Line play Offense and Defense

[governmentmule]

I'm disappointed in the Offensive line play this year,I thought they would be kicking some butt and taking names,to me they have taken a step backwards,there is no consistency in there play and there has been a lot of penalty's on there part

The defensive line has shown no consistency either,sometimes they play good and other times they look really bad,big Dan has made some improvement this year,but no consistency like the rest

Is it just the talent that the Vols have,or it is the new scheme ? Or the difference in the coaches ? Pittman had the Offensive line looking good last year on pass blocking and this year there having trouble there

I want go into the defensive lines problems from last year,we all know what a train wreck that was

This is where games are lost and won in the SEC,as we all know

I'm interested in what ya'll think

 

[vol4life2012]

Give it time, the offensive line is still solid in pass protection. However they strugle in run blocking because of the new zone blocking system would be my guess. Still no excuses for the stupid penalties though. Hopefully they go out and kick some tail this weekend! go vols!!!

 

[Vols4ever]

Statistically our running game is much better than last year, our QB has had enough time to pass going against good D lines.

They might not be great O line but they are definitely good and I won't call them overrated.

 

[thebjd]

The line is fine. I think our offense has been pretty simple and predictable.

 

[calban]

We have a lot of seniors in the trenches.
They want to leave with at least one winning season.
Think we're going to see some consistency in the last 4 games.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

The line is doing very well. They have only allowed 6 sacks even though playing some great pass rushers. The running game is going good and they have run blocking pretty good. How much better are they supposed to be?

 

[Crazy Ivan]

Bray had a very quick release time, especially compared to Worley. That always helps an OL's stats.

 

[AllVol11717]

Neal is having his best season in Orange and Lane has been playing well when healthy too. We've also allowed only a minimal number of sacks this year against some good SEC defenses. So the O-Line is fine, no one has taken a step back there, they've just had to block for a QB with a slow release, and whose receivers are young and still working on being able to get open.

 

[walkenvol]

They might not be great O line but they are definitely good and I won't call them overrated.

I agree they are good, but before the season started they were touted by some as the top unit in the country. Overrated - yes. No excuses for the stupid penalties, especially Tiny's.

As for the DL, they have exceeded my expectations after the loss of Couch and Salsberry / Vereen / Smith injuries. Walls has had a great season. Hood has been very productive. If you compare McCullers to the average SEC lineman then he's had a really good season also, but he is so large that I expect him to be more disruptive. Probably unrealistic expectations of him as he's really a big run stopper but he does have a highlight play ever so often.

 

[Titan&Volfan4life]

I think many of us have overexpected what our O line would be like this season.

All Summer we heard they were the best O line in the SEC and 1 of the best in the country and hearing all of that for so long may have made us overexpect what we believed we'd see this year.

I'm sure that's my case because I thought we would line up and bulldoze most teams and be consistently knocking the other teams D linemen backwards on their butts and we would be running wild every game.

We need to never forget that we're playing top SEC schools that also has alot of future NFL players on those teams and when you add in Oregon our schedule becomes the toughest in the country.

I'm still expecting to see them play better these last 4 games and if they want to improve their NFL draft stock they need to come on really strong the rest of this season.

#BrickbyBrick...VFL...GBO!!!

 

[rickyb712]

I'm disappointed in the Offensive line play this year,I thought they would be kicking some butt and taking names,to me they have taken a step backwards,there is no consistency in there play and there has been a lot of penalty's on there part

The defensive line has shown no consistency either,sometimes they play good and other times they look really bad,big Dan has made some improvement this year,but no consistency like the rest

Is it just the talent that the Vols have,or it is the new scheme ? Or the difference in the coaches ? Pittman had the Offensive line looking good last year on pass blocking and this year there having trouble there

I want go into the defensive lines problems from last year,we all know what a train wreck that was

This is where games are lost and won in the SEC,as we all know

I'm interested in what ya'll think

just my opinion but i think with teams they dont fear are passing game and they are stacking the line

 

[orangeluvr]

Our lines have played in three different schemes over the past five years, it's enough to make your head spin. :crazy: :crazy:

 

[General Jack]

I think many of us have overexpected what our O line would be like this season.

All Summer we heard they were the best O line in the SEC and 1 of the best in the country and hearing all of that for so long may have made us overexpect what we believed we'd see this year.

I'm sure that's my case because I thought we would line up and bulldoze most teams and be consistently knocking the other teams D linemen backwards on their butts and we would be running wild every game.

We need to never forget that we're playing top SEC schools that also has alot of future NFL players on those teams and when you add in Oregon our schedule becomes the toughest in the country.

I'm still expecting to see them play better these last 4 games and if they want to improve their NFL draft stock they need to come on really strong the rest of this season.

#BrickbyBrick...VFL...GBO!!!

Well said, with all the hype its almost as if some were expecting perfection.

O-line has played well all things considered. Decent running game this year and generally good pass protection. Its a team strength on a mediocre/average team.

 

[DC Vol]

I actually have thought our OL/DL have played well the last 3 games.

The DL has gotten a lot of pressure against UGA/USC and turned in sacks as well. No sacks or pressure against McCarron but they did do a good job plugging up the running lanes and forcing plays outside. It's bad for us, though, because our LBs/Secondary didn't capitalize on the lost time and seal off those runs.

USC/Bama have a very good front-7 (particularly DL for USC and LB for Bama) and Neal/Lane went for 132 against USC on 36 carries (not great 3.6ypc but Neal started out horrible). Neal/Lane went for 95 yards on 19 carries against Bama. Good for a 5ypc average.

Neal went for 148 against UGA.

I don't see how you can say we're bad at run blocking with those numbers. USC is really the only bad game in there and it was mostly digging ourselves out of the early hole Clowney put us in.

 

[DC Vol]

In fact, we actually did significantly better than Ole Miss or Virginia Tech did against Bama offensively.

Ole Miss: 205 total yards on 57 plays (3.5ypp)

Virginia Tech: 212 total yards on 59 plays (3.6ypp)

Tenn: 322 total yards on 56 plays (5.8ypp)

 

[BanditVol]

I don't see how you can say we're bad at run blocking with those numbers. USC is really the only bad game in there and it was mostly digging ourselves out of the early hole Clowney put us in.

Really? We ran for 147 on USCe and at the time they were only allowing 111 per game.

You might be thinking of UF...we only ran for 66 yards on them, though it was on only 17 attempts due to other factors in the game. At the time, they were allowing less than that, although that number is now inflated by injuries to around 100.

IMO UF is the only bad game we have had running the ball.

One more thing about USCe...think of Lane bulldozing their D at the end...dude that was a GREAT game running the ball, lol.