Crimson Red Sports

After watching the Tide struggle through 60 minutes of football, I thought I would get an accurate assessment of Bama's struggles from all of the CRS coaches.

I'll start it off by saying the offense played like they practiced in the last scrimmage. There seemed to be a lot of indecision of players that weren't sure of what they needed to do or where they needed to be. This was probably due though to the fact that some were freshmen, redshirt freshmen, and first time starters, practice is one thing but playing realtime is another.

AJ had one of his worst games that I have seen him play and again the lack of execution from all of the new starters and players probably had a lot to do with that. I did notice though that a lot of his passes were thrown off his back foot falling backwards, maybe the constant pressure from the VT rush was causing that.

The defense played ok but a good offensive team would have given them fits last night.
Bama will miss the likes of Jesse Williams in the middle of the line this year, that was pretty evident last night. I think other teams will come after Bama in that area in future games.

If there was a plus for the team last night it was the special teams. I think back to when we were all complaining about Bama's special teams play, the kickers, returners, and the inability to keep the other team around or behind the twenty yard line on kickoffs. Also Bama was never able to turn the field advantage around with the punting game. Last night was very big for the special teams and it might be the mark of the team this year in being able to keep the other teams at bay when the offense is struggling.

I saved the best for last and that was the play of Christion Jones. I have said many times on our board that Jones may be the best athlete on the team and I stand by that statement. He can do so much for this team whether it is catching or running the football and he does it well. I listened to his postgame remarks last night and he is a very gracious and humble young man.

Regardless of how it may have looked, Bama came away with a win and it was a big win because it was the first game of the season. They didn't come out of the gate the way we all would all have liked, but they took care of business  as good teams do. I think practice will have a different meaning the next two weeks before playing the Aggies because there's a little incentive involved with this one. Roll Tide!! :clap:

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good stuff !   

Exactly what I was thinking. Although AJ got rushed quite a bit, the times he did have enough time he just seemed a little off. Now granted, Amari dropped a couple that he normally would catch (especially that 30-yarder that hit him right in the numbers and he couldn't hold it). I am not into blaming injuries (or perceived injuries) for mistakes, but I wonder if that right foot was not bothering him a little more than the coaching staff was letting on. I know it was "just an ingrown toenail" but anyone who has had one will tell you that those suckers are painful and take awhile to heal. And that is for just an average joe like myself. With someone who plays the game and moves around like AJ, that is going to be a little worse.

The middle of the line was especially disappointing, although the ends had their moments. And CK got some uncharacteristic holding calls (2, I think).

Overall, it wasn't the performance I expected, but in the end we got a comfortable victory, and now have to weeks to correct some mistakes before we head to College Station.

I made the following posts this morning in another thread.

I am not blaming AJ. He did not have any time to throw and his receivers were not getting any separation. I was as disappointed in the receivers as I was the OL. AJ did make one bad throw. The receiver feel down but he was not open and AJ threw into coverage and it cost him.

I'm just glad the "D" showed off last night. Other than the freak TD run, the defense was very solid. The "O" line was as messed up as a soup sandwich. They will really need these 2 weeks to work on execution. I can't remember the last time our running game was that bottled up. Beamer always fields good defensive teams, but that was as much Bama's very poor execution as it was their "D" playing well. Maybe we were just looking ahead to the A&M game.

At any rate, we will need to do a whole lot of improving to beat Johnny Halftime et al. I hope we're up to it.

AJ threw into coverage a few times, but it only cost him that one time.

Indeed!  Front page material right there.

I was a bit surprised by Derrick Henry's play.  I felt like he had that "deer in the headlights" look and was a bit overwhelmed by being on the big stage.  Hopefully experience will pay dividends for him and he will become one of the greats...

I don't think I was trying to "blame" AJ. I was more speculating on his foot, which may or may not be true (someone who has actually played the game could testify to that better than me).

The line play concerned me the most. AJ had happy feet all night. I wonder too, if some of those nagging injuries affected play. AJ and Cooper. I look for serious improvement for aTm game. CNS will have their full attention.

This game might have been the perfect setting for Bama as they chase the 3peat. There's no doubt they left the field last night knowing they have a long way to go to get to the championship game. This game just might be what CNS was looking for to get the players attention and it happened the very first game. I don't think we will have to worry about complacency anymore. ;)

It's a big step from H.S. to ESPN in the Georgia Dome on your first game.

AJ got onto Henry a couple of times for missed assignments.

Well on the positive side, we had a special teams play that was great. I would like to see Cade get one in the endzone more often. Offense needs work and defense has some good players but I have a feeling after the next 2 weeks, their high lights are going to be broken, by yes, the main man. RTR!

Preacher, I think Cade is kicking them short on purpose. We stopped them short of the 25 yd line all night.

Howdy everybody. Glad to be able to talk football again. 

I absolutely agree. This seems to have been our strategy for the last couple of years.  I haven't really loved it in the past, but I think it works this time because Landon Collins is a BONA FIDE HEADHUNTER on special teams