Thoughts on QB situation after Game 5?

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UAH

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It’s too late for that. Simpson needed reps early, but it didn’t happen.
Yes. He needed meaningful reps last year and didn't get them. As someone said earlier we are trying to put a square peg in a round hole with Milroe. We know what a great job BOB did here. Was yesterday an example of what a fine job he is doing in New England?
 

Coach D

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Sure Simpson is a better (intermediate) passer... but Simpson has been at Alabama a couple years and until recently was third string for a reason.

Did you really watch his game against Alabama's worst opponent? He was not good. He got sacked 5 times, his QBR was 20.

There's a lot more that goes into playing the position and Alabama was barely treading water against a horrible team when he was in the game. He just isn't the guy, may be in the future but there's only one QB that Alabama actually looked competitive with but it wasn't Simpson.


That's just speculation with nothing to base it on. What I consistently heard about during practice was all the receiver drops so I'm not going to imagine any of them into high draft picks until one of them plays like it.

We know it's not Brooks, Burton, Prentice, Law, or Bond because they were all there last year, so I guess you're saying it's Hale, Benson (two 60 yard receivers) and a tight end? Sounds very imaginative on your part.

Where were these guys when Simpson was in the game?
I did not say Simpson was the guy or better. I commented on throws and ball placement. USF has looked actually decent and at least better than MTU and about on par with State who has been pretty bad. Also the weather that game was terrible and he was not given the starter reps in practice so I wont judge 100% on that game in which he actually made some plays with the worst the o line has played this year and he won. Also he did come in last game for the two point and made a nice play so maybe give some credit to the guy.

Yes it was speculation lol That is why I said "to me" and "possibly" which I based on what I have seen from practice and games. Why do you hate the wrs so much? I know last year was bad with them. I did not say early round guys either since you have to be really special for that I just said possible 1000 yards. They have played much better this year so far and like I said already made better catches from bad throws from Milroe. I do think Bond, and Prentice are actually talented. Benson has not really done anything yet but Burton has shown more speed this year (although do not think great) so maybe two who I would have confidence until shown otherwise and Benson or Burton could be 1000 yard guys in other systems maybe. But my point was they have made better catches this year.
 

TitleWave

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This is an old quote from Mike Leach, I'll leave right here.

"The biggest, which is hard to pinpoint, because it's kind of a collection (of things) is how good they do as far as elevating the players around them. But you start with are they accurate and do they make good decisions. If they can't do that, then you can't get past square one. They've got to be able to do that."
And remind us, universal love of the Pirate notwithstanding, how many NC's, C(onference)C's or S(tate)C's he won while developing how many No. 1 draft choices - though of course he did give the former 'Bama walk-on-to-be Gardner Minshew a scholarship to become yet another successful Air Raid practitioner. I, personally, think 'Bama's latest 5-star QB disappointment would also have excelled in that system, too - except when going up against 'Bama, as the Will Rogers era has so proven. So, you see, Leach's bon mots on getting past square one with QB development is, shall we say, a non-starter.
 
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BamaMoon

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"Against MSU, a terrible passing defense, we don't have the confidence to let JM pass the ball until the 2nd quarter?"

I keep seeing people say this. It's not true. WE did have the confidence to let him pass. JM just never actually threw the ball. He held it and ran around. Do you think he got sacked handing it off?
That's the point. Thanks. We didn't THROW a pass until the 2nd quarter. Does it make you feel better we CALLED passes that didn't result in a throw?

BTW, the OL gave him sufficient time on most of those plays and he couldn't pull the trigger.
 

TideEngineer08

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I think most of us, when the realization was made that Jalen was going to be the guy, said that the offense needed to shift gears and lean into what he does best. Well... that was never going to be throwing the ball 40 times a game. That's why we didn't throw a ton of passes against MSU despite them being a horrible pass defense.

The complaints would make sense if we were still the Alabama offense of 2014-2022. We are not that offense anymore. We are something more like a Gene Stallings offense meshed with a bit of what we had under Nick Saban with Jim McElwain as OC.

