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John Chavis
The repeated theme for questions asked to Chavis centered around the secondary playing too soft. Chavis acknowledged part of the design of our defense is not to give up big plays. However, he doesn't believe that we've played "too soft".
He made the comment that on some occasions our corners aligned a little deeper than we wanted them too, which seems to be a recurring theme. I recall Slade alluded to this on at least one other instance. Apparently, the coaches believe it's an execution issue versus a coaching or scheme issue.
Several times this season our defense has allowed the opposing offense to convert on key third and long situations. But according to Chavis, it's our third and short defense that has been the biggest problem. We have one stop out of fourteen on third and short (defined as two yards or less). That calculates out to 7%.
Better substitution by the coaches was also something that Chavis alluded to. He implied that fatigue may have played a factor late in the game against Georgia.
Phillip Fulmer
I thought Fulmer's tone was pretty upbeat, considering the circumstances. He noted that no one is happy right now but winning cures a lot. He pointed out that if you are in this long enough there are going to be ups and downs and you have to "persevere and overcome".
Fulmer has made some changes to practice this week. The staff plans to practice more "game like situations" and "pick up the speed".
This implies to me that the coaches believe the team has practiced well but it has not carried over to game day. Specifically that the execution from practice is carrying over to the games.
The run game:
After only gaining a yard on the ground against Georgia, everyone wants to know what has happened to our run game.
1. According to Fulmer, our lack of a passing threat has allowed defenses to cheat more towards the line and dare us to run the football. As shown pay long passes from Stephens to Moore, this leaves defenses vulnerable in man coverage. The Vols have to be able take advantage and hit those big plays more often.
2. The offensive line lacks consistency. Fulmer noted that there are instances where four guys execute on a particular play and one does not. All of those guys have to do their job for the run to be successful.
The new offense:
When asked if he thought the offense was too complicated, Fulmer answered "No, just new". He added that the staff has "married" some ideas and things that have been done in the past with this new system.
My question is that strictly terminology or are we talking schemes here?
This far along into the season Fulmer does not believe that the "line flipping" is a concern.
Foster and McCoy:
Both of these guys were pre-season All-SEC selections. Why aren't they showing it? Foster is not getting the opportunities according to Fulmer but he can't put his finger on why McCoy hasn't been more of a factor to this point.
Playmakers
All we heard in the pre-season was that Tennessee was going to get the ball to it's play makers. Six games in, the fans are wondering why we haven't seen more of Brandon Warren and Lennon Creer.
Fulmer says that they are trying to get Warren more involved but he is still working on getting the assignments down.
As for Creer, Fulmer's only comment was that he wasn't playing much but they would like to get all three tailbacks involved more.
The repeated theme for questions asked to Chavis centered around the secondary playing too soft. Chavis acknowledged part of the design of our defense is not to give up big plays. However, he doesn't believe that we've played "too soft".
He made the comment that on some occasions our corners aligned a little deeper than we wanted them too, which seems to be a recurring theme. I recall Slade alluded to this on at least one other instance. Apparently, the coaches believe it's an execution issue versus a coaching or scheme issue.
Several times this season our defense has allowed the opposing offense to convert on key third and long situations. But according to Chavis, it's our third and short defense that has been the biggest problem. We have one stop out of fourteen on third and short (defined as two yards or less). That calculates out to 7%.
Better substitution by the coaches was also something that Chavis alluded to. He implied that fatigue may have played a factor late in the game against Georgia.
Phillip Fulmer
I thought Fulmer's tone was pretty upbeat, considering the circumstances. He noted that no one is happy right now but winning cures a lot. He pointed out that if you are in this long enough there are going to be ups and downs and you have to "persevere and overcome".
Fulmer has made some changes to practice this week. The staff plans to practice more "game like situations" and "pick up the speed".
This implies to me that the coaches believe the team has practiced well but it has not carried over to game day. Specifically that the execution from practice is carrying over to the games.
The run game:
After only gaining a yard on the ground against Georgia, everyone wants to know what has happened to our run game.
1. According to Fulmer, our lack of a passing threat has allowed defenses to cheat more towards the line and dare us to run the football. As shown pay long passes from Stephens to Moore, this leaves defenses vulnerable in man coverage. The Vols have to be able take advantage and hit those big plays more often.
2. The offensive line lacks consistency. Fulmer noted that there are instances where four guys execute on a particular play and one does not. All of those guys have to do their job for the run to be successful.
The new offense:
When asked if he thought the offense was too complicated, Fulmer answered "No, just new". He added that the staff has "married" some ideas and things that have been done in the past with this new system.
My question is that strictly terminology or are we talking schemes here?
This far along into the season Fulmer does not believe that the "line flipping" is a concern.
Foster and McCoy:
Both of these guys were pre-season All-SEC selections. Why aren't they showing it? Foster is not getting the opportunities according to Fulmer but he can't put his finger on why McCoy hasn't been more of a factor to this point.
Playmakers
All we heard in the pre-season was that Tennessee was going to get the ball to it's play makers. Six games in, the fans are wondering why we haven't seen more of Brandon Warren and Lennon Creer.
Fulmer says that they are trying to get Warren more involved but he is still working on getting the assignments down.
As for Creer, Fulmer's only comment was that he wasn't playing much but they would like to get all three tailbacks involved more.
k:
