Chechem, I didn't see it until you posted it.   It makes perfect sense.  However, a lot of the success of the LB's are depending on the defensive back not allowing the receiver getting basically a free inside release.  I noticed on the 4th down pass play US ran we allowed a free release on the slant inside and fortunately they went to the other side.

There did seem to be a little indecision on a couple of plays by the rec.  Part of it may be because they could be expected to do certain things according to the coverage, and they may have been confused.

I agree they did look like they were having fun. 

                                             Utah State vs Bama
First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the win.  Clearly, Bama was the better team.  Hopefully, they will continue to improve.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 559 yards of total offense which included 281 rushing yards and 278 passing yards.   
Negative plays:  2 tackles for losses, 1 sack, and 1 interception
3 and out:  1
10+ plays:  19 passing and 8 running one each was negated by penalties
Red zone:  8 trips in and 7 touchdowns with 1 field goal only one score from outside the redzone which was a field goal.

QB:  Young played well as he was harassed early in the passing game.  He did miss a couple of long balls, one short and one overthrow.  He completed 18 of 28 passes for 195 yards.  His athletic abilities allowed him to make a few plays. He also threw 1 hospital ball.  Milroe played pretty well in mop up duty.  He did throw 2 hospital balls.  His tendency seems to be the ball behind the receiver, and he did throw short and behind on the interception.  I don’t know if you noticed, but after Milroe lowered his shoulder on his run and ran over the defender, the defender signaled to come out of the game.  Simpson looks like a QB.  According to the scouting reports and announcers he has all the tools.  I will be interesting to see him later on.

RB: I thought all played pretty well and five played.  Gibbs show the ability to break long runs and make the tough run.  There doesn’t seem to be much of a drop off when any back is in.

Rec:  A pleasant surprise here.  There were 7 different receivers that had catches in the game, and this doesn’t count the catches by running backs. There didn’t seem to be a drop-off when receivers were substituted in.  It  also appeared the receivers were looking to block when they didn’t get the ball or there was a running play called.

OL:  The OL seem to get better as the game went on.  I really thought they would be dominate early.  They did miss some stunts and a few times they didn’t seem to sustain their blocks.  The thing that worries me is, in the red zone, the only rushing touchdown Bama got was the scramble by Young.  That was the only rushing touchdown for Bama.

Def: The defense played well and was out of position only a few times in my opinion.  My stats are a little bit different than what the official stats are because I look at where the ball start and where it ends.  The official stats seem to not count a tackle for loss if it is within one half a yard from where the ball started. The defense gave up a total of 136 yard which included 57 passing and 79 rushing.  Most of their yards came in the 2nd half.

Negative plays:  8 tackles for losses, no sacks, 2 fumbles (none recovered) Hard to get sacks when the QB is getting rid of the ball so quickly.
3 and outs:  6 three and out with a 3 and out when they went for it on 4th down
10+ plays:  1 passing and 1 rushing, the passing was the 1st play of the game.
Red zone:  They got in the red zone once in the 2nd half and turned the ball over on down.

DL: I thought they played well.  Especially the first group.  Didn’t see them out of position very often and they used their hands well to get off blocks.  Basically, I couldn’t tell the difference when they substituted one unit for the other.

LB: I can say the same here like I did from the D line.  Later in the game, there could have been a little drop off.  Some of this happens when the backup gets in and is so desperate to make a play and get themselves out of position.

DB: I thought they played well.  The one big play was the first of the game and the player was in position.   One of the biggest plays made on defense was when the DB Jackson blew up the blocker on a wide receiver screen and the blocker actually made the tackle.  The technique was great as he went thru the out side which if not made would have turned the play back inside for help.

Special teams: Special teams were good except for the blocked punt.  It looked to me like To’oTo’o went out to block instead of the treat up the middle.  I could be wrong, but if he had gone the other way, they still may have blocked it.  I thought McKinstry looked very effective in the return game.

Penalties:  I have Bama for 6 penalties.  Five of them were in the 2nd half and 3 of them were on the offense.  Two of the penalties took away big plays, one run and one pass.  Fortunately, they were not a determining factor in the game.

Finally, Bama has the chance to be an outstanding team this year in my opinion.  They seem to have all the tools required. 
Feel free to comment:

18 and Counting

Fun Fact:

Alabama has a very young team this year and had to overcome a lot obviously. The youth showed against Georgia, and Coach Kirby took full advantage of that, just as Coach Saban would have.

The best part about this year?