Run first. Run often. Control the time of possession and don't turn the ball over. So it makes sense that we didn't throw the ball a ton last week.

I don't know if that brand of football can win a championship in today's game but that brand of football is all we have at the moment. And by the way, any WRs upset over this... is this not what the team "chose"? That's all I heard 2 weeks ago. They should be happy right now.
 

Cruloc

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And remind us, universal love of the Pirate notwithstanding, how many NC's, C(onference)C's or S(tate)C's he won while developing how many No. 1 draft choices - though of course he did give the former 'Bama walk-on-to-be Gardner Minshew a scholarship to become yet another successful Air Raid practitioner. I, personally, think 'Bama's latest 5-star QB disappointment would also have excelled in that system, too - except when going up against 'Bama, as the Will Rogers era has so proven. So, you see, Leach's bon mots on getting past square one with QB development is, shall we say, a non-starter.
 

KrAzY3

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Why do you hate the wrs so much? I know last year was bad with them. I did not say early round guys either since you have to be really special for that I just said possible 1000 yards. T
Did I say I hated them?

I'm just pointing out that if these guys couldn't do anything with Bryce Young throwing to them, when we desperately needed one of them to emerge (after losing two thousand yard receivers), they are the problem, not just the QB. It really is that simple.

RB play could be better, QB play could be better, OL play could be better, WR play could be better, and OC playcalling could be better.

It culminates in a lot of pressure on the QB, and I'm not in love with the QB play but any QB would have difficulties under these circumstances.

The bright side of all of this is that improvements can be made in all of these areas and if they are made, it should help in the other areas as well.
 

bamadws56

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That's the point. Thanks. We didn't THROW a pass until the 2nd quarter. Does it make you feel better we CALLED passes that didn't result in a throw?

BTW, the OL gave him sufficient time on most of those plays and he couldn't pull the trigger.
Of course it doesn't. But saying we (the coaches) didn't have the confidence to let him throw is factually incorrect. He didn't have the confidence to let the ball go, which is a huge problem and goes against the supposed "growth" people see in him.
I see someone who is not reading the field well, doesn't want to throw interceptions (this could be growth I suppose), and holds the ball leading to sacks and missed opportunities. Someone screen captured one of the sacks he took and there were at least three receivers open! I don't want to pile on JM, but he is not where the team needs him to be if we want to compete for the West.
 

DrollTide

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If you're just throwing the ball away do we have to be concerned with lineman down field? Perhaps he's being coached to hold on to the ball if it's more than XX seconds.

Maybe we've been hiding what JM can really do in preparation for this game. We'll unleash the full fury on the Aggies.
Actually you make a great point here.
 

gman4tide

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Sure Simpson is a better (intermediate) passer... but Simpson has been at Alabama a couple years and until recently was third string for a reason.

Did you really watch his game against Alabama's worst opponent? He was not good. He got sacked 5 times, his QBR was 20.

There's a lot more that goes into playing the position and Alabama was barely treading water against a horrible team when he was in the game. He just isn't the guy, may be in the future but there's only one QB that Alabama actually looked competitive with but it wasn't Simpson.
You're really gonna throw simpson under the bus for the usf game? TB got 98% of the reps with the ones that whole week. Why? Because it was predetermined that he was gonna get the start and needed all the 1 reps. Simpson got that 2% (only because jm was obviously told he wouldn't be in the game for any reason/you could see that when the cam panned to him in the 2nd half and he was away from most and kinda did the shoulder shrug/arm stretch like "welp, nothing i can do about it)...the weeks leading up to that, he was getting reps with the 2/3's, none with the ones. Yes, he was sacked 5 times..but i'm not putting those 5 sacks on his shoulders. Dude came into a game where it appeared NONE of his team mates cared to be there. A left tackle that was utterly lost and a rb that seemed to want him broke in half. When given reasonable time in the pocked, he made some decent throws and actually LED the team in the only td drives. This has been gone over ad nauseum, but to say "he was not good" isn't really "fair" to him.
Lets go back to garbage/cleanup times last year...anyone care to pull up the film of his last pass attempt vs jm's last pass attempt? To me, it shows who was excited to be out there and trying to improve vs someone who was out there because the coach told them to go out there.
 

