Thoughts on QB situation after Game 5?

[LeBron47]

It’s almost hilarious to read some comments on here. It is clear there is an agenda to pick apart our team especially at the QB position. Our defense is playing lights out shutting down teams in three of four games and even in the loss to Texas they were efficient except in the fourth quarter when turnovers placed them in impossible positions.

Offensively the team has improved. Defense has been stellar. Ole Sis just put up 55 on LSWho after barely managing 10 against us. Will we win in a shoot out? Personally if we protect the ball and play ball control offense we will never be in a shoot out.

it isn’t popular because while defense still wins championships, Offense puts more fans in the seats. Younger generation wants to see passes all over the field more points on the score board and play fast. The ”number one“ team (if the CFP came out today the “top five” would look very different) offense doesn’t look overwhelmingly different than ours except when playing FCS type talent.

Is this the Mac to Smith connection or the Tua to Williams or BY to whomever there? No, but as STARTERS only one of those three won a national title. So I say let’s be who we are a run first offense with passing second and play tough defense. If we do that we will not lose three to four games this season. There may be some tight games left (TAM and Kentucky will be close) but for the rest UT, LSwho, and Barney we should win by 7-14 points. We can still finish regular season 11-1 or at worst 10-2 in either situation it puts us in Atlanta with a shot at the CFP conversation.

 

[LeBron47]

This is an old quote from Mike Leach, I'll leave right here.

"The biggest, which is hard to pinpoint, because it's kind of a collection (of things) is how good they do as far as elevating the players around them. But you start with are they accurate and do they make good decisions. If they can't do that, then you can't get past square one. They've got to be able to do that."

In great deference to “the Pirate” how many national titles has he won? How many head to head games has he won against Alabama or any major power? How many number one classes has he recruited. Heck how many major bowls has he been head coach in and won?

He is a great guy and wonderful with the one liners. I miss him, however a great evaluator of talent he is not. Frank Howard had good one liners too. I will leave you too google.

 

[davefrat]

In great deference to “the Pirate” how many national titles has he won? How many head to head games has he won against Alabama or any major power? How many number one classes has he recruited. Heck how many major bowls has he been head coach in and won?

He is a great guy and wonderful with the one liners. I miss him, however a great evaluator of talent he is not. Frank Howard had good one liners too. I will leave you too google.

In all fairness, there are great coaches who never won a championship...and there are really bad coaches who have won a championship.

 

[HighlandOak]

I don’t like it, but it is what it is. We clearly don’t trust the QB to throw, or we would have had more than 4 passes at halftime and 12 pass attempts total. I am concerned that the next time we get behind in a game or have to keep scoring to stay ahead, the wild passes and poor decisions will come back to the forefront and we will have a bunch of back breaking turnovers or 3&outs. But like I said it is what it is, the coaches have decided to stick with this route so it’s ride or die. We will see how it plays out. Next big test is A&M at their place.

Unless you're a wishbone team, and we're not, this lets you know everything you need to know about our starting QB.

 

[Scobaman]

BTW, it was pointed out last night during the complaint thread that MSU's passing defense is one of the worst in the country. You know when we actually threw our 1st pass of the night? At about 13 minutes left in the second quarter!!!

I bet you'd have to go back to the Ken Darby years to find a game we didn't throw a pass in during the 1st quarter!

Why would we NOT be passing MSU to death if that's their weakness especially if we have a QB that needs passing reps??? Why? I think it's pretty obvious.

How do you beat decent SEC teams with that kind of deficiency at the most important position on the team?

This may be who we are this year, run the ball and run the clock. In the 3rd quarter, there was less than 3 minutes left when Miss State began their 2nd possession.

 

[rolltide_21]

When I stop yelling at my TV "THROW THE BALL AWAY!", I will feel better about the QB siuation.

Or “TUCK AND RUN!”

To me, if he addresses this issue he will develop from a solid QB to a good one. I feel like we’re only using 10% of his potential. Sark would have us scoring and much more efficient. I don’t think Rees knows what to do.

 

[DrollTide]

Milroe needs to understand that the constant threat of 50yd QB keepers are going to open up his passing opportunities. Also, throw the daggum thing away instead of eating a sack.

 

[Bama9001]

If you're just throwing the ball away do we have to be concerned with lineman down field? Perhaps he's being coached to hold on to the ball if it's more than XX seconds.

Maybe we've been hiding what JM can really do in preparation for this game. We'll unleash the full fury on the Aggies.

 

[Tidelines]

It’s almost hilarious to read some comments on here. It is clear there is an agenda to pick apart our team especially at the QB position. Our defense is playing lights out shutting down teams in three of four games and even in the loss to Texas they were efficient except in the fourth quarter when turnovers placed them in impossible positions.

