Got this one out of the way earlier than I expected. Gifs will be up later today and posted throughout the day as I find more time so please bare with me. If you have any suggestions or criticism just let me know because I want to change some things up. I'll switch up the format a little for this week so let me know if you prefer it over the last one. If there's any GIF requests or if you have any other suggestions or criticism (positively/negatively) please let me know. Offense Quarterback: B - Ryan Fitzpatrick was his typical self, razor sharp on short/medium throws to Marshall & Decker (curl, dig, routes) and a little bit off on deep throws (post, go routes). The anticipation just isn't there, plus it seemed like whenever he tried to go deep he had a defender in his face. But overall it was a good game for him, he was able to thread the needle when it really mattered, he didn't turn the ball over, he got rid of the ball quick, made some plays with his legs and found his open receivers. It would be great if we could get his completion % up to the mid 60s or at least in the 60s period, and it remains to be seen how far we can go without really having explosive plays in the passing game and somebody to stretch the field, especially now with Devin lost for the year (ACL). Before the game I'd predicted a 350 yds, 3 TD performance and he almost matched those numbers. That said, it was the Titans defense so let's not get too carried away. Running Backs: B All three backs were solid for the most part. Chris Ivory (B) had a good game and was able to make a couple of bigplays happen with his bread & butter run up the middle where he sucks up all the defenders inside and then uses his speed to bounce to the outside. He absolutely blew up a couple of defenders on separate plays but he could have had an even better game if he didn't try so hard, sometimes it's better to just go up the middle for a gain of 3-4 yards instead of trying to make miracle plays happen by spinning your way to the sideline and get tackled for a loss instead. Bilal Powell (B +) continues to show off his vision and playmaking ability. He's developing into a nice weapon who out of the shotgun can run the ball if the line isn't crowded and get 10+ yards or catch the ball out of the backfield and create bigplays the way he has the last 2 games. A perfect compliment to Ivory. Stevan Ridley (C -) wasn't quite as good but to be fair it seems like whenever he's on the field the blocking isn't all that great so usually he has to fight his way back to the line of scrimmage first. He tries to force the bigplay but it isn't happening and you can see after each play how frustrated he is. FB / TE / HB: C This is probably as good of a game as Tommy Bohanon (C) is going to have for us. While he's still ineffective at moving guys at least he hit the right holes and took out the right defenders for the backs to get a couple of extra yards, creating some holes. Jeff Cumberland (C) was a nonfactor again in the passing game but he had some good cutblocks. Kellen Davis (C+) had a similar performance but he played over twice as many snaps and he did a great job taking out the edge guy for Ivory to gain those extra yards on his runs along the sidelines. Quincy Enunwa (C) is still adjusting to his new position, doing some things he has never done. Blocking in space (cut blocks and tackling on special teams) still completely new to him so it's gonna take time and a lot of reps for him to improve there, I gave a few examples last week. When he's matched up with somebody head to head he does a great job sealing off the edge but his cutblocks for the most part weren't good, you can just tell he doesn't know yet how to pull those off. It's like watching somebody try to box for the first time. He also got flagged once for a chop block. It's a work in progress and it's not really his fault, he was just thrown into a situation nobody expected him to be in but I think with a strong offseason and if he focuses on getting better blocking in space and those things he can be a really good contributor next year. He also had a nice catch for 10 yards (after a cutblock when he was on the ground). Wide Receivers: B The stats are a little misleading because of a blown coverage that resulted in a 69 yard catch and run TD, but the receivers did what they had to do. And if we would have pressed and tried to put up more points they could have had huge games and I doubt the Titans could have done anything to stop them. Brandon Marshall (B) has shown over the last few weeks why he's considered one of the best when it comes to getting yards after the catch, just a flawless performance. Eric Decker (B) has established himself as a clutch receiver, a go to guy on 3rd downs and arguably a top 3 redzone target. He always finds a hole in coverage and is almost impossible to cover 1 on 1 on short / medium throws, especially when he lines up in the slot and inside. That's pretty much it. Devin Smith (N/A) can't be graded because he didn't get any chances to make something happen. He was targeted a couple of times on deep balls and he was open a couple of other times when he ran his go/post routes, but it just wasn't his week and this is how his rookie year ends, the same way he started out (with an injury). Bummer. We'll see how Chan adjusts the offense now. Kerley is also banged up and somebody has to take over outside for Devin. Maybe that's Enunwa, maybe it's Decker. Either way