Darth Wolverine

September 5th, 2012 at 1:51 PM ^

I'm not trying to be an asshole, but seriously, who in their right mind (other than Brian and his crew for analysis sake) on this site would watch anything else that has to do with this terrible game? I'm so sick of Sam's and Ira's talking about it on WTKA.

Just let it go and move on to Air Force because this won't be a good game for our defense again. I think M will be able to score a lot of points because Air Force's defense isn't very good, but that is only if Denard & Co. have their heads straight and have let the Alabama game go.

Sten Carlson

September 5th, 2012 at 2:03 PM ^

I think in watching it again, it wasn't as bad as I first thought.  There were some bad no-calls that threw off the momentum and lead to Bama's second TD.  When you go down to a team like them 2 TD's in the 1st qtr, they're going to squeeze the life out of you from there on out.  There were some signs of great things to come, especially in Denard's passing game.  Other might not see it, but I do, and it makes me really excited about the rest of the season.

CLord

September 5th, 2012 at 2:40 PM ^

Actually I watched it.  Because I was at the game and was unable to see the tv perspective to see how it looked from there.  What I saw was a solid game plan actually, just lots of poor execution, and more importantly, lack of experience/talent. A more seasoned receiver catches a few of the balls Devin dropped.  A taller receiver catches a few balls Gallon missed.  How the Roundtree out of bound interception wasn't called PI is beyond me.  That should have been 15 yards for the good guys. 

It may not have mattered given Alabama's offensive line, but this offense could have put up about 21-24 points which is pretty damn good vs Alabama.  I actually felt somewhat encouraged watching this, because in person at Cowboy Stadium, it seemed a lot worse.

I predict we will put 40 on Air Force.

Sten Carlson

September 5th, 2012 at 1:49 PM ^

It's nearly impossible to see as neither shot shows both the moment when the ball is thrown and the moment the shove occurred.  But, it just seems to me that the timing would indicate that the ball had left Denard's just prior to the shove, and it should have been PI.  It was a "bang bang" play, but add that the obvious facemask -- which at least would have resulted in offsetting penalties -- and I felt like the offense got a few bad breaks that really hurt its momemtum.

Sten Carlson

September 5th, 2012 at 2:35 PM ^

Don't put words in my mouth dumble dick.  I said, "I felt like the offense got a few bad breaks that really hurt its momemtum..."  the no-call PI and facemasking in particular.

You can call it what you want, but the offense was actually much better than it first appeared.

Always some snarky douche bag trying to start shit. 

GetSumBlue

September 5th, 2012 at 2:09 PM ^

- Borges says to look at the numbers for a reason as to why we can't run Denard, but we why the heck do we continue to run Smith up the gut? Didn't matter though, we missed on a lot of open big plays

- Denard made 3-4 poor throws on plays that could have been big. Made a few good ones, but mostly poor throws.

- Bubble screens seemed to work the best

- Who the heck is Devin Smith?

- Gardner will be our best WR

- Refs blew quite a few calls

MI Expat NY

September 5th, 2012 at 2:27 PM ^

I'm not so sure some of those Denard "poor throws" weren't problems with the routes on Gardner's part.  A couple deep balls in particular it seemed like he was drifting toward the middle of the field where Denard was throwing toward the sideline.  

I don't think, overall, Denard was as innacurate as was immediately proclaimed by some people.  

MI Expat NY

September 5th, 2012 at 3:46 PM ^

Almost no college QB is going to be perfect, they're all going to have poor throws.  The slant pass, also to Gallon I believe, was easily his worst thrown ball on the day (second INT was the worst decision).  Are you talking about the out/drag route where it wasn't anywhere close to Gallon?  I think there was a defender applying pressure that may have affected the throw.  Still should have done better, but adding touch on a ball he's used to firing has never been his strong suit.  

The only other two poor throws I can think of off-hand were semi-excusable from an accuracy standpoint.  The 3rd and 26 corner route to Roundtree was a tough pass, where Denard was rolling left, setting his feet and trying to throw a perfect pass right before he was about to be drilled.  He missed.  The second was a late deep pass to Roundtree that had no hope for completion and luckily was just too long to be intercepted.  I think it was just a prayer at that point in the game.

Needs

September 5th, 2012 at 2:34 PM ^

Most notable of these is at the 2:19 mark. The Gardner one-handed stab when he could have faded to the sideline.

