Defensive Horses

[GoVols64]

I'm, like many of you, still stinging from the loss.... I would have bet everything I own that we would not have been blown out; maybe lose a close one if we didn't play well. But now I want to understand how we fix it. It is incredibly hard to tell from the broadcast what was causing so many poor defensive plays but here is what was obvious:

1. D-Line got little to no pressure with front four
2. USCe WRs were making great plays but many times wide open
3. No adjustments worked

My questions is do we have to run these vanilla schemes due to lack of talent?

Are our DBs unable to read, react and tackle on a mid major level?

Banks is not a bad coach but, and this has been a theme all year, we have sat in soft coverages and given up easy throws. You simply don't do that if you have the defensive horses to make plays. Don't get me started on how piss poor Hadden is, talking about the rest of the unit. Hadden should be on the bench until he learns to play with an iota of maturity. Total liability.

Thoughts?

 

[ibvolman]

The D line ran very few blitzes. I only recall 2 true blitzes all game, and one got home for the only sack we had. There were no stunts like we saw in previous weeks. D linemen were trying to bulldoze instead of shedding blocks.
the DBs were hot garbage. They sat back in a soft zone, did not break on any passes, and allowed 80% of the completions to be made nearly uncontested. I am fine with getting burned occasionally as long as the DBs are playing good tight coverage. That hasn’t been the case with this group most of the season. And giving a 10 to 15 yard cushion when they need only 6 yards for a 1st down is insanity. Zero bump and run to disrupt timing and routes. That is a coaching issue.
It was also a common theme to see our DBs taking on blocks head on, standing there watching the ball carriers just run by them. Effort was putrid at best.
All of the above things are coaching issues plain and simple. Martinez was not good here under Butch, and has become worse under Tim Banks. Just look up the stats, and that fact is very well supported. Anyone saying he is a great recruiter is of no consequence. Who cares if he can get 5* talent if he will coach them to do the same crap we have seen on the field this season? A serious change needs to be made.
With a serviceable secondary we should have been able to get at least 3 stops. That would have given the Offense 3 more opportunities. Much different ball game if that were the case. It is time for a few coaching changes on the D side of the ball.

 

[OffTackleVol]

I'm, like many of you, still stinging from the loss.... I would have bet everything I own that we would not have been blown out; maybe lose a close one if we didn't play well. But now I want to understand how we fix it. It is incredibly hard to tell from the broadcast what was causing so many poor defensive plays but here is what was obvious:

1. D-Line got little to no pressure with front four
2. USCe WRs were making great plays but many times wide open
3. No adjustments worked

My questions is do we have to run these vanilla schemes due to lack of talent?

Are our DBs unable to read, react and tackle on a mid major level?

Banks is not a bad coach but, and this has been a theme all year, we have sat in soft coverages and given up easy throws. You simply don't do that if you have the defensive horses to make plays. Don't get me started on how piss poor Hadden is, talking about the rest of the unit. Hadden should be on the bench until he learns to play with an iota of maturity. Total liability.

Thoughts?

Lack of talent on the back end is a big part of it. We can't press cover anybody; limits our aggressiveness. Now, I'm not arguing that we need a coaching change or not, but need an infusion of talent in the safety and corner positions. Too, Rattler probably played the best game of his career, he was throwing some balls in some very tight windows.

 

[vol94]

I'm, like many of you, still stinging from the loss.... I would have bet everything I own that we would not have been blown out; maybe lose a close one if we didn't play well. But now I want to understand how we fix it. It is incredibly hard to tell from the broadcast what was causing so many poor defensive plays but here is what was obvious:

1. D-Line got little to no pressure with front four
2. USCe WRs were making great plays but many times wide open
3. No adjustments worked

My questions is do we have to run these vanilla schemes due to lack of talent?

Are our DBs unable to read, react and tackle on a mid major level?

Banks is not a bad coach but, and this has been a theme all year, we have sat in soft coverages and given up easy throws. You simply don't do that if you have the defensive horses to make plays. Don't get me started on how piss poor Hadden is, talking about the rest of the unit. Hadden should be on the bench until he learns to play with an iota of maturity. Total liability.

Thoughts?

I’m not a coach, just my opinions.

Turmoil in the locker room caused division among some players, so the entire team wasn’t focused. The SEC is a difficult league so you better bring it every Saturday, esp if you don’t have elite talent at every position. But the team was flat. Ask those who went to the game as they will confirm the poor body language throughout game.

The defensive scheme was a problem all nt. I assume Banks thought Rattler would make a mistake as he went from man to zone. TN is not a zone defensive team as zone is more difficult to play, though keeps everything in front. Rattler never made a mistake and maintained poise all game long. Banks refused to blitz as Rattler had success throwing to the the RB ok into the flat. They gained 6 or more yards with that play as we couldn’t get off their WR blocks.

Our Offense scored but not on every possession. USC jr played played press coverage which frustrated Tillman and Hyatt. With UGA being the exception, our WRs are not used to having a DB in their face all night. That was the case lwhich impacted timing routes and Tillman was visibly frustrated a she asked for a flag when he was targeted.

It’s too late now but Banks should’ve blitzed to throw off Ratliff by hitting him every play (not an illegal hit). Maybe I’m missing something but we got exposed and OUT COACHED.

TN did not play as a team and one could tell early on it was going to be difficult night. Even when we came within four, I never felt the defense would get enough stops.
Our kick off unit gave them better field position for numerous possessions while our punting game struggled again.

