Oooooo Grades grades grades!
My tuppenth.
Quarterbacks
I go around in circles on that question. It comes down to what is an Elite team? And do we judge that in advance? Or retrospectively? Our Raiders victory the week before, could they be considered an Elite team? They were superbowl contenders last season that go derailed by Carr's injury, and were undefeated when we played them? Elite? But then again they looked dreadful this week. The Rams? they've beaten up on bad teams mostly and we beat them. Their schedule is pretty soft and it's possible they could get into 11-5 or 12-4 territory. When do we consider them good? Green Bay took a whupping off us last year, during their doldrums, but turned it on for the playoffs?
Hmmmm football philosophy.
Anyhow, I feel that Kirk has hit a groove at the moment and this loss to the Chiefs was less about him and more about the team around him. He had the team in position to win, no doubt about it. If we're looking for someone to blame for this defeat I'd put it on other aspects of the team. RB's inability to grind ground and clock, receivers dropping passes, defensive penalties, defensive injuries and a bad time out call. I don't think Kirk shone quite as bright as against the Raiders, for a combination of reasons I think. No QB throws a perfect game, though the Raiders game was close, but this week his comp rate was 58% a smidge higher than the 57% in week 1. The difference here was that Kirk looked really off target in week 1, whereas this week I'd say he was mostly on target and was let down by the receivers. I do think I'd go with a slightly higher grade.
B+
Running Backs
Can't disagree with the grade here. The only thing I'd put forward was that Kelley was doing OK till he was re-injured. He had gains of 4, 12, 3, -4 and 5 yards before being yanked after re-aggravating his ribs on a carry for 0 yards. I'd have to look at the -4 yard run again to see where the breakdown happened there, but being caught in the backfield suggests a blocking breakdown. And if you throw out the carry he was injured on... He was averaging 6 yards a carry when he got a good look. I think he's our starter.
Perine needs more work. We just need to trust him to grind away.
Thompson is a great change of pace guy, but kind of disappeared this week.
I do think we need to spell in Mack for now and let Kelley properly heal up.
On a positive note this was that Gruden STILL stuck with the run, 26 runs to 24 passes. Long may that continue. I think if our defense hadn't got so banged up and been able to get off the field we'd have seen our Run game flourish a little more. I think the underperformance of the run game can be traced back domino effect style to the Defensive injuries. Once our secondary got decimated Alex Smith picked us apart, kept our line honest and then they went to work with their run game and dominated the clock. I'd agree with your D+ though. Not a game changing unit this week either in the run or the pass.
Wide Receivers
Agree totally. I'm happy to see Doctson start getting some run, he'll get through that rookie patch. Pryor needs to show up though. As does Crowder. Ryan Grant is the surprise
But as a unit this lot are letting us down week to week.
Tight Ends
Vernon Davis is a GOD. Reed is little more than a Decoy at the moment, but he'll be back up to speed soon. As a unit this may be the strongest part of our team.
O Line
Can't disagree here.
They're showing the form they had last year. Zero sacks in 3 games now after that shaky season opener.
D Line
Now here is where I do disagree a little. I think the reverse was true as I touched upon above.
The game changed for us the moment Josh Norman went down. Followed by the rest of our Secondary man by man. Without Norman locking down his half of the field, and with third stringers and rookies suddenly getting extended playing time you could see that Ryan and Smith were smart enough to exploit it. They started picking us apart at the back and then when that kept our Defense honest they started using their run game to gash us. They extended drives and dominated possession, exactly what we did to them in the first quarter. In the second Qtr alone they put together time killing drives of 7:41 and 5:40, systematically mixing short passes and runs and keeping our Offense off the field for as long as possible. Smart.
It meant that our D line got really tired and our Offense never got the chance to get onto the field. And when they did it was the Receivers that let down the drives.
For example, our first drive that ended in a punt:
Perine for 5, (Penalty for 5 on the Chiefs), Perine for 5, Perine for 3... That left 3rd and 2. Incomplete to Reed. Punt. (Can't put that one on the Run game)
Second drive that ended in a punt:
Incomplete to N.Paul, Thompson for 7. 3rd and 3... Incomplete to Pryor. (Again, the run game left us in 3rd and manageable)
Third drive that ended in a punt:
All pass plays, The first to Reed was for -4 yards, which left a long 2nd and 14. Reed got 11 of those back on the next play to make it 3rd and 3. Incomplete to Reed.
None of those drives were ended due to the run game and our Defense was put onto the field for extended periods.
The bigger issue I think here was our inability to get them off the field once Norman went out and was swiftly followed by various other members of our secondary (At various points we have Foster, Brown, Nicholson, Fuller and Allen all off the field nursing injuries), compounded by the silly penalties our Defense gave away too when they were about to get the Chiefs off the field. Like Breelands Horsecollar, Gallette's roughing the passer, and Smiths Offside on a 3rd and 9 among them.
You're right though, they hung in there and I'd give them a good solid
B.
Linebackers, Cornerbacks and Safeties
I'll group this lot together.
See above. I'd also give them a
B for hanging in there in the face of overwhelming injuries.
Special Teams
Can't fault them. Hopkins didn't miss all night and Tress Way is still consistent. We didn't get much of a chance to return any as all their KO's and Punts went for Touchbacks, and we never let them return anything silly.
B+
Coaching
Hmmmm tough one.
It's clear that Gruden at this point isn't just paying lip service to the Run Game. He's sticking with it. The team looked fired up and ready and only really lost due to injuries decimating our chances.
There was that silly Time Out kerfuffle at the end that maybe allowed them the time they needed to ice the game, and then there was that awful gadget play right at the end which made the score look worse than it was (Honestly that was the time to shovel it to Pryor who used to be a QB!!!! Why was that the only throw to Crowder all game?!)
But as I say, he had the team ready to play on a Monday night against the best team in the league, in a hostile environment as the underdogs and we very nearly snatched a major upset.
B+ from me!