Sportswriter Nagi with a slightly deeper look at next season's Defense

[LittleVol]

Banks did great last year. Took a vanderbilt talented defense and played Tennessee worthy ball for 2 out of every 3 downs.

Again folks....we played every game last year with about 60 scholarship players...every other team had 85. Thats 25 less bodies of depth. 25 less chances for somebody to have a breakout season. 25 less guys to be "next man up"....there are only 22 starters total between offense and defense. So we had on average 1 less player at every single position last season than each team we played against...at a minimum.

Some of you folks just cant grasp how bad of shape this program was in last summer. Most of the best players left thru portal transfers etc...others just flat quit
Pruitt destroyed any slight progress made under Jones and depleted our roster.

Does anyone know if we will even have 85 kids on scholly this year? I dont know if we will or not tbh

Vandy talented? That defense had 3 NFL draft picks last year and more to come this next year (Banks, Young, Flowers).

But what you mentioned is also true, about depth. And our offense playing style killed that depth sometimes because of their many short scoreless possessions.

 

[Volsfannn]

It needs to be very much improved to win big games. For several years the tackling has been terrible.

 

[Volsfannn]

No. The D was on the field too long because the D could NOT get off the field on 3rd down. It had nothing to do with the O that scored a lot of points when the D didn't let opponents play keep away.

No one has said the O cannot improve. But it is pretty ridiculous to say they didn't score enough points if the D could have just done a little more.

Doesn't matter how many points you score if you can't stop the opposing team

 

[sjt18]

Doesn't matter how many points you score if you can't stop the opposing team

You can't stop the opposing team if you don't get off the field. Thanks for agreeing.

The more points you score... the greater margin of error you SHOULD hand to your D.

 

[Volsfannn]

You can't stop the opposing team if you don't get off the field. Thanks for agreeing.

The more points you score... the greater margin of error you SHOULD hand to your D.

UT's tackling for the last 10 years or so has been atrocious

 

[Voltopia]

Exactly. We left 2 wins on the field last season where we scored 34 and 45 points. You can't score 34 and 45 points and blame the offense for those losses.

Sure I can. Tennessee's offense only managed to stay on the field for 24 minutes in the Pitt game, and in that twenty four minutes they gave the ball away 3 times and committed 9 of Tennessee's 13 penalties. Considering that the offense was only out there for 24 minutes, that means the offense averaged a penalty every 2.5 minutes and a giveaway every 8. Not to mention leaving the defense out there for 40 minutes against a first round NFL Draft pick. I can totally put blame on the offense for all of those things.

See? Not that hard.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

Vandy talented? That defense had 3 NFL draft picks last year and more to come this next year (Banks, Young, Flowers).

But what you mentioned is also true, about depth. And our offense playing style killed that depth sometimes because of their many short scoreless possessions.

Valid point here, no doubt.

I am no John Madden, but I did play football all the way through HS. I know this very important detail :

While fb is certainly a team sport....1 player can wreck a defense when he gets exposed. At all 3 levels of a defense. This can and will cost a team a loss.

A great example is Burrell and everyone else who played CB that wasnt Alontae. They were atrocious in coverage...especially on 3rd down, and thats with them often getting safety help over the top and leaving Taylor on an island on the other side of the field. We got burned all game long on that CB/star/ safety side ....TD after TD....lets move to the next level.

Underneath safeties, in the flats, and down in the box....yes, we are talking about the Linebackers. How many times have we watched our defense unable to cover slant routes? What about them releasing enemy TEs without at LEAST jacking them up for a second to throw any timing routes out of sync between QB and TE....still not sùre about 1 player not up to SEC standard can wreck an entire defense?

Let's move in to the 1st level...the line of scrimmage. What happens when a defense has Edge rushers that are too eager for sacks, or simply too slow to "set the edge" and not break containment? The offense will run shovel passes, screen plays, WR reverses, bootlegs and designed run plays out wide to exploit and expose that DE and his weakness. What happens when the offense figures out that our DTs can be manhandled by pulling guards, caught out of position on counter plays or designated QB draws up the middle ....or that like last year we had zero depth behind our starters on the D Line and our line would be totally gassed in any long drive....much less being super exhausted in the 3rd and 4th quarters ? The Bamas, Jawjas, etc exploit that 1 weakness and run all over us. Especially in the 2nd half....Hell, Matt Corral from Ole Piss ran for 180 something yards against us. They saw a weakness and exploited it . We couldn't set the edge nor disrupt the pocket. It cost us the ballgame.

