London Vol
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Every year I have a flu jab and it always stings, but this year people said it would be fine, this year it would be different, so I reluctantly decided to believe them. Yes, you guessed it, it will sting again this year.
Saturday was a complete range of emotions, starting with the second snap touchdown, the disbelief of how the Offensive Line was totally manhandled, so many missed blocking assignments, 10 penalties mostly by the aforementioned O Line, three 4th down stops by the Defense, actually leading at half time and thinking just clean up the mistakes and a good drive to start the second half and with an 11 point lead we just might have this, the second half implosion via interceptions, fumbles and dropped interceptions and finally we had more turnovers than rushing yards (just let that sink in). In the end I felt disappointed it could and should have been so much better.
QUARTERBACK
The first half and second half performances summed up Guarantano’s career but we all know that is it how it is. One thing I will add, it was interesting that with 8 minutes to go and the game gone, Pruitt left him in the game. I can only deduce that if Shrout or Bailey did well in “garbage time” the quarterback debate would have roared all week, this week its Guarantano and all this year unless he is injured.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Instead of dissecting the O Line (it was bad bad bad) I will simply put it down to a one off, but no more free passes this year so it’s back to the Missouri performance or the magnifying glass will be out and some high draft positions will be ruined. I actually thought a bad day would be 28 carries for 80 yards, well that was close…...not. I don’t know all the rules but the whole Georgia line moving before the snap seemed either unsportsmanlike or at least an illegal shift, but if it is legal then start practicing it Pruitt.
RUNNING BACKS
Hard to criticise people who have to repeatably run into a brick wall, however the missed blocking assignments previously mentioned were inexcusable. Gray at least provided and outlet for the underneath pass.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Again, very little time for the quarterback usually means routes can’t be competed but despite this again Palmer again gave a masterclass in toe tapping touchdowns Oh, I wish he was targeted more. Johnson for the third straight week was solid.
TIGHT ENDS
Even the “dumps offs” now go to Gray so no great progress from this section.
DEFENSIVE LINE
I never fancied this match because I thought that, whilst the O Line would match Georgia’s D Line (whoops) the D line would not stop White and Cook running and we would slowly lose, how wrong again I was. This lot competed all-night. Time after time they make a stand after turnovers, keeping them down to 3s instead of 7s. The 4th and 1 on their own 40 gave us the chance for the first touchdown and the end of the first half goal line stop got me punching the air. They were obviously going to wear down in the second half but I still didn’t see any gnashing runs in the 4th quarter, it was the secondary at fault for the late points. A special call out for Middleton with 2 pass break-ups, this was a signing a couple of years ago that was very much under the radar, but they all need to be thanked.
OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS
Johnson got an annual award on Saturday of “bonehead play of the year” especially after his input in the 1st touchdown and his start to the season. Like the O Line, he gets a one-off pass. As they say “next man up” well Johnsons stupidity allowed us to see a glimpse into the future in Baron, Harrison and Joseph and I liked what I saw.
INSIDE LINEBACKERS
Henry T just gets better and better, he should look forward to end of year awards for good reasons, if I had any criticism it would be in pass coverage, however the safeties should be helping there. Couch was more visible and was in on the goal line stop.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
The corners were ok, Taylor was competitive although inconsistent and Thompson is class corner as shown by the open field tackle that set up the goal line stand, but the blatant punch could have been very costly. I’m a fan of McCullough but this was a very patchy evening for him and I hope Shamburger was rusty because we were open again down the middle which allowed a very ordinary quarterback to look decent. This area is probably my most concerning as it has been exposed in all three weeks.
NOT SO SPECIAL TEAMS
No complaints here at all. The only suggestion is that Jones looks so dangerous on the kick offs then he should still bring it out even from the endzone, you might lose 5 yards put gained 75, this is exactly what Cordarrelle Patterson (remember him) does on Sundays.
AROUND THE SEC
South Carolina – WIN
Missouri – WIN
Georgia – LOSS
Kentucky – I fancy this match up this time, our D will match their only real strength and even Guarantano will not give them 6 picks.
Alabama – Now that offense does look unstoppable especially the passing game so I will be watching from behind the curtains.
Arkansas – They are better and we should not sleep on them and were cheated out of a win against Auburn. I am starting to fear we could trip up here if we are too complacent.
Texas A & M – Beating Florida signals that this will be a tough one, thankfully it will be at the Neyland and not in front of their crowd of 20%?
Auburn – They are even worse than I thought and they are there for the taking
Vanderbilt – Oh dear, the win column will be empty.
Florida – In many ways it softened our loss for me by reminding me that in this format of only SEC games it will throw out upsets weekly so to be 2-1 at this stage is fine.
GEORGIA
They get their own little section; I dislike them even more after Saturday (and I started the weekend disliking them bar NONE). Firstly, the O Line shift was unsportsmanlike at best when the O Line can’t blink without it costing 5 (we had five false start penalties) Secondly, the chop block was simply disgusting it could have ended Simmons career and may I add not this was not for the first time from Georgia, if my memory serves me correctly (Shy Tuttle). Finally, the water squirting by Pickens was bizarre (was he simulating urination? I hope not), last season Jennings was reviewed after the Vanderbilt game for an altercation off the pitch, I hope Pickens does as well.
Finally, much of the above shows that overall, I was disappointed with Saturday and that reminded me that the Flu jab WILL probably hurt, but again I must remind myself we are 2-1 as previously mentioned and if we can beat Kentucky on Saturday then I would have taken a 3-1 record at the start of the season absolutely.
