Crimson Red Sports

Well, a win is a win..but i am not impressed with.....

1) lame kiffin's offensive strategy
2) failure to use the tight ends
3) DHenry's lack of desire
4) the running game in general
5) Blake Sims' "deer in the headlights" attitude
6) lack of desire on the entire team
7) special teams play

I believe we need a new O coach.

and..this team DOES have an identity:   CONFUSION

Looks to me like we will lose a couple this year..I ain't drinking the koolaid.

I'm with you on this; of course there are way too many on here that will call us barners for this opinion. The team ran smoother with Coker in there but he needs to learn to either throw it away or run; not take a sack when everyone is covered.

Put down the crack pipe, sbo.  :lol2:

Surely you don't believe that. Sims is not perfect but is the leader of this team and ran it much more efficiently than Coker. Everyone thinks that Coker is the savior because of his deep threat. He completed nothing downfield. He is still learning the system.

I can't believe that after tonight that anyone would think Coker can run the offense better than Sims. JMHO, but correct.  :D

Agee about #2 & 7. The rest I disagree or think it's just too early to tell. Hard to get motivated to play an awful Southern Miss & Florida Atlantic team. We won't know anything until we play Florida & Ole Miss, then we will have a much clear picture. I think we are basically still experimenting with our offense & defense against these cupcake teams.


 :dog:

  I think CLK is doing a great job with available talent.  Compare Sims from last year and spring to this fall, and it is night and day.  Apparently he is the best choice this year. 

The running game?  are you kidding? 

Not sure Bama can win it all this year either, but that doesn't mean I won't be cheering for them.

At least we are not losing to Kentucky.

 :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

I could say the same thing to you; what game did you watch? I watched Blake Simms struggle to get the plays called, a QB who was STILL staring down the reciever, and still making bad throws. The Offense was did not run smoothly; something that should already be under control with this star QB that everyone keeps talking about. I'm not saying that Coker is great but he is a better passer than Simms, and not just on the deep ball.

Sims is not a star passer, but he seems to have the confidence of the team, gets the job done, and is a good game manager. Like I keep saying, we have to see what happens with UF & Ole Miss.


 :wave:

I don't think there should be a doubt that Sims is the overall better QB at this stage of the game. Most importantly, his team believes that he has waited patiently for his turn and, in there minds, has proved he's the guy.

If Saban went with Coker the way he is playing now he would lose the locker room.

Right now, he's the best shot we have.

One defensive touchdown given up in three games.
The best WR in the country.
2 of the 3 best RBs in the country.
A FG kicker who hasn't missed one yet, including multiple 40+ yarders.
A QB who three weeks ago no one thought could be a quality starter who has played well and is showing signs of improvement.

I know it's a Bama tradition to scream that the sky is falling no matter what, but honestly I don't know why everyone is freaking out. 

You nailed it, Phil! E-cred worthy.  #+

#+

You are correct, sir!!!

(http://easylifetolive.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Alfred-600-me-worry.jpg)

We as Bama fans have gotten spoiled by the success of our recent past to the point where we expect to win 50-0 every week against any opponent.  Sims is playing well as are our receivers.  Our RBs don't seem to be doing as well as they did last year but it just doesn't seem that we are playing as balanced as in the past few years.  I haven't looked at the numbers though.  I believe that Coker's problem is that he just isn't comfortable yet.  When/if he becomes the starter I feel that he will gain the comfort and confidence he needs.  Sims looks much better than he has the last couple of years and even this past spring.  We might not win it all, or even make the playoffs but I do think we will have a season that we can be proud of... Seriously, the sky IS NOT falling...yet.

I think our offense has looked good in all three games. I am worried about the defense and you did not mention them.

Sims is the starter. I have not seen anything from Coker that would lead me to believe he will beat Sims out before the year is over.

The SEC schedule starts next week. We will know very soon what kind of team we have.

Probably talking to the minority of posters here.  Most of us have been through the ups and downs, from Bear Bryant through the Shula Years and now Saban.  So we know that Bama can't be No. 1 every year, and what Saban accomplished was special.  Heck, even the Bear had his ups and downs.  My personal opinion is that the team is playing well; given the players available the coaching staff is doing a heck of a job.  As the season progresses, teams start to gel and form an identity.  That identity might sometimes be hard to detect in a cupcake war, but becomes more clear fired in the crucible of competition. 

