Plenty of Michigan fans get very excited, hearing the words “up-tempo offense.” A few might experience some holdover twitches and involuntary shaking.
It’s understandable, of course. They hear “spot the ball” and immediately think of spotting the opposition 30 points, or shoveling a foot of snow from their driveway on a football-free New Year’s Day.
They think of defense on the back of a milk carton. They envision second-class citizen defenders who long to see the best practice field off State Street and hope Wisconsin wouldn’t run that same play a 41st straight time against them.
Well, this isn’t that. It’s okay to get fired up about Jim Harbaugh handing the car keys to new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis. The boss isn’t simultaneously making Don Brown & Co. ride in the back half of the team bus.
Gattis — whose most recent coaching stops put him at Alabama and Penn State — wants to put Brown in a very enviable position in 2019. Brown vows his boys will take care of business, but welcomes what he envisions as scoring outbursts to come.
Both of them fielded the “protect the defense” inquiry on Friday. Their responses delivered a good look into what everyone might see on the field come fall.
Gattis won’t ever boast about 40 minutes of possession time. But he intends to control the game in other ways.
“The first thing we talk about is dictating the tempo of the game,” Gattis explained. “When we talk about dictating the tempo of the game, it’s not necessarily about time of possession. It’s applying pressure on the opposing defense. They must stop us every time or we’re going to go out there and score.
“It’s also putting pressure on the opposing offense. If they don’t go out there and score every time, they’re going to fall behind. From an aggressive standpoint on offense, we want to put the opposing team, defensively and offensively, in conflict.
“When they face us, they face this brand of football in a Michigan offense, where every possession matters to them.”
There will be a Michigan defensive de-emphasis over Brown’s dead body. Gattis doesn’t want one, and welcomes the carnage to come while he’s making tweaks with his troops on the sidelines.
“Obviously, Coach Brown is going to lead our defense,” Gattis said. “One of the advantages of being an offensive coordinator here is, you know you’re going to get the ball back. Our defense is going to play extremely well. He’s going to get us the ball back, and it’s our job to go out and score.
“The three things we talk about, the things we want to dictate, are the tempo of the game, the style of play — keep a physical brand of football, but also have spread elements — and we want to dictate the aggressiveness of the defense…
“If they don’t stop us, the opposing offense is going to feel pressure, and they’re going to go out and make mistakes verses our defense.”
Brown likes the sound of all that. Not that he’s begging for help, mind you.
“First off, you’ve got to stand up on your own two feet and take care of your own business,” he assured. “That’s one thing we need to do.”
Could his defense see more snaps than it has in recent seasons? Sure, maybe. But he’ll take his chances, if it’s on the field and in control of the scoreboard.
“Obviously, if they’re moving the football, and controlling the clock, and finishing drives — there’s nothing more important than filling up the scoreboard with points,” Brown said. “It’s nice when you can sit over there and those kinds of things happen.
“It will be interesting. The last two years, we’ve averaged 64 to 66 snaps, defensively, which is not a lot, now. It gives you a chance, when you get on the field, put your life on the line, in essence, and get after it.
“But hey, the beautiful thing is when you’re sitting on the sideline and the offense is moving the football … that’s not only a chance to recover, but it also builds confidence in your defense, knowing they can go out there and lay it on the line. We have a chance to score a lot of points.”
There are games where, despite a defense’s best effort, you’d better score a lot of points. Gattis plans to do precisely that, with help from a defense supplying plenty of chances to do so.
Nobody’s forgotten, in trying to achieve the unforgettable.
“I know our defense will go out and continue to play at an extremely high level,” Gattis stressed. “I do not have one concern about the offense we have affecting our defense.”
Or, as Brown might put it, twitches get stitches.
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