Pro Football Focus: Michigan Defense
JIM HARBAUGH HAS BUILT A TERRIFYING MICHIGAN DEFENSE
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this defensive run isn’t the results, but the grading at the heart of it. Of 26 players that Michigan has used on defense this year just two of them have a below-average grade, and none is worse than a -1.8, which is still closer to average than disastrous.
16 of those 26 have strong positive grades and of the players that are left, five of them have played fewer than 20 snaps. In fact, the Wolverines have just one player on defense that has played 100 or more snaps and doesn’t have a significantly positive grade.
It’s no secret that the Wolverines are looking like contenders again, but this defense is looking terrifying. Sterner tests will come for them this year, but right now they are playing lights-out across the board. There may not be a finer combination of talent, execution and coaching in the country right now.
October 13th, 2015 at 2:43 PM ^
YOU SHALL NOT PASSSSSSS OR RUNNNNNN
October 13th, 2015 at 3:00 PM ^
October 13th, 2015 at 8:33 PM ^
I think our depth is what's really crucial to our shutouts. Many times you see a team play great defense but they give up something on some meaningless drive at the end because their backups just aren't good enough to keep on hammering them.
October 13th, 2015 at 3:04 PM ^
Gandalf is such a dick.
October 13th, 2015 at 3:30 PM ^
I guess that's a better reference than the Black Knight in the Holy Grail who is completely dismantled and eventually left to bleed on King Arthur...
October 13th, 2015 at 3:36 PM ^
have at you!
October 13th, 2015 at 5:56 PM ^
October 13th, 2015 at 2:46 PM ^
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October 13th, 2015 at 2:52 PM ^
If UFRs are an indication, it's probably Bolden.
October 13th, 2015 at 3:07 PM ^
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October 13th, 2015 at 2:52 PM ^
Think it's Joe B
October 13th, 2015 at 2:46 PM ^
Go Blue.
Whose grading?
October 13th, 2015 at 2:49 PM ^
The Wolverines just read, diagnose and attack the football like a pack of hungry dogs chasing after a wayward ribeye steak.
October 13th, 2015 at 2:49 PM ^
No, no, no, no. It is with an enthusiam unknown to mankind.
October 13th, 2015 at 6:01 PM ^
October 13th, 2015 at 6:47 PM ^
October 13th, 2015 at 2:55 PM ^
I love this screen cap:
October 13th, 2015 at 6:14 PM ^
October 13th, 2015 at 2:55 PM ^
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October 13th, 2015 at 3:36 PM ^
BYU, Maryland, and Northwestern - Durkin Donuts
October 13th, 2015 at 10:30 PM ^
These last 2 posts are the mic drop for this thread!
October 13th, 2015 at 3:07 PM ^
Even late in the game when they were rushing just four guys and being as conservative as this defense gets, they were able to generate easy pressure and confuse the Northwestern protections by lining up the fourth rusher behind the nose tackle and not showing until after the snap which side he would be coming. This worked time and time again, and it was just one of the multiple combination rushes that Michigan used during the game.
They did this quite a few times in the fourth quarter, even when they probably didn't really need to do it, and it worked beautifully basically every time. These combo rushes are fun to watch, but the innovation and determination of that defense has just been exciting in general. The GIF where you see Northwestern trying odd pre-snap shifts and Michigan having none of it is another example of that.
October 13th, 2015 at 3:07 PM ^
I just love the pursuit to the ball this defense has. Even on the very last play of the game, the way they attack the QB at the 19:04 mark in the video below just makes me smile. This is the type of Michigan defense I have been waiting to see.
October 13th, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^
October 13th, 2015 at 4:21 PM ^
Not sure what you mean by "less than zero"? They went 11-2 their first season on the strength of the revamped D they inherited from RRod that went 7-5 the previous year.....kind of like what Harbaugh is going through except we went 5-7 last year.
October 13th, 2015 at 5:44 PM ^
October 13th, 2015 at 6:21 PM ^
My point is the defense had a lot of talent that just was not being utilized properly. You can argue a year makes a difference as these guys are all older and stronger but you don't go from what we were last year to this year without serious talent on the roster.
And the same could be said for the year he took over as HC. They went 11-2 immediately after and the D jumped from bottom of barrel to highly rated. That doesn't happen without talent.
The entire time he was here, Hoke had the talent, he just didn't know what to do with it.....so less than zero is BS.
October 13th, 2015 at 3:36 PM ^
Oh, but according to haters, Michigan hasn't played anyone good.
I don't care what league you're in. Shutting out three straight opponents and averaging six points surrendered per game is damn impressive.
October 13th, 2015 at 3:43 PM ^
October 13th, 2015 at 4:59 PM ^
Meanwhile OSU fans are in denial stage 1:
October 13th, 2015 at 5:28 PM ^
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October 13th, 2015 at 6:36 PM ^
Anyone else surprised that Bosa logged his first solo sack of the season last Saturday? I was.
October 13th, 2015 at 7:01 PM ^
October 13th, 2015 at 8:03 PM ^
Except that, using the stats he used there, OSU isn't a top-20 offense either.
October 13th, 2015 at 7:30 PM ^
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October 13th, 2015 at 11:13 PM ^
Michigan is #2 in the country in forcing three-and-outs.
So yes, they are delusional.
But this is also the problem with statistics. They are only useful to people who understand how to truly "use" and "understand" them (or at least are trying to understand/remain balanced). If you use statistics to make a single, large-scale, all-encompassing argument, you are, quite literally, decontextualizing, and focusing on one single, linear way of understanding something. Only when taking all, or at least the most ideally "supplemental" statistics into account, can you truly utilize statistics for your benefit. But it's very very difficult, it's like juggling 17-tennis balls at once, you need to practice and be balanced, nuanced, and unbias with it (very difficult for anyone, let alone on internet, let alone on online message boards!), because the statistics are describing a story, but you can't feed into one single aspect/storyline too heavily. And, you still need a deep-level understanding of the topic being quantified, to best contextualize those statistics.
October 13th, 2015 at 5:55 PM ^
OSU has given up points in EACH of their last eight quarters.
October 13th, 2015 at 6:15 PM ^
October 13th, 2015 at 6:38 PM ^
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October 13th, 2015 at 7:02 PM ^
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October 13th, 2015 at 7:53 PM ^
Good article thanks