It's easy to get spoiled by success.  This is a new team, with new players, and new team leaders.  No team has superstars at every position; it remains a team effort.  There is more than enough talent at Bama to do very well, if that is this team's identity.  I'm excited to see what they can accomplish.

How is being realistic being spoiled? Wanting/expecting a QB to be able to make the passes that QB's on a lower level tier team make easily is not spoiled, it means that Bama has some issues at the QB position that will be exploited this season.

Well something is falling because as I watched the game last something hit me in the head. It could have been my wife for turning the TV during commercial. RTR!

QB and D secondary.  I agree with pmull that the secondary might be the biggest issue.  With offense, you play to your strengths.  With defense, the other team plays to your weaknesses.

I've watched Blake Sims and Jacob Coker play in three games now.  In my opinion, Sims is currently the best QB for this team at this time because of his accuracy on the short/medium routes.  We don't want to score on the long ball and turn the ball over to the HUNH offenses we've had so much trouble with.  Coker's accuracy just isn't there yet.  At least that's what I think.  The running game?  Teams are playing 8-9 in the box to stop it.  Which opens up the short passing game.  Hey, guys, trust the coaches!

I have a question. Blake kept rolling his fingers last night like to get the call quicker. Are our coaches on O and D getting the calls in fast enough? I see a lot of frustration sometimes like your not giving me them fast enough. RTR!

Ed Zachary! Sims completion rate is one of the best in the country. How many punts have we had this year, 3? 4 maybe? There isn't a QB in the country who is perfect, but I sure like the way things are going with Sims. Coker is not there yet. He is not accurate, he is not the team leader he needs to be. I think he will get there with time, but Sims is our starter for now, and deservedly so.

When SEC play starts, the tables could turn. You never know. But what I'm seeing now, is that the O will need to carry the D until the D finds it's feet (insert Oscar Pistorius joke here).

We've had no less than 500+ yards in every game so far. What more could you ask for?

I know you have to play the games scheduled, but really, putting up 500 yards on WVU, FAU & USM is nothing to boast about. NEB put up over 800 on FAU, MD scored 37 on WVU, and USM has become one of the worst programs in the country.

I saw that too Ricky.

Several threads on CRS have turned into a discussion of what we think of the team, so there is unease among many of us.  I try to put this in the context of past teams (going back to the 1960's no less...) that were shaky at the start of the season but great by the end. This team can still be great.  The ingredients are there.

One thing  I wonder about is.....Other than the QB situation, what were the coaches trying to establish/accomplish in the first three games? It seems they wanted to play a lot of the younger guys quite a bit.  Was this an effort to develop depth in prep for the HUNH games?  If so, this is a good thing even as it leads to inconsistent performance.

FWIW, Sims is ranked in good company in the ESPN QB ratings.  Check it out here -- bottom left of the screen.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/

FL game will tell us something.  I want to see who plays the most minutes.  Starters will play longer & let's hope they are well conditioned for the battle.

A lot has been said so far this season about the team, and especially the QB position.  From my perspective, there are lots of things that could be better.  There always are.  But I am not concerned about any of that.  I put a lot of weight in what CNS says about the team each year.  In years past, when he had a short fuse at a press conference, just as one example, that usually meant he was frustrated with the team and we found out as the season progressed that at least some of them were not buying in to the process.

It always looks ugly the first part of the season.  Remember that Penn State game AJ's first year?  Everyone was concerned about the offense, but look how that season turned out.  In fact the offense struggled most of the year, but it didn't stop us from winning the crystal football.

This year though, what I am hearing from Coach Saban over and over is how much he really likes this team.  Each week he says he is pleased with the progress the team is making.  On more than one occasion he has stated that the team has a much better work ethic and attitude than last year.  I don't know how this season will work out, but if Coach is happy then I am happy.  His body language and demeanor are the best indicator about the team's potential.  This year he is acting like a kid on Christmas morning, in spite of what we are seeing on the field.  I just can't figure out if it is because he is a grandpa now or if he knows something about the team that we don't know yet.

