Is Dylan Moses playing hurt?

[DogPatch]

Even if he was a QB spy against KY, there were plenty of times when he was in pursuit of a runner and he looked to be running half speed.

To play devil's advocate here for a second, is it possible he WAS running half speed on purpose so as not to over-pursue a runner and be able to contain a reverse in direction?

I have no idea and didn't watch the game. Just a thought.

 

[B1GTide]

To play devil's advocate here for a second, is it possible he WAS running half speed on purpose so as not to over-pursue a runner and be able to contain a reverse in direction?

I have no idea and didn't watch the game. Just a thought.

That is why I was saying that I would have to watch again. It is possible that he was doing his job and had another responsibility. But on one run that I saw the RB was past the LOS. At that point he has one job - tackle the ball carrier.

 

[CrimSonami]

Players won't forget what happened last year, especially Mac Jones. This sets up well for players to shine in that game. I expect Mac to have a big day as well Najee Harris AND THE RB committee. They will be ruthless.

Has Gus ever used TE this year in the offense?

I won't be surprised at all if we have 2 RB's with 100+ yards in this game. Mac will get his but I expect CNS will revive the "Make His Ass Quit" in this one. That barn D-Line ain't what it was last year.

 

[B1GTide]

I won't be surprised at all if we have 2 RB's with 100+ yards in this game. Mac will get his but I expect CNS will revive the "Make His Ass Quit" in this one. That barn D-Line ain't what it was last year.

Depends on what they do with their safeties. If they play them in a deep cover 2 in order to avoid huge passing plays by Alabama - yeah - Najee will have a HUGE day. UK tried that and it contained your passing game, but they had no answer on the LOS once Alabama figured out their run filling plan. The result - Alabama had 4 different RBs score TDs.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

UK actually has a very, very good running game. Their QB (Wilson) is as good a passer as Nix, and is as good a runner (maybe better). But Auburn has better receivers - much better receivers.

My point was that Alabama was confused by the eye candy early on and they fixed that. It took 20 minutes of game play, but they fixed it. Now the question will be - do you step into the Auburn game playing as relaxed as you were after you adjusted, or do you have to go through that all over again - adjusting?

JMO, but I don't think it matters. Alabama is scoring ~50 in that game, and Auburn will be lucky to score 17.

My fear with Auburn and our DC, by the time the adjustments are finally made they will have put 14-21 on the board in the first quarter and driving to score going into halftime.

 

[BamaMoon]

To play devil's advocate here for a second, is it possible he WAS running half speed on purpose so as not to over-pursue a runner and be able to contain a reverse in direction?

Not what I'm talking about...in pursuit of a runner downfield

I have no idea and didn't watch the game. Just a thought.

That is why I was saying that I would have to watch again. It is possible that he was doing his job and had another responsibility. But on one run that I saw the RB was past the LOS. At that point he has one job - tackle the ball carrier.

Yes, past the LOS OR occasionally running to the boundary (after the possibility of a reverse or QB keep). Just jogging behind the play a few times when other defenders are running full speed in pursuit.

These are the instances I don't understand what's going on

When he gets lost in the middle of the field, I think that could be due to indecisiveness or overthinking (from being the playcaller).

 

[CrimSonami]

Depends on what they do with their safeties. If they play them in a deep cover 2 in order to avoid huge passing plays by Alabama - yeah - Najee will have a HUGE day. UK tried that and it contained your passing game, but they had no answer on the LOS once Alabama figured out their run filling plan. The result - Alabama had 4 different RBs score TDs.

Always value your input and I agree. From what I've seen, in my limited watching auburn games, I don't see their front seven stopping our run game and they simply can't afford to pull the safeties up to help without getting blistered over the top. As you stated earlier the UK game was the perfect lead-in to this Iron Bowl for Bama.

 

[gtgilbert]

My fear with Auburn and our DC, by the time the adjustments are finally made they will have put 14-21 on the board in the first quarter and driving to score going into halftime.

In one of the interviews with Saban, he actually mentioned they spent a lot of the week preparing for opponents other than Kentucky - i.e. we knew we could just out athlete KY for the most part, so we spent the time elsewhere and knew we would have to adjust in the KY game...

 

[Bamabuzzard]

In one of the interviews with Saban, he actually mentioned they spent a lot of the week preparing for opponents other than Kentucky - i.e. we knew we could just out athlete KY for the most part, so we spent the time elsewhere and knew we would have to adjust in the KY game...

I just have flashbacks of the fifteen times the camera panned over to the sidelines during one of Ole Miss' 50+ yard offensive plays and seeing the look of "Mama come get me" on Pete Golding's face.

 

[crimsonaudio]

To play devil's advocate here for a second, is it possible he WAS running half speed on purpose so as not to over-pursue a runner and be able to contain a reverse in direction?

I have no idea and didn't watch the game. Just a thought.

On the one play that sticks in my mind, no - the play was outside and he was passed by 312# Phidarian Mathis chasing the play. He was running half-speed, as if he figured it wasn't worth trying to catch the RB that was a few yards downfield and 10 yards to his outside.

 

[Con]

I just have flashbacks of the fifteen times the camera panned over to the sidelines during one of Ole Miss' 50+ yard offensive plays and seeing the look of "Mama come get me" on Pete Golding's face.

That was what I hope to be the low point of our year on Defense. Heck, we could only get better after that night.

 

[OakMtn4Bama]

First quarter will be a three ring circus. When we have seen all of the Kitchen sink, and the adrenaline burns off, we should be ok. No voodoo allowed.

 

[UAH]

Care to expand? If KY could have scored in the redzone the first half would have probably ended with us tied or only leading by 3-7 points.

