Greg Robinson negative observations
Wow, where to even begin?
First off, I understand we have played 8 freshmen on defense but here are a few points that made me scream at the tv.
1. Craig Roh is not a LB. He does not have flexible hips to turn with anyone that runs a route and just looks out of place.
2. James Rogers may be one of the worst CBs I've seen. Every play had him lined up 10 yards off the ball and pointing his hips inside. Not like it mattered that he had to turn his hips all the way around b/c all they did is run outs and stops versus him; because he was 8 yards off the receiver when he caught the ball. There is a reason he was a wr, he has worse hips than GERG to play CB.
3. Why is Terrance Talbot not playing instead of Rogers? I know he has had limited time out there, but I swear he plays 3 yards off the ball and actually hits his receiver. This may be b/c of the scheme affected his placement on the wr but you cannot tell me he has not looked better than Rogers.
4. IF GERG DOES NOT HAVE CONFIDENCE IN ROGERS OR FLOYD AND CHOOSES TO PLAY 10 YARDS OFF ON A 3RD AND 5 THEN PUT IN A FRESHMAN, PERIOD.
5. I would be so pissed off if I was Martin or Mouton/Kovacs b/c the rest of the D is god awful.
October 2nd, 2010 at 9:10 PM ^
I do think we'll be better defensively next year. I won't go so far as to say top 25, but you can see the young guys showing flashes. Even the much-criticized Cam Gordon is starting to make plays on the ball. The problem, I think, is that there are just too many inexperienced guys playing at the same time, forcing Gerg to keep things fairly simple (and thus simple for opposing QBs to dissect).
As for us playing more man and giving less cushion, I'm not sure. It might lead to fewer easy completions but we could see more plays like the beginning of the second half of the ND game. Corner is a position that has to be played with confidence and Gerg may worry about Rogers and Floyd getting beaten too much and becoming tentative.
October 2nd, 2010 at 9:27 PM ^
I am at the point where I dvr the games and fast forward through many of the defensive series because I can't bear to watch the Groundhogs Day disaster over and over again.
October 2nd, 2010 at 7:58 PM ^
I understand it would be enormous pressure, but do you really want to keep watching Rogers play 12 yards off and just get abused all game.
He had a few plays that should have been TFL but he has no agility or hip flexibility to make the plays. I do understand that Robinson's hands are tied with his players, but take a chance and play the freshman more. Obviously what you're doing right now is not working (giving up 400 yards/game).
I have been paying attn to the offseason and knew we would be very very short on experience at CB. My complaint is that if Rogers is so terrible that you don't trust him, how are you worse off by putting Talbott in his place?
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:09 PM ^
yes now please stop bitching. Talbott will probably slowly take time away from Rogers but as of right now Rogers has made no huge mistakes and is doing an adquate job. Im sure Rogers has some agility too since he is one of the fastest defensive backs.
October 3rd, 2010 at 8:58 PM ^
Agility has nothing to do with speed. Agility is making cuts and turning your hips quickly for DB, both are qualities James Rogers lacks.
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:01 PM ^
We could have lost and we didn't. Everyone needs to get some rest because our O is good enough and our D is bad enough to put us through it again this weekend vs Sparty. Just enjoy the win. Go Blue!
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:03 PM ^
You do realize that, when Terry is 3 yards off his man in the slot and Rogers is 10 yards off his guy on the outside, there's a coaching reason for that - right?
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:06 PM ^
Why was Floyd not on Doss and lining up in the middle of the field or playing safety quite a few plays?
Obviously I knew that about Talbott if you read my original post. I'm just saying, at what point will GERG put in another CB on the outside wr? I get, the bend but don't break philosophy but you just gave up almost 500 yards in the air.
This worked today, but don't think that will work versus a more balanced team, like an MSU, Iowa, etc.
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:11 PM ^
They might be more balanced, but nobody is as good as Indiana at passing the ball, so we've got that out of the way.
