Question: Saban & Smart Game Plan against Texas A and M

It's Dickson not Dickerson.

We have played nickel defense almost exclusively this year except against Arkansas. It's nothing new..

Dillon Lee would be an ideal MLB this week. Trey is too slow in pass. Reggie continues to improve, so he is probably better than what we saw against WVU.

We're going to be in nickel and dime about 85-90% of the game, just like we have all season except last week. Like Force said, nothing new.

When there is one LB, that is dime formation. Saban/ Smart like to use a Strong Safety up for run support that drops back into cover one or cover three

JustNeedMe81 said:

"On the LBs and pass coverage: Saban mentions he'll only have one linebacker in the game because Texas A&M runs four-wide."

I'm little confused about that. I may be little slow on the depth chart between 3-4 formation, Nickel and Dime...... But I know what 3-4 depth is.. but what is the depth for Nickel ?

The front 4 would be Allen, Robinson, Pettway and Reed. <- Right?
Then LBs would be Dickerson, Depriest, Ragland, and Anderson
CB: Jones and Brown/Jackson
Safety : Smith/Perry and Collins

So my question is.. if we are going to have one LBs... who do we leave in as one LBs? Ragland? Depriest? I'm little confused by that... and who takes the "LB" position since A and M will go 4 wide? Will it be Geno Smith or they could try and play Tony Brown and Eddie Jackson at same time? or Play Smith and Perry ? Someone explain to me?

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As someone else said, one LB is dime, not nickel, but for the point of depth:

for the front four, that's likely, but I'd wager we'll see both Dickson and Anderson playing a good bit as DE's in that front. They have all year in the nickel and dime packages and both have been very good in that role. When at least one of them is in, we have a bit more flexibility for zone blitzes where they'll drop back into coverage. In fact we might just see one of Robinson/Reed at time, with allen also inside, with pettway, dickson, ragland, evans and others rotating outside. who knows, maybe we even drop ragland down on the line. He's second on the team in stops now so hate to think of him not on the field at all.

LB - probably depriest, although I do think Lee would be good in this role. He was back working inside this week and has taken most of the second line dime LB reps this season. raglands been good, but I can't recall him taking any snaps in dime and this might not be the right game to get first exposure to it...

DB is interesting - we have been playing with 4 safeties in dime the last few years, but I am wondering now with the emergence of brown if we get back to having 3CB and 3S like we used to. Jones has been great in run support and coverage so he could slide inside and play that spot with Brown and Jackson outside. Geno or J. Williams takes the other inside slot (he basically would be playing like the Will LB - run support for 3 wide and wide in coverage in 4 side) and we have Landon and Perry at their normal places. The other option is landon up like a will since he's a headhunter, but then we're looking at Geno and perry deep. We'll certainly see them all play, as well as M Williams. If we stick with 4S, look for jarrick and geno to be the primary extra guys.

JustNeedMe81 said:

"On the LBs and pass coverage: Saban mentions he'll only have one linebacker in the game because Texas A&M runs four-wide."

I'm little confused about that. I may be little slow on the depth chart between 3-4 formation, Nickel and Dime...... But I know what 3-4 depth is.. but what is the depth for Nickel ?

The front 4 would be Allen, Robinson, Pettway and Reed. <- Right?
Then LBs would be Dickerson, Depriest, Ragland, and Anderson
CB: Jones and Brown/Jackson
Safety : Smith/Perry and Collins

So my question is.. if we are going to have one LBs... who do we leave in as one LBs? Ragland? Depriest? I'm little confused by that... and who takes the "LB" position since A and M will go 4 wide? Will it be Geno Smith or they could try and play Tony Brown and Eddie Jackson at same time? or Play Smith and Perry ? Someone explain to me?

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The actually position of the defensive player will change with what the offenses do, this is basic 4-1-6 dime formation CNS is talking about:



As gtgilbert said, we have played dime with 4 safeties instead of 3 CB's, and 3 safeties, but that has had a lot to do with the talent/experience at each position group. We've had a hard enough time keeping 2 CB's healthy and on the field, let alone 3.

Here is the basic 4-2-5 nickel formation:



As others have said, this has been the basic formation we've used most of the year, except last week. From a positional standpoint, we actually play a lot in the 4-2-5 nickel formation a lot with a LB playing one of the DE positions. That may be what is confusing you, if you're "counting" Dickson, Anderson, and Devall (before he got hurt) as LB's. They are LB's in name, but are basically playing a DE role.

