🏈 6 in the box

[porkchop]

...and Richardson was hit in the backfield again.

Just saying.

I know some folks don't want to hear it but there is a problem when every team we've played can overrun our OL and/or run down our backs from the backside. Again, I know there are folks here that aren't hearing it, but don't come on here and post something about 8 in the box. We're throwing the ball a ton this season so far. There's a reason.

 

[SpecThis]

I feel like ive gone back in time and it's Darby up the middle again

 

[porkchop]

Spec, it's more like Trent up the middle, for minus 3 or + 1 on any given play.

But our run blocking is great. Nothing to see here, move along.

 

[TerryP]

...and Richardson was hit in the backfield again.

Just saying.

I know some folks don't want to hear it but there is a problem when every team we've played can overrun our OL and/or run down our backs from the backside. Again, I know there are folks here that aren't hearing it, but don't come on here and post something about 8 in the box. We're throwing the ball a ton this season so far. There's a reason.

I'm not in the same corner as you are Keith. I think it's far too early to resign to that position on the offensive line. (now laughing at Lacy breaking that run for around 70 and a TD...I know, that was all Eddie.)

Just as an example, I don't see where you are getting the idea we are throwing the ball a ton this season. As of this minute, we've thrown the ball around 100 this season and ran the ball around 100 times this season. On top of that, right at 700 on the ground and the same number through the air. We are running a very balanced offense so far.

I'm not saying there is some growth that needs to happen on the OL. But, to judge them this early? It's a little too soon as I see it.

 

[JoshB]

If I'm not mistaken wasn't the play ur talking about when Michael Williams missed his assignment on the edge?

blocking was awful, only 347 rushing yards... maybe next week we can do "decent"...

two backs with over 160 yards and neither with more than 11 carries, 5 TDs between them... lol

 

[JoshB]

oh and to add to this... with all this o-line talk... Richardson lost a grand total of 2 yards on his 11 carries tonight... Lacy lost a grand total of 2 yards on his 9 carries tonight...

 

[LBS]

We have a new QB, and the luxery of not needing him to win the game for us with his arm. That's not a bad place to be thus far.

Whereas it true that this was the 117th worst run defense team from last season, that was last seasaon and they have a new head coach who has had this game circled. Apples-to-Apples, Houston is known for it offense and we outgained the Cougars who played the Mean Green last week. Short of injuries, the OL will be like every other part of our team...getting better each week.

 

[rammerjammer]

Also remember this was an "exhibition" type game similar to Kent St. At one point we had Fluker on the sideline and Barret Jones at RT, with Koujiandjo at LT.

 

[porkchop]

Guys, Trent gained 129 yards on 2 carries. He then gained 38 yards on all of his additional carries.

Lacy gained 110 on 2 carries, then about 50 with all additional. Granted, a 7 ypc average on the others is still impressive, but Lacy hasn't looked like the problem this season.

Still, take out 4 carries for 240 yards against North Texas (I mean, come on guys...) and you're left with very pedestrian numbers.

Everyone wants to throw numbers out there and talk about how impressive the overall totals are but if you look into the actual production there are some concerns. Yes, on the upside, both backs were able to spring long runs. But......Lacy has been doing that all season so far. Often on his own. Even when he's breaking these runs he's sometimes hit in the backfield. But that should make no never mind to anyone I guess. You can get away with that kind of thing when you're playing one of the worst teams in D1, but it's not going to happen in SEC play. That's what bothers me. That's what has me concerned.

Terry, I'm not going to judge the line just yet. Obviously we have a lot of moving parts and the staff is still tinkering with that. But the line play could seriously improve. It's going to have to for the team to go anywhere this season. Opposing defensive ends can't keep running down our backs from behind in the backfield. The interior linemen have to start picking up more of the backers crashing the middle and blowing up the play before it even gets going. We're missing a lot of assignments. That's all I'm saying.

 

[TerryP]

Guys, Trent gained 129 yards on 2 carries. He then gained 38 yards on all of his additional carries.

Lacy gained 110 on 2 carries, then about 50 with all additional. Granted, a 7 ypc average on the others is still impressive, but Lacy hasn't looked like the problem this season.

Still, take out 4 carries for 240 yards against North Texas (I mean, come on guys...) and you're left with very pedestrian numbers.
Everyone wants to throw numbers out there and talk about how impressive the overall totals are but if you look into the actual production there are some concerns. Yes, on the upside, both backs were able to spring long runs. But......Lacy has been doing that all season so far. Often on his own. Even when he's breaking these runs he's sometimes hit in the backfield. But that should make no never mind to anyone I guess. You can get away with that kind of thing when you're playing one of the worst teams in D1, but it's not going to happen in SEC play. That's what bothers me. That's what has me concerned.