If you want to know so badly, I would really suggest sending the coaches an email or telegram or something. The coaches are dealt a hand full of freshman, sophmores and a 5th year senior in Rogers who flips positions every year. What difference did it make if he was lined up in his face? He got burned on a sluggo route for 50 yards too. Better to let them bleed you and hope they make a mistake, as opposed to getting your head chopped off trying to play this "bump n run" coverage everyone is pining for.
You knew how bad this defense was in the preseason. Don't be surprised when they come up short all the time. How about praising them for all the second half stops, and the amazing play of Martin and our 3 man rush?
October 2nd, 2010 at 9:40 PM ^
You had me with Telegram.
I am imagining the critical fan busily typing said telegram:
TO: Gerg.
RE: Defense
GERG you need to adjust the defene before we get killed by B10 teams. (Stop)
GERG current coverages are UNACCEPTABLE (Stop)
GERG your bend but not break philosophy needs to stop (Stop)
Regards,
Angry guy who swears behind Clarkie's kids at games.
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:03 PM ^
I was hoping for 5-0 at this point, but I'll take 3-2. Winning makes me full of angary.
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:04 PM ^
I don't know enough about football to really criticize, but goddam they threw the ball 64 times and very few were deep shots. I saw virtually no adjustments throughout the game on our denfense's part (maybe a few more four-man rushes in the second half). They kept doing the exact same thing in the form of 12-yard patterns. We kept failing to stop it via soft zone. You'd think in 64 pass attempt we'd at least get one legitimate pass break up. But I can't think of one. How is that possible?
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:08 PM ^
It seems as if GERG refuses to make adjustments until halftime and he still didn't really make too many after halftime this game.
I'm far from an expert but they were running the trip formation wr set at least a dozen times. Why not get a CB on the line and hit that first receiver and disrupt their timing?
October 2nd, 2010 at 9:18 PM ^
you guys wanted Gerg to "make adjustments" so we'd start giving up the deep ball more?
patchwork D = frustrating, today, frustrating also = close win.
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:06 PM ^
October 2nd, 2010 at 9:42 PM ^
elitism
now.
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:23 PM ^
While I am not advocating a zero D policy, my take is to pressure the ball more (tight man to man coverage) an play 2 deep over the top.
We should be reasonably confident that our Offense can score on just about anyone at a higher rate than anyone else. Therefore I would want to increase the number of possesion during a game. If the other team scores quickly, fine, just give me the ball back.
I know that this site has done studies on TOP and how it correlates to wins, but we can not keep "letting" the other team hold the ball from us for 40+ minutes a game.
More possesions means more opportunities for us to score.
I fully realize that this is not true championship football. But it utilizing our strengths and dictates the games into our favor. With this team, I would welcome a track meet type game and if we can make at least a couple of plays on D during that type of game, then good for us.
Playing soft zone and letting the other team roll us for 550+ yds in offense and 40+ minutes of TOP will lead to a whole lot of losses (this game being the exception, not the norm)
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:24 PM ^
Surprised how many times Doss was wide open. How bout an adjustment, GERG?
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:29 PM ^
Go find some DBs who can cover Tanden freaking Doss and maybe Gerg will think about it. There's no shame in getting burner by an awesome player.
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:49 PM ^
Precisely. The only adjustment we could have made to slow down Doss was "adjust" his ankle. He's good, he burned us, the sky is blue.
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:38 PM ^
anybody notice that the only CBs who played closed to the LOS were the freshman CBs, Avery and Talbott? This tells you a lot of what the coaches think about the CBs in general. Floyd and Rogers aren't a true CB and doesn't have the speed(Floyd) nor the hips(both) to line up close to WR. The talent is at the backup positions, but the problem is they're true freshmen.
Craig Roh is not good at dropping back and seems to have his head spinning in dropback. Chappell was picking at Rogers and Roh. Rogers and Floyd keeps dropping back to gain depth but when you have WR in front of them, they shouldn't be dropping back this far IMO.
