Washington Snowflakes: The Coaching

Positives:

Wore down and dominated on the ground; kept defense off the field much of the game.

Took full advantage of what was working.

Huge strides for both lines - OL mauled, DL shut down UW running game and applied pressure until near the end when it appeared the DL got gassed.

Couple of gutsy 4th down calls. I didn't mind the play that came up short at the goal line - UW guy made a fantastic play. 

Excellent ST all night.

Excellent game management. Got the lead and played effectively from ahead.

Negatives:

Some dumb penalties.

Like everyone, would have liked to see a couple of deep shots off play-action.

All in all, hard to criticize a decisive win.

Speed in Space.  Am I right?

Anyway, welcome back Mike Hart, we look like Indiana now. Washington's dline is solid in the middle and Michigan carved and paved them into oblivion, even against 8 man boxes. 

On one hand, passing?

On the other hand, dominant win.

Hey Jim/Josh,

”What are you doing to beat Ohio State today?”

If that’s the mantra for the season then last night was a disservice to the team and their chances of doing that. We need to develop a QB and the passing game. Plain and simple.

I think the plan was swing/screens and passes to RBs b/c the UW had 2 NFL sized CBs, but when Cade was a bit off in Q1 (threw behind on those a bit) they realized he wasn't locked in nd by then Corum and Haskins were getting 5-8 yards a clip.

I know the goal line series had some contestable play calls, but if they push that thru, M scores 38pts. No real garbage time pts either. Not too far off from the 40ppg that modern offensive theory ppl have these days.

Now, they should have something more creative at the GL and 2nd&12+ runs are not good IMO, but this was a good offensive performance in context

They won, and that’s the most important piece for sure. Seeing Cade only pass seven times for 44 yards is a bit discouraging, but I really hope it’s just a blip on the radar and not something we should expect going forward.

Good win. My prediction for season is unchanged. Most of this year's victories will come in the first half of the schedule. November will not be pleasant.

Stop throwing those slow developing screen passes! The defenses can read those out quick and they all resulted in losses or very few yards. 

Absolutely loved how the game was called in all 3 phases but I need the WR coaches to teach their guys how to block this week. I had to avert my eyes a couple times. Sh*t was embarrassing. #WhereIsSoup

I understand the concerns about the lack of passing... but to me, this game just felt better than previous ones. Even when we were only up 3-0 and stuffed at the goal line, I didn't have the BPONE sense that we had missed our opportunity and momentum would inexorably shift in Washington's favor, it actually felt like we were in control. Not every call was perfect, sure, but I haven't had that feeling, that Michigan was a team that could outgrind an opponent and play a low-variance game successfully, in a long time. Where one bad play (even being out of position at the snap!) wouldn't lead to an automatic touchdown/loss. I like having that feeling again, and if the coaches were responding to that, I totally get their willingness to slow the game down, reduce risk, and let the RBs put on a show.

Got to have some game reps on passing. OK, it was an impressive win. This is not a good Washington team, unless they go on some big winning streak.

Can't rely 95% on a run game, as good as it is. I know they didn't have to throw the ball but we need to get Cade's confidence up and have a clue who can will Ronnie Bell's shoes at WR.

I gave the coaching staff a B, overall.

Mike Hart SZN!

The ABC broadcasters talked about the motivational signs that ask “what did you do today to beat OSU?”

I would put that same question to the coaches.  Nothing in that game plan was designed to defeat a strong team, especially a two dimensional one.

I doubt if we can run that way against any good Big 10 team.  Imagine OSU passing against what we saw last night.

What kind of message do you send to your QB and receivers with that game plan?  Yes a win is a win but we should be building up to something, not backing down.  Please don’t tell me the injury to Bell eviscerated our passing attack.

I’ve called plays,  if opposition can’t stop a play you keep going to it until they do,  fans thinking I want to be entertained by big passing plays lost the point of collecting W’s.  
 

I will say the we are not a good screen team and would like to see that limited.  Gattis play calling doesn’t seem to setup any future plays at this point which leads to the feel it’s a little disjointed.  
 

I pondered if they might be changing over to JJ at some point, but when he got in last week the offense looked unorganized.  Talent is there reps needed.  

Once again, they looked organized and you could see clear in game adjustments throughout the game.

Cut Josh Gattis salary in half and give that money to Sherrone Moore and Mike Hart

Good coaching overall. Not perfect, but solid.

Our ability to block in open space by our TEs and WRs is horrendous.  It fucking pisses me off because it just wreaks of lack of effort.

schoonmaker almost got Sainrstil killed on one flair pass.  An eighth grader makes a better attempt to block on that play.  We punt instead of 20+ yard play. 

It’s serious drive ending bullshit and also puts the receiver at risk.  Guys should lose jobs. 

Great game because of two things.  1) Dominating Win!!!! Do not understate that.  2). Things to work on but learned we can count on the defense to get stops and offense to get 1st downs and score being one dimensional..  

Coaching Parise, Hart, Moore, MacDonald and more!  Coaches have to work on, receivers blocking and route running.. QB holding the ball, seeing the receivers.  Db awareness, team tackling had a few missed tackles not quite as crisp as last week.  

No worries if Cade and the passing attack is strong next week and grows from there.  Corners get their head around, hands in the catch basket and tackling by the defense gets sharp again.  

Held a P-5 opponent to 10 points and pounded them into submission with the run game... as demoralizing as it gets on the football field. 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it and the run game is humming on all cylinders.  The coaches know the pass game will be needed at some point and when it is, we can judge the coaches accordingly on if they've prepared the pass offense enough to be successful.  For now, 2-0 in dominant fashion is a good thing, let's enjoy it!  

I thought the overall plan and how the game went was great.  Washington isn't as good as advertised in the preseason, but they are going to beat Montana 95 times out of 100.  It is disingenuous to treat Michigan like they beat an FCS team last night.  Washington is probably somewhere in the Northwestern/Michigan State/Indiana/Maryland level, so not a great team, but a team Michigan should beat and they beat them like a drum.

That said, however, I do look forward to finding out if the lack of passing in obvious or not so obvious passing situations was because they chose not to pass and not because they were scared they couldn't. The next 2 cupcake games need to be used to get some reps for McNamara and McCarthy because being that run-heavy will not cut it in the back half of the schedule.

I'm done with Gattis.

I don't remember this kind of bizarrely obsessive play-calling -- inflexible and one-dimensional -- with Rudock or Speight. So I don't think it's Harbaugh (except insofar as he bears responsibility for managing Gattis). But essentially ignoring Evans, Nico Collins, and DPJ, even when initial attempts are successful, focusing only on the run, both when it works (like against Washington) and when it doesn't (like Army and Iowa, 2019), and in general being inflexible and uncreative ... I think Gattis is overwhelmed by play-calling responsibilities, and I think that's really hurting us.

I know, I know, you're all going to lecture me that we had a mismatch against Washington so we exploited it, and a Win's a Win, etc. etc. And that's all true. In fact, I enjoyed that game a great deal -- I'm delighted we won and I'm glad we seem to have a good ground game. 

But looking forward is something many of us do, as is evaluating the job the coaches are getting paid so ... much ... money ... to do, and ... I don't have any confidence that Gattis can handle a modern and diverse game plan.

This is crazy. I'm not talking about individual play calls, which obviously fans always bitch about. I'm talking about having Nico Collins on your team and not using him. I'm talking about not calling any real play actions last night. I'm talking about never throwing the ball to Evans. We've been throwing our hands up in the air for years. We didn't have these problems with Rudock or Speight. The difference has to be Gattis.

Please God, can we just look like a modern football team, sometime, again?