🏈 Saturday's Pass Production

As I have written before, I like Jalen alot and hope like hell he can bring us another NC. He has improved somewhat the past 7 or 8 months, but he just does not have the instincts of a true qb and my gut tells me he may never have the instincts or learn enough fundamentals to be a great all around qb. He has the muscled body and instincts of a rb but wearing qb shoes. It can take a very long time to change your spots , so to speak, if ever, and become fundamentally sound. Some of you guys are wondering why he, we aren't going from under center. Jalen struggles from shotgun to read the defense quickly and hit open receivers. It is much more difficult dropping back from under center. Although it may help some qb's to keep their eyes down field and off the rush dropping back from under center, Jalen's practice habits may say different about him. A true qb will stay in the pocket with eyes down field and move and slide around in the pocket when he "feels" a little pressure and holds the ball till the last second to find an open receiver and deliver the ball with his quick release. On our team, we have several talented rb's and receivers, we do not need the qb to run so many keepers. I am not totally opposed to Jalen scrambling to get out of trouble and picking up yards or a keeper on an option play once in awhile. But I believe his job is to distribute the ball to our play makers either with a hand off or a pass to a receiver. I also have a hunch about our ol. It seems they have become accustomed on passing plays to block for a qb that can and will run at the drop of a hat. I realize , as Terry pointed out, FS were many times bringing more rushers than we had blockers. Pass blocking requires that you give your qb every second you can to stand there in the face of the oncoming rush and deliver passes without fear of getting his ass knocked off' although he knows he will sometimes. It seems our ol has the mindset that if they give Jalen a half a second or whiff on their block, that's ok because Jalen can use his legs to run and get out of trouble. Screw that mindset if it is actually going on. I am no coach, far from it, but I do know a little about football. I do know that Ol is a very difficult position to play, but if one on one you can't keep a rusher off your qb for 3 or 4 seconds, then you need to work and practice your ass off until you can.
 
Just my opinion but FSU seem to have used the same defensive plan that LSU used against Bama last year. They attacked from the outside and Bama was short one player to block. When we had Bo in to block and he then ran a route the DB jumped and prevented Jalen from making a good throw. The LSU DB made play after play using the same scheme. Bama did nothing to counter.
 
Knocking on wood - But - Between the OL and Jalen's natural instinct to take off... There's little doubt in my mind that he will miss some time this season at some point. He has a knack for avoiding big hits, but it only takes 1. Between sacks, scrambles, runs he got tackled 15 times... Which doesn't count hits after a pass. Eeeesh.

Hoping Tua gets a good amount of snaps the next 2 weeks. I firmly believe we will need both guys to play well this year. RTR
 
I guess I'm the only one that thought Jalen had a good game. He did exactly what was asked of him. No turnovers and threw the ball very well when he had time to throw. Ruggs should have caught that one pass for a touchdown, but the two long pass attempts I remember seeing were perfect throws that only his guys could catch and in stride. For all of you complainers running your yappers about his decision to take off and run "too soon", just look at what he was dealing with. As some have said, best defense we will see all season long with multiple Pre-Season All-Americans that actually outnumbered us if I recall. Our line did not block very well, so Hurts did what he had to do to get out of there and attempt to continue a play. Just ask Deondre Francois how he's feeling after sitting in the pocket too long with pressure coming. Hurts' stats may not have been Heisman worthy or to the standard of y'alls pre-season chatter, but it did enough to win us the game and remain confident in our abilities. If anything, blame the play calling as I felt it was what sucked. Damien Harris continues to be overlooked for some crazy and weird reason by our own coaches. The guy continues where he left off last year and gives effort on special teams. Not going to the tight ends was another mistake in a vanilla game plan if you ask me. Irv Smith Jr. showed me he has the abilities of OJ Howard, so here's to hoping he is underutilized as OJ was. I blame the coaches, and applaud Hurts for not giving Florida State any points or field position by losing the ball or throwing it into their hands.
 
