Adam had a perfect game

    There were a lot of players happy at the end of the Iron Bowl. My candidate for most joyous of all was Adam Griffith. He made all Tide fans proud. 5-5 in the Iron Bowls is stellar.  That alone was enough to beat the Tigers. Adam had a bad start this season. He was 0-4, and you had to wonder if would become a head case. Saban believed in him. He stuck with him and down the road he became as good a  place kicker as Alabama wanted or needed. Carlson is an excellent kicker. He had made 15 consecutive field goals and then he missed  on number 16. It was a change in momentum. Auburn never again led in the game and when his kicked was wide right and would couldn't draw even again. Adam Griffith’s journey to Alabama is well documented. He was adopted by his now American parents from an orphanage at age 13. He moved from Poland to Georgia. That must have quite a transformation.   

        He was almost placed with another family in Poland. Enter his parents who had come to Poland to find an infant to adopt. Instead they fell in love with a young man named Andrzei Debowski. The Griffiths decided to take a teenager. I’ll give them all the credit in the world. Adopting is always a stressful situation. But a teenager? These were indeed people who loved this child. Andrzei told the Polish Courts he wanted to change his name to Adam, in part because it was easy to spell. The rest is history and he has been a blessing to Alabama in so many ways. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Bama Nation pull as hard for a comeback as they did with Adam. Sure, there were who wanted him on the bench. The coach didn’t see the young man who was missing in games. He continued to see the kicker who could kick 60 yarders in practice. That face, hunch, intuition, or whatever you want to call it, has contributed to Tide success. In the second half of the season he has been invaluable.
 
       Adam not only kicked five field goals against the Tigers all his kick-offs were touchbacks, save one. That was his last. The Auburn returner had nothing to loss from near the middle of the end zone. The returned threw the dice and cost his team some valuable seconds. It wasn’t a redemption from the last time he kicked in Jordan-Hare. All he did was miss an almost impossible field goal after sitting on the bench with no chance to warm-up for the kick. I’d like to add the kick was dead center, just a little short. On Saturday he played a perfect game for kicker. It was like bowling 300 or pitching perfect game. And he did it on a slip and slide field that mysteriously changed from the last home game. He deserved to be the game MVP as much as his buddy, Derrick.


A final post script: Ever wonder how far Alabama fans can be found. The numbers below are for the full season in football -

United States	180911
Russia	1819
Mexico	1533
United Kingdom	1259
Canada	1208
Germany	143
Indonesia	136
Portugal	106
France	80
Ukraine	64

It was Henry, Henry, and more Henry...

 

     Have you noticed that AU wins over Alabama always get a nickname? Punt Bama Punt, Kick Six, and Over the top are a few that come to that come. When Bama wins, they just win. But I think that yesterday’s Tide win deserves a moniker. I have a suggestion for one.  You’ll likely never find this one on a bumper sticker or in the news. “Derrick Henry, ran over your ass.”  The storyline for this years’  Iron Bowl was precisely that. Henry ran around and through and through. Mainly he just ran over them.

  No Rest for the weary...    

           

When Nick Saban wanted to take out the future Heisman Trophy winner for well-deserved rest, Henry said he wanted to keep playing. To paraphrase his words,  “I want to win.”  He might have added he wished they could have played another quarter or perhaps two because he was having so much fun. Auburn put up a fight, what with the stupid trick plays and all, but the dam was going to break. Regardless, of how much the Tigers tried to win, they just didn’t have the weapons to do so. They only way they scored was one of the unbelievable catches that seem to occur in Jordan-Hare. That catch fired up the crowd. It also fired up the Tide. Entering the fourth quarter you knew who was going to win. And so did Auburn. The inevitability of the victory was never in doubt, only the winning margin. Las Vegas said 13, and the Tide gave its fans 16.


Best of the Best?

       

Henry deserved to get that his final touchdown. He had carried the load and it seemed fitting he was rewarded. What I noticed on the play was how after running the ball 45 times, he still outran the entire Auburn defense.  If someone had a Heisman Trophy, they should have just handed to him in the end zone. I believe he is going to an additional chance to enhance his chances at a minimum.  The list of truly great Alabama running backs is so long I will not try to list it for fear of leaving someone unnamed. The name Derrick Henry can go at the top of the list in my opinion.  No disrespect to any of his predecessors, but he is the best of the best. His long strides may appear to be slow. He isn't slow, it just takes those legs a little while to get going. I know one thing, that long lanky gate is going take the Tide to its 16th National Championship. More later next week.