Takeaways From Texas A&M Week

The Return of the Mac Continues

As the season progresses Mac Jones has showed more and more confidence and knowledge of the offense. His smooth delivery on the deep ball, and intermediate routes propelled Alabama to a 52-point performance while only having the ball for 22 minutes. With the run game not being as effective it usually is (3.9 yards an attempt) Mac Jones showed he can shoulder the offensive load by finishing the game 435 yards four TDs and one INT with a 74% completion rate. Besides the one interception caused by a deflection, Jones continues to show accuracy, awareness, and poise as the Tide moves through the SEC.

Metchie Emerges as the 3^rd Threat

Metchie hit the ground running on Saturday with a 78-yard bomb to ignite the team to a dominating performance. Metchie showed elite speed and an ability to take the top off a defense. With five catches, Metchie gained 181 yards with two touchdowns Alabama adds another weapon to an already stacked offense.

Malachi Moore STARS in star position

Although a true freshman, Moore seems to have a solid grasp of the star position. Throughout the game, Moore showed physicality to help in the run game and set the edge with six tackles. Moore also showed his ability to cover while deflecting two passes and ending the game with an interception in which he perfectly defended a double move and beat the receiver to the spot.

Defensive Breakdowns

With the defense giving up 450 yards there’s multiple angles to look at this. Texas A&M offense was mostly predicated on working the quick game and handing the ball off to establish ball control. When your defense is on the field for 37-minutes of the game, high yardage is to be expected, but they were mostly empty calories. With the defense only allowing 24 points I’d be inclined to say it was a solid performance.

A couple of mental errors could’ve prevented points though, Daniel Wright whiffed on a tackle which caused a touchdown (he would redeem himself by collecting a pick six in the second quarter). Another issue can be seen with the linebackers in coverage who allowed Ainias Smith to go off for 123 receiving yards, and a blown assignment equated to an easy touchdown from Mond to Renick to tie the game early in the 2^nd quarter. These errors will have to be addressed as the Tide get deeper into SEC play.

What are your major takeaways or concerns that you seen from the Tide? Let us know in the comments.