It's not like this was Addai's first fumble of the year. He has uncharacteristicly been having trouble holding on to the ball and I think Les has been riding him about it.
??? I may have misunderstood what you were talking about. In the first series after he fumbled today Miles took him out. I that is what you were referring to, not the ASU game. Anyway, like Saban before him, Miles seems to be big on stressing taking care of the ball. I like it. I can understand Addai's fumble against ASU (he got rocked from behind), but some of his other fumbles were more careless. I think it's a tradeoff that we have to make for having him run as hard as he does. I wouldn't change it though.:grin: He's a warrior!
Its frustrating to me that Miles says that he runs ball control drills in practice everyday, but then we have a rash of fumbles on the field. Flip side is that Vandy punched at the ball on almost every tackle. That's coaching for you. But with the way our play has been, seems to be a luxury that the turnovers are what we are bitchin about the most. If Miles and Jimbo can get these kids to secure the ball, and break out a can of stick'em from the old janitor's closet for our receivers, we ought to be able to fix these problems and maintain offensive productivity that will be critical in the next 2 weeks.
No man, calm down. Part of the problem with the hysteria (not talking about you per se) is people making assumptions. Jimbo answered the question in the paper this morning. After his huge 1st quarter, Vandy shifted their coverage to double him and take him away. They tried to go to him some in the 2nd half, but there was a sack and a double covered pass to the EZ, etc. They just decided to go away from him because Vandy was giving them other options.
I do, up to a certain point. When a player fouls up, you admonish him, you sit him down for a series and let him know that poor play has consequences. And I don't think that Miles showed any lack of confidence by taking Addai completely out of the game in the 4th quarter. He already had 100 yards rushing, Vincent was playing very well--why risk an injury?
Addai did not fumble in this game,he had the ball knocked out of his hands after he stepped out of bounds. So there was no reason to sit him for that. JV had a great game. I agree it was ok to sit Addai in the 4th, because JV was doing so good. and philter, I did not assume anything. Miles said it himself. Addai fumbled at ASU so he sat him out. That is just plain stupid. He is our bread and butter, go-to guy. NOBODY else on this team saves our asses as much as him. So the coach who's ass Addai saves so many times, rewards him by removing him from the game after one mistake. You can all argue with me on this one, but I disagree with this kind of decision making. I hope what Jimbo said in the paper this morning is right, and that they didn't sit Bowe. I hope he's not hurt either though, because honestly, I did not see him step on the field in the second half.
Saban ALWAYS sat someone after fumbling. Alley Broussard fumbled during the blowout @ Arizona his freshman year and didn't see the field until the South Carolina game again. Barrington Edwards (anyone remember that guy and wish he was still here?) had a similar experience with Saban. JV got on Saban's bad side in the OSU game last year for fumbling. Miles didn't re-invent the wheel on this. And by the way, I felt like Addai didn't play much in the 4th quarter because he didn't HAVE to play. Why risk the injury?
