title game in 2007, largely falling behind Georgia, Florida and other programs at times during that stretch.Jones has led the Vols on a climb from five wins to seven to nine during his first three years. They finished

This story appears in ESPN The Magazines September 5 NFL Preview Issue. Subscribe today!A DRENCHED AND exhausted Matt Ryan walks off the Falcons steamy practice field and drops into his seat in the shade with an exaggerated groan. As if practicing in the Georgia heat werent hard enough, the nine-year veteran and three-time Pro Bowl passer also had to contend with his own offensive coordinator in coverage. Kyle Shanahan nearly broke the internet when he jumped in front of a Ryan pass floating toward the end zone -- the ensuing interception was a preseason gift for the ever-ready army of trolls. (Relax, everyone, the coach was actually teaching his rookie tight end about route depth.)Ryan laughed off the viral spiral. In 2015, even while struggling to grasp Shanahans new scheme, he still ranked fifth in passing yards (4,591) and was the NFLs most accurate passer under pressure. Which is why we thought hed be perfect to offer a tutorial on the current defensive evolution.THE MAG: Heres a number that jumps out: In 2012, there were seven QBs with an average release time under 2.5 seconds. ?In 2015, there were almost triple that, 20. Is that what defenses have done, forced nearly everyone on offense to move faster?RYAN: Pressure schemes are much different than they were nine years ago, no question about it. That pressure forces offenses to route-adjust and throw quicker and get the ball out of the QBs hands. For me, pressure is when they overload one part of your protection. If youre in five-man protection and youve got three guys blocking one way and two guys sliding the other and they figure out how to bring three guys to that short side? To me, thats pressure. Thats the biggest thing thats changed. Nine years ago, if you had five-man protection and they brought five people, there wasnt enough design on defense for them to still get you. Now defenses are dropping out tackles and ends, bringing certain linebackers on certain sides, all this extra design to make the numbers not right from a quarterbacks perspective. What you end up with is perceived pressure, which is just as bad. That part has been increasingly difficult and probably leads to why so many guys are getting the ball out quicker.Part of that new design is specialty personnel packages on what seems like every down now.In the past, it was all about third downs. Second downs, you never had to worry. Now you do. One of the areas thats changed is second-and-7 or second-and-long, where youre in a passing situation. Now you see a lot of specialty packages come out. Its much more prevalent. Early on in my career, we didnt even used to break down second-and-long. Thats how much things have changed.What does that look like from the pocket?It looks like nothing, and thats the challenge. Its now become about reading the defensive front, the way theyre lining people up. But it doesnt look like it has any kind of structure to it. Youve got five guys just walking around. Thats one of the things you see more and more of: nobody with their hand in the dirt. So now you come to the line of scrimmage and on top of everything else you have ?to first identify who the bigs [defensive tackles] are, who the ends are and who the linebackers are. Thats tough to do.The idea of a classic matchup between a teams best edge rusher and your giant left tackle seems so antiquated. Then you realize that it was, like, five years ago.Thats so different now. Defenses have changed in how they move those guys around so much to try to find your weakest spot and put their best guy there to expose that. When I was getting into the league, you knew exactly where Julius Peppers was gonna line up. But now, with guys like J.J. Watt -- he could be lined up outside, he could be on the left side, he could be on the right side, it doesnt make a difference. Hes an equal-opportunity pass rusher -- he goes after everybody from anywhere.Watt is also part of this new trend of hybrid defensive players.Thats probably the biggest change: hybrid guys. Look at our rookies: DeVondre Campbell [fourth-round pick from Minnesota]. You never used to see a linebacker like this, 6-4 and 232 and runs a 4.58. He flies. Back in the day, youd never have a tight end on a linebacker in third-down situations. It was always a safety walking up. But now with a guy like Keanu Neal [6-0, 211-pound rookie safety, first-round pick from Florida], these guys are interchangeable. You slide him outside and then theyve got you thinking, OK, now we need to pass-protect for a linebacker. Youre looking for the backer and then, instead, he covers the tight end and they bring a safety off the edge. They got me on that just the other day in practice.Has it gotten to the point where defenses force you to study and prepare and think so much that you end up with paralysis at ?the line of scrimmage?Thats why its so important now to throw everything out from the previous week. Delete everything from your memory and focus on just that next scheme -- thats the biggest thing now about being a quarterback. Every week its different schemes, different pressures, different hybrids to worry about, so its control-alt-delete and on to the next defense and then control-alt-delete and on to the next one, for the entire season. If you start seeing ghosts from past games or past schemes, youre just back there thinking too much, like, Is this this defense or that defense? Am I checking this play off this key or that key? Thats not what you want to happen.Besides the mental pressure applied by the defense, theres pressure on fundamentals to be as efficient as possible, right?The big thing in throwing now, you have to be able to throw from any platform because the timing of when things are open is really short and theres so many variables that affect your footwork. Your feet could be facing right, but things change or break down and now I need to throw