The Crimson Tide Capitalize on Manziel's Mistakes

The hype could not be bigger for the rematch of Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M versus Alabama at Kyle Field. People looked forward to this game during the middle of the hot summer because they knew how special this game had a chance to be another classic in a budding rivalry.  The game delivered as Alabama won a shootout, 49-42.  The game showed Alabama might be more vulnerable than believed and Manziel definitely can be the first back-to-back Heisman winner since Archie Griffin

The Aggies came out firing in the first quarter drawing memories to last November in Tuscaloosa. Manziel found wide receiver Mike Evans multiple times and used his feet effectively to have Texas A&M jump out to a 14-0 lead.  It is hard to believe, but this Alabama team that featured some players who have won two National Championships looked extremely tight.  They did get settled in and tied the game up quickly at 14. These first couple of drives set the tone of this game.  It was not going to be a defensive struggle, but the offenses were going to be on the firing range.

It cannot be stated enough how good Johnny Football looked on Saturday afternoon. He played with composure and with a confidence that he had the biggest balls on the football field. Both are hard to do against Alabama's defense, but it seems like Manziel has a stranglehold over Nick Saban. Chris Brown of Smart Football pointed out SB Nation this week that quarterbacks like Manziel have given Saban fits since the days of Kordell Stewart when the Alabama Head Coach was the defensive coordinator for Cleveland. There are a great deal of players having magnificent Septembers, but for my money, Manziel is the Heisman front-runner. He threw for over 450 yards on the supposedly vaunted Alabama defense as well as rushed for almost 100 yards. It is hard to make an argument against him right now. But Manziel's two mistakes were the reason the Crimson Tide came out victorious.
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The first one came in the first half when Texas A&M still had the Tide on the ropes a bit. The game was knotted at 14 but Manziel had a good drive going again with the Aggie offense.  On a 2nd and Goal from the five, he decided to throw a fade route to an undersized receiver on Ha-Ha Dix, one of the best safeties in college football.  I have no idea whose decision that was to have Manziel throw a fade route in that situation to that receiver, but it should have been the last call around the goal line with Manziel. He is not the type of quarterback to throw a goal line fade and if he is throwing a fade, go to the 6'5 Evans. The Tide quickly capitalized with a hitch route to Kenny Bell that went for 51 yards.

Alabama added another touchdown to have 28 unanswered points heading into halftime with their own 14 point lead.  The Aggies defense struggled most of the day, but they held Alabama to a three-and-out to start the second half.  Manziel lofted a ball into triple coverage only to have the pass get picked off by Vinny Sunseri whom took his second interception to the house to give Alabama a 21 point advantage. While this is blatantly obvious, Manziel does not make the turnover errors; this is an entirely different game. The Tide caught a couple breaks from Johnny Football, but what makes us think they will be so lucky the rest of the year?

The Crimson Tide looked good in certain facets of the game, but this is not the all-star team everyone talked about to the start the year. Their defense got torn to shreds in both passing and running the football. The offense looked much better than Virginia Tech, but the Texas A&M's defense is average at best. This is not a game where Alabama deserves to be crowned and praised for their performance. They are definitely in a position where an opposing team can beat them on any given Saturday. I do not think you could say the same thing last season

There is still so much football left to be played, but how fun would it be to see these teams play again? I realize an All-SEC National Championship makes the rest of the country sicker than food poisoning, but hell, I would watch this matchup every week. This is fun football no matter if it is a conference game or a non-conference game. It is going to be great watching these teams face off in the coming years even with new pawns in the elaborate chess match.  Some point, the home team will win one, but this was not the time.

Charlie.