DC Tim Banks and QB Coach, Joey Halzle reflect on Ball State Win

[Sara Clark]

*Tyler Baron: We're definitely aware that we didn't have any sacks. It's not what we want, but they also did a good job of getting the ball out quick and we were still able to generate pressure.
*safety Jaylen McCollough on Pitt QB Kedon Slovis: The safety position is going to have to really trust our keys and our eye discipline is really going to have to be on point.
*Jaylen McCollough: We trust our preparation and what the coaches have been telling us. We'll be ready to play.
*Jaylen McCollough: Pitt is going to try to run the ball and take shots off of play-action. The secondary is going to have to have a big impact in our run-fits.

 

[titansvolsfaninga]

When I read his quote about Burrell, I was like ....he did his job? His job was to allow uncontested catches? Maybe this is an instance of praising him in public to not tear down his confidence. They will pick on him all year. He needs to be replaced, or he will be a liability.

 

[WoodsmanVol]

When I read his quote about Burrell, I was like ....he did his job? His job was to allow uncontested catches? Maybe this is an instance of praising him in public to not tear down his confidence. They will pick on him all year. He needs to be replaced, or he will be a liability.

I nominate you as his replacement.

 

['Boro-vol]

When I read his quote about Burrell, I was like ....he did his job? His job was to allow uncontested catches? Maybe this is an instance of praising him in public to not tear down his confidence. They will pick on him all year. He needs to be replaced, or he will be a liability.

He’s been a liability since he’s been here. It may be that there truly is nobody else…but I hope not.

 

[Sara Clark]

When I read his quote about Burrell, I was like ....he did his job? His job was to allow uncontested catches? Maybe this is an instance of praising him in public to not tear down his confidence. They will pick on him all year. He needs to be replaced, or he will be a liability.

I don't know about "needs to be replaced". Is there someone who's better? Yes, he needs to quickly improve and yes teams will likely pick on him if he doesn't. My husband agrees with you wholeheartedly.

 

[Doberman]

Coach speak. You can never really glean much from it.

The defensive front needs to get better. I think they will.

Burrell……eh.

 

[greenbacknative]

There was a lot of open receivers for Ball St. Our corners were 15 yards off the ball. Also, it looked like we just gave up on their scoring drive. If Ball St can throw their way down the field like that, just wait till the big boys come to town !

 

[VOLfrombama]

If Burrell doesn't learn how to play tighter coverage, he is gonna be toast all season long. Hopefully Hadden takes over sooner than later OR Burrell gets a lot better fast.

 

[VOLfrombama]

There was a lot of open receivers for Ball St. Our corners were 15 yards off the ball. Also, it looked like we just gave up on their scoring drive. If Ball St can throw their way down the field like that, just wait till the big boys come to town !

I texted my dad during the game this same observation. I know we were trying to prevent the long play, but I can't understand giving them a 15 yard cushion.

Looked like Banks was in the Mustang package on 3rd and Chavis.

 

[wmcovol]

I don't know about "needs to be replaced". Is there someone who's better? Yes, he needs to quickly improve and yes teams will likely pick on him if he doesn't. My husband agrees with you wholeheartedly.

Teams are going to make plays. They are going to complete well thrown balls. The main thing is dont let anyone loose, blow coverage or get beat deep. Corner is, by far, the hardest defensive position to play on the field.

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

I texted my dad during the game this same observation. I know we were trying to prevent the long play, but I can't understand giving them a 15 yard cushion.

Looked like Banks was in the Mustang package on 3rd and Chavis.

Like it or not, soft coverage is a coaching call. Ball St. plays a two step drop with a RWR fly pattern being run one out of three times with their biggest fastest guy. Burrell had one job, don’t let them score on the fly pattern. They got some first downs based on that, but you can’t blame him. Pitt is play action, and runs deep outs and deep ins. He might be able to play more coverage and hand off coverage to safety long. They’ll definitely throw at him, and beg him into run fits on the fake. He’ll have to be disciplined to succeed. He is not physically able to cover big fast guys tight. Can’t make him something he’s not. Hopefully a young guy will move in there. Oddly Turnage was getting lots of 1 reps two weeks ago. Still a mystery where he went…

 

[PapaGeorgio]

When I read his quote about Burrell, I was like ....he did his job? His job was to allow uncontested catches? Maybe this is an instance of praising him in public to not tear down his confidence. They will pick on him all year. He needs to be replaced, or he will be a liability.

Burrell very well have a different job this week. He might be in someone's grill on many plays. He might jump an int knowing who is behind him.
Or maybe the coaching staff totally missed that aspect of the game. I doubt the latter.

 

[VOLfrombama]

Like it or not, soft coverage is a coaching call. Ball St. plays a two step drop with a RWR fly pattern being run one out of three times with their biggest fastest guy. Burrell had one job, don’t let them score on the fly pattern. They got some first downs based on that, but you can’t blame him. Pitt is play action, and runs deep outs and deep ins. He might be able to play more coverage and hand off coverage to safety long. They’ll definitely throw at him, and beg him into run fits on the fake. He’ll have to be disciplined to succeed. He is not physically able to cover big fast guys tight. Can’t make him something he’s not. Hopefully a young guy will move in there. Oddly Turnage was getting lots of 1 reps two weeks ago. Still a mystery where he went…

Exactly. And I don't like it but they're the ones getting paid the big bucks to make the calls, not me. Still feels weird to concede 15 yards to Ball State.

As far as the bolded text, I would have liked to have seen more tight coverage /man and let them all work on what they are weakest at against Ball State rather than going into Pitt knowing you are bad at covering m2m. Nothing beats real game reps!

