I agree 100%, they can be frustrating.  The talent is there, the execution is not always there. 

I actually thought it was the quickest he has looked this year.

                                             UT vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches the victory.  It wasn’t pretty the complete time, but they played outstanding at times.  Consistency will be what they need to strive for.

OFFFENSE:  The offense looked unstoppable at times, but there were a few times when they looked like they were not fully concentrating on the task at hand.  I wondered if the low hit on Young was going to have an affect on him and I think it did for a short time.  The offense put together 574 yards of total offense which included 371 passing and 203 rushing.  If I hadn’t seen the total stats, I wouldn’t have guessed they rushed for 203 yards.  Of those total yards 272 came in the second half, but they were also given two short fields because of an interception and a stop on 4th down deep in their own territory.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 6 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, and 2 fumbles.  Concerning the fumbles, one was lost in the red zone and the other was recovered by Young on the touchdown.  Bama had 2 three and outs and they both came in the 2nd half on their first 2 drives. For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 15 passing plays and 7 running plays.  Bama got into the red zone 8 times and scored 7 touchdowns.  The other trip was a fumble by Williams after a completion.   The kicked one field goal from outside the red zone and missed one from outside the red zone.   

QB:  Young completed 31 of 43 passes for a 72% competition rate.  There were at least 2 drops on balls that should have been caught.  As I said above, I think the low hit affected him for a short time but came back well afterwards.  It is extremely difficult to see what he did outstanding versus what he didn’t do since the angle on TV doesn’t give me the best look.  He did a better job running the ball when the chance was given to him.  When he does take off, you can see his eyes are still downfield looking to throw first.  Tyson was just given the opportunity to run the clock out.

RB:  The running game was solid.  As I stated above, just watching the game, I really didn’t realize they rushed for 203.  Robinson again had a solid game.  His vision and change of direction becomes more evident each game. Williams also shows the same ability and there is very little drop off when there is a change at running back. I also saw a very good blitz pick up by Williams.  Sanders again, with few reps, shows he could be a back that could get more time down the road.

Rec:  Metchie again was the main target according to the number of catches as he had 11 for 121 yards.  Williams had more yards with 123 on 6 catches.  I am going to say this, Young overthrew Williams on one pass, however, I don’t put that all on Young.  It looked to me that Williams reached for the ball, which slows him down, instead of running thru the ball.  The tight ends got back involved with 4 catches, but Billingsley had a drop that would have been a big gainer.  Bolden added 3 catches and Holden, who they seem to be getting more confidence in as he had 2 catches.  He was also involved with an interference call that led to a touchdown. 

OL:  They had a decent game, but as I said last week, they need to sustain their blocks longer.  I also noticed there were times when they weren’t driving their legs and it looked like they may have been playing to high at times.  They still missed picking up a couple of stunts on the LOS.  There are a couple of ways to do this with a turnback style of blocking where you step play side and turn back to the inside where you basically pick up the gap inside.  This requires you to block the back on the play side as he would have the end man on the LOS.  Also, you have big on big blocking, but you have to be able to switch on the stunts. 

Def:  Except for 3 or four plays, the defense played well.   The bad part is those 3 or four plays accounted for 3 touchdowns.  UT put together a total of 346 yards of total offense which included 282 passing and 64 rushing.  Out of these yards 166 came on three plays which leaves 180 yards for the other 51 plays.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 2 tackles for losses, 3 sacks, and an interception.  Bama had 5 three and outs and this could have been better.  Bama would have had another 3 and out but they roughed the punter and gave UT a first down on a 3rd and 28.  UT then went on and scored a touchdown.  The defense also had a 4 and out as they stopped UT on a 4th down try.  Something that is important, on 3 of these three and outs the yardage to get a first down was less that 3 yards and the defense stopped them.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have them with 6 passing plays and 1 running play and the run came on a scramble by the QB.  UT got into the red zone twice and kicked a field goal and scored a touchdown.  The scored 2 touchdowns from outside the red zone.  A huge stop in the red zone by the defense came on a 3 and out where they kicked a field goal after a blocked punt.  If the touchdown is scored there, the game tightens up drastically.  I know the crowd noise had and effect on the UT offense, but I wonder did it hurt the communication of the defensive backs? 

