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Just the sheer number of passing yards you allowed; was there a consistent breakdown you saw or…?
“Well, you’re right. The numbers- anytime you give up six big plays, and you know our stand on big plays has always been we can’t have that to have a successful defense. I don’t ever remember giving up that many big plays, and one of them was for 80 yards, I believe, [and] another was for 50-some. The numbers will add up pretty quick when that happens.
“The quarterback had a great game. He made some really, really great plays. We busted on a couple. We didn’t keep the ball inside and in front, and when that happens 30 yards gains could become 50 yards or bigger and we’ve got to get that corrected, and that’s me. That’s up to me to make sure that doesn’t happen again and we get it corrected and we’ll start on it right away.”
Was it one player or-
“No, it was the defense. It was the team defense. It’s never one player. No. And it’s like, you’re playing really, really good and then something happens like that and then you get back to doing it again and again and sometimes the first down that is third-and-10 is as big as a fifty-yarder. And they all seem to be the same things, where you’ve got to make a tackle, where you’ve got to keep a ball inside and in front, where you try to pressure, when you pressure and all of a sudden you hit one and it’s a sixty-yarder. So it’s a matter of different things. Six big plays, different things at different times that we’ve got to get corrected.”
Where are your defensive backs in the process of being able to recognize a situation and say, ‘We need to switch things’ on the field and make a change?
“Well, I think everybody- I don’t think it is the scheme of the coverage. I think it’s a different person not executing the coverage. I think it’s a different person not getting the sack when he had a stunt that said that this was what was going to happen and if you do it we’ve got one. It’s never a corner, it’s never a safety, it’s never a defensive end, it’s never a linebacker, it’s everybody. That’s what your job is, to make sure you get those corrected and get those handled and the thing that’s frustrating is that hasn’t happened before. It hasn’t happened, and we’ve got to get that nipped immediately. And the thing I do say is this quarterback, with his feet and with a couple of the receivers, with their skill all coming together showed that six or seven times and we can’t let that happen.”
MGoQuestion: Can you walk us through what happened on the 80-yard touchdown pass?
“Yeah, I know exactly what happened on the 80-yard touchdown pass is we called a defense where a safety would be lower than usual to be able to help with the run and we didn’t get inside enough with another defensive back, and knowing the whole scheme of the defense, knowing where you’re a little bit weak- whenever you call a defense there’s always somebody that has a little bit more on his plate than everybody else or otherwise you’re going to run just straight generic defenses all the time, and it’s just a matter of everybody being focused in at that time to say, ‘Okay, I’m the one that can’t do this. I can’t bite on this out route right now. I can’t bite on this route because we’re a little bit weaker here’ and they happened to have the perfect call. They called a play-action pass. The guy- we bit on it and they hit. And that’s what happened.”
[After THE JUMP: Mattison needs his defense to hit, and he isn’t referring to tackling]
Coach, the run defense seemed to find some more success than the pass rush. Is that just a matter of play calling on their part, or maybe the personnel that’s in there? You guys limited them to 74 rushing yards and then in terms of pass rush you got one or two sacks.
“Yeah, and again, there were a couple things that we have to get better on in the pass rush. When you evaluate yourself on the pass rush you say, ‘Okay, now what do we got to do better? What do we have to get better at right here?’ There were a number of times he got hit right as he threw it, also. There was a number of times when his feet alluded us and got out of the box, which you saw. Any time a quarterback scrambles as much as he did you must be getting some pressure on him. And I think if you remember there were a number of times where he ran right up the middle and made some big yardage. Bigger yardage than you ever want to have happen. And we were rushing it aggressively, but there’s a time sometimes when you say, ‘I’m going to rush, but I’ve got to stay right here in this lane. I’m going to rush but I’ve got to make sure I read what’s happening and come off my rush.’ All those things that come together.”