BamaMoon

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Talking this morning with a friend who's knowledgable about the game/Bama and we disagree slightly on JM's potential and progression, but we agree on two things:

1. We are rolling with JM and we will either win or lose games that are going to be hard to watch. We aren't blowing out any good teams. We'll have to beat them in low-scoring, fingernail-chewing, exhausting-type games (sounds fun doesn't it!). AND that's IF we win.

2. The thing we agree on the most is: HOW IN THE WORLD DID WE GET TO THIS POINT??? After years of being pass first, QB centric, blow the doors off the decent teams and win most against the best teams, how do we suddenly find ourselves with a glorified running back trying to play QB for the greatest dynasty in modern college football??? We are fully in agreement the staff fully thought (like 100% was convinced) Simpson would be the next QB. The "mystery" behind why that didn't happen might not ever be answered but this is how we got to where we are right now.
 
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gman4tide

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Actually you make a great point here.
It is a good point. I'll counter with, we're not running many rpo's and everyone is talking about how slow our OL is...why/how would they get downfield on passing plays?
I'll say also (to go along with a comment in another thread), what happened saturday that one time they were downfield..we were flagged. Goodness, i can't count how many times i've seen opponents linemen downfield on passes (or even a qb that runs past the los and back before throwing a pass) and they are not called for it.
 

gman4tide

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Talking this morning with a friend who's knowledgable about the game/Bama and we disagree slightly on JM's potential and progression, but we agree on two things:

1. We are rolling with JM and we will either win or lose games that are going to be hard to watch. We aren't blowing out any good teams. We'll have to beat them in low-scoring, fingernail-chewing, exhausting-type games (sounds fun doesn't it!). AND that's IF we win.

2. The thing we agree on the most is: HOW IN THE WORLD DID WE GET TO THIS POINT??? After years of being pass first, QB centric, blow the doors off the decent teams and win most against the best teams, how do we suddenly find ourselves with a glorified running back trying to play QB for the greatest dynasty in modern college football??? We are fully in agreement the staff fully thought (like 100% was convinced) Simpson would be the next QB. The "mystery" behind why that didn't happen might not ever be answered but this is how we got to where we are right now.
Agree 100% on #1.
#2 I'm gonna say a swing and a foul ++++++ 2 years of BoB and now a fall or rees. Seems theres been little to no development of the QB and the play calling is atrocious. But thats just mho.
 

BamaMoon

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Of course it doesn't. But saying we (the coaches) didn't have the confidence to let him throw is factually incorrect. He didn't have the confidence to let the ball go, which is a huge problem and goes against the supposed "growth" people see in him.
I see someone who is not reading the field well, doesn't want to throw interceptions (this could be growth I suppose), and holds the ball leading to sacks and missed opportunities. Someone screen captured one of the sacks he took and there were at least three receivers open! I don't want to pile on JM, but he is not where the team needs him to be if we want to compete for the West.
I think we feel the same way about JM (if you've read any of my posts about his struggles). I think you are getting fixated over the statement "the staff didn't have the confidence to let him pass" IMO, those pass plays they called that JM "wouldn't let go of" should have been followed up with a CNS chewing and a rinse and repeat of the same play. And this is not even dealing with the times he should have thrown it out of bounds.
 
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Coach D

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Did I say I hated them?

I'm just pointing out that if these guys couldn't do anything with Bryce Young throwing to them, when we desperately needed one of them to emerge (after losing two thousand yard receivers), they are the problem, not just the QB. It really is that simple.

RB play could be better, QB play could be better, OL play could be better, WR play could be better, and OC playcalling could be better.

It culminates in a lot of pressure on the QB, and I'm not in love with the QB play but any QB would have difficulties under these circumstances.