He's older, 63 in October, has a grandchild, and he mentioned a few years back a very telling story. He said he had to be careful on the sideline because his daughter got onto him for cursing on the sideline and she could read his lips on the TV screen. He said it was embarrassing to have his daughter confront him about that.

I read this thread and just ???and then I  :wall:

1.  The offense is averaging over 550 yards per game
2.  They could utilized the TE's more, which will come with the attention AC is going to get.
3.  DH is averaging 6.3 yards per carry.  Plus the backs have been rotated to keep them fresh for an upcoming tough stretch.
4.  The running game is averaging 5.86 per carry with the backs only.  
5.  I have not seen that deer in the headlights look this year.  Last spring game and last year.  It may appear when he starts getting more pressure.  He has yet to be sacked.
6.  The desire of the whole team.. they have played one tough opponent, WVU.  They are still filling in places from some important players lost from last year.  
7.  They have had one bad play, the kick off return, on special team.  They had the unfortunate play where the ball hit the Bama player on the punt.  They have not missed a FG/PAT and most of the time the kick off return starts inside the 25 or on it.  The punting game when needed has been very good.

As far as a new OL coach, he has replace 2 or three starters and is starting a Fresh at left tackle.  In my opinion this is the best the OL has looked the last in the beginning of the season.  Plus you have some depth and the 2nd team is moving the ball.  They have given up 2 sacks which could have been avoided if the QB, Coker, had gotten rid of the ball.

Case in point:  Does this look like CNS is concerned about the team at all?

Some fans think if every run doesn't go for 20 yards or more, and if every pass isn't thrown 50 yards down the field and completed that the team or QB or fill in the blank sucks.  I don't know how anyone can objectively look at the play of Sims or the offense and really think things are so bad.  I could understand if some fans were a little worried about the defense, because of what we are accustomed to, but not many seem to be talking about it.

And that's the area of concern, IMO. Against teams like LSU, A&M and the barn, if we haven't improved, we could be in trouble. I'm just hoping the offense carries the load until the D takes shape.

Last week the 'experts" were lauding Georgia as the best defense in the SEC.  NOT.
I have no idea if we'll be good enough when we need to be.  All I know is we have a coach who plans for such eventualities 365 days a year.  More in leap years!

 :popcorn2:

All comments seem to be on point..My main concern is that as CNS, says, the team is not in "beast" mode..and they should be, regardless of the competition. Our pass defense is a little suspect, and again we have no appreciable pass rush.. and I suppose we all area bit spolied..but wht I see lacking so far, is "Heart"..and that is a quality you can feel, but you can see evidence of..I don't want to see 60-o games, but dadgum, we nee to put the cupcakes away really early and then put in the 2's 3's and 4's.

And I have utmost respect fotr CNS and what he and his staff hav accomplished..we are all proud..and I am Bama blooded until I go from this earth..does not prevent me from seeing things as they sreem to be..to me.

DHenry can run, and he's got a better than good average..against cupcakes..he seems to fall down at the very first contact..cannot seem to fight through the tackle..hell, he's a big guy but can't seem to use that size to his advantage..I just don't think he's got a mean streak..I keep looking for that breakaway runner..not every down, but at least a few times..if our RB stable is among the best, let's show it off.

And I really meant we need another D coach..KS I think is gone after this year.  too many gaps in coverage, etc. the DB's don't seem to be catching on...maybe time a will tell, but it is getting close to critical time.

and who can say there is not a lot of confusion on the O and the D?  I for one have not seen (in the CNS era) as much confusion as is evident...At this stage, things ought to be jelled better than it seems to be...and that falls on the HC..Lame seems to be scared of CNS' reaction after each failed play..And I still think he was a bum hire, even if CNS does love his guts..like another poster said, he does good on the 4 plays BS runs.

OK..I say now I will be happy if BS hands off 4 out of 6 plays, throws to Coop the other 2, and we win..winning ain't alwasy got to be pretty and exciting.

Rool, Tide..yesterday, today and always.

Instead of questioning the coaching I may be questioning how complicated the defensive scheme is?  Maybe, and I don't know, it is too complicated for some.  Maybe they just have too much to think about.