Two parts: first part- can you update the status of Jabrill Peppers. Second part- you guys get a pretty solid effort from the offense. It looked maybe as good as it’s looked all year. Does that frustrate you-
“It really frustrates me. As far as the update on Jabrill, that’s up to Brady. Brady handles all that kind of thing. I don’t have anything to do with that.
“It really frustrates me because I thought our offense has- I’ve said it all along, our offense has done a great job as far as trying to improve, to get better. I see them every day. We had the game won. Bottom line. If you’re a great defense you do what you have to to stop them and you win. It may not be pretty, but you win. I agree with you. I think our offense did a good enough job to win that football game, and it’s up to us to have stopped them at that time and we didn’t, and that’s on me and we’ve got to get it corrected.”
Were any of the pass defense problems related to trying to fix the run problems from Minnesota week?
“No, not at all. That’s a great question. Not at all. The pass problems- you know, the two big ones were us not playing our defense. Not playing the technique. Not doing what we are supposed to do. Other than that, it wasn’t anything to do with that.”
Brady was talking about Taco [Charlton] and he said that all that great skill is starting to come together, that he’s starting to pick up on what he needs to pick up on on the mental side. Can you talk about where you’ve seen him develop in that aspect?
“Yeah, I think there are a number of our younger players that are starting to improve or starting to play at the level you saw they had, it’s just that we have to do it more consistently and more all at once. It doesn’t work if one guy has a really good game and plays up to the level that you say, and then the next guy might not play up to that. That’s what we’ve got to get done. That’s what I’ve got to get done. We’ve got to get this entire group all playing together as one, all doing exactly what they’re supposed to do, and all improving at the rate that we believe they can. And I believe the talent’s there. One thing I will say- our kids came out in that game and they really, really wanted that game and really worked. They never quit one time in that game, and I was really proud of them and I haven’t seen that. Their attitude has been tremendous. Sunday was an awful day, especially if you’re a defensive coach. And they came in, we watched the film together as a defense, made the corrections, did a work out, came back, and did a scouting report on Penn State, watched them. And their attitude was tremendous. They want to be what everyone wants them to be.”
With Taco specifically, is it assignment competency? What is it that he’s doing…
“I think he’s playing at a faster level, a finishing level. Taco always has shown since the day he got here, boy, he’s got spurts where he really, really looks it. Now finish it! That’s what he’s starting to do. He’s starting to become a lot more physical football player. He’s starting to play more up to his stature and strength and his athleticism, and that’s really good to see.”
Greg, I have two. I know you can’t talk about Jabrill specifically with the injury, but how much does the secondary miss him? I know you had high expectations for him. And speaking of high expectations, you came into the season feeling very good about this defense. How would you grade if six weeks in?
“Well, in the first question, any time you don’t have guys in your unit that you’re really, really counting on, it’s going to hurt your unit. And there’s a reason why one guy’s a first-teamer or one guy has earned the right to be a first teamer and the other guy isn’t. When you take that guy away it hurts you. There’s a number- er, there’s a few guys that are playing with great toughness out there that may not be 100%, but that’s football. That’s not an excuse. That’s football. That’s part of it. But any time you don’t have the guys you’re counting on, that’ll hurt you.
“As far as your second question, where are we compared to where I thought we’d be? As far as the defense, they’re the same as what I thought which got me excited earlier. Great effort. Trying to become the best they can be. Attitude is tremendous. I think the biggest thing that we have to make sure, because the games are so tight there’s no leeway, we’ve got to make sure we’re playing every guy up to his ability on every play, and that’s mental and physical. I don’t think we have the leeway here to be able to say, ‘Oh, I made a mistake. I’ll make up for it on the next play.’ Every time I watch a film I sit there and say, ‘Boy, that’s good, that’s good, that’s good, oh man, that’s bad.’ In other years, in other defenses that you’ve had the opportunity to be around that didn’t bother you. You just made up for it and went on to the next one. You got a turnover instead. You got a sack to make up for that, and that hasn’t happened and I think that’s where we’ve got to continue to work hard on getting that done.”
