yard loss when the Utes blew through the line to snuff out an end-around, and a sack that occurred when Gardner was flushed and his receivers didn’t work to get open. Michigan punted two plays later.
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Michigan’s fifth drive began with a big 12 yard run by Derrick Green to get the Wolverines into Utah territory. A linebacker beat Graham Glasgow on a blitz the very next play to put Michigan behind the sticks again. The Wolverines punted a few plays later.
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On Michigan’s sixth drive the Wolverines did something they rarely do. After losing two yards on a first down run by Derrick Green and losing five more yards on an A.J. Williams false start the Maize & Blue dug out of a 2nd & 17 hole. The big play was a 25 yard skinny post to Devin Funchess on 3rd & 8. The very next play was a slant to Funchess that Gardner threw too far in front. The ball bounced off of Funchess’ hand and was intercepted.
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On Michigan’s seventh drive after a few third down conversions moved the ball to midfield, an overloaded blitz on a play-action pass (that included a fake to a back that wasn’t there) resulted in a 12 yard sack. Michigan punted a few plays later.
- Michigan ninth drive ended on an interception on a pass for which it was hard to determine who Gardner was even throwing to.
September 22nd, 2014 at 1:32 PM ^
September 22nd, 2014 at 1:36 PM ^
I heard he gives killer back rubs.
September 22nd, 2014 at 2:21 PM ^
Miss a lot of blocks.
Never gets his head across the bow.
Constantly looks as if he's asking the tackle next to him what the count is or who he should block.
Get beat off the line EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
Run the wrong routes.
September 22nd, 2014 at 4:24 PM ^
Williams seems to go half-assed...and its enraging....
Same with the punter Hagerup... this "kid" does not deserve to start... he has elite body to punt the ball, and he shanks it 19 times out of 20.. he 'short legs' the punt, and its incredible... it really is... and it feels as if the players are very content with everything that comes with being a player here, despite losing...makes one wonder if its too much about them being "kids"... Hoke always refers them as 18 to 23 year old "kids"... the first lesson as an adult, is that you are an adult at 18... and nothing is free... and they are truly getting something free right now, because people pays lots of money to watch them play which gets them a free degree and everything that goes with it... and also goes with it is performance criticism..... it should be expected, not shielded... its part of growing up... if they cannot take booing like men, then they don't deserve the benefits they get. This misconception is hurting the program.... Bo would have never ever allowed this type of "kid" nonsense.
September 22nd, 2014 at 4:43 PM ^
What does an "elite body to punt" mean?
September 22nd, 2014 at 1:36 PM ^
That ball that bounced off Funchess hand was not too far in front. He easily could have put two hands on it.
September 22nd, 2014 at 1:57 PM ^
it was a bad throw. The slant needs to be "on the numbers" so the receiver doesn't need to break stride (its a freaking 10 yard pass). And the way things are going what happened was the tip and pick. #1 issue on that play was the throw.
Go Blue!
September 22nd, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^
Would be to throw it right at the side of his ribs. This would force funchess to turn his whole body to make the catch. The ball was in a perfect spot right in front of funchess. All he had to do was catch the ball with his hands, and he would have been in stride
September 22nd, 2014 at 4:14 PM ^
tell me where the numbers are pointing when a receiver is running at a 45 degree angle. Christ ... some people ????
Go Blue!
September 22nd, 2014 at 6:12 PM ^
Saturday or Sunday, during any given game, you can see QBs hitting receivers in stride and not having to stretch their arms out in a desperate attempt to catch the ball.
Serious question, who was the last Michigan QB that could do that on a crossing route, or did do that on a consistent basis? I don't know, I do know that it wasn't the last two. Maybe Forcier could do it.
September 22nd, 2014 at 2:23 PM ^
It's not too far for him to catch, but he doesn't have time to react. It's supposed to be a bang bang play. He didn't short arm it, he just didn't have time to fully extend.
September 22nd, 2014 at 2:24 PM ^
It was low and out front. Funchess would have had to make a low, diving/sliding attempt to get it. It very much reminded me of the pass to Braylon in the Rose Bowl that was low and behind him. He didn't make any effort and the ball bounced off his heel and into a Trojan defenders hands.
Both throws sucked equally, as did the receivers sense of urgency.
September 22nd, 2014 at 2:54 PM ^
I said this in a previous thread, but that throw was slightly less than perfect, yes, but still a very catchable pass. The problem with that pass goes back a couple of series when Gardner left DF out to dry by leading him right into an oncoming safety and he got blasted. If that hadn't happened I think DF stretches out to get that pass without hesitation. But because of that pass DF didn't have the confidence in DG and wasn't certain he wasn't going to open himself up to another huge hit. I watched the replay a number of times nad that was definitely in DF's wheelhouse. It should have been caught, but I don't fault him for not extending for it given what happened earlier in the game and left him on the sidelines.
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:26 PM ^
I didn't think of it at the time, but that sounds plausible. It looked catchable to me and I wondered why Funch didn't try harder there. But getting hung out to dry (again) does sound about right.
September 22nd, 2014 at 1:40 PM ^
The funny thing about the situation that drives like these have been creating for Michigan is that we are in the upper third of Division I teams when it comes to yards per play (6.1, per the stats I got from TeamRankings), but comfortably in the lower third on points per play (0.36, which is good for #76 in FBS play right now). They also track a nice metric - yards per point - which is an interesting mesaure of how hard you have to work to score - we would be #96 at 16.8 yards per point.