DL: I thought they played well.  As I talked about the 3 and outs above especially when the down and distance was in the offense favor.  It was difficult to get much of a pass rush as the QB drop was short.  Mathis stood out basically because of his sack.  He needs to become a force where the defense has to assign 2 blockers on him to free up others for 1 v 1 blocking.  I would like to see  a big push on QB’s that take a short drop.

LB:  I really thought this was one of their best games.  After seeing the stats, it was confirmed.  I thought Harris played his best game and seemed to move better than in the past games.  They also were not missing tackles like the past games.

DB: I really don’t know how to judge this group.  Other than the 3 busted coverages they played well.  I know on one touchdown the alignment was horrible or one safety was misaligned.  If you are playing man you have to take the inside away unless you know you have help on the inside in combo look.  I also know it is easier to make a throw to the inside than outside when the defender has outside leverage.  On the 2nd touchdown, and this is one reason I wonder if the crowd noise hurt the defense, Battle was not in the middle of the field.  He could have had the coverage wrong but it looked like he was trying to communicate with players on the other side of the ball. The other possibility was the other defender had the coverage wrong and thought the had help on the inside when he didn’t.  I do know that a couple of times the defenders stayed in their backpedal too long and allowed the receiver, as we use to say, get on their feet, before turning their hips to get into a proper cover technique.  The third touchdown, the corner, Jobe, was looking inside for the call when the ball was snapped, and the receiver ran right by him.  This should be a great learning tool for when you play teams with tempo.  I need to look again, but I wonder if they use wristbands on defense.  On a good note, they again tackled well in this game.

Special teams: The two major plays on the special teams were the blocked punt by UT and the unsuccessful block attempt by Bama.  On the blocked punt the blocking by the personal protector was poor and didn’t get to where he needed to be.  Fortunately, the defense held them to a field goal.  The unsuccessful attempt to bock the punt was poor techniques by the rushers.  The other play of consequence was the missed field goal by Bama, which was a 54 yard attempt.

Penalties: I have Bama for 6 penalties, but only 4 were enforced.  The worst was the roughing the kicker on the punt.  The others were 2 false starts and a delay of game.  The delay of game was ridiculous since it was on the 1st play after a kickoff.  That should never happen.   

Finally, Bama showed signs of being a very good team. However to be a great team you have to be consistent and stop making critical errors.  Tackling was better and so was the reduction in penalties.  Right now, in my opinion, the secondary has to, as they say, up their game.  Simple things like proper technique has to improve. 
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18 and Counting

How about those back to back walk offs?

I wondered when all the things at LSU were going to catch up with him.  My question is will anything else come out of it or are they hoping this will satisfy everyone.  At UT,  I thought they should  have emptied the stadium and finished the game.  Still not sure  if the spot UT got was wrong.

I may be a little rough on them HT had 13 tackles last night which included 7 solo and a sack.  They just seem not to be as quick as they were, especially Harris.  This is just my opinion.

I think he may, but it probably started last Sunday.  They did mention a new coverage called Thief.

                                             MSU vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches for coming back in a big way.  They still can improve and hopefully this will be the steppingstone to do it.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together a total of 543 yards, most in the 2nd half.  They had 348 passing yards as well as 195 rushing yards.  At the half, they only had 205 total yards which means they put 338 yards together in the 2nd half.  Now, they did lose an offensive possession when Battle returned the interception for the touchdown, so there are some lost yards.  I will say they wasted a couple of positive field positions during the game where they ended up punting.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 4 tackles for losses and 2 sacks.  There was a fumble, but it was on special teams which they retained.  I have Bama with 1 three and out.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 9 passing plays and 8 running plays.  Bama got into the red zone twice and scored touchdowns both times.  They scored 4 touchdowns from outside the red zone and the defense added the other touchdown.  I have mentioned before I would like to see the motion game utilized more like in the past, using the pop pass that has been so successful.  However, I realized in this game it is harder to do when you have more TE’s in the game.  They seem to be using more spread formations last year and when the TE, Billinsley, was in the game he could line up wide or tight.  I just think the motion gives more of the defense to think about and causes them to get out of position more often.  Also, I think it slows the pursuit of the DL on running plays.

