šŸˆ Team Report: Fall Scrimmage #1 : Comments, articles, and discussions covering Bama's scrimmage.

Good to hear the defense is back to our NASTY standards. My take on the QB situation: the staff is doing everything they can to get Coker to take the job. He doesn't seem able to do it. That worries me. None of the other guys seem able to wrest the job from Coker. That worries me too. The other guys are right, with the schedule we play, the QB will be forced to win a couple of games for us. If he can't do it, that's a shame and a waste of a great team. Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss and Auburn will force us to throw the ball. We'd better to be able to do it effectively and consistently or we'll take a loss in two of those games. Turnovers are the wild card. Read a stat yesterday where the team that wins the turnover battle wins the game 80% of the time...80%. That's why ball security is tantamount.
 
ttownlaw5 said:
Lots of crimson colored glasses in here. With this schedule, QB will make or break 2-3 games for us this year. I don't care how talented we are, an inconsistent QB could prevent us from making it to Atlanta and beyond.
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Which brings me to a very important point.

Yes, the defense knew the offense was going to pass today. They had the advantage. BUT - This is what it will take to win big games. It's what sets a championship QB apart from the guy who loses close games. Very simply put; Can you pass to win games, when the other team knows you have to?

Many, many times in the last couple years has our offense had to pass to win games. Last 2 games @ LSU... AJ and Blake HAD to pass their last drive in death valley. AJ had to bring us back twice vs Texas A&M (once in a loss). Our key losses in the past few seasons (Iron Bowl's, TAMU, @ Ole Miss) there were drives we had to pass either due to time, or being in such a huge hole.

As much as we all want to believe the QB won't have to win games, there is going to be 1/2/3 games a season that the QB will need to pass to win. This isn't 2009 when dominating the run offensively and defensively will make teams quit and go home. Now a days, the offenses are too good and the defensive nature Saban plays is going to ensure some close games.

All that being said - We didn't know if AJ was ready to win those games his first year. We sure as hell didn't know that Blake was ready to pass to win... Death Valley he won us all over. These guys may not be ready now just like AJ and Blake may not have been ready at this point, but hopefully there are is a guy with the confidence, mental toughness, and physical ability to be that guy when the time comes. But that time will come... Beli Dat.
 
Tidestalker said:
Which brings me to a very important point.

Yes, the defense knew the offense was going to pass today. They had the advantage. BUT - This is what it will take to win big games. It's what sets a championship QB apart from the guy who loses close games. Very simply put; Can you pass to win games, when the other team knows you have to?

Many, many times in the last couple years has our offense had to pass to win games. Last 2 games @ LSU... AJ and Blake HAD to pass their last drive in death valley. AJ had to bring us back twice vs Texas A&M (once in a loss). Our key losses in the past few seasons (Iron Bowl's, TAMU, @ Ole Miss) there were drives we had to pass either due to time, or being in such a huge hole.

As much as we all want to believe the QB won't have to win games, there is going to be 1/2/3 games a season that the QB will need to pass to win. This isn't 2009 when dominating the run offensively and defensively will make teams quit and go home. Now a days, the offenses are too good and the defensive nature Saban plays is going to ensure some close games.

All that being said - We didn't know if AJ was ready to win those games his first year. We sure as hell didn't know that Blake was ready to pass to win... Death Valley he won us all over. These guys may not be ready now just like AJ and Blake may not have been ready at this point, but hopefully there are is a guy with the confidence, mental toughness, and physical ability to be that guy when the time comes. But that time will come... Beli Dat.
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Good point, Stalker, with one big difference: there's not much of a learning curve this year. Whisky won't be a pushover and in week 3, Ole Miss comes to town. Then in week 5, we travel to Athens. The QB or QB's (I haven't discounted Saban playing two) better have their shit together at least nominally so by week 3, and they'd better REALLY have it together by week 5 or we're already sunk.
 
ttownlaw5 said:
Lots of crimson colored glasses in here. With this schedule, QB will make or break 2-3 games for us this year. I don't care how talented we are, an inconsistent QB could prevent us from making it to Atlanta and beyond.
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Blake Sims was in consistant on the road last year and we took Atlanta and made it to the playoffs, so what exactly are you basing your opinion on or backing it up with?

Last year was a clear example of how a defense or superstar can create an environment where you find a way to win. You don't have to have the 2012 team each year to win it all.
 
All I know is Coach Saban is more prepared than anyone on this thread. He knows he can win with mediocre quarterback play. We haven't actually had anyone ever light it up under his tenure here, so all of this shit where y'all are saying we must have a dominate quarterback clearly don't look at your own team's past. We've had good quarterbacks, but no one that has ever straight dominated. We win with defense. We have athletes on offense that can score. I'm not saying we'll go undefeated, but some of y'all's bullshit gets old, especially when you attempt to one up everyone with unproven logic.
 
BamaFan334 said:
All I know is Coach Saban is more prepared than anyone on this thread. He knows he can win with mediocre quarterback play. We haven't actually had anyone ever light it up under his tenure here, so all of this shit where y'all are saying we must have a dominate quarterback clearly don't look at your own team's past. We've had good quarterbacks, but no one that has ever straight dominated. We win with defense. We have athletes on offense that can score. I'm not saying we'll go undefeated, but some of y'all's bullshit gets old, especially when you attempt to one up everyone with unproven logic.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen one person say we must have a dominant QB.

Also, Blake broke nearly every Alabama passing record last year... Needed 55 to beat Auburn's 44. Put 42 on Florida. Whether it was mostly Coop, the system, or Blake.. There were times the O saved the D.