September 22nd, 2014 at 2:16 PM ^
It's like RichRod without the homerun threat.
Remember how the argument used to be about how many yards his teams racked up, but they could never "muscle it in" after getting to the red zone? At least he had Denard to hit home runs once in awhile. 2014 steps on their own dick trying to get to the redzone.
September 22nd, 2014 at 2:38 PM ^
Oh but no...
Our red zone scoring is 100%
Tell me that doesn't make your forehead go numb with excitement.
If we could just figure out that elusive task of getting the ball inside the 20 yard line we'd be golden....
September 22nd, 2014 at 1:44 PM ^
"On Michigan’s seventh drive after a few third down conversions moved the ball to midfield, an overloaded blitz on a play-action pass (that included a fake to a back that wasn’t there) resulted in a 12 yard sack. Michigan punted a few plays later."
I'll bet the imaginary back didnt execute his imaginary block properly and that's why a very real sack occurred.
September 22nd, 2014 at 1:48 PM ^
But he practiced well all week...
September 22nd, 2014 at 1:48 PM ^
It's great to see so many players doing so many different things wrong. We just need to execute.
September 22nd, 2014 at 2:12 PM ^
Without going into specific plays here are the larger issues for the offense
At the 40,000 foot point of view, against average defenses (Utah, ND) we cannot string together 7-8 plays in a row without obvious mistakes. So that means any drives of >30-40 yards are impossible. Which explains why we stall and cant get into the end zone. If we start at our 30 we can go about 5-6 plays at most without the critical errors. So that gets us over to the other 40 yard line, boosts our stats, has people who believe games are won via stat line versus the score board in a lather, etc.
Second, we fail a lot on 1st down. This puts us in a lot of 2nd and long and 3rd and long. 2nd and 3rd and long are difficult for good offenses. We have a bad offense.
Third, the TFL and sacks are not going away. Utah and ND continue to provide them. The only defense ahead of us that are App State and Miami OH level is Indiana I guess. So every other game we should expect the same TFL and sack issues which implode drives - Rutgers has an athletic DL, PSU has 2 NFL type DL, OSU has 3-4 NFL DL, MSU has multiple NFL DL, and so on and so forth.
Last, turnovers.
That's top level - going closer to the ground here are the issues:
- UM OL rush block has improved to 3/10 from 1/10 in 2013 vs the 2 modest defenses we have played. Green actually looks decent when given a hole. He is not given many holes.
- UM OL pass block has improved to 4/10 from 2/10 in 2013. 4/10 is not great but Devin is NOT running for his life on nearly every damn play as he was in 2013.
- UM QB solely focuses on 1 WR. He will throw to that 1 WR 80% of the time. No matter the result.
- When UM QB decides not to throw to that 1 WR he does some weird things that are different from most of 2013. In 2013 he'd usually sprint somewhere - backwards, frontwards, somewhere - but he'd look fast. In 2014 he looks like he is running at 75% speed. I was shocked at 1 run v Miami of OH he could not gain the edge on MAC type defensive LBs. No idea why this is.
- UM QB holds onto the ball far too long when his first read is not there. Since he does not find 2nd or 3rd reads he should have mindset "if first read is not working begin sprinting immediately or throw ball out of bounds". If he actually looked for 2nd or 3rd reads I'd understand him holding onto the ball and taking sacks etc but he doesnt so I dont get it.
- One of the conferences best TE is apparently not a 1st read on any play outside of the trick play vs Miami of OH because he was a stranger to our QB Saturday.
- We rarely throw deep passes anymore. Gallon used to get 35-40 yard bombs to him most every game. Funchess is not a burner and usually gets his passes in the 15-20 yard range. Chesson is supposedly a burner but I have not seen a bomb to him all year. (maybe I missed one) Darboh seems like a possesion WR. There are not long passes to stretch a defense. That could be on the type of WRs we now recruit or it could be on the play calling being conservative because OC is afraid of results of long passes.
- ...and turnovers. And more turnovers. Lotsa turnovers.
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:03 PM ^
Sounds like we have an inconsistent offense. Seems like I've heard that elsewhere, too.
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:32 PM ^
Well said. These are all of the points that I was going to make. The only other thing that I would add is that DG, in addition to staring down 1 primary receiver, not checking down to other WR's, holding on to the ball too long,etc-- I would also add that many of DG's passes have been very inaccurate, causing the receivers to make off-balanced circus catches, which limits the ability to run after the catch.
September 22nd, 2014 at 4:24 PM ^
There was this team that used to do the whole stepping on it's dick thing... and their coach was the "Big Buck"... He was a "Player's Coach" as well.... and they would inevitibly be plagued with the same type of miscues as they stumbled their way through another season of mediocrity.
The only reason he was able to keep his job so long was that he had a once in a lifetime player....
September 22nd, 2014 at 2:26 PM ^
when Michigan and Michigan fans stop considering holding penalties and sacks drive killers can we possibly move into the 21st century and start to be successful again.
For Oregon (and many other teams out there), a holding penalty is just an opportunity to gain more yards and pad the stats.
September 22nd, 2014 at 3:00 PM ^
That's what the team is saying is the problem. Miscue after Miscue. So from now on out, I will be calling the team The Michigan Miscues.