🏈 Doom and gloom or sunshine pumper,

[bamaledge]

Which one are you? Oh, I realize there is a lot of room between the two and one could easily add excuse maker to the mix. As for me, I am optimistic that the team will improve each week.There are plenty of issues for CNS and the rest of the coaches to work on the next 2 weeks. The O-line definitely needs to gel and any one of the RB's need to step up and help carry the rock. Yeldon is a great running back but he can't make it for 60 minutes. Amari could have helped with that if he didn't drop so many balls. The offense as a whole was disappointing and it could have been a little of believing in their own press or just a pretty darn good defense, we will see in the coming weeks. Defense did a pretty good job, I thought, and I think they will continue to improve. I believe the whole team is better than what they showed and maybe a "close call" is what they need. What say all of you?

 

[bamafan4ever]

I am certainly not doom and gloom after a 25 point win but see plenty of room for growth.

Who saw the performance from Christion Jones coming by the way??? All I heard was Cooper, Black, etc. One of the best all around performances since, maybe, David Palmer. Jones could be Double_Deuce!!

 

[planomateo]

I'm a realist...so neither

 

[bamaledge]

I'm a realist...so neither

I agree Planomateo and we sure got some work to do.

 

[bamaraider]

Only at Alabama can the fans view a 25 point victory as the world ending. If all phases of the game aren't dominating, life itself cease to exist.

If I remember correctly, against Ole Miss last year, the offense was extremely flat. In 2011 against Kent State, we had only like 39 rushing yards and the offense was getting manhandled up front.

No it is not doom, we all just saw how Alabama used to win games under Gene Stallings. By defense and special team, and if that is the way they're going to do it, then so be it. The o-line is still young, but they're also still talented. We had the bar set so high for them, now we're facing reality. So no, I'm not at all worried. Especially after seeing how Texas A&M's defense just played. I'm glad we're in the position we're in.

 

[bama alum]

Only at Alabama can the fans view a 25 point victory as the world ending. If all phases of the game aren't dominating, life itself cease to exist.

If I remember correctly, against Ole Miss last year, the offense was extremely flat. In 2011 against Kent State, we had only like 39 rushing yards and the offense was getting manhandled up front.

No it is not doom, we all just saw how Alabama used to win games under Gene Stallings. By defense and special team, and if that is the way they're going to do it, then so be it. The o-line is still young, but they're also still talented. We had the bar set so high for them, now we're facing reality. So no, I'm not at all worried. Especially after seeing how Texas A&M's defense just played. I'm glad we're in the position we're in.

^^^ This!

 

[lvdtyd]

Not making excuses for the O line because it for sure needs some work, but let's look at some facts. Va Tech returned 10 starters from a defense that ranked 18th last year. They were fast, and clearly stacking the box to force AJ to pass. We have 3 new starters. I was disappointed in C. Kouandijio who should be the leader on that defense having two penalties in the first half. Let's also remember games last year Western Carolina where AJ was sacked.
This needs work and I believe it will get there, however, you can look for defenses to continue to apply this when they saw how effective it was for Va Tech. These guys play against an even more dominant defense in practice so surely they can make adjustments. Finally, when you have a 25 point lead, you are not going to show everything you've got against an ACC team in the season opener.

 

[BAMA JAMMA]

I'm a realist...so neither

This

 

[CrimsonVette]

No doom and gloom here. The issues with the O line are technique/technical things that can be fixed, not a talent issue. VA Tech had a very good D and game plan and executed it well. The thing that is kind of bothersome for me was that it seemed the WR's were getting no separation for the Va tech DB's. When AJ did have time to throw it seemed no one was open and VA tech supposedly had bad DB's.

I agree that CNS and staff played it as vanilla as possible, I think we see the D play even better against A&M.

 

[BamaFisher]

For bad DB's I sure thought that Fuller kid held his own quite well with Amari Cooper.

 

[PhillyGirl]

I guess yesterday is gonna be major incentive to come out swinging in 2 weeks. I have faith they will work on things.

