Georgia’s recent issues in pass protection have been a hot topic in the days following Saturday’s 38-12 win over Tennessee, but head coach Kirby Smart isn’t pointing fingers.
Neither does he seem overly concerned that it could be a big problem moving forward.
"I don't know that it's an individual problem,” Smart said. “I think it's a total effect. I mean we had a couple good pressures against us against Middle Tennessee. Again, we saw (Isaac) Nauta in a one-on-one situation that he lost, and then Isaiah (Wilson) gave up one on the other side. And we just have to win our one-on-one battles. It's no different than a corner getting beat by a receiver.”
Much of the angst is due to the fact the Bulldogs have allowed five sacks over their past two games, three coming in last Saturday’s 38-12 win over Tennessee.
Two of those sacks also resulted in strips of quarterback Jake Fromm. The Bulldogs were fortunate to recover both, including the first that Nauta picked up and ran in from 31 yards out for Georgia’s first score.
Smart said the only way to make corrections is to get back to work.
“You go back to the drawing board, and you go get better,” he said. “You don't scheme up something, because at the end of the day, there's going to be four or five one-on-one opportunities. You got to win your one-on-ones, and our guys, we're going to challenge them to do that.”
It’s not just the offensive line and tight ends being asked to raise their respective games. Georgia’s running backs are, too.
“It is a big emphasis. Everyone knew that we could all run the ball, but the question was about our pass protection, because they had never really seen us do that,” Elijah Holyfield said. “This year we have been asked to pass-protect a lot, and it's something we are all trying to improve on every week. I feel like we've done a pretty good job so far.”
With Vanderbilt up next (7:39, SEC Network), left tackle Andrew Thomas has his concerns. Pass pro isn’t one.
“I think we have a lot of guys who can play, a lot of guys who can contribute, but as far as the game,” Thomas said. “We just have to start a little bit faster. It takes us too long to get started.”
It’s all about execution.
“We know that when we protect the passer, we're really efficient. We're an efficient team. We can make big plays. We've got explosive players; we have to win our one-on-one battles, because if we're good in the run game, good in play action, and we can convert on third down, you're hard to stop,” Smart said. “But at the end of the day, a lot of the times, we've stopped ourselves more than somebody's stopped us. And we'll work hard on it and try to get better at it.”
