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2017 Week 8 Game Week Thread (Practice Reports, Press Conference Updates, etc.)

TiderJack

TiderJack

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B1GTide said:
If you practice certain plays all week, you run those plays. You are not totally tied to them, but you risk mistakes if you start calling plays that have not been practiced in weeks. In the NFL, the entire playbook is available every week. At the college level, the playbook is much more limited on a week to week basis. So you are correct, but so is Intl - it is a risk, and it can result in a loss if the other team really plays well on defense.
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I believe this was part of the issue Saban had with Kiffin in the Washington game. You go in with a package of plays for each game and you rarely run or don't run plays that were not in that week's package.
 
G

gtgilbert

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B1GTide said:
Sure, but what Arkansas did seems to have been totally out of character for them. So Daboll had to make adjustments to his game plan, including calling plays that left RBs in the backfield to help with protection when they had not practiced those plays. Arkansas was run blitzing on almost every play, and they were coming from everywhere.
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yep, and it's not like 'blitz' means just one single thing to deal with. Could be LB, S, CB, one extra, two extra, zone blitz, overload blitz etc, etc. The response to all of them is potentially different, and requires a different set of tools in the toolbox to deal with them. Like Jonah said in the interview, once they had an idea of what was coming, they made the right adjustments and handled it reasonably well after that.
y
 
Intl.Aperture

Intl.Aperture

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TIDE-HSV said:
IDK. I think we at times play with as bland and vanilla offense and defense as we can and reveal as little of the playbook as possible. It seems to me that, in those games where we're playing vanilla (hand tied behind back?), we sometimes seem reluctant to trot out the plays which would work against the other team. Is that disagreeing with you?
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I can't be sure because I can't know what plays we AREN'T deploying to counter whatever resistance the opposing team is offering. To narrow my point I do NOT think we would purposefully hamper our protection of the QB in order to maximize it later.

I DO believe there are plays we only see in very special circumstances. Take Ardarius Stewart's forward passes - we only saw that twice last year if I recall (SELMA!!!??)

I would also say there is a fundamental difference in withholding specific plays from the offense and failing to scheme for blitzes that are negatively affecting the QB. We have seen much discussion on this board of how the Hogs defense was able to hamper the passing game of Hurts from pressure. Pressure can eventually generate sacks or potentially turnovers. I don't think Saban would allow that aspect of the game to be adversely affected, given it's importance, in order to have a better chance against stiffer competition.
 
rgw

rgw

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So in Saban's press conference, I couldn't tell if he was hoping for the right question to launch into a diatribe or if he was just disinterested in all the questions. His attitude almost seemed like "well, I hope our guys respect this team or we're gonna have another Vols before the bye week struggle"
 
TIDE-HSV

TIDE-HSV

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TiderJ said:
I believe this was part of the issue Saban had with Kiffin in the Washington game. You go in with a package of plays for each game and you rarely run or don't run plays that were not in that week's package.
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It was worse than that. He was so impaired he was calling terminology the kids had never heard of...
 
TIDE-HSV

TIDE-HSV

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Intl.Aperture said:
I can't be sure because I can't know what plays we AREN'T deploying to counter whatever resistance the opposing team is offering. To narrow my point I do NOT think we would purposefully hamper our protection of the QB in order to maximize it later.

I DO believe there are plays we only see in very special circumstances. Take Ardarius Stewart's forward passes - we only saw that twice last year if I recall (SELMA!!!??)

I would also say there is a fundamental difference in withholding specific plays from the offense and failing to scheme for blitzes that are negatively affecting the QB. We have seen much discussion on this board of how the Hogs defense was able to hamper the passing game of Hurts from pressure. Pressure can eventually generate sacks or potentially turnovers. I don't think Saban would allow that aspect of the game to be adversely affected, given it's importance, in order to have a better chance against stiffer competition.
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I think that TiderJ is essentially correct. They only have 20 hours a week to practice. It's natural that the playbook expands as the season progresses and the kids get more familiar with it. That said, I do think they withhold certain plays which don't work well without an element of surprise or deception. The Ardarius pass and things like double reverses are examples. For some reason, they seemed reluctant against the Hogs to pull out the quick-hitters, etc., in the first half, although those plays are in the book. And, as JW said, they adjusted. They just didn't expect ARK to change their whole defensive strategy...
 
TIDE-HSV

TIDE-HSV

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rgw said:
So in Saban's press conference, I couldn't tell if he was hoping for the right question to launch into a diatribe or if he was just disinterested in all the questions. His attitude almost seemed like "well, I hope our guys respect this team or we're gonna have another Vols before the bye week struggle"
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He seems to have given up the battle. That pic of Wilson and another player smoking cigars last year which hit Twitter may have done the trick. They've put this one in the book, in their minds. I hope they can walk the walk...
 
RTR91

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rgw said:
So in Saban's press conference, I couldn't tell if he was hoping for the right question to launch into a diatribe or if he was just disinterested in all the questions. His attitude almost seemed like "well, I hope our guys respect this team or we're gonna have another Vols before the bye week struggle"
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Checked Twitter after the presser and found some of the beat writers providing some funny takes as the presser was happening...

https://twitter.com/abc/status/920788309873496064

https://twitter.com/abc/status/920788369839411200

https://twitter.com/abc/status/920789383443353606

https://twitter.com/abc/status/920789521872113665

https://twitter.com/abc/status/920789778181877760

https://twitter.com/abc/status/920790231074398208

https://twitter.com/abc/status/920806023064981505

Here's the video for those that have not seen it. I noticed when WSFA played a clip he was staring straight at the camera. He usually looks at the reporter asking the question. He clearly wanted to get a message across this week.

 
RTR91

RTR91

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TIDE-HSV said:
He seems to have given up the battle. That pic of Wilson and another player smoking cigars last year which hit Twitter may have done the trick. They've put this one in the book, in their minds. I hope they can walk the walk...
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This quote might be too late in the week, but I suspect it'll be some motivation for the defense.

 
rgw

rgw

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Kinda get the vibe that a struggle win could be on the horizon from that presser but Tennessee is pretty dang bad...
 
B1GTide

B1GTide

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Guys, Saban doesn't need "the right question" to launch into one of his rants in which he is trying to send a message to his players. Those "answers" are almost never directly tied to the question asked. If Saban wants to rant, he is going to rant. He must not have felt the need.
 
Intl.Aperture

Intl.Aperture

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B1GTide said:
Guys, Saban doesn't need "the right question" to launch into one of his rants in which he is trying to send a message to his players. Those "answers" are almost never directly tied to the question asked. If Saban wants to rant, he is going to rant. He must not have felt the need.
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Agreed. Saban says what he wants when he wants. The press are giving themselves too much credit.

If Alex Byington was the one who asked that last question about Ruggs then "Yes" he was disappointed in your stupid question and "No" it wasn't because he wanted to make a different point.
 
rgw

rgw

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The Ruggs questions was one of those where he was asking for "some color" because the journalist was clearly writing something about the player and wanted a positive quote from Nick Saban. I think it was intentional because he doesn't want these young guys getting so much hype and increased expectations. Just wants him to go run routes and catch.
 
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