Nick Saban on if he's concerned with sack numbers: 'Hell, yeah'

The Alabama Crimson Tide have had issues on the offensive line this season, particularly allowing too many sacks this season. Through seven games, Alabama has allowed 31 sacks or 4.43 sacks per game. Head coach Nick Saban knows this is a problem for the offense.

When asked if he was concerned about these issues, Saban gave a blunt response.

“Well, to answer the first part of your question, I would say, ‘Hell, yeah,'” Nick Saban said.

Despite concerns about how many sacks the offensive line is allowing this season, Nick Saban also believes that the Crimson Tide are capable of fixing those problems mid-season. That’s because they’re more mental errors than physical ones.

“I do think we have guys who are capable. I think it goes back to that same attention to detail. There’s little things like, in certain protections, I know I have inside help. So, why would I get beat outside? Does that make sense? So, these are not all capability issues. Some of them are things that we could fix,” Saban said.

“When we’re sliding out, to block three on three, and a guy doesn’t slide out to block the third guy and he runs in and sacks the quarterback. That’s a mental error. That’s not a physical problem. So, it’s a combination of all those things that need to get cleaned up with better communication, better execution, and maybe the more knowledge and experience we get, the more we’ll be able to be more effective and consistent in those areas.”

Next Saturday, Alabama will host a tough Tennessee team. Through six games, the Volunteers have one of the country’s best pass rushes, recording 24 total sacks for an average of four per game. So, Nick Saban and the offensive line better be ready for a challenge.

Nick Saban praised Joe Milton

Alabama will be challenged when Tennessee has the ball by an explosive offense. Nick Saban knows that finding a way to stop that offense is going to come down to finding a way to stop quarterback Joe Milton.

“Well, I don’t see Joe a whole lot different than, you know what we played against in the past. When Hendon Hooker was there. The guy can throw the ball, he’s accurate. He’s got a strong arm, can make plays down the field, which, you know, they take a lot of vertical shots and he certainly has the capability of making those plays. But he’s also athletic enough to extend plays in the pocket and run if necessary,” Saban said.

“I don’t tell them anything different than any other time you’re playing a quarterback. You can’t get pushed by the quarterback. You got to keep the guy in front of you, got to have discipline in pass rush lanes and got to try to make the guy throw the ball on time, you know from the pocket and hopefully we can cover them well enough to make it work in the back end.”