Tim Banks philosophy bend but don’t break.

[SonOfGodVolforlife]

You know the more I watch this defense play, the more I understand and appreciate what Tim banks is doing with this unit.
It’s easy to forget last season was the start of a major rebuild project, especially on the defense side of the ball. We are one of the thinnest teams at db, definitely in the top 15.
Tim banks has adapted the bend but don’t break approach because of this. He will give up yard between the 20s, playing soft zone because he doesn’t wanna go man and get burnt on 75 yard tds. It doesn’t always work I know, but his goal is when an opposing team gets in the red zone the defense tightens up, and makes the opposing team work for the points with more blitzing and more man defense bc of the blitzing.

I’m saying all of this because Maybe we are all a little to hard on Tim Banks, and Willie Martinez. It will take a couple years of getting athletes before we see these guys real potential and at times this defense has stepped up and made huge plays.

I hope we give them a couple years to see what we can do with some real dbs and years to develop in the system. Rant over, don’t be to hard on me!

 

[Volfan76]

Tim banks...yes Martinez...not hard enough.

 

[SonOfGodVolforlife]

Tim banks...yes Martinez...not hard enough.

That’s what she said.

 

[hUTch2002]

You know the more I watch this defense play, the more I understand and appreciate what Tim banks is doing with this unit.
It’s easy to forget last season was the start of a major rebuild project, especially on the defense side of the ball. We are one of the thinnest teams at db, definitely in the top 15.
Tim banks has adapted the bend but don’t break approach because of this. He will give up yard between the 20s, playing soft zone because he doesn’t wanna go man and get burnt on 75 yard tds. It doesn’t always work I know, but his goal is when an opposing team gets in the red zone the defense tightens up, and makes the opposing team work for the points with more blitzing and more man defense bc of the blitzing.

I’m saying all of this because Maybe we are all a little to hard on Tim Banks, and Willie Martinez. It will take a couple years of getting athletes before we see these guys real potential and at times this defense has stepped up and made huge plays.

I hope we give them a couple years to see what we can do with some real dbs and years to develop in the system. Rant over, don’t be to hard on me!

I think our coaches have the philosophy that the more plays you force an offense to make the less likely they are to score. I forget who I heard say that recently but I heard a coach somewhere (not a UT coach) say exactly that and it seems in line with our defensive strategy. We will give you a bunch of short yardage plays and bet that you mess up eventually.

 

[SonOfGodVolforlife]

I think our coaches have the philosophy that the more plays you force an offense to make the less likely they are to score. I forget who I heard say that recently but I heard a coach somewhere (not a UT coach) say exactly that and it seems in line with our defensive strategy. We will give you a bunch of short yardage plays and bet that you mess up eventually.

I agree with that 100 percent!! I’ve never seen a ut team that’s offense and defense compliments each other so well! For the reasons you stated and forcing the offense to use up clock too!

 

[Eastknox865]

With the offense we run this is probably the best if not the only philosophy. I wouldn't call it the Tim Banks philosophy

 

[volintheham]

Sounds like the Titans.

 

[SonOfGodVolforlife]

With the offense we run this is probably the best of not the only philosophy. I wouldn't call it the Tim Banks philosophy

Sorry, didn’t mean to make it sound like Tim banks came up with it, but rather it’s the philosophy he is using!

 

[Grappler]

I agree.... It's hard on a 12 to 15 play drive to not have a penalty, turnover or a miscommunication at the wrong time that kills a drive. Also the smaller the field.... the tighter it gets for the offense.

 

[Boone&Crockett]

I think Banks is a good Coordinator, I think as the year plays out we're going to see more good defensive efforts than we are bad, that Florida game may have just been a fluke, they've played good D in every other game.

 

[EZE]

I think our coaches have the philosophy that the more plays you force an offense to make the less likely they are to score. I forget who I heard say that recently but I heard a coach somewhere (not a UT coach) say exactly that and it seems in line with our defensive strategy. We will give you a bunch of short yardage plays and bet that you mess up eventually.

To further this. I think our coaches are using game plans that give our current roster the best chance for success. We have some personnel limitations (especially in the secondary), and that lends itself to using more conservative, zone coverages.

As the talent level increases, I suspect that we’ll see more aggressive schemes, including more man-to-man coverages and blitzes.

 

[kingkisses]

I like his defense- as long as we hold the opponent to field goals, our offense can win the game. Who cares if the opponent gets 400 yards if they only score 21 points?