The 3 man rush was Michigan's best defense unfortunately. They couldn't get much done with 4/5 man rush because they were abused with quick passes from Chappell.
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:44 PM ^
It's basic formation strategy. The outside corners always line up, the slot corners cover the shallow field.
October 2nd, 2010 at 9:00 PM ^
but when they see WR in their vision, they shouldn't keep dropping back especially when there's no one covering them. My guess is they're instructed to keep gaining depth regardless of the WR in front of them to prevent big plays.
October 2nd, 2010 at 8:40 PM ^
so now you can be the defensive coordinator for the state game. allowing more than 150 yards passing is UNACCEPTABLE
October 2nd, 2010 at 9:04 PM ^
First and foremost. I actually saw history today, I may never see this type of play again (Denard)
Secondly,. any type of analysis from all of our arm chair Athletic Directors means nothing. We will see improvement when the kids grow up and when they get depth period. Now see if you can enjoy this WIN
October 2nd, 2010 at 9:22 PM ^
I bet the mgoServers will blow up if we actually LOSE a game. Geez.
October 2nd, 2010 at 9:36 PM ^
and he said something to RR... I would give anything to know what he said.... It had that panicked look like "it wasn't my fault don't fire me" or who knows it may have been "I told you they'd knock it down"
October 2nd, 2010 at 9:44 PM ^
"God Dammit coach, I'm going to get roasted by fans at MGoBlog losing perspective that we're 5 and 0 and can't celebrate a great victory for even 3 hours"
October 2nd, 2010 at 10:35 PM ^
It was not a "great" victory..man have the expectations went down or what. it was f'n Indiana we should win that by at least 2 TDs. What the hell is wrong with you. or D is pourous,,James Rodgers sucks..we get little to no pressure. I understand the D is young but damn, at least play the freshman..
October 2nd, 2010 at 10:37 PM ^
Rodgers Shaffer Rodriquez Woolfork et al
October 3rd, 2010 at 2:32 AM ^
"you won, you did it"
October 2nd, 2010 at 9:39 PM ^
I can't understand why the UM coaches don't check in here often to learn about all of this good stuff.
October 2nd, 2010 at 9:44 PM ^
This is a really "hip" post
October 2nd, 2010 at 9:46 PM ^
Seeing no improvement or adjustments = blame on the coaching staff. Ben Chappell completed 46 passes on our defense and only a couple of them on more complex routes then the simple slant, the simple dig, and the simple sluggo (slant/go). Playing our corners off the ball 8-10 even 12 yards off the ball is getting us nowhere at all. This defense is broke but GERG refuses to fix it. You think Saban would just say oh well we can't do this so I'm just going to run the same bs soft zone and let Ben Chappell look like Peyton Manning against us? NO!! Hell neither would majority of coaches in this country. RR needs to get on the defense hard and let them know that todays performance was again, un-bearable.
October 2nd, 2010 at 11:12 PM ^
I know this is a horrific yardage defense. We are giving up big yardage to everyone we play, and are giving up pretty big points too.
Yes, this is year to of teh gerg. We would like to see better than this.
I think, however, there are better things in the future.
First, next season we'll have Troy Woolfolk back. Having 1x shutdown corner would have turned IU into a blowout. (add Donovan Warren on top of that and then what?)
Second, look at the youth. Think on offense the difference between freshmen and sophmores, and sophmores to juniors. Imagine Cam Gordon with all of the instincts and picks with none of the youth mistakes.
I think the defense is moving in the correct direction - just give it some time. If we can stop the run alone that may be enough for State anyways.
October 3rd, 2010 at 2:15 PM ^
I've never been a fan of the 3 3 5, but if they're going to use it then they need to be much more aggressive.
November 4th, 2010 at 1:44 PM ^
umichjenks: vindicated.
