We've got 5 weeks to find a passing game

#1
bpalmer28

bpalmer28

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#1
The goal is to win a national championship, and the playoffs are NOT out of reach.

Rather than worrying about what has to happen for us to get in - hopefully our coaches are focused on what needs to happen for us to beat Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, Oregon, etc. NEWS FLASH: You're not going to win four games in a row against teams like that by passing for 170 yards. Twelve play drives that end in a punt will not get the job done. I love that we are physical, run-first offense. LOVE IT. But you have to be able to make plays through the air to score against the best defenses in the country.

Here's what I want to see against UTEP: Throw the ball downfield 20 times and force yourself to either improve at what's preventing you from reaching your goals or die trying. I want to see Tennessee Football lay it's **** on the table. Enough of the BS. We've either got what it takes to win a natty or we don't, and if we don't, why not work to change it? Whatever we're doing to improve in this area during practice isn't working. We need to use every moment available to develop a passing game. Otherwise, just admit that you're content with a 10-2 season or a first round exit.
 
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#2
#2
To the committee members who don't see us as a playoff team, nothing would be more effective at changing their mind than hearing the national media say, "Tennessee has found it's passing game!". FIGURE IT OUT AND PROVE IT TO THEM. Let them see it with their own eyes against Vanderbilt in two weeks. A 24-16 win against Vandy where Nico throws for 170 yards isn't going to change anyone's mind.
 
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#3
#3
Here is what I would love our coaches (who call the offensive plays) to do to help Nico with his passing efficiency and total yards:

1. On our side of the 50, short passes. Slants, tosses to the wide outs, screens, quick posts, etc.
2. On our side of the 50, NO long passes, as Nico and his receivers have not found a consistent groove. We are still a young team, and 2nd or 3rd and 10 is our kryptonite on our side of the 50
3. At the 50 and inside our opponents side of the 50, we can open up the passing game as we will have the opponents playing more on their heels than their toes.

IMO, Nico is as good as any SEC QB but, the coaches have to put him in the right environment. We have a plethora of weapons in running backs, WRs, TEs and QB plus, our O line is good enough. Just use them correctly and we can make the playoffs
 
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#4
#4
Volador said:
Here is what I would love our coaches (who call the offensive plays) to do to help Nico with his passing efficiency and total yards:

1. On our side of the 50, short passes. Slants, tosses to the wide outs, screens, quick posts, etc.
2. On our side of the 50, NO long passes, as Nico and his receivers have not found a consistent groove. We are still a young team, and 2nd or 3rd and 10 is our kryptonite on our side of the 50
3. At the 50 and inside our opponents side of the 50, we can open up the passing game as we will have the opponents playing more on their heels than their toes.

IMO, Nico is as good as any SEC QB but, the coaches have to put him in the right environment. We have a plethora of weapons in running backs, WRs, TEs and QB plus, our O line is good enough. Just use them correctly and we can make the playoffs
Click to expand...
I like this because if we don't complete the passes, we can still pin UTEP deep and get the ball back in good field position.
 
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#8
#8
bpalmer28 said:
The goal is to win a national championship, and the playoffs are NOT out of reach.

Rather than worrying about what has to happen for us to get in - hopefully our coaches are focused on what needs to happen for us to beat Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, Oregon, etc. NEWS FLASH: You're not going to win four games in a row against teams like that by passing for 170 yards. Twelve play drives that end in a punt will not get the job done. I love that we are physical, run-first offense. LOVE IT. But you have to be able to make plays through the air to score against the best defenses in the country.

Here's what I want to see against UTEP: Throw the ball downfield 20 times and force yourself to either improve at what's preventing you from reaching your goals or die trying. I want to see Tennessee Football lay it's **** on the table. Enough of the BS. We've either got what it takes to win a natty or we don't, and if we don't, why not work to change it? Whatever we're doing to improve in this area during practice isn't working. We need to use every moment available to develop a passing game. Otherwise, just admit that you're content with a 10-2 season or a first round exit.
Click to expand...
We've been working on it for what..10 weeks? If it were going to happen, I suspect we'd have seen it by now. The talent just isn't there.
 
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#12
#12
bpalmer28 said:
The goal is to win a national championship, and the playoffs are NOT out of reach.

Rather than worrying about what has to happen for us to get in - hopefully our coaches are focused on what needs to happen for us to beat Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, Oregon, etc. NEWS FLASH: You're not going to win four games in a row against teams like that by passing for 170 yards. Twelve play drives that end in a punt will not get the job done. I love that we are physical, run-first offense. LOVE IT. But you have to be able to make plays through the air to score against the best defenses in the country.

Here's what I want to see against UTEP: Throw the ball downfield 20 times and force yourself to either improve at what's preventing you from reaching your goals or die trying. I want to see Tennessee Football lay it's **** on the table. Enough of the BS. We've either got what it takes to win a natty or we don't, and if we don't, why not work to change it? Whatever we're doing to improve in this area during practice isn't working. We need to use every moment available to develop a passing game. Otherwise, just admit that you're content with a 10-2 season or a first round exit.
Click to expand...
IT's too late for this year.....
 
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#15
#15
Saturday night is the first time this year that Heupel didn't say "our best football is still ahead of us." At some point, you have to admit, this is as good as it's gonna get. The OL still struggles in pass blocking, WRs' still struggle to get separation from DBs and to consistently catch easy passes (much less the hard ones) and the QB still struggles with throwing anything accurate on the deep passes.

