Mid-Season Grades

[J.Kim]

By now, every single team in the league has played 8 games in the season, so it's time to do some Mid-Season reflections.

What a crazy season it's been so far.
We've got two best teams in the past decade (Not 'two of the best' but just the 'two best') playing in the same Conference.
One of those teams are playing an absolutely historical season, with their Offense playing like nothing I've seen before.
We've got two other teams who could consider themselves to be the best team in the league in any other year but this, and are also top-20 teams of the past decade.
We've also got a rookie rusher who is piling up the stats at an astronomical rate, and has a shot to eclipse the single season record for rushing yards.
We've also got one of the best defenses in the past decade. (Yes, one of the best defenses in the past decade. Read the latest FO DVOA Ratings article)
And lastly, we've also got one more team vying for historical ineptitude.

So here's a chance to grade/rate your team's performance. I'd like to see how everyone thinks their team has fared so far in the season. (I'll get to mine later today or later in the week)

[studcrackers]

Cowboys A+

maybe i'll add to that later, but who wouldve thought we'd be 7-1 right now?

[bigrich88]

I would give my team, the Packers, a A-

we just need a sloid running game(which i think is finally developing because of grant) and our grade will be perfect if we can keep up everything else we are doing well.

[Wizards2Lottery]

Redskins - B

5-3 with a putrid and banged up offense and horrible offensive coaches. Our defense rules. Gregg Williams for president. Sean Taylor for vice president. LaRon Landry for DROY. Shawn Springs, Rocky McIntosh and London Fletcher to the Pro Bowl.

[wetsthebed]

Patriots - A++

Duh.

[J.Kim]

I meant position by position and more in depth...but fine...

[Wizards2Lottery]

Redskins

QB - C-; Campbell will be average till Joe Gibbs is the Redskins head coach.

RB - B; Portis has lost speed but considering that hes #2 in the NFC in TD's and yards, its hard to give him anything less.

Offensive line - Left side A+; Samuels has been great, thanks for Kendall NYJ, right side F; probably moves to a B+ when Randy Thomas returns but Jason Fabini can't even block the wind, just horrible

TE - A+, Chris Cooley, enough said

Defense:

Dline - B, Carter and Montgomery are beast. Griffin is injured as always and Chris Wilson has been a surprise. Good enough to get the job done.

LB - A+; McIntosh is a Pro Bowler in the making, Fletcher is amazing. The group is playing amazing even wiht Marcus Washington being banged up the entire season. This is a deadly unit when Washington returns to full health.

CB - B+; Smoot has been a solid pickup. Shawn Springs = true shut down corner. Too bad Carlos went down...

Safety A+; Landry + Taylor = the best in the league

[brewcityboii]

Packers

Offense

QB: B+, What more can you say about old man river, the guy just seems to keep making plays that I thought were no longer possible for him. The biggest key to his success this year far and away has been his ability to spread the ball and make the right decision to find the reciever no matter what option they are. If not for the Redskin game and the Bear game he would get an A+

RB: C-, Probally would be lower but they really haven't been trying to run the ball cause teams are struggling to cover the spread O. But we have a decent commitee of average RB's. I was impressed by Wynn but he is softer than Charmin. Grant is a decent back the thing that I like is he runs north-south.

TE: B, Finally this team realized Bubba Franks was not the answer at TE, Donald Lee is a perfect fit for Favre due to his speed and he is proablly one of the better route running TE's in the league. His blocking is average at best which worries me but you gotta take what you can get.

WR: B+, I figured Driver would be the good possesion WR he has been for the past few years, and Jennings I always liked but in no way did I think Jennings would have a knack for the big play the way he does. The guy just flat out makes great plays. My biggest Suprise is James Jones, The kid has some of the best hands I have seen in a long time, he is only going to get better in time, my biggest concern for him is holding on to the ball after the catch. Now with Koren Robinson back this might be the most complete set of 4 wideuts in the League.

OL: C+, Pass protection has been good, giving Favre just enough time to make plays. The Run Blocking is horrid, I am not so sure if it is more the scheme than the actual players, I just am not a big fan of the zone blocking scheme.