This year's D is definitely shaping up to be better than last years... Hopefully they can be in that dominant conversation. But the O will need to put up points in a few games... Offenses are getting tougher and tougher to stop.
 
BamaFan334 said:
All I know is Coach Saban is more prepared than anyone on this thread. He knows he can win with mediocre quarterback play. We haven't actually had anyone ever light it up under his tenure here, so all of this shit where y'all are saying we must have a dominate quarterback clearly don't look at your own team's past. We've had good quarterbacks, but no one that has ever straight dominated. We win with defense. We have athletes on offense that can score. I'm not saying we'll go undefeated, but some of y'all's bullshit gets old, especially when you attempt to one up everyone with unproven logic.
Click to expand...

I think you're looking for the adjective DOMINANT.

DominATE is a verb.
 
Our defense will keep us in alot of games when we struggle on offense. On the chance we get some solid qb play we will be good to go all around. I think someone will emerge here shortly so don't phone us in yet. In fact as long as said qb can hit a nice play action and the quick slant we should be ok. Once again if the Oline is as good as advertised we will be able to run quite effectively. We will be tested early so we should definitely see what we have right out front.

One of my player sources said some of quarterbacks took this scrimmage pretty hard and apologized to the offense for lackluster play and swore to step it up. I'm curious to see this develop as they know what the stakes are and that people are relying on them.
 
Above all else, there is something about this team chemistry I really like. It's not just me either, other people are catching it as well. This team has a serious chip about erasing last year and they specifically want to meet OSU again. You may or may not know this but this off season prep and how well it went had alot to do with us losing to OSU. I don't think I've seen our guys bust their asses so hard to be where they need to be. Guys dropping weight, taking that extra time in the film room etc. I'm excited for this year and this team.
 
A friend shared this on Tidesports.com

I was fortunate enough to attend the scrimmage today, the following is a mix of what I saw and my opinions.

Coker started and was very underwhelming. While he eventually made the right decisions and didn't throw any interceptions, he was very late and indecisive. On several occasions he would have good gains but was a beat or two late, which caused the receiver to run out of field or allowed the defender to make the play.
The order was Coker, Barnett, Bateman, Morris, & Cornwell. I can only assume that Cornwell was being disciplined, because he only got 1 series. Barnett looked in control and was decisive, but threw into coverage too much and had 3 picks. Two of them for TD's, he's not there yet but will be soon. Bateman made a couple good throws to end the scrimmage but was "eh" for the rest. In the short time he had Cornwell was by far the most impressive. Even though he was with the 3's on O he went right down the field on the defense which consisted of a mix of 1's and 2's. Morris had a very good scrimmage, made a bunch of good throws and didn't see any that I thought were "bad" throws or int's. IN MY OPINION Cornwell or Morris should be the guy, allow Barnett to grow. This was a passing scrimmage 90% passing, no running backs really stood out. The best thing to come from the O was that the 1st team Oline looked very impressive in pass protection. There were only 2 sacks against them, both past D. Jackson. One on Bateman by Tim Williams and one on Coker by Evans.

Now for the best part, the Defense!!!
This is going to be a GREAT defense. The best hire in all of football ( college or pro) was Mel Tucker. The secondary was fantastic! While the QB was just average for the most part, the DB's were always in position. They consistently turned to find the ball and knocked down over 10 balls, along with 5 int's. No receivers getting lost in coverage and were there every time in run support. The starters were G. Smith and Jackson at safety, and Jones and the next top 10 pick at CB for Bama Fitzpatrick. I want to say this about Fitzpatrick, he will be the best corner in the country as a sophomore. The kid is unreal!!! We are at least 6 deep at corner, Brown and Hump are going to be very good, Averrett and Sylvester are as well. Didn't see much of Sheffield but I have heard good things on him also.

No one will be running on this team. They are 10-11 deep on the line with no drop off. Payne has come in and is playing at a high level too, just to add more. We also have a plethora of pass rushers in Evans, Williams, Anderson, Miller, Hand, etc... I can't see 3rd down D being a problem this year. I truly feel this defense will be just below the 2009 team. There are several leaders, but just one Alpha on this team, Ragland is The Man. He was all over the few slackers on the team, great to see.

With just average QB play that doesn't throw int's, this will be a championship caliber team. Again these are just my opinions and observations. Really looking forward to this season and watching this team.
 
Tidestalker said:
I haven't seen one person say we must have a dominant QB.

Also, Blake broke nearly every Alabama passing record last year... Needed 55 to beat Auburn's 44. Put 42 on Florida. Whether it was mostly Coop, the system, or Blake.. There were times the O saved the D.

This year's D is definitely shaping up to be better than last years... Hopefully they can be in that dominant conversation. But the O will need to put up points in a few games... Offenses are getting tougher and tougher to stop.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Blake had a hell of a year, but it was no secret that he fell off during away games. It was enough for every analyst in the sport to talk about it during every game. They may not have used the word dominant, but saying we need a quarterback to win us a few games isn't making much sense. We have five guys we could throw in there that could get the job done. Saban has been more complimentary to the defense and other parts of the offense more than any other time I have ever heard him speak. We simply need a guy to not spoil the riches we have at other positions on the field. Each of these can deliver the ball. We did not simply whiff on five different recruits at the same position leaving us with no other options. I just think it's dumb for someone to talk about Crimson colored glasses when folks are excited about the season and we are looking to be in a better position than we were at this time last year. Remember, it was Coker vs Sims up till game week, so the fact we have five guys competing has me feeling better than simply dealing with the only thing we have. After all, we're not Georgia or Clemson where they hoot and Hollar and never live up to expectations. We're The University of Alabama and are at a point in time where we can compete every year.
 

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