I think we knew the defense was not a top 5 defense in the nation and that was proven on Saturday night against a team that had struggled throwing and catching the forward pass all year. Vols still are very mediocre at linebacker (talent and coaching) and that puts a strain on the entire defense. Other teams can and will attack this.......(see Vandy in two weeks).

The resume' is good enough to be a play off team. Best win and worst loss > Ole Miss best win and worst loss and SOS much better than Indiana, Texas, and BYU. But, TBH, this version of the Vols is not good enough to make much noise even if they do get into the playoffs.

Still need a better runstopper in the middle of the DL, better LBs, more depth at DB, much better OTs and more depth all across the OL, better production out of the WRs, and Nico has yet to live up to anything near the hype he started the season with. They have 2 games left to prove me wrong but if not, the same problems await us next season.
 
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#16
#16
I’m not gonna beat this dead horse. I know people are frustrated, and without discussion, there wouldn’t be any message board to enjoy.
BUT - this “passing game” you speak of cannot be fixed in five weeks. It is the same it has been since spring: “SEVERELY limited” by a less than Oline. Nico simply does not get the time required to make an efficient passing O work for a whole game. Sure, he can drop back in one second and chunk a bomb and hope we can catch it…..and yes, he can fire some quick slants IF the mid- WRs aren’t abused at the LOS, but the reality is without elite pass blocking, you won’t have an elite passing game- I don’t care if Roger Staubach is in shotgun.
Is what it is.
Play great D, pound the rock, win the turnover battle (we didn’t get any against UGA) and hopefully hit a deep pass or two. That’s the recipe. Might just work!
 
#17
#17
VolsSportsFan said:
I would say "we're not winning the national championship".... but honestly there isn't a team this year that is far and above better than anyone else. I think the playoffs could really be a toss up.
Click to expand...
This.

Get in, get hot at the right time. I’ll go one further. I think Ole Miss could win the whole thing. I also think they could lose this weekend in the swamp and be left out entirely. So much parity right now in this conference.
 
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#18
#18
"Not out of reach"

Well yeah lol. Just beat Vandy. The playoffs are easily in reach.

Not that this year's Vandy team, on the road, is a simple task like usual. But they are the last remaining hurdle.
 
#19
#19
bpalmer28 said:
Then perhaps our fans are justified in begging our coaches to put Mike Matthews in the game. Unless I'm missing something, he has 0 drops.
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Hard to have drops if he's not in the game. I could kinda see it if we had Hyatt or Tillman out there, but generally speaking, our WR group isn't scaring too many teams...Matthews thing is puzzling..."he's doing the right things and getting closer every week"...yada yada yada.
 
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#20
#20
bpalmer28 said:
The goal is to win a national championship, and the playoffs are NOT out of reach.

Rather than worrying about what has to happen for us to get in - hopefully our coaches are focused on what needs to happen for us to beat Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, Oregon, etc. NEWS FLASH: You're not going to win four games in a row against teams like that by passing for 170 yards. Twelve play drives that end in a punt will not get the job done. I love that we are physical, run-first offense. LOVE IT. But you have to be able to make plays through the air to score against the best defenses in the country.

Here's what I want to see against UTEP: Throw the ball downfield 20 times and force yourself to either improve at what's preventing you from reaching your goals or die trying. I want to see Tennessee Football lay it's **** on the table. Enough of the BS. We've either got what it takes to win a natty or we don't, and if we don't, why not work to change it? Whatever we're doing to improve in this area during practice isn't working. We need to use every moment available to develop a passing game. Otherwise, just admit that you're content with a 10-2 season or a first round exit.
Click to expand...
Yeah. Well said.

Unfortunately THIS YEAR IS A WRAP.

I think Heupel is the greatest UT coach since Neyland. Fulmer was accompanied by Cutcliffe and Chavis with a lot of football talent. And the SEC wasn’t as hard as it became in 2006- present time.

Heupel just needs to prepare like he normally does.
I pray that he accepts his limitations and brings in help.

If we run into Georgia, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State we’re going to lose.

It’s still a huge accomplishment to make the CFP
 
#21
#21
bpalmer28 said:
The goal is to win a national championship, and the playoffs are NOT out of reach.

Rather than worrying about what has to happen for us to get in - hopefully our coaches are focused on what needs to happen for us to beat Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, Oregon, etc. NEWS FLASH: You're not going to win four games in a row against teams like that by passing for 170 yards. Twelve play drives that end in a punt will not get the job done. I love that we are physical, run-first offense. LOVE IT. But you have to be able to make plays through the air to score against the best defenses in the country.

Here's what I want to see against UTEP: Throw the ball downfield 20 times and force yourself to either improve at what's preventing you from reaching your goals or die trying. I want to see Tennessee Football lay it's **** on the table. Enough of the BS. We've either got what it takes to win a natty or we don't, and if we don't, why not work to change it? Whatever we're doing to improve in this area during practice isn't working. We need to use every moment available to develop a passing game. Otherwise, just admit that you're content with a 10-2 season or a first round exit.
Click to expand...
You might as well stop hoping. Even against UTEP, I will be shocked in Nico passes for more than say 250 and 2 TDs. Our passing game is very pedestrian. WRs aren’t reliable. Nico doesn’t throw the deep ball very well.

Look if, and it’s a gigantic if, we win anything of significance it will be because of our run game and defense. And I am fine with that this year.
 
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