To Blitz or Not to Blitz

[unfrozencvmanvol]

One of the common fallacies of the casual fan is to equate "blitzing" with pressure, and when we don't get pressure, to draw the conclusion that we did not blitz, or didn't blitz enough. It's hard to tell on TV when you can't see all 22 players on the field exactly what happens or what the plan was on every play, but my initial impression the other night was that we had blitzed quite a bit, we just didn't get home much or have much success moving the QB off his spot when we did blitz. I was watching SEC Now this morning and got the stats to back that up.



It appears from this chart that we blitzed on 16 of 37 passing snaps, that's 43.2%. That's quite a bit of blitzing. The bottom line was, it wasn't effective. We got torched whether we blitzed or we didn't, so I think Banks is getting some undue criticism for not changing things up. One definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results, and he didn't do that, he tried to mix it up, it just didn't matter. Now this can be alot of things and a combination of alot of things, sometimes talent is the issue, and I might could buy that if this was the result against UGA or Bama or someone, but against South Carolina, our talent level was fairly even (at least per the 247 talent composite). I haven't broken the film down and I welcome any input from those who have but this is more than likely mostly an execution issue. Now I don't let Banks completely off the hook either, 63 points is unacceptable to anybody, perhaps his blitz packages were too predictable but I suspect alot of this was what Beasley eluded to, on defense at least, we just thought we were going to roll over these guys and South Carolina wasn't inclined to cooperate.

 

[bigorangecrush89]

Yeah like you said they didnt get close to the QB most of the time they blitzed. They need to blitz better, not necessarily less. They need to stop sucking at it. If they cant get pressure with 4 they are going to have to blitz. You have to pressure the QB.

 

[hog88]

You can't blitz and still give 10 yard cushions to the receivers. That gives a decent QB outlet options and it burned us all night.

 

[Gandalf]

One of the common fallacies of the casual fan is to equate "blitzing" with pressure, and when we don't get pressure, to draw the conclusion that we did not blitz, or didn't blitz enough. It's hard to tell on TV when you can't see all 22 players on the field exactly what happens or what the plan was on every play, but my initial impression the other night was that we had blitzed quite a bit, we just didn't get home much or have much success moving the QB off his spot when we did blitz. I was watching SEC Now this morning and got the stats to back that up.

View attachment 517124

It appears from this chart that we blitzed on 27 of 67 passing snaps, that's 40.2%. That's quite a bit of blitzing. The bottom line was, it wasn't effective. We got torched whether we blitzed or we didn't, so I think Banks is getting some undue criticism for not changing things up. One definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results, and he didn't do that, he tried to mix it up, it just didn't matter. Now this can be alot of things and a combination of alot of things, sometimes talent is the issue, and I might could buy that if this was the result against UGA or Bama or someone, but against South Carolina, our talent level was fairly even (at least per the 247 talent composite). I haven't broken the film down and I welcome any input from those who have but this is more than likely mostly an execution issue. Now I don't let Banks completely off the hook either, 63 points is unacceptable to anybody, perhaps his blitz packages were too predictable but I suspect alot of this was what Beasley eluded to, on defense at least, we just thought we were going to roll over these guys and South Carolina wasn't inclined to cooperate.

Let me sum up for you.

It doesnt help to blitz if you suck at it and dont actually HIT THE QB! Take a look at the ratio of blitz to sacks and you will find your answer as to why it wasnt effective.

By comparison, you can look at how often Georgia pressured us but didnt blitz per se. Even while they were hustling after Hooker they didn't fully commit to getting him but still were able to make sure the near and midfield were covered.

We did not do that. We sold out and went after them but every QB seems to be like a greased pig when we are chasing them. I cannot tell you how many times I saw one of our D chasing after their QB only to do a flying flop at his feet that misses while he scampers off to make a first down.

Its one thing to have that happen against Georgia but to have it happen against USC is utterly inexcusable. Perhaps they could just have the defense learn to tackle the QB.