QB:  Young had a good day completing 71% of his passes which includes 1 drop and what I thought was a catch by Bolden.  Where he really excelled was when MSU brought pressure.  I didn’t keep a total of how many completions he had, but some were big and went for touchdowns.  He used his legs a little more this game, but you can see he is still looking downfield when he is scrambling.  I will say, I thought he missed a couple that should have been completed.  Tyson, basically just finished the game and nothing to really report on.

RB:  The running game was solid and got stronger in the 2nd half.  They only had 58 yards rushing in the first half and came back with 137 in the second half.  Robinson did his usual hard running and picked up a couple of blitzes.  Williams also ran hard and delivered a blow to the defensive back that showed he will work to get that extra yard.  I thought the limited carries Sanders had showed his vision.  I would like to see Bama become a 3-headed monster in the running back position.

Rec:  Basically, the main man was Metchie this game with 7 catches for 117 yards. However, the biggest yards per catch average was Williams with 2 catches for 77 yards which is an average of 38.5 yards per catch.  Bolden had a couple of catches, but Holden seems to be a guy who could be a bigger part of the offense. Again, this week, no TE had a catch. One thing the receivers did well was made some key blocks that allowed the receiver to score on long passes.

OL:  They had a solid game but need to sustain their blocks a little longer.  Also, the communication on a couple of blitzes one which led to the sack.  On one of the tackles for losses, it looked as if the TE came in motion and may have block the wrong guy by bypassing the most dangerous. Also one thing I noticed was a couple of times the center got knocked back after snapping the ball.

Def:  The defense played well.  They held MSU to the lowest total yards they have produced this year.  The defense gave up a total of 299 yards of total offense.  MSU had 300 rushing yards and -1 rushing yards.  The rushing total is because sacks are taken off or rushing totals in college.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses, 7 sacks, and 3 interceptions.  One was returned for a touchdown as I stated above.  I have the defense with 3 three and outs.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have MSU with 9 passing plays and 2 running plays.  MSU got into the red zone twice and had to settle for field goals both times.  The other field goal came from outside the red zone.  The MSU QB completed 64% of his passes.  Now the threw 55 times.  Out of those 55 throws 38 were less than 10 yards from the LOS.  Many of them were thrown behind or withing 5 yards of the LOS.  Of these passes, he completed 28 of 38.  This was putting LB’s and safeties in coverage.  I didn’t keep up with the yardage actually gained on these completions, but it was probably most of their passing yards.  It asl means, on passes over 20 yards he was 7 for 17.  This was a combination of good coverage and pressure.

DL: Even though they didn’t make a lot of tackles, they freed up the LB, to make plays and get into coverage.  I would like to see a least one of the DL become a rushing force that could put constant pressure on the QB.  Hopefully, and I know he is considered a LB, Anderson’s performance will ignite others to a higher level.  There should be enough competition on the DL for someone to want to step up and be that guy.  Earlier I thought Mathis was going to be that guy.

LB:  A lot better job here.  They were put in coverage especially with all the underneath throws.  They took better angles and tackled better.  They can still do better in my opinion.

DB: I think they had one of their better games.  They did have another PI call, and the bad part is he was in position.  If you remember above, I mention on balls thrown over 10 yards the MSU QB was only 7 for 17.  A couple of these were underthrown balls that are hard to defend.  Probably the biggest improvement was the tackling.  There were few missed tackles by the secondary.  It also seemed that the defensive back, as a whole, were in better position to make plays.  Maybe that accounts for the 3 interceptions.

Special teams:  There were a couple of moments in special teams that stand out.  First, a good return was negated by a holding penalty.  Also, good field position was wasted by the offense.  Another was the fumble and bobble punts.  Losing those could be the difference in a close game.