They seemed to get tighter in coverage as the lead grew. I'm sure that was part of the plan. Bottom line is we need more talent at the position. We also need to make Hadden the starter.

 

[sjt18]

When I read his quote about Burrell, I was like ....he did his job? His job was to allow uncontested catches? Maybe this is an instance of praising him in public to not tear down his confidence. They will pick on him all year. He needs to be replaced, or he will be a liability.

Apparently. They played off on the other side too.

I'm not sure why they chose to play so soft but that does seem to have been the gameplan.

 

[tbones0711]

When I read his quote about Burrell, I was like ....he did his job? His job was to allow uncontested catches? Maybe this is an instance of praising him in public to not tear down his confidence. They will pick on him all year. He needs to be replaced, or he will be a liability.

He seemed to have a for-sure pick on a pass play but was looking at the receiver instead. The knock has to be somewhat directed toward Martinez as this has been happening far too long.........our DB's inability to locate the ball in flight. Results in a lot of completions and/or P/I calls. I like #5, (Hadden), over Burrell in games at this point. We fans don't know how they practice.

 

[DC_Vol]

It always makes me nervous when I hear “eye discipline”.

 

[CoachClick]

This was from 12 years ago and it still rings true...smh

If i was coaching as our opponent I would call slants 75% of the time. They haven't stopped it for years.

 

[VOLfrombama]

He seemed to have a for-sure pick on a pass play but was looking at the receiver instead. The knock has to be somewhat directed toward Martinez as this has been happening far too long.........our DB's inability to locate the ball in flight. Results in a lot of completions and/or P/I calls. I like #5, (Hadden), over Burrell in games at this point. We fans don't know how they practice.

Hadden's pick was beautiful in that he got his head around and made the catch. I was so pleasantly surprised that I almost couldn't believe it.

 

[Volintheswamp]

When I read his quote about Burrell, I was like ....he did his job? His job was to allow uncontested catches? Maybe this is an instance of praising him in public to not tear down his confidence. They will pick on him all year. He needs to be replaced, or he will be a liability.

Glad I’m not the only one that noticed Burrell still hasn’t improved since last year. I hope the coaches fix this ASAP.

 

[LittleVol]

We are all disappointed with Burrell.

However, he HAS improved. His willingness to come up in run support was more than adequate. Hadn't ever seen that from him.

Unfortunately he can't guard a TN 1A slot WR from Oneida ☹....

He may practice the most consistently, but in game he's probably not even the 2nd best CB.

PLEASE PROVE US WRONG, Warren!

 

[SN-A-C Orange]

Apparently. They played off on the other side too.

I'm not sure why they chose to play so soft but that does seem to have been the gameplan.

Great and better coaches play chess instead of checkers. You know your team has weaknesses ... you try to hide and disguise and protect them as much as is possible.
If you are a magician you try to create illusions, on defense you do the same thing. You try to confuse those who ARE watching.
You try to show one thing and try to distract them. [Boxer in a western movie made his ribs look bruised (with dye) simply to entice the opponent to pound on his ribs - to distract him and keep the opponent from going for the head which was his weakness.] It worked, he took blow after blow and absorbed the brunt of his opponents attack on his strongest feature. He protected other areas and let the ribs take a beating.
As one head coach put it, something along this line .... We try to hide our weaknesses as much as we possibly can for as long as we possibly can and try to entice then to attack anything but our weak spots.
By exposing one spot we protect the other more vulnerable spot.
Okay, so we were playing soft, .... was that to keep it front of us, or .... because we wanted Pitt to see that, or ... that gave us a game plan all the kids - in order not to give the opposition a book on every CB or .... so that we could play 41 defensive players in the first game. Frankly, I have no idea!
I am hoping that Heupel, Golesh and Banks are grandmasters on the rise ... the next Bobby Fisher, so to speak.
Maybe, ours kids will be able to say, after this move and that counter and this attack and that parry, "The games over. Yes, it is!"

 

[Vfl2407]

If Burrell doesn't learn how to play tighter coverage, he is gonna be toast all season long. Hopefully Hadden takes over sooner than later OR Burrell gets a lot better fast.

I assume every pass thrown toward Burrell will be a reception or PI call. I’m most always correct.

 

[Tman44]

I watched the 30 min condensed game today. I was really surprised to see we did not jam the WRs at the line much at all. There was a lot of hay made with quick passes. I don't see us containing a good offense allowing that to continue. Maybe that is just the "smoke and mirrors" other folks have mentioned. I don't want to see more of the same on Saturday.

 

[rdk4121]

If Burrell doesn't learn how to play tighter coverage, he is gonna be toast all season long. Hopefully Hadden takes over sooner than later OR Burrell gets a lot better fast.

I went back and watched the tape from the Ball State game, and I am not as concerned with his play on re-watch. He had a few completions on him, but a lot of them had to do with those quick passes where we were giving way too much cushion by design. Even on some of those completions, he made tackles for a very short gain. Had at least one good pass breakup, and pretty tight coverage on at least a few other incompletions.

Now, is he great? No, but I think there's been a little of an overreaction to his play for sure. I have a feeling that we will not be playing with that much cushion against Pitt. Charles was much worse than Burrell, which is to be expected as that was his first start at a new position. I'm not sure if he's an outside guy to be honest. Hadden will certainly be starting this week which is the good news.

Another position to watch is the nickel back. I believe Walker is the better player. He really needs to clean up his tackling, as he was right there for what would have been a TFL 3 separate occasions. McDonald played decently, but he had a long completion given up.