Our new training method:

 

[rdk4121]

We just weren't able to get any pressure at all regardless of what we did. While that obviously falls on the D Line at least partially, it was mainly because the secondary was so bad he only needed to hold the ball for a second or two most of the time. We (and mainly Hadden) were giving up 10-15 yards of cushion on every play. It was just an easy pitch and catch, combined with some poor tackling in the secondary.

 

[hog88]

We just weren't able to get any pressure at all regardless of what we did. While that obviously falls on the D Line at least partially, it was mainly because the secondary was so bad he only needed to hold the ball for a second or two most of the time. We (and mainly Hadden) were giving up 10-15 yards of cushion on every play. It was just an easy pitch and catch, combined with some poor tackling in the secondary.

We didn't get pressure because he had wide open receivers on 5yrd routes. Even blitzing won't get to a QB getting the ball out of his hands in 2-3 seconds. If your going to blitz you have to pressure the receivers and take away the outlet passes.

 

[AstonRoyal]

I'm pretty sure we got torched when we didn't blitz too so might as well blitz the hell outa them haha

 

[Sara Clark]

I don't care if you can execute or not. Blitz until you get it right! No experience like game time experience. If you can't cover the pass, might as well send the house at the QB!!!!That's my opinion....got so tired of seeing 4 go after QB at SC. SEND THE HOUSE!

 

[Sara Clark]

I'm pretty sure we got torched when we didn't blitz too so might as well blitz the hell outa them haha

EXACTLY!

 

[sjt18]

Blitzing does you no good if you give receivers a 15 yd cushion.

 

[morristown vol]

Were just slow back there.No one should be that wide open.But when you have a hot QB not much you can do but blitz and try to get some hits and take him off his game.

 

[Sara Clark]

Blitzing does you no good if you give receivers a 15 yd cushion.

More often than not, I agree with you. But receivers are getting that cushion every play, if it can't be fixed, might as well blitz. If at some point you can get to the QB, pound his backside in the ground a couple of times, making him nervous might very well get him off his mark.
If you play 30 minutes and can't cover the pass, might as well try something new...BLITZ! We made SC QB look like a flipping Heisman watch candidate. Sorry....I'm still pissed.

 

[OrangeTsar]

I don't care if you can execute or not. Blitz until you get it right! No experience like game time experience. If you can't cover the pass, might as well send the house at the QB!!!!That's my opinion....got so tired of seeing 4 go after QB at SC. SEND THE HOUSE!

Especially if you are already getting ZERO stops anyway. When they score a TD EVERY. SINGLE TIME they touch the ball. Unless there is some special type touchdown that counts for more than 6 points if you miss on a blitz, why not roll the dice and keep rolling them? One or two stops could have made the difference. Something with only a 10% chance of stopping them is infinitely preferable if what you are already doing clocks in at zero percent

 

[OrangeTsar]

If you ain’t blitzing, you are already losing

 

[VOL_Lyfe]

Is this with Banks or without Banks?

 

[Sara Clark]

Especially if you are already getting ZERO stops anyway. When they score a TD EVERY. SINGLE TIME they touch the ball. Unless there is some special type touchdown that counts for more than 6 points if you miss on a blitz, why not roll the dice and keep rolling them? One or two stops could have made the difference. Something with only a 10% chance of stopping them is infinitely preferable if what you are already doing clocks in at zero percent

Every single time. We stopped him 1 drive. Blitz his a$$!!

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

If you blitz every time, it'll be a screen or a draw or a quick slant every time and a touchdown every time. You have to mix it up. It's the same principle that a big league power pitcher can't just throw the fastball every time. Big league hitters will sit on it and go yard. We blitzed ALOT Saturday, we just weren't very good at creating pressure even if we did blitz. Rattler had all day alot of times too.

 

[JMSqb11]

One of the common fallacies of the casual fan is to equate "blitzing" with pressure, and when we don't get pressure, to draw the conclusion that we did not blitz, or didn't blitz enough. It's hard to tell on TV when you can't see all 22 players on the field exactly what happens or what the plan was on every play, but my initial impression the other night was that we had blitzed quite a bit, we just didn't get home much or have much success moving the QB off his spot when we did blitz. I was watching SEC Now this morning and got the stats to back that up.

