What happens if the offense can't score?

[JAXFLBAMAFAN]

What will happen if Greg McElroy struggles and can't move the offense? Will CNS stick with him throughout the game? Will he bring in Darrah? What do you guys think?

I'm thinking the offense comes out running the ball hard off tackle to take th pressure off of him. I'm thinking the passing game will have to wait for better field position just to be sure an int doesn't jeopordize the game.

 

[M2J]

We're definitely gonna be a running team this season, and I don't expect 2005 like struggles from our offense and expect GM to do a fine job. But I don't expect a QB change unless we have a problem with GM turning it over and costing us. I expect we keep it simple and our D will be the ones asked to really win the games.

 

[Tigerhater06]

If our defense is going to be as good as advertised this might be like the 92 season when if we scored 10 points then we won the game. In the 92 season there were a couple of games where the defense were the ones that scored the points we needed to win the game.

 

[JAXFLBAMAFAN]

The 92 defense had Eric Curry and John Copeland on both ends and they usually shook hands as the got off the pile with the QB at the bottom.

At this point our DE's are big unknowns.

I just know that the VT defense is not going to be a weak defense. They will be bringing it against a relatively new Bama O line.

I'm hoping the run game is strong enough to carry the team on the first drive and Julio can make a couple of catch and runs to take the pressure off.

 

[AthleticTrainer]

Then we ask the defense to do the scoring...

 

[bayoutider]

We're definitely gonna be a running team this season, and I don't expect 2005 like struggles from our offense and expect GM to do a fine job. But I don't expect a QB change unless we have a problem with GM turning it over and costing us. I expect we keep it simple and our D will be the ones asked to really win the games.

Bama will throw the ball this year bank on that. Our passing yds will be up from last season and so will our passing TD numbers.

 

[Hal Bennett]

I started to say what I have to say here on the "2009 poll" thread.

It has been my expereince that if Alabama has a defense, Alabama wins -- regardless of what the offense does or who the coach is. If the Alabama defense shuts down the other team, the other team nineteen times out of twenty doesn't win. Maybe twenty out of twenty.

We lost to Florida last year because the defense didn't stop Tebow in the fourth quarter. We lost to Utah because our defense didn't stop their offense.

I just read an LSU thread on Tigerrant.com, and it certainly seems to me that LSU fans are in a typical state of denial concerning Alabama football, when Alabama has a defense like most everyone is predicting. A lot of LSU people are saying that Ole Miss is the team to beat in the West this year. Well, if they are, they better have a better defense than Alabama does.

If you have great athletes, great coaching, and great depth on defense, you can bank on consistency. That seems to be what we have this year. The "holes" we have, everyone pretty well agrees, will not be on defense. Therefore, our offense cannot be banked upon as much as the defense. But as someone has said here, what of it? -- If the other team struggles to get into double figures, we will beat them every time.

The famous saying of Vince Lombardi when he met Bear Bryant: "People wonder how you win -- you do it by keeping the other team from scoring."

If this present Bama defense learns to stop a good spread offense, I foresee difficulty for anyone beating Alabama this year. It could happen, but it won't be easy.

 

[rgw]

I agree, comparing the 2009 defense to 1992 is a little much. All-time great defenses usually have dominant pass rushers, and despite Saban being an aggressive blitzing type of coach...our D has been in the middle of the pack in terms of sacks since he got here. I know sacks don't tell the whole story, a rushed throw is just as good in some cases and can lead to plays in the secondary. We know our front seven will challenge any team trying to run the ball, but the last two games showed that we still haven't found an elite pass rusher.

If a pass rusher does develop - and I'm sure this was priority number one for Saban this offense - we may see a defense that is all-time talk worthy. In fact, if the offense can not shoot itself in the foot and a edge rusher emerges...our team could be a bigger threat to Florida than last year's team. Our size seemed to affect Florida's defense until we were forced to pass...the difference in that game was not being able to stop Tebow in the backfield. I know that is putting the chicken before the egg with a big IF...but the off-season is a good time to ponder these things I guess.

