Well Fin Fans….We’re 8-3 and at the top of the AFC East 11 games into the season. Who wouldn’t have taken that back in August?? Our offense is clicking, we have QB1 identified and locked in. The defense is improving and Chubb is starting to grow (OK…..Maybe not the right words there). BUT all of this doesn’t mean we can’t be a little critical of yesterday’s performance. With that in mind…On to the grades:
QB’s — The Good: Tua was on for the most part….But he did look a little rusty. Regardless, 22 of 36 for 299 and a TD is damn good.while that was good for only 61% of his throws, he didn’t throw a pick. That’s still good QB play.
The Bad: As mentioned Tua looked a little rusty in spots. While not a bad performance by any means….Yesterday wasn’t his best. Skyler Thompson was only 1 of 5 for 6 yards. He’s gotta be Better than that.
The Grade: B . Thompson figured into this grade and brought it down from an A.
RB’s — The Good: Wilson ran hard on his 13 Carrie’s and found the end zone once. Wilson did have a nice catch for 13 yards as well.
The Bad — Gaskin and Wilson had only 56 yards total between them and both of them averaged 3 yards or under. This will definitely need to improve immensely by next week. We will need our running game against the 9ers.
The Grade: C . Not a horrible performance, but not good either. Just average.
TE’s — The Good: Smythe with his first TD in years was good to see.
The Bad: Between Smythe and Gesicki they had 1 catch for 4 yards and a TD. I’m guessing you figured out the 1 catch wasn’t Gesicki. Is he being mis-used? Who knows….But 0 catches for 0 yards isn’t going to get the big contract he’s looking for next year.
The Grade: D +. Not good enough yesterday. Not even close.
WR’s — The Good: The ball was distributed pretty evenly among our WR’s. Hill and Waddle had 6 and 5 catches respectively. Cracraft, Wilson and Sheffield all contributed. A good effort by this group yesterday.
The Bad: A couple drops by Waddle hurt….But Not too bad. Other than that….Nothing to complain about.
The Grade: A. It really is a shame there’s only 1 ball to go around. This is a very good WR unit.
OL — The Good: Tua wasn’t injured yesterday and had a few nice pockets to throw In. Then Armstead went down.
The Bad: Shell was awful yesterday. I literally watched him get beat 4 plays in a row like he wasn’t even there. That was pathetic. By the way….Austin Jackson was no world beater when he was in there either. Although he was better than Shell. Armstead makes a HUGE difference on this line and his Injury is gonna haunt us until he comes back.
The Grade: C - . They had a solid B in the first half…..The second half was probably a D -. Let’s hope we get this fixed ASAP.
DL — The Good: Seiler, Wilkins and Davis were active yesterday. The DL played a decent game holding the Texans to 36 yards rushing. Not bad at all.
The Bad: The 2nd half was not great. I felt like Boyer took his foot off the gas.
The Grade: B - . I would like to have seen a better more dominant performance in the 2nd half. Still, this was a good day.
LB’s — The Good: Chubb with a strip sack. JP with a sack. Van Ginko with an interception. Baker and Roberts with a sack each. Pressure on the QB….What’s not to like?
The Bad: Not too much to complain about.
The Grade: A - . A good day against a bad team. But I’ll take that.
DB’s — The Good: We held an NFL QB to 215 Yards total in the air. A scoop and score by X who played a very good game yesterday. Forced fumble by Rowe. Nice game.
The Bad: A personal foul on the snowman kept a drive alive for the Texans. Other than that….Not much to complain about here.
The Grade: B +. Nice game by these guys.
ST’s — The Good: Morstead had a 49.3 average on 6 punts. Sanders didn’t miss.
The Bad: Our return game is not great right now. We are still allowing way too many yards in coverage.
The Grade: C +. The return game and our coverage team hurt this grade.
Coaching — The Good: The first half was good. We were shaking off some bye week rust and looking good. 30 - 0 is a great first half.
The Bad: I felt like the urgency wasn’t there in the 2nd half. I really thought we should have run the ball more as well.
