Crimson Red Sports

After watching the boring Bama offense for the first couple of games, I had a thought. First, let me say that I don't have a problem with the way we played. Aside from OL problems, I think teh O as a whole played very well. But my thought was this: I believe we have not even shown half of our available playbook yet. Saban and Mcelwain knew that they didn't have to do much on offense against the first 3 opponents because they were not going to score on our D. So mostly we have been running between the tackles and keeping everything vanilla. We haven't seen Trent in teh wildcat yet (I think Maze ran the wildcat once last week) and we haven't seen Blake Sims in any special packages either. We haven't run a lot of misdirection or deception plays, and we haven't even used play action very much. So I am thinking that against Arky we will see some speical packages and some cutback runs and misdirection runs that we haven't seen yet, and our OL will look much better. Because in our first 2 games the opposing defenses have not been off balance or guessing what we were going to do, so that meant quicker reaction times and less room to run or pass. When we get to Arkansas that will change. That's my thoughts anyway. What do you guys think?

 #+ I like your positive thinking. I hope your hypothesis is correct.

 #+ I'll give ya an e-cred on this one. Your point is valid. I think CNS would hide everything till LSU if he could. I worry much more about TENN. than I do Arky. RTR!

I think you are exactly right.  It also gives our O-line a challenge to handicap them like that when they are playing the 2 cupcakes.  I think they have lots of stuff available to them that they are saving until we need it.

Saban has a new QB and a great D, so he is playing it close to the vest for now, giving AJ time to get comfortable and improve in game management.  I don't know if we ever see much of the playbook as long as teams can't score against Bama.  And I don't really care if the O doesn't put up big numbers as long as Bama's defense holds and the team wins handily, which is what happened Saturday.

I think i have heard Saban say before that the thought that coaches would hold back anything from the playbook is crazy.

I do however think that the game plan for Penn State was to be plane jane as long as it worked, and it did.

They don't hold it back when they need it.  But they aren't going to throw the ball down the field all the time when they have a lead and a solid D that is smothering the opposition.

As good as our defense is you have to give some credit to the offense. We hold the ball for 35 minutes so the D is only on the field for 25 minutes. We keep their offense off the field and keep our defense rested. This is our offense. We are build to be efficent, not flashy. Flashy will get your azz beat.

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We're kicking azz on Offense and Defense.

It is true they have not opened up the play book as of yet.  However, they must do a better job run blocking or it doesn't matter how much you put on.  If they can't block the plays they are running at this time, how will it help them to add and work less time on the ones they have not perfected?

Very good point.

Our offense is not doing anything to confuse of threaten opposing D's.  In SEC play, don't think this plain vanilla approach will be able to hold the ball for 35 mins, and it may not score many points.  As coach said, OL has to get much, much better at run blocking and AJ/Simms has to become some kind of threat to make a play.

I would like to see Blake Sims run several end around plays per game, like early in 3rd qtr.  Wear down the opposing D and then run over them in 4th qtr.

I agree that the OL has to block better, but at the same time if Bama opens up the playbook, then that will slow the defense down and open up some holes. Defenses can  play very fast if tehy know where a play is going. If they are unsure, however, that will make them hesitate and that is when holes will open up for TR and EL to bust some big ones. But I agree that they  have to block better, especially as coach said at the second level.

I agree that there is a lot of playbook left in Saban's arsenal.  I think it's like chess with him; he's looking at the whole board and 4 or 5 moves ahead. It will be fun watching his strategy unfold throughout the season.

If the OL does not block better then that means the D does not have to commit as many in the box, therefore they take more of the passing game away.  Bama has got to run the ball better.  The OL has to establish themselves for Bama to be successful.  I think they have the talent, but it is not happening right now.  If I was TR, I may just kick a couple of them in the butt and let them know how tired he is getting hit behind the LOS.