Tim Banks comments on defensive performance vs UF (2022)

[BigOrangeTrain]

Sounds like the defense did much better than most thought. Listen to the breakdown of each drive.

Love that podcast. But I don’t see how the defense isn’t exactly as bad as it seemed. We all
Know the Sunseri defense has been the worst we have seen at TN. So in 2012, with Sunseri, we gave up 555 yards and 219 passing. Yet this past game against UF, we gave up 594 yards and 453 passing to a mediocre QB.

 

[OrangeAllDay]

Love that podcast. But I don’t see how the defense isn’t exactly as bad as it seemed. We all
Know the Sunseri defense has been the worst we have seen at TN. So in 2012, with Sunseri, we gave up 555 yards and 219 passing. Yet this past game against UF, we gave up 594 yards and 453 passing to a mediocre QB.

One, the talent level of AR is not mediocre. He’s one of the most talented QBs in the country. If the light ever comes on for him, which it might have last Saturday, he’s gonna be playing on sundays.

Two, it’s been a decade since that sunseri defense. Times and offensive philosophy have changed. That’s like going back to the Wing T days and saying those defenses were better at playing the pass. Yea, because no one threw the ball.

Tim will get better, the defense will get better. But people are tripping over the Florida game. We had a game plan to not let AR scramble, and AR had the best game of his college career. Yes there were wide open receivers, but he also made throws he’s never consistently made. People need to breath. Our program is lucky to not be dead in the water after Pruitt. We are actually relevant again, in year two no less, and we got people in here bitching and moaning. It amazes me really.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Ok so let me get this straight. If, and I mean only IF, our pass defense continues to be horrible and finishes dead last in the SEC, Heupel should be just fine with that? Martinez should not be held accountable at all? Interesting. I guess if you ran a company you would have no problem with one of your managers that for two years performed terrible?

That's called a straw man argument. Because my "should not fire anybody" isn't even in the same neighborhood as your "be fine with it."

There is in fact a wide gap between those two positions. You say "Ok so..." as if the two are one. That's really bad logic, BOT.

 

[Skullbone]

The defense was lacking in pass situations and 4th down anything. But, they bailed us out surprisingly in a couple other games earlier this year, so I'm not mad at them. We all knew defense would probably be spotty this year. Nevertheless, I believe we can do better and will do better. This year. I'm actually pleasantly surprised with the play of the DL and LBs overall compared to my expectations going into the season. Let's see how it plays out.

 

[joevols89]

The defense was lacking in pass situations and 4th down anything. But, they bailed us out surprisingly in a couple other games earlier this year, so I'm not mad at them. We all knew defense would probably be spotty this year. Nevertheless, I believe we can do better and will do better. This year. I'm actually pleasantly surprised with the play of the DL and LBs overall compared to my expectations going into the season. Let's see how it plays out.

What couple of other games are you referring to? There was only Pitt. The defense did a good job to knock out their only decent QB on the roster. They were getting lit up before that. Made them one dimensional after he went out.

 

[Memphisvol87]

This defense played terrible against a rival and almost let them come back and win. We can complain all we want when the results and stats are clear as say. We can be incredibly happy about the win and also agree the defense was slaw. Both can be true. So if we play terrible defense and get 10 wins or more… fine. But it’s either a talent or scheme issue. Martinez sucks in my opinion and the secondary play is exactly what I thought he’d bring us. Banks isn’t throwing players under the bus for playing his calls and I respect that. But it’s slaw. And it almost allowed us to add another heartbreaker to a long list of Florida games we shouldn’t have lost.

 

[Cartervol]

This defense played terrible against a rival and almost let them come back and win. We can complain all we want when the results and stats are clear as say. We can be incredibly happy about the win and also agree the defense was slaw. Both can be true. So if we play terrible defense and get 10 wins or more… fine. But it’s either a talent or scheme issue. Martinez sucks in my opinion and the secondary play is exactly what I thought he’d bring us. Banks isn’t throwing players under the bus for playing his calls and I respect that. But it’s slaw. And it almost allowed us to add another heartbreaker to a long list of Florida games we shouldn’t have lost.

Martinez has sucked everywhere he's been. Didn't care for that retread from the beginning.

 

[Shirleyudontmeanthat]

LOL! Alabama and Georgia have really great offenses and will be hitting their stride when Tennessee sees them. They also have pretty good defenses if you haven't noticed. Head and shoulders above Tennessee's previous four opponents. The quarterback ratings for the teams Tennessee has played been really low as well and they're about to see a few top quarterbacks in UGA and Alabama as well.

Lol the past 2 NCs ??? Oh thanks for that captain obvious. But if they score on us we are terrible , fire banks huh ? U a jeanyus

 

[joevols89]

Martinez has sucked everywhere he's been. Didn't care for that retread from the beginning.

Decent recruiter which we were lacking on the staff was main reason I was ok with it.

 

[Cartervol]

Decent recruiter which we were lacking on the staff was main reason I was ok with it.

Only reason he was hired.

 

[keenobserver]

Let's learn to line up correctly during the bye week.

 

[Smokey7]

Rodney Garner might need to be the defensive coordinator

 

[EODVOL]

First off, I fully believe the defense couldn't have played sh***ier game. With that said, I ask, what was Banks supposed to say? I mean, he is well aware the kids read what is said.

 

[Switch 625]

Watching the replay now. This pass defense is maddening! We don’t have an athlete problem, we have a coaching problem. DBs are just lost.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

That's called a straw man argument. Because my "should not fire anybody" isn't even in the same neighborhood as your "be fine with it."

There is in fact a wide gap between those two positions. You say "Ok so..." as if the two are one. That's really bad logic, BOT.

