Quarterback Controversy Looming

i really have to agree with what you said. we can’t rely on a freshman to start his first game against LSU or on the road at TN for that matter. but you can put me in the category of some coaches already making the change, just for the fact that there could be a jump in production, regardless of the freshman mistakes he would surely make. but that’s why saban’s the coach and i’m just a fan. hope for the best as you always say.

and by the way…am i the only one who had to look up panacea?

may be hurt…don’t have anything to base that on other than rumor.

I think the main thing I would like to see is AJ coming in once a half to air it out and stretch the D. But that does not mean I am for benching GMac. Just like to use a bit of AJ as well.

YES! this is exactly what I think. I only hope that we are in a situtation to get AJ some more reps this year. There is no reason to change and I am pretty sure that our coaching staff will not be making up there minds based on what the fans are saying either.

Look at what happened to Arky last weekend with Mallett getting hurt. I’m not saying they would have won but their back up started out great and then they started picking him……just saying……

Teams have been loading the box and daring McElroy to beat them deep. So far he hasn’t been able to do it. If he struggles in the first quarter against Tennessee we might very well see AJ. Neyland stadium may not be Death Valley but it’s still formidable. AJ should at least be able to give us a better vertical game

with QB’s. And if that is what CNS wants, ok. We have a Heisman Trophy winning running back, and I realize I am speaking apples and oranges, but we also use the backup when we can. I guess it’s all a matter of the right situation. I trust CNS. ’Nuff said.

if mcelroy has another difficult outing either against tennessee or lsu, then suddenly this issue will be front and center for us. that’s going to be the storyline for every single mainstream media bozo who pens a piece of on the final month of the season. and distractions like that are the last thing this squad needs to be dealing with right now.

the best way to handle that is for us, the somewhat educated fans, to remember the basics of the issue before the nonsense starts flying for reals. mcelroy has performed better than the naysayers insist and starting an inexperienced qb is a move fraught with risks that our coaching staff is much more aware of than the casual fan (or even the media pundit). we should be ready to remind folks of these points when the issue pops up over the next few weeks.

McElroy needs to get that 2008 Iron Bowl mentality again

not as if GMAC doesn’t have the ability to complete the long pass. He did it against VT, Ark and UF last season. He has the ability. We went throught this same issue last year during this time. OTS wrote that the coaches wouldn’t hesitate to burn AJ’s redshirt with a National Championship on the line and if they believed he gave the team the best chance to win. I don’t think anything has changed. GMAC needs to at least attempt some deeper passes or else the offense will continue to struggle. 6 simply cannot block 9.

will come on strong and surprise all of us. Wait and see!

made a lot more sense once I looked up what “panacea” means

and the fact the he hasn’t seen much time since the Duke game has me somewhat concerned. But, aside from the Florida game he hasn’t had a chance.

Coach Saban spoke of having faith, trust, and confidence in each other before the SEC CG. I am sure everyone has seen the youtube a hundred times. He spoke at the Homecoming pep rally last week of “positive energy and support” from the fans. Pretty confident players read the blogs and forums (we type Alabama football, they live it). So not specifically this article, but the fan base in general… if our goal is to destroy faith, trust, and confidence in the team, we have all worked hard at that over the last couple of weeks. If our goal was to provide positive energy and support, for the team, maybe we didn’t do so well. I know freedom of opinions and stuff like that, but sheez, one loss guys, get a grip.

I don’t know who our best QB is, BUT . . . it’s easy to see McElroy’s struggles at getting the downfield passing game going, and go from there to wonder if McCarron, who practice observers consistently say can stretch the D, would do better.

I have a general inclination, in such a situation, to trust the coaches, who always know a lot more about the backup’s capabilities than the fans do.

HOWEVER, I combine this with what I learned in ‘07, when Saban would not go with McElroy during a stretch of late-season games where Wilson was beyond awful and almost any half-competent QB with his head on straight would’ve been an improvement. Put the two situations together and it makes me wonder whether Saban may be philosophically over-inclined to stick with experience at QB, even when it’s not working.