View attachment 517124

It appears from this chart that we blitzed on 27 of 67 passing snaps, that's 40.2%. That's quite a bit of blitzing. The bottom line was, it wasn't effective. We got torched whether we blitzed or we didn't, so I think Banks is getting some undue criticism for not changing things up. One definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results, and he didn't do that, he tried to mix it up, it just didn't matter. Now this can be alot of things and a combination of alot of things, sometimes talent is the issue, and I might could buy that if this was the result against UGA or Bama or someone, but against South Carolina, our talent level was fairly even (at least per the 247 talent composite). I haven't broken the film down and I welcome any input from those who have but this is more than likely mostly an execution issue. Now I don't let Banks completely off the hook either, 63 points is unacceptable to anybody, perhaps his blitz packages were too predictable but I suspect alot of this was what Beasley eluded to, on defense at least, we just thought we were going to roll over these guys and South Carolina wasn't inclined to cooperate.

I would bring 5/6 guys every down vs Vandy and make that bozo beat us with his arm. He’s not very good passing

 

[N.ohio vol]

Let me sum up for you.

It doesnt help to blitz if you suck at it and dont actually HIT THE QB! Take a look at the ratio of blitz to sacks and you will find your answer as to why it wasnt effective.

By comparison, you can look at how often Georgia pressured us but didnt blitz per se. Even while they were hustling after Hooker they didn't fully commit to getting him but still were able to make sure the near and midfield were covered.

We did not do that. We sold out and went after them but every QB seems to be like a greased pig when we are chasing them. I cannot tell you how many times I saw one of our D chasing after their QB only to do a flying flop at his feet that misses while he scampers off to make a first down.

Its one thing to have that happen against Georgia but to have it happen against USC is utterly inexcusable. Perhaps they could just have the defense learn to tackle the QB.

Our new training method:

 

[VOL_Lyfe]

If you blitz every time, it'll be a screen or a draw or a quick slant every time and a touchdown every time. You have to mix it up. We blitzed ALOT Saturday, we just weren't very good at creating pressure even if we did blitz. Rattler had all day alot of times too.

Blitz usually means single coverage downfield. Do we really want that?

 

[Boone&Crockett]

Its interesting to see those stats, you couldnt see them blitz on televison much hence people including myself didnt think they did much of it, it is just odd that our blitz packages have worked on much better teams than SC, Idk it may have just been one of those games we were destined to lose.

 

[OrangeTsar]

If you blitz every time, it'll be a screen or a draw or a quick slant every time and a touchdown every time. You have to mix it up. It's the same principle that a big league power pitcher can't just throw the fastball every time. Big league hitters will sit on it and go yard. We blitzed ALOT Saturday, we just weren't very good at creating pressure even if we did blitz. Rattler had all day alot of times too.

I know what you are saying. But the whole point is that they DID in fact get a touchdown every time (with one exception). So is them scoring a TD when we blitzed worth more than a non blitz TD? Because we got the same results either way.

 

[Sara Clark]

Its interesting to see those stats, you couldnt see them blitz on televison much hence people including myself didnt think they did much of it, it is just odd that our blitz packages have worked on much better teams than SC, Idk it may have just been one of those games we were destined to lose.

Being at the game, I didn't see much blitz. Always 4 going after QB.

 

[OrangeTsar]

Blitz usually means single coverage downfield. Do we really want that?

you’re right. Single coverage means they might score a touchdown. Oh….wait

 

[N.ohio vol]

Being at the game, I didn't see much blitz. Always 4 going after QB.

That's what it looked like here at home on tv also. Plenty of time to sit back and throw. If they needed 12 yards they got 13. If they needed 26 they got 27. It was hard to watch. Not sure how thier gonna fix it either. Recruiting but that will take a minute and transfer portal.