On third downs, which are a consistent hole in this game, is there a focus that’s lacking, because we talked about being such a critical situation?
“No, I don’t think it’s a focus that’s lacking. I think in some ways it’s hitting it. It’s- alright, this pressure a guy comes completely free; sack him! This one right here, the ball gets tipped; intercept it! And me, [if I] call an all-out blitz this time, alright, on the next one call a three-man rush. And honestly, there’s times where you’re making calls and you’re either on or you’re not on. Yeah, they’re all sound but if you’re not on you’ve got to make up for it some other way. If you’re on you’ve got to hit it, and I think that’s what’s happened. Again, and you know me, I’m not saying this to say it, I didn’t do a great job in my mind in that game in calling it. When you’re calling the defense and it’s your job to call the defense you’re either successful or not successful calling the defense. Especially when you say that you’ve got good enough players, which I believe we do and therefore you look at yourself in the mirror and that’s why it was a hard day on Sunday. These kids deserve you to do a great job, and that’s why I’m going to work my butt off to make sure these kids get a great job and then we have the success that I know is around the corner. I really believe, and that’s me saying it but I’m with them every day.”
A couple things: you mentioned guys biting on certain coverages, maybe certain things the offense was doing and maybe some misunderstanding from a scheme standpoint. How do you go about changing that, and have you thought about changing the approach just so it just becomes a snap thing when they see it right away? And then your thoughts on Christian Hackenberg.
“Yeah, the other thing that kind of happens sometimes is these guys want to win and they want to do well and you have to guard against a lot of times at every position taking a chance to try to make a play, and then the next thing you say, ‘Why didn’t you turn that loose and do that?’ And that’s why I say when you’re really going and it’s all hitting you take that chance and you get that interception. If it isn’t and you didn’t do it then pretty soon something happens that breaks down, and we have to make sure we’re doing it all right and believe that if we do it all right we’ll have the defense that I believe we will have.
“As far as Hackenberg, he’s good now. He’s good. He’s got a great arm. He can make all the passes. He’s a football player. He’s a football player, and this will be a big challenge. They’ve got some skilled wide receivers and I’m looking forward to them coming in here. When you don’t play up to the level that you’ve set you look for a game like this to have an opportunity to do it, and that’s what our intentions are.”
In each of the four losses you’ve had a touchdown or a field goal given up in the final minute of the first half. What’s sort of the common denominator to that, and what do you have to do-
“Well, we have to get better there. You’re right. I’ve looked at that same thing. Two-minute defense before half. We’ve got to make sure we get them stopped, and we haven’t. So the common denominator is I’ve got to do a better job of getting the right defense or getting our guys to execute to stop them right there, because you don’t want to go into the locker room with somebody just scoring on you. It doesn’t help you. We’ve got to get that taken care of. You’re right.”
You said you’re way too busy to hear the noise outside the program, but some of the noise lately has been other parts of the athletic department speaking up in support. John Beilein takes the first part of his press conference the other day coming out in strong support of the team. You see guys, former players, showing up on the sidelines at Rutgers. Is that something that’s meaningful to your staff and your kids at this point?
“Well, you’re right. I haven’t had the opportunity to read any of it or get into that. This is a tremendous place. We have a great athletic department from every sport. Every sport is for each other. Every sport is together for Michigan, and that- when you tell me coach Beilein, and you could name every coach, I would expect that because that’s the kind of people they are. They’ve gone through times like this also and they’ve fought through it, and people have been on their back and been with them and I would expect that because of the kind of people Dave Brandon has hired here. It’s a tremendous staff. That’s what makes it great to come in to work every day, and that’s why you, as a coach, say to yourself, ‘I want to do everything I can to be the best we can be.’ That’s all anyone here has ever tried to do and that’s what we’re going to do.”