News Article: We Still Haven't Gotten Our Identity Back

AlexanderFan

Hall of Fame
Jul 23, 2004
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Birmingham
The identity will never be the same. As the rules for the offense become more and more lax, a stout, physical defense will fail more and more. There's no room for a mauling Terrence Cody in the middle. You can't have this freak inside rusher because he will get cut blocked, maybe even chopped, until he is ineffective. The way to slow these offenses down is not line play anymore. The game has changed irrevocably.

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bamaslammer

All-American
Jan 8, 2003
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If you think back to the 2010 Michigan State game. Under today's rules the entire starting defence would have been tossed from the game for essentially "hitting too hard". We can't play that game any more, we have to intimidate by always being in the right place, by not allowing mistakes to happen, by making it as hard as possible to score points. We could complain about the rules but until we are actually where we should be when we should be there the rest is sort of moot.

That sounds pessimistic but I'm actually high on the 2015 teams. The Defence is the most experienced we will have put on the field since 2011. If we get lucky with health issues I can see a very good season.
 
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scrodz

1st Team
Jan 29, 2008
430
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52
Baltimore, MD
Our "mojo" isn't running a specific D, or having specific types of players. It's knowing that we're the toughest team on the field, and we're going to pound the other team on both sides of the ball until they give up and quit (I'd quote CNS, but I'd get suspended). We're not there (yet)...
 

tusks_n_raider

Hall of Fame
May 13, 2009
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Mobile, AL
“We lost our focus. We had a letdown,” said Jones, an All-SEC performer in 2014. “We underrated the capabilities of our opponent. That’s not who we are.” - Cyrus Jones

There was some talk/chatter around the OSU game that our players were cocky. I just wouldn't believe it then so It really stings to see a player confirm it now. Man that whole quote bums me out.
 

92tide

TideFans Legend
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“We lost our focus. We had a letdown,” said Jones, an All-SEC performer in 2014. “We underrated the capabilities of our opponent. That’s not who we are.” - Cyrus Jones

There was some talk/chatter around the OSU game that our players were cocky. I just wouldn't believe it then so It really stings to see a player confirm it now. Man that whole quote bums me out.
that is inherent in being at the top. complacency/cockiness will set in, no matter how hard you try to prevent it. hopefully we can truly acknowledge that and prevent that from happening again.
 

ALA2262

All-American
Aug 4, 2007
4,977
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Cumming, GA
This says it all:

"And it should also be noted that, because Kiffin’s offense was successful and quick to score, and because of the struggles on third down, Alabama’s defense was on the field for a record 945 plays in 2014. By contrast the 2011 national championship defense was on the field for 720 plays."
 

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
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This says it all:

"And it should also be noted that, because Kiffin’s offense was successful and quick to score, and because of the struggles on third down, Alabama’s defense was on the field for a record 945 plays in 2014. By contrast the 2011 national championship defense was on the field for 720 plays."
I agree!!! That was the factoid that jumped out at me. We couldn't stop teams on third down last year like in years past. Consequently, our D couln't get off the field.

The question is "Was this a result of our quick strike O, or was it just a down year for our D?" That's the most intriguing question that will determine 2015's success IMO.
 

RollTide1224

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Feb 18, 2008
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I agree!!! That was the factoid that jumped out at me. We couldn't stop teams on third down last year like in years past. Consequently, our D couln't get off the field.

The question is "Was this a result of our quick strike O, or was it just a down year for our D?" That's the most intriguing question that will determine 2015's success IMO.
It was a down year for the defense. I remember plenty of times where we played great on first and second down only to get picked apart on 3rd and long. I don't see how the offense would possibly be the cause of that. I think it's a combination of our defense wasn't quite what it was particularly at DB and then that our schemes/tendencies have been figured out on defense. Teams knew where the pressure was coming on third down and were able to take advantage of it. I really hope this year we just rush our 4 or 5 and let them get to the QB rather than risk the house with this blitzes that we seem to do, particularly if the blitzes are going to be as poorly timed as they were last year.

I'm really hopeful that Reuben has had the light come on for him, to me he is the type of player that can bring back the attitude that Saban is searching for. We saw last year how he can energize our team and deflate the other team on multiple occassions. If he is able to do that on regular defense and not just kickoffs we could definitely have the attitude we need. His aggression is contagious and I think it could have a great effect on the defense.
 

92tide

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I agree!!! That was the factoid that jumped out at me. We couldn't stop teams on third down last year like in years past. Consequently, our D couln't get off the field.

The question is "Was this a result of our quick strike O, or was it just a down year for our D?" That's the most intriguing question that will determine 2015's success IMO.
jmho, it was a defensive issue. i think by the end of the season, opposing oc's knew our weaknesses and were able to exploit them, especially on 3d down. we really saw it in the barn, mizzou and osu games
 

92tide

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It was a down year for the defense. I remember plenty of times where we played great on first and second down only to get picked apart on 3rd and long. I don't see how the offense would possibly be the cause of that. I think it's a combination of our defense wasn't quite what it was particularly at DB and then that our schemes/tendencies have been figured out on defense. Teams knew where the pressure was coming on third down and were able to take advantage of it. I really hope this year we just rush our 4 or 5 and let them get to the QB rather than risk the house with this blitzes that we seem to do, particularly if the blitzes are going to be as poorly timed as they were last year.

