Ryan Grubb tells how Alabama’s kicking struggles are impacting play calling

Alabama kicker, Conor Talty has missed a kick in three of Alabama’s five games this year. He is currently 70 percent on the year, and the longest field goal Talty has made was from 46 yards away against UL Monroe.

The Crimson Tide have gone for it on fourth down more than any Alabama team this decade, and that leads to the question of is it because the coaching staff wants to be aggressive or is the kicking problems are impacting the offensive calls.

Ryan Grubb was asked how the recent kicking struggles impact his decision-making when in enemy territory, but he responded by saying the offense needs to execute better and not rely on another unit to finish the drive.

“Score more touchdowns, for sure,” Grubb said. “That was disappointing, to be honest. I thought our red zone execution was poor. Something we got to work at a lot, but we can’t put ourselves in those positions to count on another part of the football team to take care of our business. So, for us, we still got to follow the script and understand we can’t press in those moments, but certainly, our opportunities there, we have done a really nice job the previous two weeks down in the red zone, and to see ourselves take a step back was discouraging. So, we’re going to put a lot of effort into that and execute a lot better down there this week.”

Even after a 47-yard miss against Vanderbilt, the Crimson Tide called on the field goal team three more times to get points after stalled drives in Commodore territory, and Talty made all three of them.

The decision-making process on when to go for it on fourth down versus kicking a field goal is a storyline to monitor this season as Alabama continues conference play.