Alabama 'Special' Teams Woes - How do we fix this?

B1GTide · Nov 19, 2018

jashleyren2 said:
I think many of us here have a nagging gut feeling that a title will not be won if kicking doesn't somehow get "average" in the next few weeks. Maybe before then.

I know that many do, but I do not. I really believe that you are going to win every game by 14+ points.

TideEngineer08 · Nov 19, 2018

B1GTide said:
I know that many do, but I do not. I really believe that you are going to win every game by 14+ points.

Short of something catastrophic, this is exactly what is going to happen. Also complacency/over confidence setting in but I doubt seriously that will be an issue with what is at stake in the remaining games.

RollTide_HTTR · Nov 19, 2018

TideEngineer08 said:
Short of something catastrophic, this is exactly what is going to happen. Also complacency/over confidence setting in but I doubt seriously that will be an issue with what is at stake in the remaining games.

Idk I think maybe Clemson and Georgia are capable of giving us a real game.

B1GTide · Nov 19, 2018

RollTide_HTTR said:
Idk I think maybe Clemson and Georgia are capable of giving us a real game.

Georgia is not as good as last year's team while Alabama is better. Had Tua started that game, you would have won by 20+.

Clemson is a legit team, with a legit defense. But they have not played a legit offense this year, and their QB is a true freshman who struggles when he is pressured.

Michigan has a legit defense, but I expect little more from their offense than LSU offered.

Yeah, these are good teams, but Alabama is just on another level.

RollTide_HTTR · Nov 19, 2018

B1GTide said:
Georgia is not as good as last year's team while Alabama is better. Had Tua started that game, you would have won by 20+.
Clemson is a legit team, with a legit defense. But they have not played a legit offense this year, and their QB is a true freshman who struggles when he is pressured.

Michigan has a legit defense, but I expect little more from their offense than LSU offered.

Yeah, these are good teams, but Alabama is just on another level.

I think you are possibly right but you never know when it comes to the games actually being played. I agree on Michigan I just don't see their offense doing much.

Clemson is the team that "worries" me most but again I agree with your assessment(Lawrence is clearly talented but he's not Tua). I also mostly agree on Georgia but I just think they have the talent to make it more of a game than it probably should be.

Again, I think its possible we beat everyone this year by 2 tds or more but I can also see Georgia or Clemson making it a game.

rgw · Nov 19, 2018

B1GTide said:
Georgia is not as good as last year's team while Alabama is better. Had Tua started that game, you would have won by 20+.

Clemson is a legit team, with a legit defense. But they have not played a legit offense this year, and their QB is a true freshman who struggles when he is pressured.

Michigan has a legit defense, but I expect little more from their offense than LSU offered.

Yeah, these are good teams, but Alabama is just on another level.

Georgia's biggest problem is that they have a pass rush that is worse than the low point under Kirby Smart here in 2013 (beginning to think that is partly his fault schematically). Georgia Tech is not gonna help their stats much in that regard, so they could finish the regular season with under 20 sacks.

As the LSU and MSU defenses showed, you can be a really good unit in pass defense like LSU but if you can't heat up the quarterback like MSU then you will get thrashed by Tagovailoa and this receiving corp. Especially considering that Tua looks like he has his legs back now.

jashleyren2 · Nov 19, 2018

we may look back, in day in the future, and WISH kicking was our only problem.

Signed,
Someone who went to U of A from 1993 to 1997.

rgw · Nov 19, 2018

jashleyren2 said:
we may look back, in day in the future, and WISH kicking was our only problem.

Signed,
Someone who went to U of A from 1993 to 1997.

Right now we wish we had Jamie Christiansen or Leigh Tiffin from my years in undergrad.

TideEngineer08 · Nov 19, 2018

rgw said:
Right now we wish we had Jamie Christiansen or Leigh Tiffin from my years in undergrad.

Cinderella said it best. Don't know what you got, 'til it's gone.

GrayTide · Nov 19, 2018

Jeremy Shelley did not have the strongest leg, but he was automatic up to 40 yards, beyond that no way. The last great kicker we had was Philip Doyle. When he lined up I knew it was good. Leigh Tiffin was very consistent and had pretty good length. I said in another thread, let Austin Jones kick PATs and chip shot FGs, let Bulovas handle the longer kicks and kickoffs.

