🏈 The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly...

[bama alum]

Good: J.K. Scott, Kenyan Drake, and Damien Harris. They all played exceptionally well.

Bad: play calling...Kiffin needs to quit trying to make Coker an All-American. He doesn't have that kind of ability. Defensive plays seemed to be coming in pretty late as well.

Ugly: Adam Griffith (no further comment)

 

[Elderfalsedemigod]

Bad? QB play. Nuff said.

 

[WaffleHouse]

Our quarterback situation is a steamy pile of .....

 

[BigCrimson]

Good: The running game. JK Scott

Bad: QB situation, offensive strategy of trying to "practice" on the passing game. RUN THE DAMN REGULAR offense and let him pass within it. It doesn't matter how much you let them throw Coker nor Bateman are SEC caliber qb's and aren't going to be.

Ugly: Adam Griffith. Stick a fork in this guy. He's been done.

 

[rick4bama]

Good: Drake, Henry, some of the new guys!! Sorry cant remember names.

Bad: Well you guys know!

Ugly: I can't say it I feel for the young man!

 

[JoshB]

Griffith WILL cost Bama a game this year if something isn't done.

 

[rocknthefreeworld]

Not sure anything can be done about the Field Goal situation this year. If we had a better option that person would be out there already. Kids just got his head turned around and can't seem to right it.

 

[UAgrad93]

Good- Secondary play. No blown assignments. When a guy catches an 8 yard pass, he gets no more.

Bad- play calling was BAD!! screens to the outside were meh at best. Throwing the ball inside the +15 instead of running it. It cost us 7 against an overmatched team. It could cost us the game next week.

Ugly- I hate to even put Adam Griffith here, but his last attempt looked like some of my golf shots. He is SO deep inside his own head that it doesn't seem he can get out.

 

[PhillyGirl]

Just sayin, I'm a damn good FG kicker.

Thought about going for the team in high school but I didn't have time with my other sports.

Hey Nick .. I'm available.

 

[PhillyGirl]

I tracked the play by play and read all of your commentary .. and based on all or that, it sounds/seems like Cooper ran the offense better and got them chugging along with more chemistry whereas Coker was more "spray and pray" with his throwing and did not seem to have the O behind him.

Is this an accurate deduction?

Also how was Howard? I believe I saw someone say he had an elite performance (alongside Drake and Henry) but it shocked me so I need more info.

 

[Tidestalker]

I tracked the play by play and read all of your commentary .. and based on all or that, it sounds/seems like Cooper ran the offense better and got them chugging along with more chemistry whereas Coker was more "spray and pray" with his throwing and did not seem to have the O behind him.

Is this an accurate deduction?

Also how was Howard? I believe I saw someone say he had an elite performance (alongside Drake and Henry) but it shocked me so I need more info.

I'm not sure that's very accurate. I think people were so annoyed with Coker and the non rhythm the offense was in, that they were begging for another option and Bateman was next man up. When he got in, not much changed. He dinked and dunked a little but had 2-3 horrendous throws just like Coker.

In their defense, the play calling was pretty bad. Constant screens and Kiffin was doing his best to keep the Heisman away from Derrick Henry's trophy case. And as I've mentioned quite a few times now, the actual play calling system sucks for these guys. Play comes in late and guys are rarely comfortable in their spot with time to spare before the snap.

So Coker was bad, but Bateman wasn't much better. Both got their passing stats padded by this little pitch/hand off to Drake that is considered a "pass"... Those plays got each of them a TD for doing nothing.

And Howard was pretty darn good. He made 2-3 moves with the ball that TE's just can't make. Didn't watch much of his blocking but don't recall any blatant whiffs like last year.

 

[PhillyGirl]

I'm not sure that's very accurate. I think people were so annoyed with Coker and the non rhythm the offense was in, that they were begging for another option and Bateman was next man up. When he got in, not much changed. He dinked and dunked a little but had 2-3 horrendous throws just like Coker.

In their defense, the play calling was pretty bad. Constant screens and Kiffin was doing his best to keep the Heisman away from Derrick Henry's trophy case. And as I've mentioned quite a few times now, the actual play calling system sucks for these guys. Play comes in late and guys are rarely comfortable in their spot with time to spare before the snap.

So Coker was bad, but Bateman wasn't much better. Both got their passing stats padded by this little pitch/hand off to Drake that is considered a "pass"... Those plays got each of them a TD for doing nothing.

And Howard was pretty darn good. He made 2-3 moves with the ball that TE's just can't make. Didn't watch much of his blocking but don't recall any blatant whiffs like last year.

Ah, I see. Thank you, I appreciate it.

So, QB and Kiffin = bad. Henry awesome but underused. Howard improved.

If Kiffin costs him a shot at NYC .. RAGE!

 

[Bamabww]

Good: No serious injuries. Penalties reduced.

Bad: FG kicking.

Ugly: the terrible job the game announcers did.

Personal thoughts: I really believe that our gameplan against MTSU was to experiment with the play calling and get more experience in the passing game. We did not need to pass so much today. If we would have come out and manhandled MTSU from the beginning it would have made many of us happier. However, we know how to do that. We have to get better at the passing game, both in protection and in the qb making quicker decisions. The only way to do it is in real game situations. Point being, we knew we could win this game. We needed the practice. I am also glad we are putting in the back ups so they can get game time experience too. No need to run up the score but would have been nice to cover the spread.

