Zim’s Grades For The Game: Week 7 Edition

[Rev Kev]

And what is MM grade against SB winning coaches??

 

[Finlawyer]

Success as a head coach in the NFL depends on talent, injuries and game-day coaching. Injuries to key players (including but not limited to Tua) have played a role in the three losses to the Bengals, Jets and Vikings. Now the secondary is decimated. The Fins are a good team but any injury to Hill or Waddle would be devastating. Mostert is the sum total of the running game and losing him would be a disaster.

Game-day coaching by the defense has compensated for McDaniel's issues as a rookie head coach and "offensive" genius. Tua sucked in the second half against Pittsburgh. The defense won that game. The defense shut down the Bills. Hill and Waddle beat the Ravens in the fourth quarter. Cedric Wilson and Edmonds are either not good or not being used as planned.

What I like about McDaniel is that he is not coaching scared and can hire and work with coaches hired from other organizations. He is learning.

The Byron Jones situation sucks. He will not play this year and we face a huge $15 million cap charge next year unless he is traded. He cannot be traded if his performance is negatively impacted by muscle atrophy. He will be paid next year injured or not.

There are 17 one-game seasons in a NFL season. ENJOY IT.

 

[Ray R]

There are wins that you feel good about (Bills, Ravens, Patriots). There are also wins that frustrate you because we could have played so much better. Last night was one of those wins. I’m happy we won….But oh so unhappy about the way we won. On to the grades where I’ll explain my frustrations:

QB — The Good: No head injuries and no interceptions that were actually caught by Steeler defensive backs. Tua did make some nice throws and kept some drives alive. 21 of 35 for 261 Yards and a TD is a decent night.

The Bad: There we’re about 5 balls that should have been intercepted by Pittsburgh. That’s concerning to me. 3 of those throws were right in the hands of Steeler defenders. Tua missed high on a few throws that could have been caught and generally was a little off last night.

The Grade: C - . A little below average outing that really could have and should have been worse. We can chalk it up to rust. However, I really think play-calling has a lot to do with Tua’s below average performance. I’ll get into that subject in the coaching section.

RB’s — The Good: Mostert had a good game in general. 16 rushes for 79 yards was good last night. A few nice runs by Mostert had the Steelers on their heels at times. Add in 4 catches for 30 more yards with the only TD catch of the night and this grade belongs to Mostert.

The Bad: Besides Mostert there was no running game. Edmonds is just not effective when he has the ball in his hands. 17 yards on 7 rushes doesn’t really cut it. Especially getting shut down on 3rd and 4th down like he was. But again, I’m not a big fan of how he’s being used by this coaching staff.

The Grade: B - . Mostert is playing good ball. He’s been a pleasant surprise. Edmonds not so much. This Grade is definitely because of Mostert.

WR’s — The Good: Waddle, Hill and Sherfield were the receiving corp last night. Hill’s 7 catches for 72 yards were all big catches. Waddle had 4 catches for 88 yards and they were clutch as well. Sherfield kicked in 3 catches for 44 yards is what was a decent night for this crew.

The Bad: Most of the WR catches were off of an RPO look and right in center field. A couple deep shots to Hill weren’t on and impossible to complete. Hill looked a little off last night to be honest.

The Grade: B + . Another decent night for this group. Again, the play-calling has to change.

TE’s — The Good: 3 Catches for 27 yards was nice. All 3 catches helped in a big way for Gesicki.

The Bad: Gesicki was targeted 7 times and comes down with 3. Not much separation by Gesicki on the other 4 targets. No other TE made a catch.

The Grade: C - . Gesicki is better that what he showed last night. Period. We really need more production out of this group.

OL — The Good: Tua had some time to throw. These guys didn’t allow a recorded sack all night. We had over 100 yards rushing all tolled. Not a horrible outing by these guys and Armstead makes a HUGE difference on this line.

The Bad: There was no push on critical running plays when we needed it. The pocket broke down a few times way too early. Eichenberg is still not good.

The Grade: C . Overall, not a bad effort. We still need to clean some stuff up here….But it was a decent night for these guys.

