Wisconsin Snowflakes - The Defense
September 21st, 2019 at 3:38 PM ^
They were bad.
September 21st, 2019 at 8:13 PM ^
But, but, but DON BROWN !
September 22nd, 2019 at 2:56 AM ^
I followed Public Enemy's advice after last season and stopped believing the hype. Brown's defenses put up gaudy numbers against inferior competition (as they should have), but once they faced competition with comparable talent, they didn't get the job done.
Look at what Maryland and Indiana were able to do against U-M last year. Michigan came out on top both times, but when they faced actual peers, e.g., OSU and Florida, they got absolutely torched. And this season, with less talent than last? I don't trust this defense to keep U-M in games.
September 22nd, 2019 at 10:40 AM ^
I mean, that's the style of defense that Brown runs.
When you run press man, single high safety looks you are going to suffocate most teams and then occassionally get torched by teams who can exploit one on one matchups. Every defense has pros and cons and that's the "con" of running an aggressive defense where you leave DBs on islands.
But the "pro" is supposed be being solid against the run and generating pressure on the quarterback, and right now we don't seem to be able to do those things either.
September 22nd, 2019 at 8:52 AM ^
yup. don brown isn't tom landry.
September 21st, 2019 at 3:41 PM ^
Why are we playing 3 down lineman this year ?? Especially against power physical running teams ?
September 21st, 2019 at 4:00 PM ^
I imagine it has something to do with the fact that we currently don't have a DT on the roster that is anything better than below average. Carlo Kemp is a complete liability, Jeter isn't any better. I'd rather we roll with Hinton and Mazi in there for the rest of the year. If we're going to get out ass kicked on the inside I'd just assume we let Hinton and Mazi take their lumps right now.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:05 PM ^
I agree. They really can’t be any worse than what is being put out there now. So now they’ll sit this year and take their lumps next year, so wait til 2021 I guess is the battle cry.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:11 PM ^
I lost track of how many times I saw Kemp get a great jump on the snap and be the first one off the ball only to run into a brick wall and end up on his ass in our linebacker's laps. If he wasn't doing that he was slanting himself so far out of the play that he didn't even need to be blocked.
September 21st, 2019 at 7:01 PM ^
This is terrible to say, but after the last three games' d-line performance:
I'm beginning to wonder if the d-line problem mightn't be bigger than the quality and/or play of the individual linemen.
I'm beginning to wonder if some of the step-down in d-line performance mightn't be specifically related to d-line coaching, and especially the change in d-line coaching.
I will not name the Traitor who abandoned us for a team down south. But I'm beginning consider his impact was greater than I'd like to admit.
September 21st, 2019 at 7:35 PM ^
I actually don't think the primary problem with the dline is coaching or scheme. I think the problem is more Jimmys and Joes than Xs and Os.
September 22nd, 2019 at 12:09 AM ^
Your words: "If he wasn't doing that he was slanting himself so far out of the play that he didn't even need to be blocked."
For me, that is not merely a Jimmy & Joes problem.
That is a coaching problem.
September 22nd, 2019 at 9:08 AM ^
You mean slanting himself so far out of the play like Rashan Gary used to do repeatedly?
September 22nd, 2019 at 9:51 AM ^
Yeah the guys 280 - 290 lbs. playing the nose in the 3-3-5! I give him credit for trying but that is a no win situation.
September 22nd, 2019 at 9:49 AM ^
I agree. If you're looking at a 7 or 8 win season then you might as well play the young guys at DT and Hill in the secondary and roll with it.
September 21st, 2019 at 6:48 PM ^
September 22nd, 2019 at 9:41 AM ^
Michigan does not have 4 or 5 DL. That is why they went with the scheme they had. Turns out recruiting and retaining defensive tackles is a relatively important part of fielding a defense.
Michigan is pretty fucked on the DL for this season and likely next as well. Rebuilding that is going to be a repeat of the OL struggles from the first few Harbaugh seasons.
September 21st, 2019 at 3:41 PM ^
The front seven today wasn't helped much by Don Brown, but they didn't play well even when the calls were right.
September 21st, 2019 at 3:42 PM ^
Seems safe to say that many of us (myself included) underestimated the losses of Gary, Winovich, Bush, etc.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:24 PM ^
Greg Mattison?
September 21st, 2019 at 5:44 PM ^
Possibly but lets face it... our interior push last year sucked as well. They sort of maintained while the edge rush stormed in on the pocket
September 21st, 2019 at 3:42 PM ^
I said many times in the off-season I would laugh when I was proved right about our team not being very good and having no depth at RB, DL, LB, or CB.
Well, I am not laughing. Not only do we not have depth but we also don’t have good players starting.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:05 PM ^
Recruiting fails
September 21st, 2019 at 9:37 PM ^
The recruiting fails are also from the massive attrition at DL in general, transfers and departures.
September 21st, 2019 at 3:42 PM ^
Kemp, Jeter and Mason are not the answer on dline. Insanity to keep playing them.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:13 PM ^
Only other options are both true frosh.
