:geaux: Was up in Gatlinburg, TN. this past weekend visiting an old Navy buddy and met a lot of Vol fans while there. Most were very complimentary of the Tigers and just about all of them felt like the Tigers would do well this year and be greatly improved on defense with John Chavis on board. I agreed with them on that point. Everyone one of them had great things to say about The Chief and liked him except for one thing, which was third downs. All of them said "Third and Chavis" about drove them crazy since he supposedly goes to a prevent defense most of the time on third down and had problems stopping the opposition. I didn't really watch the Vols last year so I don't know, but I remember seeing some folks post some comments like that last year prior to him getting the DC job. With his history over the years at Tennessee it appears he's been pretty good at stopping opposing teams. IMO we're going to be a lot better with The Chief and I'm glad we got him. I'd just like to see what the forums opinion is about the "Third and Chavis" thing. If true, that's gonna drive me nuts! I hate prevent defences because they don't seem to stop anybody. What say you forum members?! :LSU231:
Chavis might put in a nickel back on an obvious passing down, but it makes no sense for anybody to play a prevent defense on 3rd down. Prevent defenses usually put in a nickel and a dime back to keep from giving up the long TD at the end of the half. It gives up short passes to do this, which defeats the purpose of defending 3rd down.
:geaux: That's what I was thinking too Red. Wouldn't make much sense to do that (prevent) every time on 3rd down or even very often and I'm sure that probably wasn't the case with Chavis's "D" at Tenn. or he wouldn't have been that successful during his tenure there. The cat's I was talking to up there may have been some of those fans who gripe no matter how successful someone is. Was just wondering if someone was knowledgeable about how Chavis was in 3rd down situations and I remembered some people posting about that prior to him getting the Def. Coord. job. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing his defenses at LSU. :LSU231:
Well, you can buy his Tennessee defensive playbook on Ebay! TENNESSEE VOLS JOHN CHAVIS MULTIPLE 43 DEFENSE PLAYBOOK
The main complaint from Tenn fans is not a prevent but going from tight press coverage to having the DB's play 5 to 10 yards off the line of scrimmage on 3rd down. It drove their fans insane. I saw some stats showing Tenn was the worst, or one of the worst, 3rd and long teams in the country for several seasons. Last year they had games against crappy Wyoming and Northern Illinois where they gave up 50% total 3rd down conversions. Its definitely been a knock on Chavis and its something he is aware of. Hopefully our talent will give him more confidence to play tighter coverage on passing downs.
