Burner's Burning Questions: Week One Grades, Evaluations, Questions

Week one is in the books and now we take a look at how the entire team fared against the Dolphins. It was a contest of highs and lows, but we will try to make some sense of it all as BBQ hands out some grades and evaluations. Feel free to offer your own grades, evaluations, and opinions. Also, we have some questions to close out week one.

Let

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Week One Grades, Evaluations, Questions​

Week one is in the books and now we take a look at how the entire team fared against the Dolphins. It was a contest of highs and lows, but we will try to make some sense of it all as BBQ hands out some grades and evaluations. Feel free to offer your own grades, evaluations, and opinions. Also, we have some questions to close out week one.

Let’s take a look at the grades.

Quarterbacks:
Kirk Cousins got the start and played the entire game. He looked tentative at times and was able to make the occasional play with his movement and passing. One poor interception nearly resulted in a pick six, but it should be noted that losing a key receiver early in the game hampered the offense.
Grade: C

Running Backs:
Alfred Morris was spectacular and started the season with a 100 yard game. Matt Jones displayed flashes of speed and breaking tackles with ease.
Grade: A

Wide Receivers:
DeSean Jackson went down on the first play of the second series, but Pierre Garcon stepped up and was able to take some sting out of losing the top receiver. Andre Roberts struggled and the rest of the receiving corps was less than impressive.
Grade: C

Tight Ends:
The loss of Niles Paul and Logan Paulsen seemed as if it would doom this position. Jordan Reed had a great first game and Derek Carrier provided some good moments as well.
Grade: B+

Offensive Line:
An excellent first game for the entire unit, especially the right side. Ndamukong Suh was held to two tackles and zero sacks on Sunday. The running game enjoyed massively-sized lanes in which to gain significant yardage.
Grade: A+

Defensive Line:
The defensive line mirrors what the offensive line was able to accomplish, but on a less noticeable scale. They were active in four and three man fronts. The running game was shut down and the unit was responsible for a sack and recovered fumble that went for a thirty-eight yard loss.
Grade: A

Linebackers:
Ryan Kerrigan was reportedly upset with his play, but BBQ can’t find too much fault with what this group did on Sunday - sans the easy interception for Keenan Robinson. The run game was stifled and the quarterback felt heat for much of the game. Hustling by Preston Smith resulted in the aforementioned thirty-eight yard loss/fumble recovery and you could almost hear Yakaty Sax playing in the background.
Grade: A-

Cornerbacks:
Grit and determination describes the play of DeAngelo Hall while Chris Culliver was solid. There was an easy pick six opportunity for Culliver and David Amerson was weak in relief of Hall for a period of time.
Grade: B-

Safeties:
A solid outing by Goldson, Trenton Robinson, and Duke Ihenacho was overshadowed by a season ending injury. The safeties allowed no long passes on Sunday.
Grade: A

Special Teams:
Tress Way had his usual game of producing long punts, but they were lacking hang time. Kai Forbath continued his woes beyond forty-five yards and was very weak on kickoffs. He paid the price this week. The return unit was good on punt returns and one lone kickoff. They made no glaring mistakes. Coverage was stymied by poor kicking quality.
Grade: D-

Coaching:
The offense was good in the running game, but struggled with passing. Part of that could be attributed to the DeSean Jackson injury. At times, the offense needed to pass in certain situations and it seemed as if the coaches were engaged in polyphasic sleep. Defense was absolutely solid and Joe Barry gets high marks for his entire unit. Special teams let the team down again and sputtered at the most inopportune moments.
Grade: B-

How would you grade each position and the coaching staff? Do you like the new defensive coordinator thus far? How in the world can we fix special teams? Are you encouraged by the kicking change? How did you like the play of our offensive line? On to game two.

See you again next week with grades, evaluations, and questions.

Hail to the Redskins!

Been waiting for this BB. Here goes...

QB - Pretty much agree with your grade on Kirk. Very average. He's judged by a different standard by almost everybody. But, it is what it is.
If he truly knows the system well, maybe it's the system that's the bigger problem.
He's still staring down receivers too often. He had two picks, and another 2-3 floaters that will get picked more often than not. And, although it's only one game, he continues to wilt under the spotlight. Hopefully it was just opening day jitters.

RB, TE, and Oline - I concur

WR - I'd upgrade them to a B. They made some good catches on some poor throws. Not their fault that the coaches erred in not having Ross active. He's no DJax, but he's the closest thing to his speed we have. Still waiting to see still photos of the WR's being wide open all day. Apparently, they only do that when Kirk, or Colt are not playing QB.

The Defense I grade as a whole. I wrote this in another thread.

Was very pleased with the overall play of the defense. Though I envisioned more aggression than we saw Sunday. Maybe yet to come. If we can ever get a week with our full compliment of CB's. God Damn the NFL and it's Keystone Cop timing of discipline. I would have given the defense a B+, had it not been for the lackluster, look of a quitter, butt****ing they surrendered to on the last play. Would have been nice to see one more shot taken. Miracles do, and have happened. But on the one play that was "life or death" they got punked like a little bitch. Very discouraging. Dropped them to a C-, IMHO.

In addition, the 3 missed int's could have been game winners. It's not a mark against them. They were still good plays. They just could have been better.

Special Teams - C I'm not as down on the ST's as most seem to be. Wrote this in another thread too.

I know the recent history of the ST's, so I'm not trying to let them off the hook. But I lay half the blame for the return on an offense that put a known ? mark, in such a precarious position. I do not fault Tress for putting a foot in it to try and switch field position. Guys were in place to make the tackle, but ultimately failed. We weren't the only ST's to surrender a TD Sunday. Not gonna bury these guys, yet. I also understand the logic of sacrificing Forbath as a scapegoat. But I would point out that we didn't see anything Sunday we didn't already know. No real reason to wait until now to make the move. Smells of the Norv Turner era.

They also forced a fumble, but got it stripped away in the pile.

Coaching - C- From another thread...If DJax was such a huge part of the game plan, that losing him early in the game forces another reach into the excuse box by the head coach, I would question the wisdom of not having the only other WR approaching his speed, Ross, active. I realize hindsight is 20/20, or was that, 50/50? But I saw it as a poor decision on Gruden's part. Not Earth shattering. But it hints at one dimensional thinking.

He didn't look lost. But he also didn't seem to have any answer to the Dolphins halftime adjustments. That lack of ability seemed to be reflected by the players, whom, without an updated plan, reverted back to a lack of concentration, and an increase in the penalties. He may have the best gameplan in the world. If everything goes the way he believes it would. He struggles mightily with the curve.

Lastly, while all losses suck, losses to AFC teams during the season are the most acceptable.

BEAT THE ****ING RAMS!!!

That is why I ask the questions and encourage discussions, predictions, and your own grading scale. There are no right or wrong answers, just good opinions on why you agree or disagree.

Those are good grades and I can't argue what you saying. I just want some wins and the team to do well in all phases of the game. That's what we all want. Thanks.