No excuse for that shit. The D shut them down in the 2nd half then when they were needed most chief plays soft. That wasn't a prevent D. It was just soft. No reason the abandon the scheme that shut them down all night. Unless of course you are playing not to lose.
It did prevent the big play as designed. Prevent defenses are designed to give up the short routes and cover the long routes. Bama had nothing but three-and-outs for the entire second half. Chavis had good reason to believe that they might do that again . . . or turn it over like they had already done. But Sims got too much time. Chavis can't play a prevent defense and cover the short routes and have any linebackers left to blitz. The failure of the D-line to get a four-man pass rush and hurry Sims was the weakness that they exploited. That and getting our linebackers covering faster receivers on patterns to the sidelines.
They can improve, but not past the level of qb we saw from the guy in red last night and people will still bitch and moan.
