Mailbag: Alabama football fans inquire on play-calling, punt returns and more | Goodbread

Alabama football, fresh off a 34-20 comeback win over rival Tennessee, heads into the idle week at 7-1, and 5-0 in SEC play. It's been a roller coaster of a season that's left plenty of fans wondering where this team's ceiling is, but it will enter November atop the SEC West standings and with championship hopes still alive. Naturally, the Sounding Board, contributors to the Tuscaloosa News' occasional mailbag column, has questions. Onto the answers:

Ben from Huntsville writes Where’s Justice Haynes?

Hey Ben: Everything from Haynes' strong showing in spring practice to Nick Saban's recent remarks that he and Jam Miller are game-ready and deserve to play makes his absence from the offense somewhat of a mystery. But what's not a mystery is that Alabama's had a very hard time protecting Jalen Milroe with five linemen, and pass protection is a big reason the coaching staff finds Jase McClellan hard to take off the field.

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Davey from Helena writes: What is stopping (Tommy) Rees from calling an entire game like he called the second half of UT game? The second half featured more diverse play-calling and a much more creative run game.

Hey Davey: The two jet sweeps were a nice wrinkle (technically pass completions, but might as well be runs), and Kendrick Law made a big play on one of them. Apart from the run game, we finally saw something from the screen package, too, albeit unsuccessful. Some diversity was needed, for sure.

Derek from Indianapolis writes: What analogy would you use to describe this team, I’ve heard “toxic girlfriend” and “zombie”

Hey Derek: Best I could do is combine those. Toxic zombie girlfriend. Penalties? Toxic for sure, even though Alabama played a clean penalty game against the Vols. Looking dead in the first quarter, only to come to life in the second half? Sounds like a zombie to me. But this toxic zombie girlfriend is still 7-1. And she wants a ring.

Ross from Paris, TN. writes: How long before we “feel“ like we have a team that’s better than the previous year? Perfection in 2020 and then downhill since.

Hey Ross: How about two weeks and four quarters? That's how long it will take to find out if Alabama can avenge last year's loss to LSU. If this team passes that test and reaches the SEC title game, I'd call that a better season than 2022 regardless of any postseason outcomes.

Monte from Brooklyn writes: Which remaining game is the toughest? LSU? KY? AUB?

Hey Monte: I think you've listed them in order of toughness, and of course that happens to be their order on the schedule as well. None should be taken for granted, especially with two of them being road games. But LSU's offense is looking unstoppable, and Alabama's offense isn't built to win a shootout. LSU will be the biggest test Alabama's defense has faced since the Texas game, if not bigger.

CJ from Birmingham writes: What is going on with Kool-Aid not catching punts and putting us in the hole 25-30 yards? Thank goodness for half-time adjustments!

Hey CJ: For a guy who's in his second year as a starting punt returner, it's beyond me to explain. McKinstry is dangerous with the catch, but that starts with a catch, and he certainly learned on Saturday that a fair catch can be a big win over allowing a bounce-and-roll. Punts are harder to read in the air than they used to be, because of all the Australian-style punting we see in college football now. I think that's one reason we saw Alabama deploy two punt returners on at least one Tennessee punt. Still, it's got to be a point of emphasis in special teams practice ahead of the LSU game.

Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23 and the Talkin' Tide podcast. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Mailbag: Alabama fans inquire on play-calling, punt returns and more