DL — The Good: Some decent run stops when we needed it. Wilkins played well with 4 solo’s and a half sack. We only gave up 95 yards total rushing.

The Bad: As usual, nowhere near enough pressure on a rookie QB. We got gashed on a few runs…Although not too bad. The lack of pressure has gone from a minor concern to a major problem.

The Grade: C + . We held when we needed. That’s huge. The lack of a higher grade is due to the lack of pressure on the QB. That has to be addressed at some point.

LB’s — The Good: Jaelan Phillips was a man possessed after the half. I think he took his lack of production in the first half personally. 1.5 sacks and some determined play in the 2nd half helped a lot. Ingram was getting close there for awhile. Van Ginko and Riley had a few nice tackles.

The Bad: Not enough pressure on the QB in general. Too many plays were negative for these guys. Baker was invisible.

The Grade: B - . Actually not too bad by these guys. I’d like to see better, but holding an NFL team to 10 points is good enough.

DB’s — The Good: Great interceptions on all 3 picks by the boys here. MAD CREDIT to Noah Ig-Burned-Agony for the game saving pick. I hope this gives him some confidence going forward. Holland played a great ball game.

The Bad: Noah was picked on and responded as expected to be honest. Beat for the TD. His first play on the out and up should have been another TD but was a complete miss by Pickett. X was OK. He’s nowhere near where he was last year. That’s a fact.

The Grade: B . When you grab 3 picks from a QB and hold the opposition to 10 points….You’re doing something right. Especially with the absolute lack of support from the front 7.

ST’s — The Good: Sanders went 3 for 3. Morstead was decent as well. The coverage units were good in general.

The Bad: 1 bad punt by Morstead. Other than that…..Not too bad.

The Grade: B . Better night overall by these guys.

Coaching —The Good: I know this is gonna piss people off…..But not much here again.

The Bad: Where do I start? Not going for 3 to get your team up by 2 scores? The total lack of diversity in the play calling? Calling 2 running plays to your clearly inferior 2nd string RB and missing the 4th down conversion? How about no Jet Sweeps? How about no slants? How about getting the ball back with 2:51 seconds left and rolling Tua out on 3rd down with only 2 guys to the roll out side in a pattern? Pittsburgh got the ball back with 2:30 or so. THEY HAD NO TIMEOUTS! Run the ball! They would have gotten the ball back at the 2:00 warning. The defense? Please tell me… What happened to the amoeba defense? Why are we playing DB’s so far off on 3rd and short?

The Grade: We won…So D -. Again I ask….Where is the so called genius with McDaniel???. I don’t see it. Please explain it to me. I want a coach that makes the other team guess as to what we’re gonna do. With the weapons we have…..That should be every play. NOT HAPPENING. Our Defense isn’t making anyone do anything except get tired from their own long drives.

The Conclusion: I’m really starting to sour on McDaniel. I wanted to believe….But 0 points in the 2nd half is damning for an offensive “Genius”. I’ll take the win…. But I’m not happy about it.

I agree with everything except your perspective of McDaniel.

I feel he expected a level of performance from the offense that was only there in a "hit & miss fashion". There are times an offense needs to stick together to make a "must have" play on 3rd & 4th down, and we are not there yet.

My preference on one 4th down was to go for the field goal, but I realize that was just my preference and nothing more.

My biggest concern was that Tua seemed to lose his timing and accuracy as the game wore on. This would be consistent with some kind of damage to his spinal cord, such as a bruised spinal cord. The real problem is the fear of moving too much and causing pain, then the pain itself.

I feel this is his problem because it happened to me when I was in my 30's. It took 3 months for the pain and fear of the pain to go away. The actual improvement occurred over a 3-day period at the end of 3 months of taking care not to do any kind of movement that would hurt me. I found I could move a little more each day without pain. At the end of that three-day period, I could move all I liked without any pain or the fear of pain, which is limiting by itself.

I doubt his problem was as severe as mine because I had lost the use of my left leg until after back surgery. My three months of recovery from that surgery was the recovery time I am alluding to. I had a severely herniated disc that actually broke a piece off against my spinal cord, causing the bruising of the spinal cord.

