We played a lot of bodies along the offensive and defensive lines. With so many new faces I wanted to get an idea of who played well and who needs to improve. I used a basic grading system to try and make any judgements more quantitative and less subjective.
Scoring System:
1: Player executed their job to a high level
0: Stalemate. Did their job but didn't make a play
-1: Job was not executed and played lost their individual battle.
OFFENSIVE LINE:
Boulware (2)
Richmond (1)
Jones (-1)
Thomas/Kendrick/Hall (-3)
Tatum (-5)
DEFENSIVE LINE:
Barnett (6)
Picou/Lewis (3)
Shy/Vereen/Kongbo (2)
Kahlil (1)
Phillips (0)
NOTES:
We looked tired when the ball was kicked off. Not going to hang with a team like Bama on dead legs.
Give Alvin Kamara the damn football. 20 times a game. End of discussion. Caption obvious statement of the day...
After two possessions from both teams, I am more impressed with Bama than I am aggrevated at Tennessee's shortcomings.
Pursuit angles from the defense line on perimeter runs are not good. Our guys are pursuing up the field and not getting there. If they would run flat down the LOS, they are much more likely to get in on the play.
Buchanan is struggling. He isn't physical at all and isn't covering well either. Martin needs to get out of the doghouse ASAP. Mosley is playing much better, about as good as he can, IMO. Easy to see when Foreman is playing at CB when healthy as well...
**On defending the zone read**
When the DE is the unblocked read key, his job is to take away the most downhill run. We are not asking the DE to contain anything when he is unblocked. The perimeter run is the job of the safety and nickel (if he is on that side of the formation) to get off blocks and force-contain the play.
On the rare occasion that we had a good force-contain from the second level the DE was able to get in on the play.
I do not think the LB's are as much of an issue when the ball is kept and on the perimeter. Anyone claiming "our LBs are chasing the wrong guy" are ignorant. It's simple assignment football.
On Jalen Hurts long TD run, it was a zone-read and was defended poorly at all 3 levels. Vickers got washed out of the B-Gap which made Vereen reduce further than normal to take away the dive. Kelly got caught looking across the formation instead of playing what comes to him. He and Buchanan got blocked and Hurts was off to the races.
Phillips played pretty well inside. He was doubled a couple of occasions and stood his ground. A little inconsistent though. After a few plays he seems content to stand around a little too much for my liking.
Picou was active. He plays well with his hands and runs to the ball. He is going to be a little inconsistent because his size and stature are going to get him pushed around some, but I was pleased with his play.
Elliot Berry is a pretty decent WLB. Wish he was a RS Soph instead of a true Jr. Will be interested to see what happens when McDowell comes back... I think Berry is better, but that's JMO.
Kongbo played well. There was a 2 play sequence in which he had 2 QB pressures. One on a nice inside move being ran with a called pressure. The next play he beat Cam Robinson on a traditional edge rush. Really good to see him being active again.
We aren't making a ton of plays upfront, but we didn't get pushed around too bad either (through the first half)... We got blocked at the second and 3rd level of the defense as bad as I have ever seen it. The optimist in me wants to attribute this to dead legs... We'll see in two weeks.
Scoring System:
1: Player executed their job to a high level
0: Stalemate. Did their job but didn't make a play
-1: Job was not executed and played lost their individual battle.
OFFENSIVE LINE:
Boulware (2)
Richmond (1)
Jones (-1)
Thomas/Kendrick/Hall (-3)
Tatum (-5)
DEFENSIVE LINE:
Barnett (6)
Picou/Lewis (3)
Shy/Vereen/Kongbo (2)
Kahlil (1)
Phillips (0)
NOTES:
We looked tired when the ball was kicked off. Not going to hang with a team like Bama on dead legs.
Give Alvin Kamara the damn football. 20 times a game. End of discussion. Caption obvious statement of the day...
After two possessions from both teams, I am more impressed with Bama than I am aggrevated at Tennessee's shortcomings.
Pursuit angles from the defense line on perimeter runs are not good. Our guys are pursuing up the field and not getting there. If they would run flat down the LOS, they are much more likely to get in on the play.
Buchanan is struggling. He isn't physical at all and isn't covering well either. Martin needs to get out of the doghouse ASAP. Mosley is playing much better, about as good as he can, IMO. Easy to see when Foreman is playing at CB when healthy as well...
**On defending the zone read**
When the DE is the unblocked read key, his job is to take away the most downhill run. We are not asking the DE to contain anything when he is unblocked. The perimeter run is the job of the safety and nickel (if he is on that side of the formation) to get off blocks and force-contain the play.
On the rare occasion that we had a good force-contain from the second level the DE was able to get in on the play.
I do not think the LB's are as much of an issue when the ball is kept and on the perimeter. Anyone claiming "our LBs are chasing the wrong guy" are ignorant. It's simple assignment football.
On Jalen Hurts long TD run, it was a zone-read and was defended poorly at all 3 levels. Vickers got washed out of the B-Gap which made Vereen reduce further than normal to take away the dive. Kelly got caught looking across the formation instead of playing what comes to him. He and Buchanan got blocked and Hurts was off to the races.
Phillips played pretty well inside. He was doubled a couple of occasions and stood his ground. A little inconsistent though. After a few plays he seems content to stand around a little too much for my liking.
Picou was active. He plays well with his hands and runs to the ball. He is going to be a little inconsistent because his size and stature are going to get him pushed around some, but I was pleased with his play.
Elliot Berry is a pretty decent WLB. Wish he was a RS Soph instead of a true Jr. Will be interested to see what happens when McDowell comes back... I think Berry is better, but that's JMO.
Kongbo played well. There was a 2 play sequence in which he had 2 QB pressures. One on a nice inside move being ran with a called pressure. The next play he beat Cam Robinson on a traditional edge rush. Really good to see him being active again.
We aren't making a ton of plays upfront, but we didn't get pushed around too bad either (through the first half)... We got blocked at the second and 3rd level of the defense as bad as I have ever seen it. The optimist in me wants to attribute this to dead legs... We'll see in two weeks.
