Neck Sharpies: Unzipped
Thanks to Rutgers Michigan is now merely the #2 defense in the country to favored fancystat S&P+. The Scarlet Knights' 193 rushing yards were the most Michigan gave up all season. In fact Rutgers gained more rushing yards in a single play than Michigan ceded to Nebraska, Northwestern, Michigan State or Penn State all game. Normally I don't like to focus on bad plays, nor things that are unlikely to recur, but Rutgers is so bad at everything than 80-yard run to tie the game didn't even remotely move the needle of concern for a rote washout. It was also the only time there was any threat of Rutgers scoring. And it's a cool play. And people wanted to know what happened. So let's unpack it as best we can.
1. Zipper Motion
The play is a simple zone stretch run with a "Zipper" motion from the slot receiver that forced Michigan's safeties to switch their roles pre-snap and switch again post-snap. Zipper is jet motion that reverses the way it came, and a staple of motion-reliant offenses like the one Matt Canada runs in Maryland, and this derivative.
Zipper motion is really just taking Jet to the next level. Jet motion often reveals a defense's coverage, forces defenders to change the assignments on the fly right before the snap, and creates an enhanced threat of an already speedy player with a head of steam to account for. It also puts them out of alignment, and used correctly can break your offensive players free from whomever the defense wanted to match on them. It's sort of like banging the top of a jar before trying to open it—by crossing the defense you're loosening everything up. By crossing a defense again you're giving that top another bang. The tradeoff is you have to vary your motions or else you're tipping when you're going to snap the ball. Also your motion guy can't have his hips downfield so you're losing a precious moment that he could be threatening a vertical route or blocking. It's not a bad trade, and that's why just about every offense uses motion.
A defense that's screwed down well should be well prepared to handle any Jet motion. Michigan's defense has several methods that they can rotate through on a game- and per-play basis. When they get slot motion in man to man they can have the safeties swap jobs ("Switch") or have the slot defender follow the motion. If they're in a Cover 2 look they'll often just leave everyone where they are or reveal the coverage if they've been disguising it. They can also convert their coverage call, or roll the Viper into it. In general if you get a reaction from the top group it's probably man coverage (or Cover 3) and if you get the bottom reaction you've probably revealed a zone (Cover 2).
Michigan's favorite is Switch, and even though it's a Cover 2 presnap look the original jet motion reveals Kinnel and Hawkins switching their jobs, and when the slot zippers back the other way the safeties are flipping back.
On this play the coverage doesn't matter so much as making the safeties run every which way before the handoff. It's one more thing in their heads, and makes it harder for them to be in the ideal position at the snap because they're on the run. It's annoying because their run assignments are going to change based on where they end up on the play, and because Hawkins isn't nearly as experienced at this.
The safety swapping isn't the main event and only possibly a contributor. I think the zipper motion with their best player, #2 Raheem Blackshear, created the sense among Michigan's defenders that Rutgers intended to get the defense moving one way and Blackshear running the opposite way. Brian argued on the pod this week that no coaches teach their players to overreact to a guy and that's true, but it's college football and Blackshear is the majority of the Rutgers offense; it's understandable that Kinnel would find himself floating one way, seeing Blackshear going the other, and think the play is going to come down to whether Tyree can shut down the edge.
The motion is one of two things Rutgers did to make this play crack open—Pacheko being much faster than Hawkins was the other. Michigan's reaction, however, was bust-tacular.
[After THE JUMP: Laying blame for the thing that didn't matter but was loud anyway]
2. The Tale of the Overzealous Linebacker
Or alternatively: where are you going Devin Gil?
Gil is the linebacker on the bottom who ran himself to the frontside and got sealed there by the Rutgers right tackle. Now, this is a stretch or outside zone play, where the offense is trying to create gaps and the defense's job is stay in them. Technically Gil is doing that, but his technique is wrong given the flow of the play. The replay provides a pretty good look at the snap:
And at the handoff:
Gil's gap is the backside "B" gap, between the RT and the RG. Everybody else is filling theirs. From right: Gary has the edge, Hudson is tracking with the fullback's shoulder, Marshall is controlling the shoulder of the LG, Bush is about to take out the center near the line of scrimmage, Mone is tracking with the RG to make sure the "A" gap isn't going to be worthwhile, and Gil has the backside B with Winovich covering the edge. It's Winovich's gap.