 

[Ray R]

Offensive geniuses get hired for being offensive geniuses, and fired for not being offensive geniuses. McD is joined at the hip with Tua for now. Who survives a few years down the road? Both? Neither? Perennial playoff contenders have great QB/Head Coach combos.

Think positive - it helps keep you from getting purple - LOL

 

[Ray R]

Fair grades. Can’t argue with much here. It was about as disappointing as winning a must-win could be. Reminiscent of some games last season against bad opposing QBs. Saints and Texans games come to mind.

McDaniel needs to get this turned around.

I think this game was the beginning of the turnaround you are looking for.

I anticipate improvement due to getting more key players back from injury, further development of the OL as a cohesive unit and a general improvement of the health of our "walking wounded".

As the offense becomes more functional, McDaniel's play calling should look better due to more reliable and therefor predictable performance of those plays that he calls.

In the end this is truly the ultimate team sport.

 

[Tarheelphin]

There are wins that you feel good about (Bills, Ravens, Patriots). There are also wins that frustrate you because we could have played so much better. Last night was one of those wins. I’m happy we won….But oh so unhappy about the way we won. On to the grades where I’ll explain my frustrations:

QB — The Good: No head injuries and no interceptions that were actually caught by Steeler defensive backs. Tua did make some nice throws and kept some drives alive. 21 of 35 for 261 Yards and a TD is a decent night.

The Bad: There we’re about 5 balls that should have been intercepted by Pittsburgh. That’s concerning to me. 3 of those throws were right in the hands of Steeler defenders. Tua missed high on a few throws that could have been caught and generally was a little off last night.

The Grade: C - . A little below average outing that really could have and should have been worse. We can chalk it up to rust. However, I really think play-calling has a lot to do with Tua’s below average performance. I’ll get into that subject in the coaching section.

RB’s — The Good: Mostert had a good game in general. 16 rushes for 79 yards was good last night. A few nice runs by Mostert had the Steelers on their heels at times. Add in 4 catches for 30 more yards with the only TD catch of the night and this grade belongs to Mostert.

The Bad: Besides Mostert there was no running game. Edmonds is just not effective when he has the ball in his hands. 17 yards on 7 rushes doesn’t really cut it. Especially getting shut down on 3rd and 4th down like he was. But again, I’m not a big fan of how he’s being used by this coaching staff.

The Grade: B - . Mostert is playing good ball. He’s been a pleasant surprise. Edmonds not so much. This Grade is definitely because of Mostert.

WR’s — The Good: Waddle, Hill and Sherfield were the receiving corp last night. Hill’s 7 catches for 72 yards were all big catches. Waddle had 4 catches for 88 yards and they were clutch as well. Sherfield kicked in 3 catches for 44 yards is what was a decent night for this crew.

The Bad: Most of the WR catches were off of an RPO look and right in center field. A couple deep shots to Hill weren’t on and impossible to complete. Hill looked a little off last night to be honest.

The Grade: B + . Another decent night for this group. Again, the play-calling has to change.

TE’s — The Good: 3 Catches for 27 yards was nice. All 3 catches helped in a big way for Gesicki.

The Bad: Gesicki was targeted 7 times and comes down with 3. Not much separation by Gesicki on the other 4 targets. No other TE made a catch.

The Grade: C - . Gesicki is better that what he showed last night. Period. We really need more production out of this group.

OL — The Good: Tua had some time to throw. These guys didn’t allow a recorded sack all night. We had over 100 yards rushing all tolled. Not a horrible outing by these guys and Armstead makes a HUGE difference on this line.

The Bad: There was no push on critical running plays when we needed it. The pocket broke down a few times way too early. Eichenberg is still not good.

The Grade: C . Overall, not a bad effort. We still need to clean some stuff up here….But it was a decent night for these guys.

DL — The Good: Some decent run stops when we needed it. Wilkins played well with 4 solo’s and a half sack. We only gave up 95 yards total rushing.

