A closer look at the pass D

[BanditVol]

You ca put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig. Go back and even watch our game against Ball State. They had WRs running open for large parts of the game. If they had a good QB, they would have scored more. We have made 2 mediocre QBs look great.

Look at Richardson. He threw for 453 yards 2 TDs against us. Wanna know how much he has thrown for in his last 2 games total? 306 yards and 3 TDs. And those teams were Missouri and Eastern Washington. Daniels had his best passing day in the SEC against us.

There is no other way to spin it. Our pass defense is terrible. OSU and Bama both score like we do, how are their pass defenses? Oh right they are in the top 15 nationally.

Not putting lipstick on the pig, it is bad and I say so above.

Its just not "one of the worst in the country" as you often hear. People point to the 128th in pass yards allowed, but that doesn't mean much since teams have to throw against us so much.

 

[Deathandtaxes]

We need a new Secondary coach… I’m not the one to say it’s just the coach…. But in this situation it is the coach.

 

[BanditVol]

The rushing numbers aren't a fluke either. Pitt's top RB just ran for treefiddy against VT. We've done better against running QBs too. But maybe we are "overfocusing" on stopping the run and leaving our secondary covering too much space?

maybe, but with a couple of exceptions against florida, one of which was bad tackling, we don't give up a lot of really long plays for TDs. Maybe the idea is that we stop the run and limit the other team to mostly short passes to account for weakneesess in the secondary.

 

[BanditVol]

My take, they give up a lot of plays in the middle of the field. Big pass plays are harder to come by in the RedZone.
Run defense is very good.....

Yes, and I am thinking maybe this is how Banks has schemed it. Stop the run, prevent big passes, let them throw the short outs.

 

[rdk4121]

Daniels threw for like 70+ of his yards on that last drive where we were playing super off and trying to run the clock. So he had 230 or less yards when it was meaningful. For people saying that yards per completion, etc don't matter, just look at it like this: our rushing defense is honestly pretty elite. Because of that, and the fact that we've been playing from the front, means teams are going to throw the ball as much as they can. The Florida game was certainly a low point, but outside of that it hasn't been that bad at all. If teams throw the ball 45 times, they're going to pick up some yards. The defense on the whole is 42 in yards per play, which isn't too bad. Our defense is always going to give up more yards per game, etc because they are on the field so much/there's more possessions per game than a normal game. That's just part of how this offense operates. We score fast, or punt fast. No real in between for the most part.

 

[1world1love]

I would only add that I think some people are not seeing the forest through the trees when it comes to the defense. We do not have the personnel that we need to have and I think this is reflected in our schemes. They are not putting anybody on an island and instead trying to keep everything in front of them. Aside from some lapses in tackling fundamentals, this has actually worked pretty well.

Instead of talking about replacing coaches, I think people should be discussing how we pretty much have nobody in the secondary that would be in the two deep in quite a few SEC teams, and probably only one LB that would be in the two deep for anybody in the top 10.

Just to illustrate this point:

It is true that we are 87th in Total D at 396.6 ypg

Yet somehow we are 20th in scoring D at 17.8 YPG.

Considering the pace that our offense operates at, this is pretty impressive. What this says is that our defense is very efficient at "bend but don't break", and the coaches are actually getting the most out of the players they have.

Additionally, after last year most people were saying that if we could just improve even a little on 3rd down, that we would be a force, and we have improved greatly on 3rd down from last year. After 5 games, we are 32nd in the country on 3rd down D. That is not elite, but its not nearly as bad as last year.

 

[JoAllan]

Bama has the 12 rated pass D

However Utah ST only had 22 pass attempts.
Texas only had 34
ULM only had 24
Vandy only had 26
Arkansas had 34

A&M had 47………..and Bama gave up way more yards than their average.

that’s what every team does vs Tennessee…….because they have had to. When folks are passing 45 every game your going to give up a lot of passing yards.

Yards per attempt and per competition means WAY more.

Not saying it’s good…….it’s just not that “one stat bad” overall.

 

[bpalmer28]

We need a new Secondary coach… I’m not the one to say it’s just the coach…. But in this situation it is the coach.

Theo Jackson disagrees. How much better did he get under Willie Martinez? And Alontae Taylor?

Kamal Hadden is quietly making similar improvements.

We don't have the speed at safety to defend deep passes well, so you're going to see teams gain chunks of yardage in the passing game, but they do play better in the red zone - having only allowed 6 touchdowns this season. That isn't great but not terrible.

 

[VolDave53]

Yes, and I am thinking maybe this is how Banks has schemed it. Stop the run, prevent big passes, let them throw the short outs.

Bingo.

This is the winning scheme considering our lack of depth and speed in the secondary. It is dependant on the Offense being what it has been, a scoring machine. If anyone ever figures out how to stop the O, we are in a dogfight.

 

[Deathandtaxes]

Theo Jackson disagrees. How much better did he get under Willie Martinez? And Alontae Taylor?

Kamal Hadden is quietly making similar improvements.

We don't have the speed at safety to defend deep passes well, so you're going to see teams gain chunks of yardage in the passing game, but they do play better in the red zone - having only allowed 6 touchdowns this season. That isn't great but not terrible.

Alonte didn’t get better because of Martinez and neither did Jackson.
I know it’s unpopular but secondary wise we were set with the old staff.

You can see it in how they play. Flat foot reading is fine but you have to close and be quick twitch. This staff doesn’t really look at the numbers given up as success but no one watching this defense would say that the secondary is good. No one. Hadden is the best we have and he can’t and won’t tackle.
I love watching this team play and our dline is lights out. We don’t really have a DE as of late that can get it done on his own (meaning without twist games) but BY looks like he is starting to get it together. Not having that effects the secondary because it magnifies their weakness.
But compared to the whole of the team… even with that hinderance… I think that we will be just fine….

 

[bpalmer28]

Alonte didn’t get better because of Martinez and neither did Jackson.
I know it’s unpopular but secondary wise we were set with the old staff.

You can see it in how they play. Flat foot reading is fine but you have to close and be quick twitch. This staff doesn’t really look at the numbers given up as success but no one watching this defense would say that the secondary is good. No one. Hadden is the best we have and he can’t and won’t tackle.
I love watching this team play and our dline is lights out. We don’t really have a DE as of late that can get it done on his own (meaning without twist games) but BY looks like he is starting to get it together. Not having that effects the secondary because it magnifies their weakness.
But compared to the whole of the team… even with that hinderance… I think that we will be just fine….

Agree to disagree.