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Noting Some Positives from VT Game

BamaMoon

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
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I know there's been plenty of hand-wringing over the o-line issues, but there are several things to note that were positives:

1. After watching the replay Landon Collins was in on almost every tackle on kick off coverage. Dude is a beast!!!

2. AJ's Long ball accuracy - despite being hurried all night long he still laid the ball out beautifully on a number of passes that were dropped. One was too AC and hit him right in stride and AC heard steps from safety and dropped it. The other I remember was to #88, O.J. Howard, who had a guy hanging all over him and couldn't pull in the reception. Of course the TD pass to Christian Jones was a thing of beauty. I expect we'll see more of these throws against TAMU.

3. Altee Tennpenny and Derek Henry - We just got a brief glimpse of AT on that one play late in the game, but when he broke into the open you could see he'll be a good one. Not much to say about Henry in a positive way. Had a couple of mental breakdowns in blocking coverage and the two times he got the hand off he was immediately tackled. However, AJ was telling him what he did wrong on one play where he was supposed to release for a screen play and didn't. I imagine next time Henry will get it right and if he would have released he had all kinds of room to run after the catch. Can't wait to see his 4.3 speed in the open field!!!

4. Of course the defense was great all night long!!!

5. And a big shout out for Cody Mandell. He's made huge strides and his very good year last year may be a great year this year. He certainly got too much work against VT, but he'll be a true weapon this year!!!

Please add to this list...there has to be other positives!!!
 
Vinny was still Vinny. He's tremendous. I think Tenpenny could be the #2 RB (not sure what Drake's status is). He looked solid, but Henry does look like he might need to stick to mop-up duty until he figures a few things out.

Special teams play was fantastic, and considering that the team lost the main place kicker and a long snapper (who is in the NFL) that's a good sign. Hard to complain about the defense, it looked great and except for one play would have had a jaw dropping performance.
 
runtheoption22 said:
Henry does not run a 4.3, closer to 4.5-4.6
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Ah, could have sworn that was the scuttle-butt on Henry. 4.5 is still pretty fast for a 6-3' 235 lb. back!!!

Also I forgot a shout out to Cole Mazza, longsnapper!!! You would have thought that was Carson Tinker in there.
 
On the (not technically) dropped pass by OJ it looked like Henry released out of the backfield too early or ran his route too far inside because he was only a few strides behind OJ and I doubt the play was designed to have two receivers so close together.
 
So many positives...

Stinson looks ready for a great year.
Collins needs more playing time.
No serious injuries.
Our secondary looked really good
Jarrick looked good replacing Geno
 
When he learns the speed of SEC football, Henry will explode. He is the real deal, just needs to learn the system. Raw, pure, natural talent.
 
It appeared that busting runs to the outside was much more effective than the inside runs. Both of the 20+ yard runs were taken outside. The times the RBs were hit in the back field were due to inside pressure. I'm guessing that whoever was in charge of sealing the edge did a better job than the rest of the OL.

On the other hand it looked like our WRs could have had a field day on slants and screens. Their LBs weren't very fast and on one of Amari's catches he made several guys miss in the middle of the field.
 
I am going to give a positive that no one is going to agree with.

I stated, to some fellow Bama fans here last thursday, that, VT front 7 was as good as any front seven in the SEC and that Bud Foster was as good a Defensive coordinator as any in the country.

That said, for a young offensive line facing a Great d-line and Coach Foster, they didn't do that bad. Yes, there was some missed assingments, and 2 holding calls (against Cyrus of all folks, but he was pressing to help out the younger players IMO) but most teams make there biggest improvements between week 1 and week 2. Will they be as good as last years? I don't think so, but by mid-season they will be close. CNS & CMC (everyone is on him needs to back off) will have them ready. But there were some good things done by the line also, if you know what to look for you will see it, if not you want believe anything I said, but everything is correctable. ROLLTIDEROLL!
 
I thought the defense was excellent other than the long run. DB's held up very well too.

Collins was everywhere on special teams like you said, now we just need him to translate that to the defensive side and we're good to go!

A.J. looked good at times but at times you could tell there was something with the toe.

Henry does not run a 4.3, LOL. I could have sworn he ran a 4.45 at The Opening but I could be wrong on that, or that might have been Tenpenny I forget.

Mazza proved why we offered him a scholarship
 
JIB said:
It appeared that busting runs to the outside was much more effective than the inside runs. Both of the 20+ yard runs were taken outside. The times the RBs were hit in the back field were due to inside pressure. I'm guessing that whoever was in charge of sealing the edge did a better job than the rest of the OL. On the other hand it looked like our WRs could have had a field day on slants and screens. Their LBs weren't very fast and on one of Amari's catches he made several guys miss in the middle of the field.
Click to expand...
I was 50yd line upper deck so I had a good bird's eye view. I was shocked that we didn't run more quick slants or move the pocket and hit the short out routes to the TE or HB (LSU NCG). My thought all night was "Saban is sure stubborn - not wanting to get off our offensive game plan". I know VT front 7 were good, but it almost seemed like our coaches were telling the offense to just line up and keep doing it till you get it right.
 
I'll go against the grain a little bit, too. I thought Austin did a serviceable job on the right side of the line. For no particular reason, he was the offensive lineman I was most worried about. OK, so he wasn't the road grading run blocker Fluker was -- it's not like anyone should have been expecting that. On further review, he did fine and should get better. Be interesting to see another outing, but it'd be great to be comfortable with he, Steen and Vogler on the right side.
 
The biggest positive I saw was that the defensive front, in general, put way more pressure on the QB without us having to blitz.
They didn't get a ton of sacks but they were in his face all night. We really haven't had that type pressure, even in the last two championship years. That's big stuff to a fundamentalist like me.
 
Snuffy Smith said:
I was 50yd line upper deck so I had a good bird's eye view. I was shocked that we didn't run more quick slants or move the pocket and hit the short out routes to the TE or HB (LSU NCG). My thought all night was "Saban is sure stubborn - not wanting to get off our offensive game plan". I know VT front 7 were good, but it almost seemed like our coaches were telling the offense to just line up and keep doing it till you get it right.
Click to expand...
This is why I feel like the coaches intentionally "had a bad game." The offense never adjusted like it normally would and never ran the slants or screens to get the LBs over the LOS.
 
BigBama said:
So many positives...

Stinson looks ready for a great year.
Collins needs more playing time.
No serious injuries.
Our secondary looked really good
Jarrick looked good replacing Geno
Click to expand...


This is the main thing. We played A&M late in the year last year after numerous injuries. I am glad we are pretty fresh for this game.
 
Alasippi said:
The biggest positive I saw was that the defensive front, in general, put way more pressure on the QB without us having to blitz.
They didn't get a ton of sacks but they were in his face all night. We really haven't had that type pressure, even in the last two championship years. That's big stuff to a fundamentalist like me.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Affecting the pocket is probably even more advantageous for our squad than sacks because it will lead to interceptions with those ball hawks we have out there.
 
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