Does this defense have the potential to be the best ever during the Saban era?

RTR91

Super Moderator
Nov 23, 2007
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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
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.

Bama finished ranked 25 in tackles for loss with 96 total and 6.9 per game.

Bama finished ranked 4 in rushing yards allowed with 102.4 per game (that includes Ohio State's big total).

Bama finished ranked 61 in sacks with 31 on the season and 2.21 per game.
 

Nolan

Hall of Fame
Jul 4, 2006
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Alabama's defensive line is going to be good. Probably very good. There are a lot of capable guys to rotate in and out, of all body types. Overall, we are definitely more athletic there.

My concern isn't with the DL, or the LBs, really. It's whether we can cover man to man and defend passes that go 25+ yards downfield. Also, something was broken with our 3rd down defense last year. It KILLED us against OSU.
 

TiderJack

Hall of Fame
Jul 9, 2010
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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.
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.
 

crimsonaudio

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Sep 9, 2002
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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.
 

CrimsonEyeshade

Hall of Fame
Nov 6, 2007
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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.
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.
 

uaintn

All-American
Aug 2, 2000
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Barring a rash of injuries, I expect our D to be better, maybe even much better than last years.

I do not believe I will live to see another defense as good as 2011. Of course, I didn't think I'd see a receiver better than Julio Jones, either.
 

crimsonaudio

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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.
See RTR91's post above. The athletes are there.
 

CrimsonForce

Hall of Fame
Dec 20, 2012
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True. I recognize most of them. From last year.
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..



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BamaMark.

1st Team
Jun 21, 2012
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As long as this defense can get off the field on 3rd down it will be fine. In my opinion, two things need to improve to do this. The corners have to find the ball and pass rush needs to improve. I do think the corners will be better but I'm not sold on the pass rush yet. I know we have the talent on campus but this has been an issue for the last couple of years. I thought last season the defense had a chance to be one of Saban's best but in the end it wasn't close. I am cautiously optimistic that this one has a chance to be special though.
 

narddogg81

BamaNation Citizen
Mar 18, 2012
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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.
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.
 

rgw

Suspended
Sep 15, 2003
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This could be a really good unit. The safety positions getting solidified is the big thing for the defense becoming a great one.
 

RollTide1224

All-American
Feb 18, 2008
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Coach has straight out said the front seven is "very very good " the last person I can recall him offering that level of praise to was jk Scott.

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RollinTider1335

All-SEC
Jun 12, 2010
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The best defense in today's football is completely different than 5 yrs ago. The offenses are too potent now. We will be good! But we need to temper expectations regarding statistical accomplishments.
 
The potential is there. I expect the DL to be good, perhaps great along with the LB. That helps the corners and safeties out big time.

Last season's D wasn't bad until third down. Somehow we found out we liked staying on the field on D. I hope they have unlearned that.

CNS spoke here in Pensacola and said he really liked this team and where it is going. They have lots of buy in. I like what I hear.

I think I'm more concerned about the offense this year just like last year.


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Loam

All-SEC
Oct 20, 2014
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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?
 

Rama Jama

All-American
Jan 4, 2011
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I think the D-line rotation may be as good as we have ever had, the linebackers are good, but aside from Ragland are unproven every down players, and the secondary could be really good if the young'uns develop. This defense has potential and will be more athletic than last year (Depriest simply did not have the wheels). The safeties this year will be faster, but less experienced which will be a push, The CB's are fine on one side with Cyrus Jones, but someone needs to step up on the other side. Marlon Humphrey or Tony Brown IMHO. All in all, we have a lot of potential. As always, leadership and injuries will be the key just as it is with almost every team.

I think the defense will be much more aggressive than in years past and we'll won't necessarily substitute as much as we have situationally especially against HUNH teams. We will say my 11 are better than your 11. Assuming the ref's truly do watch for the illegal man downfield, I think we have learned from the end of the season how to defend the HUNH better.
 

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