Greg Mattison

From today.

Opening remarks: “Well. We have another big one ahead of us. This next one, I guess you’d say that every game is really really big, but I think this one will pose a real challenge to our defense because they’re like three offenses in one. They’re a power attack -- their running back is a really good downhill runner. They go from that to being able to be an option attack with the quarterback. I think they have 4000-some yards, and 3000 and some of those are the quarterback and the running back. You see where their offense is. It makes the defense have to be sound in all phases. You can’t load up and play the power because you may be getting optioned. You can’t go in there with an idea of being a finesse or assignment totally or you’re going the power run right at you. This is going to be a big test. And he can throw it. He’s put some yardage on people. The last thing they do that challenges your defense is they have a fast pace, so they do that to try to get your defense so they’re not in great alignments. Just to be a little sloppy because they hurry up and if you’re not a real disciplined defense, you don’t get set correctly, and you know as well as I do that we’re not good enough to not be perfect in our assignments and our alignments.”

After rewatching film, are you still as happy with your defense? “Yeah. I watched the film and we were very very cirticial while we were watching film, but Michigan defense is built on … up front, you play aggressive. You knock them back, you are physical, you rush the passer. Secondary, you challenge receivers. As a defense, you swarm and tackle. For the most part our guys did that during the game. It’s never perfect. Obviously coach always wants us to have a number of clips good and bad to show the whole group on Sunday. Yeah, I probably could find some bad ones to spend more time than he gave us. There was improvement. I just really was proud of how hard we played and to be able to go back out there and stop them again and stop them again. That’s what Michigan defense does, and that’s what we’re going to be called upon to do if we’re going to be a Michigan defense.”

How big of a concern is tempo with Nebraska? “That’s a concern. Any time a team tempos you, you have to find out how mature your defense is. You have to be a very discipline defense, and you have to be a tough-minded defense to know that you’re going to get the call at the spur of the moment, and you have to line up at the spur of the moment, and you have to play. That’s something our guys have already addressed with them.”

Does chasing Denard in practice prepare you for Taylor Martinez? “Yeah, it’s a different deal, though. Chasing Denard around is really -- that’s after the fact. It’s a different play. For us, it’s going to be getting set, play your assignment, and then if you have to chase him around, chase him around. That’s why it’s different. Brady does drills with our guys every Tuesday after practice -- chasing the rabbit drill with our defensive linemen. That’s emphasizing what you have to do, but that doesn’t happen in the game like that all the time. It’s a lot better playing against a Denard than it would be playing against a drop-back guy all day for sure.”

(more after the jump)

Does it help that you already played Northwestern? “Yeah. There’s a number of teams we’ve played that run parts of that. That’s one thing you find when you play teams that run a form of the spread that you’re going to get those components. There’s some carry over. But, like I said, this team’s going to line up in the I and run power. Their favorite running play is the power or the sweep, so you have to be ready to play that also.”

Ryan Van Bergen said he was freelancing a bit on the D-line. Can you talk about what he was doing with Mike Martin in there? “I’ve always done this, and when you have guys have earned the respect and earned the trust -- I shouldn’t say respect, I also respect these guys, I guess it’s trust. Trust to know that they’re not going to put themselves ahead of the team and that they’re a very very intelligent. Mike Martin and Ryan Van Bergen are as vested in this defense as any players. They’re the ones that have gone the long road and stuck with it and battled and now have been the leaders. We said to them in the game, I would call possibly a four-man pass rush game, and that might waste two guys. So you always want feedback from guys like that. Ryan and I have a very open relationship as Mike and I do. I said, ‘Guys, you’re out there playing, and I’m not. If there’s something that you see, then let’s talk about it.’ Well he came off and said, ‘Coach, we can call games or not games just inside the two of us. You’re going to call four-man, then great. Go ahead.’ They did a great job of it.”

MGoInterjection: Is that what happened on the safety Mike Martin got against Purdue? “No that was just great technique by him and him coming off the football.” Mike mentioned that Van Bergen tipped him off about how Purdue's O-line was going to slide their protection. “That’s the maturing process that you’re seeing. Great defenses, if you’re ever out there with them, it sounds almost like a stock market. Guys are saying, ‘This guy’s up! This guy’s up! The tight’s split! Tight’s split! Closed split! Closed split.’ And you have the linebackers saying, ‘The back’s far, the back’s near.’ That’s great defenses. That’s what happens. And then the secondary’s talking about ‘Cut split! This guy’s split!’ Well, first few weeks it was like a morgue out there. I mean, come on, talk! And the guy’s going, ‘Oh my God.’ Now you’re hearing it. Now you’re starting to, when they get the signal, you can hear guys talking about, ‘Hey, this guy’s here.’ Well, they’re putting in time. They’re coming in whenever they can legally and sitting down with their coach and going through film one on one. I mean, that’s the thing you mention after the game why I’m so proud of this team. Because they’re becoming a football team. They’re becoming a defense. Now, we have to show it again Saturday. We have to do it again Saturday. We all know that. But where they come from to becoming a defense not just knocking somebody’s head off out there. It’s talking and taking care of your buddy, and when you make a mistake, not hanging your head, coming off and getting ready for me to rip them, but them saying, ‘Okay, coach, I got it.’ And then you not having to yell at them because you know it means something. That’s what happens when you have a group that’s come together, and that’s what this team is starting to do.”

