Crimson Red Sports

The old saying that you should see more improvement from game one to game two probably leaves some of us feeling a bit cautious about what to expect in the games lying ahead for Alabama. Bama has a very tough schedule this year and some say it is rated the number one toughest schedule in the NCAA.

I'm not going to try and break down each player or position today but rather talk about the team as a whole, unit wise. Last week there was many observations on which player did this and which player did that but after yesterday, maybe we need to talk about the team as how do they play in units. I don't really see that many individual stars on this team as we have seen in the past that might change the lackluster effort by both the offense and defense. Henry and Drake have made some big plays for the offense so far but 3 or 4 big runs in a game from two players is very  small when you compare the number of plays the offense ran in the game. You can also count the big plays from the QB to the receivers and again, there weren't that many big plays in the game. I guess a better word or phrase to use in discussing the offense is consistency or maybe the lack of consistency. To me the offense looks very disorganized with their blocking schemes which in general makes each play look like a failure. The QB doesn't have much time to execute the pass plays and a lot of that problem could be the QB himself or maybe it's the receivers running bad routes and not getting open. Whichever the case, the team just doesn't look sharp in executing most of their offensive plays. The running backs find very few big holes to run through and in most cases on the long runs by Henry, he broke 2 or 3 tackles at the line of scrimmage and not through a gaping hole like we have seen in the past years.

Defensively, I'm disappointed in the pass coverage so far. Whether it is the pass rush or the DB coverage, it looks very vanilla to me. In the Wisconsin game I thought the D-line played much better in the second half with a lot of intensity which game me the inclination that this is what we should see every Saturday, wrong. There were a few plays where the pressure on the QB was good but as a whole, it was about like the first half of the Wisconsin game, very lackluster.

The kicking game was pretty much the same as the Wisconsin game, a lot to be desired. Scott dfid some better but he's a far cry from the punter that could change the end of the field like we saw last year. Our place kicker is really struggling and this should now be a very big concern of CNS. To me it seems to be a mental problem now rather than a physical one that he suffered through last year. I thought the return team did a better job that they did against Wisconsin, something that Bama really needs to get better on.

Overall I would grade the team with a C this week. I just don't think the team will be real successful in the games ahead playing at the level we have seen so far unless something really good changes their style of play. The Wisconsin game was a good win but they are in no way as good as most of the SEC teams and we know how many conference games that Bama has to play.

Hopefully the team will have a better week of practice and come out and play against Ole Miss the way that they are capable of playing. If that doesn't happen, oh woe is me because Ole Miss will have two wins in a row and it's been a long time since that happened. JMO and RTR!!!!   

Thanks Jamos!
 NKEMDICHE concerns me

Jamos I think you are dead on. If not for the win the game I would have graded as an "F." If our pass D. does not improve OM will hang 60 on us. RTR!

I think this game came at a bad spot. Bama was going to be up for Wisconsin, and they are looking to avenge last year's loss to Ole Miss.

Me too.  I've heard he is quite the receiver...  :-X

Happens every year, Bama has impressive opener and then disappoints against a weak opponent in the second game. I am concerned about Nkemdiche against Dom Jackson and if we don't get Dom some help, Nkemdiche may kill Coker and Bateman. All in all, I thought the QBs played well but I think Coker is way out front. I think we will see a much more energetic Bama next week with a lot of different schemes on offense and defense.

Well said J.  Much to worry about and you can't write it all off to a letdown after the Wisc game.  Really, the team did not look well coached.  I don't know how else to say it.

Excellent work, Jamos.

As always, we learn about our strengths against strong teams, not weak ones.  Somehow young people play down to competition.

We played base defense again, and showed almost nothing imaginative on offense.  It seemed that the coaches viewed the game as a practice, and they wanted to keep everything else under wraps until we meet Ole Miss.

Despite the disappointments in play overall, I enjoyed the game.  I grew up during the 1960s football under Coach Bryant, and I recall the struggles.  Alabama was fun to watch back then, but nothing like the powerhouse of today.  Our current team is filled with talent at every position; nothing like the 'skinny boys of the 60s'.

Maybe we should expect to crush every opponent, but it won't happen.  No college team does that, especially in the SEC of today.

Anyhow, I'll wait until after we play Ole Miss and Georgia before passing judgment.  Certainly I won't predict what I expect (my predictions are horrid every week).

Meanwhile, I'll try to just enjoy every win.  Wins are to be cherished, even when they aren't blowouts of weakling teams.

ROLL TIDE.  E-cred for your summary!  :worship: :worship:

I wonder if the defense was more vanilla because of who we were playing and we saved some stuff for Ole Miss. Also, I think motivating the players against MTSU is not easy. The simplicity of the DB area might be due to the youth/inexperience of Humphrey, Brown, and Fitzpatrick. The kicking game is a train wreck right now but Saban seems to think like you, Griffith is being affected mentally. One final thing, what is the status of Bo Scarbrough, is he still healing up or what?


 :dunno:

The QBs did have a decent day but that wasn't Ole Miss or LSU we were playing. Coker does okay but I have a bad feeling about him and the defensive rush that we will see from Ole MIss. He is much slower, and not just his feet, than Bateman and I'm thinking the QB  better be ready to have his scrambling shoes on Saturday night but just maybe the offensive line will play better this week.

Thank you muchly!! Are you coming over?

Bo is serving a 4 game suspension for something that happened in the off season possible a year or two ago. I'm not sure but I think he may have accepted a gift of sort and possibly Bama self reported him. He is very healthy and chomping at the bit to see some game action. He should be a big lift to the offense when he returns because he's big,fast, and one heck of an athlete. If you remember we had a few athletes a few years back that went on a fishing trip and they had to pay up the money for the incurred expenses and serve a suspension as well.

I thought he might be in trouble but could not remember. Have you personally seen him in practice? Can he still cut sharply & with the same speed? I liked Damien Harris in the game, too. Looks like he has gained weight. Thanks for the info.

I didn't get to watch the game, but I predicted that we would be less than stellar. As Koko posted, it happens every year. I'm not concerned. We will most certainly step it up against Ole Miss. We stopped running against them last year and that proved to be a mistake. We will be able run on them again this year, and will, early and often. Look for the Drake to be on a mission. I'm betting he will run amok.

Our problem last year was shooting ourselves in the foot. An interception & lost fumble in the 4th quarter,  Drake's gruesome injury, 1-3 in FG's,  & 8 penalties, all killed us.


 :wall:

In the 2nd half of the game, we were trying too hard to pass when the running game had been working well in the first half, even in the face of Drake's injury. The left side of our O line was having their way with the Ole Miss D. We don't need to abandon the run next week.