 

[hUTch2002]

To further this. I think our coaches are using game plans that give our current roster the best chance for success. We have some personnel limitations (especially in the secondary), and that lends itself to using more conservative, zone coverages.

As the talent level increases, I suspect that we’ll see more aggressive schemes, including more man-to-man coverages and blitzes.

100% agree. Our D isn’t perfect but I understand how we are playing given the personnel issues and it’s clear the coaches are addressing those personnel issues when you look at the incoming class for next year. Yes I get frustrated on the 3rd and long plays at times but, overall, Banks has led our D to more than a 10-point improvement in our PPG allowed. From what I see it appears more often than not our guys are in the right places and they just don’t make the play. Are we in the right place 100% of the time? Of course not but no defense is. There are these things called offensive coordinators that are constantly scheming up new ways to attack our defense. Some of them are pretty good and some of the athletes we are up against are pretty good too. I’m happy with what Coach Banks is doing so far and ecstatic about where we are overall.

 

[DaddyChad]

You know the more I watch this defense play, the more I understand and appreciate what Tim banks is doing with this unit.
It’s easy to forget last season was the start of a major rebuild project, especially on the defense side of the ball. We are one of the thinnest teams at db, definitely in the top 15.
Tim banks has adapted the bend but don’t break approach because of this. He will give up yard between the 20s, playing soft zone because he doesn’t wanna go man and get burnt on 75 yard tds. It doesn’t always work I know, but his goal is when an opposing team gets in the red zone the defense tightens up, and makes the opposing team work for the points with more blitzing and more man defense bc of the blitzing.

I’m saying all of this because Maybe we are all a little to hard on Tim Banks, and Willie Martinez. It will take a couple years of getting athletes before we see these guys real potential and at times this defense has stepped up and made huge plays.

I hope we give them a couple years to see what we can do with some real dbs and years to develop in the system. Rant over, don’t be to hard on me!

I mean I’ve been saying this all year. It’s more out of necessity I think than just his philosophy. He has seen what we have and what happens when he tries to press on a long field. Our guys just aren’t where we need them to be athletically yet.

 

[Rickyvol77]

I like his defense- as long as we hold the opponent to field goals, our offense can win the game. Who cares if the opponent gets 400 yards if they only score 21 points?

Exactly. The negavols complain about meaningless stats like passing yards and time of possession. Who cares if we win the game?

 

[GBOplayer]

Why Tim Banks is a better defensive coordinator for Tennessee than people realize

This is a great article which explains Tim Banks and UT's defensive strategy

 

['Boro-vol]

You know the more I watch this defense play, the more I understand and appreciate what Tim banks is doing with this unit.
It’s easy to forget last season was the start of a major rebuild project, especially on the defense side of the ball. We are one of the thinnest teams at db, definitely in the top 15.
Tim banks has adapted the bend but don’t break approach because of this. He will give up yard between the 20s, playing soft zone because he doesn’t wanna go man and get burnt on 75 yard tds. It doesn’t always work I know, but his goal is when an opposing team gets in the red zone the defense tightens up, and makes the opposing team work for the points with more blitzing and more man defense bc of the blitzing.

I’m saying all of this because Maybe we are all a little to hard on Tim Banks, and Willie Martinez. It will take a couple years of getting athletes before we see these guys real potential and at times this defense has stepped up and made huge plays.

I hope we give them a couple years to see what we can do with some real dbs and years to develop in the system. Rant over, don’t be to hard on me!

I said the same thing to my son on Saturday. It may be where we are right now from a personnel standpoint. If so, then kudos for recognizing that and scheming to compensate for it. As we’ve seen, the defense doesn’t have to be stellar to complement the offense…just competent. When the defense catches up we are going to be scary.

 

[PandamoniumReigns]

I think Banks is a good Coordinator, I think as the year plays out we're going to see more good defensive efforts than we are bad, that Florida game may have just been a fluke, they've played good D in every other game.

After watching Florida play other teams, I'm firmly convinced they played out of their minds vs TN. TN had some bad defensive possessions, particularly in the fourth quarter, but Florida just had it all going the right way.

They are not a good team

 

[DiderotsGhost]

It’s easy to forget last season was the start of a major rebuild project, especially on the defense side of the ball. We are one of the thinnest teams at db, definitely in the top 15.

This.

