Crimson Red Sports

First: I want to congratulate the Bama coaches and players on the win.  I honestly think they would have gotten a better game with an intrasquad game.  There are a few good things that came out of this game.  First, it looks like there were no injuries.  Second, it allowed many players to get in the game and get significant reps.  Third, it allowed the coaches to take players out of the game after a play to coach them up as they say.  Then they were allowed to go back into the game.  Finally, it allowed the backup QB to get some reps with the first team players. 

Offense:  Basically, they did what they wanted to.  I have them for 18 plays of 10 yards plus.  Thirteen of these were pass plays while the other 5 were running plays.  I don’t think they had any 3 and outs.  They did have 2 negative plays, not counting penalties, which looked like they were caused by linemen issues.  First, the OL took too much of a step up field which allowed him to get beat.  The other looked like it may have been caused by a late shift of the DL, which may have changed the blocking scheme.  They turned a guy completely loose.  Bama got into the red zone 7 times.  They came up with 5 TD and one made and one missed field goal.  The other TD came from right outside the red zone.  This game also looks as if Bama was checking a lot of plays at the line. They did leave points on the field because of penalties and missed FG’s.

QB:   AJ was great against lesser competition.  This is important because many times when a team is outmanned the QB may have a tendency to take unnecessary risk.  Sims did a pretty good job.  However, it looks like he doesn’t trust his OL when the middle to deep routes are called.  It looks to me like he starts looking at the pass rush instead of the recs. It looked like Bama wanted to work on the offense with Sims in because you didn’t see a lot of the zone read game like usual.   

RB:  Again, playing against lesser competition.  They ran hard and did a good job pass protecting when needed.  I really like the effort of Drake on the TD reception.

REC:  I just want to say here I like the way the Bama recs catch the ball with their hands.   They don’t let the ball get in on their body.  DW made an outstanding catch which bailed AJ out of a bad throw.  Overall, with back and recs 15 different players caught a pass.  The sad part is Cooper was not one of them.  My question is what has happened to AC?  He was projected to be an All-American rec this year.

OL:   It looks like, and it is hard to judge with the competition, that they had a good game.  They seem to be in the right place most of the time taking the right steps. The big negative was the penalties which a lot were from the backups.  This happens when you have the excitement of the players who don’t get in the game that much. 

Defense:   The D played well.  If not for A& M the D would have only give up 19 points this year.  The only “real” offense they have played since A&M was Ole MIss.  I have them for 2 three and outs and 7 or 8 negative plays.  One was close.  They had 5/6 tackles for losses and 1 sack.  They also got a negative play from special teams that led to points.  I have them for 6 QB pressures one of which led to a grounding call.

DL:    Again, Bama was playing against a lesser opponent.  They played well here.  They did lose contain of the QB on a couple of pressures. I do think they need to rush on their pass rush techniques.

LB:  They all played well.  I just concentrated on CJ for a while and I think he was involved in all three of the first 3 plays of the game on D.  He directs and plays hard. 

DB:   They were in position most of the time.  The best example I can give, about coaching during the game in the beginning of this report, was when Bama pulled EJ out of the game to talk to him about what had happened the play before.  One thing I think needs to improve is when you have safety help on your side, a 2 deep look you don’t allow the rec to release outside.  Push him back inside and it makes the overlap by the safety easier.  The last thing I want to say here is this game showed what the target rule has done to the game.  If VS had gone thru the man instead of going low that may not have even been a completion. 

Penalties:   Bama cut down on penalties, but the ones with the second team help leave points on the field.  The most serious was the chop block which I honestly thought they could have been called earlier on. 

Special teams:  Not a lot to say here.  They did get a turnover on the kickoff that led to points.  I will say this it seems every time I watch a game I see Lee, Hart, and Collins around the football.  Also, if you look Drake is also in the picture. 

Finally:  This game should have been, and I think it was, to improve and perfect techniques and calls.  This is especially true in the position of OL.  I just hope they take it for what it is worth and continue to improve. 

Please feel free to comment.

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll 
15 and counting

 :worship: :worship: :worship: :worship:

And an e-cred.   #+

Spot on, Coach. Very good assessment. I thought the first string played nearly flawless. Not so much after that.

Cooper has a foot injury; started during scrimmage in August.  I saw the name for it, but whatever it's called it hurts and slows him.

Keep hearing that he's getting better.  He had a great block on a long run yesterday.

Not to question coaching, but why not hold him out of the game since it was GSU?

'Mine is not to question why..."

The description was great hscoach. Thanks. RTR!

CNS is not happy with the way he is practicing. I'm thinking he wants to stand on the sidelines all week and then wants to play on Saturday, that won't fly with CNS.

Does AC have plantar fiischeitis or however it is spelled. I have it and sometimes it hurts like hell. Had is surgically repaired and it is better. It can be a bad injury.

I've had it myself and is quite painful. I've also heard he has turf toe.

I'm not sure what kind of injury he has but CNS thinks he could be doing more.  :dunno:

I also saw at least one chop block by us that wasn't called.

I was lucky enough to attend this game.  Agree wholeheartedly with and applaud  #+ hscoach's comments.  What really struck me, though, was the advanatge in size and speed we had on Georgia State.  Even most of our walkons were bigger and faster than their opposite numbers.  The Ga. State guys played with heart but were completely outmatched in technique, size and speed.

It was also interesting to see, as coach mentioned, players taken out for a play, coached up, then sent right back in.

Thanks, hscoach and ROLL TIDE!!!

Great assessment hscoach.  The one question that I have remaining though is,  From a physicality standpoint, was Bama and GS on a level playing field?   ;)

No, they only stopped Bama from a positive play when Bama made a mistake.

I knew that.  Was just making a joke based on a statement made by one of GS's linemen... :lol2:

as always , enjoy your work Coach   :clap:

thank you Sir  :worship:

thanks to all you guys who read and comment.   I really enjoy talking football with you guys.  Also, glad you enjoy it.

I have a football question for you and anybody else that wants to chime in.  I have noticed that a lot of times we send #84 out real wide instead of at the normal TE spot.  What are we trying to accomplish by doing that?  Do we want to force them to "waste" a fast cornerback on him in man to man and let our fast slot guy match up against a safety?  Or maybe we are using it as a pre-snap tactic to read man to man vs. zone coverage.  What are your thoughts?

A couple of things can be determined here.  One, it can tell the coverage.  If it is zone the corner stays with no adjustment.  If they want to disguise and play man, then as you say, they are wasting one of their better cover guys on the tight end.  If the safety adjust out then most of the time they are playing man, many teams would rather play a safety on a tight end.  Like you also said it is a chance to get a faster/more agile player on a lesser cover guy.  You also have to take in account what defensive package they have on the field, nickel/dime.  Understand with the advance scouting they have now there is someone watching which offensive package is in and the defense knows what defensive package to go with to match up personnel. 

I am no expert on football strategy, but I believe that we have used that formation to achieve TE blocking for quick flare out plays that essentially turn the wide out into a running back.

I was going to add the blocking angles too.  A TE in the slot opens all sorts of opportunities, forces the D to reveal its scheme when the TE shifts out, usually brings a safety up, and a host of other advantages listed (expertly) by hscoach above.  The NFL started using TEs in the slot for these advantages a few years back, and now they draft for such a player.  You listening, Mr. OJ Howard??  :worship:

Good discussion.  I'm not sure how long we have been doing this, but I just noticed it earlier this year since I have been keeping a close eye on #84 on every play.