The last 3 games, Alabama played a total of 27 Freshman!
Game experience is everything for the Crimson Tide, and this is a great head start on next year!

These young men did give it their best shot last night, without a doubt, I’m sure this experience will fuel them in the upcoming season.

This upcoming season, is looking center-mass for another run at a National Championship!

#RollTide

By the way, how many screen passes did Bama successfully throw to the RB this year?  Many teams use this to slow down a pass rush.

Next year, Bama looks like they will have to replace 3 starting receivers.  Good news there is talent there.  The OL will have to be to be reshuffled and looking at the roster, there is some size, but doesn't seem to be a lot of experience.  The problem I saw was the technique many times or line calls for blocking schemes.  With players leaving in the portal, it could hinder the depth.  RB should have depth if they all come back healthy.  Again, with the chance of coaches leaving, with at least one already gone, players will have to get use to a new style of coaching.  I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but some coaches relate to players better than others.  I would like to see Bama get back to using the motion game more like they did when Sark and others were there.  Motion just doesn't help in man coverage, or determine the coverage, but it allows you to move a receiver and make a less talented cover guy play a superior player in zone.  The 1st job I see for Bama is shoring up the offensive line. 

Something I left of the notes was the poor blocking by the TE's in the NC game.

                                             UG vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on a great year.  I know people are disappointed, however, the circumstances were not in Bama favor to repeat.  There were too many mistakes and points left on the field coupled with injures that caused Bama to depend on younger players who didn’t have the experience at this time to come thru.

OFFFENSE:  The offense outgained UG but didn’t put the ball in the endzone often enough when they got in the red zone.  Bama had a total of 399 yards with 369 passing and 30 rushing. The sack yards, in college, comes off the rushing yards which made this look worse than it was.  For negative plays, I have Bama with5 tackles for losses, 4 sacks and 2 interceptions.  Most of the negative plays came when Bama got behind and was trying to make a comeback.  I credit Bama with 2 three and outs and 1 two and out because of an interception.  Plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 14 passing plays and 1 running play.  The bad news is Bama got into the red zone 4 times and scored 1 touchdown.  They were stopped at the 19, 10, and 5-yard line.  If Bama scores touchdowns, instead of field goals, they have and additional 12 points.  Outside the red zone they kicked 1 field goal and had one blocked.  Here are three more points left on the field.

QB:  Young threw the ball 57 times and completed 35 of them which equates to 61 percent.  Out of these 57 attempts he was pressured at least 20 times and hit on many of those.  With these pressures he was also sacked 4 times and completed on 8 of these passes.  Now all of that was not on him as some of the throws were catchable, but the plays were not made.  He did miss a couple of receivers, but most misses were because of pressures or missed play opportunities.

RB: Robinson played well in my opinion. The running yards were tough yards and he picked up the blitz several times.  Early in the game they ran the edge getting 4 to 4 yards an attempt and I thought they should have done it a little more.  Sanders, had 2 carries for 5 yards and made a good catch to get a first down.

Rec:  Williams was having a good game before his injury.  He had 4 catches for 65 yards.  On the play he got hurt on, I think if the ball had been deeper, he probably would have scored.  Also, it may have prevented him from his injury.  Latu had 5 catches for 102 yards and the only touchdown.  Latu was also one of the receivers that could have made a catch and scored a touchdown instead of kicking a field goal.  Hall had 2 catches, Brooks had 7 catches, Holden had 6 and Bolden that 7.  The ball was spread between the many receivers, however, they also missed chances to make plays.  For instance, Hall had, what I thought was a chance for a catch to get a first down or even a touchdown but didn’t complete the play.  I counted at least 6 balls that were catchable, but the plays weren’t made.

OL:  The OL is where this game was won or lost.  They didn’t have the game they did like they did in the SEC championship game.  As you see above, they allowed a lot of pressure on the QB.  They would pick up a stunt and then miss a stunt or just get beat 1 on 1.  I will speak on this later.

Def: The defense played well except for a couple of series in the 2nd half.  Bama gave up a total of 364 yards which included 224 passing yards and 140 rushing yards.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses, 5 sacks, and 2 fumbles 1 which they recovered.  I have them with 5 three and outs one of which was because of their fumble recoveries.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have UG with 11 passing plays and 5 running plays.  UG got into the red zone 3 times and scored 2 touchdowns and kicked 1 field goal.  They scored 1 touchdown from outside the red zone and kicked 1 field goal.  The other touchdown came from the interception return near the end of the game. I really thought Mathis, Harris, To’oTo’o and Anderson played well in the game.  It did look that on one of the long runs, the LB To’oto’o and the DL went in the same gap and left the opening for the big run.  No one was there to fill the gap and make the play.  The defense came up with a couple of big stops, like in the red zone and after the first interception which gave UG field position. 