Offensively the team has improved. Defense has been stellar. Ole Sis just put up 55 on LSWho after barely managing 10 against us. Will we win in a shoot out? Personally if we protect the ball and play ball control offense we will never be in a shoot out.

it isn’t popular because while defense still wins championships, Offense puts more fans in the seats. Younger generation wants to see passes all over the field more points on the score board and play fast. The ”number one“ team (if the CFP came out today the “top five” would look very different) offense doesn’t look overwhelmingly different than ours except when playing FCS type talent.

Is this the Mac to Smith connection or the Tua to Williams or BY to whomever there? No, but as STARTERS only one of those three won a national title. So I say let’s be who we are a run first offense with passing second and play tough defense. If we do that we will not lose three to four games this season. There may be some tight games left (TAM and Kentucky will be close) but for the rest UT, LSwho, and Barney we should win by 7-14 points. We can still finish regular season 11-1 or at worst 10-2 in either situation it puts us in Atlanta with a shot at the CFP conversation.

I would not consider ” an agenda to pick the team apart “ funny at all. I would guarantee you that everyone voicing THEIR concerns would love for Milroe to succeed. The picture isn’t rosy as you paint it.

 

[irvingtontide]

If you're just throwing the ball away do we have to be concerned with lineman down field? Perhaps he's being coached to hold on to the ball if it's more than XX seconds.

Maybe we've been hiding what JM can really do in preparation for this game. We'll unleash the full fury on the Aggies.

If we are hiding something that was pretty dumb of us to keep hiding it in the Texas game

 

[KrAzY3]

I forget where it was, but I read a comment somewhere about the notion that the receivers are likely unhappy because they came to Alabama expecting to do more.

But, part of the problem lies with the receivers and that shouldn't be glossed over! Last year, with a Heisman winning quarterback a #1 overall pick, the top receiver had 677 yards!

In the championship game the year prior, Alabama was desperate for someone to step up (like Smith did in the previous championship game). None of the young receivers did! Instead, we got some drops in big moments. I think we've kind of forgotten about all the drops in practice, but it's hard to establish a real strong relationship with receivers that keep dropping the ball.

I can't say the talent isn't there, but I can say it hasn't emerged. Alabama went from Julio, to Cooper, to Ridley, to Jeudy, to an embarrassment of riches (Smith, Ruggs, Waddle, Williams and Metchie).

Now? This team doesn't have a thousand yard reciever , this team doesn't have a thousand yard rusher, and it shows.

I really hope to see someone kind of emerge and take over, not just at QB, but at WR and RB as well, but if it's mainly a one man job it's not going to be easy...

 

[Cruloc]

In great deference to “the Pirate” how many national titles has he won? How many head to head games has he won against Alabama or any major power? How many number one classes has he recruited. Heck how many major bowls has he been head coach in and won?

He is a great guy and wonderful with the one liners. I miss him, however a great evaluator of talent he is not. Frank Howard had good one liners too. I will leave you too google.

Whether a coach has won a national title or not does not mean he doesn't know how to coach or evaluate QB talent. Here are QB's that played under Leach...either as a head coach or OC or QB coach.

Tim Couch....#1 draft pick 1999
Josh Heupel
Kliff Kingsbury

I'm not listing all his QB's that hold passing records or are very high in passing record lists. That would include multiple QB's from Texas Tech and Washington State over the years.

Now, let's include his coaching tree.....which includes two I listed above....

Lincoln Riley - USC
Sonny Dykes - TCU
Dave Aranda - Baylor (made a name for himself as DC at LSU)
Dana Holgorsen - Houston
Neal Brown - WVU (made a name for himself at Troy)

The guy could coach, he won at places that weren't known for winning before he got there.

 

[BamaMoon]

Is it his mechanics that cause his issues with accuracy?

In our first game, IIRC, Jordon Rodgers broke down JM's footwork and he attributes almost every one of his faults to that and timing of the QB dropback.

Uber talented QBs like Mahomes and BY can throw from any position by altering the feet or arm position, but most QBs need their feet under them. Certainly, this applies to JM.

This is an old quote from Mike Leach, I'll leave right here.

"The biggest, which is hard to pinpoint, because it's kind of a collection (of things) is how good they do as far as elevating the players around them. But you start with are they accurate and do they make good decisions. If they can't do that, then you can't get past square one. They've got to be able to do that."

Good quote. We already know about the accuracy/decision issues, but te part about making everyone around you better is part of the issue. The offense, after 5 games, is just as hit and miss as it was against after the aberration that was MTSU. We got a lot of false positives and grins and giggles from that performance, but some of the problems showed up even in that game.

Against MSU, a terrible passing defense, we don't have the confidence to let JM pass the ball until the 2nd quarter? This was a game to "get better" and we would have been tied 17-17 if not for the MSU QB throwing to the wrong color jersey in the 1st half. And then in the second half we had to settle for FGs and couldn't finish drives??? This is against MSU, which isn't a good team.

Those who want to whistle past the graveyard regarding the woes of the offense are welcome to do it, but until things improve, I can't do it.