Random Thought: This Offense always seems to rise to the occasion when needed most.


Overall Offensive Rank: B+


Defense


DL: A, This is probally a top 3 DL IMO, They have tons of depth and a bunch of guys that can make a lot of plays. Aaron Kampmann is an absolute stud top 5 DE in the league. KGB is an amazing pass rusher, but falls for the draw play every time. The interior bigs have been huge this year, Jolly, Williams, Pickett and Cole have all been playing great. We still have our first rounder on the bench who I think is going to be nice eventually.

LB: B-, Barnett has impressed me the guy is just so fast from sideline to sideline, he doesn't miss many tackles and he is our best cover LB while playing over the middle. Hawk is consistent but has not showed much on the big play side that I expected in the begining of the season. And Poppinga has been improving every week still a liabilty in pass coverage.

CB: A++, I would take the tandem of Woodson and Harris over any other tandem in the League right now. They really slow down other teams offensive weapons and rally allow the DL to make plays and penetrate.

S: C, Bigby is a great hitter and a great run stopper but is completley clueless when it comes to pass coverage. Nick Collins had been looking pretty good but is now out for a few weeks after spraining his knee against the Chiefs. We now will Start Rouse who was a great run stopper at VT but other than that I do not know much about him.


K: B, Rookie Kicker no complaints he hit a game winner in week 1 and has only really had one poor game so I am pleased.

Overall Grade for the Pack - B+


If someone would have told me before the season started that this team would be 7-1 after nine weeks, I would have laughed at them for weeks.

[El Turco]

Bengals offense- B

Bengals defense- Dont know what to give here-Division III level perhaps?

Overall Bengals-D

Relegation contenders

[A.J.]

Texans C-

[UrbanLegendMD]

Ravens
QB -- F, as usual.
WR/TE -- Incomplete, did not have an opportunity to show what they can do.
RB -- B. Willis is solid, but he's not getting enough touches.
OLine -- D. Inconsistent play and injuries, promising unit played mediocre.
Front 7 -- A-. Still good against the run, but where's the consistent pass rush? Where in the world is Terrel Suggs?
Secondary -- D. Corners suck. Rolle is done and Chris is on his way. Ed Reed and Landry held up, but CB position needs immediate upgrade.
Coaching -- Billick has to go.

[High 5]

Falcons = D = They aren't as bad as their record, they could easily be 5-3/6-2 with a certain someone not preparing for years of prison, but they haven't finished games and they continue to find ways to kill themselves. Inconsistency is a staple of Atlanta sports. (Georgia sports if you want to throw in the Bulldogs)

I would go into detail, but I'm tired of talking about the short comings of our players. All but a few have been extremely disappointing and have taken steps back due to age, injuries and reasons unknown.

I will say that the most scrutinized player on our team, DeAngelo Hall, is playing at a deserving all-pro level. If not for his mouth and our terrible season, he'd be getting a lot of love right now. Michael Boley is another player that isn't getting any love that he deserves.

[CBS7]

QB - Grossman - F, Griese, C-. Grossman simply didn't make plays during the games ha played while Griese at least has been on and off.

RB - Benson - D+. Not a D or F because I think most of the problems come from the O-line.

WR - C. They've made plays here and there, but they do drop a number of passes.

TE - A. The bright spot of our offense. Olsen and Clark have been very, very good.

OL - F+. They are just aging terribly. Kruetz is the only guy that should be on the team next year. The + for looking a little better in pass protection in the past few weeks.

Overall offense - D+. They looked better in a 3 game stretch (@GB, vs MIN, @PHI) then they have in a great while, but Griese and Grossman have thrown 11 interceptions in the other 5 games.

DL - B-. Harris hasn't been 100%, Dvoracek is out for the season and Walker missed a lot of time. That is the main reason for the defensive line not getting the pressure it should be getting. Garay is just not a good player.

LB - C+. Urlacher has been extremely inconsistent. He's looked just as dominant as he always has, then he'll suck for a while. We learned that he has an arthritic back, that could be part of the reason. Briggs is having a solid season.

CB - A-. The minus for Vasher not being healthy. Tillman has been great, Vasher good in the couple of games he played, Ricky Manning has been good, and McBride has been decent, although he's way too small to guard Roy Williams.

