The Alabama Crimson Tide has a quarterback problem that Kalen DeBoer can't avoid

Alabama Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer has a serious problem. There is more than one thing that needs to be resolved with the Alabama football team. But one thing outweighs the other shortcomings; The Crimson Tide has a quarterback problem. Jalen Milroe's performance against Tennessee was terrible. He made inaccurate throws, failed to deliver the ball to open receivers, threw into tight coverage and expected too much magic from Ryan Williams.

Alabama football fans are critical of Nick Sheridan's call to play. Maybe Sheridan could have called a better game. Perhaps he, DeBoer and others on the Crimson Tide's offensive staff could have come up with a better plan. No matter how well the coaches performed or failed, the biggest weakness in Alabama's offense was Jalen Milroe.

Jalen is an outstanding young man in every way. He has a combination of skills that surpasses many quarterbacks. Unfortunately, instead of his skills leading to excellence, Milroe has unfortunately developed into a subpar quarterback. Since the second quarter against Georgia, Milroe's passing stats have plummeted.

In the second quarter of the Tennessee game, one play was a microcosm of all-too-common failures by Jalen Milroe. On a second down at the Tennessee 32-yard line, Milroe gets a clean pocket. As the play developed, he had three options. A hole in the UT defense would have given him a run of at least 10 yards. Justice Haynes was open for a pass around the Tennessee 15 and at the 10-yard line, behind the last Vol defender, a wide-open Alabama receiver waved for the ball. Milroe chose the Haynes option and the pass went far beyond the reach of the running back. Because of Alabama penalties and a sack, the possession ended with a James Burnip punt.

It is unfair to judge a player for a mistake. But there are plenty of examples of Milroe not making the right decisions on plays. A statistical exclamation point is that Milroe has the worst touchdown-pass-to-interception ratio among SEC starting QBs compared to SEC competition. He has five touchdown passes and six interceptions in SEC games. Based on SEC play, what Alabama gets from Jalen Milroe is roughly what Auburn gets from Payton Thorne. Alabama football fans don't need to be told that such a comparison is unacceptable.

Kalen DeBoer faces a dilemma. Ty Simpson may not offer a significant improvement over Jalen Milroe. To the extent that DeBoer's, and now Alabama's, current offensive plan fails with Milroe, it could be even worse with Simpson. Unless Simpson steps in and quickly improves the Tide's offensive prospects, moving the popular Milroe could lead to a backlash from players. What DeBoer needs to do is unclear. But he has to do something that works, and quickly.