Cook: JP Wilson shoulders some blame for Bama’s woes

It’s easy to kick a guy when he’s down and that’s exactly where Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson is at the moment — down.

He’s been the target of fan abuse since last Saturday when he gift-wrapped a game and handed it to Mississippi State. After his team had controlled the first half and had a 9-3 lead just seconds before halftime, Wilson took it upon himself to throw a dying quail pass that had to be the worst decision made on a football field this season.

That pass from the State 1-yard line turned into a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown by State’s Anthony Johnson and a 10-9 State lead at the half. Then, just for good measure, Wilson’s interception on the first series of the second half set up State for a 25-yard insurance touchdown.

But that’s the way things have been going for Wilson lately. It was his fumble that set up LSU’s 3-yard scoring drive for the winning touchdown against the Crimson Tide just a week earlier. In fact, Wilson’s turnovers have been the key factor in almost half of the touchdowns given up by Alabama’s defense in the Tide’s four losses this season.

In those games — Georgia, Florida State, LSU and Mississippi State — Alabama has given up 13 touchdowns. Five of those touchdowns, including the last three, have been direct results of either a Wilson fumble or an interception. The total offense for the Tide’s opponents on those five scoring drives is a measly 45 yards after the turnovers gave the ball away at the Alabama 25, 3, 12, and 5-yard lines. That doesn’t include Johnson’s return for a touchdown.

It’s difficult for a defense to be expected to hold teams out of the end zone when they are starting with their backs up against the goal line. The defensive players won’t say it, but they have to be getting exasperated with turnovers by the offense putting them in a hole. That has been happening all too frequently.

That’s not to say that Wilson is the reason Alabama has lost four games, but he certainly has to shoulder a lot of the blame. His passing game has been erratic, and you get the feeling some of the Alabama receivers are frustrated by passes that have missed wide open receivers.

“Oh yeah, we were open,” receiver Matt Caddell said after the Mississippi State loss. “We had lots of guys open. But we didn’t execute.”

By we, he means John Parker Wilson. Or perhaps the rebuilt offensive line that didn’t protect the quarterback as well as it should. Or possibly the receivers who didn’t catch passes that they got their hands on, like Nikita Stover, who dropped a wide open catch at the State 5-yard line.

But the same could be said of the Alabama defense that couldn’t come up with a big play on Mississippi State’s last possession. The Bulldogs ran 11 plays and ate 6:00 off the clock while the Alabama defense gave up three first downs, including one on a Christian Ducre 11-yard run on a 3rd-and-10 play.

So there is plenty of blame to go around in Alabama’s four losses, but Wilson is the easiest target as any quarterback with a penchant for interceptions and fumbles would be. Regardless, Wilson appears entrenched as Alabama’s quarterback no matter how many crucial mistakes he makes. Obviously Tide coach Nick Saban believes Wilson is his best chance to win games either because of Wilson’s ability or the lack thereof of any other quarterback on the Tide roster. Few quarterbacks could make as many bad plays as Wilson has and not spend at least a series or two on the bench while somebody else tries his hand.

Despite the four losses, Wilson has led Alabama to six wins and bowl eligibility. This team could still wind up with nine wins, which would be a huge improvement over last season. If you want to put the blame on Wilson for the four losses, you’ve also got to give him credit for the six wins and counting.

Being the quarterback at Alabama means being in the spotlight. For John Parker Wilson, that spotlight has not been too kind of late.

The Crystal Ball finally rebounded and had a decent week, going 4-2 to improve to 63-19 on the season, a .768 winning percentage. For this week, the Crystal Ball says Alabama will beat Louisiana-Monroe; Florida will knock off Florida Atlantic; Tennessee will beat Vanderbilt; LSU will beat Ole Miss; Georgia will beat Kentucky; and Mississippi State will edge Arkansas.