Is our pass defense as bad as people say?

[Volador]

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[Visidog]

this may result in giving up some home runs. so be it.

I’m less sure. UGA knew it was getting man plus pressure and was able to throw early. You can’t play man, have safeties, and blitz at the same time. There aren’t enough defenders—so the QB knows where the safety can be and where he can’t.

Man is one coverage with relatively simple rules (safeties make it more complicated with leverage), but zone is 3-4 different things. A QB has to think about it—where are defenders coming from and how are they passing off assignments? A WR has to think about it—where is the hole and should I sit in it or keep going? There are lots of ways for offenses to screw it up.

Aggressive defenses tend to play lots of zone because it lets them mix up pressure looks. A dropping DL can’t man up a RB or DL, but he can cover him for 10 yards before passing off to a safety or LB. Man limits you to par athletic types for coverage. And zone is more responsive to converting to defending the run.

Zone defenses make it easier to get picks and big hits because defenders are watching the QB. Plus players know where the weaknesses are in their zones and know to rally to cover them. A bust in man creates less predictable weaknesses, plus man is 100% reactive.

Every defenses mixes, but I think Tennessee would benefit from playing more zone.

 

[Ned Ray McWorkher]

We are not good at playing zone.

 

[Vol_in_NC_1999]

We are not good at playing zone.

We can't play zone as well as man vs most teams, as we saw vs Syracuse then we switched to man since we had a better chance in man. Ty is going to pick us apart in man but he would absolutely shred us zone, so what do we do?

This reminds me of '86 when we took a gamble and stacked the box and blizted a ton. Vinny Testaverde had plenty of open receivers and Miami scored early, but we stuck with the blitz and put enough pressure on Testaverde to get sacks and force him to make mistakes. I'm hoping we make similar gamble on Saturday, but I just don't see Banks doing it.

 

[VolForLife83]

If you look at season long stats, we are last in the conference in passing YPG allowed.

But if you look at just conference games, we are dead middle of the pack at 9th in the conference with 246 passing yards per game allowed.

Is that really so bad when you consider that teams have to throw on us because we are in high scoring games? I say no.

To be clear, I think our pass D, especially at Star, Safety, and one LB, is poor and not good enough. But it’s not as awful as people are acting like, like it’s the 2012 defense or something.

You ever watched us play? Scheme sucks beyond the d line. Our dbs are almost NEVER in position

 

[TN1111]

We are not good at playing zone.

Exactly... "But if we play man we're going to get beat one-on-one"....

Well I'll take it. At least our players will be near the player and visible on the screen when they catch it.

 

[EZE]

Sitting back in soft zone is getting us killed on 3rd down. Drop the safeties but play up on the WRs, maybe even press off the line. Interrupt the route and give your pass rush an extra beat. Because the current strategy is getting us carved up.

I hear you, and hate our zone too. Problem is that I don’t think this group of players can execute anything more complicated.

That begs the question though…how can it be worse?

I think the best way to help a struggling pass defense is to get creative with different ways to bring pressure on the QB.

 

[GrayWaterCanine]

The phenomenon you describe with mid-ranked passing yards allowed in conference is primarily due to SEC teams being able to run just as effectively as passing against this defense. The poor defense is well-rounded.

 

[DaddyChad]

Go out and get a Fing safety in the portal this offseason.

 

[bpalmer28]

I’m less sure. UGA knew it was getting man plus pressure and was able to throw early. You can’t play man, have safeties, and blitz at the same time. There aren’t enough defenders—so the QB knows where the safety can be and where he can’t.

Man is one coverage with relatively simple rules (safeties make it more complicated with leverage), but zone is 3-4 different things. A QB has to think about it—where are defenders coming from and how are they passing off assignments? A WR has to think about it—where is the hole and should I sit in it or keep going? There are lots of ways for offenses to screw it up.

Aggressive defenses tend to play lots of zone because it lets them mix up pressure looks. A dropping DL can’t man up a RB or DL, but he can cover him for 10 yards before passing off to a safety or LB. Man limits you to par athletic types for coverage. And zone is more responsive to converting to defending the run.

Zone defenses make it easier to get picks and big hits because defenders are watching the QB. Plus players know where the weaknesses are in their zones and know to rally to cover them. A bust in man creates less predictable weaknesses, plus man is 100% reactive.

Every defenses mixes, but I think Tennessee would benefit from playing more zone.

thanks for the breakdown tim!