left. My hips are facing this way, but, same thing, uh-oh, now I need to throw the other way. Footwork, flexibility, changing arm angles, all those things are very important now because you never really know how a pocket is going to shake out.If you were teaching a young QB to face this next generation of defenses, where would you start?See spots. Thats my thing now. The older Ive gotten, the more thats become my thing. Dont worry so much about where defenders should be or where theyre supposed to be or all those kinds of things. Just see spots. And design most of your pass plays to be spot-read instead of coverage-based. Instead of getting loaded down thinking, In this coverage, Im going here; in that coverage, Im going there. With so many hybrid players, so many variations of schemes and so much pressure up front and all the things that defenses can do, the way to combat all that is to see spots.Aaron Rodgers told me the game moves so fast now, all you really can read are flashes of space and color. Is that what you mean?Windows, yes. You start with a general idea of the coverage, but whats more important now is if youve got a post route thats going [to the deep middle], I need to be seeing this spot of the field, with ?this spacing, and if that windows not open within this certain timing, then you move on to that next spot and then to the next spot. Youve got to feel it now more than ever.Do these snapshots open and close like a camera lens? And can you prolong them?Yes, so the key becomes doing things like having your head facing this way to fool the defense, but actually Im looking at this lens over here, watching out of the corner of my eye to see if it opens, without showing the defense thats what Im doing. Being able to move somebody to create that little bit of extra space needed to fit ?the ball in there, thats whats important for quarterbacks now. Its about kinesthetic awareness. Spatial awareness. The game moves so fast now, understanding space by reading body language is probably the most important thing.Were into neurology and subconscious processing. I mean, when QBs get together, do you guys lament the good old simple days, like five years ago?We are under constant barrage in the pocket now. Facing it requires a certain feel, a sixth sense. Because the minute youre looking at the edge rush and not downfield, youre toast. Thats what separates quarterbacks now, the ability to process all that information in a millisecond, make a good decision based off that snapshot and then to physically be able to get the ball to where you want it to go.I just realized we havent even gotten to all the physical challenges of playing QB yet.Exactly.Zapatillas Nike Just Do It Mujer . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. Nike Air Max Mujer Baratas . Still, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke thought taking him out before the fifth inning was an unusual move. "Im looking up at the board and hes got two hits given up and one run, and Im taking him out after the fourth inning," Roenicke said. http://www.tiendasairmaxbaratas.com/zapatillas-air-max-95.html . In Europe, top teams seem to be largely happy with their squads after spending nearly $1 billion in the off-season. And although English league clubs are unlikely to splash cash in January, Arsenal and Chelsea could be tempted to strengthen their squads with new strikers. Nike Air Max Baratas . LOUIS -- St. Air Max 97 Baratas Mujer . Kiriasis and brakeman Franziska Fritz finished two runs in one minute 55.41 seconds -- a mere 0.01 seconds ahead of Meyers and Lolo Jones, who likely bolstered her Olympic hopes by helping give USA-1 a huge push in the second heat.HOOVER, Ala. -- People are talking about the Tennessee Volunteers as potential Southeastern Conference contenders again.After making steady progress the past three years under coach Butch Jones and bringing in three straight highly rated recruiting classes, the Vols are again regarded as legitimate contenders in the SEC Eastern Division.Many of the questions Jones and his players faced Tuesday at the leagues media days concerned dealing with hype and divisional front-runner status. Its a fairly dramatic change from a few years ago.I remember standing up here at the podium three short years ago, and the room was half filled and nobody was talking about Tennessee football, Jones said. Thats why you coach. Thats why you play, is to be in a program like the University of Tennessee where everybody is talking about you. Thats what you work for. Now its what you do with that opportunity.Tennessee hasnt won an SEC title since the 1998 national championship team. The Vols last played in the SEC title game in 2007, largely falling behind Georgia, Florida and other programs at times during that stretch.Jones has led the Vols on a climb from five wins to seven to nine during his first three years. They finished second in the East last season after blowing a fourth--quarter lead in a 28-27 loss to eventual division champion Florida.ddddddddddddNow, quarterback Joshua Dobbs is trying to help continue the rise. Dobbs calls the hype outside noise but enjoys being part of Tennessees resurgence under Jones.The biggest thing it shows is just how far weve come from when guys like me, Cam (Sutton) and Jalen (Reeves-Maybin) were freshmen, Dobbs said. There wasnt much talk about Tennessee. Thats the biggest thing. Its good to see that Tennessee has definitely risen and Tennessee is back to where traditional Tennessee has been.Having an experienced quarterback in a league filled with unproven starters helps raise the expectations for Tennessee. The Vols have also got a 1,200-yard rusher in Jalen Hurd and defensive standouts like defensive end Derek Barnett and cornerback Cameron Sutton.Now, the challenge for the players is living up to the hype. So far, so good, according to Jones.They have not looked up, he said. They have not blinked, and theyve just been focused on their own self-determination, becoming a better football player and becoming a better football team. Thats really what you can do. ' ' '