I lol'd at CNS PC when they asked him how the LBs have improved in pass coverage. He said they are doing better this week since there will only be one on the field most of the game..

TideFan in AU said:

The actually position of the defensive player will change with what the offenses do, this is basic 4-1-6 dime formation CNS is talking about:

As gtgilbert said, we have played dime with 4 safeties instead of 3 CB's, and 3 safeties, but that has had a lot to do with the talent/experience at each position group. We've had a hard enough time keeping 2 CB's healthy and on the field, let alone 3.

Here is the basic 4-2-5 nickel formation:

As others have said, this has been the basic formation we've used most of the year, except last week. From a positional standpoint, we actually play a lot in the 4-2-5 nickel formation a lot with a LB playing one of the DE positions. That may be what is confusing you, if you're "counting" Dickson, Anderson, and Devall (before he got hurt) as LB's. They are LB's in name, but are basically playing a DE role.

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is that the Jack linebacker?

dWarriors88 said:

is that the Jack linebacker?

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for the most part, yes. the last couple of years it's sometimes been the SAM due to the way the players at both those spots have evolved to where there isn't as much difference between jack/sam as there once was. there have been plenty of situations where it's been both OLBs lined up as DEs, and we'd slide our normal huge DEs down into DT spots. This year we have more variability because of the guys playing DL. Robinson and Reed can both play NG and DE in the 3-4 - Allen can play DE in the 3-4, but also DT and DE in the 4 man alignment. Pettway is a great DE in the 4 man front, but not the best option in the 3 man front except for some unique situations where it's still all about pass rush so he typically takes an End spot in the nickel and dime. Then just about every OLB we have on the roster is capable of being a DE in the 4 man alignment

Totally confuse them. Pull the page out of the 92/93 playbook -- put 11 on the line jk of course. I don't think anyone's defense is fast enough for that anymore.

I'll go on record that any defense that takes Ragland off the field will be the defense with their head hanging low as the clock ticks off the final seconds.

For whatever reason, Saban/ Smart like to use Safeties at the Money and Star positions (star= extra DB in nickel, money= extra DB in Dime). We could borrow a few pages from Seattle and Coach Pete Carroll. I love the way they run Cover 3 and still get pressure with their down linemen.

Bama Lee said:

For whatever reason, Saban/ Smart like to use Safeties at the Money and Star positions (star= extra DB in nickel, money= extra DB in Dime). We could borrow a few pages from Seattle and Coach Pete Carroll. I love the way they run Cover 3 and still get pressure with their down linemen.

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That is partially true, but Javy was our Money guy in 2008 and 2009. DQ Menzie moved to the slot in 2011, too. Those positions have really depended on the personnel. Geno Smith played his freshman season at CB and has transitioned to safety.

My memory is playing tricks on me, but didn't Javy Arenas play Free Safety at times. I do remember (now that you have written it) that Dequan Menzie played corner.

bamaslammer said:

I'll go on record that any defense that takes Ragland off the field will be the defense with their head hanging low as the clock ticks off the final seconds.

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I'll preface my agreement w your above statement w the fact that I am lovin' this thread because y'all's technical knowledge is eons ahead of mine.

So, while, in my admittedly elementary way, I've been really impressed w what I've seen of Ragland lately, I have to defer to the powers-that-be as to who gets onto the field this Saturday.

Jess N's prediction has - understandably - served to augment my concerns about the game, but I'm trying to repose some confidence in what I'm hearing about the "pulse" of the team since hangin' on to win last Saturday's game...

JustNeedMe81 said:

I wonder if they can make a push real quick to put pressure on HIll... make him screamble a little.

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I know that was a simple typo, but it conjured up a mental image of Kenny Hill screaming as he runs for his life from the pass rush.
I'd love to see Kenny Hill "screamble."
"Aahh!! Where did that guy come from?!?!"

Play more dime than nickel, I think. Rotate rushers every chance we get. Hope that some of the A&M WRs continue to drop passes. We cannot just sit back and let Hill pick us apart like he did to USCe.

Also, a big help for our D would be long, time-consuming drives by the offense. I hope that doesn't come off as smart alecky, but I really think part of our defensive strategy is to keep our D off the field.