The Bad: As usual, nowhere near enough pressure on a rookie QB. We got gashed on a few runs…Although not too bad. The lack of pressure has gone from a minor concern to a major problem.

The Grade: C + . We held when we needed. That’s huge. The lack of a higher grade is due to the lack of pressure on the QB. That has to be addressed at some point.

LB’s — The Good: Jaelan Phillips was a man possessed after the half. I think he took his lack of production in the first half personally. 1.5 sacks and some determined play in the 2nd half helped a lot. Ingram was getting close there for awhile. Van Ginko and Riley had a few nice tackles.

The Bad: Not enough pressure on the QB in general. Too many plays were negative for these guys. Baker was invisible.

The Grade: B - . Actually not too bad by these guys. I’d like to see better, but holding an NFL team to 10 points is good enough.

DB’s — The Good: Great interceptions on all 3 picks by the boys here. MAD CREDIT to Noah Ig-Burned-Agony for the game saving pick. I hope this gives him some confidence going forward. Holland played a great ball game.

The Bad: Noah was picked on and responded as expected to be honest. Beat for the TD. His first play on the out and up should have been another TD but was a complete miss by Pickett. X was OK. He’s nowhere near where he was last year. That’s a fact.

The Grade: B . When you grab 3 picks from a QB and hold the opposition to 10 points….You’re doing something right. Especially with the absolute lack of support from the front 7.

ST’s — The Good: Sanders went 3 for 3. Morstead was decent as well. The coverage units were good in general.

The Bad: 1 bad punt by Morstead. Other than that…..Not too bad.

The Grade: B . Better night overall by these guys.

Coaching —The Good: I know this is gonna piss people off…..But not much here again.

The Bad: Where do I start? Not going for 3 to get your team up by 2 scores? The total lack of diversity in the play calling? Calling 2 running plays to your clearly inferior 2nd string RB and missing the 4th down conversion? How about no Jet Sweeps? How about no slants? How about getting the ball back with 2:51 seconds left and rolling Tua out on 3rd down with only 2 guys to the roll out side in a pattern? Pittsburgh got the ball back with 2:30 or so. THEY HAD NO TIMEOUTS! Run the ball! They would have gotten the ball back at the 2:00 warning. The defense? Please tell me… What happened to the amoeba defense? Why are we playing DB’s so far off on 3rd and short?

The Grade: We won…So D -. Again I ask….Where is the so called genius with McDaniel???. I don’t see it. Please explain it to me. I want a coach that makes the other team guess as to what we’re gonna do. With the weapons we have…..That should be every play. NOT HAPPENING. Our Defense isn’t making anyone do anything except get tired from their own long drives.

The Conclusion: I’m really starting to sour on McDaniel. I wanted to believe….But 0 points in the 2nd half is damning for an offensive “Genius”. I’ll take the win…. But I’m not happy about it.

Don’t agree at all with your oline rating. Should be an A. No sacks and over a 100 yards rushing is about as good as it gets. They should be given credit for their best game of the season, by far.

 

[Ray R]

I’m with you on Coach McD but Zim is not trolling or posting click bait.
.
This is the thread’s third year or so. He’s earned the right to be wrong every now and again

Haven't we all - LOL

 

[DZimmer000]

He's mocking him by calling him a "genius" and by saying he's souring on a rookie head coach with a winning record. I don't care if he's Mother Teresa, in my mind that is trolling.

I’m not mocking anyone. McDaniel never called himself a genius. However, the genius tag is tough to live up to in football. And so far, I don’t feel like he’s lived up to it. Again, I’m not mocking…..Just being honest.

 

[zucca]

We now know why a guy that plays only half the games got paid so much. When Armstead blocks on runs, his guy is eliminated.

 

[fansinceGWilson]

There are wins that you feel good about (Bills, Ravens, Patriots). There are also wins that frustrate you because we could have played so much better. Last night was one of those wins. I’m happy we won….But oh so unhappy about the way we won. On to the grades where I’ll explain my frustrations:

QB — The Good: No head injuries and no interceptions that were actually caught by Steeler defensive backs. Tua did make some nice throws and kept some drives alive. 21 of 35 for 261 Yards and a TD is a decent night.

