Great pix, but not buying it. Not close to a 'Great performance against a "quality' opponent?'
Florida was little more than a quality punching bag
Great pix, but not buying it. Not close to a 'Great performance against a "quality' opponent?'
I wasn't saying Florida was a quality opponent. I was saying those three are three reasons to expect the front seven to be great this year.Great pix, but not buying it. Not close to a 'Great performance against a "quality' opponent?'
Florida was little more than a quality punching bag
Mel Kiper has Robinson the top junior DT available for the 2016 draft, Reed the #2 or #3 senior DT and Allen the #3 junior DE. I would think Pettway, Lake and Tomlinson will all get drafted as well. So when you have 6 NFL draft eligible picks you expect it to be great and most talking heads agree. I know we gave up a lot of rushing yards against OSU and the Barn but up until these games we were very good against the run. I think those 2 games will serve our DL well in getting prepared to be a great DL this year. Sack totals were not great but our system dictates job responsibility which cuts down on huge sack#'s.I hope I'm proven wrong. But why do we expect our defensive line to be great? They're good, but when has this group had a great game against a quality opponent? Frankly, I think we make the repeated mistake of assuming that all players on a Nick Saban team will improve year to year. Happily, that happens with some of them. But it is not guaranteed.
Brad, for the front seven to be special they have to be better than last year. Starting with the second quarter of the Tennessee game, our performance took a dive against teams with decent offenses. That's an important piece of the body of work we carry into the coming season.If everyone plays to potential, yes - this could be the best. But the secondary will have to be light-years better than last year. That said, this front seven should be special, and that takes a lot of pressure off the secondary.
See RTR91's post above. The athletes are there.Brad, for the front seven to be special they have to be better than last year. Starting with the second quarter of the Tennessee game, our performance took a dive against teams with decent offenses. That's an important piece of the body of work we carry into the coming season.
True. I recognize most of them. From last year.See RTR91's post above. The athletes are there.
At the end of the day Alabama was #12 in total defense last year. We can only hope that the returning players have improved and some of the new/younger players step up..True. I recognize most of them. From last year.
139 of those came on 2 plays. they had 44 rushing attempts. we held them to a very respectable 3.5 ypc on 42 attempts. and the 2 big plays were on the linebackers, particularly depriest. he whiffed on the 54 yard run in the 1st quarter when he shold have just run the guy out of bounds for a 5 yard gain. on the 85 yard touchdown play, depriest let himself get blocked by the same big crackback block that took out hamilton, when if he too a correct angle on that play it goes for 3 yards. our d line played very well in that game, especially the 4th quarter where we pinned them in the endzone time and time again. turnovers and big plays killed us, like all year. if the light has truly come on for foster, he will be a huge upgrade over depriest in physical ability. ragland will be the best lb in the country, hamilton has lots of ability and smarts, dillon lee has all the tools, just needs to put it together in his final year, tim williams and evans have the potential to be the best olb tandem in the country. i think our corners are going to be much improved and ball hawing (everywhere mel tucker has coached hes had an aggressive secondary that gets ints and attacks the ball). im really only concerned with our safeties, mostly just converted cornerbacks and a very promising true freshman.Everywhere that I read, folks are very positive on our defense...and especially our defensive front. However I have a hard time getting our last outing out of my mind where we allowed 280 yards rushing.
Upshaw? Anders?I just wish we had a dominant pass rusher. The kind that gets a for sure 10+ sacks a season. Who was the last pass rusher like that that we had?