Yeah that's true for the most part. I wouldn't say it's impossible now, but it just takes having the perfect players more so than it did years ago. It seems to be a fleeting thing more than a consistent year to year way of playing. The Seahawks had a couple years when the stars aligned but that's over. The stars seen to have aligned for the 9ers but I wouldn't bet on them being that good on defense even next year.
Yeah, it's kinda unfortunate. I blame Peyton and the Colts crying about it after the Pats beat the **** out of them back in 03.
Well the problem Saban faces is that his defense is a little too complex for young 18-20 year olds. It’s nearly impossible to avoid the busted coverages and breakdowns when forced to play young inexperienced players every year due to so many underclassman going pro, and the injury wave that Bama has gotten hit with the last few years.
In order for Saban’s defense to function at maximum capacity, he needs 5 NFL DB’s that understand the communication and how to pass off routes to avoid the busted coverages. His defense is just not a good mix with young college players.
Like I told hoops 2 weeks ago - it doesn’t matter what leverage Bama’s DB’s were going to play against LSU, they were going to bust coverages.
Secondly, it has to be strong up the middle. Again, injuries to All-American and 1st round pick LB’s like Dylan Moses, another injury to Senior linebacker Josh McMillon that understands the calls, and starting a true freshman D.J. Dale on the nose significantly weakens the defense up the middle. Alabama is starting 5 true freshman and playing 6 this year. It’s just not a good mix.
Things that were wrong against Clemson last year still aren’t fixed. I think Bama is at a significant schematic disadvantage when playing elite college offenses because of the complexity. I think he’s going to have to look long and hard at finding some way to simplify it so he’s not at the mercy of young inexperienced college players knowing what to do. They’re thinking too much instead of playing.
If one player has his eyes in the wrong place or fails to pass off a route properly, huge busts happen. Even if all the other guys in the back 7/8 do their jobs.
The early defections to the NFL aren’t going to stop. Young players will be forced to play.
The problem is he can’t afford to hit the reset button like a new coach taking over a program can because Bama is always a contender and has national championship aspirations every year.
I know this, he has to figure something out that allows the players to start playing their speed instead of thinking too much. It’s a cause for concern at this point. It’ll be interesting to see what the answer is.
:shame::shame::shame::shame::shame::shame::shame::shame::shame::shame:
