Under the guidance of Nick Saban, Alabama has turned into the premier defensive team in America. The Crimson Tide can always be found at or near the top of the national defensive statistics and it’s been a staple of the teams recent championship-winning run.
Alabama was known for quarterbacks in the 1960s when Pat Trammell, Joe Namath, Steve Sloan, Kenny Stabler and Scott Hunter ruled the day. But Alabama has also been known for defense … well, since Alabama won the 1961 national championship — with a defense that allowed just 25 points all season and ended the regular season with five consecutive shutouts.
The Crimson Tide has become known as a home for defensive stalwarts like Derrick Thomas, Cornelius Bennett, Marty Lyons, Barry Krauss, DeMeco Ryans, Roman Harper and most recently Terrence Cody, Marcell Dareus, Dont’a Hightower and Courtney Upshaw. But the 2013 Alabama defense is not the well-oiled machine we have come to expect from Saban and Kirby Smart, considered one of the top defensive coordinators in the nation.
A quick look at the SEC stats will tell you just how far Alabama has fallen. The 2013 Crimson Tide is dead last in sacks, sixth in red zone defense, 10th in total defense, 11th in scoring defense and 10th in rushing and pass defense.
Very un-Alabama like.
What’s happened? Well for one thing — and this is the most important thing — Johnny Manziel and the Texas A&M offense happened. Manziel led the Aggies to 42 points and 628 yards in total offense against the beleaguered Tide defense. But overlooked in the staggering numbers put up by the Aggies was the 49 points and 568 yards of offense put up by Alabama in a 49-42 win.
“It was a great win. It was a little sloppy but we came out with a W,” said Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley. “It was a lot of work chasing around Manziel. Our offense did a great job of keeping A&M off the field. We expected Manziel to move around the pocket to make plays, and he did what he did. A&M came out fast like they did last year, and we just answered back. The offense did a great job of bailing us out. We made some stops, but at the end of the day, we can’t give up so many big plays.”
Sophomore defensive back Landon Collins believes the win at Texas A&M will have a long ranging benefit to the Tide.
“It gave us our identity as Coach Saban has been teaching. It gives us our identity. How we can learn from our mistakes and grow from them. We’ve got to turn the page and keep moving forward and not look back and say ‘Dang, I messed up.’ ”
But regardless of picking up a second win on the new season, Saban was not happy and is hinting at personnel changes on defense.
“Defensively, we didn’t play real well,” the Crimson Tide coach said. “We did make two big plays that were critical in the game in terms of the two interceptions. We gave up too many big plays, too many missed assignments and too much lack of technique — guys doing what they are coached to do on a consistent basis. When you don’t do that and you play against good players you usually get exposed.
“Where do we go from here? I think the focus needs to be on improving as a team. There’s no question that I don’t feel like we are where we need to be as a team. There’s definitely many, many things that we need to improve on and I think the most important thing about that is going to be that the players have the discipline to trust and believe in doing the things the way we want them done and believe in what the coach is telling you to do, so that you have a chance to do it. Work hard to get where you want to be. Without that improvement, we are not going to get where we want to go, we are not going to become the team that we could be.”
There were some players who acquitted themselves well. Mosley had 12 tackles to lead the defense. Collins added seven stops from his safety position. Safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix had six tackles, cornerback Cyrus Jones had five tackles, plus an interception, and JACK linebacker Denzel Devall had five stops. Strong safety Vinnie Sunseri picked off a pass and returned it 73 yards for a key touchdown, his second interception return for a score this season and Alabama’s 31st non-offensive touchdown in the Saban era.
One area of concern for Saban has been the play of the defensive backs.
“If you’re supposed to look at your man and you’re looking at the backfield, that’s not going to get it,” he told AL.com. “We’ve got some younger players that deserve an opportunity to play and we’re going to look at them in practice. We’re going to give some guys an opportunity to play. I’m very encouraged by some of these young guys that we have.”
“So, I think a lot of lessons were learned in this game. So now, when you say, ‘Don’t drop your hands when you’re playing bump and run,’ and the guy does it 15 times in a game against me, now you’ll see why you were telling him,” said Saban.
Colorado State will be the next test for Alabama’s defense. The Rams could be the perfect team to break in a rejuvenated defense. Colorado State, coached by former Tide offensive coordinator Jim McElwain, is 1-2 on the season but coming off a 34-17 win over Cal Poly. The Rams are 67th (29.3 points per game) in scoring offense and 85th in total offense (367.7 yards per game).