Anyway...long post to read. The point is that even though we put a couple guys in the NFL last year, our lack of depth and talent in spots is what cost us the Pitt and Mississippi games which were each decided by less than 1 TD.
.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

Exactly. We left 2 wins on the field last season where we scored 34 and 45 points. You can't score 34 and 45 points and blame the offense for those losses.

I mostly agree. I think my biggest criticism was situational play calling on 3rd and 4th and short. I’m sure that has been a point of emphasis this off-season, at least it needs to have been.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

Sure I can. Tennessee's offense only managed to stay on the field for 24 minutes in the Pitt game, and in that twenty four minutes they gave the ball away 3 times and committed 9 of Tennessee's 13 penalties. Considering that the offense was only out there for 24 minutes, that means the offense averaged a penalty every 2.5 minutes and a giveaway every 8. Not to mention leaving the defense out there for 40 minutes against a first round NFL Draft pick. I can totally put blame on the offense for all of those things.

See? Not that hard.

Nonsense. How many times did our defense have those offenses 3rd and long and couldn't get off the field? Thats not the fault of our offense is it? They DID their job by scoring touchdowns. The defense should've done THEIR job and forced more 3 and outs.

 

[NeverWe'llSever]

I mean, most years since 2008, our defense has been trash and our offense has been mediocre. Our defense is still trash, but our offense is elite now. We can win a lot of football games like that. We just can’t beat UGA and Alabama like that.

 

[901 Orange]

Nope. Get off the field on 3rd down and that simply doesn't matter. The plays built up on the D because they consistently gave up 3rd down conversions.
I don't dispute defenders expend more energy. That's why 3rd down will always be critical with any D paired to Heupel's O. And still TOP improves exponentially if UT is even "good" on 3rd down conversions. If you give up one play after another (early, middle, and late) then you are on the field a lot.

When they were able to get off the field... they still played fast on O.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying except for the time of possession part. Our defense is always going to be on the field the majority of the game. Our offense is on and off the field within 3mins wether we score or not. Yes we have to get A LOT better at 3rd down defense to give ourselves a chance, but even if we make a jump in this area they're still going to spend a ton of time on the field bc of how our offense plays. Not complaining about the Offense its just the reality of the situation. Our offense can put up 40 in a blink of an eye but we can also go multiple possessions without even getting a 1st down. We are usually scoring or going 3&out, there is no in between. That's tough if you don't have a top 10 defense

 

[Brave Volunteer]

I agree with a lot of what you're saying except for the time of possession part. Our defense is always going to be on the field the majority of the game. Our offense is on and off the field within 3mins wether we score or not. Yes we have to get A LOT better at 3rd down defense to give ourselves a chance, but even if we make a jump in this area they're still going to spend a ton of time on the field bc of how our offense plays. Not complaining about the Offense its just the reality of the situation. Our offense can put up 40 in a blink of an eye but we can also go multiple possessions without even getting a 1st down. We are usually scoring or going 3&out, there is no in between. That's tough if you don't have a top 10 defense

The thing is, we dont have to be the '85 Chicago Bears. We just need to get our fair share of stops on 3rd down. Scoring 45 and 34 non OT points and losing is un-****ing-acceptable, no matter what offense you run!

 

[901 Orange]

The thing is, we dont have to be the '85 Chicago Bears. We just need to get our fair share of stops on 3rd down. Scoring 45 and 34 non OT points and losing is un-****ing-acceptable, no matter what offense you run!

Losing period is unacceptable doesn't matter what the score was. To say u shouldn't lose bc you scored 40 is an old era staple. Today's game is totally different, u gotta score as many points as it takes. Kirby had an all time great defense and he was smart enough to know he needed to keep his foot on the gas. The game is literally catered to scoring points. At the end of the day u win by scoring the most. We would all like for the defense to get off the field on 3rd down. We would all also like for the offense to not go 3 & out in under 30 seconds for multiple drives. I don't think we should score every single drive, but a couple 1st downs on those non scoring drives might give the defense a better chance at making some stops in the 2nd half.