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No team has stopped Najee Harris

TiderJack

TiderJack

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Najee has been impressive all season and he made himself some $ on Saturday. While he does not have elite speed, his pass catching skills added to his vision and footwork will make him a hot commodity in the NFL. I see him going in the 2nd/3rd round.
 
U

UAH

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TiderJack said:
Najee has been impressive all season and he made himself some $ on Saturday. While he does not have elite speed, his pass catching skills added to his vision and footwork will make him a hot commodity in the NFL. I see him going in the 2nd/3rd round.
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I believe if NFL GM's look at Nagee's attitude, blocking ability, passing catching ability, the size and strength to handle short yardage and goal line situations plus his durability he is a strong contender for teams looking to improve their run game.
 
Chukker Veteran

Chukker Veteran

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KrAzY3 said:
Bingo

No, it's not, I don't think a lot of people grasp what you're doing to your defense when you put them right back onto the field. It's not just that one play either, it's the cumulative effect.

This is probably hard for a lot of people to accept, but a slow methodical drive that results in 3 points can be better than a quick TD. That sounds nuts, but if you don't let your defense rest they might go back out there and give up a TD instead of getting a stop. You still want TDs obviously, but eventually the offense has to look at a one minute possession like it's giving the other team points. I said this and then checked the stats, and it's sad how true that statement is.

I went back and looked, Alabama had the ball for 1:10, LSU kicks a field goal. Alabama had the ball for 1:23 and LSU scored a touchdown. Alabama had the ball for 1:20 and LSU scored a field goal. Alabama had the ball for 1:41 and LSU scored a touchdown. Alabama had the ball for 15 seconds and LSU scored a touchdown.
Second half, Alabama had the ball for 1:15 and LSU punted the ball.

Just look at that. LSU scored 5 out of 6 times when Alabama's offense had the ball for less than two minutes. How can anyone not accept that short possessions were a factor? LSU won time of possession and the only reason they scored so much in the first half is because Alabama didn't run more time off the clock. Look at how much better the defense played in the second half when they just ran the ball more and took more time off the clock! Granted part of that is the result of more offensive success, but you set your defense up for failure if you're not doing anything to burn time off the clock.
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It seems to me any choice the coaches make can be second guessed afterward. (Krazy, I consider your info as more analyzing the game rather than second guessing.) And with any choice, the coach tries to weigh the upside verses the downside. A red hot passer means the defense will see more playing time and the running game will be de-emphasized.

I understand the decisions Saban has make...putting so many eggs in the passing basket, so to speak...and think he did as best as could be done in the situation. Going into this season, one aspect of this all out passing game that scared me was the issue of durability of the qb.

I was amazed at how Tua came out on fire after a slow first half, he obviously was playing through pain. However, I thought it was a long shot that he could make it through the season without getting slowed down by an injury.
 
KrAzY3

KrAzY3

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Chukker Veteran said:
I understand the decisions Saban has make...putting so many eggs in the passing basket, so to speak...
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I'm honestly not sure that's a choice Saban made. I'm not the biggest Xs and Os guy around here, but while surely he makes some choices, some choices are made by the OC and some choices are made by the QB in the moment. I can't and don't want to point fingers.

What I had hoped for though, was an offense was that protecting Tua more. Also, it's more important he avoid crucial mistakes early in big games, than trying to make a big play all the time. There are times that the gunslinger Tua is needed. Alabama needed him against Georgia in the championship game. Alabama needed him in the second half against LSU. There are other times in big games though, where his being a gunslinger just dug a hole for Alabama, and you can't really afford to do that against teams of that caliber. You can't force things, that's one reason I see more reliance on Najee early as being a safer approach.
 
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Chukker Veteran

Chukker Veteran

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KrAzY3 said:
I'm honestly not sure that's a choice Saban made. I'm not the biggest Xs and Os guy around here, but while surely he makes some choices, some choices are made by the OC and some choices are made by the QB in the moment. I can't and don't want to point fingers.

What I had hoped for though, was an offense was that protecting Tua more. Also, it's more important he avoid crucial mistakes early in big games, than trying to make a big play all the time. There are times that the gunslinger Tua is needed. Alabama needed him against Georgia in the championship game. Alabama needed him in the second half against LSU. There are other times in big games though, where his being a gunslinger just dug a hole for Alabama, and you can't really afford to do that against teams of that caliber. You can't force things, that's one reason I see more reliance on Najee early as being a safer approach.
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Not to nitpick, but in my book the man at the top gets the credit for decision making even if it's an indirect route like picking the OC who in turn made the decisions.

"The buck stops here" is an appropriate sign for a head coach's desk, in my humble opinion.
 
rolltide_21

rolltide_21

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Feeding Najee is going to be the key to beating Auburn. He’s really developed as the year has progressed. I don’t think his recent improvement and the return of 65 on the oline are coincidental [emoji6].


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Saban4Ever

Saban4Ever

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Main thing is to make sure Najee is healthy for Auburn. I would only play him one half of the Miss State game, then maybe 1 half or even 1 quarter of Western Carolina. Keep him fresh and healthy and get B Rob plus K Rob and Jerome Ford some carries. Auburn is the key. Not sure we can beat them at their place with a gimpy Tua and hurt Najee.
 
KrAzY3

KrAzY3

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Saban4Ever said:
Main thing is to make sure Najee is healthy for Auburn. I would only play him one half of the Miss State game, then maybe 1 half or even 1 quarter of Western Carolina.
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This is an interesting conundrum I've thought about some myself. Miss. St isn't very good, but they far from the worst team Alabama has played this year either. So, it's important Alabama has a good showing and put them away early. I'd hope the offense is far more balanced than the first half against LSU, where Alabama had Tua doing something on 20 of the first 28 plays and really exposed him to risk of further injury.

I've been hoping this for a while though, but gradually Najee is building up steam, so I'd hope to see a more balanced attack between Tua and Najee. If Alabama has a hangover from the LSU game, they might need to lean on Najee more than usual anyway. Hopefully they do build enough of a lead that neither has to be leaned on later in the game. That brings us to Brian Robinson. He simply hasn't gotten it going the past two years, and part of that is probably lack of carries, having said that he averaged a rather pedestrian 4.3 and 4.5 the past two years and has never cracked 100 yards despite having 10+ rushes 7 times. I'd love to see him get going, but I also am not sure how much of him I'd want to see until things are well in hand.
 
Cruloc

Cruloc

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Gonna miss Najee next year. Hes really come on this year. Gonna miss Tua and those WRs too.
 
BamaJama17

BamaJama17

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Sep 17, 2006
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While Najee is an All-American caliber player, he won’t make 1st team simply because too many other RB’s have put up insurmountable number already this year....unless he has like 1000 all purpose yards and 15 TD’s these last two weeks. However if he has a strong showing these final two games, he can certainly make 1st team All-SEC.
 
rgw

rgw

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Najee almost certainly will become a bigger focus of the offense in our remaining games. Whatever outside chance at a national title we have starts with him.
 
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Saban4Ever

Saban4Ever

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rgw said:
Najee almost certainly will become a bigger focus of the offense in our remaining games. Whatever outside chance at a national title we have starts with him.
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I agree. Hope he stays injury free.

Imagine if Trey Sanders could be ready for Auburn...
 
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