Didn't Wisconsin start a true frosh DT?
September 21st, 2019 at 4:24 PM ^
Mason fumbled on offense, was a sieve on defense.
The complete package.
September 21st, 2019 at 3:42 PM ^
- Carlo Kemp is bad
- Donovan Jeter is bad
- Khaleke Hudson has significantly regressed
- Brad Hawkins is mediocre
- I have no idea what we were thinking in short yardage situations
- Carlo Kemp is real bad
- UFR should be fun this week
September 21st, 2019 at 4:06 PM ^
Maybe Brian will give this game the same consideration he did for the last 2 games last year.
September 21st, 2019 at 6:28 PM ^
Those guys will excel against some teams. Horrible matchup for Wisconsin. HORRIBLE tackling today by everyone. Lots of guys were in bad spots for who they are.
September 22nd, 2019 at 8:35 AM ^
Yeah, they were screwed anyway. Also didn't help that the offense held the ball for 6 minutes of the entire 1st half. They're undermanned, undersized and had no help.
September 21st, 2019 at 9:30 PM ^
We are doomed in the middle of the d line !
September 21st, 2019 at 3:43 PM ^
A Sieve.
September 21st, 2019 at 3:44 PM ^
D-line has to get better. Also Dax Hill, please.
September 21st, 2019 at 3:46 PM ^
Dline and defense lacks talent. I don’t know what else to say.
September 21st, 2019 at 3:47 PM ^
Pretty easy to think that maybe Mattison was the real mastermind of the defense. D-Line has taken a bigger step back than we all feared.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:11 PM ^
I think that's a personnel issue. Our DTs weren't great last year either and the same ones are back.
September 21st, 2019 at 3:47 PM ^
I was worried our front 7 sucked.... especially the line backers....
September 21st, 2019 at 3:50 PM ^
The defensive line is largely unimpressive. Would like to see Mazi Smith and Chris Hinton get some more run. I had also hoped that Vilain would start to emerge by now.
September 21st, 2019 at 3:50 PM ^
I don't think the defense was that bad, considering the offense just couldn't stay on the field, particularly during the first half. It was a road game against a quality opponent with an elite running back. They were always going to score some points.
Out of six drives for Michigan's offense in the first half, five lasted <1 minute. Defense is bound to get worked in that type of situation. Need more balance.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:21 PM ^
True. We all knew the D would regress this year. The deal was supposed to be that Gattis would help us stay in games. I mean, we still probably lose, but if we can punch in a TD (or even just get 3) off the bat, you never know what stupidity Crist would try if we managed to match scores.
September 21st, 2019 at 5:58 PM ^
Sorry, can't agree. We could not stop them. They ran for almost 400 yards!
It wasn't just the D-line. Taylor went untouched on his long TD run - where were the LB's and safeties?
Wisconsin played a great game, they really did. They kept us off balance and had some terrific calls and execution (2 examples; That little swing pass to the right where they had their entire team out front plowing the field, and that perfect teardrop on 4th down to Cephus. Beautiful execution).
What really hurt was our complete inability to stop basic running plays. Taylor's great, but their backups all had big runs too. We were dominated at all three levels.
September 21st, 2019 at 6:44 PM ^
At least one LB (Glasgow) was too close to the LOS and got sucked into the guard. LBs need to maintain same distance from the line as the RB. Glasgow didn’t and once the guard got his hands on him, goodnight.
September 22nd, 2019 at 7:51 AM ^
At some point, we have to get their offense off the field. UW had over 41 minutes time of possession. Not that it helps that our offense went 0-11 on 3rd down conversions.
What's tough is that we knew damn well that they were going to smash-mouth us with their running game, with the occasional cut-back mixed in. And yet we had no answers.
September 22nd, 2019 at 4:30 PM ^
Yep. And we also knew our RB situation was dire today, so we weren't gonna be able to grind it out on offense.
To win yesterday, we had to have an effective passing attack and make big plays on offense. Defensively, we absolutely needed to make some stops. Once Wisconsin gets rolling, they're really hard to stop.
Wisconsin made all the key plays today, and we failed to stop them. Damn.
September 22nd, 2019 at 9:05 AM ^
Sorry, not today.
What you're saying is true. The offense is an outright disaster and left our defense on the field for way too long. But we never stopped Wisconsin from the opening kick. The D was bad. Then they got no help and continued to be bad.
September 21st, 2019 at 3:51 PM ^
DL slanted a ton this game to make up for the size differential.
Most of the time the slants were a disaster
September 21st, 2019 at 3:52 PM ^
Don Brown is a one trick pony.
September 21st, 2019 at 3:53 PM ^
We’re in trouble. Our defense is average and our offense can’t protect the ball, move the ball, or score points.
This defense will not win games for us, but they may be able to keep us in a game if our offense can get going.
I don’t know man. This feels like an 8-4 or 7-5 team.
September 21st, 2019 at 3:54 PM ^
Our undersized DL got totally tooled. JT had a day. DBs played the worst game of their careers. 35 points all owned by the defense in a bad all around performance.