RF2044
Living Legend
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 31,470
- Like
- 104,177
QB--A. Nassib was great, took shots deep, didn't take sacks, and really looked like a difference maker. Impressive performance.
RB--C. Smith and Gulley looked solid, especially as receivers. Not a ton of holes to run through today, but they ran hard. The non-play on the backwards pass drags this grade down. A lot.
WR--B+. Playing without the best receiver, the remaining WRs stepped up and played pretty damn well. I believe today might have been a coming out party for Kobena, who reminded me of a young KJ. Broyld looks like he'll be a difference maker. This group has some potential, especially when Lemon returns. We have better weapons than we've had in a LONG time.
TE--B-. Stevens didn't play, and he's ostensibly our best receiver in this group. But Wales looked okay and Cutler [!!!] made some plays as well. Stevens and Thompson will give us even better YAC potential. The fumble hurt, but this group accorded itself well.
OL--C. Pass blocking was pretty darn good. Run blocking...well, not enough holes opened. But again, this was a unit playing without it's top player. Today's performance suggests that we've got better quality / depth than we've had in a decade, and that once Pugh returns the line will only get stronger. Given how this has been our weakest unit for years, I'd say that we're poised to take a fairly significant step forward at OL, which is great. Too many penalties, though--which I suppose is to be expected with so many inexperienced players seeing their first game action. Need to lock that down.
DT--B. Held up well at the point of attack. Need to get upfield and make more plays. But we had a great defense in 2010 with a group of fairly servicable DTs, and the talent looks better this year, especially once we add Raymon.
DE--B-. I've said it since last winter--MPB was our most important recruit in last year's class. He looks like a difference maker. Need to generate more pass rush, but the potential is there.
LB--B-. Showed a ton of speed, but missed too many tackles. Need to get that ironed out, because this unit has the potential to be significantly above average. We won't face too many attacks as versatile as NW, which is a good thing.
DB--C. Lots of good, but some bad as well. Lyn's penalty was a killer, and this group is as culpable as any with missed tackles. Again, the potential is there--they need to step up.
ST--D. The kicking aspect is improved, I'll get that out of the way first. Norton was a godsend, and Fisher was adequate. The kick coverage was terrible. Missed FG cost us, as well.
Play calling--B. Offense looked tremendous all four quarters. We had more long drives today than we did all of last year. When the OL improves and we get some of our weapons back, my expectation is that we're going to amass lots of yardage and put lots of points up--which in the depleted BE is going to translate into wins.
Intangibles--. Too many costly penalties on both sides of the ball. We also gift wrapped 14 points to NW on the punt return TD and the backwards pass TD, and we gave up a third TD essentially on the fluke INT that led to a TD the next play. We also didn't capitalize on our scoring opportunities early, settling for a pair of FGs whereas they got TDs off of their big plays. This was a winnable game at home, and we stubbed our toe, despite wracking up 600 yards of offense and putting up more than 200+ over what that dangerous NW offense registered. The funny thing is, eliminate any one individual miscue and we still win this game. But we didn't and we got the L.
Future Outlook--B. Uconn, Pitt, and Rutgers all looked like crap this week. Ain't no way we beat USC, so we're looking at an 0-2 hole, but if we bounce back and square things up at 2-2, we have a chance at the beginning of the BE portion of the schedule to position ourselves for bowl eligibility. Going into today's game, I didn't expect the offense to be as good as it was, the WRs to be as solid as they were, and the OL to show as much promise as it did. I think we are positioned well to make noise in the conference, and if we can correct the tackling issues and eliminate the unforced mistakes, we're going to win some games this year. I still believe we are going to prove capable of going to a bowl.
RB--C. Smith and Gulley looked solid, especially as receivers. Not a ton of holes to run through today, but they ran hard. The non-play on the backwards pass drags this grade down. A lot.
WR--B+. Playing without the best receiver, the remaining WRs stepped up and played pretty damn well. I believe today might have been a coming out party for Kobena, who reminded me of a young KJ. Broyld looks like he'll be a difference maker. This group has some potential, especially when Lemon returns. We have better weapons than we've had in a LONG time.
TE--B-. Stevens didn't play, and he's ostensibly our best receiver in this group. But Wales looked okay and Cutler [!!!] made some plays as well. Stevens and Thompson will give us even better YAC potential. The fumble hurt, but this group accorded itself well.
OL--C. Pass blocking was pretty darn good. Run blocking...well, not enough holes opened. But again, this was a unit playing without it's top player. Today's performance suggests that we've got better quality / depth than we've had in a decade, and that once Pugh returns the line will only get stronger. Given how this has been our weakest unit for years, I'd say that we're poised to take a fairly significant step forward at OL, which is great. Too many penalties, though--which I suppose is to be expected with so many inexperienced players seeing their first game action. Need to lock that down.
DT--B. Held up well at the point of attack. Need to get upfield and make more plays. But we had a great defense in 2010 with a group of fairly servicable DTs, and the talent looks better this year, especially once we add Raymon.
DE--B-. I've said it since last winter--MPB was our most important recruit in last year's class. He looks like a difference maker. Need to generate more pass rush, but the potential is there.
LB--B-. Showed a ton of speed, but missed too many tackles. Need to get that ironed out, because this unit has the potential to be significantly above average. We won't face too many attacks as versatile as NW, which is a good thing.
DB--C. Lots of good, but some bad as well. Lyn's penalty was a killer, and this group is as culpable as any with missed tackles. Again, the potential is there--they need to step up.
ST--D. The kicking aspect is improved, I'll get that out of the way first. Norton was a godsend, and Fisher was adequate. The kick coverage was terrible. Missed FG cost us, as well.
Play calling--B. Offense looked tremendous all four quarters. We had more long drives today than we did all of last year. When the OL improves and we get some of our weapons back, my expectation is that we're going to amass lots of yardage and put lots of points up--which in the depleted BE is going to translate into wins.
Intangibles--. Too many costly penalties on both sides of the ball. We also gift wrapped 14 points to NW on the punt return TD and the backwards pass TD, and we gave up a third TD essentially on the fluke INT that led to a TD the next play. We also didn't capitalize on our scoring opportunities early, settling for a pair of FGs whereas they got TDs off of their big plays. This was a winnable game at home, and we stubbed our toe, despite wracking up 600 yards of offense and putting up more than 200+ over what that dangerous NW offense registered. The funny thing is, eliminate any one individual miscue and we still win this game. But we didn't and we got the L.
Future Outlook--B. Uconn, Pitt, and Rutgers all looked like crap this week. Ain't no way we beat USC, so we're looking at an 0-2 hole, but if we bounce back and square things up at 2-2, we have a chance at the beginning of the BE portion of the schedule to position ourselves for bowl eligibility. Going into today's game, I didn't expect the offense to be as good as it was, the WRs to be as solid as they were, and the OL to show as much promise as it did. I think we are positioned well to make noise in the conference, and if we can correct the tackling issues and eliminate the unforced mistakes, we're going to win some games this year. I still believe we are going to prove capable of going to a bowl.