DL: The DL played pretty well except for a few plays.  However, it wasn’t all their fault because plays were not made by the safeties at the 2nd level.  They occupied all the OL which kept them off the 2nd level tacklers.

LB: Harris had a big game with 7 tackles which include 3 sacks and a tackle for a loss.  To’oto’o made some big plays where he was blitzing and then made the play down field after a short completion. 

DB: Bama goes into the NC game with 2 back up corners which included the 2nd start for one of them.  Again, they had two pass interference call on touchdown drives.   Jackson was in good position on the touchdown pass but just didn’t make the play.  It looked like on the touchdown throw McKinstry gave up he was expecting help on the inside from the safety.   I will also speak about this later.

Special teams: The special teams had 3 problems. One was the big kick off return which was called back for a holding call.  So, it really didn’t hurt.  The second was the kickoff out of bounds which gave UG great field position.  Third and the biggest one, was the missed/blocked field goal which looked to be a result of low trajectory.  Finally, there was a fumble on a punt which Bama got back on.

Penalties:  By the official stats Bama had 7 penalties for 57 yards.  First, there was a delay of game on the defense when they were called for clapping.  On the replay, I didn’t see a clap, but To’oto’o pounded his fist together making the call.  Second, a big one, was a false start on a 3rd and 1 on Owens which turned into a 3rd and 6 in the red zone.  Third, the kickoff was out of bounds giving UG better field position.  Fourth, a face mask call in the red zone which moved to ball closer to the goal line since UG had gotten a first down on the play. Fifth, PI on the touchdown drive.  This took place after Bama had regained the lead from UG.  Six, offsides was declined.  Seventh, PI on the next touchdown drive. Eight, roughing the passer on Battle on the touchdown that was declined. Ninth, grounding by Young in the last drive of the game.   Since 2 were declined, they had a total of 7 penalties.

Finally, Bama had a chance, but it was a difficult road with the injuries this year.  They did an outstanding job with a lot of inexperienced players.  Allen goes down at the beginning of the year, Sanders replaces and he goes down.   However, that put Turner in who played well enough to keep the starting job when Sander could return.  Both corners went down.  Plus, there were offensive linemen who were injured during the year.  That being said with the great recruiting Bama should be able to replace these players.   In the upcoming year there are people who are going to have to be replace because of some players entering the portal.  Also, coaches are going to have to be replaced as I have heard to this date Bama has lost 2.  They need to be better in several areas next year.  First, they have to do a better job on the offensive line.  I read/heard they have given up 39 sacks this year.  I think Mac Jones was sacked 10 times last year.  You take away New Mexico State, Mercer, and Southern Miss.  Most of the sacks came against SEC opponents.  So really the sacks came in 12 of the 15 games.  Second, since the DB coach left, they need to go out and get a top DB coach.  Third, they need to cut down on penalties.  If I heard correctly, there we at least 17 PI calls this year.  Many of those were on touchdown drives.  Fourth, they have to improve their red zone efficiency.  I won’t be surprised if Bama loses more coaches and players.  With all that being said Bama still had a very good year.
Feel free to comment:

18 and Counting

Bama missed many rim shots, especially early that could have changed the game.  They were pretty cold outside the 3 pt arc in the 2nd half.  Defense didn't seem to get to the spot quick enough/

I hope I have this correct:
Waddle 102 receptions for a NFL rookie record
Smith records yards for a year for a rookie Philly rec
Harris breaks Franco Harris's record for rushing yards by a rookie for Pittsburg

Bama vs Missouri on SEC network. Starting real sloppy, down 7-0

Best night of offensive rebounding I have seen in a while.  Didn't count, but it seems we turned the ball over a lot less in the 2nd half.

I think the center change has been good.  What I can't understand is the inconsistency.  How can they do so well against a talented UG team and get so much pressure from UC.  The missed stunts by UC  that they picked up against UG,
Also, Owens got injured late.  He also accounted for most of the offensive penalties.  Robinson looked very good and I am happy for him, a true Crimson Tider.  He looked as healthy as he has all year.  The OL help him looked this good with the great run blocking.