To Blitz or Not to Blitz

#51
#51
youcancallmeAl said:
Face it, we've got a bad defense with mediocre talent. Since that's true, I'd rather us attack a hot quarterback more than the 40% and if that means they get quick touchdowns 2 of 3 possessions rather than touchdowns on 90% of long drives then that would at least rest our defense more. I say attack them 2/3 of the downs if that's what it takes. Not sure about Vandy, however. If they aren't good at throwing it, not that many.
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We weren't significantly more successful when we did blitz though, everyone wants to believe it was schematic because that would be easier to fix than a player issue but the fact is that we tried multiple strategies Saturday. None worked. None were successful at generating pressure consistently. We should be far more successful against Vandy if the effort and execution increase on defense. Vandy is at a bigger mismatch against us on the lines of scrimmage than South Carolina was. If this isn't a "get right" game for us this coming Saturday, we've got problems.
 
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#52
#52
unfrozencvmanvol said:
Have you seen alot from our secondary to make you think they can handle that? I'm not sure I have. Our staff probably figures that's going to be alot of 1-2 play TD drives too. Hindsight is always 20/20 but I think we were more outplayed on defense than out-coached. I don't think there was a magic schematic bullet Saturday that could make up for how bad we got out played.
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I'm not talking about South Carolina. I'm talking about all year. We sit back in Cover 3 or Quarters, possibly a zone blitz with one of those shells, 8 yds off the WR on a 3rd and 5 or less. The other offense continuosly throws some form of quick game to the WRs, arrow/swing routes to the RBs, or screens and get easy 1st downs. If you sit back you have no pass rush and no coverage. I'd rather at least pressure the QB and hurry him into possibly a bad throw/decision. Not every play but most 3rd downs.
 
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#53
#53
unfrozencvmanvol said:
Not really because 9 touchdowns on 9 plays is worse than 9 touchdowns on 90. Percentage wise an offense is a hell of a lot more likely to screw up when they have to execute 90 snaps than 9. It's also harder to score in the red zone where the field is compressed than in the open field. You've got to tip your cap to South Carolina's execution and deplore our lack of execution more than erroneously just think we didn't try different strategies on defense. We attempted to mix it up, nothing worked. You blitz every play, you are going to get screens, draws and quick slants for 50-90 yard touchdowns, lot's of one play or two play TD drives. You can't blitz every play, just like a pitcher in MLB can't just throw one pitch. I'm an advocate of aggressive defense, but a 43% blitz rate is pretty aggressive. Alot of people seem to be under the impression that we didn't blitz Saturday, we did ALOT, we just didn't get much pressure.
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What you say makes absolutely perfect sense in 98% of all football games. But by midway through that third quarter Saturday, it was obvious that this was not a normal game in any sense of the word. What we were doing was clearly not working or even close to working. They were completely unstoppable. In that case, you take the risk of bringing everyone and the trainer too.
Think of it this way, you have been diagnosed with terminal cancer and have six months to live. Your doctor tells you there is a new experimental drug that has some promise but that it has side effects including potential death. Do you take it, knowing that you are certainly dying if you don’t?
Yes the all out blitz on almost every snap is very risky . But at that point, what do you have to lose?
 
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#55
#55
I'm always a little confused by numbers like these. If you have four down linemen, bring one linebacker, but drop a lineman into coverage, to me, that's not a blitz. Does that chart call that a blitz, or only with 5 or more rushers?

On the assessment of our technique (or lack thereof): we've had a few games where our blitzers DIDN'T run into the first blocker they could find; this was not one of those games. Banks was especially missed in that regard.
 
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#56
#56
We are getting very little pressure regardless of what we do. Perhaps the freshman need more snaps at end? You never sit young talent over experience with no talent. It reminds me of when Majors gave up 400 yards passing against Washington State in 89. Instead of playing these two young talented kids, he stuck with his regular starters and got toasted against Bama. The two young pups were J.J Mclesky and Carl Pickens!
 
#57
#57
hog88 said:
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.
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Exactly
 
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#58
#58
Technically we were blitzing, but most of the time we were sending 5 against 6 blockers. Bottomline though, our blitzing or not blitzing was not generating enough pressure. Rattler did not feel any pressure and simply pitch and catched us to death.

Look at all our good defensive performances. What is the common denominator? LSU, Kentucky, even Pittsburgh... Pressure, hits on the QB, sacks, turnovers.
 
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#59
#59
Win =Bliltz. Every play. No question. Especially with a less than good QB and a super weak DB.

My Dork in your face all day. Defense 101.
 
#60
#60
I don't agree with the assessment that we haven't gotten pressure. We've had several games with plenty of pressure (officially pressured Pitt 25+ times, for instance) and only Georgia and South Carolina where we got none.
 
