re: Is anybody worried about the defense?

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He also threw more picks in the half than Jalen did all year.

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And 11 tds to Hurts' 17 with a fraction of the playing time. He threw a td every 7 attempts. That's pretty darn good.

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People have great moments, but what matters is consistency, which we haven't had the opportunity to see. I mean, Trevor Knight destroyed us like he was Tom Brady that one game.

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Are you one of the guys (there were a lot) that during the season, when Tua was playing great, said we couldn't judge it because the opposition was always a beat team when he came in?

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Bama’s defense will probably be 4-5 pts per game worse than last season.

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I don't agree with this at all.

Granted, the quality of offenses we face changes from year to year, but still.

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The offense is a yearly off-season hand wringing worry.

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But a lot of us, perhaps most of us, are optimistic about the offense next season, assuming #13 will be the qb.

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Is anybody worried about the defense?

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The answer is always no.

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largely due to the number of players we lost in the last couple years


I really don't see how this even matters.

1) Turnover is a part of CFB and always has been. College eligibility is limited. It's not some new thing.

2) We recruit at a crazy clip.

3) Regarding the "number of players we lost in the last couple of years" - What do you think happened the couple of years before that? We lost a ton of elite talent.

Simply put, Saban recruits at such a high level and has proven time and time again that he'll put an incredible defense on the field each and every year. Sure there are ups and downs relatively speaking, but since 2008, the lowest we've finished the year in Total Defense is 12th, which was in 2014. We've been top 3 every other year.

And while it's unreasonable to expect each unit of our defense to be the best in football, statistically speaking our bottom as a defense is top-15 and will more likely be one of the best defenses in CFB.

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Turnover matters because experience matters, no matter how good and talented a team is leadership and experience is necessary for a team to operate at its maximum potential. But I basically said the exact thing, that i'm not worried and expect us to have a "very very good / elite level defense" but due to turnover or just how i feel about the returning players I don't anticipate this to be a "best defense we have had under Saban?".

For example 2011 was awesome and then after a couple years of losing a ton there was a slight drop off while still having a very good defense and then the last few years we have had that "best defense under Saban" tier (being able to fight through injuries last year was so impressive) so i feel like its due for a slight dip to only very very good / elite level, and not quite that top tier. We got a lot of experience due to those injuries but still have a lot of need for people to step up into leadership roles and questions like that.

You are essentially agreeing with me unless I am missing something.

The only disagreement I have is that while I'm not saying we will definitely have a "best all-time" type defense, I see no reason to believe we won't. In short, I see no reason to limit this defense's potential ceiling in my mind. I believe the sky's the limit.

Ya that's definitely true, this team certainly has the raw talent as in years past. My feeling at least, is that we take a half step back largely due to losing so much experience and leadership over the past couple years.

I could certainly be wrong in that feeling, it just seems to be a bit more cyclical in my mind and while we lose a ton each year, one every few years it catches up so to speak. This years D will be very good but just seems to me like that "changing of the guard" type season with those guys gaining that experience and comfort in the leadership position as they continue to improve. The following years I feel like is when they really show out as those undeniably elite level defenses.

I'm really splitting hairs though and its just kind of the feeling i get looking back over the past three year run of incredible D.

We have a lot of returning games played and great talent as always. I just see a couple more questions than you from a proven and experienced leadership standpoint I guess. There have been years where I had no questions at all. If I get time later in the week I may look at it position by position if I want to go further in depth and compare specifics to prior years.

But I'm not saying that I dont think this d is going to be very gooda and I never said I was worried. There is of course tons to be excited about, as I said in a previous post i view this as a changing of the gaurd of sorts so younger guys coming in to take ownership of the d.

I'm not trying to be optimistic or pessimistic just giving my feeling. I guess the easiest way to say it is gun to the head if I have to make a call right now of whether or not i feel this d will be a "top 3" saban d (not that I really know how to quantify that) I would say no, not quite. Could they end up there, sure, but that isnt my expectation of what will happen as of now. Thats all I really mean by take a half step back.

Did you not know Minkah was a leader going into last year? That is what I mean by proven leadership and anyone can see it from those returning leaders like minkah last year or the massive list of great bama defensive players under Saban, just not as many of those returning this year in my mind. Also have some guys coming off of injury and you never know exactly how some of them will come back so I just see a few questions and am going to wait to see how it plays out before predicting another all time great D.

I don't expect leadership to be a problem and the young guys will step up and take control of the team (changing of the guard). I keep trying to say i'm not worried about the defense, and i'm not worried about them finding defensive leadership there just isn't the usual abundance of those guys returning- again at least in my mind.

These young guys are coming up and are going to be great players but, in my opinion, the elite Bama defenses tend to come in the years when Alabama has those returning elite leaders and players coming back from the prior season, not in their first break out season. Those returning guys are ready to go game 1, no need to get their feet under them, then the younger guys just stepping into their role find their feet and it all comes together with playmakers across the field who all know their role and are in position.

Last year was a bit weird, lots of injuries so lots of guys got experience but a lot of people didn't get to play as much as you would normally hope due to their injury - a bit of a trade off there.

So as I've said I think bama D is going to be quite good this year, they may even strike gold and be one of those scary groups where you are wondering how the other team can possibly score at any point in the game.

Personally, I feel like there are going to be less questions next year and more returning playmakers and experienced leadership so I feel like that sort of top level saban D is more likely to be seen next year. I'll be ecstatic if i'm wrong though and we get the completely dominant defense this year - but I've always just been more of a "wait and see how they pan out" type when it comes to football.

ETA: time for bed, but I think we've just about run the gamut on this topic anyway .

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he still made mistakes and is indeed a largely unknown quantity.

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I really disagree with the word "largely". I know exactly what he is. He an uber talented passer who makes mistakes. It's known as a mutherfricker in my opinion. Just because a bunch of you don't want to accept the mistakes part, you want to call him "an unknown quantity."

I think you should just call him "a quantity I don't want to yet accept. When it becomes acceptable, I'll deem it known." My arse.

He's both elite and prone to mistakes. He might change/develop in the future. But it doesn't make now any less known. And guess what. He gives us the best chance to win as is.