Jalen Milroe felt the weight of Alabama football's offensive woes against Tennessee .
In the Crimson Tide's loss to the Volunteers , Milroe had 239 yards passing with one touchdown pass and two interceptions, leading an offense that has not scored 17 points or less since Sept. 16, 2023, against South Florida .
Alabama offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan wanted to make one thing clear Monday. Alabama's lack of success offensively was not solely because of Milroe.
"None of us coached or played well enough and that starts with me," Sheridan said. "Our ability to execute consistently and take advantage of the opportunities we were presented, we obviously fell short in those spots. We're all involved in that."
But the weight of the offensive woes was something Milroe carried postgame.
"When it comes to communication up front, communication with your guys around, I got to do better on my end, playing with better detail, communication up front and allowing our guys to line up properly with the communication," Milroe said.
Milroe's performance has been at the center of Alabama's recent offensive struggles.
In four SEC games, Milroe has thrown six interceptions compared to five touchdown passes. His completion percentage is in decline, bottoming out with a season-low 55.6% Saturday against the Volunteers. He's been sacked nine times in the past three games, and averaged 1.5 yards per carry as a runner.
Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said Milroe's struggles have not been because of injury, saying "there's nothing that's going to be holding him back from going out there and helping us get a win." And Milroe said his performances is not because of a discomfort in DeBoer and Sheridan's offensive system, saying Saturday he has "full trust and confidence with our guys."
As Alabama faces the second half of the 2024 season, DeBoer said his focus will be on making sure Milroe is asked to do things he's comfortable with, which is "everything we ask him" to do in the offense.
"I know in Jalen's case, I know how he takes it all on himself," DeBoer said. "But there's other things that we can all do to help support him and put him, keep him from being in those tough spots, especially when you have a loud environment and it's hard enough just to be able to communicate with your team, make those extra little checks or calls that need to be made. That energy is a lot. We need to come through and help him a little bit more too. And just like you'd guess, he can continue to improve as well."
Sheridan said Milroe is not solely responsible for Alabama's offensive struggles. But when Alabama's offense has success, Sheridan said, Milroe's been "at the forefront."
That is what Sheridan wants Milroe to remember as Alabama prepares for Missouri .
"It's not like this is something that you're chasing that you haven't done or shown," Sheridan said. "And so that's the message not just to Jalen but to the rest of the group is to get back to playing the type of football we know we're capable of playing and that's our task this week."
Alabama hosts Missouri at 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium on ABC.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Is Jalen Milroe at the center of Alabama football offense struggles?
