i hate to play the what if games with injures, but good lord, bo was hitting a groove when he got his leg broken.
Make Your Case for Our Offensive Philosophy for Next Year and Beyond (Not about QBs)
- Thread starter BamaMoon
- Start date
No doubt.
And it's hard to argue that JH didn't make an amazing play to get us in position to win that game!
However, I think the handwringing then and now is with better offensive efficiency (ball control, making 3rd downs at a higher rate, passing more productively, etc) all these close games would have probably been comfortable wins. In other words, we should have never been in the position to need our defense to stay on the field that long and there's no reason why the offense shouldn't be pulling their weight more often than not in these games.
They don`t have to be mutually exclusive. You can still throw the ball with a power running game. Personally. I`d just like to see an offense in which the majority of carries were by the RBs and not the QB. I believe that right now we have the talent and skill sets to do that effectively.
This.
Spring-boarding from Earle's comment into...
With Bama's personnel, the RPO offense could be legendary, but Bama runs it so run heavy, and often QB run heavy, that it's just not what it could be. You absolutely have to effectively option to the pass more often or good defenses will play man and crowd the box, as we've seen over the last quarter of the season...
In reality, RPO, pro-set, triple-option - none of that matters. Either you execute and make the right reads or you don't. None of them are silver bullets and Bama has the athletes to make any offensive scheme be absolutely deadly - but the OL has to handle the blocks, the QB has to quickly and efficiently read / react to what the defense is doing, and the skill players have to handle their business whether it's selling a route, picking up a block, or carrying the ball.
This Bama squad has been one of the more frustrating teams I've ever watched - I don't think they make as many mistakes as other teams, but they always seem to make them at the most inopportune times. It seems lie every penalty was an absolute killer for us over the last few games. Combine that with inconsistent OL play, seemingly slow reads by the QB, etc, and you need up where Bama is now - the most athletically gifted team in the country and likely not in the playoffs.
Run first and ask questions later, Or is it shoot first and ask questions later I get them mixed up. Oh well
Running the ball hasn't been the problem. We have run the ball more this year than I think any other year under Saban, as far as run-pass ratio goes. We have run for over 200yds in a loss and a few close games. It is how and when we are running the ball that is odd (QB centric). I would much rather see us get back to a balanced offensive approach. We used to pride ourselves in having almost the exact same run plays as pass plays in a game- stats used to read 52 runs/53 passes for almost every game. But we have been pretty ineffectual at passing the last two years to the point where teams don't respect the pass and just sell out on the run. We have become one dimensional when facing good defenses, and it shows as our offense stagnates and our 3rd down percentage is abysmal.
Just my opinion, but having watched these Bama teams over Saban's tenure, it seems that despite the offensive philosophy, the one thing that dictates offensive success during a game has been whether or not the team wins on first down. Winning would be gaining 5+ yards on first down. It sure seems to me that if Bama can't win on first down, the offense almost throws away second down by going to a predictable play call and setting up a long third down, which over Saban's tenure, Bama has not converted at a high rate.
I know that when Blake Sims was the QB, his legs, and the freedom to run the QB if needed, helped the team avoid losses on plays that fell apart. So I don't know if going to a strictly drop back passer would be beneficial. I also don't think that asking Hurts or whomever else is the QB to stay in the pocket and deliver the ball, even with the pocket collapsing, is too much to ask either.
I know that when Blake Sims was the QB, his legs, and the freedom to run the QB if needed, helped the team avoid losses on plays that fell apart. So I don't know if going to a strictly drop back passer would be beneficial. I also don't think that asking Hurts or whomever else is the QB to stay in the pocket and deliver the ball, even with the pocket collapsing, is too much to ask either.
Here is a chart I made with some rushing stats. Bama has run the ball more this year than ever before and by a pretty big margin - yet Bama has been negative in TOP for the first time in a long time. Odd.
| 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | |
| Rushing Yards/Game | 265 | 245 | 199 | 206 | 248 |
| Rushing Yds/Attempt | 6 | 5.75 | 4.67 | 5.1 | 5.8 |
| Rushing Attempts/Game | 44 | 42.6 | 42.8 | 40.5 | 35.4 |
| Rush TDs/Game | 3 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 2.1 |
| Run/Pass % | 65.70% | 60.30% | 59.00% | 55.60% | 56.10% |
| 1st down % by rushing | 59% | 59.70% | 51.80% | 47.5%% | 50.10% |
| TOP | 29:50:00 | 30:55:00 | 33:35:00 | 31:44:00 | 32:00:00 |
That's with all offenses. If you watch enough pre game analysis regarding "What does team so and so need to do to win?" you'll hear the term "win on first down"/"Don't get behind the chains" come up over and over. I'm sure statistics show that each time an offense makes less than 5 yards on 1st down their chances of getting a first down drops dramatically compared to getting 5 or more yards on first down.
My memory maybe fuzzy but it seems Blake Sims held out longer in the pocket before he decided to tuck it and run. Granted, there were times when he drop back and due to a free man coming, tucked it and ran. But outside of that I don't thing he tucked it and ran quite as quick as JH. But then again, since Jalen is such a superior runner, the staff may have instructed him to not sit there and until running is the last option. If he has a lane to take off. Who knows?
Appreciate your work on that. One question: Is "first down by rushing" a measurement of how many times we "rushed" to gain a first down vs. "passed" for first down.
2016 and 2017 are roughly 10% higher than the years before. If I'm reading this right it means we are running more and passing less to get first downs?
Coach Jeff,
I believe the explanation for this is that we've married ourselves to the up tempo philosophy, and coupled with our talent which has the propensity for explosive plays, has resulted in this negative TOP ratio.
In other words, we are now boom or bust. And since we are up tempo a lot of the time, when we fail a possession, we don't burn any time off the clock.
I believe the explanation for this is that we've married ourselves to the up tempo philosophy, and coupled with our talent which has the propensity for explosive plays, has resulted in this negative TOP ratio.
In other words, we are now boom or bust. And since we are up tempo a lot of the time, when we fail a possession, we don't burn any time off the clock.
It means when we got a 1st down it was because we ran for it instead of passing for it. That includes getting 1st downs on 1st or 2nd down, not just converting 3rd downs.
Makes sense. Also may explain why we struggle with first downs against better defenses too. I think Engineer is right in explaining the TOP issue.
Bama is averaging 67 plays a game on offense. That's the first time we've been under 70/game since Nussmeier was OC.
I think Time of Possession can be misleading. If a team runs 60 plays and on average takes an extra 2 seconds longer to snap the ball than the other team does then it can skew time of possession.
I think total plays matters more.
I think total plays matters more.
That is a good point. Maybe I'm off a bit. This is anecdotal, but I just feel like we've had a lot more failed possessions this year than usual.
Also, other teams have started to slow play us a lot. For example, MSU would use up almost all the play clock in their game against us. Seems like Auburn didn't go fast as much as they usually do, though they didn't slow the game down to the extent MSU did.
I don't know. It is a weird stat.
Yeah, they were doing what we should have been doing rather than trying to run at a pace that we aren't very proficient at running. Running the HUNH doesn't produce the same results as running the HUNH effectively. We do better when we slow down, get to the line, make sure everybody's set then hike the ball.
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