The Alabama Crimson Tide football team will finally have a week off after eight straight weeks of games, including five consecutive Southeastern Conference games.

“We have a lot of things that we can improve on,” head coach Nick Saban said. “That is certainly the focus of what we want to do in this week with the bye. Each player has something that he can improve on, and we want him to focus on that, whether it be technique, conditioning or a better understanding of assignments.”

The Tide will also be using this time to get players healthy and back from injury.

“It’s important for the players to get treatment,” Saban said. “It’s also important to recover physically and psychologically and to get the proper rest.”

Defensive backs DeQuan Menzie and Wesley Neighbors did not participate in practice Tuesday due to injuries.

Alabama will hold two more practices this week on Wednesday and Thursday. Players will work out individually on Friday before getting the weekend off and beginning preparations for LSU on Monday.

Tough schedule remaining for Tide

Despite being mid-way through the season, the Tide still has a tough schedule ahead.

Three of its last four games are against top-25 ranked SEC opponents. Saturday, Nov. 6, the Tide travels to Baton Rouge, La., to face LSU in a game with huge SEC West implications. That will also be the Tide’s last road game of the season.

After that, Mississippi State University, Georgia State and Auburn visit Tuscaloosa to play the No. 7 ranked Tide.

Auburn is currently ranked No. 1 in the BCS rankings and is at the top of the SEC West.

“We’ve had a lot of tough games against a lot of tough teams,” Saban said. “All we can do is control what we can control and make our team the best we can make our team. We have to have them prepared to play the best that we can and take it one game at a time.”

Saban speaks on toughness of the game

One major issue facing college and professional football is the number of concussions that players suffer due to big hits.

Saban said he thinks coaching will prevent some accidents, but sometimes accidents still happen.

“We all try to coach safety in tackling,” he said. “I think it’s a fine line that when you try to hit with your shoulder, you can hit someone with your head. I’m all for player safety.”

Saban also said he feels that football has improved its efforts to protect players from the days when he played.

“I really don’t know that the game has changed,” Saban said. “There has always been a lot of good hitting. There is a lot more awareness of injuries and the consequences of those injuries and how we can prevent some of those things from happening. We’ve tried to create a safer game.”