#61
#61
papatomany said:
I'm always a little confused by numbers like these. If you have four down linemen, bring one linebacker, but drop a lineman into coverage, to me, that's not a blitz. Does that chart call that a blitz, or only with 5 or more rushers?

On the assessment of our technique (or lack thereof): we've had a few games where our blitzers DIDN'T run into the first blocker they could find; this was not one of those games. Banks was especially missed in that regard.
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In our defense a blitz would be bringing 5 or more players on pass rush. I think SEC Now probably knows what a blitz is also. Dropping a lineman and bringing a linebacker wouldn't be counted as a blitz in this I wouldn't think unless your Roman Harper, Matt Stinchcomb and Takeo Spikes type dudes on there have totally lost their minds and forgotten their many years of playing football.
 
#62
#62
Rattler is far better than Vol fans give credit. He can be erratic but can also flip a switch and show flashes of being hreat. It was a career game for him and our worst defensive performance of the yr...decade? Modern era? Maybe UK 21 or a Dooley game?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong on the last
 
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#63
#63
papatomany said:
I don't agree with the assessment that we haven't gotten pressure. We've had several games with plenty of pressure (officially pressured Pitt 25+ times, for instance) and only Georgia and South Carolina where we got none.
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This game. We are talking about this game that occurred last Saturday night (that is the subject of the chart in the first post), not other games.
 
#64
#64
Volunteer_Kirby said:
Rattler is far better than Vol fans give credit. He can be erratic but can also flip a switch and show flashes of being hreat. It was a career game for him and our worst defensive performance of the yr...decade? Modern era? Maybe UK 21 or a Dooley game?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong on the last
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He played outstanding Saturday night, no doubt. He also had a clean pocket most of the time though.
 
#66
#66
When you can stomach doing so, take a look at the defensive plays and you’ll see a lot of pure air whiffs and lame half azzed arm tackle attempts.

There may not be a group in all of college football exhibiting more of a lack of effort and execution than some of the guys in orange and white Saturday night. It looks like they really did think all they had to do was show up and they were in no way prepared to recover from getting completely rolled. The coaches have to be absolutely astounded watching the game tape.
 
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#67
#67
unfrozencvmanvol said:
This game. We are talking about this game that occurred last Saturday night (that is the subject of the chart in the first post), not other games.
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Was responding to OldManKelsey'sVols comment that, "We're getting very little pressure no matter what we do." Sure sounds like he intended broader application than just this game. (Should have quoted him in my reply. Sorry.)
 
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#68
#68
unfrozencvmanvol said:
In our defense a blitz would be bringing 5 or more players on pass rush. I think SEC Now probably knows what a blitz is also. Dropping a lineman and bringing a linebacker wouldn't be counted as a blitz in this I wouldn't think unless your Roman Harper, Matt Stinchcomb and Takeo Spikes type dudes on there have totally lost their minds and forgotten their many years of playing football.
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Well, that's the way I see it, too; but I'm not sure if the folks who made the chart do. Sometimes you hear, "They brought the house!" and it's just two linemen and two linebackers.
 
#72
#72
papatomany said:
Well, that's the way I see it, too; but I'm not sure if the folks who made the chart do. Sometimes you hear, "They brought the house!" and it's just two linemen and two linebackers.
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I'm going to trust that Roman Harper and Takeo Spikes know what a blitz is. They played many years in the NFL. I don't know what else to do, I remember seeing us rush 5 quite a few times and it getting picked up.
 
#73
#73
papatomany said:
Was responding to OldManKelsey'sVols comment that, "We're getting very little pressure no matter what we do." Sure sounds like he intended broader application than just this game. (Should have quoted him in my reply. Sorry.)
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I figured out what you were doing after I had replied. No worries.
 
#74
#74
Blitzing is fine but you gotta cover better regardless. The receivers were not catching contested balls very often. Usually the defender was well away and either rushing to catchup or probably I was just angry and imagining things but I could have swore sometimes they were catching the balls while a guy just kinda of let them and then tackled the after they had gained several yards. Sort of like they were okay with spotting them plenty to get downs as long as it meant they didn’t get burned big by trying to make a play. Like I said, probably selective memory and being angry. Another thing though is if you do blitz or get pressure with your front it would be useful to make more tackles successfully. Seems like we have gotten decent pressure in games through the season, but we struggle to get opposing quarterbacks on the ground. When our line play is good we still get some good stuff done, but if they struggle it seems like everything breaks down. All of our other weak spots seem to get magnified.
 
#75
#75
hog88 said:
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.
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We don’t have the guys to cover 1 on 1. We ran man most of the year. Look at the stats, we can’t do it with this group of guys. We tried to run more zone with a bracket blitz against UF and Bama, and got torched. Our secondary has only looked good in 1 meaningful game and that was Kentucky. In fact, we were lucky to play LSU earlier in the season. We can’t stop the pass at all. The secondary and linebackers are 12-13 best in the SEC.
 
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