The Grade: C . We need to be better than yesterday if we’re going to win the tough games we have coming up.
The Conclusion: We were good yesterday in the first half. The 2nd half? Not so much. We need a complete game this week in San Fran. Let’s hope we get it.
QB’s — The Good: Tua was on for the most part….But he did look a little rusty. Regardless, 22 of 36 for 299 and a TD is damn good.while that was good for only 61% of his throws, he didn’t throw a pick. That’s still good QB play.
The Bad: As mentioned Tua looked a little rusty in spots. While not a bad performance by any means….Yesterday wasn’t his best. Skyler Thompson was only 1 of 5 for 6 yards. He’s gotta be Better than that.
The Grade: B . Thompson figured into this grade and brought it down from an A.
RB’s — The Good: Wilson ran hard on his 13 Carrie’s and found the end zone once. Wilson did have a nice catch for 13 yards as well.
The Bad — Gaskin and Wilson had only 56 yards total between them and both of them averaged 3 yards or under. This will definitely need to improve immensely by next week. We will need our running game against the 9ers.
The Grade: C . Not a horrible performance, but not good either. Just average.
TE’s — The Good: Smythe with his first TD in years was good to see.
The Bad: Between Smythe and Gesicki they had 1 catch for 4 yards and a TD. I’m guessing you figured out the 1 catch wasn’t Gesicki. Is he being mis-used? Who knows….But 0 catches for 0 yards isn’t going to get the big contract he’s looking for next year.
The Grade: D +. Not good enough yesterday. Not even close.
WR’s — The Good: The ball was distributed pretty evenly among our WR’s. Hill and Waddle had 6 and 5 catches respectively. Cracraft, Wilson and Sheffield all contributed. A good effort by this group yesterday.
The Bad: A couple drops by Waddle hurt….But Not too bad. Other than that….Nothing to complain about.
The Grade: A. It really is a shame there’s only 1 ball to go around. This is a very good WR unit.
OL — The Good: Tua wasn’t injured yesterday and had a few nice pockets to throw In. Then Armstead went down.
The Bad: Shell was awful yesterday. I literally watched him get beat 4 plays in a row like he wasn’t even there. That was pathetic. By the way….Austin Jackson was no world beater when he was in there either. Although he was better than Shell. Armstead makes a HUGE difference on this line and his Injury is gonna haunt us until he comes back.
The Grade: C - . They had a solid B in the first half…..The second half was probably a D -. Let’s hope we get this fixed ASAP.
DL — The Good: Seiler, Wilkins and Davis were active yesterday. The DL played a decent game holding the Texans to 36 yards rushing. Not bad at all.
The Bad: The 2nd half was not great. I felt like Boyer took his foot off the gas.
The Grade: B - . I would like to have seen a better more dominant performance in the 2nd half. Still, this was a good day.
LB’s — The Good: Chubb with a strip sack. JP with a sack. Van Ginko with an interception. Baker and Roberts with a sack each. Pressure on the QB….What’s not to like?
The Bad: Not too much to complain about.
The Grade: A - . A good day against a bad team. But I’ll take that.
DB’s — The Good: We held an NFL QB to 215 Yards total in the air. A scoop and score by X who played a very good game yesterday. Forced fumble by Rowe. Nice game.
The Bad: A personal foul on the snowman kept a drive alive for the Texans. Other than that….Not much to complain about here.
The Grade: B +. Nice game by these guys.
ST’s — The Good: Morstead had a 49.3 average on 6 punts. Sanders didn’t miss.
The Bad: Our return game is not great right now. We are still allowing way too many yards in coverage.
The Grade: C +. The return game and our coverage team hurt this grade.
Coaching — The Good: The first half was good. We were shaking off some bye week rust and looking good. 30 - 0 is a great first half.
The Bad: I felt like the urgency wasn’t there in the 2nd half. I really thought we should have run the ball more as well.
The Grade: C . We need to be better than yesterday if we’re going to win the tough games we have coming up.
The Conclusion: We were good yesterday in the first half. The 2nd half? Not so much. We need a complete game this week in San Fran. Let’s hope we get it.
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