You can't do that Keith. It goes completely opposite of our offensive scheme. We are going to have our two and three yard gaines. We are going to have a few three and out's. But, we are going to break that 40-50 yard run each game.

Look at it this way. Every time we've had a back, under Saban, rush for over 100 yards we've won, sans one game. It's a record of 26-1. Even if one of our backs getting 60% of his yardage from one carry how, HOW, can you argue with that number?

I've thought, and said, all along we need to have some things settled by week four. Here we are.

Terry, I'm not going to judge the line just yet. Obviously we have a lot of moving parts and the staff is still tinkering with that. But the line play could seriously improve. It's going to have to for the team to go anywhere this season. Opposing defensive ends can't keep running down our backs from behind in the backfield. The interior linemen have to start picking up more of the backers crashing the middle and blowing up the play before it even gets going. We're missing a lot of assignments. That's all I'm saying.

We are missing assignments. No doubt. But, we don't have to be that perfect offensive line yet. We've got a few threats this weekend with Arkansas; namely Bequette and Franklin. We'll have some questions answered.

Have you looked at the number of rushing plays that resulted in tackles in the backfield this year? The earlier post was almost right. We had a few plays that ended in negative yards running the ball. (By "negative yards" I mean zero gained or minus yardage.) Richardson and Lacy had one each in the first half. Blake had one on the last drive. We had two considered a team loss on a fumble (Sims snap, different issue and that first one was probably given to AJ.)

Back to the point at hand. There a total of 30 yards in negative plays. That's six plays out of 54 including the passing game and sacks. We are in positive yardage 90% of the time Saturday. I use one game as example but our numbers are very balanced throughout this season.

 

[JoshB]

Guys, Trent gained 129 yards on 2 carries. He then gained 38 yards on all of his additional carries.

Lacy gained 110 on 2 carries, then about 50 with all additional. Granted, a 7 ypc average on the others is still impressive, but Lacy hasn't looked like the problem this season.

Still, take out 4 carries for 240 yards against North Texas (I mean, come on guys...) and you're left with very pedestrian numbers.

Everyone wants to throw numbers out there and talk about how impressive the overall totals are but if you look into the actual production there are some concerns. Yes, on the upside, both backs were able to spring long runs. But......Lacy has been doing that all season so far. Often on his own. Even when he's breaking these runs he's sometimes hit in the backfield. But that should make no never mind to anyone I guess. You can get away with that kind of thing when you're playing one of the worst teams in D1, but it's not going to happen in SEC play. That's what bothers me. That's what has me concerned.

Terry, I'm not going to judge the line just yet. Obviously we have a lot of moving parts and the staff is still tinkering with that. But the line play could seriously improve. It's going to have to for the team to go anywhere this season. Opposing defensive ends can't keep running down our backs from behind in the backfield. The interior linemen have to start picking up more of the backers crashing the middle and blowing up the play before it even gets going. We're missing a lot of assignments. That's all I'm saying.

Wait... i think maybe u need to make up ur mind... first u claim the O-Line is the problem and then say Richardson is the problem? and then back to the O-Line?! which is it?

and u cant take out the big runs, why in the world would u take out the big runs? how does that logic even work? the longs were there...

 

[LBS]

But for the plays that we scored, we were shut out by one of the worst teams from Denton, Texas.

 

[bamatommy]

I was at the game last night. I am very concerned that Bama has struggled all season to run the ball between the tackles. You won't beat many good teams like that.

I am very concerned about the Arkansas and Florida games. Bama's offense---particularly running the ball---still has some major question marks.

 

[shipley00]

I'm not ready to give up on our OL. They have improved some in each game, which you'd expect them to do. One area they have NOT improved on is not simply "missing assignments", but rather no one knowing what the assignments are. Each of the first three games, the OL has:

Slant blocked to their right when there was an extra defender on their left, leaving him a wide open shot at the RB, QB... and these were NOT when the play was a roll or sweep to the right. This has happened several times during each game. Why?

We have people pulling out of their spot, leaving a wide open lane for the defender (not a blitzer, but the down lineman) to blow up the QB or RB. This has happend several times in each game. Why?

Our OL is taking bad angles to achieve a block. Many players are doing this from Steen to our TE/H-Back.

How many times has the RB been either hit in the backfield either a split second after he receives the handoff or chased down from behind in the last three games? It's one thing if the DL/LBs split a gap, or makes a great move to get into the backfield, but its another thing entirely to have a defender come in not only untouched, but unaccounted for.

