Game notes: A&M vs Bama

A&M vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win today. Bama looked unstoppable when they wanted on offense, but had a tough time stopping A&M on defense. I will go into that later.

OFFFENSE: The offense put together 544 yards of total offense which included 435 passing and 109 rushing. The rushing game really didn’t do much until the 2nd half. For negative plays, I credit Bama with 1 sack, 3 tackles for losses, and 1 pass interception. Bama also had 2 three and outs during the game. They got into the red zone 4 times and scored 3 touchdowns and kicked 1 field goal, 3 touchdowns were scored from outside the red zone and the other touchdown came from the defense when they got a pick 6. For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 14 passing plays and 3 running plays. All of the running plays came in the second half.
QB: I thought Jones played a good game as he completed 20 of 27 passes. He did have one interception and I think he probably should have changed the protection as the OL was outnumbered on the left side of the LOS. He completed 74% of his passes and averaged almost 22 yards per completion. He continued to make throws that were right on the money and hit the receivers on stride. One of his incompletions was an overthrow which would have been a touchdown if caught. This was also on of the times Bama went 3 and out. There was also one time where it looked that Jones could have gone to Waddle for a touchdown but threw to Forristall. I think Bama went ahead and scored on that drive, so it really didn’t hurt them.

RB: Harris ran hard and had 43 yards on 12 carries. The average is a little less than 4 yards. A&M did a good job getting off blocks and not allowing the OL to get to the 2nd level early. Robinson came in and did his damage in the 2nd half as he had 60 yards on 10 carries. He had all the carries of 10+ yards. Sanders came in and had a 9-yard run only to have it negated by a bad snap which caused a big loss. Harris did have a big blitz pickup which help Bama complete a 35-yard pass. He also had 2 catches which added 26 yards to his total offense.

Rec: This game shows other teams if they concentrate on Smith and Waddle, Metchie is a threat. He averaged 36 yards per catch. The ball was spread around as Metchie and Waddle each had 5 catches while Smith had 6. Forristall added 2 catches.

OL: The OL played well but I think they need to improve their run blocking. They only gave up 1 sack and 3 tackles for losses, one which was caused by a bad snap. It seems to me, and this is my opinion, they are not sustaining their blocks long enough or they don’t get to the 2nd level when they have a chance. The pass blocking was solid even when A&M brought and all out blitz. I know on the interception the left side was overloaded and either their needs to be a call from the tackle or the quarterback needs to make a protection change. I don’t know what they do in this case. I will say, when Bama is in the red zone the run blocking has been solid and they have gotten a push.

Def: Bama gave up a total of 450 yards of total offense, 335 passing and 115 rushing. I have Bama with 1 sack, 4 tackles for losses, and 2 interceptions, one which was returned for a touchdown. I know the stats above won’t match the official stats, but I think they called the sack a tackle for loss. Bama only had 1 three and out for the game. For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have A&M with 14 passing plays and 3 running plays. A&M got into the red zone 4 times and scored 2 touchdowns, a field goal and missed a field goal. They scored one touchdown outside the red zone. Here is am going to give some stats I wanted to see. They won’t match up with the official stats because some of the plays were negated because of penalties. I have Mond throwing the ball 43 times. 26 of those throws were under 10 yards and he completed 17 of them. 17 of them were thrown over 10 yards and he completed 8 of them. What this shows me is they wanted to get the ball out quick with hopefully what they considered mismatches. It also shows the downfield coverage was pretty good. There was rarely a pass that wasn’t contested down field. Battle actually got his hand on one ball, but the catch was still made. The interception was a ball that was thrown right at the sticks but looked to be under or right at 10 yards. Something else I wondered is if Bama may have underestimated the speed of a couple of these guys.

DL: The play of the DL was spread around but most of the big plays it seems were made by Anderson and Allen. There were a couple other plays made, but I’m not as familiar with the names of these players. I do know Anderson may have prevented a competition if he had gone to the QB instead of the ball fake. He works hard, but allows the QB to get to his outside shoulder. I do think they need to do a better job using their hands to get off the blocks. It will be hard to get sacks with the ball being thrown that short that often.

LB: The LB’s were the leaders among tackles. Harris led with 10, 8 that were solo. I thought Bama ask a lot putting Moses on the quicker player from A&M when they scored their last touchdown. I also am not sure who had the bust on the touchdown where the player didn’t go out of bounds. I know the LB to that side blitzed so I would think it had to be a DB or the OB on that side. On another touchdown the TE used the slam release. When he looked like he was blocking the coverage was not there. Again, I don’t know their coverages/rules so I don’t know who was supposed to have him.

DB: I thought they played well. They challenged plays downfield and made some plays. I thought Moore played well and I think Wright has his moments. I don’t think Wright is a as physical as he needs to be. There were a couple of times I noticed on man coverage the players looking back into the backfield which causes separation from the rec.

Special Teams: Bama was solid in the special teams except for the 26 yard punt that gave A&M great field position and it led to points.

Penalties: Bama had 6 penalties. Bama had their usual false starts. A holding by the DB, an illegal shift, and an offsides on the kickoff cover team. Overall, Bama overcame most of these penalties.

Finally, this was a good win where Bama actually had to fight to the end. I do think the absence of spring ball is evident as some assignments are busted. In my opinion, they need to get better in the running game as well as stop these unforced penalties. I do think this team has some promise and could improve as the year goes on.

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