 

[bamascw]

Good: We have so much depth at Running back that I can't decide which jersey to buy next. The D line looked good, the secondary seems to be getting better,

Bad: The defense still struggles against a fast paced offense. Slant routes are our achille's heel. Coker looks (insert your favorite adjective to describe confused) I shall use discombobulated.

Ugly: Once again our field goal kicking is cursed.

 

[planomateo]

Ah, I see. Thank you, I appreciate it.

So, QB and Kiffin = bad. Henry awesome but underused. Howard improved.

If Kiffin costs him a shot at NYC .. RAGE!

@BigCrimson touched on it a bit. We brought in Bateman to start the 3rd quarter, we did more passing than running in the first few series, but the first drive didn't passing 3 times and punting. This game wasn't about Alabama running the ball.

Bad: QB situation, offensive strategy of trying to "practice" on the passing game. RUN THE DAMN REGULAR offense and let him pass within it.

 

[BigCrimson]

Good: No serious injuries. Penalties reduced.

Bad: FG kicking.

Ugly: the terrible job the game announcers did.

Personal thoughts: I really believe that our gameplan against MTSU was to experiment with the play calling and get more experience in the passing game. We did not need to pass so much today. If we would have come out and manhandled MTSU from the beginning it would have made many of us happier. However, we know how to do that. We have to get better at the passing game, both in protection and in the qb making quicker decisions. The only way to do it is in real game situations. Point being, we knew we could win this game. We needed the practice. I am also glad we are putting in the back ups so they can get game time experience too. No need to run up the score but would have been nice to cover the spread.

There's no doubt the goal was to "practice" on passing. The problem with doing it in the manner we did is we basically went completely away from what we'd normally do. I have no problem with practicing passing the ball. But do it within what you know you're knowingly going to do as an offense. We aren't going to fool Ole Miss by "hiding" anything from them. They know what we're about. But what it did do was make Coker operate within an offense that is not normal to what we normally do. The dude already has confidence issues. I don't think he walked away from yesterday's game any better than he was. To possibly make it worse, his confidence probably took a major hit. We've already got one player who's in his own head and can't make a FG to save his life. All we need is a quarterback with head problems.

 

[JoshB]

I tracked the play by play and read all of your commentary .. and based on all or that, it sounds/seems like Cooper ran the offense better and got them chugging along with more chemistry whereas Coker was more "spray and pray" with his throwing and did not seem to have the O behind him.

Is this an accurate deduction?

Also how was Howard? I believe I saw someone say he had an elite performance (alongside Drake and Henry) but it shocked me so I need more info.

Not accurate at all. The offensive line was getting pushed a round a bit in the first half and they weren't feeding Henry enough, Kiffin seemed like he wanted to put it all on Coker. Coker had two deep throws and they were both AWFUL, one was in double coverage to ArDarius Stewart where he overthrew Stewart about 3 yards and the DB picked it. Other than that Coker was pretty efficient with the ball. He had two passes that went for more than 40 yards but one was OJ breaking a few tackles and running down the sideline for about 45 yards. Had he not lost his shoe he probably would have scored. The other was that little shovel pass they do, thats more a pitch than anything, to Drake that he took 60+ yards down to the three. He prolly would have scored there too had he not slowed up to wait for blockers. OJ had a really good game, blocking and receiving.

Cooper was fine for the most part and the O-Line started to push around MTSU a little bit finally in the second half and Henry found some holes. Cooper and Coker are both a little bit of Jekyl & Hide right now where they will have great throws and then a few plays later a terrible one. Cooper had the perfect example. He threw a BEAUTIFUL 30 yard pass to Ty Smith on the sideline down to the 10 and then two plays later he throws one of the most horrible passes you'll see. He threw it late and to a receiver that wasnt even close to being open. The DB picked it and then ran 80 yards. He would have scored had Damien Harris not chased him down from behind, which was actually extremely impressive showing off Harris' hustle and speed.

 

[JoshB]

I'm not sure that's very accurate. I think people were so annoyed with Coker and the non rhythm the offense was in, that they were begging for another option and Bateman was next man up. When he got in, not much changed. He dinked and dunked a little but had 2-3 horrendous throws just like Coker.

In their defense, the play calling was pretty bad. Constant screens and Kiffin was doing his best to keep the Heisman away from Derrick Henry's trophy case. And as I've mentioned quite a few times now, the actual play calling system sucks for these guys. Play comes in late and guys are rarely comfortable in their spot with time to spare before the snap.

So Coker was bad, but Bateman wasn't much better. Both got their passing stats padded by this little pitch/hand off to Drake that is considered a "pass"... Those plays got each of them a TD for doing nothing.

And Howard was pretty darn good. He made 2-3 moves with the ball that TE's just can't make. Didn't watch much of his blocking but don't recall any blatant whiffs like last year.

Agree with everything except that little pitch play didnt get Coker his score. He threw a screen to Foster and a beautiful block from Richard Mullaney let Foster just walk into the end zone. As annoying as it is that the little pitch play goes to the QBs stats, same with the traditional shovel pass, it is one of our biggest weapons in this offense. Drake is absolutely deadly on that play and Ridley almost took one the distance too on that play. What is great about it, though, is when Drake goes in motion like that the defense can't just key him on him in case Coker doesnt pitch it to Drake and instead hands it to Henry or goes to a pass. That is gonna be something defenses will hate.

 

[Bamaflint]

I hope we weren't testing Dominick Jackson pass pro. It was epic fail. Sec west teams licking chops. We had move te in tight couple times.

 

[BamaFan334]

Griffith WILL cost Bama a game this year if something isn't done.

A game? Multiple games. The way everything is shaping up, we're going to be in some close ones.