The Achilles' heel of each top-10 team

#1
YankeeVol

YankeeVol

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#1
9. Tennessee Volunteers: wide receiver/tight end

The Vols are loaded this season and boast all-conference candidates in almost every position group. But Wide Receiver U has some unknowns on the perimeter. Tennessee returns only one receiver (Josh Malone) who eclipsed 30 catches and 310 receiving yards last season. While explosive running back Alvin Kamara (34 receptions, 291 yards) is an asset to the passing game, Tennessee must develop more reliable options for senior quarterback Joshua Dobbs, a 59.5 percent career passer.

One thing the Vols don't lack is size, as Malone (6-foot-3), Preston Williams (6-foot-4), Jauan Jennings (6-foot-3) and tight ends Ethan Wolf (6-6) and Jason Croom (6-5) give Dobbs plenty of big targets.

"One of the beautiful things about our system is one guy doesn't have to go out there and shoulder that burden every time," Vols tight ends coach Larry Scott told Insider. "They all want it, they all strive for it. There's only one football, but within our scheme, there will be a host of guys who ultimately will have to step up and make plays."
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Adam Rittenberg. ESPN Insider article.
 
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#2
#2
I really hope our WR core has a solid season, we haven't had a solid WR core in a while. Hoping Williams can turn on the jets this fall.
 
#5
#5
Hopefully, the receivers will take a good step forward this year. I do wish Dobbs was a more accurate passer but, at this point, I don't think that's going to happen. He is what he is. He'll miss a couple of wide open guys and then rip off a 30 yard run. I guess it all evens out but accuracy would be a nice bonus.
 
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#6
#6
gobraves101035 said:
I think Jeff George is going to be a player to watch. He has the size to be a Calvin Johnson type of player.
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I somewhat agree but until he puts on some size DBs can take him wherever they want him to go, if he can't be where he's s'posed to be he's just a tall guy where the ball ain't.
 
#7
#7
Tarkus said:
Hopefully, the receivers will take a good step forward this year. I do wish Dobbs was a more accurate passer but, at this point, I don't think that's going to happen. He is what he is. He'll miss a couple of wide open guys and then rip off a 30 yard run. I guess it all evens out but accuracy would be a nice bonus.
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Just a smidge better accuracy than last year would be a huge improvement imo. Our recievers are big enough to go up and get the ball so we should utilize this logic a little bit more.
 
#8
#8
gobraves101035 said:
I think Jeff George is going to be a player to watch. He has the size to be a Calvin Johnson type of player.
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No. The only thing those two have in common is that they're tall. George could become a very good and never sniff being a "Calvin Johnson" type player.
 
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#11
#11
OrangeByBirth said:
I'm not as concerned about WR/TE as OC. To me that remains an issue.
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It was stale at times last year, absolutely but overall Debord was solid last year. The numbers were up across the board. Year two and he knows his personnel better. I'm not that concerned about OC at all.

That being said I wouldn't group TE as a concern, Wolfe was good last year. Croom will be a good move if used correctly and I think Debord will use him the right way.
 
#12
#12
The problem in our passing game over the past 3 years hasn't been fixed. CZA is still coaching these guys which means we will still see receivers not running sharp routes, getting off blocks, creating separation, or winning 50/50 balls. We should still win a few games with our running and D
 
#13
#13
WR/TE that's only a piece of the passing game. What about blocking, accurate throws and play calling? There were breakdowns in all facets of the passing game. So sure blame the recievers, that's the easy way out. We are going to win the NC, but it won't be because we took the easy way out, pointing fingers and blameing others. Owning it, that's why we will win it all this year and will contend for many more for years to come.

With all that said, 4th down and 4th qtr that our Achilles' heals last year. We all know that with JRM and Cam staying along with adding Shoop to the team, it's no longer an issue.

Go Vols!
 
#15
#15
08Vol said:
The problem in our passing game over the past 3 years hasn't been fixed. CZA is still coaching these guys which means we will still see receivers not running sharp routes, getting off blocks, creating separation, or winning 50/50 balls. We should still win a few games with our running and D
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I have to think that if CZA was as bad as the fan base thinks then he would be gone. It could be that the recievers we had were not as good as we thought they would be.
It could be that CZA is a horrible coach but I cannot imagine someone as experienced as CMD not identifying a coaching failure on the offense.
 
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#16
#16
Lot to discuss with the passing game for sure.
Personally, I want to hear "straight down the middle".
Has a much nicer ring to it than "off the upright".
Seems a couple of games a year, always comes down to which one of those phrases is used.
 
#17
#17
All in all the passing game will be better. I really believe the different aspects have improved. Even with the injury to Hall,pass blocking will be better. Dobbs should improve and the young receivers will show maturity and play better. I don't think we will sling it all over the field with our running game the way it is but the passing game will look better. I don't have facts but just have faith.

Oh, I forgot, the play calling and coaching improves also.
 
#18
#18
Do you have a link to the article? I'm more interested in what other teams' weaknesses are. We all know what ours are.
 