BamaFan334 said:
I guess I'm the only one that thought Jalen had a good game. He did exactly what was asked of him. No turnovers and threw the ball very well when he had time to throw. Ruggs should have caught that one pass for a touchdown, but the two long pass attempts I remember seeing were perfect throws that only his guys could catch and in stride. For all of you complainers running your yappers about his decision to take off and run "too soon", just look at what he was dealing with. As some have said, best defense we will see all season long with multiple Pre-Season All-Americans that actually outnumbered us if I recall. Our line did not block very well, so Hurts did what he had to do to get out of there and attempt to continue a play. Just ask Deondre Francois how he's feeling after sitting in the pocket too long with pressure coming. Hurts' stats may not have been Heisman worthy or to the standard of y'alls pre-season chatter, but it did enough to win us the game and remain confident in our abilities. If anything, blame the play calling as I felt it was what sucked. Damien Harris continues to be overlooked for some crazy and weird reason by our own coaches. The guy continues where he left off last year and gives effort on special teams. Not going to the tight ends was another mistake in a vanilla game plan if you ask me. Irv Smith Jr. showed me he has the abilities of OJ Howard, so here's to hoping he is underutilized as OJ was. I blame the coaches, and applaud Hurts for not giving Florida State any points or field position by losing the ball or throwing it into their hands.
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You're not the only one.. seems like we're still dealing with some residual "Jalen sucks at passing" BS.
 
Seems to me opposing defenses will let us know when he doesn't "suck at passing". I didn't see anything from FSU's defensive game plan that showed they thought they could be beat through the air...
The LSU game last year is the blueprint for how quality defenses are going to scheme when they play us. Until we have an effective passing game, that will not change.
 
scottyhk said:
Seems to me opposing defenses will let us know when he doesn't "suck at passing". I didn't see anything from FSU's defensive game plan that showed they thought they could be beat through the air...
The LSU game last year is the blueprint for how quality defenses are going to scheme when they play us. Until we have an effective passing game, that will not change.
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No they didnt and they got burned on a 50+ bomb and another one that would have been a 60+ bomb if not for defensive holding... just imagine if the OL didn't shit the bed...
 
Jalen did fine and showed improvement. He is still late on his throws to crossers... but his deep balls were really nice, sans his first one to the side line that was overthrown. FSU put their DBs on islands all night to stop the run with safeties playing up on the line, just like we do... and they have the talent, like we do to still perform well in pass defense. They have some studs that can cover well and some ends that can rush the passer.

Jalen did take off a few times when he had open receivers IF he would have gone through the progression. I think that will just take some time to get used to for him. At least he didn't have has hop skip and a thrown act like last year. It seems to be a much smoother throwing motion this year.

As for the game, the 3rd quarter really didn't lend itself to much throwing. With the short field takeaways, we didn't need to risk too much to score some points and get a lead then sit on that lead with a bunch of runs. My only pain point was snapping the ball with 20 secs left on the play clock when up by two scores in the 4th quarter... run that clock and shorten the game. Other than that, I really liked the play calling and thought the team responded well to the game situations. The FSU defense was no joke with their speed on the edge. It was guarded well and put a lot of pressure on Jalen and even the RB's trying to bounce or get an edge.

All in all, we have enough areas that Saban can show where we need improvement to keep the team focused and working and enough areas to show where we did good to keep them encouraged too. I really couldn't have asked for a better game, sans the two injuries...
 
I went back and watched the game again. I feel like there was a missed opportunity with a lot of pre snap calls. More than a few times, they had players coming off the edge untouched that weren't accounted for. Bo's pass protection was poor. I don't think the tight ends were great in pass or run block. I thought Jalen did a pretty good job given the situation. The pass I liked the most was one that didn't even count. He had to scramble out of the pocket and still kept his eyes down field. He hit Jeudy with a laser along the sideline but it came back for a holding call( what looked to me like a pancake). His overthrow to Calvin early in the game was his worst. Besides that, I don't remember even seeing a pass that he didn't at least give his receivers a chance. He had several he had to throw out of bounds. I only recall 3 real incompletions: the one early to Ridley, another to Ridley where he got shoved out of bounds, and one just off the hands of Ruggs in the endzone. I will take that all day.
 
