Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy searching for answers to struggles

TUSCALOOSA — Greg McElroy is a perfectionist.

With apologies to TV’s Monk, it’s a blessing. And a curse.

Alabama’s junior quarterback led the Crimson Tide to five straight victories in which they scored 34 points or more. He set a school record with 14 straight completions against Florida International. He tied an Alabama record for completion percentage the next week by going 13-for-15 (86.7 percent) against North Texas.

It was almost a flawless start to the season for Mr. Perfect, who hasn’t lost a football game since junior high.

But perfection isn’t reality against SEC defenses. The past two weeks — facing Ole Miss and South Carolina — he is a combined 25-for-54 passing for 239 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions. In those two weeks, his efficiency rating has dropped from 165.48 to 137.57.

So, despite Alabama’s No. 1 ranking in the AP poll, fans aren’t the only ones asking what’s wrong with Greg McElroy?

“Maybe we’re trying to do too much, maybe we’re putting too much pressure on ourself,” Alabama coach Nick Saban offered when asked about his quarterback.

“And I also think the people around us on offense need to continue to improve the way they play so the quarterback feels comfortable and confident that he’s going to be protected, he’s not going to get pressure in the pocket, we’re going to have time to read and set our feet and throw the ball where we’re supposed to. All those things, to me, are a part of what we need to improve on.”

That sounds reasonable, but in this league, the quarterback is going to get hit, he isn’t going to have much time to set his feet and he may not have time to make all his reads.

“It seems like every week we’ve got a superstar on the other side of the ball,” McElroy said. “Last week, (Eric) Norwood. This week, Eric Berry. The week before that was Greg Hardy and the week before that was Lindley, 32, from Kentucky. The week before that was 96, Malcolm Sheppard (Arkansas). It’s like, ‘Man, one of these days we’re going to catch a break and we’re not going to play a future first-round pick.’ ”

Which is why the perfectionist side of McElroy can be a hindrance.

“You want to grade out perfect. That’s everyone’s goal,” McElroy said. “You want to have a perfect game. I’m a perfectionist, that’s just the way I’ve been taught. You don’t do things right, then why do them at all?”

Of McElroy’s 10 completions against South Carolina, two were to tight end Colin Peek, and six (two each) were to running backs Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson and Roy Upchurch. His only two completions to wide receivers were to Marquis Maze.

“We’ve got too many good skill players not to be able to get them the ball so we can make explosive plays in the passing game,” Saban said. “It’s not what we need it to be, it was not what we needed it to be in the game and we definitely need to improve on it.”

McElroy has said he’s not seeing the safeties very well.

“South Carolina probably did the best job as far as ... really changing looks and disguising,” he said.

But maybe he’s seeing too much. In layman’s terms, he must guard against paralysis by analysis.

“They’re trying to do a lot of things to confuse Greg, and bring a lot of pressure and make him see things almost at the last second and have to make a really quick decision on the fly,” Peek said.

Peek said he’s confident that McElroy will adjust and be sharp against the Vols.

“Any player is going to get frustrated when their play is not up to what they expect it to be,” Peek said. “I look for Greg to keep improving. He’s going to hold himself tougher than anyone.”

McElroy said he was relieved that Ingram and the ground game dominated South Carolina.

“You’re going to have ups and downs. Unfortunately, Saturday was a little bit of a down for me,” he said. “But maybe for the rest of the team, maybe they had an up. We’re fortunate enough to have people be able to pick things up and get a victory out of it.”

Tennessee’s defense ranks ahead of Ole Miss and South Carolina. The quarterback said he’s eager to face Monte Kiffin’s defense.

“I’m excited to get those mistakes ironed out and to have a good game on Saturday,” McElroy said.

Saban indicated Alabama may simplify its passing attack a bit.

“I think that, number one, you’ve got to go back to what got you there,” the coach said. “And you’ve got to have simple goals. ...

“You’ve got to remember the fundamental things that are most important to you in terms of being able to execute and playing winning football at your position. And I think we’ve got to get back to that.”

It also is worth remembering that perfection by quarterbacks in the SEC is a relative thing. And in the category that counts, McElroy remains a perfect 7-0.