re: Why are Bama fans calling 2013 a down year?

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Alot of people were more realistic about this season being that we lost the best 3 linemen we had last year. I also wasn't sure about the d-line situation but i have been happy with this season though. Going back to the o-line, zone blocking doesn't work as well for our backs. It made us more finesse and we are traditionally a power running team

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I remember most of y'all saying the offensive line under Saban never falls off and would definitely still be the best in the country, but if at least some of y'all are realistic I guess that's a start. AJ does really poorly with pressure in front of him. He does a pretty decent job of stepping up in the pocket to avoid the edge rush, and when he can step in to a ball he does really well, but any sort of pressure in his face to cause him to throw off his back foot he's really bad. Losing Barrett Jones has been a problem all season for AJ, and they really move to more play action and less pistol sets this year when AJ was struggling early with it so AJ could roll out more. I say AJ's average, but he's below average with pressure in his face.

As far as your run blocking goes I haven't watched it enough this year, but I would assume the power running thing is also a problem due to the interior offensive line.