The Bad: There we’re about 5 balls that should have been intercepted by Pittsburgh. That’s concerning to me. 3 of those throws were right in the hands of Steeler defenders. Tua missed high on a few throws that could have been caught and generally was a little off last night.

The Grade: C - . A little below average outing that really could have and should have been worse. We can chalk it up to rust. However, I really think play-calling has a lot to do with Tua’s below average performance. I’ll get into that subject in the coaching section.

RB’s — The Good: Mostert had a good game in general. 16 rushes for 79 yards was good last night. A few nice runs by Mostert had the Steelers on their heels at times. Add in 4 catches for 30 more yards with the only TD catch of the night and this grade belongs to Mostert.

The Bad: Besides Mostert there was no running game. Edmonds is just not effective when he has the ball in his hands. 17 yards on 7 rushes doesn’t really cut it. Especially getting shut down on 3rd and 4th down like he was. But again, I’m not a big fan of how he’s being used by this coaching staff.

The Grade: B - . Mostert is playing good ball. He’s been a pleasant surprise. Edmonds not so much. This Grade is definitely because of Mostert.

WR’s — The Good: Waddle, Hill and Sherfield were the receiving corp last night. Hill’s 7 catches for 72 yards were all big catches. Waddle had 4 catches for 88 yards and they were clutch as well. Sherfield kicked in 3 catches for 44 yards is what was a decent night for this crew.

The Bad: Most of the WR catches were off of an RPO look and right in center field. A couple deep shots to Hill weren’t on and impossible to complete. Hill looked a little off last night to be honest.

The Grade: B + . Another decent night for this group. Again, the play-calling has to change.

TE’s — The Good: 3 Catches for 27 yards was nice. All 3 catches helped in a big way for Gesicki.

The Bad: Gesicki was targeted 7 times and comes down with 3. Not much separation by Gesicki on the other 4 targets. No other TE made a catch.

The Grade: C - . Gesicki is better that what he showed last night. Period. We really need more production out of this group.

OL — The Good: Tua had some time to throw. These guys didn’t allow a recorded sack all night. We had over 100 yards rushing all tolled. Not a horrible outing by these guys and Armstead makes a HUGE difference on this line.

The Bad: There was no push on critical running plays when we needed it. The pocket broke down a few times way too early. Eichenberg is still not good.

The Grade: C . Overall, not a bad effort. We still need to clean some stuff up here….But it was a decent night for these guys.

DL — The Good: Some decent run stops when we needed it. Wilkins played well with 4 solo’s and a half sack. We only gave up 95 yards total rushing.

The Bad: As usual, nowhere near enough pressure on a rookie QB. We got gashed on a few runs…Although not too bad. The lack of pressure has gone from a minor concern to a major problem.

The Grade: C + . We held when we needed. That’s huge. The lack of a higher grade is due to the lack of pressure on the QB. That has to be addressed at some point.

LB’s — The Good: Jaelan Phillips was a man possessed after the half. I think he took his lack of production in the first half personally. 1.5 sacks and some determined play in the 2nd half helped a lot. Ingram was getting close there for awhile. Van Ginko and Riley had a few nice tackles.

The Bad: Not enough pressure on the QB in general. Too many plays were negative for these guys. Baker was invisible.

The Grade: B - . Actually not too bad by these guys. I’d like to see better, but holding an NFL team to 10 points is good enough.

DB’s — The Good: Great interceptions on all 3 picks by the boys here. MAD CREDIT to Noah Ig-Burned-Agony for the game saving pick. I hope this gives him some confidence going forward. Holland played a great ball game.

The Bad: Noah was picked on and responded as expected to be honest. Beat for the TD. His first play on the out and up should have been another TD but was a complete miss by Pickett. X was OK. He’s nowhere near where he was last year. That’s a fact.

The Grade: B . When you grab 3 picks from a QB and hold the opposition to 10 points….You’re doing something right. Especially with the absolute lack of support from the front 7.

ST’s — The Good: Sanders went 3 for 3. Morstead was decent as well. The coverage units were good in general.