Yes we have a young QB. Yes, once he gets experience he can check out of some all out blitzes, but our OL should be able to account for a 5th guy on the line and at least attempt to get a hand on him. They should know their blocking assignmnet to the point that if one guy pulls, leaving a gaping hole, that someone else should be covering it. At this point in the season we should be working on execution, not recognition of the blocking schemes.

 

[Joe]

Where has the pistol and wildcat been this year? Why don't we have a few plays where we have Richardson and Lacy in the backfield at the same time? It is easy for a defense to key on just one back in the backfield. I think that there are just a few things that the offense can tweak which would make it a bigger threat. I have asked friends who have been coaching football for years about using both backs in the backfield at the same time and they have agreed that it would be harder to defend.

 

[Crimson&WhiteGecko]

I'm not ready to give up on our OL. They have improved some in each game, which you'd expect them to do. One area they have NOT improved on is not simply "missing assignments", but rather no one knowing what the assignments are. Each of the first three games, the OL has: Slant blocked to their right when there was an extra defender on their left, leaving him a wide open shot at the RB, QB... and these were NOT when the play was a roll or sweep to the right. This has happened several times during each game. Why? We have people pulling out of their spot, leaving a wide open lane for the defender (not a blitzer, but the down lineman) to blow up the QB or RB. This has happend several times in each game. Why? Our OL is taking bad angles to achieve a block. Many players are doing this from Steen to our TE/H-Back. How many times has the RB been either hit in the backfield either a split second after he receives the handoff or chased down from behind in the last three games? It's one thing if the DL/LBs split a gap, or makes a great move to get into the backfield, but its another thing entirely to have a defender come in not only untouched, but unaccounted for. Yes we have a young QB. Yes, once he gets experience he can check out of some all out blitzes, but our OL should be able to account for a 5th guy on the line and at least attempt to get a hand on him. They should know their blocking assignmnet to the point that if one guy pulls, leaving a gaping hole, that someone else should be covering it. At this point in the season we should be working on execution, not recognition of the blocking schemes.

Outside all the stats, I think this is exactly what 'chop is driving at... these are assignment issues that seem rather novice that are still rearing their ugly head in games that should rarely happen. Granted this team is trying to figure out the best OL combination(s) but SEC play is about to start & handling the assignments need to be squared away b/c the competition has the ability to beat you (consistently) despite hitting the assignments. For me, I'm sort-of grin & bearing it now with the new OL coach. I'm just not too impressed by him. When Pendry showed up, it was night & day. Pre-game preparation was there as well as in game adjustments. I'm not sure I'm seeing that now. Only caveat is that we are still tinkering with starters OR we are trying to build up the depth experience because we do not want to let what happened last year with injuries have it's impact on the OL.

 

[bamafan4ever]

Where has the pistol and wildcat been this year? Why don't we have a few plays where we have Richardson and Lacy in the backfield at the same time? It is easy for a defense to key on just one back in the backfield. I think that there are just a few things that the offense can tweak which would make it a bigger threat. I have asked friends who have been coaching football for years about using both backs in the backfield at the same time and they have agreed that it would be harder to defend.

Good question! I know we haven't "needed" anything more than what we have been running but it makes me wonder. I thought Blake Sims was going to be the perfect guy to insert in the wildcat and Richardson coming out of the backfield in the Pistol makes sense to me. Could it be that the coaches are just making sure we can play fundamentally sound football before we run these formations? I just simply don't know but we have been quite vanilla.

 

[Hoos4Tide]

Good question! I know we haven't "needed" anything more than what we have been running but it makes me wonder. I thought Blake Sims was going to be the perfect guy to insert in the wildcat and Richardson coming out of the backfield in the Pistol makes sense to me. Could it be that the coaches are just making sure we can play fundamentally sound football before we run these formations? I just simply don't know but we have been quite vanilla.

That's what I'm thinking-- getting into SEC play we'll start to see more of the "unconventional" stuff that Bama runs (and yes, considering how we play football, to Bama it is "unconventional" haha)

And back to what others have been saying, I do think it's our O-line blocking that was the problem the first two games but I also see Trent trying to do a bit too much, it's like now that he's the main guy he may think that he has to make the big plays every down which takes away from just hitting the hole. Yet, seeing the big plays the other day, which of course was more reminiscent of what he's done in the past (see Texas game), I think he'll start playing like he has in the past and just being the down hill runner he is, which will of course help the O-line b/c the hole doesn't have to be as big for him to be able to get through it....ROLL TIDE

 

[JoshB]

We've ran the pistol several times.

 

[bamafan4ever]

We've ran the pistol several times.

We may have. Doesn't seem as prevalent as the past two years because I missed it. How about the Wildcat? Did I miss that too?