Plus, the "experts" had Georgia in the Final Four and maybe even winning the NC after they beat Clemson.
I have been saying from the start that my concern was the defense. Alabama lives & dies off their D and it has been their trademark for many years. We lost 7 starters from the D so common sense says we would have a problem with it. We lost the entire D-line, 2 LB's, and 2 DB's, including our best one. We will see a lot on D when we play Ole Miss.


 :dog:

I agree with the concerns about the defense.  We have won national championships with much less talent on offense than what we have right now.  But the defense was rock solid.

I think the only teams so far  that have lived up to the hype and/or
played like forcasted are the ducks and the sooners

not even the noles have lived up  :stop:


it ain't just us   :stop:

Great observation. Most every team has underperformed. Some teams have done better, like LSU & East Carolina, but it has been an interesting season so far.


 :clap:

Too bad we had two pushovers in a row.  We could have used one later in the season.

I think we have someone like Western Carolina later, maybe before Auburn.

I've never really questioned who Bill Battle and Nick Saban schedules to play, I just show up for the games. Now if Bama was getting their butt kicked every Saturday I might have a lot to say about that. As long as Bama is and can stay in contention to win a NC you won't hear me making much noise about who they play.

Some posters earlier in the thread were complaining about CLK's play calling. I can promiss you there isn't a play in the play book that will not gain yardage or can be scored on. It's not the play that is the problem, it is the execution of the play by the players. If they do what the play is designed to do, it will work whether it's a pass or a running play. None of us really know when a play is busted because of the lack of one of the players, only the coaches because they are the ones that designed the play. Some of sometimes think we know but we really don't.

I say all of this as if it is a perfect world and the players can do the perfect things and again it's awful hard for them to do the perfect things and we have to hope that the team can get the best out of their mistakes. My advice to all is to enjoy the wins regardless of who Bama is playing and let the folks that decide on who plays for the NC tell Bama their schedule isn't good enough, I can promise you something will change then. JMHO and Roll Tide!!!

A few thoughts after reading the comments here:

1) I remember the 1992 team having a close call against Tulane. I remember 2009 struggling mightily through the middle third of the season.  It's far too early to tell what kind of team this is going to be. 

2) As "terrible" as the team has been, they've won by 10, 41, and 40. And even the West Virginia was never really in doubt.

3) the schedule is about as close to perfect as it could be this year.  Starting a new QB and almost entirely new defense they played a major conference opponent on a neutral field.  Then two games against weak opponents to see what needs to be fixed in terms of execution.  The first SEC game is at home against an Eastern Division foe who are not what they used to be. There are two bye weeks, which just happen to fall the weeks before what I consider to be the two scariest road games, OLe Miss and LSU. 

4) Unlike several other supposed playoff worthy teams we haven't lost any games and haven't lost any players to serious/season-ending injuries.

5) Against both WV and USM the team seemed flat early in the game, but got better as the games went along.  That tells me the coaches and players are capable of responding to what the other team is doing and improving mid-game. 

I still see nothing to get too upset about.

Well I will say one thing, all of you guys have great opinions or descriptions or whatever. I love reading them all. They are mostly the same except they are said in different ways that might make another person not understand someone else's way with words. Great job and I say please don't stop. It feels good to see what other Alabama fans think. RTR!

BINGO!! Everyone has an opinion and passions can run high. As a forum of opinions  :cat: everyone has a take which makes this an interesting place to read.


 :wave: :wave: :wave:

I always drink the koolaid and try to see things with crimson glasses!
I think Lane is doing EXACTLY what CNS expects out of him. After all numerous times CNS has praised the job CLK has done
We appear to have some problems on defense, but, as the season goes on and some of our younger players get more on field experience may correct themselves
I think in the 1st 3 games we have utilized the tight ends exactly how CNS expected us to
I think at this time we want our offense to use up as much of the clock as possible and against most teams we maybe able to score at will
I think BS is doing an outstanding job!
Coker may come along , but, needs to dump the ball instead of taking the sack
all aspects of the kicking game is outstanding so far.
Special teams need more focus
Did I mention I drink CRIMSON koolaid?

Sometimes, I add a little something to mine.  8)

What flavor do you prefer, cherry, grape, or lime?


 ;)

My kool aid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYS7aQY1iZI