The Bad: 1 bad punt by Morstead. Other than that…..Not too bad.

The Grade: B . Better night overall by these guys.

Coaching —The Good: I know this is gonna piss people off…..But not much here again.

The Bad: Where do I start? Not going for 3 to get your team up by 2 scores? The total lack of diversity in the play calling? Calling 2 running plays to your clearly inferior 2nd string RB and missing the 4th down conversion? How about no Jet Sweeps? How about no slants? How about getting the ball back with 2:51 seconds left and rolling Tua out on 3rd down with only 2 guys to the roll out side in a pattern? Pittsburgh got the ball back with 2:30 or so. THEY HAD NO TIMEOUTS! Run the ball! They would have gotten the ball back at the 2:00 warning. The defense? Please tell me… What happened to the amoeba defense? Why are we playing DB’s so far off on 3rd and short?

The Grade: We won…So D -. Again I ask….Where is the so called genius with McDaniel???. I don’t see it. Please explain it to me. I want a coach that makes the other team guess as to what we’re gonna do. With the weapons we have…..That should be every play. NOT HAPPENING. Our Defense isn’t making anyone do anything except get tired from their own long drives.

The Conclusion: I’m really starting to sour on McDaniel. I wanted to believe….But 0 points in the 2nd half is damning for an offensive “Genius”. I’ll take the win…. But I’m not happy about it.

I'll give the coaches a nod for 'cleaning up' the penalty problem. And, as usual, Mcd had a very good game plan. Nonetheless, I'd give him an F. PIT adjusted to what Mcd was doing. Mcd kept doing what HAD worked. PIT took away the middle. Mcd's response was, I'm not sure. From memory, it seems Waddle/TH get targets early, but not many later in the game (see 'no adjustments). What sealed the 'F' for me is, even for a rookie play-caller, by game 7 he should have figures out the D has figured him out and adjusted. He CAN NOT let 'lesser' teams hang around until the final 5 minutes. Eventually 'any given Sunday' will bite him.

Boyer was impressive, given the injuries. He needs exotic blitzes or something. The improved pass rush I was expecting is nonexistent. If Pickett can have the time he had, better QBs could be lethal

 

[LargoFin]

You have to mention Ingram when grading linebacker. Dude was pancaked and on his arse way to much and allowed some big plays. Baker had a good night.

 

[McDolphins]

This McDaniel trolling is really stating to hurt the rest of your stellar work.

Dude is a ROOKIE head coach that started his career by beating three of the top 8 coaches in the NFL with vastly superior experience and consistency within their organizations. The offense is actually exciting and we had to deal with the entire world, even media outside of the NFL bashing the team for what happened to Tua. Not only that but we had the QB knocked out in three consecutive games and our secondary is gutted.

The dude made a mistake going for it on 4th down but give me a freaking break with the sky is falling McDaniel click bait. Even on that 4th down play it was the right call as Edmonds had an easy TD had he taken it to the outside which was sealed off..

People keep expecting him to just be great and mistake free right out of the gate. There isn’t a single first time head coach who has done that and maintained success. I keep telling people it’ll be 8-10 weeks into the season before our offense is even up to full speed with the playbook and the concept. Even that vaunted Bills offense took years to build and develop. Just give him time for crying out loud!

 

[fansinceGWilson]

And what is MM grade against SB winning coaches??

Just my opinion, but once a team finds the key to stopping MIA's O, all (good) teams copy that scheme. Once the 'newness' of Mcd was solved, the O sputtered. This will NOT change. Mcd has to change. Certainly only a few here think MIA's O would have success against those same 3 teams again.

 

[Blake the great]

definitely feels like we scheme too much around Tyreek Hill, I get why and he should be a focal point but at some point shouldn't other guys besides waddle be getting open more? we should do more play action as well when our run game is working and O line is holding up. Also Tua needs to stop forcing passes to Tyreek Hill, some of those almost INTS were mostly towards Hill who was not open.

 

[Rowdy1972]

Although I didn't agree with the 4th and 3 call, I am never going to get down bad on a head coach for being aggressive.