S - F. Archuleta has sucked, broken hand or not, and Manning has just struggled, and McGowan is the main reason Peterson had 223 yards vs the Bears.

Overall defense - C+. They've forced one turnover in the past 3 games. Injuries are a huge part, but some guys just need to step up. The plus is for forcing 5 turnovers vs GB.

Devin Hester - A+. He good, yo.

Overall - D+ The plus is for beating the Packers. This D+ is compared to expectations.

[treyZz]

Bears

Offense - D

QB - D - At least Griese audibles.
RB - D - Benson is playing like a dog, but the OL is horrible.
OL - F - Worst OL in football.
WR - D - Terrible.
TE - B+ - Olsen & Clark have played well.

Defense

DL - C - Very inconsistent w/ Tommie Harris banged up.
LB - C - Briggs has been awesome. Urlacher bad.
DB - C - Tillman the only one to show up this year. Vasher hurt.

Coaching - F

[Triple M]

Titans
QB D- All I can say not sure why his game has regressed though we did lose some talent at WR but I'll get to those guys later I do think he'll rebound in the 2nd half though.

HB A All 3 backs have looked good especially Lendale they have carried the offense this season

OL A+ Well if the HB's get an A it makes sense for the o-line to get a A+ these group of guys have gone from underrated to getting the respect they deserve.

WR F These guys are a joke dropping passes is in the endzone.

Overall Offense C- the passing games needs a lot of work and that is an understatement.

Now to the good part

DL A++ Looks like the best L-line in the league not only do they put a ton of presure on the QB but they are big in stoping the run as well. Haynesworth and Vanden Bosch set the tone while the others on the line are playing quite surprising.

LB A Probably the most overlooked part of the Titans D but these guys are scary good in run support. Keith Buluck is at the heart of this defense and Thornton has been a very good addition since coming from the colts in 05.

DB B The secondary looks very solid it is an area where I think the Titans can actually improve on though. Look for Griffen continue to improve as the season goeson.

Overall Defense A+ got to give the 2nd overall Defense an A+

Coach A+ Coach Fisher continues to get the most out of his teams he such a great asset to the Titans organisation.

[Manhattan Project]

Jets:

QB- D
Pennington- Only ahead of some of the most inept Quarterbacks in the league, 9 to a 7 touchdown to interception ratio. He has come up real short this year, thus the QB change to Clemens.

Clemens- He is almost averaging 300 yards against the Ravens and Redskins. He has shown the big play threat we have been missing. Still a project in the works.

RB- D
Thomas Jones- Fifth most carries in the league, 3.8 ypc and still no touchdowns. Hardly the running back we were expecting here.

WR-B
Cotchery, Coles and Smith have really got the job done this year. Im fully expecting a explosion from Cotchery and Smith with Clemens in the second half of the season. Justin McCariens will probably be released in the offseason.

TE- C
Chris Baker- Only 17 receptions on the season, but one of the most underutilized tight ends in the league. Solid blocker and great hands.

O-Line- C-
Mangold and Ferguson have gotten the job done this year, they are the future of this line. However the loss of Kendall has hurt us more then we expected. Moore and Clement have been decent, but they need to step it up. Bender/Clarke are both lost causes.

D Line- F+
Coleman has been a solid signing he is the only one that fits the scheme on this line. Ellis and Robertson are getting man handled game in and game out for the most part.

Linebackers- D
Yet again not many players fit the scheme. Thomas has been a no show since getting his contract. Barton has made no noise. Vilma is done for the year. Harris has been amazing, he will be in the top five in the league in tackles this year.

Secondary- C
Revis has really come on strong recently, he is a tackling machine. Dyson has been a disappointment from last year, causing Hank Poteat to replace him. Rhodes is what he is, one of the more underrated safety's. Abram Elam has come out of nowhere in the past two weeks, really have been impressing me.

Special Teams- C
Leon Washington has been eletric on the kick returns, no signs of missing Justin Miller. However on the punt returns I would like to see Revis since that was one of the things really hyped about him in the draft. Nugent has shown a stronger leg showing it on KO's. Graham has not been as effective as in years past, but still doing adequate.