I still tend to trust the coaching staff, but seeing TWO things I wonder about makes me question the trust a little more. A third strike in the future would pretty much eliminate the residual trust in this particular department.

You do have to wonder if about Saban, don’t you. He has two strikes! ha ha

Most people don’t realize (or forgot) that Coach Saban dealt directly … and some would say poorly … with QB controversy in 2004 during his final season at LSU. He flip-flopped between Marcus Randall and JaMarcus Russell all season and on into the Cap One Bowl … which he (in)famously lost on the last play of the game.

I’d love to hear him talk about his handling of the QB position that year, if he’d do anything differently had he the chance to do it over again, and how it impacted his handling of potential QB controversies at Alabama. To me, that’s a far more interesting discussion than GMac vs AJ.

My problems with Greg aren’t from stupid decisions like INT’s or poorly thrown passes. My trouble with Greg is he holds the ball to long and seems to have problems anticipating open recievers. He’s way to quick to move the pocket and once he does he seemingly refuses or is incapable of making a pass on the run for more than 4-yards. I sat and watched Bama’s early games and compared them to games at Florida, SC and Ole Miss. The one difference I noticed was Greg has developed “Happy Feet” To me this signifies a lack of trust in the OL. This is what makes him move the pocket so quickly. He quits looking downfield and tries to scramble. He has trouble throwing on the run and his only option is the dink off to the RB or a TE. He has the ability to be everything we need, but, the sacks are in his head. All this is pure speculation based on the observations of a 5-star armchair QB. RTR!!!1

Just about all anyone can talk about is how they don’t like the Alabama QB. Now here is s new topic that has not been discussed ad nauseum here, on Finebaum, and al.com. We have one blog entry that gives us forum to ‘again’ say why we don’t like Greg and prep us for next year that if coach put’s AJ in, then he should have put Phillip in, If he puts Phillip in, then he should have put AJ in. Why can’t we just have Snake or Joe Willie back. Those are the last QB’s anybody liked even though they were proficient at throwing the INT. Come and get me OTS! Please tell me how stupid I am because I don’t point out our QB’s faults over and over and over and over again.

between McElroy, McCarron, and Simms in the future is much, much better than the Pennington/Guillion debate of. Let’s be fair to McElroy, for all of Brodie Croyle’s incredible downfield ability, did he ever play a complete season (ok, ‘05)? Greg has taken some head on collisions, and has yet to lay on the field. Memorable McElroy passes – TD against the Barn in ’08, the flea flicker that went deep to Maze against VaT, and of course the TD to Peek against Fla. Oh, and while we’re criticizing him – remember that one legged hop down the sideline for a 1st down. I can’t wait to see what AJ can do, though!!!!

where is the running game? We knew this time last year that McElroy was inconsistent. The returning starters on the O-line Same Heisman winner, and his evil twin in the backfield. Anyone have any thoughts?? We need the run game desperately, and I believe that the passing game will come by proxy. I’m sure I’m essentially copy/pasting some of OTS’ analysis.

I trust CNS.

…did not read all the other responses, so this may have been covered. I don’t think McElroy is the McEl we need to worry about. For some damnable reason, we have almost completely abandoned the pistol formation in the previous few games. We know what Greg is and what he isn’t. He is a good leader and accurate on short to intermediate throws. He is not a precision downfield passer and he gets in trouble sometimes when he tries for those routes. We were averaging nearly 8 ypc out of the pistol and around 3 ypc from all other forms of running combined. We have a good oline but they are not big enough to sustain their blocks on inside running plays. Therefore we need the pistol, you only need a brief hole and you are at the second level. We also pass better with PA from the pistol. The safety creeps up after we have been running wild on their asses, making downfield passing a bit easier.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Would we classify this at what it very well may be…a rebuilding season? If so, and if we go 11-1, 10-2, still pretty good for a rebuilding season.

I was able to watch Phillip Sims a couple of times on ESPNU’s High School Football coverage last year. Now that kid is very effective moving the pocket and throwing on the run.

