Passing game: A-
Passing game was our bread and butter and we haven't seen an offense perform like that since the Marino years. The Tyreek Hill trade proved to be well worth the investment. You can tell McDaniel really schemed Hill and Waddle very well. But at times it felt like we were force feeding Hill a little too much. With all the attention on Hill and Waddle I feel like coach could have schemed up others to be wide open on some plays but that really wasn't the case. It was Hill and Waddle come Hill or high water (see what I did there).
Running game: C-
In short, most of the time McDaniel's play calling was like a kid playing madden, passing every down and abandoning the run game - even when it was working. Coach outsmarted himself too many times in short yardage situations. McDaniel never seemed to game plan for any run heavy games even against defenses that struggled against the run. Felt we were very one demensional on offense.
O-line: B-
It was an improvement and the Armstead acquisition showed why he makes so much money. Seemed to have found a Center and Robert Hunt doesn't suck so that's all positives. we had some no name guys step up and play admirably given the situation and their role. However, Eichenberg and Austin Jackson still suck.
Defense: C
Injuries, Josh Boyers, excuses.....the defense under achieved.
Special Teams: C-
Nothing special about our special teams in 2022.
Overall grade: B-
We made the playsoff.....barely and we fought well in that game. Injuries sucked. A part of me says coach should have a higher grade because he was a rookie last year but another part of me says....this team was stacked and SHOULD have made the playoffs. The offense was very exciting at times. Coach needs to game plan better at attacking teams defenses and making faster adjustments. His time management stressed me out way more than it should, that has to get better. The penalties were also major killers. As Im writing this Im realizing that the only thing really the McDaniel significantly improved our team on was the passing game and the O-line. But again with guys like Hill and Waddle and adding Armstead, it SHOULD be better. He met expectations. And he has a breath of fresh air type personality. This year the expectations are higher and needs to be met again, a playoff win, at minimum, is a must.
Nice post. I would point out a couple of probable contributing factors.
Yes, a high percentage (over 50% IIRC) went to Hill/Waddle and some of it was, indeed, "forced". It may not be all on McD's scheme or play calls, though.
It was Tua's first year with competent coaching, in a complex scheme that featured a lot of motion, and requires more advanced reads than he had ever seen before, and he may not have had much confidence and/or time in going beyond his second read in some cases. When he had time, he got farther into his progressions.
Bottom line, I have confidence that should improve in year two.
I would argue the same principle with rushing. First year for most of those guys in a zone scheme.
I don't see any valid reason the offense shouldn't be even better this season.
The defensive shortcomings have been addressed as well, though now you have a situation where there are s veral new pieces, and most of them will have to learn the new scheme on the fly. I do think it's easier/faster for a defense to gel, in most cases, than an offense.
Yeah, specials sucked for the most part. We should have better quality returners, but I'm skeptical that was the major issue. We shall see.
