In the ongoing analysis / prediction / beating-of-dead-horses leading up to tonight's Armageddon  football game, a recurring point has been 'Bama's lack of a deep threat in the passing game. I don't know how many times I have read or heard a line about how we have no Julio Jones equivalent in the receiver corps this year. 

Now, I won't argue the first point -- the deep passing game is probably the weakest link in our offense. It's interesting, though, to compare what's happening this year to what happened when we did have Julio Jones at receiver. In 2009, McElroy completed 49 passes of 15+ yards and 20 passes of 25+ yards in 14 games. In 2011, McCarron has completed 43 passes of 15+ yards and 13 passes of 25+ yards in just 8 games. Statistically, we have had more success with the deep balls this year than we did in 2009.

The counter-argument to this is that Julio required more attention from a defense than does any one of our current receivers -- multiple defenders were required just to account for his presence on the field. Fair enough.

I don't know that I really have a point to make here, but I thought the numbers were interesting.

Roll Tide!