But remember the point of zone running is to get defenders to over- or under-commit. If you're too into your gap you're overpursuing, and that's exactly the sort of thing the offense is looking for. Everyone else in the picture above is on his guy's shoulder, forcing the line to keep blocking, keep shuffling, until eventually the back hits the edge and everything collapses on him. By going past his blocker, Gil has opened up the cutback lane behind him. The RT can seal Gil where he is, and that creates a chunk of space for the back that the next guy down the line might not be in position to do anything with.
Just watch how everyone else plays his gap versus how Devin Gil (#36) played his gap:
Duuude:
Gil is all the way over to the next lane. He's not even watching for the right tackle. If he does, the back has to bounce a lot further outside, and that is precious speed and momentum that his buddies could use to rally.
3. The Return of Freshman Winovich
If you're about to bag on Gil for one play a little perspective: the other side of that massive gap was Michigan's best player. Winovich almost certainly lost track of the ball since after the handoff he stopped flowing with the edge of the line, and set up a couple of yards upfield and several more yards outside to contain Blackshear. If the run action came Chase's way he's responsible for the edge of the defense. Since the run went the other way, Chase's job is backside contain.
Without a blocker, Chase should see the handoff. Giving himself some space outside is fine but he should be bouncing back to the edge of the run here, when the running back has the ball and has already taken two steps with it:
Instead Chase doesn't realize he's got to contain the cutback until two beats later, here:
That's four steps away from the play in pursuit of Blackshear, who's not his job. If Chase stays out on the edge like he should, even with Gil getting blown out, Winovich has at least a diving attempt that probably trips Pacheko up and limits this to a [stumbling Pacheko]-yard gain.
Chasing Blackshear while Pacheko is cutting past Winovich with the ball is just getting faked out.
Winovich did show incredibly speed to be part of the convoy trying to bring Pacheko down later.
4. No Safety Help
The galling thing about this play is if Michigan's safeties can get Pacheko down anywhere before the endzone, Michigan has a great chance to prevent points. Rutgers got 3.3 yards per play when you pull out this one. The hugeness of the gap is one reason the safeties weren't able to assist. A bigger bounce because Gil's doing his job and Hawkins probably gets there. A better edge by Winovich and Pacheko is delayed and Hawkins probably gets there. Not getting caught down in the opposite slot on zipper motion and Hawkins is deep and reading the play and probably gets there.
And if Hawkins isn't slow and taking a bad angle he should get there. This is chase scene is concerning:
First of all Hawkins has to initiate and execute the switch-back much faster. It's the guy over the slot in motion whose responsibility it is to notify his buddy of the exchange. Hawkins doesn't have his arm out until AFTER the handoff.
So that's already bad. He also then cuts off his drop on the hash instead of the middle of the field. That is wrong.
Hawkins then gets the angle wrong. He's already in deep trouble and needs to get on his horse to have a chance of escorting Pacheko to a mitigating place. This angle is aggressive.
Again, Hawkins ought to be thinking conservatively here. If this gets 30 yards, Rutgers still isn't in scoring range and chances are they get no further. He's got some help down there too once Watson is activated against this play. Instead he's trying to make contact at the first down marker. When they get there he's still nowhere close to a tackle attempt and has to change direction. Changing direction takes away speed.
And gets you run by.
That angle was a callback to the bad old Mike Williams/Cam Gordon days. It's the reason Hawkins was so far behind by the time they got to midfield that Pacheko could cut back to the middle of the field, away from Watson and the sideline (credit to Winovich for booking but I'm not counting a DE in the race).
5. What About Kinnel?
There was indeed an opportunity, mostly because Hawkins took so long to call for the switch, for Kinnel to Superman this. It looks like it on film because when Pacheko has the ball and cuts back Kinnel is literally in the lane Pacheko is going to take.
