Western Michigan Snowflakes: The Defense
September 8th, 2018 at 3:18 PM ^
A+. Dominant performance against a good MAC offense.
September 8th, 2018 at 7:55 PM ^
Over-all strong performance by the Defense. They get an A but remember this was against a pretty good WMU offense. Not the upper level talent these guys are going to see. Actually WMU was able to move the ball, but they couldn't put points up. I think better teams will score if we don't sure up the soft areas (Safety).
Once again Josh Ross was fantastic, Bush great as usual, Hawkins is improving fast, Anthony snuck in a sack. Kemp, and Mone did a great job in the middle and that wasn't off side by Ambry BTW. I'm still waiting to see Gary have a monster game where he totally dominates. He gets 3 sacks 10 hurries, 12 tackles, a tipped pass, a fumble recovery, i mean he single handedly takes over the game and no one can stop him.
Go Blue!!!!!
September 8th, 2018 at 3:21 PM ^
Have to see the UFR, but it seemed to me both Hawkins and Ross played well. Great to see. I don’t want to bury Metellus, but he had a few bad plays; I can see Hawkins taking his job down the road.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:21 PM ^
Hawkins looks great, that one play last week aside.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:24 PM ^
I'm really high on Hawkins. He comes down hard on running plays and is better than Metellus in coverage IMO.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:32 PM ^
Could be telling that Metellus was in at the end with the backups and Hawkins was not.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:37 PM ^
I thought that, too. Is Mettelus the dumbest guy on the team??
September 8th, 2018 at 3:51 PM ^
I'm getting sick of his mental mistakes hurting us at key times! Coaches share the burden of responsibility here because they need to drill this shit out of him!
September 8th, 2018 at 5:01 PM ^
That’s not a very nice way to ask that question.
September 8th, 2018 at 9:47 PM ^
Ouch!
September 8th, 2018 at 6:11 PM ^
It could also be that it's good to have someone on the field who has been there and done that to keep an eye on the young ones to make sure they're lined up right.
For you guys questioning his intelligence, too bad you can't do that to his face. He's a young man about to have a degree from Michigan. Fuck you.
September 8th, 2018 at 9:46 PM ^
I thought Hawkins was playing at Kinnel's spot at the end (when Metellus was also in there).
September 9th, 2018 at 12:27 PM ^
It looked like Hawkins came in for Mettelus right after Mettelus committed the personal foul. Hawkins played well.
PFs are one of the most frustrating things to see. It’s a lack of discipline and it’s selfish. Good on the coaches for sending the right message.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:21 PM ^
Please stop getting stupid personal fouls
September 8th, 2018 at 5:55 PM ^
I can see this playing out in my mind right now. We have a 4 point lead on OSU, late in the 4th quarter. They have no timeouts. They're driving. They're inside our 40, and it's 4th and long. One stop and the game is over. Haskins drops, he throws. INCOMPLETE. Mgoblog goes 404. Muppets rush the field. But there's a flag on the sideline. A late hit is called, AFTER the play. The correct call should be 15 yard penalty after the turnover on downs, but the refs get it wrong and give OSU a first down. Next play is a touchdown. Michigan loses.
September 8th, 2018 at 6:32 PM ^
So you’re the knowledge
September 8th, 2018 at 9:06 PM ^
You're gonna give me nightmares. Dick.
September 8th, 2018 at 9:50 PM ^
That's just the PTSD kicking in again.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:22 PM ^
The offsides call on Thomas was bullshit.
September 8th, 2018 at 5:02 PM ^
I thought so too.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:23 PM ^
Looks good. DT is obviously thin. Dwumfour doesn’t seem to be the guy we thought he was. I was hoping our whole DL would be nearly par with Bama and Clemson and it obviously isn’t.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:25 PM ^
DL did a great job. Dwumfour played well. Unduly harsh post.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:46 PM ^
No one can say the DL is bad or a weakness. Not even close.
But compared to last year it so far seems like a small step back, at least in terms of disruptively blowing up plays by being into the backfield super fast.
OTOH they totally dominated the LOS today.
At the same time it is not right to render a verdict after just two games.
September 8th, 2018 at 4:00 PM ^
D line is a step back from last year...at least in the first 2 games. Will see how they gel in a few weeks when B1G play starts.
September 8th, 2018 at 4:34 PM ^
My thoughts after today exactly, This is a solid defense that won't make things easy for most teams, but they are not a disruptive defense, and don't blow up a lot of plays or give the offense many short fields. The Dline is definitely a notch below expectations.
September 8th, 2018 at 6:12 PM ^
I prefer to use the phrase "on the OTHER other hand..."
September 8th, 2018 at 3:27 PM ^
I only noticed one Mo Hurst like play where he knifed past the OL to make a tackle. There was one play where he got past the OL to make a TFL, but whiffed on the tackle.
September 8th, 2018 at 4:25 PM ^
Carlo Kemp got the majority of 1st Team reps alongside Mone. Kemp looked real solid. Held the point of attack and penetrated every now and then. Huge development given Solomon’s injury.
September 8th, 2018 at 6:18 PM ^
Half of it is.
September 8th, 2018 at 6:24 PM ^
On the play where their QB slid short of the 1st down Marker in the 3rd q, MD got washed out of his lane which allowed the lane to open up. That was the only negative play that stuck out to me when watching the game.
He doesn’t have the size to hold up to double teams. Thankfully, Mone and Kemp are able to do this. Hopefully we can get Aubrey back and repping through before msu.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:30 PM ^
Defense looked like the bully they should be most of the game, completely imposed their will at times.
DT depth is alarming. Mone, Dwumfour and Kemp are basically all we have and they're all just guys. Jeter and Carl Meyer after that right now. Yikes.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:38 PM ^
Kemp looked better than Dwimfor even though Dwumfor got all the preseason hype.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:44 PM ^
Dwumfour and Kemp are seeing extensive playing time for the first time. They played well. WMU had nothing going up the middle.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:49 PM ^
Most of that was the LBs filling aggressively. They were fine, held up but didn't make plays much either. Supposedly Western's interior line is supposed to be decent, so maybe that's it. My concern is mostly on pass rush, they don't collapse the pocket and get out of their lanes a lot. Better teams with mobile QBs will punish that like ND did.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:31 PM ^
I believe Singleton got his first career sack.
Josh was all over the field really looks like a good LB. The defense played well outside of some penalties.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:38 PM ^
I believe it was Anthony not Singelton.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:44 PM ^
I think it was Anthony. Also Anthony looks to be a solid force, he went toe-to-toe with a lineman and drove him back nicely.
Ross played well, slipped inside a lineman and made a nice hit where the he didn't go backwards (listed in the ~220lbs range, and he may be, but he looks like he could almost fit with the DBs)
Jeter looks to be a nice size. Filiaga got some great push.
Uche looked FAST. And at 238lbs, he'll be valuable. Seems like the LB position is well-stocked going forward, and we haven't even seen Singleton yet.
Lot of young guys got to see snaps, that was great to see. Although everyone say we're not exactly "thin", we're also not exactly stocked with upper-classmen the way some teams are.
Team played very well. We truly haven't had a potent offense in a long, long, long time.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:32 PM ^
A+ Defense played lights out and shut down WMU on every level. Tackling was finominal! If we can improve inside DL gap assignment/lanes, this Defense will be just fine this year.
Go Blue !
September 8th, 2018 at 3:49 PM ^
A-
Can't give an A+ with those penalties.
They were dominant for the most part. But WMU did get 17 first downs. Can't give an A+ with 17 first downs.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:59 PM ^
They had 208 yards of offense with much of that coming after the game was decided.
September 8th, 2018 at 6:54 PM ^
Yeah, it was a really good performance. But A+? No. A+ is for a near flawless performance. Penalties plus a few other small errors means...not an A+.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:34 PM ^
Hawkins is quick, athletic. He's good in read and react and coming down for screen or run support. Key will be for him to be the ball hawking safety we need in pass game.
Josh Ross arguably the best performance. Bush is marvelous as usual.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:35 PM ^
Metellus is looking more and more like the two star he was.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:39 PM ^
This is a bad take and you should feel bad. Hawkins looked pretty good, but Mettelus didn’t look bad.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:42 PM ^
Don't think that's fair. He's got solid, big ten level speed, good tackler. Plays with a lot of aggression... Over aggressive at times. He was solid I thought Hudson was really playing well at times too. Can they do it in big games though?
September 8th, 2018 at 3:46 PM ^
Mettlus was everywhere today I'm not sure what the hell everyone is talking amount.he looked good when he had to cover one on one too.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:37 PM ^
Defense looks good.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:40 PM ^
Defense was good. I think people are underselling Kemp. I was trying to pay attention to him and it seemed like he was holding up at the point of attack and pushing guys backwards.
Glad to see Gary get a sack.
I think you downgrade from Top 2 defense to Top 10 defense, but should be enough if the tackles learn to pass block.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:41 PM ^
My one grumpy note is continued dumb penalties.
My cocked eyebrow note was that Furbush’s interception came on a another 3rd and long on which he was being dropped into zone coverage.
September 8th, 2018 at 3:53 PM ^
Maybe I misunderstand, but are you saying you do not ever want to seem Don Brown mix in zone coverage on 3rd and long?
Seems like using man coverage even on 3rd and long too much sort of backfired last year. Stay aggressive, but mix in zone here and there is better.