You’re starting to move Mike Martin everywhere like you did in the spring. Is that part of the trust process? “No, that had nothing to do with trust. It has to do with scheme. We always want to put our best guys at the best place where they can best help that defense, and we felt that Mike Martin playing in some certain different positions than just over the center might be harder for the offense. He’s always been intelligent enough to do it. He showed it in the spring right away when we got here. We really didn’t want to do that all year. We wanted to save some things and gradually just throw something in every once in a while. You don’t ever want to give a team the exact same thing. We try to do that where there’s always something a little bit different that maybe causes them problems, you hope.”

Do you allow your linebackers or secondary to freelance a bit like that? “You don’t ever want to do that with linebackers or with the secondary. Secondary you can do it a little bit by changing where you align and going back, but you do it more with the defensive line. And linebackers, you almost have to be in a perfect alignment to get the job done. Secondary can disguise a little bit. I don’t know if we’re ready for that yet. I think you still want to play really really sound football. I’d kind of like sometime to get out there and call the same defense about 30 straight times and just see how good you could be. Then you know you really have a good defense. But offenses nowadays won’t let you do that anyhow.”

Has J.T. Floyd evolved as a corner? “There’s been a lot of plays throughout the year -- JT Floyd’s been out on an island all year playing against usually the best receiver all year. You know, there’s been some good and there’s been some that haven’t been so good. This happened to be one of them, but that’s a real credit to him. Here’s a guy that every step he takes, he gets coached on the practice field. Everytime he doesn’t go hard, he gets coached. All of a sudden, everything went pretty good for him. Wasn’t perfect, but it went pretty good for him. We’ll find out what happens this next Saturday. You’re really a good player and a good defense when you do it week in and week out.”

Is it different that you’re going to be playing two teams that aren’t able to throw the ball as well as some of the others? “Well, you wouldn’t say they’re going to throw it all over the park, but then it makes JT be a run defender. Now we’ll find out if you’re that kind of a football player. It’s the same thing. He’s got to switch gears and go now from just a cover guy to being a physical football player. One thing these wide receivers are is very very physical, almost past the limit. So that’ll test us.”

How would you assess Kovacs over the past month? “Pretty darn well. He, like I mentioned Mike and Ryan -- in the back end, there’s Jordan. He’s one that if you heard that, if you were out there in the middle of that field, you’d be hearing him talking almost as if he’s a coach out there. He’s the guy that is real vocal as far as where to be, how to get lined up, and I mean there’s a guy that maybe some guys would have just come back this week whereas he’s played a couple weeks already. He’s a tough kid.”

Is that maybe more important than his raw production? “I don’t think you’d ever say it’s more important. That allows a guy to play up to his ability. Intelligence is one of the biggest things a defender has to have. It allows him to play at his best ability then.”

What kind of growth have you seen from Van Bergen? “Well I think the whole group, I wouldn’t use Ryan just as an example. I’d use that whole defensive line. We preach it all the time. Technique. Technique. You sit and watch them in the games, the same way they hit the sled, the same way they do the drills is what you see on film. That’s football. Nobody in this league is good enough to play without technique. Us especially. Jerry Montgomery does a great job with the defensive line, and they get the head football coach at the University of Michigan coaching the position. That’s a pretty good deal. Brady happens to be one of the better, if not as good as there is a defensive line coach there is. You’ve got pretty good emphasis right there.”

With Martinez and the option game, how much of a focus is gap integrity and containing the edge? “Huge. Whenever you have an option team, responsibility and doing your job is critical. You saw it last week. We had a couple of times where we didn’t take the quarterback. Well, those two kids that that happened with took it probably 70 times in practice. After practice, individual -- did it perfect. And then all of sudden there’s that moment in the game where that back looks real intriguing and they want you to bite on that cheese, and they did and the quarterback kept it. So you have to be really disciplined playing a game like this.”

Did you have to break Van Bergen like you broke Craig Roh? “No, just be consistent with -- the difference with Craig Roh is I have him one on one. One thing that you appreciate about this defense, and they know this is how it’ll always be here -- you can’t have skin like a baby rabbit in our room now. If you do you won’t make it. We even put up a picture of an armadillo early in the year because you better have that kind of skin. It’s never personal, but I don’t care if you’re a four-year starter and an All-American, the bottom line is what you see on film, it is going to be corrected, and it is going to be addressed. That’s what you kind of appreciate about these guys is they’ve gone through the transition of not having their feelings hurt and going, ‘Coach, I got it.’ Okay, here you go, and you move on. That’s Michigan football. Brady does it with the coaches. You better not have skin like a baby rabbit around him. He’s going to tell you you didn’t do a good job on that. That’s all you ever want when you’re working is to be told what you can do better.”

Is there a moment you had to do that with Van Bergen? “Oh yeah. Van Bergen’s sat in that meeting, and he’s heard us all say that’s not good enough. Why are you doing that? That’s not good technique. There’s not a guy on that defense that’s had 100% on their grade sheet yet, so there’s going to be some corrected.”

Has Brady done that to you? “Oh yeah.” What’s that like? “I know one thing -- if he ever does it with, he’s doing it to help this team, and that’s all we ever care about. I mean, he’s not going to say, ‘That’s the worst job I’ve ever seen.’ Now he could. He’s the boss, and thank goodness. He says, ‘What do you think about this blitz?’ Or ‘Why are you doing … ?’ You’re going to listen. That’s how you listen.”

Is it weird that you were his boss at one point? “No it’s not weird a bit. Not the job he’s done. Are you kidding me? Whatever he wants to say, I’ll listen. We’re here to try to make this [team] successful and win games.”