I could be wrong here but if Michigan's defense is working how it's supposed to, in the frame above you would have seen Kinnel already further down and ready for Blackshear to come out the backside, and Hawkins would be well into this frame, ideally between the camera and the running back.
Certainly there's a world in which Tyree sees who has the ball and ignores Blackshear. And it's likely that Winovich's movement even convinced Kinnel that Blackshear had the ball. Either way, given how Michigan usually plays defense and how they were defending this play, I believe anything you got from Kinnel would be bonus; his assignment was Blackshear, and that's assignment enough.
Takeaways?
Since this was Rutgers there were zero other events that seemed likely to generate a score, and zero interesting things that Michigan was going to put on tape, and so here we are focusing on the one bad play. The biggest thing to take away was that this play was an incredible anomaly and in Chase's case, definitively uncharacteristic. This was by far the best shot Rutgers could take. It was also lucky. It landed. I've got a 20-month-old son and while my wife loves to tell people about the time he put me on the ground, that's not quite indicative of how things will go for at least the next…
/glances down
…let's say fifteen years.
This play didn't expose anything unsound about Michigan's defense, or demonstrate a weakness that's likely to be relevant the rest of this year. Outside of Piscataway the highlight will get more airtime in fun-facting the awful running days of the Big Ten contenders against Michigan.
The one thing that bothers me is the non-starter. Hawkins—a true sophomore who moved to Rover from Viper this year—was not very sharp on this play, and did not have the athleticism to make up for it. It's fine because Metellus is expected to play next week and Hawkins is a New Jersey product getting a start against a bad team, and the Rutgersness of the opponent excuses a certain lack of focus.
On the other hand we've only seen Hawkins get a few bits of extended playing time, and this on top of the SMU bust and blerping the winning margin to Notre Dame is starting to trigger the bad old safety feels. Michigan does have to replace Kinnel next year, and though they're bringing in their best safety prospect since Tripp Welbourne next year, I'm sensing a sudden spike in looking forward to Daxton Hill's spring game. It's just one bad play, and I'm anxious to see how the UFR unfolds, and at this point writing off Brad Hawkins would be absolutely insane. But you know how we kind of tread gingerly when it comes to Michigan's passing game because Pep Hamilton is already well in the crosshairs of the segment of the fanbase that always wants to be bitching about something? I'm building a defensive defense for Hawkins too.
Also I'm board for James Ross to start at WLB against Ohio State. Chase…don't do that again Chase.
[Disclaimer: No 1-year-olds were left unsupervised during the production of this article.]
November 13th, 2018 at 11:56 AM ^
Probably not a bad thing Rutgers decided to spring this on us and not OSU. Brown will get it cleaned up, just like the Wildcat that never worked after one snap from one team.
November 13th, 2018 at 12:02 PM ^
I've watched this play a dozen times and still have no earthly idea what Devin Gil is doing. Woof.
November 13th, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^
My guess is he was going for a TFL -- busting on your gap doesn't matter, in theory, if you blow up the play in the backfield. Seth and Brian (on the podcast) went over various scenarios where this could've been stopped for a moderate gain. The defense isn't interested in giving up moderate gains. But that was the trap -- the only way to get to the LoS that quickly from the linebacker level is to overplay it.
I actually gotta hand it to Rob Ash. This play (and their approach in general) was designed to punish a team that wasn't merely going for a win, but for humiliation. They couldn't match Michigan's athleticism straight-up so they went with a pragmatic gameplan that, if Michigan took the bait, would've given them a chance to make things interesting.
November 13th, 2018 at 1:24 PM ^
Seth describes it pretty well. Gil's responsibility is the backside B gap. He's trying to get playside of the OT, who is releasing directly out to him. He's also putting himself in a position to scrape over the top if something happens further playside. The problem is he gets a little over aggressive on the backside trying to avoid the OT from cutting him off (because that's just as much of a killer) where he should probably be using that speed to get down hill a bit more instead of scraping.
November 13th, 2018 at 12:06 PM ^
This has been my favorite segment this year. When we are winning I actually want to read these!
