| FTBL What element must improve from last year & why?

[Guest]

Offense wins you games...defense wins you championships. D-line must do their job to put pressure on the quarterback but with us knowing Nick Sabans' defense, they will get plenty of help which leads to my next point, one-on-one coverages. With the exception of Simeon, our corners and safeties need to do a better job of covering receivers individually. I noticed that during the season and spring game.

I think it's important to realize we'll have to win some of those crutch games with the offense this upcoming season.

It doesn't bother me, but I have to admit, I'd much rather see a 6-3 win than a 45-38 type of game.

Same here freaking heart attack 45-38 games kill me! MDBtrumpet04 makes a great point everyone talks about the Oline, but the Dline NEEDs to step it as well!

 

[MDBtrumpet04]

What games do you think would have had a different outcome last year w/l with Darby gone and CNS running the show. I personally think it would be a very different season.

I could see us having beat Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma State with ease.

 

[Guest]

That would have put us at 9 wins.

 

[TerryP]

Different coach, more wins. Darby gone, that factor is back to square one. We are at the same mark.

Johns was not a blocker. He just wasn't ready for that responsibility.

Heck, prolly less than 6 wins because JPW would have been on the bench in street clothes.

 

[bamatommy]

Offensively we must get better control of the line of scrimmage, which boils down to O-Line play..I think this will improve greatly in the next few years as our younder linemen begin to get some experience...we've had good recruiting classes the last 2 years, but those guys are still young.

Defensively we have got to get more pressure on the QB. Our defense last year was more about gap control, and often times our 3 d-linemen were left with the responsibility of getting to the QB...and to add to this problem, our DE's aren't neccisarily built to be pass rushers

BF14 hit it on the head. CSS replayed the 06 Bama/Auburn game last night, and I tried, but just couldn't watch very long. The O-Line was just horrible. D-line couldn't get any penetration and Lester(I think that was the AU RB) was running all over us. If we can shore up these positions, we should see a HUGE improvement, so our playmakers can really excel.

Both these guys have it pegged. I saw part of the Iron Bowl replay just like eshad, and it was painful. We outplayed Auburn for much of the game, but we allowed two sacks on the right side of the o-line, and practically gift-wrapped two touchdowns for the Barners. Our o-line was the biggest reason we couldn't score in the red zone.

Andre Smith had an outstanding year, and Antoine Caldwell turned some heads. But we need all five guys to be at that level.

Bob Connelly sucked as the o-line coach and I don't know why Shula didn't can him. If we had had a decent o-line coach last year it would have made a lot of difference.

 

[Bamapossum]

I think the O-line will be a drastic improvement. There is more depth and experience there now. Several preseason prognosticators have very good things to say about the O-line. RT is the only spot that concerns me.

It was mentioned by one other poster. Alabama does NOT have a true offensive threat. D.J. Hall and the other receivers are good, but they haven't proven to be gamebreakers. All great teams need a gamebreaker or two.

Someone needs to step up. Taylor? Grant? Stover? Goode?

There needs to be a threat every time someone touches the ball.