Game Report

Offense:
QB: C- JG should get credit for playing with a painful left wrist. However, a brain fade pick in the endzone, inconsistent to poor passes (the pass to Palmer in the 3rd quarter was under thrown at least 5 yards and Palmer had separation. Had some nice intermediate throws but longer throws were a horror show. In the 3rd, JG on one play had a really bad play fake but the LB bit hard and opened up a nice play behind him. JT never really had a fair shot, never two consecutive series when the game was on the line. Threw one pass that should have been picked.

RB: B Tough running but Chandler ran hard, had a couple of nice cuts. Jordan's touches have dropped for some reason. Caught the ball well.

WR: A After a slow start were open all over the yard. No obvious drops. Palmer had a TD if JG could either throw the ball 5-10 yards further or earlier. JJ was JJ, damn good - how many non QBs can call blocking schemes as JJ did last night, to set up his TD?

OL: C- (at best) 2-3 sacks, several QB hits and hurries. No real consistent blocking in the run game. Trey perhaps wasn't as good as the previous games but he still made several trips to IHOP. Morris had a night he would like to forget. Stabilized a bit when 74 went in to RT. A few instances of poor comms between the interior linemen, allowed one sack as a result.

Coaching: (?) Personnel decisions were baffling. Why only give JT just a series in each half. In the 1st series, call to run plays that were stuffed, leaving a 3rd and long? In the 2nd half perhaps the throw into double coverage (that should have been picked) was the reason. I really felt they didn't give him a chance. I thought given the stout DL that Jordan would have been a good choice to get more carries. Was Mauer not cleared or were they just giving him another week to recover ahead of the final 3 SEC games (I think the latter based on his demeanor on the SL)? Chaney was determined to run early but in the middle went more pass happy. Some of the plays were pure genius. The first pass to DWA was a beautiful play call, almost a wheel type route to the TE. In the 3rd, they motioned JJ L to R, reversed him in the backfield and two defenders followed him, leaving Pope wide open on the left. Also in the 3rd, they several times put JJ, Callaway and Palmer on the same side, which really challenges the defense, got 2-3 completions out of that formation.

Defense:
DL A Really played well, through the first 2 rotations. Got pressure on the QB (some really good push up the middle), played the run very well. Got caught in the wash a couple of times but overall played well. In mop up played well enough, clear drop off in getting after the QB.

ILB: B+ Butili and Henry T play well together. Bituli IS the QB of the defense. Henry T's pass defense is improved but not "there" yet - kid is good and has potential to be great. In mop up Page played well, Peterson still lost.

OLB: B Played well, except for the options. Taylor had a beautiful move for a sack but needs to be more consistent. In mop up need to improve pass defense.

DB: A Thompson's 3 picks were the highlight but overall played well. Some really interesting cover schemes. George (who was the best DB on the field) when playing off the receiver was really selling inside technique. Both George and Thompson had good coverage all night. A Taylor was a clear drop off (their first long completion was against him). Schamburger was up and down. He apparently was the cause (I though a LB) on a completion across the middle but given that Warrier read him a long riot act between plays ...). McCollough started and played the first 3 quarters and played well. They used him as the 4th DB in coverage a lot. Played well for a true FR for sure.

Coaching: A Really a well called game. Put the players in position to make plays. The coverages seemed a bit bizarre at times but they were effective. Alignment issues are STILL there, we are just playing through them better. On at least 2 snaps there were DBs looking away from the play getting aligned. OLBs were in the same boat and occasionally Henry T

It felt GREAT to be in the stadium watching. One misses so much of the nuances watching on TV. and IT'S GREAT TO BE A TENNESSEE VOL!

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