After watching Championship weekend, does Don Brown need to play more cover 2 and cover 3
I think playing so much cover 1 allows offenses to make easy checks at the LOS and for the QB to predetermine where to go to the football before the snap. I think after watching some of the games yesterday Don Brown needs to play more two high safeties. This will allow guys like Daxton Hill to be a ballhawking safety while also forcing opposing QB to have to make reads in real time. Thoughts?
December 2nd, 2018 at 1:48 PM ^
Shirley you know the idea Brown should be fired is extremely difficult to accept at face value after winning 28 games in 3 seasons mostly relying on defense to carry the team.
So what defenses do other top defenses run? What is “the modern college championship defense” and who runs it?
December 2nd, 2018 at 1:49 PM ^
Hyperbole much? Brown ran a lot of zone at Boston College, which is weird for a guy who doesn't know what a zone is.
December 2nd, 2018 at 2:07 PM ^
Agreed. That take is over the top.
December 2nd, 2018 at 2:14 PM ^
Except that we did play some zone this season (that's when a lot of our interceptions happened) including parts of the OSU game.
December 2nd, 2018 at 2:17 PM ^
You really seem to know what you're talking about.
December 2nd, 2018 at 1:43 PM ^
Yes, will it happen? No!!!
December 2nd, 2018 at 1:50 PM ^
He needs to be able to play them all well and disguise them all even better; so he can pull out which one the situation calls for.
December 2nd, 2018 at 1:50 PM ^
Yes. Don Brown needs to listen to a bunch of message board posters.
December 2nd, 2018 at 1:52 PM ^
Nothing is wrong with our defense... We just need to rush and harass the shit out of the QB and we are fine. Every damn time and counter the short/medium throws.
December 2nd, 2018 at 1:54 PM ^
I think the biggest thing he needs to do is disguise what you are doing and not press every down. Make them think you are in man, but play zone and vice versa. Drop back in coverage after faking blitz.
December 2nd, 2018 at 1:55 PM ^
When they play pass heavy offenses that have NFL talent (OSU), yes. When they play heavy run teams (OSU last year) or teams that they have a clear athletic advantage over, no. Really good passing offenses are going to find ways to get their QB time to exploit man defense with no safety help.
December 2nd, 2018 at 1:56 PM ^
my thoughts are - thank goodness we have message board rando available to suggest better schemes to one of the five defensive coordinators in existence.
December 2nd, 2018 at 1:56 PM ^
Jesus, the guy has one really bad game and half of the board thinks he doesn't understand a zone defense and will never change. We can ignore the fact that he coached the #1 defense in America with pathetic talent at BC while running a lot of zone. We can also ignore the fact that he has pretty sinificantly adjusted his scheme in the short time he's been here (3-3-5 stack anyone?). Chill out folks. The world didn't end. Brown has an entire career of excellence that suggest that this was an aberration.
December 2nd, 2018 at 1:56 PM ^
Don Brown's one flaw is that he is so stubborn. He needs to accept that sometimes his base cover 1 is not going to work and he needs to change it up based on the team. He is the best of the best and he just needs to be able to diversify his defense
December 2nd, 2018 at 2:03 PM ^
Yes yes and yes when we are playing equal talent or greater talent like Ohio state it’s a must. Or we can keep doing what we’re doing and get torched in big games, whatever the coaches think is better I’m just a fan
December 2nd, 2018 at 2:05 PM ^
This is like fcuking groundhog day.
During the decade of Rod/Hoke all the fans wanted was "press man" and aggressive defense (as rather effectively modelled by Pat Narduzzi and his crew of steroid abusers and Double A blitzers at Sparty.
If you are going to solve your problems with aggression you need your DT's to provide that level of disruption. If you get that then clear system change (move to a 2 high which has it's own inherent scheme issues) is probably not indicated and you can disguise trap and other scheme modifications to meet your needs.
December 2nd, 2018 at 2:07 PM ^
I know exactly what the best D Coordinator we've ever had needs to do moving forward, for I am a fan on the internet and I watched football this weekend.
December 2nd, 2018 at 2:11 PM ^
"I know exactly what the best D Coordinator we've ever had..."
Once upon a time Jim Herrmann was "the best D coordinator we've ever had." Until he wasn't.
December 3rd, 2018 at 9:54 AM ^
Perfect reply. Yes, Don Brown is Jim Herrmann. Rational take, MGoBlogsman.
December 2nd, 2018 at 2:10 PM ^
Thoughts? You’re a moron and a troll.
December 2nd, 2018 at 2:15 PM ^
No. Solve your problems with aggression. Don’t want to go back to the old bend, don’t break disasters of past defenses.
Our issue at the end of the year was lack of pressure - most likely due to injuries along the DL.
In the last two games, both zone and man were ineffective. You can only cover for so long.
December 2nd, 2018 at 2:21 PM ^
They way they played against OSU . . . is there such thing as Cover 4? How about Cover 5?
December 2nd, 2018 at 2:28 PM ^
If getting blow out at Ohio State isn’t a wake up call for Don Brown, then nothing will be.
