For Alabama Crimson Tide, It's Full Speed Ahead, Foot on the Gas

Larry Burton (Panama City Beach, Fl)—While it's true that Nick Saban is and will always be a defensive coach at heart, he's a realist first. That's why this year he's made no secret of the fact that for Alabama to have the success it had last year, it may be due in part from the other side of the ball.

"Last year we returned basically all our defensive starters and knew that we the defense would allow our new offensive players some time to come around," Saban said. "This year we return all of our skilled position players on offense and it's going to be up to them to carry the load until the new guys on defense get consistent."

"This year we need to be a lot more explosive on offense, pile up some points every game and give the defense a bigger cushion than we did last year," Saban continued. "I think we didn't do enough of that last year and this year we can and will. This year, we just don't need to take our foot off the gas."

So this year, Saban intends to let both his offensive coordinator, Jim McElwain, and his now very experienced quarterback, Greg McElroy, not only have the keys to the family car, but run it hard and fast.

Last year Alabama showed glimpses of the deep ball and few actually realize their completion rate of balls over 30 yards in the air was among the highest in the nation. This year, with a healthy Julio Jones and a fast-as-ever Marquis Maze, Alabama may be the "mad bomber" of the SEC this year.

Throw into that equation the emerging Kevin Norwood, who will quickly become a household name, along with the already steady Darius Hanks, and another as-yet-unknown to many, Michael Bowman, and Alabama may sport the best receiving corps in the nation.

Alabama intends to showcase its revamped air attack early in the season to make sure defensive coordinators realize this isn't the same "grind it out" offense that Alabama played with most of last year.

That will make the safeties not cheat up and get closer to the line to aid in run support and could open up some big explosive running plays from two very familiar names of Ingram and Richardson and one new name that will raise a few eyebrows this season, Eddie Lacey.

Alabama has the players that can create explosive plays from either running or throwing and there is no way a team can defeat this year's version of the Crimson Tide by ignoring one to stop the other. Either the running game or the passing game will prove deadly for opponents this year.

Last year's team relied on piling up more time of possession and wearing teams down with a killer defense; this year they plan on relying on piling up more points and daring teams to try and keep up.

It will be interesting to finally see the other side of the coin played as prominently.