Before I start this edition of my blog, let me state that I didn’t actually get to see the game live. ESPN Gameplan inexplicably blacked it out in Atlanta, so I was forced to listen to it via a streaming feed I found on the Internet. I saw most of it on the replay, at least enough of it to get the gist of what happened.
First, yes I am disappointed in the way we played. I know that Houston has a good offense, and a difficult scheme to defend, but seriously, at the end of the game, I think they would have scored a TD on 100 out of 100 drives, and there is really no reason for our defense to be that clueless. Yes, I know that they didn’t score on the last drive when the game was on the line, but I think that was really more a lack of clock management on their part than it was a defensive stop on our part.
But I’m not going to spend this blog entry blasting the secondary, John Parker Wilson, or the offensive line (all of which deserve it). Instead, I want to talk about the good things that I saw, at least the things that give me hope. Let’s start with the defense. Did you notice how in general our scheme is getting more and more aggressive? We ran lots of blitzes throughout the game, zone blitzes, man-to-man blitzes, line stunts, the whole she-bang. For the most part, we got decent pressure on the QB. However, we typically took poor rush lanes toward the QB, enabling easy escapes, and even on those occasions where we brought the heat and kept our lanes, our tackling was poor. I really think this is an evolution, and we’ll improve as time goes on (Saban will see to it). Also, did you notice that often we would bring pressure, but the QB was able to find a WR wide open before we could get to him? That’s a clear indication of Saban’s lack of confidence in the secondary. Those blitzes are most effective when coupled with press man-to-man coverage, but of course that combination is risky, especially when your corners aren’t very good (and we definitely have a weak link there). As our secondary improves, expect our pressure defense to become very effective. I think Kareem Jackson will be a lock-down corner for us, but the other side is still up for grabs. T.J. Bryant, are you listening???
On offense, I do think that our OL is improving. I know people expected us to be great there, but those people were really dreaming. Remember, even though we brought back our starters from last year, last year we fielded the worst OL in the history of college football, and to expect them to go from horrendous to great in one year was just not realistic. Next year they should be pretty good, but this year will be tough, especially with UT, LSU, and AU looming.
As for Wilson, I know that he’s led some comebacks this year, but he also led to the necessity for those comebacks. I know; it’s not all his fault, but a good QB can really mask a lot of other problems, and that’s not happening this year. We have Greg McElroy as a backup, but I don’t know if he’s the answer. His arm is a little stronger than Wilson’s (of course, my niece Olivia also has a stronger arm than Wilson), but it’s hard to say how he’d react in game situations. I keep hoping Wilson will improve, because I know we’ve seen him play better, but if it doesn’t happen soon, we’ll need to try someone else. However, I do think that the only chance we have against the upcoming big boys is with an improved Wilson, so we should probably stick with him.
We’re now 4-2, exactly where I predicted we’d be at this point, though I have to admit that the Arkansas and Houston games were harder that I expected, and the Georgia game was closer than I expected. We have Ole Miss next week, and if you don’t think they can beat us, you haven’t been watching. Whenever you have a defense that’s prone to completely fall apart, and an offense that can go into multiple-quarter-long funks, you’re beatable, and that’s certainly the case with us. Plus, Ole Miss is pretty good. They have a very good RB, and a solid QB. They have a lot of talent on defense, and even though they haven’t put together a complete game yet this year, if they do, we could be in trouble. Yes, I think we’ll win, but it should be close, around 24-21.
Check back next week for my summary and comments!
Kenny