Thanks for the post!
November 13th, 2018 at 1:05 PM ^
It is really nice to read these when we aren't in an eternal BPONE.
November 13th, 2018 at 5:46 PM ^
"What went wrong on literally the only play that went wrong" is a pretty nice place to be.
November 13th, 2018 at 12:08 PM ^
I have been biting my tongue to say this. But hell, here it goes. Hawkins is not a very good safety. There i said it nicely.
During games, when a play goes wrong, i usually see him around the action not making the play. Ever. I know, i know - maybe the Runyan effect can happen here too!
November 13th, 2018 at 1:24 PM ^
I think he's still raw in that position. Remember, he was originally a WR recruit. I think it shows good signs that he's been able to see the field with the defense we have. Also, this play was definitely not his fault.
November 13th, 2018 at 5:02 PM ^
Im hoping for a Watson-like trajectory for Hawkins. And where is Woods in all this? Why doesnt the guy who played safety in HS get snaps over a guy who played WR in HS and Viper last season? Looks like it may be getting late early for Woods.
November 13th, 2018 at 12:10 PM ^
Holy crap that is one cute kiddo!
Excellent work on this, Seth. I always appreciate these posts.
November 13th, 2018 at 12:13 PM ^
Great stuff again Seth. I thought I saw a quote from Harbaugh saying that Michigan made an adjustment after that play, and was able to hold subsequent iterations of this to a yard or two - did you see Rutgers run this play again?
November 13th, 2018 at 1:37 PM ^
I think I saw it once more. My rewatch of the game wasn't as deep as it usually is, and I didn't rewatch the last bit of garbage time.
November 13th, 2018 at 2:07 PM ^
Thanks for another great write up, Seth! Love these for the insight on the "why" rather than just the "what" within the little details of plays.
Is there any way we can get a follow up article on the adjustments that were made to clean up coverage in the subsequent attempts at this type of play? Or is it just a simple "Chase didn't bite on the fake as much and Gil was able to maintain gap integrity" kinda thing?
November 13th, 2018 at 12:18 PM ^
Nicely done, Seth. I am a little concerned not about the scheme of the defense, but the technique of the ILBs. They tend to cross-over and run too early when they should be shuffling. Gil's technique here is a prime example. He should be shuffling and square staying just behind Pacheco's hip but he crosses over and runs. If he had played with correct technique the OT still blocks him, but the lane is not nearly as wide. And, as you said, combine that with Chase playing his gap correctly and that's an unblocked defender at the LOS for at worst no gain. I don't put much blame on Hawkins here. He has to get to the middle and front the ball. From his original alignment, if Hawkins plays it perfectly it's still a 5 yard gain, minimum (assuming Gil and Chase did exactly what they did). Most importantly, it demonstrates that when a defense misses an assignment (Chase in this case), big plays happen. Whenever I see a big play in a football game, I always try to find the missed assignment on D b/c that is the culprit 99.9% of the time.
November 13th, 2018 at 1:36 PM ^
I don't disagree in theory, but I don't think Brown really emphasizes shuffling.
Typically, what we've seen, is one or two read steps and then attack. I haven't at all worked with Brown or heard him talk on this, but based on what other players have done on film, Gil should be taking probably one read step right and forward, and then attacking, but not attacking direct down the LOS (instead attacking at about 45 degrees to maintain his gap and leverage). Different technique, but same idea with regards to maintaining leverage.
November 13th, 2018 at 8:27 PM ^
I went to an ASU coaching clinic (previous coach), and he gave a statistic (that I believe was compiled by the NCAA) that 70% of big plays are caused by misalignment, missed assignment or both.
November 13th, 2018 at 12:23 PM ^
this was on
1. Chase --he didnt squeeze the down block to help Gil and he chased the motion. if he keeps his technique is no gain
2.Hawkins--he should ve stopped it for an 8 yard gain
November 13th, 2018 at 8:29 PM ^
Seems more like Chase, Gil then Hawkins.