Please feel to comment/agree/disagree with the above after all these are only my humble thoughts
Go Vols.
Saturday was a complete range of emotions, starting with the second snap touchdown, the disbelief of how the Offensive Line was totally manhandled, so many missed blocking assignments, 10 penalties mostly by the aforementioned O Line, three 4th down stops by the Defense, actually leading at half time and thinking just clean up the mistakes and a good drive to start the second half and with an 11 point lead we just might have this, the second half implosion via interceptions, fumbles and dropped interceptions and finally we had more turnovers than rushing yards (just let that sink in). In the end I felt disappointed it could and should have been so much better.
QUARTERBACK
The first half and second half performances summed up Guarantano’s career but we all know that is it how it is. One thing I will add, it was interesting that with 8 minutes to go and the game gone, Pruitt left him in the game. I can only deduce that if Shrout or Bailey did well in “garbage time” the quarterback debate would have roared all week, this week its Guarantano and all this year unless he is injured.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Instead of dissecting the O Line (it was bad bad bad) I will simply put it down to a one off, but no more free passes this year so it’s back to the Missouri performance or the magnifying glass will be out and some high draft positions will be ruined. I actually thought a bad day would be 28 carries for 80 yards, well that was close…...not. I don’t know all the rules but the whole Georgia line moving before the snap seemed either unsportsmanlike or at least an illegal shift, but if it is legal then start practicing it Pruitt.
RUNNING BACKS
Hard to criticise people who have to repeatably run into a brick wall, however the missed blocking assignments previously mentioned were inexcusable. Gray at least provided and outlet for the underneath pass.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Again, very little time for the quarterback usually means routes can’t be competed but despite this again Palmer again gave a masterclass in toe tapping touchdowns Oh, I wish he was targeted more. Johnson for the third straight week was solid.
TIGHT ENDS
Even the “dumps offs” now go to Gray so no great progress from this section.
DEFENSIVE LINE
I never fancied this match because I thought that, whilst the O Line would match Georgia’s D Line (whoops) the D line would not stop White and Cook running and we would slowly lose, how wrong again I was. This lot competed all-night. Time after time they make a stand after turnovers, keeping them down to 3s instead of 7s. The 4th and 1 on their own 40 gave us the chance for the first touchdown and the end of the first half goal line stop got me punching the air. They were obviously going to wear down in the second half but I still didn’t see any gnashing runs in the 4th quarter, it was the secondary at fault for the late points. A special call out for Middleton with 2 pass break-ups, this was a signing a couple of years ago that was very much under the radar, but they all need to be thanked.
OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS
Johnson got an annual award on Saturday of “bonehead play of the year” especially after his input in the 1st touchdown and his start to the season. Like the O Line, he gets a one-off pass. As they say “next man up” well Johnsons stupidity allowed us to see a glimpse into the future in Baron, Harrison and Joseph and I liked what I saw.
INSIDE LINEBACKERS
Henry T just gets better and better, he should look forward to end of year awards for good reasons, if I had any criticism it would be in pass coverage, however the safeties should be helping there. Couch was more visible and was in on the goal line stop.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
The corners were ok, Taylor was competitive although inconsistent and Thompson is class corner as shown by the open field tackle that set up the goal line stand, but the blatant punch could have been very costly. I’m a fan of McCullough but this was a very patchy evening for him and I hope Shamburger was rusty because we were open again down the middle which allowed a very ordinary quarterback to look decent. This area is probably my most concerning as it has been exposed in all three weeks.
NOT SO SPECIAL TEAMS
No complaints here at all. The only suggestion is that Jones looks so dangerous on the kick offs then he should still bring it out even from the endzone, you might lose 5 yards put gained 75, this is exactly what Cordarrelle Patterson (remember him) does on Sundays.
AROUND THE SEC
South Carolina – WIN
Missouri – WIN
Georgia – LOSS
Kentucky – I fancy this match up this time, our D will match their only real strength and even Guarantano will not give them 6 picks.
Alabama – Now that offense does look unstoppable especially the passing game so I will be watching from behind the curtains.
Arkansas – They are better and we should not sleep on them and were cheated out of a win against Auburn. I am starting to fear we could trip up here if we are too complacent.
Texas A & M – Beating Florida signals that this will be a tough one, thankfully it will be at the Neyland and not in front of their crowd of 20%?
Auburn – They are even worse than I thought and they are there for the taking
Vanderbilt – Oh dear, the win column will be empty.
Florida – In many ways it softened our loss for me by reminding me that in this format of only SEC games it will throw out upsets weekly so to be 2-1 at this stage is fine.
GEORGIA
They get their own little section; I dislike them even more after Saturday (and I started the weekend disliking them bar NONE). Firstly, the O Line shift was unsportsmanlike at best when the O Line can’t blink without it costing 5 (we had five false start penalties) Secondly, the chop block was simply disgusting it could have ended Simmons career and may I add not this was not for the first time from Georgia, if my memory serves me correctly (Shy Tuttle). Finally, the water squirting by Pickens was bizarre (was he simulating urination? I hope not), last season Jennings was reviewed after the Vanderbilt game for an altercation off the pitch, I hope Pickens does as well.
Finally, much of the above shows that overall, I was disappointed with Saturday and that reminded me that the Flu jab WILL probably hurt, but again I must remind myself we are 2-1 as previously mentioned and if we can beat Kentucky on Saturday then I would have taken a 3-1 record at the start of the season absolutely.
Please feel to comment/agree/disagree with the above after all these are only my humble thoughts
Go Vols.