Penalties: I have Bama for 6 penalties.  Most of them were overcome or didn’t hurt them.  The defense had 3 with an offsides, a pass interference, and a personal foul.  The offense had 2 with block in the back, not necessary, and an illegal formation.  The special teams penalty was a holding on a kickoff return which moved the ball from the 47 to the 14 yard line.

Finally, Bama did a good job bouncing back.  However, it will depend on how they proceed from here.  They can continue to improve, or they can be satisfied where they are.  They missed less tackles and had less penalties during crucial times.  They still need to shore up some pass protection and blocking assignments on running the ball. 
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18 and Counting

Heck of a job.  Hope they keep it going.

I don't know if it is the defensive scheme or the techniques.  Seeing DB's flatfooted, I just can't believe that is how they are taught.  Also, 2 defensive lineman running into each other in the same gap.  The pass protection should have been fixed after the first problems in my opinion.  Owens has made some critical mistakes, but what is behind him?  I agree, the killer instinct need to improve.  For running the ball inside the red zone, I kept waiting for the elephant package to come in.  On the KO return, I saw the cover guys getting their outside shoulder block and allowing the runner to get to the lane.  Too many mistakes in all phases of the game.  Maybe they have been reading the press clippings or listening to the sports announcers about how great they are.

Agreed. 

One thing I left off was, I would like to see Bama go back to the motion game a little more.  It helps declare the coverage and helps with some mismatches. 

i know.  I am wondering if they targeting calls have been a part of this because they are so scared it will be called.  I know that sounds like an excuse, but I wonder if is is a part of it.

                                             A&M vs Bama

First, this was a woulda, coulda, shoulda game.  They would have won if they hadn’t settled for so many field goals in the red zone.  They could have won if they hadn’t dropped a touchdown pass.  They should have won, but they made too many mistakes.

OFFFENSE:  When looking at the stats you would think this was an easy victory for Bama.  However, there were too many mistakes, dropped balls, interception in the red zone, penalties on key drives, and failure to convert red zone trips into touchdowns.  Bama left too many points on the field, which I will talk about later.  For the offense, Bama put together 572 yards of total offense, which includes 369 passing and 153 rushing.  Bama only had 1 three and out in the game, but it was a key one.  With 3 minutes left on the clock with the game tied, Bama goes three and out.  The sad part is there was a pass that could have been caught for a first down that would have kept the drive alive.  As for negative plays, I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses, 4 sacks, 1 lost fumble, and 1 interception.  For plays that covered over 10+ yards, Bama had 19 passing plays and 6 running plays.  Here is a key part leading to the loss.  Bama got into the red zone 6 times. Out of these six times they scored 2 touchdowns, kicked 3 field goals, and threw an interception.  Converting on one of these field goals could have led to the victory for Bama.  One of the field goals was a result of a dropped pass by Latu.  In my opinion, they left anywhere from 3 to 18 points on the field with their inability to convert red zone trips to touchdown.  They scored 1 touchdown from outside the red zone and one touchdown came from special teams.  Red zone efficiency must improve. 

QB:  Young had a decent game and was not the cause of the loss as many are saying.   He only completed 58 percent of his passes and threw and interception, which was not a good throw.  He did miss a couple of throws, but there were several balls that could have been caught that were dropped.  He missed on a long ball to Willliams which probably would have gone for a touchdown.  If not, it would have been a first down in the red zone.  The biggest drop was the pass to Latu which would have put Bama up 34-13.  The reason this is so important, is Bama held A&M with a 3 and out on the next series and then went down and scored a touchdown.

RB:  I thought Robinson played a very good game.  He rushed for 147 yards on 24 carries and added 60 yards on 4 catches which means he accounted for 207 total yards.  He was put in a difficult situation in pass blocking at times as there were more than one person rushing the gap.  Bama rode him and he answered the challenge.

Rec:  At times they did well, however, there were too many drops at crucial times.  The ball may not have been perfect, but many were catchable.  Latu has no excuse for his drop which ended up being crucial.  The last drive when the game was tied.  Billingsly was held without a catch.  Williams was the star and came up big in a few situations.