November 13th, 2018 at 12:32 PM ^
Could we run this with Evans doing the zipper motion and the handoff to Higdon? Runyan could get out to a LB right?
November 13th, 2018 at 12:35 PM ^
As the play unfolds, Hawkins continues to point frantically to his left (at Kinnel?) instead of moving aggressively in that direction. Why?
November 13th, 2018 at 1:09 PM ^
I think he's trying to signal Kinnel that Blackshear is once again Kinnel's responsibility, i.e. that they need to "switch back" or undo the switch caused by the original jet motion (which Kinnel plays successfully).
November 13th, 2018 at 1:38 PM ^
Correct. Blackshear is a major speed threat and Hawkins is late on his his switch call so he's frantically trying to let Kinnel know he's got to get to Blackshear.
November 13th, 2018 at 12:39 PM ^
I was equally unworried about the outcome of the game when this play happened. All I could focus on was the speed of David Long chasing him down. If there had been 5 more yards, Long would have had him before he scored.
November 13th, 2018 at 5:02 PM ^
The contrast between Long and Hawkins was what popped out to me. I'm sure Hawkins just got caught in the back and forth instead of the sprint, but man the speed difference there was nuts.
November 13th, 2018 at 5:12 PM ^
Yes, Long's speed was impressive!
Otherwise, so many errors made on this play.
November 13th, 2018 at 12:48 PM ^
Not to give too much credit here, but that was a very well-executed play by Rutgers, and it had some very good defensive players who’ve proven themselves all year fooled completely.
You can’t blame one guy here. The D was faked out of the play at all levels.
A successful play only takes a moment’s hesitation by the D when you have a fast back.
November 13th, 2018 at 1:11 PM ^
Rob Shea and company need some credit here too. Rutger did come to play.
November 13th, 2018 at 12:56 PM ^
I'm chalking these up to what I'm going to call "Highlight Reel Sickness". I don't doubt the players' mental preparation, or at least attempts thereof, and I don't think they think they underestimated their opponent. But if Seth demonstrated bad time management by scouting an entire Rutger game, the team spent a week looking at Rutger tape, and saw more of what Seth saw than anyone here would wish to see.
Do that long enough and you can wind up overestimating your own abilities, even as you try to avoid underestimating your opponent's. So Chase Winovich dorfs his responsibility because he doesn't think Rutgers is clever enough to SunTzuball him. Ben Mason bounces after getting a first down because he thinks he can make a play. Gil overplays his gap because he doesn't expect to get buried. Hawkins takes an overly aggressive angle because he doesn't think Pachinko can blow by him. Basically a bunch of players individually decided they could handle more than their fair share and got burned, when staying responsible would've been fine. In each case, it happened once and didn't happen again.
It's the side effect of playing an opponent so bad that you know damn well the coaches are pulling punches. Again, I think they thought they took Rutger seriously, but there's a disconnect when the coaches preach "don't underestimate these guys" then leave the bag of tricks in a Schembechler Hall locker.
November 13th, 2018 at 1:14 PM ^
I was thinking the same thing. Michigan doesn't make these errors against teams they respect. The bust here wasn't because they weren't "up" or "focused" for this game, but rather because they felt like they could turn every play into a SportsCenter clip. Rutgers almost hit a couple big screens for basically the same reason, and I felt the same way about the Mason play you noted (also DPJ on the same drive, where he lost like 5 yards looping back to try to turn a medium distance catch into a huge gain - fortunately he caught the ball well past the sticks and it didn't kill the drive).
November 13th, 2018 at 1:33 PM ^
I forgot about that DPJ play! Yeah, same thing, though he was decently smart and only gave up yards he could afford to lose. But still, there was too much of sacrificing a necessary play in order to make a great one, and Rutger was pretty effective at punishing that mentality.
November 14th, 2018 at 7:33 PM ^
If DPJ doesnt get shoe-laced he scores there and he still got the first down, I'm totally cool with what he did. Mason not so much.
November 13th, 2018 at 3:01 PM ^
I think this is exactly right. The Mason play, the DPJ play, and the 80-yard bust were all of the same type.
November 13th, 2018 at 1:22 PM ^
Great write up here. Good catch from the end zone view that Gil got too far playside. He's trying to run around the LB, but in doing so, opens up a gap wider. This combined with Winovich really makes life extremely hard on the third level because the RB is able to get immediately vertical with no one in his way.
I don't mind Hawkins not getting all the way to the center of the field because of the flow of the zone run. But with the RB not being slowed at all, he needs to take a much better angle. He's taking an angle like he probably usually does when the ball carrier actually has to maneuver a little bit, and that leaves him completely burned. Would like to see a little more make up speed out of him, but that wasn't his strength as a recruit either.
With Kinnel, he's fluctuated between great and bad plays this year, and overall has probably been the weakest link in the defense, but this isn't his problem here. You note a few key things: 1) the late communication in the motion coming back; 2) his starting angle in the center of the field makes it very difficult for him to read the backfield handoff; 3) the reaction needed to cut off Rutger's best player should be noted in his pursuit; 4) that he is likely also influenced by Winovich who should have a good view of the backfield.
I know not as many people like "what went wrong" articles, but I really enjoyed this one. Good level of detail and shows the issues, what needs to be cleaned up, but why it can be cleaned up going forward.
November 13th, 2018 at 1:42 PM ^
Protip: Somewhere around the time your son reaches 15-16 years of age, you have to shift from intimidating him physically to intimidating him financially.
My 16 year old son can now kick my ass, but he knows he still needs money.
November 13th, 2018 at 1:51 PM ^
In short when you can't Chase 'em down and shove 'em in the Kennel anymore, you need to switch to Hawkin' those dollars, but not take an overly aggressive angle lest you lose control of the situation.
November 13th, 2018 at 2:06 PM ^
Just bribe / threaten them with a Bushel of $$$. It won't take Long for them to get the message . . . life is a steep Hill to climb with no money.
November 13th, 2018 at 5:05 PM ^
With no Mone*
November 13th, 2018 at 5:16 PM ^
Teens don’t have bills to Paye though?
November 13th, 2018 at 2:19 PM ^
I’m glad the lack of athleticism shown on this play was addressed. Hawkins in particular was of concern, but both safeties. As far as Rutgers goes, who cares!
But, my concern is when OSU decides to use Martel and a bunch of speedy athletes in space in combo with motion or misdirection.
Thats exactly why a safety like Daxton is such a coveted prospect. If they “only” give up 20 or 30 yards on a play like that, because a superior athlete makes a mistake and is still able to run down the back and make a tackle...shutout.
November 13th, 2018 at 3:02 PM ^
Nice write-up.
Dude, you got taken down by a toddler. Cute. But even worse...
I have a 10-month old. The very first baby book I read him, I didn’t know one of the words. And there was only one word per page and only 8 pages. Foal! MGoMommy laughed at me. :/
November 13th, 2018 at 3:11 PM ^
Dude was in our bed thrashing at 2am because he was popping a tooth. His little head jerked back into the place that made him, and dad was down for the count.
November 13th, 2018 at 3:15 PM ^
Babies always know the weak spots
November 13th, 2018 at 5:07 PM ^
My kid had a habit of tomahawking books into the same place when he chose his bedtime story. It made it easier to voice the girl characters.
November 13th, 2018 at 5:18 PM ^
Roughing the papa, with targeting
November 13th, 2018 at 4:52 PM ^
Even a blind squirrel tricks a safety every now and again.
November 13th, 2018 at 6:57 PM ^
Sorry. Hawkins is too slow to play safety for Michigan.
That was painful to watch. He is a great kid. But either he develops more speed or he grabs some bench.
By contrast, look at the impressive amount of ground Long makes up coming from WAY away from the play. Now THAT is the type of speed we should expect from a DB on a Don Brown #1 Defense.
November 13th, 2018 at 9:32 PM ^
when I saw the play I fingered kinnel exclusively but am glad to have read this.
our safety play still appears a problem. we recruited several like woods and kelly-powell, yet guys like hawkins are playing. am half we are getting hill but man we need to up the recruiting here with heady players.
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