B1GTide · Nov 19, 2018

GrayTide said:
Jeremy Shelley did not have the strongest leg, but he was automatic up to 40 yards, beyond that no way. The last great kicker we had was Philip Doyle. When he lined up I knew it was good. Leigh Tiffin was very consistent and had pretty good length. I said in another thread, let Austin Jones kick PATs and chip shot FGs, let Bulovas handle the longer kicks and kickoffs.

Jones lost his job because he missed PATs.

FThomas · Nov 19, 2018

GrayTide said:
Jeremy Shelley did not have the strongest leg, but he was automatic up to 40 yards, beyond that no way. The last great kicker we had was Philip Doyle. When he lined up I knew it was good. Leigh Tiffin was very consistent and had pretty good length. I said in another thread, let Austin Jones kick PATs and chip shot FGs, let Bulovas handle the longer kicks and kickoffs.

Tiffin was an All-American and a finalist for the Groza award in 2009. so, he would qualify as great in my book (even forgiving the Arkansas game freshman year). Micheal Proctor also had all-American and all-SEC credentials.

GrayTide · Nov 19, 2018

Forgot Michael Proctor, he was very good. Still think Doyle was the best of them all.

tideindc · Nov 19, 2018

TideEngineer08 said:
Could it be that the football gods have said, look, you've got the greatest coach in the history of the game. And he's also the best recruiter in the history of the game. Oh and he's going to be able to tolerate coaching turnover in his staff better than anyone else in the history of the game. By the way, you've also got a ton of money, so your facilities are always top notch. We're just not going to let you have a decent kicking game. I'm sorry. You're going to win a ton of national championships. Heisman trophies, too, and look you didn't have any of those before Coach Saban, right? So look, we're going to make your kicking game suck. And if you really amp things up and have an excellent offense to go along with your soul crushing defense, we are really going to make your kicking game suck.

I mean, that's as logical as anything else. Might as well accept or fate and win every game by at least 3 TDs.

Post of the Year in my opinion. Especially now that we have a dominant qb...the Man Upstairs will not allow perfection down below...no kicking or punting this year.

BamaInBham · Nov 19, 2018

tusks_n_raider said:
Yep.....^^^

In last year's NCG when ole 'Shakey-Leg' came on to the field to try and kick a game winning CHIP SHOT FG.......he looked like he had just seen about 50 Ghosts followed by 100 hoards of Zombies.

Other than JK Scott it seems like every Kicker we sign is shaken up (or SHOOK as the kids like to say) from the moment they put on the uniform.

I understand the frustration and I understand hyperbole but Bama has had several kickers who would not fit that profile: Tiffin, Shelley, Griffith, Fitzgerald, Mandell and as you mentioned Scott. Probably 10 of CNS' 12+ years Bama has had at least decent place-kicking and the same for punting. Even this year JB is 11-15 in FGs with good range. The frequency of PAT misses from both kickers, including snap and hold, is a head-scratcher.

No one disagrees that things can improve.

JDCrimson · Nov 19, 2018

FThomas said:
Tiffin was an All-American and a finalist for the Groza award in 2009. so, he would qualify as great in my book (even forgiving the Arkansas game freshman year). Micheal Proctor also had all-American and all-SEC credentials.

The 2yrs we had with Neal Thomas were pretty consistent too.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

bamaga · Nov 19, 2018

Well, we Could hire a special teams coordinator.

tusks_n_raider · Nov 19, 2018

GrayTide said:
Forgot Michael Proctor, he was very good. Still think Doyle was the best of them all.

He was AMAZING until CGS took his weed away his senior year.

2-Time All-American, 3-Time All-SEC, He led the NCAA in FG's made in 1993, and was #2, #1, and #3 In the SEC in FG's made for 92'-94'.

My favorite memory was him kicking the ultimately game winning FG against UGA in the 29-28 1994 Win. That was the Duel between Barker and Zeier where Jay threw for 396 yards to Zeier's 263.

Michael Proctor was the last Kicker we had where I was NEVER nervous about a kick.... *until his weed prohibited SR year* ...lol

Alabama 'Special' Teams Woes - How do we fix this?

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