MSU Snowflakes - The Coaching
October 20th, 2018 at 4:57 PM ^
Don Brown for President. Best damn coaches in the world. Hard fought victory. Go Blue!
October 20th, 2018 at 5:14 PM ^
Warinner too. This line performed admirably against a very strong run defense. Who would have thought 7 weeks ago that we would have success pounding Higdon behind the left side of the line?
October 20th, 2018 at 5:21 PM ^
He can be the VP. :)
October 20th, 2018 at 6:28 PM ^
I gotta hand it to coach Brown . Last year I was disappointed as he seemed unprepared for the trick crap . This year he seemed ready for everything. This defense totally shut them down. Though that td to lewerke...how'd they not know MSU would.pull that . It's classic Classless Mark. So be it . Our D is buzzsawing everyone .And it's without Gary.
October 20th, 2018 at 8:09 PM ^
Don't need Gary...Uche is da man!
October 20th, 2018 at 9:16 PM ^
Passing down's should be Uche, Gary, Dwumfour, Winovitch with Gary shifting inside.
October 21st, 2018 at 10:58 AM ^
Gary is done. Let him go pro.
October 21st, 2018 at 2:51 PM ^
Gary should definitely move inside. Been sayin that! He's quick & powerful, but no matter what he did in some sparq test, he's NOT a quick-twitch edge rusher.
At the next level he's a 3-4 DE, not an edge rusher. How could he do in the Hurst role? Love to see!
October 21st, 2018 at 9:00 AM ^
Don Brown should be rewarded big time for yesterday. Send him to MA this week on a "recruiting trip" couple of 2020 kids he's targeting. Include a couple of tix in the Monster Seats for game 1 as part of his trip. Loves coaching his D, but not as much as he loves the Sox!
October 20th, 2018 at 4:57 PM ^
FIRE PEP
October 20th, 2018 at 5:03 PM ^
Nope. Not even a little bit.
October 20th, 2018 at 5:18 PM ^
Did enough to win today - but no way is Pep maximizing the talent on the field or optimizing the game plan to exploit the weaknesses of the defense week to week. Compare to the run game, which seems to have plenty of wrinkles and adjustments and gets better as the game goes on.
Like Durkin, I think he’s a decent coach but not a plus coach. Absolutely no reason Michigan should not have a plus coach.
October 20th, 2018 at 5:20 PM ^
What, exactly, should he be doing? He's not the one who isn't making throws to open receivers.
October 20th, 2018 at 5:24 PM ^
I agree, but that jet sweep has got to go.
October 20th, 2018 at 5:33 PM ^
Yeah, multiple play calls, especially in the first half/3rd quarter, were head scratchers
October 20th, 2018 at 6:38 PM ^
Alabama has multiple play calls per game that are terrible. You know, because they don't work.
October 20th, 2018 at 7:18 PM ^
Exactly.
After people were shown the value of "Patterson always gives it to Higdon on the zone read" you would think people would get a clue about constraint play and the value of setting and breaking tendency.
October 20th, 2018 at 10:58 PM ^
I'm really hoping I just don't know crap about play calling (which is true) and a lot of what I thought was head scratching was merely setting the stage for later success.
October 21st, 2018 at 12:59 PM ^
head scratchers??? maybe to a pussy that knows nothing about football.
October 20th, 2018 at 5:33 PM ^
Brian brought this up last week - not enough quick downfield passes or midrange zone beaters. Everything is short with minimal YAC opportunity or a long developing deep ball. Too many passing down situations with only one or two options that are both low percentage. We’re playing a ton of teams with hyper aggressive LBs and not really punishing them by attacking the space they vacate. Not punishing soft outside coverage. Perry and Evans, ideal players to fill those gaps, are criminally underutilized in the passing game. Execution by Shea is part of the issue, but it’s not the whole problem
Again, not saying he’s “bad”, but he’s far from the best. Other teams do more with less. He is not the Don Brown of passing offense.
October 20th, 2018 at 5:46 PM ^
Some of the timing on the play action calls makes it less than optimally effective.
Wouldn't mind seeing a few more of the RPOs and fewer jet sweeps. The call and the personnel are too synchronized too, e.g. when you see Bell go in motion you know which is a bit DeBordian.
October 20th, 2018 at 6:27 PM ^
I have a feeling this is coming. We haven't seen much play action followed by passes to tight ends in the seam. That seems like a natural wrinkle especially given what the offense has done so far this year.
October 20th, 2018 at 5:52 PM ^
Perhaps there needs to be more of that stuff (that great play that got Perry wide open where the ball was batted at the LOS, for example) but honestly we need to hold Harbaugh responsible for that. He's the OC. It's not like Harbaugh has ever had a dynamic short passing game here.
October 20th, 2018 at 6:14 PM ^
If you can’t hold Pep responsible for the passing game, why are we paying him to run the passing game?