They moved the ball up and down the field on us, but imploded near the goal line. If we play Auburn like this and they move the ball like this, they'll score because they have better skill players.

FWIW, I thought the defense regressed and looked more like they did in the first couple of games.

To me they certainly did look that way the first three Kentucky drives. I posted earlier that, in response to Kentucky pre-snap movement the defense was either wide open in the middle or lost contain altogether to the wide side of the field. I had posters here take issue with that so I took a look at some NFL defenses in terms of how they handled containment on the edge. They were focused on pressuring the passer and containing the run inside the tackles. As you say a good SEC back is going to make the defense pay if they break contain outside or hit an inside gap where they are one on one against a slower LB.

 

[TiderJack]

I just have flashbacks of the fifteen times the camera panned over to the sidelines during one of Ole Miss' 50+ yard offensive plays and seeing the look of "Mama come get me" on Pete Golding's face.

I certainly understand the Ole Miss flashbacks but they are doing it to everybody. We have looked so much better in our last 3 1/2 games and I think we are improving dramatically. We all know Auburn will have at least 5 trick plays and their tempo gives us problems so I don't expect domination but I know it won't be another Ole Miss.

 

[bamaga]

Care to expand? If KY could have scored in the redzone the first half would have probably ended with us tied or only leading by 3-7 points.

They moved the ball up and down the field on us, but imploded near the goal line. If we play Auburn like this and they move the ball like this, they'll score because they have better skill players.

FWIW, I thought the defense regressed and looked more like they did in the first couple of games.

I don’t think Dylan is playing his best football either. He had a rough start to the season, seems to improve. Then with the layoff he seems to be playing a little sub par. But slow or not, the team only allowed 50 yards in the last 3 quarters. And 174 yards for the game.

 

[TiderJack]

Care to expand? If KY could have scored in the redzone the first half would have probably ended with us tied or only leading by 3-7 points.

They moved the ball up and down the field on us, but imploded near the goal line. If we play Auburn like this and they move the ball like this, they'll score because they have better skill players.

FWIW, I thought the defense regressed and looked more like they did in the first couple of games.

I pretty much disagree with just about everything in this post Moon. Bending but not breaking is a sign of good defense and that is what we did.

Your last sentence is just not accurate and if you think giving up 3 pts and 170 total yards is regressing in today's football then you are not looking at it right. I'm not sure what your expectation is.

The one point I do agree with you on is the Barn's skill players are better than UK. We won't hold them to 3 pts and 170 yards but we will win the game comfortably.

 

[BamaMoon]

I pretty much disagree with just about everything in this post Moon. Bending but not breaking is a sign of good defense and that is what we did.

If KY hadn't shot themselves in the foot we would have given up a lot more than 3 points and KY isn't a great offensive team with great talent (especially compared to Auburn's skill players, even though I think BN is pretty average).

"Bend don't break" may be the new mantra for college defenses today, but if we give Auburn 3 first down and goals in the 1st quarter they'll score more than 3 points. And that doesn't even account for all the TOP they'll have moving between the 20's, which keeps our offense off the field.

 

[TiderJack]

If KY hadn't shot themselves in the foot we would have given up a lot more than 3 points and KY isn't a great offensive team with great talent (especially compared to Auburn's skill players, even though I think BN is pretty average).

"Bend don't break" may be the new mantra for college defenses today, but if we give Auburn 3 first down and goals in the 1st quarter they'll score more than 3 points. And that doesn't even account for all the TOP they'll have moving between the 20's, which keeps our offense off the field.

Yep, we would have given up 9 pts on two missed FG's instead of 3 pts and we would have won 63-9. I am going to look at the really quality three quarters we played and not harp on an average 1st quarter.

Bend don't break was around when I was playing football in the late 70's so it is not new. You are probably right if we do the same against the Barn they will score more than 3 pts. I believe our defense will do a good job and keep them in the 20 pt range and we will score a lot.

 

[B1GTide]

Yep, we would have given up 9 pts on two missed FG's instead of 3 pts and we would have won 63-9. I am going to look at the really quality three quarters we played and not harp on an average 1st quarter.

Bend don't break was around when I was playing football in the late 70's so it is not new. You are probably right if we do the same against the Barn they will score more than 3 pts. I believe our defense will do a good job and keep them in the 20 pt range and we will score a lot.

Another important point - it is very hard to score in the red zone. With the field shrunk, defensive players have less field to cover and the offense has fewer ways to spread the field.

There is a reason that teams are able to move freely between the 20s and bog down in the red zone.

 

[Jay Hughes]

If KY hadn't shot themselves in the foot we would have given up a lot more than 3 points and KY isn't a great offensive team with great talent (especially compared to Auburn's skill players, even though I think BN is pretty average).

"Bend don't break" may be the new mantra for college defenses today, but if we give Auburn 3 first down and goals in the 1st quarter they'll score more than 3 points. And that doesn't even account for all the TOP they'll have moving between the 20's, which keeps our offense off the field.

I would love to hear your prediction for this game. Think Auburn is going to hang a bunch of points on this terribly regressed Bama defense? I think that you are probably a half glass empty guy. Maybe I am wrong. You want to say if this happened or if that happened, then this might have happened. Well, I don't know what might would have happened, but I do know what DID happen.

Bama defense played a subpar (for Bama) first quarter which is completely understandable considering the long layoff. Afterwards, they played three quarters of great defense and should have you, me and every Bama fan excited about the butt kicking that is about to commence on Saturday.

My prediction is Bama 52-16

Auburn gets 1 TD and 3 FGS