 

[PhillyGirl]

Only at Alabama can the fans view a 25 point victory as the world ending. If all phases of the game aren't dominating, life itself cease to exist.

So true!!!

 

['65 Cobra]

It's neither gloom or sunshine. Surely CNS and company kept the playbook under wraps in anticipation for TAMU in two weeks. Jones and the special teams units did fantastic. We held Va Tech to 10 points... BUT I'm not going to gloss over the poor play of the offensive line. They did not play well no matter how you want to sugar coat it. Cyrus having two penalties is ridiculous as is our backs getting hit in the backfield so often. Overall, Va Tech seemed way more pumped up for this game as well. Is it the end of the world? No. But we better take it seriously if we want to beat TAMU.

 

[Swamptick]

We won. Guys.....we WON. The end.

 

[Icetre78]

Va Tech returned 10 starters from a defense that ranked 18th last year.

This.

Not worried at all. Disappointed in cohesiveness? Sure. Overall? A- for the day. Outside of one slip up run, defensive effort was stellar.

Logan Thomas is going to burn others this year. He's better than our defense allowed him to be.

Lastly, thank god for Chrstion Jones! He raised the bar for himself!

 

[bcracker]

Steen said something about the VT DL using a technique, not sure if that was his exact word, that Bama has never seen before and subsequently the OL had a hard time adjusting to it. What was he talking about?

 

[TerryP]

Which one are you? Oh, I realize there is a lot of room between the two and one could easily add excuse maker to the mix. As for me, I am optimistic that the team will improve each week.There are plenty of issues for CNS and the rest of the coaches to work on the next 2 weeks. The O-line definitely needs to gel and any one of the RB's need to step up and help carry the rock. Yeldon is a great running back but he can't make it for 60 minutes. Amari could have helped with that if he didn't drop so many balls. The offense as a whole was disappointing and it could have been a little of believing in their own press or just a pretty darn good defense, we will see in the coming weeks. Defense did a pretty good job, I thought, and I think they will continue to improve. I believe the whole team is better than what they showed and maybe a "close call" is what they need. What say all of you?

At the end of this season I believe it'll end up being one of the top three defensive lines we face this season.

 

[TerryP]

At the end of this season I believe it'll end up being one of the top three defensive lines we face this season.

An opinion shared by a few it seems...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Agree RT <a href="https://twitter.com/MattBrownSoE">@MattBrownSoE</a>: Not too concerned about Bama's O-line. It's early, and VT's front seven is a hell of a lot better than A&amp;M's.</p>&mdash; Cecil Hurt (@CecilHurt) <a href="https://twitter.com/CecilHurt/statuses/374226476679569408">September 1, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[reger60]

I, for one, would rather this team go into the next two weeks of practice with lots of room for improvement following a 25-point win, then go into the next two weeks of practice with lots of room for improvement following a 25-point loss.

I still recall a few of those and I by far prefer this situation.

 

[jocephus8179]

All i can say about the game is, we played a decent game. Not too bad, but not as great as i thought it couldve been. What i was thinking watching it was first of all, the oline only has two returning starters. That leaves a soft spot that va. tech took advantage of. A.J. never really could get comfotably set to throw when he got the snap, and our running game suffered. And when A.J. DID get off a good pass, those balls mostly got dropped by our recievers. But its the first game. Players just need to adapt, watch some film and fix the mistakes. Im not too worried. My main concern is with the oline. Defense and special teams looked pretty damn good.....and Christian Jones was on fire.

One more thing, and im just pulling this out of the air but, is it possible that maybe our guys were kind of looking ahead a little to TAMU? At first, i didnt like that we had a bye in the second week before we get TAMU because i was worried that we would throttle Tech and then the bye would kill the momentum. But now, thank God our guys have that extra week to work on the mistakes made yesterday. And i also wonder if we didnt open up the playbook due to the competition and not wanting to show TAMU too much. But overall, im happy for a big win, even though it seems like there was a little rust that needs to be knocked off....and im pretty sure that CNS will break out the WD40 these next two weeks and we will be just fine. Roll Tide everyone.