On the other hand, Denard does make a very bad throw shortly before that on the half-roll that he was so good on against OSU. Fails to set his feet (without any pressure) and overthrows a wide open Gallon. As long as he sets his feet, his accuracy is at least average. When he doesn't, it's terrible.

MI Expat NY

September 5th, 2012 at 3:55 PM ^

I'm not sure which one you're talking about, the rollout to the left where he gets drilled just after he releases or the play immediately preceeding the Gardner deep pass where he cuts his roll-out short in the face of two Alabama defenders?  Neither was an accurate throw which Alabama had something to do with, although the latter throw was more indefensible.  Of course, that's also one of those situations where it would be nice if our best receiver wasn't 5'8" (Gallon did appear to get his fingertips on the ball).

Needs

September 5th, 2012 at 4:10 PM ^

The second one (immediately preceding the Gardner pass), and on another look, there was more pressure than I thought. Denard responds by throwing off his back foot and the ball sails.

Bad throw, but on further examination, the play really doesn't work. I think this is the same play that worked to Dileo in the OSU game, but because the 'Bama defenders don''t bite on the run fake, Denard has two guys in his face right away. His choices are to try a difficult flip over them to Hopkins who's covered by a trailing LB, hit an intermediate route to someone I can't make out, but that is also covered, or try to hit Gallon on the deep out, all of these options with two defenders in his face. B/c the way the run fake didn't work, he's left with a series of nearly impossible throws.  And unsurprisingly, he doesn't complete it. Incomplete was probably the best that could be hoped for on this play.

Guess this shows how important Fitz is to the offense. 

BlueinTC

September 5th, 2012 at 2:01 PM ^

You know...with the exception of a handful of poor passes, a couple drops, and a couple penalties, the offense didn't do THAT bad.  They were playing an NFL defense... and for the first game of the year I can't complain too much. 

They obviously couldn't run, but who can against that defense.  Yes, it would have been nice to try Denard more early on, but he may have been dead.  

I'm somewhat encouraged by the offensive replay.   Our defense, on the other hand, was the real let down, but, again, 3 new starters on the line, Countess out early...no...still not good.

Gallon and Norfleet were my stars.

Thanks for providiing.

Needs

September 5th, 2012 at 2:13 PM ^

I pretty much agree. The running game was a mess, but was probably always going to be a mess with Fitz out. 

In the passing game, Denard made one horrible read - the pick 6 - and airmailed a couple of balls when he had pressure right in his face. He's always going to be susceptible to that since he's so short. He probably shouldn't have thrown the Milliner INT, but that was also probably pass interference and I'm assuming that looked like Roundtree getting an outside release when he threw it. He also struggled throwing non-bubble screens because there were so many bodies in the way.

On the other hand, he threw a great deep ball to Gallon (who looked very good), and three very good deep balls to Gardner (1. Incomplete, stabbed at with one hand when Gardner failed to fade to the sideline while the ball was in the air; 2. deep ball from endzone raked out by Milliner on a very nice play, 3. the TD). He put the early slants right on the money, they were just defended exceptionally well and made a very nice throw to readjust in the pocket to find Gallon on a deep out. He rarely threw off his back foot. It wasn't OSU last year, but it also wasn't MSU.

turtleboy

September 5th, 2012 at 2:22 PM ^

Same here. I didn't want to watch our defense v bama, but this actually looked pretty okay. A couple of catches Gardener should have made, on that first series Devin Smith absolutely got the first down, but on the running plays they didn't block well, and didn't account for a few free linebackers. People were saying Rawls was inneffective, but he had  to get  by an unblocked defender in his own backfield a couple times. The more I watch the worse the officials were. They let just bout everything go for bama, blocks in the back, interference, facemasks, and were sticklers for overturning Michigans fortunes, denying Smiths first down, reviewing denards scramble, overturning the PI call. Insult to injury, nuch?

Aspyr

September 5th, 2012 at 3:38 PM ^

Still going through this but Bama sure seems to know or guess correctly what plays are coming at them. Look at the 1st down play (2nd drive) at 14:21 of the video. They corner blitz right into our run - this may have been a good gain if not for that. Another thing about that play is I wonder if Gardner was to block or continue his route taking the CB with him?

And thanks for posting this.

snoopblue

September 5th, 2012 at 5:06 PM ^

I don't want to sound like I want more from you - but have you ever thought about doing a Special Teams Every Snap Video? I only ask because I want to see the replays of Norfleet returning kicks.