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You were really animated in the fourth when the touchdown was scored. What were the emotions like?
“I mean, the one touchdown we scored, that’s a big play in a four quarter game. We’re always talking about competing and challenging, don’t worry about the scoreboard, play. Just excited that our guys had a positive thing happen to them. They fought and struggled and it would have been easy to throw in the towel, so I wanted to let them know that we’re going to be there, we’re going to encourage them, [and] we’re going to coach them. When we need to correct things we’re going to correct things and when they do good things we’re going to reinforce that behavior.”
You said after the Notre Dame game seven weeks ago that the offense was still in its infancy. We’ve seen some growing, but why is this team still struggling to find offensive consistency and what’s it going to take to get that with the window on the season closing?
“Sure. A number of reasons, and we talk about it. Same story, and I know I sound like a broken record, but when you look at what we’ve done the number one thing is turnover margin. You cannot turn the ball over three times and expect to win football games. We’ve talked about it week in and week out. At times we’ve limited that but we haven’t completely eliminated it the way we need to, so it’s a focal point every day and we talk about it and we do drills in practice to practice it. It’s something our kids understand. We’ve just got to get better at it.
“The other thing is consistency in performance. We see week in and week out guys improve. The challenge we’ve had is getting all 11 guys at one time to be doing the right thing at the right time. You can see it compartmentalized a little bit and maybe you have one time here where this group does it right and this group doesn’t do theirs right, so it’s trying to get everybody on the same page. We’re still working to find the right answers.”
You played Shane Morris for a play instead of a series or not at all…
“Yeah, we were in a situation there towards the end of the game we told Devin, ‘Shane’s getting loose.’ We were in a situation where we didn’t know where the ball [would be] if we got it back at that point in time or not, so Shane went in for the play. We felt like Devin needed to finish the game being that he’s from Michigan and [it’s] his last time to play Michigan State so we put him back in the game.”
[After THE JUMP: Mind games before actual games]
DeVeon has been working his way into the starting role. Talk about what you’ve seen from him in terms of what he’s doing really well and what he still needs to work on.
“Well, DeVeon is a downhill runner. He’s a physical back. The biggest thing for DeVeon to continue to improve in is his anticipation; playing at a speed faster than the game’s being played. We talk about [with] our guys all the time [how] you’ve got to be prepared to play the game before the game so that when you get to the game you’ve already played the different scenarios that can play out on each and every play. A young player, which he is, he’s continuing to grow in that role and to develop in the protection area things, too.”
How big are you on literal visualization?
“I mean, we’re big in it. We talk all the time about [how] you can’t wait until Saturday to play the game. You can’t wait till the blitz hits you on third-and-five to react. You’ve got to have thought that through throughout the week and have thought that through. What’s my reaction going to be? How am I going to set my feet up? How am I going to set my eyes? Where do my hands have to go? All those things. Good football teams [and] good football players do that.”
Both Brady and Greg were asked what still can be accomplished here in terms of making a bowl, things like that. With how things have gone and the limited window that’s left how do you look at what can be accomplished, what successes can still be had here this year?
“When you’re involved in this game every day you see the best players in the world, the best teams in the world get beat. It’s a day in, day out thing and you’ve got to commit every day to bring your best, and we’ve talked to our players a lot about preparation, about how you continue to prepare each and every day. And every day’s going to be different. Some day’s you’re going to have success and some others [you won’t]. Again, it’ going to be the challenge of us finding consistency as a group, and that’s really where we need to improve offensively is to get all 11 guys at the right time doing the right things.”
Is it difficult when there’s not that tangible goal of winning championships, things like that versus-
“No.”
Convincing a 20 year old things like execution, [that] that’s a great accomplishment. That’s difficult, I imagine.
“We’ve got tremendous kids in our program. They’re phenomenal kids, and they understand accomplishment and they understand achievement and they strive for the best [and] nothing but the best. You don’t come to Michigan, this great school with such a great academic reputation, if you don’t want to be the best academically [and] with such great football tradition, if you don’t want to be the best when it comes to football so our kids understand that. They’re striving for that every day.”
Talk about the strides the offensive line has made and just kind of [inaudible].
“Well, we’ve had improvement there and we’ve done some good things. Like I said, one time we block a play perfectly or as perfect as you’re going to block it and maybe we don’t hit the right hole or maybe we don’t get up on the route at the right time or maybe we don’t see the route, those kind of things. And maybe another time we’re not as good in protection or blocking as we should be. Again, it goes back to [how] we’ve got to be getting everybody on the same page and again, I don’t mean to sound like a broken record but that’s the reality.”
Prior to last year’s loss against Michigan State Devin Gardner was 9-3 as a starter. Since he’s 1-4. Are you worried about his ability to win games for this offense?
“No.”
MGoQuestion: There were seven dropped catches in the game. What can you do from your perspective as a coordinator to address that?
“Well, that was uncharacteristic, really, of what we’ve done during the season and we had talked a lot about and felt like the game would boil down to us having the ability to make some plays down the field and have opportunities. Those opportunities presented themselves. Unfortunately we weren’t able to convert for a number of reasons. They made a couple of good plays and a couple were simple plays we should make. So give them credit, they’re a good defensive football team and we’ll just continue to work and we’ll continue to strive to get it right. That’s all we can do.”
MGoFollowUp:Were those timing or route running issues or just mistakes?
“Well, you look at it [and] you say, okay, when you look at the game what are blatant drops? When the guy’s wide open and you drop the ball and what other ones are contested catches, and [coach] Heck[linski] does a great job with the wide outs putting a standard on them that anything that’s around them they should catch, you know what I mean. And you look at Devin [Gardner] and we’re always preaching timing and throwing the perfect ball to the perfect spot where it can’t be defended, so everybody’s got to strive to do it perfectly.”
Funchess kind of asked for some of the pressure when he got the No. 1 jersey before the season started. Now do you talk to him about maybe putting too much pressure on himself to perform [since he’s] struggling with drops a little bit in recent weeks?
“I don’t think so. I talk to Devin and all of our players all the time about defining excellence and ever day setting the standard and master your craft. Be better than you were yesterday and strive to be the best. Be better than anybody else at your position anywhere. We talk a lot about that and what it takes from the daily grind, as some people would say, but the opportunity to go out each and every day and maybe it’s working on this release that day or maybe it’s working on this footwork or eye placement, those type of things. We talk to our guys a lot about that and they’ve embraced it. Now, has it been perfect? No, and Devin, just like every other player on this team, has to work hard this week to improve his skills.”
Let me reword my last question [the one about his record as a starter]. Why aren’t you worried about Devin Gardner’s ability to lead this team to wins, and also on the road this year he hasn’t thrown a touchdown on the road? Why aren’t you worried when there are signs that he’s having trouble getting the job done?
“Well, I’ve said it before. You get into isolating on one specific area or one specific player [and] you’ve got to see the big picture and you’ve got to see that everything is in sync, that the timing, that everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to be doing on each and every play. When you start singling out a group or an individual you’ve got to make sure that that’s the right thing for the team.”