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Watch: Alabama QB debate
All it took was one loss, one ugly win and one horrific attempt at a quarterback sneak to knock Blake Sims down from expert pilot of a revamped Alabama offense to the goat of a stumbling unit.
There are even some whispers that Nick Saban made the wrong call choosing Sims over Florida State transfer Jacob Coker. Those concerns are misplaced.
Sims got off to a sizzling start to the 2014 campaign, but has seen his numbers tail off in five successive games. He hit his nadir in the fourth quarter against Arkansas, when he got stuck on the line and, in an attempt to leap over the pile, went straight up in the air and got pushed back, resulting in a failed fourth-down conversion.
Saban told reporters that the unsuccessful try — “the ugliest-looking QB sneak I ever saw,” according to the coach — was something the team needed to pull itself together. Camera showed players on the sideline trying to fire up Sims after the play, and later you could see the senior quarterback doing the same. Alabama’s defense came out and got a fourth down stop of its own on Arkansas’ ensuing possession, and later got a game-sealing interception from Landon Collins.
After a record-setting performance against Florida, Sims has led an offense in the last two games that hasn’t even equaled the yardage total it put up in that 42-21 win over the Gators. That’s gotten the pundits wondering if Coker should have been the guy all along.
The simple answer is no.
The expectations in Tuscaloosa are sky-high every year, leaving little margin for error. Sims outright won the starting job in preseason because he was able to get a handle on Lane Kiffin’s new West Coast offense playbook quicker than Coker could. From opening day, Sims exhibited the kind of decision making and accuracy you’d expect from a senior, even one who hadn’t played much up until this season. Other than a few forced throws here and there, Sims had been near-perfect in the early going.
Alabama’s failures against Ole Miss can hardly be blamed on Sims. The Rebels, by the numbers, are one of the top two or three defenses in the nation, and based on the eye test they might be the very best. Still, Sims led the team to nearly 400 total yards. The 10 points the offense put up are misleading, as the Crimson Tide missed two field goals. Even the interception Sims threw at the end of the fourth quarter isn’t that egregious. The throw was into tight coverage, yes, but you don’t often expect a 5-foot-9 cornerback to out-leap a 6-foot-6 tight end.
The struggles against Arkansas are more problematic, although still not easy to pin on Sims. The running game never got untracked, and the blanket coverage Amari Cooper saw threw the passing game off kilter.
Sims brings a dynamic to the offense that Coker, or any quarterback that Saban has had before this season, didn’t possess: elusiveness. Unlike AJ McCarron, Greg McElroy and the like, Sims is able to use his feet to make something happen. He’s not a running quarterback like Dak Prescott or Cam Newton, but much more comparable to a player like Aaron Rodgers in his mobility. Sims is never looking to take off with the ball, but he’s able to escape pressure and move the pocket with his feet, buying time for himself and pulling it down when necessary.
Take the go-ahead touchdown against Arkansas, when Sims felt his pocket collapse, moved to his right and fired a dart into the end zone. A pure pocket passer might have been forced into a tough, back-foot throw there, but not Sims.
There’s a legitimate argument that Coker would be a better long-term solution at quarterback. Although Saban has never handed the reins to a player with fewer than two years experience in the program, the redshirt junior had plenty of hype behind him after enrolling in May, following an early graduation from Florida State that allowed him to move to Alabama with immediate eligibility.
Given Saban’s preference for experience, it’s no surprise that he went with Sims, even though the fifth-year player only had a few extra months with Kiffin calling the offensive shots. Coker demonstrated in the action he got early in the season that he wasn’t quite ready to be the top play caller. While Alabama could very well be at the same point they are now, there’s no telling whether Coker would have a grasp of the offense like Sims does to this point. That uncertainty could have cost the Crimson Tide crucial games as the season wore on.
At this point, there should be no turning away from Sims. There is no “next year” when it comes to Alabama, and plugging in Coker would be an admission that the team can’t stay afloat in the SEC West. If Alabama drops another game or two, the conversation shifts. With one loss on their record, the Tide still have as good of a chance as any team to come out of the division and head to the SEC Championship or the College Football Playoff.
Instead of worrying about Sims, there are several areas the Crimson Tide need to fine-tune to rise back to front-runner status. The offensive line is nowhere near as strong as it’s been in years past, which is gumming up the running lanes for what is on paper (and when healthy) the most talented backfield in the SEC. The lack of any true second option in the passing game after Cooper has allowed defenses to key on him, as the Razorbacks did this past week, and players like O.J. Howard and DeAndrew White haven’t lived up to expectations. The much-maligned special teams unit has too many issues to list here.
There certainly are problems in Tuscaloosa, but the quarterback isn’t one of them.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