The weird thing about the end of the Pruitt era is that there was a ton of (extremely underutilized) offensive talent, but the defense was absolutely decimated, with most of the best players leaving, and very little depth left behind. I knew Heupel would improve the offense significantly in Year 1 because we had a lot of great players on that side of the ball, but he's exceeded expectations. If we're being honest, defense was always probably a 3-4 year rebuild.

Banks has done a good job. D-line has been great this year. Our run D has been very good. Our pass coverage has sucked at times, but we are very thin there and there are only so many miracles you can work. I'm at least happy to see a lot of improvement in the past week versus LSU, but don't be shocked if Bama cuts our secondary up (and we'll likely be down another starter).

But the philosophy is, as you said, bend don't break and try to get the opponent to make mistakes. And in spite of being short on depth, Banks has had a good deal of success.

 

[TMvol10]

For the most part I agree. But I’d say on 3rd and long, coach Heupel is ready to get the offense back on the field. The bend don’t break is fine, and works decently well for this team, but we’ve got to tighten it up or do whatever we can to stop giving up easy firstdown conversions on 3rd and long.

 

[AllVols]

"But there’s a method to the madness. Banks knows that his strategy means teams will run more offensive plays (which gives UT more chances to get a turnover)."

I would say against team like KY, SC, or Vandy, this might be true! but against teams that have better athletes, like Bama, UGA and as we saw FL, this is scary as heck. To me it's not a good philosophy. FL darn near bit us and we were clearly the better team.

 

[BigOrangeFanatic]

I don't think Banks is a great DC, but if you have an offense that can score like the one we have, you don't need a top notch one. The point of our defense is to figure out ways to give the offense an extra possession or 2 in the game and against 80% of the teams we face that will be good enough. Play UGA and Bammer and you have to get a few extra stops as their defense will put a little more pressure on the offense.

Even letting teams go up and down the field on us, in most cases we have either held teams to field goals, or had the chance to stop them on 4th down. Our offense has been so good its forcing the opposing teams offense to do things they wouldn't ordinarily do, like go for it on 4th down every time like UF did.

Ultimately I would like to see the secondary catch up to the DLine and add some more depth to LB so we can feel better about defending the pass. When we play another offense that has a top notch QB it's going to be a shootout and just hoping the other team turns it over somewhere.

 

[NighthawkVol]

You know the more I watch this defense play, the more I understand and appreciate what Tim banks is doing with this unit.
It’s easy to forget last season was the start of a major rebuild project, especially on the defense side of the ball. We are one of the thinnest teams at db, definitely in the top 15.
Tim banks has adapted the bend but don’t break approach because of this. He will give up yard between the 20s, playing soft zone because he doesn’t wanna go man and get burnt on 75 yard tds. It doesn’t always work I know, but his goal is when an opposing team gets in the red zone the defense tightens up, and makes the opposing team work for the points with more blitzing and more man defense bc of the blitzing.

I’m saying all of this because Maybe we are all a little to hard on Tim Banks, and Willie Martinez. It will take a couple years of getting athletes before we see these guys real potential and at times this defense has stepped up and made huge plays.

I hope we give them a couple years to see what we can do with some real dbs and years to develop in the system. Rant over, don’t be to hard on me!

I think offense is easier to scheme around lack of athleticism. Defense requires athletes. So it'll take a few recruiting classes for the defense to catch up to the offense.

 

[BenGrimm]

If the DBs can just tackle a little better then the stats wouldn’t be so bad.

I was impressed with the improvement from FL to LSU. Keep that trajectory going.

 

[BenGrimm]

I don't think Banks is a great DC, but if you have an offense that can score like the one we have, you don't need a top notch one. The point of our defense is to figure out ways to give the offense an extra possession or 2 in the game and against 80% of the teams we face that will be good enough. Play UGA and Bammer and you have to get a few extra stops as their defense will put a little more pressure on the offense.

Even letting teams go up and down the field on us, in most cases we have either held teams to field goals, or had the chance to stop them on 4th down. Our offense has been so good its forcing the opposing teams offense to do things they wouldn't ordinarily do, like go for it on 4th down every time like UF did.

Ultimately I would like to see the secondary catch up to the DLine and add some more depth to LB so we can feel better about defending the pass. When we play another offense that has a top notch QB it's going to be a shootout and just hoping the other team turns it over somewhere.

FL was 5/6 on 4th down. Stop just two more of those and that game would have been very ugly.

Brian Kelly tried it and the gamble backfired big time.