QB difference between this year and years past?

It's almost like if you're just trying to 'not lose' the game or manage it effectively, it has an opportunity to be ineffective and also hinder your defensive game plan. I'm not saying let's go out there 5-wide outside the numbers and Aggy air raid, but using our weaponry is nice and made it a lot easier to play defense when we weren't turning the ball over.

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It's almost like if you're just trying to 'not lose' the game or manage it effectively, it has an opportunity to be ineffective and also hinder your defensive game plan. I'm not saying let's go out there 5-wide outside the numbers and Aggy air raid, but using our weaponry is nice and made it a lot easier to play defense when we weren't turning the ball over.

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I agree. We are still balanced in our attack. I remember at one point their being 30 passes and 30 runs. We are just far more explosive and creative in how we do things. We are too conservative which I feel stalled many drives in the past.

I use to hate seeing that.

My frustration with our offense in the last few years has been that it seems like we have depended on having superior talent in order to have success on the offensive side of the ball instead of outscheming. While we watched spread teams neutralize talent gaps by finding mismatches, our offense just sort of plodded along and tried to force our players to adapt to our system instead of the opposite. We have all of this talent but could never take advantage of it like spread teams seem to be able to do.

This year is different. We are utilizing our talent and Kiffin is constantly looking for mismatches. I'd like to think Kiffin came in, looked at our playbook and said "Nick, this isn't 2003 anymore." It also helps that our QB is mobile and doesn't throw it into the 10th row once the pocket collapses. It also helps that we have the best WR in UA history catching passes from him.

That said, Sims is making throws we never really saw AJ make. Never thought I'd be saying that.

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That said, Sims is making throws we never really saw AJ make. Never thought I'd be saying that.

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This is true. I can't remember how many times I saw AJ throw beyond a receiver. Used to piss me off. Sims, actually, throws a really good deep ball. Not the strongest arm but puts it out there and allows the player to try and make a play.

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This is true. I can't remember how many times I saw AJ throw beyond a receiver.

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This use to anger me to no ends. That overthrow against Auburn last year still haunts me.

He overthrew so many in his career.

That's why it is funny to me when people try to hold it against Sims for hitting open receivers deep. As if that is a bad thing or an easy thing. Not easy, especially for the receiver who knows if he drops it, he is the donkey.

I think you're underselling some of the progress that has been made with Bama over the last few years. Nobody would have called the '09 team an offensive juggernaut. 2010 was a distinct improvement. The '11 team was clearly famous for its defense, but the offense was actually quite good. Nussmeier kicked it up a notch and gave McCarron far more freedom to gunsling. And now Kiffin is improving things even more. I suspect the real trend is that Saban has been adapting and demanding a more versatile offense for at least 5 years, and hiring/coaching accordingly.

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He is kind of taught to do that though on long balls.

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I'm not so sure about this. I've heard that a lot of QBs will slightly under throw the pass to allow their big athletic receivers a chance to make the play. If he doesn't catch it, there will likely be a PI call.

I will say I don't know if this is how it is taught but, a lot of the color guys will say something to this affect during games. G Danielson even said something about it Sat.