 

[bayoutider]

I started to say what I have to say here on the "2009 poll" thread.

It has been my expereince that if Alabama has a defense, Alabama wins -- regardless of what the offense does or who the coach is. If the Alabama defense shuts down the other team, the other team nineteen times out of twenty doesn't win. Maybe twenty out of twenty.

We lost to Florida last year because the defense didn't stop Tebow in the fourth quarter. We lost to Utah because our defense didn't stop their offense.

I just read an LSU thread on Tigerrant.com, and it certainly seems to me that LSU fans are in a typical state of denial concerning Alabama football, when Alabama has a defense like most everyone is predicting. A lot of LSU people are saying that Ole Miss is the team to beat in the West this year. Well, if they are, they better have a better defense than Alabama does.

If you have great athletes, great coaching, and great depth on defense, you can bank on consistency. That seems to be what we have this year. The "holes" we have, everyone pretty well agrees, will not be on defense. Therefore, our offense cannot be banked upon as much as the defense. But as someone has said here, what of it? -- If the other team struggles to get into double figures, we will beat them every time.

The famous saying of Vince Lombardi when he met Bear Bryant: "People wonder how you win -- you do it by keeping the other team from scoring."

If this present Bama defense learns to stop a good spread offense, I foresee difficulty for anyone beating Alabama this year. It could happen, but it won't be easy.

Well said Hal. Bama's defense needs to get the other team's offense off the field as quickly as possible and Bama's offense needs to control the clock giving our defense time to stay fresh. When those two things happen good things happen for Alabama.

I was really serious when I said in an earlier post that Alabama's passing game will be much improved this season and not just a running team. McElroy will be hitting the TE, RBs and more than just Julio on pass plays. Greg has been showing he can find the open receiver and not make bad decisions.

 

[TommyMac]

Trust in Coach McIlwain. He's high on GMac and that's probably all that needs to be said. I have no doubts that our offense will be a worthy complement to our defense. :BigA:

 

[GulfCoastTider]

Well said Hal. Bama's defense needs to get the other team's offense off the field as quickly as possible and Bama's offense needs to control the clock giving our defense time to stay fresh. When those two things happen good things happen for Alabama.

I was really serious when I said in an earlier post that Alabama's passing game will be much improved this season and not just a running team. McElroy will be hitting the TE, RBs and more than just Julio on pass plays. Greg has been showing he can find the open receiver and not make bad decisions.

Ditto that. What Bama loses in senior leadership and experience, it should more than make up in better decision making and more talented receivers to work with. More talent than anytime in recent memory.

Not saying that McElroy won't have his WTH?!? moments, only that they'll be fewer and much farther between.

 

[mlh]

Two points to consider -- (1) while at Bama CNS has shown a tendency to stay with his starting QB, even when he's struggling; (2) CNS has hinted that there is a big delta between GMac and the other QBs. These two points make me think we will not see much of the other QBs unless GMac gets injured and CNS has no choice but to play one of them.

I think GMac will do well and by mid season we will be quite comfortable with him leading our offense. I expect to see him spread the ball around more than JPW did and I think that will result in more big plays from JJ. Probably fewer catches but more yards and more TDs. I expect to see us use the run to set up the pass but I expect the passing game to be really effective when we use it. We may throw the ball less than we did last year, but that will be due to the abilities of the OL rather than the abilities of the QB.

 

[AngryEwok]

Then we'll lose.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Two points to consider -- (1) while at Bama CNS has shown a tendency to stay with his starting QB, even when he's struggling;

I suspect CNS has forgotten more about coaching and athlete's psychology than you and I will ever know combined, so I'm willing to bet his 'tendency to stay with his starting QB' is because there wasn't a viable alternative...

 

[mlh]

I suspect CNS has forgotten more about coaching and athlete's psychology than you and I will ever know combined, so I'm willing to bet his 'tendency to stay with his starting QB' is because there wasn't a viable alternative...

Agreed.