Who does he think he is, Allen Iverson?

At least not with the coaches. Saban has been pretty posiitive concerning GMAC and I just don’t see him pulling Greg unless he implodes. I think the offense in general must improve, the running game is not clicking and the WRs need to make plays and GMAC needs to take some risks in one on one coverage. I would like to see AJ get a series or two this week. I think it would be good to play him on the 3rd or 4th series to give him some expereince and see what he could do. This would give him some meaningful snaps and some road experience. I just see the staff sticking w/ GMAC all through the year.

play/play calling worries me, I am more concerned about the fact that our defenders cannot seem to wrap up running backs or cover wide receivers for nothing. It’s like our guys think they can just touch someone and they are going to fall down. Wrap your arms around the other team and plant their asses in the ground! Play Alabama D already!

I am convinced if we made more explosive plays on defense and kept the other team not only out of the endzone but made them go 3 and out every single possession, it would cause our offense to take a collective breath and help them perform better. Maybe I am crazy, but the lack of consistency on defense is really what is frustrating me…

The team is still in the chase for a SEC West crown ad SECCG and there are some of those that think a back up QB without any meaningful game time and real experience will have a chance beating both LSU and Auburn, which is the only way to win the West.

OTS and others make some good points about the lack of offense in some games but it is not all McElroys fault. Does he need to do better in certain game situations and reads?
Absolutely, and no one will agrue that at all. But there is no chance to win the West if a controversy leads to AJ playing.
If we lose another SEC game, then AJ will get more palying time for the future.

since posting this afternoon< defense is in rebuild mode, but the lack of tackling is shocking considering who coaches them. The offense? All of our speculation, ultimately, falls back to play calling. McElroy is running the plays as directed. We have all stood in the stands or in front of the TV and screamed, “Why aren’t we running!?!?” Where’s Jalston Fowler (could be injury come to think of it)? OK, we see that SC ran a 3-3-5, and neutalized the runners, Ole Miss got wise to that too. If the D Cors can adjust, McElwain needs to move his chess piece. Is he overwhelmed with the run game held in check, and a timid passer? We’re all frustrated becasue the offense was to be the strength this year. There’s much to much talent at his disposal for the offense to be struggling. LSU scares me today. Tennessee (hopefully) will be an opportunity to whittle some new wrinkles.

Over Spurrier. Saban is the best in the country at managing a team and getting the most out of them. Do any of you remember the players saying they haven’t played their best game as a team yet? Likewise, we haven’t seen McElroy’s best 2010 performance either. Have faith & patience

…but I was thinking about this last night. In studying the tape on Greg, is it possible we saw the “changing point” of his play after the Arkansas defender intercepted the one fake screen and the pick in the end zone?

I can’t point to it as I do not follow the games to that extreme (and the jack daniels doesn’t allow it). Anyone notice what I haven’t noticed?

But I haven’t seen a post about this yet (if it’s out there, my apologies)…

Did anyone else notice that for a few plays last weekend, we went to the ‘meerkat offense’? The first time I saw that happen, I almost threw up. I tried to dismiss it as an anomaly or something, but then we did it again for a few plays. My reaction was something along the lines of “Oh no! Nononononononono no no no! Nooooooooo!” followed with several words not sufficient for family viewing. After reading some of the comments around Greg and the general offensive (lack of) production, AND Greg’s comments this week around ‘trusting each other’, I’m beginning to wonder if there is some ‘chemistry’ or ‘communication’ type issues that they are having to work through. I’ve never known Greg not to be able to read defenses and check out of a play when needed (some are mistakes, but we are all human). I personally have trouble watching teams (looking at you Auburn) that run that ‘meerkat’ type offense and hope to hell we aren’t going to that. To me it seems the teams that run that either are complete control freaks and/or they have QB’s not smart enough to read what they see. These are, of course, my opinions.

Anyway, did anyone else see that (and was a little concerned about that) or do I need to just drink more booze and fugetaboutit?