Maybe getting the TEs back will help?
First up, the biggest news yesterday was Kalen DeBoer’s remark after Wednesday’s practice:
For one, Cuevas has been Ty Simpson’s most clutch receiving option for much of the season, and his absence the last three games was clearly felt.
Two, don’t discount Danny Lewis. The veteran tight end has barely played this season. Want to guess the three games he actually got a healthy amount of snaps?
Georgia, Vanderbilt, Missouri.
Yeah, three of the four games where Alabama’s offense felt the most dynamic and it felt like the Tide may be able to find something in the run game. Was it a coincidence? Probably. But he’s still most likely Alabama’s best run blocking tight end.
If you want to watch the whole teleconference, the video is below:
DeBoer didn’t give us too much in way of any nuggets or good information, but feel free to give it a listen.
“I ain’t as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was.”
The lyric from Toby Keith’s country classic neatly captures where Alabama football‘s offense finds itself ahead of the first round of the College Football Playoff against Oklahoma.
After late-season struggles, the Crimson Tide is searching for the version of itself that showed up in wins over Georgia, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Tennessee.
The song even reflects Alabama‘s struggles with injury down the stretch — and the defiance displayed by guys like quarterback Ty Simpson, who insisted his team has the “best offense in the country” despite a one-touchdown performance in the SEC championship.
“Now my body says ‘You can’t do this, boy.’ But my pride says ‘Oh yes, you can.‘”
Tuscaloosa News’ Emilee Starr gave us a fun article here, so definitely give it a read. Ty Simpson will never tell us if he actually is playing injured, but regardless, he hasn’t been able to overcome a severe lack of offensive production. Is it fair for that to all by on Ty? Not really. The running game is completely D.O.A. and the receiving group has been plagued by drops, plus they haven’t particularly excelled at forcing missed tackles with any consistency. However, that’s the nature of this offensive scheme – it’s all on the QB.
And, well, the OC seeming like he’s at a loss of what to do doesn’t instill much confidence.
Am I being pessimistic? Possibly. But right now, Ryan Grubb’s offense is a full 3 points per game worse than Alabama’s Tommy Rees offense of 2023 – and that’s not good. Until we see them figure something out and score more than 30 points against any team with a pulse (Tennessee doesn’t count, the defense got 7 of those points), then color me skeptical.
In some sad NFL news, the Miami Dolphins have benched Tua Tagovailoa
The Miami Dolphins benched quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and will start rookie Quinn Ewers on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, coach Mike McDaniel announced Wednesday.
“I need convicted quarterback play. This team needs convicted quarterback play,” McDaniel said Wednesday. “I thought Quinn gave us the best chance to do that … I couldn’t responsibly play this next game when I thought what the team needed was available and live in hope and wish and stuff.”
The Dolphins were eliminated from playoff contention after Monday’s 28-15 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, in which Tagovailoa completed just 6-of-10 passes for 65 yards and an interception through three quarters.
I’ll go to my grave saying that Tua was never the same QB after the hip injury, and that the repeated concussions he suffered a couple of seasons ago again changed his game for the worst.
He was always a risky draft prospect due to the injury-proneness he had already shown in college even before the terrible hip injury. So while he was one of the most talented ball-throwers of a generation, it seems those risks have won out. Still, he had a phenomenal couple of seasons in Miami too, and got himself the coveted top-of-the-market NFL contract, so that’s far from a busted career.
It’ll be interesting to see what’s next. Tua will get another shot somewhere else. The NFL is too QB starved for him not to. Plus, the Dolphins will need a new QB (and hey, Mac Jones sure has been looking good as the backup for the 49ers… the very same system that Miami head coach Mike McDaniel came from).
Category: General Sports
