Keelon

My overall impressions of Keelon Russell and the game:

I kept hearing that Keelon was "panicking in the pocket." I didn't see that at all.

I think he took one or two sacks for negative yardage. Most of the other times pressure got to him, he either scrambled for a significant gain or escaped the rush while keeping his eyes downfield and finding somebody. That's pretty much the opposite of panicking.

He showed a very good sense of where the rush was coming from and negotiated the pocket well. When he ran, there was usually a reason for it, and several of those runs produced significant gains. When he escaped without running, he generally continued looking downfield and trying to make a play.

That's exactly what you want a quarterback to do.

Clearly he takes too many risks with his health. But, he may have the quickest release of any quarterback Alabama has had. I thought he processed things well, and I didn't see him repeatedly failing to recognize open receivers the way we've sometimes seen in recent years.

Was he perfect? Of course not. I thought he had a down stretch in the third quarter. He's a young quarterback playing his first real game, and there are obviously things he'll improve with experience. But "panicky in the pocket"? I simply don't know what game people were watching.

Go back and rewatch that game. Many of those plays where he "panicked" would have been sacks or turnovers with most QB's. He turned them into big plays more times than not.

You want a dissaster this year? You would have had a two score game today without Russel's escapability. You think the line was bad? Image what things would have looked like without Houdini under center

Even so, negativity about the offensive line was also excessive.

No, this is not a great offensive line right now. Pass protection was inconsistent. Sometimes it was pretty good; sometimes it broke down badly. But we also had some success running the football, which is encouraging considering how difficult it was for Alabama to consistently run the ball last year.
And this was their first game together. Only one guy on that line was here last year.

So hearing people already taking shots at the offensive line coach after one game is absurd. What exactly are people expecting?
The staff knew the offensive line had problems. They changed coaches. They brought in a bunch of new bodies. Now they have to develop them.

That's what coaching is. This game gives the new offensive line coach a data point. You study the film, identify what went wrong, drill it, practice it, rehearse it, and get better. I expect that line to be better next week and better again the week after that.

Defensively, I thought the progress was obvious. Alabama very nearly pitched a shutout. One score came after a mental error on the long pass, and, if I'm remembering correctly, the field goal was largely the result of a turnover. Take away a couple of mistakes and that could easily have been a shutout.
So I'm not saying no one should be critical. I'm plenty critical when Alabama isn't playing well. And yes, the coaching staff has to win this year. I'm 100 percent on board with that. But there's a difference between legitimate criticism and deciding after Game 1 that everything is terrible.

I like this team. No one is going to want to play them.in a few weeks.