Overall- D
Wrong scheme on defense, no big play threat on the offensive side of the ball in the first half. Looking towards the draft...

[J.Kim]

Here's my Grades for the Titans, graded individually for the Starting roster. (Plus a few more) (Extra, Extra long post) (Also up on my blog)

http://maroonzone.blogspot.com

Vince Young - D
What a major dissapointment he's been. I didn't expect the World out of Vince at all, unlike others, but I certianly didn't expect the type of play that he's been putting up these days. His accuracy has improved, but everything else has gotten worse. It's definitely not helped by the fact that our WRs (minus Roydell Williams) has pretty much sucked. In terms of his passing game, I'm still dissapointed. He's still has the same tendencies as last season: Scanning for the first option, then looking for his check-down guy in the flat/out in Bo Scaife. I also have a problem with how he's developing as an overall playmaker. I don't know if it's Norm Chow's doing or his, but he just looks like he's trying to prove that he's a good passer, while compromising our nice Run O combination that we had with Travis Henry and Vince. He's forcing passes instead of taking wide open running lanes, and that is frustrating me to no ends. I like the fact that he's trying to develop as a passer, but he's doing this at the risk of our offense. Vince should learn that even Manning and Brady, the greatest of passers, will take an open running lane if it will net them a great gain.

LenDale White - B-/C+
I guess I'm slightly surprised by him, considering how down I was about him earlier in the season. I still think he's a fat and lazy guy who can't hit the wide-open holes that the O-Line creates fast enough. However, after a early-season struggle in short-yardage situations, he's become a more reliable power rusher in short-yardage situations as the season wears out. He's been getting more and more first downs and TDs in short-yardage and goal-line situations. As well, one surprise for me was how much stamina LenDale has. Over the past several games, he's shown that he's got a great stamina, and he just wears down defenses. I haven't seen the splits yet, but I think they'll show that he has a higher YPC in the 2nd half vs. the 1st half.
Overall, I wish he could shed some weight and gain some explosiveness, so that we could have a power rusher in the mold of Eddie George again.

Chris Brown - B+
Derailed by injuries yet again, but he's showing that these injuries really have no effect on his game, whenever he plays. He's an explosive runner with deceptive speed, and he's shown that whenever he's had the chance to play. With our superior O-Line creating massive holes for him to run through, he's looked very impressive as a change of pace back to LenDale's wrecking ball style.

Chris Henry - A+
He's exceeded my expectations, way beyond what I thought he would do. When Reinfeldt drafted him, I thought he'd made a mistake in picking a workout wonder with a low wonderlic score, but he's shut the doubters (and myself) up. He's an explosive, agile runner who doesn't give up on the play; tries to pick up yards at all times. He's also very hard to tackle, as I've seen some pretty good linebackers (DeMeco Ryans being one of them) completely whiff on him. He's gonna be a great running back in this league, and my hopes is that he's durable enough so that we can move him into the starting role, and scale LenDale back into a back-up/short-yardage role.

Roydell Williams - B-
Here's someone who I wasn't expecting to play well. Probably the only player in the Titans' receiving corps that is playing above average. He's been more of a speed guy, beating corners on deeper routes. (Of course, deeper routes in this offense means 15 yards downfield, and not long bomb completions of 30+ yards). He's made some great acrobatic catches to go with a few boneheaded drops (which is to be expected considering he's a 2nd year player). Doesn't run the most accurate of routes, but has shown a lot of improvement from the beginning of the season.

Rest of the WRs - D-/F/Inconclusive
The Titans haven't passed enough to really give anyone a failing grade, but from what I've seen overall as a group:
- There's no semblance of route running at all
- Drops a lot of passes (especially in the redzone)
- Doesn't get much separation from their men
- Doesn't look like they have much chemistry with Vince, often miscommunicating on routes they have to run

Bo Scaife - C-
I can't believe how much our TE play has fallen off. Erron Kinney was a phenomenal player that could run block, pass block AND catch the ball at times. And we go from this, to our current best TE in Bo Scaife, who's mediocre in Run Blocking (doesn't seem to show the proper technique), been okay in Pass Blocking (though part of that reason is Vince eludes the pass rush with ease), and runs decent routes, but with below average hands. Out of all the receivers, I think Bo Scaife has the 2nd most dropped balls. IIRC, there were two instances where he dropped a pass in the end zone versus the Panthers, when he was wide open.