This loss stings but the good news is we have one more opportunity to get to 10-2. Winning Vandy game is important to get that sour taste out of our mouths and to regain the confidence momentum into bowl preparation. I hope Milton is the real deal.

Go Vols!

 

[Fullfillmer]

I'm, like many of you, still stinging from the loss.... I would have bet everything I own that we would not have been blown out; maybe lose a close one if we didn't play well. But now I want to understand how we fix it. It is incredibly hard to tell from the broadcast what was causing so many poor defensive plays but here is what was obvious:

1. D-Line got little to no pressure with front four
2. USCe WRs were making great plays but many times wide open
3. No adjustments worked

My questions is do we have to run these vanilla schemes due to lack of talent?

Are our DBs unable to read, react and tackle on a mid major level?

Banks is not a bad coach but, and this has been a theme all year, we have sat in soft coverages and given up easy throws. You simply don't do that if you have the defensive horses to make plays. Don't get me started on how piss poor Hadden is, talking about the rest of the unit. Hadden should be on the bench until he learns to play with an iota of maturity. Total liability.

Thoughts?

We were missing our starting MLB - who may or may not be involved in directing some of the action on the field or calling out blitz packages - I know nothing of this. He is however, the one guy that makes tackles sidelines to sidelines and is physical enough to stop a large back carrying the ball on short yardage. He also seems to be the emotional leader of the defense - his absence absolutely killed us. He alone could have potentially given us 3 stops. You have to start with a base of slowing down or stopping your opponent somewhere. Stop their run game, so that you can focus more attention to the back end.

Without our mlb - and without our safety that was playing corner because the original starter was out - and without the opposite side either corner or safety, we had a full-blown crisis. They could either run inside and fall forward when hit, run outside and fall forward when hit or had years to sit back and pick out receivers. Add to that SC was uber motivated - and we were under motived. I think at half time we made a decision with our db's to keep everything in front of us.

It was also a pumped up 7:30 home finale -

So it was a combination of factors - coaching ( SC came up with a great plan and it just happened to be perfect fit for a UT team that was missing their starting MLB ) and our other backup personnel. I think Saturday night at home, SC beats anybody not named Georgia with the following players out - starting qb (fourth qtr), mlb, both cornerbacks, one safety, one starting wr, etc. out.

Think last year's bowl game - when we were down one cornerback - missing just one key player can have huge consequences when you are not as deep as say Georgia or Alabama.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Look, I'm old, need new glasses, and my last days as a mop up/short yardage QB were in the late 60s but I could've hit those receivers because there was zero coverage, zero, nada, zilch, 10+yds of separation on many short and medium routes. The secondary didn't show up.

Rattler wasn't holding the ball all day because he didn't need to...... he had open receivers one second after the snap on most plays so "we didn't get pressure" isn't exactly an accurate assessment of D Line.

Combined with no halftime adjustments that I noticed, we might as well have had 9 in the box on every play with the coverage we exhibited.

 

[JohnWardForever]

Look, I'm old, need new glasses, and my last days as a mop up/short yardage QB were in the late 60s but I could've hit those receivers because there was zero coverage, zero, nada, zilch, 10+yds of separation on many short and medium routes. The secondary didn't show up.

Rattler wasn't holding the ball all day because he didn't need to...... he had open receivers one second after the snap on most plays so "we didn't get pressure" isn't exactly an accurate assessment of D Line.

Combined with no halftime adjustments that I noticed, we might as well have had 9 in the box on every play with the coverage we exhibited.

Only regret I can like this just once.

 

[landscapingvol]

I'm, like many of you, still stinging from the loss.... I would have bet everything I own that we would not have been blown out; maybe lose a close one if we didn't play well. But now I want to understand how we fix it. It is incredibly hard to tell from the broadcast what was causing so many poor defensive plays but here is what was obvious:

1. D-Line got little to no pressure with front four
2. USCe WRs were making great plays but many times wide open
3. No adjustments worked

My questions is do we have to run these vanilla schemes due to lack of talent?

Are our DBs unable to read, react and tackle on a mid major level?

Banks is not a bad coach but, and this has been a theme all year, we have sat in soft coverages and given up easy throws. You simply don't do that if you have the defensive horses to make plays. Don't get me started on how piss poor Hadden is, talking about the rest of the unit. Hadden should be on the bench until he learns to play with an iota of maturity. Total liability.

Thoughts?

He is a terrible coordinator who may be a good coach or a decent guy but not everyone is meant to be a coordinator. Again, we are talking about an offense that is frankly not good and we are talking about scoring 38 points on offense and still losing by 3 touchdowns. Stop making excuses

 

[VolBricks]

I re-watched the game and Rattler threw the ball on the 2 second count almost every time. There is no way a D-line can get to any QB when they throw it that fast. Go back and watch it, we should have adjusted and gone to pressing the WR at the line but we never did we continued to play that soft zone and let Rattler pick us apart completing 81% passing.

 

[GoVols64]

He is a terrible coordinator who may be a good coach or a decent guy but not everyone is meant to be a coordinator. Again, we are talking about an offense that is frankly not good and we are talking about scoring 38 points on offense and still losing by 3 touchdowns. Stop making excuses

Who is making excuses?

 

[AllVols]

So many years getting pounded and beat by our arrivals, then we start to have some momentum and showing that we're force again, along comes a game like this and just takes everything out of you. It's really hard to get up for this.

 

[DynaLo]

Check the ears as what you thought might possibly be thoroughbred horses may actually just be simple plow mules.