Not really if you think about it. The question at hand here is is Martinez producing as a coach? Is he doing a job that is relative to his pay? That’s the same as in a corporate structure. I said it before this season started and got BLASTED for it. I said if Martinez doesn’t improve by the end of this year, does Heupel look to replace him.

Well look at how bad he is doing. He isn’t earning his paycheck as a coach. None of the DBs have really improved. As a matter of fact some look like they have regressed since last year. We used to blast guys like Will Freind and other coaches when their units underperformed. Why not Martinez? We are DEAD last in the SEC in pass defense. Guess where we finished in pass defense in 2021? Second to last. In 2020 we finished 11th and in 2019 we were 4th.

Seems to me the pass defense is getting worse under Martinez. Those are actual stats. So at the end of the day, if you had a high ranking employee who gets worse you would just keep him?

 

[hUTch2002]

I don’t think he actually believes everything is fine. I mean, I can’t read minds, but I’m pretty sure that even if he did think so there are other coaches on the team who would tell him otherwise. I suspect he didn’t want to criticize particular players or groups publicly, which is good.

The way he did so was maybe not the way to do it. Just all of the negative reactions we see in this thread sort of point to why. If he believes nothing is wrong, that’s super problematic and worrisome, and if he doesn’t it’s dishonest.

He should have said there were many things we did well, that we shut down the run, mostly contained the quarterback, etc. That the defense was able to execute in key situations. Then he could have said that clearly we gave up more yards than we would like to and have to keep getting better.

If asked about what needed to improve he could have spoken about technique issues at a high level without singling out anyone. If they tried to pin him down about the secondary or specific players he could have mentioned that said person or people did a lot of things correctly and were important to winning the game, that he likes them, how they prepare, and that they work hard and continue to do the things asked of them. That of course there are things that must be done better, and that the expectation is that those things will improve.

The difference is doing it this way protects your players but is also honest and takes ownership. That said, I do think overall even if I don’t like how he answered here, that several things are more important than getting the press conference right.

Most importantly, are we getting better? The answer I think is yes. We’ve seen clear improvement in most aspects of the defense. So I think I like the coach, but he could make the fans who are nervous and half expecting disaster less likely to have heart attacks by sounding better.

Even non fans are going to pick up the coach saying 600 yards given up doesn’t matter and will form opinions. It’s certainly not the most important thing, and the sky isn’t falling, but I don’t think he did himself any favors.

You are way too level-headed for this board. Stop it!

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Watching the replay now. This pass defense is maddening! We don’t have an athlete problem, we have a coaching problem. DBs are just lost.

Exactly. Those who are a saying it’s a talent problem just don’t want to face the truth. We have a terrible DB coach.

 

[Volfan8282]

This is a Willie Martinez issue. Plain and simple.

 

[hUTch2002]

I think the strategy was to play zone, put a spy on AR, and make him prove the can win with his arm.

And up until we got stopped on 4th down with about 4 minutes to go we were in great shape.

 

[hUTch2002]

Imagine having a coach who keeps a guy who downplays how bad his defense is try to compete with Alabama and Georgia. There's your LOL

So fire Heupel?

 

[sami]

This team is short of talent on the back end of the defense. Not much to be done to fix that except through recruiting. Saturday won't be the only huge passing day a team has on the Vols this season.

However, I would like to see a little more aggressive play calling and taking some more chances with blitzing. Turn some more of those QB pressures into sacks and potentially mask some of the problems in the secondary.

If they are going to get beat regardless, may as well be from a big play and get the ball back to the offense quicker.

This is my feeling exactly. The best way to alleviate secondary problems is with pressure, and in college football especially pressure will create bad throws and mistakes. Even an average FBS QB will pick apart a mediocre secondary if allowed to sit in the pocket, but apply some heat and create some hurried throws and then the mistakes will happen.

 

[Budalicious]

So if he says he don’t have the personnel, he gets blasted for throwing the players under the bus, If you don’t have what you need! You use what you have and make the best of it! I’m thinking recruiting on defense is getting better!!!!

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Not really if you think about it. The question at hand here is is Martinez producing as a coach? Is he doing a job that is relative to his pay? That’s the same as in a corporate structure. I said it before this season started and got BLASTED for it. I said if Martinez doesn’t improve by the end of this year, does Heupel look to replace him.

Well look at how bad he is doing. He isn’t earning his paycheck as a coach. None of the DBs have really improved. As a matter of fact some look like they have regressed since last year. We used to blast guys like Will Freind and other coaches when their units underperformed. Why not Martinez? We are DEAD last in the SEC in pass defense. Guess where we finished in pass defense in 2021? Second to last. In 2020 we finished 11th and in 2019 we were 4th.

Seems to me the pass defense is getting worse under Martinez. Those are actual stats. So at the end of the day, if you had a high ranking employee who gets worse you would just keep him?

Ah, now I understand.

You "said before the season started." So you have a bias. You have an agenda. And you want yourself to be proven right.

Your argument is illogical. Just about everyone on this board can see it is illogical. Practically no one here wants to fire anyone from Heupel & Co. Just about everyone here believes they're doing a fine job given the conditions of the program when they arrived 20 months ago.

It's not a good look for you, calling for heads when we're 4-0 and ranked #8 in the country. Looks immature and agenda-driven. Or even trollish.

But...you do you, brother.

 

[Other_Guy]

So fire Heupel?

Why?

 

[LAVol1]

And they'll be better at the end of the year than they are now. And even better next season.

Go Vols!

We lose our top 4 LBs and our 2 best DEs at the end of this season. That does not bode well for our D in '23. We'll need to get some top-notch transfers at LB, DE and DB to be better next year. Otherwise, the D could very well be worse.