My issue is not that "Jalen sucks at passing". I don't dispute he has the arm for the throws he needs to make or that he knows how to pass the ball but to me, and others I watched the game with, his growth as a quarterback (reading defenses, recognizing blitzes, using the pocket, progressions, etc.) is not where I hoped or thought it would be.
 
scottyhk said:
Double digit yards passing says different. Now you can lay blame where you see fit, but the passing game still needs much improvement from all involved.
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He attempted 18 passes, not 25 or 30. Some were throw aways, so you're not really left with many opportunities to blow up the stat box. Add in two All-Americans in their defensive backfield, and not really sure what you're looking back and expecting. Ruggs coming down with that touchdown would have all of y'all with nothing to say.
 
ComeOnSon said:
My issue is not that "Jalen sucks at passing". I don't dispute he has the arm for the throws he needs to make or that he knows how to pass the ball but to me, and others I watched the game with, his growth as a quarterback (reading defenses, recognizing blitzes, using the pocket, progressions, etc.) is not where I hoped or thought it would be.
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I agree with this. Jalen can throw the ball. He just doesn't see the field and read the defense very well. His miss of Bo wide open at the end zone would have been an easy TD. He just seems slow to recognize things and he doesn't show any rhythm/tempo when getting the team to the line and set to go and then making adjustments based on his reads. Sure, there were some dropped balls and he did have a lot of pressure, but I think we may be seeing his ceiling already. Time will bear this out or not soon enough.
 
BamaFan334 said:
He attempted 18 passes, not 25 or 30. Some were throw aways, so you're not really left with many opportunities to blow up the stat box. Add in two All-Americans in their defensive backfield, and not really sure what you're looking back and expecting. Ruggs coming down with that touchdown would have all of y'all with nothing to say.
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He attempted 18 passes but had 15 running attempts... Don't know off the top of my head how many were called runs, maybe 5 or 6?

So to end with 96 yards passing with 25+ passing plays called... Don't know how else to slice it... That's just terribly unproductive and inefficient.

All the props in the world for not turning it over and being a great scrambler, but it will take more than that.

PS - Ruggs did short arm that pass but it was not an easy catch... Would have been a special catch IMO. Not a bad pass by any means but not in the breadbasket.
 
Tidestalker said:
He attempted 18 passes but had 15 running attempts... Don't know off the top of my head how many were called runs, maybe 5 or 6?

So to end with 96 yards passing with 25+ passing plays called... Don't know how else to slice it... That's just terribly unproductive and inefficient.

All the props in the world for not turning it over and being a great scrambler, but it will take more than that.

PS - Ruggs did short arm that pass but it was not an easy catch... Would have been a special catch IMO. Not a bad pass by any means but not in the breadbasket.
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Ok, so if he gator armed it it was in the best spot it could have been placed with a defender draped on his back. His touch has gotten miles better, so give him that much. You can see he's gotten better. Guess I get tired of all the arm chair quarterbacks that think they can chip away at a 19 year old and think they knkw he's maxed his potential. I'll have to watch the game again as I was there, so it was harder to see and remember every little thing with no replay, but we all know these coaches tell him to be himself and if he wants to run, take off. For anyone to say we've seen his ceiling, that's just plain dumb. To say this guy is starting for the best team in the country and the best coach ever plays him knowing he isn't getting better is laughable. Once again, the offense in general was not great, sans Ridley and Harris. Don't put it on Hurts, and don't bitch (not you specifically) because the guy didn't throw for 300 and run for 100. No one did well Week 1, except Rosen who was given his stats by a shitty second half by A&M, and even he sucked ass first half. Golden boy Darnold and the savior Stidham even had mediocre days.
 

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