#19
#19
fossilfiction said:
I have to think that if CZA was as bad as the fan base thinks then he would be gone. It could be that the recievers we had were not as good as we thought they would be.
It could be that CZA is a horrible coach but I cannot imagine someone as experienced as CMD not identifying a coaching failure on the offense.
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This is the first year since Butch has been here that Azzani has had a fully healthy WR Corp going into the season. I think we will see some production from that group this year.
 
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#20
#20
I was looking at PFF stats on NFL QBs and receivers and it's very detailed. They note that that level of detail is not PUBLICLY available for college football but I figure the coaches have it from grading films and all. So receivers have targets, catchables, receptions, and drop rates and there's all kinds of accuracy ratings for QBs. The sample stats that I saw showed Peyton at Denver would have around 20% of his deep catchable passes dropped. So I figure when our coaches are talking about it's more than the QB, maybe they're on to something or know something about our stats that's not publically available information.

I looked at all the SEC teams for attempts/game, completion %, receptions per game, # of receivers who at least had double digit receptions, and the # of receivers who had more than 50 (arbitrary #) receptions for the year. I figured this would show the Go-To receiver. We didn't have one but almost everyone had about the same number of receivers with double digit receptions, some more, some less, but the differences were not really big. We had 8 which is about the average. Again, what we didn't have was an apparent Go-To receiver.

I have no idea what our drop rate is but it looks like NFL receivers have maybe a 10-15% drop rate or more overall.

Whether we improve our accuracy or reduce our drop rate or improve our play calling or whatever, just completing one more pass per game out of the attempts we made last year would have gotten us to 62.8% and completing 2 of those attempts/game would have us at 66.3% which would have been good for 2nd in the conference behind Alabama's 67.5%.

I'm sure it sounds easier that it really is but when we're talking about improving our passing game I definitely can see it's a total team effort - and incremental improvement across the whole of the team may actually make D4H's wildest dream come true this year. :)
 
#23
#23
Iam4utalways said:
WR/TE that's only a piece of the passing game. What about blocking, accurate throws and play calling? There were breakdowns in all facets of the passing game. So sure blame the recievers, that's the easy way out. We are going to win the NC, but it won't be because we took the easy way out, pointing fingers and blameing others. Owning it, that's why we will win it all this year and will contend for many more for years to come.

With all that said, 4th down and 4th qtr that our Achilles' heals last year. We all know that with JRM and Cam staying along with adding Shoop to the team, it's no longer an issue.

Go Vols!
Click to expand...

FG kicking was another.
 
#24
#24
I don't agree with the analogy.

Achilles was unbeatable, the perfect soldier. He only had one minor flaw, one place where he could be attacked and destroyed: the heel of one foot, where his mother (the nymph Thetis) held him as she dipped him into the River Styx to give him immortality.

So this analogy breaks down in a couple of ways. First, without better production in our passing game, Team 120 are not unbeatable. In other words, we're not Achilles. We simply are a bit too one-dimensional on offense. And second, even if you were to give us "immortality" in spite of that, the way to attack and defeat us wouldn't be through our WR/TE position group, it would be something more closely akin to what professional soldiers and marines call our "center of gravity."

So, assuming our passing game cranks up and Team 120 becomes the real behemoth that we all believe we can, be, what WOULD be our Achilles' heel, our fatal flaw? I have a few candidates, one that applies to most any team, and two other that are fairly unique to us:

1. Crunch-Time Decisions -- As much as I love Butch, there were a couple of times last year when he backed away from the high-risk, high-reward decisions that lead to greatness (or scorn, if they don't work out). This could be our Achilles' heel, something opposing coaches who are hella wily (read: Saban) could turn into advantage. UNLESS Butch ran down to the River Styx in the off-season and got that little flaw fixed. Here's hoping he did. :)

2. QB Injury: This one is pretty standard for many football teams. Take out the QB, cause the other team to stumble. I'm really looking forward to what Dormady and/or Jones and/or Guarantano can do in coming years, but there's no doubt that losing Josh Dobbs in 2016 would set us back, at least temporarily. So it's a point of weakness.

3. Sell Out To Stop the Run: This is the possible Achilles' Heel that so many teams tried to take advantage of last year. Knowing we were somewhat one-dimensional on offense, they decided to attack us in the box, force us to overcome with our anemic passing game. Trouble is, it didn't work for hardly anyone. We had success running even against Bama and Arkansas, the two stoutest front 7 defenses we faced. So maybe this one isn't an Achilles heel for Team 120 after all. Our run game is too much like a balloon: squeeze it in one place, and it bursts out somewhere else.

So probably really just two potential Achilles' heels for us in 2016. And here's hoping Butch got that first one fixed. After that, it's all about protecting our QB and rolling over some opponents.

Go Vols!
 
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#25
#25
BACKDOC said:
FG kicking was another.
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There were several kicks that had he made then it would have changed the outcome or at least the flow of the game. It appeared Medley used the upright as the target rather than picking a spot in the middle of the goalpost.

Fans impacting the game has been debated, but I wonder if our fan base could come up with a target to hold up for him to line up his kicks. He seemed to strike the ball well, just off target.
 
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