Ben Troupe - F
Boy he's fallen off faster than Kevin Federline did. He's a drive killer. I've seen way too many drops by him. He seems clueless out on the field. At times, he looks surprised that a ball is coming in his direction. And considering that he was supposed to be our "Antonio Gates/Dallas Clark" (A pseudo-WR masquerading as a TE), he's absolutely useless in both Run Blocking and Pass Blocking.
I don't know what has happened to him. Maybe it's the fact that Vince and Bo Scaife have built such a chemistry that he's less motivated to try now because Vince doesn't look for him.

Michael Roos - A-
Fantastic. Just like the rest of our O-Line. Dominates the opposing LEs with ease. He's especially effective against pass rushers like Dwight Freeney (IIRC, Freeney actually moved over to the Right side for a couple of plays because he was so ineffective against Roos) and Julius Peppers. He is patient and has great timing in Pass Blocking; he shadows the speed rusher running around, and just as the LE is making his turn, pushes him off-balance and out of the play. That's become a staple move of his. As a run blocker, he's been decent, nothing spectacular. Gets to the 2nd level often, but it's not as if he's mauling opposing defenses.

Jacob Bell - B+
Probably the weak spot of the line-up. He's a good one-on-one blocker in both pass and run blocking, but he's a great help blocker, picking up the double team assignments. Pretty much nondescript in this offense, but has been a solid piece at LG.

Kevin Mawae - A+
I don't think there's more I could ask out of a Center. He's in his 14th season and still playing at a high level. No DT ever gets by him, and he just clears out opposing defenders and gets to the second level with ease on run blocking. I think the Titans' offense will take a slight decline when it comes to the day that we have to replace him.

Benji Olson - A-
Another veteran, who I thought had run out of gas a couple seasons ago. I thought he was starting to slow down, and not showing the dominance that he once did back in the early 00 Titans days. But I guess the reasoning behind that was the declining talent on the O-Line that made him look worse than he actually played. He's been playing pretty good with the rest of the O-Line, and him and Kevin Mawae make a fantastic tandem for between the guard rushes by LenDale.

David Stewart - A-
He's been the surprise of our Offense. On this O-Line I thought he would be the weakpoint, and opposing REs would get through with ease against him, but he's proven that even against Pro-Bowl calibre REs, he can match-up with them. Robert Mathis had a nondescript outing against him, and I don't recall a single instance where he was blown up on a play.

Kyle Vanden Bosch - A+
Fantastic rusher, who doesn't have top-end speed but will use a wide-array of spin moves, swim moves and off-beat timing as well as some power moves to beat you. High motor, just doesn't give up on a play at all, and keeps his feet moving to get to the QB. After what media personalities have considered an "off-year" last year, he's stepped up and shown again that he's a Pro-Bowl calibre Defensive End (5 Sacks on the season and countless hurries and hits)

Tony Brown - B
Free agent pick up 2 seasons ago has shown that he's more than capable of playing in this league. Is not the best of players in gap assignments and run stuffing, but does an adequate job of it. He is way better in pass rush, quietly racking up 2.5 sacks in limited time (Randy Starks comes in to spell him quite often).

Albert Haynesworth - A+++++
Best Defensive Tackle in the league right now. Phenomenal in run stopping, and despite being responsible for two-gap coverage at times, he tackles the runner for no gain or loss of yards quite often. The best pass rushing DT in the league right now as well. He has amazing agility and just blows by or maneuvres by a lot of Guards and Centres, even against double team (The game against Carolina lining up against Hartwig and Wahle was the best example)

Antwan Odom/Travis LaBoy - A
Antwan Odom starts and Travis LaBoy backs him up, but they've both seen plenty of time. LaBoy is the better pass rusher, and Odom is the better run stopper. They rotate in on differing situations. Up to last year, I thought both were busts, but they've proven me wrong. Travis Laboy, especially, has been a pleasant surprise, generating a good pass rush against opposing offenses and racking up 5 sacks, and a lot of hurries/hits

Nick Harper - B
With Pacman gone, and Nick Harper in, we've switched more to a Cover Two/Two-Deep zone coverage, and he's excelled. There are times when he makes a boneheaded move on a play, or is completely burned by an opposing WR, but overall he's done a nice job of playing in this two-deep zone. Surprisingly, he's been pretty effective in run stopping, and is alos a part of the reason why we're so good at run stopping. Pursues the running back ver well.