 

[KTrain]

If it is so obvious what we need to do, then why don't the coaches, who are paid millions, know what
we need to do?

I'm afraid Ty is going to make Swiss cheese out of our "worst passing defense in the SEC"

I think if we are ahead especially 2 scores/10 or more points we will play a soft zone keeping the play in front of us. We have basically been ahead or near even all year. Now if we get behind I think they go to a more high risk defense. What I've seen they are trying to keep it in front and make teams do long drives which ups the chances of TOs or big drive killing penalties. Its kind of worked every game but UGA if all you want is the win. Right now I don't think they trust the D to hold the game and let the offense put up style points, thus struggling almost every game to get the W and/or a OT loss.

 

[FranklinVFL]

Is it as bad as our run defense...it looks pretty bad as well.

 

[FranklinVFL]

We are not good at defense.

FYP

 

[MOOOOONEY]

The whole defense is bad.

Most important stat is the over 29 points given up per game.

If we’re going to run a bend but do no break type of defense then we need to get better in the red zone.

I don’t mind giving up the yards if we can get stops in the red zone and lower that PPG given up to around 20.

If we are only giving up 20 ppg then I would feel good about winning out or finishing with only 1 more loss.

 

[Tman44]

Yes

 

[PEPPERJAX]

The whole defense is bad.

Most important stat is the over 29 points given up per game.

If we’re going to run a bend but do no break type of defense then we need to get better in the red zone.

I don’t mind giving up the yards if we can get stops in the red zone and lower that PPG given up to around 20.

If we are only giving up 20 ppg then I would feel good about winning out or finishing with 1 more loss.

The crazy thing is that the defense doesn't have to be top ten good for this team to make the playoffs. It just needs to be mediocre in getting off the field on third/fourth down. That has to get cleaned up.

 

[Big Orange Captain]

Yes it’s pretty bad. Simpson and his receivers will have their way with our secondary saturday night

 

[OneVolNation]

We need to hit Ty Simpson early and often.

 

[vol94]

The back end of our D is often confused, including Boo, esp. in zone. Our spacing is off, giving receivers a ten yard cushion. Our best DBs are Hood and the freshman. Idk the answer but not confident of any positive changes moving forward.

 

[Vol737]

we had mccoy and gibson. they are what was working

That’s a bingo!

 

[vol94]

We can't play zone as well as man vs most teams, as we saw vs Syracuse then we switched to man since we had a better chance in man. Ty is going to pick us apart in man but he would absolutely shred us zone, so what do we do?

This reminds me of '86 when we took a gamble and stacked the box and blizted a ton. Vinny Testaverde had plenty of open receivers and Miami scored early, but we stuck with the blitz and put enough pressure on Testaverde to get sacks and force him to make mistakes. I'm hoping we make similar gamble on Saturday, but I just don't see Banks doing it.

Agree. Get to Simpson early and often to disrupt his rhythm and internal clock. If Bama is successful vs our blitz, so be it. We can’t sit back in zone.

Contrary to some, I’m not as confident in our offense v Bama defense. They turn over their opponent and their pass defense is elite. Joey can’t make mistakes and turn it over.

 

[p.manning16]

If you look at season long stats, we are last in the conference in passing YPG allowed.

But if you look at just conference games, we are dead middle of the pack at 9th in the conference with 246 passing yards per game allowed.

Is that really so bad when you consider that teams have to throw on us because we are in high scoring games? I say no.

To be clear, I think our pass D, especially at Star, Safety, and one LB, is poor and not good enough. But it’s not as awful as people are acting like, like it’s the 2012 defense or something.

Yes bc we cant stop the pass or the run. We are ranked in the 120s in pass defense

 

[adam.vol]

Here’s my cliche “hard take”:

This game is going to be very emotional for both teams and I think the first half will be sloppy as both teams will try to play beyond themselves. Second half better be a shootout, else it means we ran out of gas.

 

[superdave1984]

Our DBs need to be up on the line and rough up their WRs as soon as the ball is snapped. Pop them good and disrupt their timing and let them know we are not taking any crap off anybody.

 

[OmahaOmaha]

Have you watched UT Football this year? They are the worst in the SEC in Pass Defense, and are #100 (Of appx 134 teams) in D-1 total Defense. Top 10 last year........Bad vs the pass and bad vs the run. Other than that, pretty good on offense.