Didn't watch Pep at Indy but others who have have complained about the lack of short zone beating plays there as well
October 21st, 2018 at 2:49 PM ^
It sure seems like we could do a better job of getting the ball into the hands of our playmakers in the passing game. I marveled at the creativity of the Purdue passing attack. Granted they play a pure spread but they constantly have high percentage throws to guys in full stride with an opportunity for yards after the catch.
October 20th, 2018 at 6:51 PM ^
At the same time too often Shea quickly runs away from the pocket and ignored the entire left half of the field so intermediate routes that are there are ignored by the QB
October 20th, 2018 at 9:39 PM ^
Agree. A lot of the passing routes still seem to take too long to develop. Also, I’d like to see Gentry used more, particularly in red zone.
October 20th, 2018 at 8:36 PM ^
People here seem not to understand the other team is trying hard as well. Shea isn’t going to make every play correctly, but you have to be a complete fucking moron not to see this team is squeezing the life out of the oppositions
October 20th, 2018 at 11:03 PM ^
I'll take it, because it could be a lot worse; we all must know this by now.
October 20th, 2018 at 6:45 PM ^
I was feustrated, but the weather didn’t help. End of the day we are 7-1, with two straight double digit wins vs ranked teams
October 20th, 2018 at 5:15 PM ^
While I wouldn't say fire him, I would say the inability to score on a short field was really the only glaring hole in the offense.
October 20th, 2018 at 5:57 PM ^
Throw the ball to DPJ and Collins! Good things happen--don't be afraid.
October 20th, 2018 at 6:28 PM ^
Part of that is on Shea. As Brian pointed out in the UFR this past week and Klatt pointed out during the telecast today, there are times when Nico and DPJ are one on one and Shea won't throw it. Give your guys a chance to make a play. Heck, on the 3rd down play where Shea was sacked and then Nordin missed the FG, DPJ was open in the endzone. On the replay you could see that as soon as he was going to make his cut to the sideline he was going to be open.
October 21st, 2018 at 2:00 AM ^
Or maybe Harbaugh has told him not to take those risks. Patterson is still new in the offense and has admitted to wanting to become a better game manager rather than gun-slinger/wildcard, so maybe we are just seeing the extreme end of that because we haven't needed anything more than that.
Only time it maybe would've made a difference is at ND and the offense was so discombobulated, especially the line, that it doesn't really count.
October 20th, 2018 at 5:29 PM ^
No. Absolutely not. The plays were there to be made all game, outside of a few here and there, and that'll happen. Shae flat out didn't throw the ball several times that would have sustained drives, one missed DPJ for a TD. Throw in Nordin missing the FG, and the score should've been 31-7, even after the turnover that gave them their only score. The coaching staff is on point, as far as general play calling.
October 20th, 2018 at 4:58 PM ^
Much better in the 2nd half
October 20th, 2018 at 4:58 PM ^
394 yards to 95 yards.
October 20th, 2018 at 5:02 PM ^
That's on the road against a good D in terrible conditions.
Left some points on the field, but... wow.
This team is getting better as the season goes on. I've wanted to see that for years. Wonderful.
October 20th, 2018 at 5:21 PM ^
How's that little bitches!, er, i mean, little brother. I fucking hate Michigan state. Like that annoying case of crabs that won't go away.
October 20th, 2018 at 5:30 PM ^
Chase said after the game that sometimes you have to put little brother back in his place. That will be on their chalkboard for Sparty to stew on til late October next season in Ann Arbor. Personally I love it.
October 20th, 2018 at 6:02 PM ^
Honestly, it's just that particular quote that can bring in the willies. However, there's no way that seeing that particular quote will make the difference between MSU working hard and being fired up for next year's game and not being fired up.
October 20th, 2018 at 6:06 PM ^
Update:
October 20th, 2018 at 8:08 PM ^
As if those idiot Spartys need something to get them more pissed at us. Hating us sustains them as it is
October 20th, 2018 at 4:58 PM ^
We have good coaches. If only they could control the weather, they would be perfect.
October 20th, 2018 at 5:08 PM ^
....but don't we pay Harbaugh enough to do that also???
/jk
October 20th, 2018 at 5:15 PM ^
Another week, more mid game meltdowns on this board. Still Embarrassing yourselves with your Nancy-ness
October 20th, 2018 at 5:17 PM ^
Absolutely. Out game thread was unreadable due to the chicken little. I'm glad our players have better mental toughness than our fans.
October 20th, 2018 at 11:08 PM ^
I admit it. I came out of my dungeon at the close of the game today and told the wife the final score. She said "I'm sorry."
I was like "No, we won!"
"Really?!? Well it sure didn't sound like it!"
October 21st, 2018 at 11:00 AM ^
My neighbor, across the street, said the same thing.