vaphinfan13
FinHeaven VIP
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2005
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction score
- 0
First of all what a friggin breath of fresh air I'm feelin alot better about this team now. Here is some of things I noticed in yesterdays game:
1. Randy McMichael is one tough son of a gun. To take the kind of hit he did in the first half yesterday (if you didnt see it he got absolutely blown up and did a head over heels flip that looked pretty ugly) and stay on the field and go on to catch a critical touchdown later in the game said alot about him as a player. He is definitely the emotional leader of this offense.
2. Ronnie Brown was impressive in his debut, not spectacular but impressive. I saw him get into the pile and lower his shoulder and pick up two, three, and sometimes four yards on effort and strength alone. That bodes very well for his future. He also showed a bit of elusiveness that hes not given credit for. A couple times the play would get blown up at the line and he would make a spin or juke move to make something out of nothing. He also made that impressive diving one handed catch on third and 2 to keep the drive alive. Overall a very good job.
3. Wes Welker emerged as a recieving threat and did an excellent job making some catches on third down to extend drives. He had something like 60 yards and looked very capable. Hes someone to watch as he showed flashes of being a Brandon Stokely type player.
4. On offense we moved the ball very well for the most part, at times in the game we were flat out marching down the field at will. Gus Frerrote and the o-line both really stepped it up and right now look like they could end up being just fine. I think Gus Frerrote went a long way towards "grabbing the bull by the horns and getting it done" like Saban has been looking for. With the exception of that errant throw that resulted in an interception he looked very much in command of the offense, making the right reads and staying cool under pressure.
5. As for the defense, what can you say other than their back. Outstanding performance highlighted by them stopping the Broncos 5 times from the one yardline to deny any points, just flat out nasty. Channing Crowder really stuck out especially early on in the game as he was flying all over the place making tackles and blanketing recievers in coverage, you can se why Saban had no choice but to put this kid in the starting line-up. Overall an excellent performance with Sabans coaching and schemes this defense will be there all year.
6. In summary I think this game answered alot of questions on both sides of the ball and really quieted the critics (atleast for the time being). We showed we can be dominate on defense against a pretty good offense and we could move the ball on offense against a defense that is no pushover. I think the most encouraging thing is that there is plenty of room for improvement on this team. Some people might look at it from the outside and say, well this team must have played their one good game for the year and this was an aberration but if you look at it closer you can see nothing is further from the truth. On offense we were still plagued by many pre-snap penalties especially in the first half that really killed some good drives we had going. And people forget we turned the ball over 3 times, I'll say it again THREE times. To win going away like that and still have the mental errors and the turnovers showes you that this team is for real and they will only get better through the season as they tighten up the loose ends. The real key in all this has definitely been the quality of coaching I cant say enough about Saban, Linehan and Houck. Saban for getting the defense ready to play and using coverage schemes to hide some of the weaknesses of the secondary. Houck for getting this o-line to gel and actually play decent out there and Linehan for calling a great game while still not showing his hand too much. I think we should all be happy and proud in this team and look foward to the not so distant future where we will be a team that contends.
1. Randy McMichael is one tough son of a gun. To take the kind of hit he did in the first half yesterday (if you didnt see it he got absolutely blown up and did a head over heels flip that looked pretty ugly) and stay on the field and go on to catch a critical touchdown later in the game said alot about him as a player. He is definitely the emotional leader of this offense.
2. Ronnie Brown was impressive in his debut, not spectacular but impressive. I saw him get into the pile and lower his shoulder and pick up two, three, and sometimes four yards on effort and strength alone. That bodes very well for his future. He also showed a bit of elusiveness that hes not given credit for. A couple times the play would get blown up at the line and he would make a spin or juke move to make something out of nothing. He also made that impressive diving one handed catch on third and 2 to keep the drive alive. Overall a very good job.
3. Wes Welker emerged as a recieving threat and did an excellent job making some catches on third down to extend drives. He had something like 60 yards and looked very capable. Hes someone to watch as he showed flashes of being a Brandon Stokely type player.
4. On offense we moved the ball very well for the most part, at times in the game we were flat out marching down the field at will. Gus Frerrote and the o-line both really stepped it up and right now look like they could end up being just fine. I think Gus Frerrote went a long way towards "grabbing the bull by the horns and getting it done" like Saban has been looking for. With the exception of that errant throw that resulted in an interception he looked very much in command of the offense, making the right reads and staying cool under pressure.
5. As for the defense, what can you say other than their back. Outstanding performance highlighted by them stopping the Broncos 5 times from the one yardline to deny any points, just flat out nasty. Channing Crowder really stuck out especially early on in the game as he was flying all over the place making tackles and blanketing recievers in coverage, you can se why Saban had no choice but to put this kid in the starting line-up. Overall an excellent performance with Sabans coaching and schemes this defense will be there all year.
6. In summary I think this game answered alot of questions on both sides of the ball and really quieted the critics (atleast for the time being). We showed we can be dominate on defense against a pretty good offense and we could move the ball on offense against a defense that is no pushover. I think the most encouraging thing is that there is plenty of room for improvement on this team. Some people might look at it from the outside and say, well this team must have played their one good game for the year and this was an aberration but if you look at it closer you can see nothing is further from the truth. On offense we were still plagued by many pre-snap penalties especially in the first half that really killed some good drives we had going. And people forget we turned the ball over 3 times, I'll say it again THREE times. To win going away like that and still have the mental errors and the turnovers showes you that this team is for real and they will only get better through the season as they tighten up the loose ends. The real key in all this has definitely been the quality of coaching I cant say enough about Saban, Linehan and Houck. Saban for getting the defense ready to play and using coverage schemes to hide some of the weaknesses of the secondary. Houck for getting this o-line to gel and actually play decent out there and Linehan for calling a great game while still not showing his hand too much. I think we should all be happy and proud in this team and look foward to the not so distant future where we will be a team that contends.