December 2nd, 2018 at 2:36 PM ^
Yes, been an issue for 2 years+
December 2nd, 2018 at 3:15 PM ^
Our defensive scheme makes bad to average teams look like they don’t belong. When the other team can matchup with us, out athlete us, that defense gets exposed
December 2nd, 2018 at 4:15 PM ^
Name me a defense that can beat a team that can "out athlete" them!
You and other just talk out of your asses out of frustration but you have no idea what you're talking about. The problem with the OSU game, as I said just below, is that Michigan got into a shootout but forgot to bring a big enough gun. Yeah, the defense go torched, but the offense didn't do enough either.
All defenses "get exposed" because defense is significantly harder than offense. Michigan defense was so freakin' good that it hid many of the offensive deficiencies that still exist -- namely, a weak OL, and QB who doesn't have the pocket presence, the ability to quickly read a defense, nor the accurate arm to shred a defense. Yet all you fools want to do is blame the one unit that was AMAZING and carried Michigan to 10 wins.
So many of you people baffle me.
December 2nd, 2018 at 4:08 PM ^
For the love of Yost some of you people are insufferable fools!
All year long everyone in the CFB world was praising Don Brown for the defense that he put out on the field. But now suddenly he's inept because the best passer in B10 and OSU history shredded his defense? Are you serious?! Sadly, I think you are.
Michigan lost the OSU game because it was a shoot out but it was outgunned. Meaning, the defense gave up too many points and the offense failed to execute when it had a chance to score. Here's the real issue, and it's been the issue for a long time now : OSU has better players, specifically, the QB.
We all thought that this year would be different, that this year we had Shea and the #1 defense in the nation and that was going to put us over the hump. Well, sorry to say, they wasn't up to the task. People can bitch about scheme and play calling, but at the end of the day OSU players MADE PLAYS and Michigan players didn't. I don't have any idea why OSU's seemingly troubled OL became an impenetrable fortress during that game, but they did. I don't know what our elite pass rushers, who were able to decimate every other OL they played, weren't able to get even a hurry on Haskins, but they didn't.
Is it motivation? I don't know, you'd have to ask them. But, this fan obsession with wanting a new scheme based upon every loss is idiotic. Don Brown is one of the best DC's in the nation hands down. Does that mean he cannot ever be beat? Of course not. There was a moment in that game where Michigan needed a a catch, a run, a sack, and INT, and they didn't get it. Is that because Don Brown, or Pep or Harbaugh don't know what they're doing? Or is it because when the chips were down OSU made and plays and Michigan didn't? I know which one I think it is.
December 2nd, 2018 at 4:12 PM ^
I think so. Also, you probably get more interceptions in those defenses.
December 2nd, 2018 at 4:27 PM ^
He's needed to play more Cover 2 for 2 years now. His insistence on single high safety sets just leave us immensely vulnerable to big plays, especially fades.
December 2nd, 2018 at 4:29 PM ^
The one thing people fail to realize is that the corners currently playing are not Don Brown recruits. If you look at the last couple of years when Brown has been recruiting, you’ll see that he likes, tall lanky corners. This type of player can bump and run better than a 5’11” runner. He sacrifices speed for physicality on the outside. The hill’s of the world are not what Brown wants. He wants the sims, green, etc. style corner. We won’t be able to see what he is trying to do until 2019 at the earliest.
December 2nd, 2018 at 4:33 PM ^
In College Football, the WRs have a distinct advantage over most DBs. Offensive schemes also beat coverages regularly. You see a lot of busted coverages in college.
Michigan should steal Ryan Day's playbook and implement a passing offense with run action off of the passes. Crossing routes, get the WRs good matchups.
December 2nd, 2018 at 4:43 PM ^
We're engaging in quite a bit of overreaction to one football game. The only adjustments that Don Brown should have made in The Game were to put Ambry Thomas in for Brandon Watson, and to blitz more. It was apparent after the 2nd crossing route on Watson that he was not fast enough to cover Olave and the others. Thomas is the fastest corner on the team, and his speed could have kept him on the hip of the receivers. Watson is a fine corner, but the matchup just wasn't good for him.
Blitzing more would have been quite risky, but if the coverage holds up, it's high reward. No need to switch the ENTIRE defensive philosophy because OSU had an offensive explosion. The same defensive scheme shut down OSU in 2016, and performed decently in 2017.
December 2nd, 2018 at 4:55 PM ^
How do you know Don Brown watched championship weekend?
December 2nd, 2018 at 6:40 PM ^
Does anyone else feel like Indiana exposed us and osu reaped the benefits?
I think if we played OSU week 5 we win the game.
Shitty circumstances.
Story of our lives lately...
December 2nd, 2018 at 8:42 PM ^
He's pretty much said he only knows 1 way to coach. I think what we've seen is what we'll get. Dominate inferior opponents, get torched by teams with better athletes. I hope he proves me wrong.
December 2nd, 2018 at 9:17 PM ^
Brown's defenses have shit the bed in almost every big game. Get it right or gtfo.
December 4th, 2018 at 8:54 AM ^
I would like to see more zone, especially early in games. I would think playing press man is most difficult early in games against unfamiliar receivers. That coupled with good QB play leads to giving up early scores like against ND, SMU, NW, and OSU. Let our secondary at least get a feel for the game before putting them all on islands. Plus this is always the "scripted" portion of the game and mixing it up at this point on D would make it more difficult for our opponents to come out swinging.