About Our Offense

My concern is Kiffin's lack of patience in calling plays. He wants to force that long bomb 10 times a game when running the ball is working.

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My concern is Kiffin's lack of patience in calling plays. He wants to force that long bomb 10 times a game when running the ball is working.

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10 times is a bit of a stretch, but when teams are putting 8 and 9 guys in the box like MSU was doing, you have to take shots down the field. We haven't hit one of those since the Arkansas game though. Some of that is OL protection, some of that is WRs not getting open, and some is on Coker not pulling the trigger.

I fully expect AU to load the box and key on stopping Henry. Hopefully we can work on those long pass plays this week.

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Yeah, the post season will be filled with tight games with the way our Oline is so inconsistent.

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I think we need to be a little honest here. We are a one man offense. Now that one man is the best RB in the country and possibly the best back in UA history...but if Henry goes down or becomes a non-factor, where do we turn? What's the next strength of our offense? Now its silly to say that because a lot of offenses would go into the tank if their Heisman candidate went down, but I don't think we can win a national championship if our offense is simply the Derrick Henry show.

Our defense is all-world, but our offense better be prepared to step up to the plate when we play Ohio State, Clemson, or OU.

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10 times is a bit of a stretch

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Do you even hyperbole bro?

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when teams are putting 8 and 9 guys in the box like MSU was doing, you have to take shots down the field.

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Which is why my second post mentioned OJ Howard. Send the receivers deep... have OJ sitting 12 yards down field for the easy throw.

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I think we need to be a little honest here. We are a one man offense.

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If we are being honest...no, we aren't a one man offense.

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If we are being honest...no, we aren't a one man offense.

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Its a bit of hyperbole, but our offense is centered around Henry. We went three games without anyone else scoring a TD. He's the engine. Now we have other weapons but if Henry goes down or we face a DL that neutralizes him, can we still be a championship offense with those weapons?

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I don't mind calling pass plays early on--it throws the opposing team off and gets them to spread out of an 8-man box. But sometimes I think Kiffin relies too much on it early on and it really puts the pressure on the defense when catches and throws aren't made and the in other team is killing us in TOP. I know it didn't really mean much, but against Miss State, we had a 10-3 pass to run ratio early on and State was beginning to move the ball.

I'd like to see the offense try more bootlegs and throws to OJ in the flat. OJ's ability to evade a LBer almost always results in a 1st down. Then for short yardage, Mullaney is money.

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Well said

I think what you're seeing now is why we're all posters on internet forums and Saban & Co are preparing to win another SEC title.

Alabama started the season replacing 8 or 9 (depending on how you look at OJ Howard) starters on offense. The SOLE known quantity was Henry. Everyone knew he was great.

In September & October, Bama was winning games - and usually by comfortable margins (Ole Miss game excepted) - but the fans were bitching about Kiffin throwing the ball all over the field.

"Fire Kiffin. Even a dumbass knows just give it to Henry"

"Pound the rock. How hard is it"

And on and on and on. It was incessant. An almost overwhelming drumbeat of criticism about an offense that was both scoring points and winning games.

Now we've arrived in November. The stretch run of the schedule when you've got to both win games and make a statement that you're among the elite and what's happening? Remember that known quantity? He's getting the rock. The offense is now going on 9+ minute drives to close out a top 5 opponent. They're landing body blow after body blow against good opponents with the running game. They're making their statement.

We've got tGOAT coach roaming the sidelines. That staff knows what they're doing. Those games in September and early October let Calvin Ridley come into his own. They let Jake Coker develop to the point he could lead a game winning drive against Tennessee. They finally taught Ardaruis Stewart that it is indeed legal to block downfield. Those pieces were built through the year and now it is go time you're seeing the result. They're using the best weapon because he's the best weapon but thanks to that early year work, he's not the only one.

You want to see a one trick pony? Take a look in Baton Rouge. When Bama was working out the kinks, they were feeding LF, talking Heisman, and laughing at that dumbass Saban for letting Kiffin ruin his offense. Now they're in November too, but unlike Bama they've got nowhere else to turn.

I also am concerning that our passing attack will cost us a natty this year. The OL struggles in pass blocking, and Coker just struggles with throws beyond 5 yards. Half the problem is he doesn't see the open guy sometimes, like the one play where #13 was wide open over the middle against MSU and Coker threw it short and we had to punt. His accuracy is also a bit suspect many times. I like Coker's grit and maybe the pieces around him are good enough that we can win it all...but the truth is he just isn't a very good QB. Sort of a taller JP Wilson is what he reminds me of. I'm hoping he will just have a killer game out of nowhere when we need it most, sort of like AJ did in the 2011 natty game or Gmac did in the SECCG in 2009. I think we will need him to have a big game through the air at some point in the playoffs if we are going to win it all.