Cortland Finnegan - A+
Very nice surprise. Won out the starting cornerback job against Reynaldo Hill and has never looked back since. Plays zone coverage very nice, and has shown that he can play in man coverage as well, in the infrequent moments that the Titans have gone into man coverage. Compare to Pacman, the Titans give up a bit on pass coverage with Cortland, but gains tremendously on run stopping. He's been a phenomenal run support, often tackling runs to the outside for no gain or loss yardage.

David Thornton - A
Speedy. Very Speedy. He struggled a bit last year when we played more man coverage, but now that we've shifted to more of a two-deep zone, he's shown that he's a top-flight Linebacker. Uses his excellent bursts of speed to pursue the running back very effectively.
On a sidenote, considering two of the critical parts of our defense excels at zone coverage, I hope we stay in this coverage scheme, even if Pacman comes back and gets his head on straight.

Ryan Folwer - B-
Good in run coverage. Havn't paid too much attention to him in our defense (most of the time my focus is on Haynesworth, Bulluck, Finnegan, Thornton, Vanden Bosch, LaBoy or Hope) but he seems to be a solid player who hasn't made any mistakes in the defense, that I can remember. I'm personally hoping that Stephen Tulloch improves by a lot more so that he can take over the MLB role soon.

Keith Bulluck - A+
Now that he's got some good defensive players on this team, the weight is slightly off his shoulders. And as well, because of this there's been an improvement on his part on pass coverage. Has done a very nice job on opposing TEs. And has always been his phenomenal self in run stopping.

Chris Hope - B-
After a slow start to the season, he's finally picking things up. What I've noticed is that we're using him in a pseudo-Bob Sanders role this season. He's now playing a bit closer to the line of scrimmage this season, and has been in quite a few blitzes. I think the slow start was in part due to adjusting to the two-deep zone after playing man coverage last season.

Michael Griffin - B+
He's moved back to his more natural role as a Free Safety on the opposite side of Hope in the past 2 games. And he's shown a good instinct to the game. Case and point, last game where Steve Smith had beaten Vincent Fuller deep (don't ask me why the Nickel was covering Steve Smith...), he saw Carr looking at and throwing to Steve Smith deep, so he abandoned his man, and came over the knock the ball out with an acrobatic leap. Has shown many flashes of brilliance throughout the season and I hope that he keeps improving. He could be something special out at FS.

[WEFFPIM]

Bears: D

I don't need specific reasons why, they're just brutal

[Wizards2Lottery]

Actually, I'll give Jason Campbell a B after reading over some statistics posted by the Redskins beat reporter. Stats of QB's after there first 15 starts (same as Campbells right now)

Tony Romo 63.80% 4102 30/16
Alex Smith 55.20% 2295 10/17
Matt Leinart 56.30% 3001 13/15
Jason Campbell 55.99% 2817 16/13
Ben Roethlisberger 66.4 2621 17/11
Eli Manning 50.34% 2789 20/14
Tom Brady 63.9% 2843 18/12
Peyton Manning 56.7% 3739 26/28
Carson Palmer 60.9% 2897 18/18

Ok outside of Romo and P. Manning, not bad for a guy with only 15 starts and with crap recievers. Maybe I'm putting extensive expectations for a QB whos still inexperienced and has the leagues leading reciever in drops.

[Rafael122]

That's definitely it. He's a 2nd year guy. I'd understand if this was his 4th year and he still doesn't get it, but the Saunders offense is complex enough. Give it time.

Next year will be a good year to see how he's progressed. For one, he'll have 1 year remaining on his contract so next season will more or less tell us if Campbell is our future QB.