The bright side of all of this is that improvements can be made in all of these areas and if they are made, it should help in the other areas as well.
lol No just a lot of negative but I get it.

But I wont use last year under a different OC and different wrs getting PT and other wrs were freshman and I think at least Bond if not others got hurt too as much of an indication on the wr group. A few of those wrs transfered out. BoB was a terrible fit as the OC and not looking much better in NE right now. That is also why I won't fully use last year against the aggies against Milroe as I think BoB made that game extremely hard on him.

My point was the group is better this year overall with better TEs to also help(although their blocking has been very hit or miss) But we do both agree all groups can play better. Along with the OC getting better still although other than a few really boneheaded calls has strung together pretty good ones. JM getting rattled has thrown some of that off and then once he settles back in it gets better again. Also not saying he is a fantastic OC. Seems like he could get a more diverse run game going for sure.
 

Coach D

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It is a good point. I'll counter with, we're not running many rpo's and everyone is talking about how slow our OL is...why/how would they get downfield on passing plays?
I'll say also (to go along with a comment in another thread), what happened saturday that one time they were downfield..we were flagged. Goodness, i can't count how many times i've seen opponents linemen downfield on passes (or even a qb that runs past the los and back before throwing a pass) and they are not called for it.
I am not sure the coaches think he can run RPOs. You have to be decisive to do them. More QB read runs would be good similar to Ark or a team that can't be named would help.

I would have to go back and watch but that one you are talking about might have been a called run, either way a bad decision on the QB. At least he was trying to make a play I guess.
 

BamaMoon

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Agree 100% on #1.
#2 I'm gonna say a swing and a foul ++++++ 2 years of BoB and now a fall or rees. Seems theres been little to no development of the QB and the play calling is atrocious. But thats just mho.
Agree about the lack of development, but until it can be proven that it's *only* about his lack of development, I think there are other things that are behind it.

Understand I'm never been the type to buy into conspiracies of any kind, but the way the season how developed and the things we've heard "rumors" about gives me the sense there are other things involved in Simpson not playing more. The fact that TB was considered #2 and then got a chance to start the game against USF and Simpson was deemed #3 is one of the weirdest developments in recent Bama football history.
 

BamaMoon

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100% the receivers were a disappointment last year!!!

But despite the reports of a lot of drops in the fall camp practices, all I've seen is our receivers catching just about anything that is thrown in their vicinity this season so far.

They might not be anywhere near the ability of "the four horsemen" (and we might as well forget about that ever happening again!) but I believe they are better than last year's group. Case in point, last year our best receiver was Brooks and he's almost absent this year in PT.

The problem is more about having the QB with the pocket skills to get the ball out to them accurately and on time.
 
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TexasBama

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I think most of us, when the realization was made that Jalen was going to be the guy, said that the offense needed to shift gears and lean into what he does best. Well... that was never going to be throwing the ball 40 times a game. That's why we didn't throw a ton of passes against MSU despite them being a horrible pass defense.

The complaints would make sense if we were still the Alabama offense of 2014-2022. We are not that offense anymore. We are something more like a Gene Stallings offense meshed with a bit of what we had under Nick Saban with Jim McElwain as OC.

Run first. Run often. Control the time of possession and don't turn the ball over. So it makes sense that we didn't throw the ball a ton last week.

I don't know if that brand of football can win a championship in today's game but that brand of football is all we have at the moment. And by the way, any WRs upset over this... is this not what the team "chose"? That's all I heard 2 weeks ago. They should be happy right now.
Stop the run
Run the ball
Win the kicking game
Be positive in turnover margin

that’s what always wins.
 

gman4tide

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Bamamoon, i was talking more about "how we got to this point", more than just about simpson. I think the foul was simpson...but i think our qb woes fall more on no development and terrible play calling. As was alluded to previously, its obvious that BY got us out of a lot of bad plays. His football IQ must be off the charts. I think i've seen a few hs OC's that could call better games than either BoB or tr.
I do agree with you about the simpson deal being real weird.
 
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