re: Game Rewatch

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I will say this, the first drive at beginning of the second half was much better, and it was because we decided to let him throw routes in the middle of the field, under 15 yards. 95% of the completions in the middle of the field this year have been 15+ yards. Everything short has been outside the hashes. I thought that drive was the best one we had all day.

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Yea that was a great drive. Daboll was on fire that drive, too.

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It is a Ridley problem, I'm not excusing him one bit. He is starting to remind me of DJ Hall. But his antics have happened in more than 1 game.

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This is exactly what I’ve been trying to say, it’s gone from head shaking to pushing other teammates. It needs to be put in check.

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Sauron

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I read, but didn't even join the discussion in this thread till the 3rd page, and this was my comment, in response to other comments about Ridley...

"Ridley has been obviously frustrated lately and it's understandabe imo. edit: And he's the guy most balls are thrown to. Imagine how the other receivers feel."

This is my 2nd contribution to this thread, which is fairly innocuous unless somebody is looking for an argument...

"I think you have to put it in context. Most years, you probably wouldn't hear any UA fans complaining about Hurts. We're in the middle, though, or perhaps near the end of an unprecedented run, and with the best players in college football, and I think most fans are like me and hope that we can take advantage of this, because none of us, even the young fans, are likely to ever witness this again. So some of us feel like we are winning in spite of the lack of a balanced offense, and we think that with a balanced offense, we'd have won another title last year. Moreover, we are concerned that the lack of a balanced offense will again cost us another title, so we're missing out on what could have been, in spite of the best players assembled on one team in college football. Meanwhile, we have a qb on the bench that has shown he can run this offense, and run it well, and be a more consistent passer, and make good decisions, check down to receivers. A balanced offense.

It isn't that Jalen Hurts is a bad qb. He's a good qb. Some of us just want an excellent qb and we feel like we have that guy, and don't want him to transfer out."

My 3rd comment was in response to more discussion about Ridley. You will notice that I haven't yet responded in kind to any provocation...

"See, I've been saying this for weeks, and was told I was wrong. I see, though, that even the most vocal guy telling me that has decided there is, in fact, a problem."

Those are simple observations about the topic. comments in no way invited personal attacks. Ad hominem attacks are generally from pissed off people that can't validly or reasonably debate or discuss an issue, so they resort to attacking the other guy. I'm not even going to say that it's generally ignorant people that have to resort to that.

There are a contingent of posters on this board that don't do well with opinions contrary to their own, especially on this topic.

An Alabama fan? In my opinion, it's the Jalen Hurts fanboys that seem to prefer one guy over the team. Last year I was called a Barnett fan. This year I'm called a Tua fan, who by the way appears to be wayyy better than Blake Barnett. Better too, imo, than Jalen Hurts, but bottom linek, I don't give a flying leap about the number on the jersey. I just want what's best for the team, and I think a balanced offense, with a consistent passing game, is that.

Your post was mostly reasonable, and thank you for that. As I am pretty opinionated, though, I'll probably not acquiesce to those posters that would like me to shut up because it isn't what they want to hear. It's a message board. Everybody isn't going to agree on every subject or topic. It isn't even a huge deal except for those that make it so.

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and I am saying that he absolutely did that against a top 10 ranked secondary in the nation on Saturday.

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Tennessee isn't terrible at pass defense but they are not a Top 10 pass defense.

Their "yards per game" passing is really good because they played the following teams (rank # is Pass Yards Per Game)

102. Florida
110. Georgia
129. Georgia Tech
1AA. Indiana State

They've had the 4th fewest pass attempts against in D1 (153) (22 per game). As a contrast, Alabama has had 251 pass attempts against (32 per game).

They are 69th in YPA against and 75th in pass efficiency against.

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You didn't pay attention. Just one example, on the aforementioned wr screen, he skipped a ball to Ridley on a WR screen, and timed it so badly that if he had thrown it correctly it might have been a pick six.

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Think you're conflating a couple of different plays.

Nothing wrong with timing or placement here. Devonta Smith's block gets blown up and Ridley is forced to retreat a bit.

Here's the other screen. Obviously a bad throw.

He follows it up with a play I've repeatedly been told he can't make. Stands in the pocket, goes through his progressions, fires a laser over a LB and underneath the safety.

I'm sure there were complaints about this one. It's hard to tell from the broadcast angle exactly what's going on but rather than run himself into three defenders I'm sure Jeudy should be settling down here.

This was probably his worst sequence of plays this season. Holds onto the ball when Ridley is wide open only to throw a risky pass. And then turns around and puts the ball up for grabs again the very next throw.

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I figured some stat cruncher such as yourself was going to refute my "top ten passing defense" statement at some point

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I have noticed receivers being pissed (not just Ridley). Imo our offense looks more forced when jalen is in.
Not a knock on jalen. Just my opinion

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Jalen looked real rough when he first took snaps in a real game. He literally fumbled and lost the ball on his first play. The smart Alabama fans said "He is a true freshman and growing pains happen." He has been a starter for 1.5 seasons now and it is okay to criticize him for being an average at best passer. He had a rough few drives on Saturday. I don't remember any throw that was super difficult. Tua throwing an interception when he barely gets time is okay. He will have growing pains. Our offensive identify changes with Tua as well. Interceptions happen and that's okay, but give a back up true freshman the same respect we gave Jalen for the first half of the season last year.

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I get all of this, and I am not trying to dog Tua for throwing a pick six. Believe me, I think that Tua is the real deal.

I just don't see how this game plays into the narrative that Jalen is a bad passer, particularly in contrast to Tua, when in reality Hurts had a good day passing the football, and Tua made a bad mistake that resulted in a 14 point swing for UT.

Watching the replay now. I love it when jalen throws in the middle, short or long I think that's his best, most comfortable throw.

I get nervous on those short out type routes.

So I hope we throw more of those middle type and kind of phase those others out. What say yall in the know?

I still think we are holding half of our plays close to the chest until needed. Like some of the run calls for jalen and such.

Just a suggestion, can we get some type of confirmation on Ridley before we go off on his character. Him and Jalen may have a close relationship and that's how they talk. Maybe ridley pushed juedy because he was complaining in the huddle about being open . Who knows for certain. Ridley is one of us, so let's give him the benefit of the doubt.

Edit type not time

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Jalens most comfortable throw seems to be along the sidelines less than 10 yards. That's his highest volume and completion percentage.

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I don't think it's coincidence that most of those routes involve a receiver standing still.