I'm really hopeful that Reuben has had the light come on for him, to me he is the type of player that can bring back the attitude that Saban is searching for. We saw last year how he can energize our team and deflate the other team on multiple occassions. If he is able to do that on regular defense and not just kickoffs we could definitely have the attitude we need. His aggression is contagious and I think it could have a great effect on the defense.
we seemed really confused/slow on a lot of the blitzes last year.
 

bama579

Hall of Fame
Jan 15, 2005
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The Chukker or Archibalds
I agree!!! That was the factoid that jumped out at me. We couldn't stop teams on third down last year like in years past. Consequently, our D couln't get off the field.

The question is "Was this a result of our quick strike O, or was it just a down year for our D?" That's the most intriguing question that will determine 2015's success IMO.
These are not mutually exclusive. It was a combination of both. My opinion only.
 

RollTide1224

All-American
Feb 18, 2008
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we seemed really confused/slow on a lot of the blitzes last year.
It almost cost us the Arkansas game. Right before it was too late we decided to stop sending 6 people and just rush 4 using Evans and Williams and what do you know Arkansas couldn't do a thing. It was like we stopped them all night on first and second down with standard calls then would do an exotic blitz only to get burned for a first down.

We seemed to have issues with timing on blitzes as well as multiple of our players going into the same rush lanes. Several times this led to large QB scrambles. I'm hoping to see improved discipline on blitzes and quite frankly less of them given the pure pass rushers we have on the team.
 

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
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These are not mutually exclusive. It was a combination of both. My opinion only.
I agree that the quick strike O obviously put our D out on the field more, but the D definitely struggled on 3rd downs.

200 extra defensive plays from one year to the next is about like the D playing another 2 or 3 games. That's a lot!
 

92tide

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It almost cost us the Arkansas game. Right before it was too late we decided to stop sending 6 people and just rush 4 using Evans and Williams and what do you know Arkansas couldn't do a thing. It was like we stopped them all night on first and second down with standard calls then would do an exotic blitz only to get burned for a first down.

We seemed to have issues with timing on blitzes as well as multiple of our players going into the same rush lanes. Several times this led to large QB scrambles. I'm hoping to see improved discipline on blitzes and quite frankly less of them given the pure pass rushers we have on the team.
i had put that monstrosity of a game out of my mind
 

81usaf92

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Apr 26, 2008
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I agree that the quick strike O obviously put our D out on the field more, but the D definitely struggled on 3rd downs.

200 extra defensive plays from one year to the next is about like the D playing another 2 or 3 games. That's a lot!
That's a double edged sword. While people complain about kiffin's offense not being a "bama" offense and is to blame for this and that; consider if coach nuss or Mac were our oc last year how many games do we win. In this day of age you either have a suffocating defense or have a scoreboard lighting offense. We just didn't have the defense last year. I think kiffin is probably one of the biggest reasons that we were capable of coming back and beating the boogs. Until we have a defense that is suffocating offenses then we should probably thank our lucky stars that we have kiffin
 

ALA2262

All-American
Aug 4, 2007
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These are not mutually exclusive. It was a combination of both. My opinion only.
The statement itself confirms your opinion. "........ because Kiffin’s offense was successful and quick to score, and because of the struggles on third down, Alabama’s defense was on the field for a record 945 plays in 2014. "
 

teamplayer

Hall of Fame
Jul 31, 2001
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cullman, al, usa
This says it all:

"And it should also be noted that, because Kiffin’s offense was successful and quick to score, and because of the struggles on third down, Alabama’s defense was on the field for a record 945 plays in 2014. By contrast the 2011 national championship defense was on the field for 720 plays."
This is a point that I try to make with those who love Kiffy so much. Yes, his offense had some big plays and set records in the passing game. However, in many games we had several three and outs that were all incomplete passes where no time ran off the clock even though our running game was working. He often seems to pass just for the sake of passing. It seemed like it was either a quick strike score or a pass-pass-pass-punt most of the time, which wears out your defense. That doesn't seem to go along with our defensive minded toughness. It seems the game is moving toward the 60-57 type of games, though, so maybe Saban is just trying to adapt.
 

uafanataum

All-American
Oct 18, 2014
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This is a point that I try to make with those who love Kiffy so much. Yes, his offense had some big plays and set records in the passing game. However, in many games we had several three and outs that were all incomplete passes where no time ran off the clock even though our running game was working. He often seems to pass just for the sake of passing. It seemed like it was either a quick strike score or a pass-pass-pass-punt most of the time, which wears out your defense. That doesn't seem to go along with our defensive minded toughness. It seems the game is moving toward the 60-57 type of games, though, so maybe Saban is just trying to adapt.


If we had 2011 defense on the field then opposing teams would have scored less regardless of the number of turnovers our O got. The fast scoring offense may have contributed to the defensive struggles, but keeping the other team from scoring is still the defenses job at the end of the day. I think this year we still have a fast scoring offense, but our defense steps up and prevents other teams from scoring as much, proving that a team can have a good offense and great defense at the same time.
 

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