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

Week four is in the books and now we take a look at how the entire team fared against the Eagles. With these grades, you may think we are 4-0 and set the world on fire. Let

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Week Four Grades, Evaluations, Questions​

Week four is in the books and now we take a look at how the entire team fared against the Eagles. With these grades, you may think we are 4-0 and set the world on fire. Let’s be honest. This team is not top five and if they were, then the grades would be a bit lower. Why grade on the curve (ditto for Rams game)? It simple. The Redskins are in rebuild mode and positive wins with potential demonstrated will get higher marks. However, we will try to make some sense of it all as BBQ hands out grades and evaluations. Feel free to offer your own grades, evaluations, and opinions. Also, we have some questions to close out week four.

Let’s take a look at the grades.

Quarterbacks:
Kirk Cousins was calm, cool, and collected as he was solid all day. The final drive for a victory was a huge statement for leadership and professionalism. One interesting stat of note: Kirk’s fantasy rating was in the single digits for week one, mid teens in week two, upper teens in week three, and the low twenties in week four.
Grade: A

Running Backs:
The running game was stymied a bit by the Eagles defense as they were willing to live by the run and die by the pass. The Redskins did get timely contributions from Chris Thompson, explosive runs by Alfred Morris on the final drive, and one nifty rush from Matt Jones.
Grade: B

Wide Receivers:
Jamison Crowder, Pierre Garcon, Ryan Grant, and Rashad Ross combined for twenty catches and nearly 210 yards. It was a solid effort by this unit and Chris Thompson from the running back position added a couple of catches for nice yardage in the flat.
Grade: A

Tight Ends:
Jordan Reed put in a workman-like Sunday with a good effort until he was injured. Derek Carrier provide two catches and this group was more than adequate in the blocking schemes as passes in the flat were highly successful.
Grade: B

Offensive Line:
Only one sack. It’s a nice stat. A very young unit, sans Trent Williams, is looking good so far this season. No doubt they will be up and down a bit, but Sunday was a solid effort. They were able to wear down an Eagles defense that had no answers on the final drive.
Grade: A-

Defensive Line:
The self-described “Capital Defense” was made much more lethal with a smothering defensive line effort. Five sacks. Multiple quarterback pressures/hurries. Seventy-three yards rushing. When you take away the longest runs of the three Eagles running backs, here is how it stacked up: Murray, seven carries for six yards; Matthews, four carries for eleven yards; Sproles, three carries for six yards. That’s a total of fourteen carries for twenty-three yards. Enough said.
Grade: A+

Linebackers:
The Eagles got a heavy dosage of Will Compton, Ryan Kerrigan, Keenan Robinson, Trent Murphy, and Preston Smith. The linebackers get a heavy dosage of love from BBQ this week. The Eagles tight end play was decent on Sunday and this drops the grade just a tad.
Grade: A-

Cornerbacks:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. A tale of two halves. Although not on par with the Dickens classic of life in London and Paris, the corners did have a classic shift of fortunes. The first half was great, the second half was a struggle. Injuries did play a part and that is taken under consideration. Kyshoen Jarrett is quickly proving to be a huge steal in this year’s sixth round.
Grade: B-

Safeties:
We could repeat the same lines from what was written about the corners. In fact, feel free to do so.
Grade: B-

Special Teams:
We could stew about the Eagles having a long punt return and the Redskins with the exact opposite. That is our only complaint. Otherwise, the punts were solid and long. Dustin Hopkins sure seems like the real deal and his kickoffs, field goals, and extra points were excellent in less than ideal conditions.
Grade: A-

Coaching:
The game plan on offense was absolutely superb. You can’t argue with the time of possession (41:08 to 18:52), play calling (79 to 51), and third down conversions (53% to 25%). The offense took what the Eagles defense gave them and the Redskins defense was aggressive, swarming, and relentless. Special teams provided the extra lift needed to help with the victory.
Grade: A

How would you grade each position and the coaching staff? After looking so miserable against the Giants, are these Redskins a .500 or better team with this showing? Is the biggest steal of the draft Kyshoen Jarrett and has he solidified the position at nickel? Or do you think Jamison Crowder is the biggest steal as he is now the number one slot receiver? If the culture is truly changing, do we see Andre Roberts being traded or inactive the rest of the season (barring injury)? Several draftees from this 2015 class are key contributors - does this have you excited for the next round of free agency and the draft? What are you expecting in the game with the Falcons? On to game five.

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

Hail to the Redskins!

Hard to argue with your grades this week.

Except for coaching. Specifically, head coaching.

Granted, top to bottom, side to side, this was Gruden's best game as our head coach. But I can't give an A for a performance that should be the norm, instead of being more rare than a Bigfoot sighting. He got stupid again to close out the 1st half. Got all pass happy and blew a chance to score after the turnover. Then, put on his chicken suit and let Chippy run all the time off the clock before, luckily for us, missing the field goal. At 3rd and 27 he could have called a time out, as the chances they would convert were slim, and none. Another time out after we stopped them, and we could have had the ball after the miss, or even after a kickoff if he made it, with about 50 seconds, and 1 time out, to try and score again.

I'll give him a slight break, knowing he might have been trying to keep the pressure off of Kirk. But it's still playing "not to lose" instead of playing to win.
I saw it as weak.

Anyway, adjustment issues still prevail.

Best I can give him is a C+. Overall coaching, B-.