OL:  I really don’t know where to start.  How can up put up 572 yards of offense and say they played bad.  One thing is they have penalties at the worst time.  One false start was on 4th and 4 with a chance to go for it which turned into a punt.  Second, there was another false start in the red zone.  My question is who is actually setting the protection.  I don’t understand the center going away from the overloaded side. Is it the QB or the QB?  This overload seemed to be to the wide side of the field a lot of the night.  An adjustment should have been made on the sidelines after the defense first showed this look.  Owens actually whiffed on a block that led to a sack.  Now it looked to be better in the 2nd half, but I also, don’t think A&M was showing that looks as much since it could be a chance for Bama to get a big play.  A sort of prevent attitude.

Def:  The defense was a tale of 3 different quarters.  The first 2 weren’t great and the last part of the 4th wasn’t great.  I think A&M had 13 yards in the 2nd half until their last 2 drives which went for 119 yards.  I believe there was a penalty or two that aided those drives.  The biggest issues on defense are busted coverages, no pass rush this game, penalties keeping drives alive, and missed tackles.  Bama defense gave up 379 yards of total offense which included 285 passing and 94 rushing.  For negative plays, I have the defense with 4 tackles for losses, ZERO sacks, and an interception.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have A&M with 13 passing plays and 5 running plays.  A&M got into the red zone 3 times and scored 2 touchdowns and kicked a field goal.  They scored 2 touchdowns from outside the red zone and kicked one field goal from this distance.  Their other score came on the kickoff return.  There was also a time when the defense wasn’t even lined up when the play began. The other question is how does the defense lose the TE so many times.

DL: I think, against the run they played pretty well.  However, when it came to the passing game, they got little pressure and there were no sacks in the game.  As a matter of fact, not even sure they had a hurry in the game.  There was one the QB left the pocket and gained 11 yards on the last crucial drive.  Again, I saw them not getting off the blocks on the pass rush.  Also, I don’t know if it was busted stunt assignments or the OL just pushed them where they wanted them to go as they ran into each other.

LB:  Not outstanding in my opinion here.  Again, there were bad angles taken by the LB when going after tackles.  Also, arm tackling which leads to missed tackles was evident.  I do know they were put in a couple of situations where it wasn’t beneficial for them to be covering the player they had to cover.  It was an obvious mismatch.  Turner, who was Sanders replacement did have 5 tackles.  Honestly no one actually stood out to me,

DB: I don’t think they played that well in coverage.  I don’t know how many times I saw the DB allow the receiver to get on their feet before they gave ground.  When this happens, you are beat.  Also, there were busted coverages more than once.  On one touchdown some were in man and some were in zone, which allow the receiver to go free.  Also, on the short touchdown in the red zone, the DB has man to man coverage and he steps up on the play action.  That alone beats him. They also, for some reason hare committing to many PI penalties.   

Special teams:  This was good and bad.  The good was the blocked punt for a touchdown.  The bad was the next kickoff return for a touchdown.  You could see the runners getting on the wrong shoulder and allowed the gap to form for the touchdown return, 

Penalties: I have Bama for 8 penalties which was for 82 yards.  The first was a personal foul which led to a targeting call in the first series, so we lose More.  Second was holding on Latu which negated a decent gain.  Third was a false start on a 4th and 4, which Bama was going for, but then had to punt.  Next was a holding by Metchie which turned a positive play into a negative play, and it stared a down hill trend which included a sack and other negative plays.  It helped stall a drive.  The fifth was a holding by Jobe, which gave them a 10-yard 1st down on an incomplete pass.  I do think this one was questionable.  Sixth you have a false start, which occurred in the red zone.  These were followed by  PI by Battle and a PI by Hellams.  The one on Hellams was an example I was talking about the DB allowing the receiver to get on his feet, basically staying in his backpedal too long or being to flat footed.  Many of these came in crucial situations.

Finally, as I said this was a woulda, coulda, shoulda game.  The only thing that kept Bama from winning was Bama.  They still have work to do, but it will be difficult.
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18 and Counting