it's a big loss. Offensive Line: A - This was a tremendous performance by the entire offensive line. The run blocking wasn't as strong but the pass protection was very good. Ferguson (B +) took on a couple of different type of guys, edge rushers (LB Morgan) and big run stuffers (DE Casey) and he had no issues keeping either guy off Fitzpatrick. Carpenter (B +) had a couple of key blocks when he was asked to pull and he had to deal with a lot of stunt rushes / blitzes that didn't confuse him and where he'd pick up the right guy. One guy came through (DT Klug) for a sack once but that's bound to happen. Mangold (A -) is not getting any younger but he still shows the same effort you'd see out of a rookie. He runs downfield, he throws his body around just to get another block out of the play and protect the RB or QB and maybe get him an extra yard, it's really commending because you don't see guys over 30 do that anymore. His pass and run blocking was excellent all game. Winters (B -) probably had his best game of the season. He struggled bigtime last week with quick pass rushing DT's, this week playing a 3-4 defense he had a little more help and wasn't asked to block those guys 1 on 1 anymore. He threw a couple of outstanding blocks on screen passes to Powell and he had good chemistry with Mangold and Breno for the most part so nobody snuck through. Breno (B -) also had a solid performance. He got a lot of help from Kellen Davis in the running game and in pass protection but he held his own. But he has to stop trying to fight guys and get in everybody's face after the snap all the time, I'm surprised he hasn't gotten flagged for that at least once every game so far. It's too much. Scroll down for Part II (Defense).
Defense Defensive Line: A It doesn't get much better than that. Wilkerson (A +) picked up 3 sacks, he forced a fumble, broke up a pass, had 3 more QB hits and 2 additional tackles for a loss. He was impossible to block 1 on 1, took their Center to school and put him on skates whenever he lined up on the nose and destroyed the right side by himself on a regular basis, as well as containing Mariota and keeping him from getting yards with his legs. He is a monster among infants, we have to lock him up. Leonard Williams (B) doesn't get the credit he deserves yet but he shows up each week and there are at least 2-3 plays each game where he flashes All Pro potential. He had a huge sack where he blew past the Guard, slapped the RB aside to finish off Mariota. I'll add Mauldin (B -) to the D-Line since that's pretty much what his role was, to go after the QB. As an edge rusher it's hard to find a RT that can match his speed and explosiveness, he just runs circles around those guys lately. He had a couple of big hits on Mariota, he once again missed an easy sack, there was another play where the RT almost ripped his head off because he couldn't stop the outside rush, yet there wasn't even a flag for holding, pretty amazing. Snacks (B) controlled his gaps with ease, he shut the inside down, kept guys off our linebackers. Demario Davis (C) was pretty much just an edge rusher for this game. He's got good speed and in order to confuse the offense it can create mismatches and maybe let him get through unblocked which is where he excels and creates a lot of pressure, but once anybody gets their hand on him it's basically done, they just toss him aside. Linebackers: B David Harris (B) and Erin Henderson (B -) have really developed great chemistry, something we'd hoped would happen with Demario at ILB but never really did. The way they are playing right now can be compared to Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman. They aren't as talented or as good, but they are currently playing at a high level and dominate the inside, they rarely make any mistakes. Sheldon Richardson (B+) has taken over for Coples pretty much the past few weeks and his production has gone down since then. He still generates pass rush especially when he lines up at DT from the nickel, he can get around the edge and beat tackles as well, he's dropping back in coverage like a linebacker and he looks natural doing it, but his main contribution right now is to set the edge and to stop. It hurts his numbers, probably his ego a little, but he's a total team player who cares more about winning than he does about his statistics. Pace (C) is playing the same position on the other side opposite Sheldon and while he doesn't do the things quite as well he's still a rock solid run defender. His cover skills and his pass rush however leave much to be desired. Reilly (N/A) and Lattimore (N/A) got some snaps again and both looked decent, didn't make any big mistakes or big plays. Defensive Backs: B - Antonio Cromartie (B) was probably our best cover corner against the Titans. He made some plays on the ball (3 deflections), he didn't get torched, didn't miss any tackles and in general he showed good recovery and awareness. There was one bigplay where Cromartie got picked by the receiver on a crossing route (then fell down), leaving his guy wide open for a 51 yard catch and run. With Revis (B -) I don't get why we're not allowing him to shadow anymore. He's playing a lot of zone coverage, a lot of off coverage and it's just easy completions for 10-15 yards on a regular basis. He also got beat (in zone again) on a 20-30 yard play by their rookie WR (DGB) but he dropped it. I understand not letting him cover Hopkins 1 on 1 without showing