Tennessee Vols Defensive Coordinator John Jancek May Have Made the Dumbest Call in History

By Caleb Calhoun | Sep 29, 2015

Tennessee Vols defensive coordinator John Jancek made a terrible call against the Florida Gators when the Volunteers were up 27-21 needing a 4th down stop.

I sit here typing this wanting to move on from that sickening 28-27 loss to the Florida Gators that the Vols suffered last Saturday. But it just sticks in the back of my mind.

We have gone over Butch Jones’s coaching blunders and will continue to over the week that led to that loss, but none of those blunders related to the five fourth downs Florida had to convert to win that game, none more costly than the 4th and 14 play Will Grier converted that turned into the game-winning touchdown.

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A look back at that play initially brought into question the soft zone coverage of the secondary. But upon further review, I would like to retract some of the criticism I gave the secondary on that play: the entire blame falls on the defensive coordinator for an incredibly idiotic decision.

I was simply criticizing the secondary at first, but my brother and I talked about the game and our frustration, and he brought up to me the fact that Jancek had the brilliant idea to rush three on this play, drop six into coverage, and have both linebackers play spy. SPY! On Fourth and 14!!!

See for yourself.

As you can see, he is showing a four-man front. But Chris Weatherd drops back in spy, and Jalen Reeves-Maybin is in deeper coverage at spy. Then, the secondary is in zone coverage, surrendering the short route that gets the first down. Really?

There are so many things wrong with this. First, at this point you are playing 11 on nine. There are two players who are having nothing to do with the play, surrendering extra bodies. Secondly, why would you worry about even one player in spy?

It’s 4th and 14! Grier is extremely unlikely to scramble for the first down no matter what. But if he is, you only need one deep spy to stop it!

Most egregious, though, is that the best way to stop Grier all night was to get pressure with great coverage. Jancek’s front four had been getting pressure, and if he had sent four guys like he should have, Grier likely would have been flustered again and not had time to make that throw.

On top of that, the receiver would not have had the time he had to get in a wide open spot against a soft zone coverage. This is the height of idiocy! Just the few plays before then showed how good the Vols were playing in regular coverage.

On 3rd and 14, right before that fourth down play, Derek Barnett had gotten into the backfield and forced Grier to throw the ball away. You couldn’t trust your superstar defensive end to do the same thing again, Jancek?

No.

Instead you are going to give Grier all the time in the world to wait for his receivers to find a spot in the soft zone coverage you dialed up.

But not only are you going to give him all the time to throw the ball. Instead of using those extra rushers in coverage since you won’t bring pressure, you decide to keep them in spy, leaving your defense short-handed on the front-end and the back-end: the only two things the offense needs when converting a 4th and 14. That is borderline Pete Carroll dumb.

To be fair, we will not ignore the defensive backs taking a terrible angle on the receiver after the ball was caught. But it should have never been caught in the first play.

Jancek dialed up a prevent defense with spy coverage to allow that to happen. Don’t know how you figure that one.

And of course, it came back to bite him. Congratulations for the dumbest defensive call in a long time.

Next: Five Things Vols Must Do to Salvage the Season

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