Alabama's DJ Dale Has Simple Fix for Crimson Tide's Defensive Miscues
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Work smarter.
That's what University of Alabama sophomore nose tackle DJ Dale believes is the answer to the Crimson Tide's early-season miscues on defense, when he was recently asked about what went wrong in Oxford last week.
"Ole Miss had a great offense," Dale said on Tuesday to the media via Zoom. "But I think the biggest thing for us, we played with great effort, we played with great toughness but as a whole, I just think we need to play smarter."
It's a quick turnaround for the Crimson Tide as it welcomes the No. 3-ranked Georgia Bulldogs into Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night, a game the college football world will has its eyes on.
Dale and the rest of the defensive unit will have the responsibility of stopping an offense that leads the Southeastern Conference in time of possession at 34:35 a game, which is good for fifth in the nation.
"They're [Georgia] a big, physical front," Dale said. "They like to move the ball. They like to strike fear in you. They're one of the best offensive lines in the SEC."
Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide's third down efficiency on defense has been one of the worst in the league and 69th in the country at 54 percent. Dale says that creating stops on the all-important third down is crucial for success this weekend.
"We've been putting the emphasis on that this whole season," Dale said. "But with a team like that, it's going to be very, very important to get off the field on third down because they do keep the ball a long time."
Earlier this week, one of Dale's teammates sophomore linebacker Christian Harris attributed the struggles on third downs to just missed tackles.
"I think one thing that really hurt us this past week was the fact that, like I keep saying, we kept missing tackles," Harris said. "A lot of the tackles we would’ve made, they probably would’ve ended up punting the ball and stopping the drive, helping us get off the field. When you miss tackles, you let them create more plays, stay on the field for a longer time, it just lasts a lot longer. If we focus on making tackles and not missing as many as we did, we’ll get off the field. We’ll be better as a defense."
While the SEC is in the midst of becoming an offensive juggernaut and elite defenses moving into the past, Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban believes it could have been due to the number of missed practices in the spring and lead up to the actual season.
"I guess you could point to several different things that can contribute to it," Saban said earlier this week. "One can be preparation, which can include all those things, spring, fall camp, all those things. I think for a long time when we were able to not practice against each other, even in the summer time we couldn't have 7 on 7 or we couldn't do any drills against each other."
"It's much easier to practice offense on air than it is defense on air, because you're reacting to something all the time. Maybe that contributes to it. I really don't know. The tackling, we didn't tackle very well in the last game. We had missed assignments and tackling, probably the two things that were the biggest detriment for us in the last game in terms of the way we played defense. And I think those are fundamental things that you have to fix. I think when players press, they actually can get worse at those things. You've got to play relaxed and confident and that comes from very good preparation and that's what we need to do a better job of."
The Birmingham-area defensive tackle noted that frustration might not have been the right word to describe him and his teammates in the game against the Rebels, but instead, trying to adjust to much to Lane Kiffin's scheme and over scheme the other way, is what hurt the unit as a whole.
"I wouldn’t say we were frustrated," Dale said. "I don’t know what’s the word to describe it, I just, I think we were just trying to do too much. We’re just trying to do too much, I think that’s the biggest thing."
Dale mentioned that he has become a more vocal leader in year two at the Capstone and revealed what he said to his teammates this past weekend in Oxford — a message that the Crimson Tide defense hopes it can follow through on, to stifle a very efficient Bulldogs offense.
"We just need to settle down and lock in, focus on everybody doing their job," Dale said. "If everybody can do their job, nothing can go wrong. Don’t try to do anybody else’s job, just focus on what you have to do and focus on dominating your box."