blitz, but he'd destroy these Titans receivers all day in man coverage. I don't see the point in bringing in somebody like Revis, paying him the money we do and then not letting him do what he does best, it doesn't add up. You can still do this zone stuff with the other corners, let Revis cover man to man. Calvin Pryor (B) could have had another great, clean performance but that touchdown catch by Mariota is going to haunt him for a while. He lost his footing and that was pretty much it. Embarrassing but outside of that he had a great game. Delivered some big hits, did a great job against the run, looked good in coverage outside of that fluke play, he dropped an interception as well, missed a sack on a perfectly timed blitz over the middle which forced Mariota run right into Demario who was credited with the sack instead. Gilchrist (B -) needs to turn his head in coverage, especially since we're playing so much zone. You can't play zone and then ignore the QB. He allowed some easy catches because of that but he's very consistent in that he doesn't miss tackles and he doesn't blow coverages. Buster (B+) had a nice interception, he did a tremendous job jamming guys and not letting them get off, especially Green-Beckham who is like twice his size. He also had a big tackle for a loss. Rontez (N/A) and Walls (N/A) also got some snaps and looked solid. Special Teams: B K Randy Bullock (B+) was 3/4, only because he missed a 53 yarder (barely) early on. If he keeps this up we'll have to see how the numbers thing financially works out for us next year and whether cutting Folk would make sense because he signed a hefty contract (for a Kicker) last year. If the cap hit is too big he'll probably be back regardless of how well Bullock does. P Ryan Quigley (B) had 3 good punts, 2 inside the 20, good day overall. PR Jeremy Kerley (D -) didn't do much, or anything good really. Had no business returning a punt that landed on the 6 yard line, just a terrible decision. Our best Gunners were Enunwa, Miles and Walls.
Nice job once again, and I also picked up on the Giacomini scuffles after the play is over. I thought Colon was the guy who instigated scuffles but Breno is just as much a pot stirrer as Colon was.
Nice Job! I think Fitz deserves a C though. The fact that he hasn't turned over the ball given the sh*tty QB play the last few years probably warrants a B but objectively he was misfiring all day on all sorts of passes and I think he was very lucky some weren't picked off. The 1st TD pass was an absolute wounded duck.
Breno is way worse. There was one incident where he'd just go after the poor defender for no reason like a rabid dog. The guy must've thought what the hell is wrong with this dude? But until they flag him I think he'll keep doing it unfortunately. He's been doing that all year.
He gets away with his lack of zip on longer throws a lot of times but I thought it was a good enough throw with good enough placement. Beggars can't be choosers, so I'll take any TD I can get.
Good writeup Daballhawk... Putting FB/HB/TE together brings Ivory down from a B+. TE's are a F- Lb's are at least a D
Good stuff... The O line played a really good game. We're gonna need that the next bunch of games. Here's hoping we stay healthy.
Same here! I didn't tape the game but I think you'll see he had plenty of time to throw and his balls were still sailing over their heads and wide of the receivers all day which is why his completion % was so low as opposed to being under pressure and hurrying throws. Either way a win is a win. If you get a chance post some gifs of his release, to me he didn't look to be throwing over the top on his longer throws, I think that could be why they sailed on him.
For what the TE's are asked to do I thought they did okay. It doesn't help they can't contribute in the passing game but the blocking part was solid. I'm sure with Amaro the offense would look a bit different and he'd be involved in the passing game quite a lot. With Cumberland however it's not worth forcing the ball to him. Why do you think the LB's are a D though?
I just looked over a couple of the longer balls he threw and right before he gets rid of the ball I tried to figure out what he saw out there and there was nothing there and he still threw it up there for the defenders to get. Luckily that Titans corner dropped the interception on the first one to Devin Smith. I'll add a couple of those in a minute.
Stared down Marshall on the first one when he should have had Decker at the bottom. On the second one I'm not sure what he saw, Devin wasn't close to being able to beat the corner there.
On Fitz's deep pass into the endzone, Smith slows at the goal line and turns for a back shoulder, but Fitz aired it out thinking Smith would keep running under it. Who knows. On the second sideline pass that's a typical pass made every time in the NFL. Single coverage down the sidelines, just put it up there and let your guy catch it. At least Fitz found the single coverage and went for it. Geno would have kept looking until he found a guy who was triple covered lol. Oh, and another great write up.....i look forward to these now.
Another good example what an athletic Guard can do for you. Winters throws a nice block to seal the edge on a pulling play, allowing Ivory to use his speed to get to the outside and gain a few extra yards. This type of blocking (scheme) didn't work earlier in the year when Colon tried to do some of those things.
