Looking to dive deep into the nitty-gritty of our performance across the pond? Follow this link to catch the full, unit-by-unit breakdown of how we graded out in the victory against New Orleans.
OFFENSE: B
QB B- 19/30 212 yards 1 TD. Didn't see a ton of changing plays to pass plays on the fly I thought he managed the game pretty well. Spread the ball around to 7 different guys Had the one deep ball to DK, but mostly short stuff RB. A+ Jaylen Warren was again incredible 101 yards rushing on just 18 casrries. Another 3 catches for 36 yards. Numbers of a top 5 back Rico Dowdle was also good in this game 9 carries for 41 yards and 6 catches for 45 yards WE GOT TO 30 CARRIES WR C DK only had 2 catches for 56 yards. One was for 51 Bernard had 3 catches for 36. One was for 26 Muth and Wash combined for 3 catches for 24 yards. Brandon Smith had 2 for 24 Just not a lot of separation against the Saints Oline B+ The bad was Troy Fautanu. Had a miserable game. Gave up 2 sacks and 3 pressures. However, outside of one play in the run game, he was pretty good Max Iheanachor gave up a sack and a half and 3 pressures as well. Struggled in the run game as well. But how the line dominated in the run game can't be overshadowed. 148 yards on 30 carries. 4.9 yards per carry. The mindset was very physical in the run game. Coaches leaned into. They controlled the game from start to. finish Offense B 16 points. 343 total yards. 10-16 on 3rd down. 5 of 6 on 3rd down runs. Only called 8 3 down runs all season long. Keeanu Benton again was a monster. Only 1-4 in the red zone. Got to 30 carries in a game they needed to. But I can't over look the 16 points and the bad red zone offense. The offense appears to have found an identity. Won Time of possession 32:03 to 27:57. only 7 drives in this game.
DEFENSE: B+
Dline- A+ Completely shut the run game down. May not have shown up in the stat sheet because they threw the ball so much 17 carries for 18 yards. Longest run was a 6 yard scramble by Tyler Shough. Longest by an RB was 3 yards TJ had a sack. Shough got the ball out in 2.51 seconds which is below the league average of 2.75- 2.85. 2.50 seconds is considered elite. LBs- A+ Patrick Queen had a bounce back game. 10 tackles with 7 solo. 1 TFL and a HUGE sack. he was also good in coverage. Payton Wilson had another good game. 6 tackles 3 solo and a incredible interception DBs- C- The Scheme is allowing a lot of underneath stuff. They had the big play over the top, but other than that it was a ton of underneath stuff. the flat was wide open. 30/38 for 275 isn't great though. Somehow you need to tighten up the coverage. Dean and Ramsey. didn't have great days in coverage DEFENSE- B+ 10 points. 281 total yards. 6-12 on 3rd down 2-2 on 4th down. only gave up 1.1 yards per rush. and 18 yards. forced 1 turnover
Special Teams: B+
Boz was 3/3. Would have had another one, but they had a penalty to end the game. Kickoff coverage was much better this week. Gave up one long one which resulted in 3 points. But other than that, they were solid Punt coverage...Yuck. Gave up a 20 yarder. Kaden Wetjen was much better this week at just running north and south
Coaching: B+
The Offensive game plan was good. They leaned into running the football. That needs to be the identity of the offense. Defensively, the plan was to make them one dimensional and it worked. The bend but don't break has been successful the last 4 games especially in the 2nd half. No touchdowns. They shut the Saints out in the 2nd half that has to matter.
OVERALL: B+
While we still have things to improve on, we did get better in certain aspects. I think we found an identity. I think we