 

[Coach D]

It’s almost hilarious to read some comments on here. It is clear there is an agenda to pick apart our team especially at the QB position.

Well yes and this is a QB thread. lol but I think everyone agrees the defense has been far improved and not really picking it apart much.

It seems like anyone defending or talking up Milroe is just trying to be hopeful more than honest and that’s fine. You just can’t use his stats as that doesn’t even tell half the story. Unless you include drives stopped because of indecision which adds to pressure on the defense. Still waiting on wow throws or throwing a guy open or to the right spot.

He is a great person and from all reports works hard and says the right things. But he is not mentally able to play QB at a big time program. He has not shown improvement just become more indecisive now. He can’t read quick throws and then holds the ball and either runs out of bounds or sacked. He can’t read and won’t throw medium routes. Before anyone says he did this past game is was due to holding ball and waited for a wr(TE in this past game) to be wide wide open. He has not shown the ability to throw to a tightly covered guy and throw a guy open. Unless that changes he is below avg QB but is helped by his athletic ability.

always will pull for him and hope the lights come on.I will say Simpson in the few throws he has done he has made 3-4 throws or ball placement that Milroe has not shown he can do. But that’s not to say he wouldn’t turn the ball over or is a better option just that he as far as ability has made a few better throws. Even his incomplete pass this past game was thrown to a spot Milroe hasn’t and with a trajectory that he hasn’t. Not saying can’t but hasn’t shown the ability.

 

[Toddrn]

This may be who we are this year, run the ball and run the clock. In the 3rd quarter, there was less than 3 minutes left when Miss State began their 2nd possession.

State used the first 6 min of the 3rd scoring a TD.

 

[Coach D]

I forget where it was, but I read a comment somewhere about the notion that the receivers are likely unhappy because they came to Alabama expecting to do more.

But, part of the problem lies with the receivers and that shouldn't be glossed over! Last year, with a Heisman winning quarterback a #1 overall pick, the top receiver had 677 yards!

In the championship game the year prior, Alabama was desperate for someone to step up (like Smith did in the previous championship game). None of the young receivers did! Instead, we got some drops in big moments. I think we've kind of forgotten about all the drops in practice, but it's hard to establish a real strong relationship with receivers that keep dropping the ball.

I can't say the talent isn't there, but I can say it hasn't emerged. Alabama went from Julio, to Cooper, to Ridley, to Jeudy, to an embarrassment of riches (Smith, Ruggs, Waddle, Williams and Metchie).

Now? This team doesn't have a thousand yard reciever , this team doesn't have a thousand yard rusher, and it shows.

I really hope to see someone kind of emerge and take over, not just at QB, but at WR and RB as well, but if it's mainly a one man job it's not going to be easy...

To me I think I have seen 3 guys that are better than last years that could possibly 1000 yard guys but obviously won’t be given the chance this year. I think I have seen more hard catches made this year than all of last year already. If BY was playing this year he would have been much happier than last with a better oline and better defense lol

 

[KrAzY3]

.I will say Simpson in the few throws he has done he has made 3-4 throws or ball placement that Milroe has not shown he can do.

Sure Simpson is a better (intermediate) passer... but Simpson has been at Alabama a couple years and until recently was third string for a reason.

Did you really watch his game against Alabama's worst opponent? He was not good. He got sacked 5 times, his QBR was 20.

There's a lot more that goes into playing the position and Alabama was barely treading water against a horrible team when he was in the game. He just isn't the guy, may be in the future but there's only one QB that Alabama actually looked competitive with but it wasn't Simpson.

To me I think I have seen 3 guys that are better than last years that could possibly 1000 yard guys but obviously won’t be given the chance this year. I think I have seen more hard catches made this year than all of last year already. If BY was playing this year he would have been much happier than last with a better oline and better defense lol

That's just speculation with nothing to base it on. What I consistently heard about during practice was all the receiver drops so I'm not going to imagine any of them into high draft picks until one of them plays like it.

We know it's not Brooks, Burton, Prentice, Law, or Bond because they were all there last year, so I guess you're saying it's Hale, Benson (two 60 yard receivers) and a tight end? Sounds very imaginative on your part.

Where were these guys when Simpson was in the game?

 

[bamadws56]

"Against MSU, a terrible passing defense, we don't have the confidence to let JM pass the ball until the 2nd quarter?"

I keep seeing people say this. It's not true. WE did have the confidence to let him pass. JM just never actually threw the ball. He held it and ran around. Do you think he got sacked handing it off?

 

[WMack4Bama]

This is not a defense of Milroe. But Georgia has played a bunch of cupcakes and squeaked by a weak Auburn team. So how good or bad Beck is remains to be seen.

Beck has a cheat code at his disposal that we don't have. Throw it anywhere in the vicinity of 18 and good things will happen.

 

[TideEngineer08]