 

[red55]

I just read an LSU thread on Tigerrant.com, and it certainly seems to me that LSU fans are in a typical state of denial concerning Alabama football, when Alabama has a defense like most everyone is predicting. A lot of LSU people are saying that Ole Miss is the team to beat in the West this year. Well, if they are, they better have a better defense than Alabama does.

Nobody is underestimating the Alabama defense, amigo. It's the offense that has question marks. Few schools have survived rookie quarterbacks like LSU has. We've had rookies like Matt Flynn and Jarmarcus Russell step up and perform at a high level and we've had rookies like Marcus Randall and Jarret Lee stumble badly. You just never know how your QB will perform until he gets in the game. Your new quarterback is not getting the benefit of the doubt just yet.

Frankly, in the SEC, you can't get away with an inconsistent quarterback, even with a basically solid team. LSU found that out last year. Bama has also experienced it in this decade. Ole Miss is getting high marks from everybody in the league, not just from LSU. The main reason is that Jevan Snead is the second-best quarterback in the SEC. It is a mistake to underestimate them.

There are a half-dozen teams in this league that can post 35 or 40 against a good defense on a good day. Once your quarterback shows that he can deliver that against top SEC defenses, the doubts will fade quickly.

 

[GrayTide]

I think we would all pretty much agree that the defense will have to carry the offense until the offense gets in sync. As for McElroy, I said before and I still contend that he will be a much more efficient QB than JPW, not necessarily any better but more efficient. The question mark is still how quickly will the OL jell. The OL has to play better if we are to be successful. I still think LSU is the team to beat in the SEC West. Ole Miss no doubt will be better but one thing is for sure they will not sneak on any team this year. If Nutt follows his historical pattern look for Ole Miss to be 7-5 or 8-4 at best.

 

[BamaInBham]

Nobody is underestimating the Alabama defense, amigo. It's the offense that has question marks. Few schools have survived rookie quarterbacks like LSU has. We've had rookies like Matt Flynn and Jarmarcus Russell step up and perform at a high level and we've had rookies like Marcus Randall and Jarret Lee stumble badly. You just never know how your QB will perform until he gets in the game. Your new quarterback is not getting the benefit of the doubt just yet.

Frankly, in the SEC, you can't get away with an inconsistent quarterback, even with a basically solid team. LSU found that out last year. Bama has also experienced it in this decade. Ole Miss is getting high marks from everybody in the league, not just from LSU. The main reason is that Jevan Snead is the second-best quarterback in the SEC. It is a mistake to underestimate them.

There are a half-dozen teams in this league that can post 35 or 40 against a good defense on a good day. Once your quarterback shows that he can deliver that against top SEC defenses, the doubts will fade quickly.

He didn't say that LSU fans were underestimating Bama's D, he said that they were underestimating Bama when it had a good D - there is a difference.

Also, Bama's D this year is far better than LSU's last year.

IMO, LSU not OM will be Bama's primary competition in the West.

 

[bamaslaw]

I started to say what I have to say here on the "2009 poll" thread.

It has been my expereince that if Alabama has a defense, Alabama wins -- regardless of what the offense does or who the coach is. If the Alabama defense shuts down the other team, the other team nineteen times out of twenty doesn't win. Maybe twenty out of twenty.

I'll say this - one thing that defensive teams MUST have is consistently excellent special teams. If you have a nasty defense (which we do, btw), all the offense really needs to do is get a couple first downs every drive, then punt them back in the own goalposts, get a good return and you're in FG range.

Looking at us, we have a dynamite returner - that is unquestionable. However, I'm not sure I have enough confidence in our punting and consistent placekicking to say we don't need an offense.

I'll take a great defense over a great offense 10 times out of 10 though.

 

[TRU]

"f you have a nasty defense (which we do, btw), all the offense really needs to do is get a couple first downs every drive, then punt them back in the own goalposts, get a good return and you're in FG range."

But how's the kicking game shaping up? Do you think that CNS will really want to rely upon Legacy Lee to win games for Bama?