JudgeDredd's Game Thread: Offense

[JudgeDredd]

Let's not get carried away just yet. Yes, we won the game. Yes, it was done on a heart pumping 4th quarter drive. And yes, our Rookie QB is looking like he can handle the starting role. But let's put this game behind us and look at if as if we're preparing for next week. Here are a few points I noted.


Gradkowski- Another well played game. He might be "polish" but he's far from "polished". He missed several open targets todays. But he still moved the ball foward. I perfer a QB that tries to put it in there more then passes to the RB or flat (sorry Simms). He looks confident, and that's a good thing. IMO, he can only get better. And I really hope he does becuase he looks to be the type of QB that can fully unleash Grudens playbook. He looks a lot like Jeff Garcia when he runs around. An over 50% completion percentage, and that's always a sign of a good QB. Still young, and still far from prime time, but showing a lot of promise. In a nut shell he looks to be the total opposite of Simms. Confident and accurate when short, yet totally off when throwing the long ball. He really needs to work on that long ball, he should've been picked atleast 3 times today. Or worse, missed the open deep man all together.


** I like the idea of putting it in the QBs hands 44 times. Granted I perfer that we don't do it again, but it shows confidence, it insprires confidence and trust by team mates, and it it shows that this QB is capable of marching down the field for a 4th Qrt comeback. I like knowing that we can do that.
Handing the ball off to Carnell would probably have been just as effective (we really don't know what would've happened) based on the way he was running today, but it would have instilled the mindset that Grad needs to be bailed out, and that he can't win games on his own yet. I much rather perfer getting past the "Can he win close games in the 4th quarter?" question early on rather then later when a trend has been set.

Carnell- ran very well today. Just short of 100 yards. He averaged just shy of 5 yards per carry. All this on just 19 carries. Many still think he should be getting more touches, I do too. Just goes to show, last year we ran him too much, now it's not enough. I just like the fact that he's not being run into the ground. I do believe he will be up to his 25 carries a game self soon. But keep in mind that he got a lot of his carries last year becuase we had the LEAD. When playing from behind one tends to pass more. Point is he is looking like his franchise back self again and the mani question on people mind is if he will crack 1000 yards this season.

OL- Wooo Weeee. I'm loving Trueblood- on run plays anyways. Joseph and Trueblood plow the road when we run to their side. Another pair of sacks today, but it wasn't horrible. They did break down on some plays and force Grad to throw quickly, but they also held up for what seemed like ages on others. I tip my hat to our scouts for another fine draft. Now just wait till this line gells.

Alex Smith- Nothing too amazing, except for that TD catch. What a catch too! And I love his warrior mentallity. He fights for every yard when he gets the ball in his hands. I have also noticed an improvement in his run blocking- and he puts 100% effort into it too. Again, another thumb up to that scouting department. (On a side note, I made a smart call today benching Witten for Smith in my FF League.)


WRs- Clayton! There you are! We have missed you. Bruce and Michael seem to be developing some good chemistry. Gradkowski seems to love big targets, and Clayton is just that. He's what Plax was to Ben during his rookie year. Not to mention making an amazing clutch catch to win the game. I actually didn't see it, dumb CBS switching me to Fin game with 30 seconds left, but it was ruled good so there. Galloway didn't do as amazing a job today but no knock on him. And yes, we all saw how Bruce missed him open deep late in the game. He didn't have any drops (as far as I saw) and was very focused on ball security. I guess that drop against the Saints got to him. That's good.



Judgement: The offense carried themselves. For a very young, very inexperience, and very ungelled offense they did a pretty good job. Over half our starters on offense have less then 2 years in the league. Who says we're not rebuilding? None of the offensive drives were particularly short. The holding call on the last punt put Cincy in their own 10, and a punt put us on our 46. The best field position our offense had all day. Still, 14 points is not going to win you games week in and week out. 300 yards of offense is a big plus, and so is the overall age of the unit. They get a C+ for today though. We also held the ball for 35 minutes, which is very good.

[TBFreak2002]

i myself am not worried about his long ball. its true, he struggled in that aspect today for some reason. however, last week he was able to connect on both deep attempts. it was still only his second career start, and he will definitely improve the more he plays. in two starts, he already has a comeback win (he actually should have two but of course we all watched our special teams melt down in n.o.). he played average at times today but won it when he had to. i'd rather have a qb that finds a way to win no matter how badly he's struggled than a qb who puts up flashy numbers/good stats but can't win it when the game is on the line (*cough Drew Bledsoe *cough). this guy has heart!!

[JudgeDredd]

I also like the fact that there is little controversy on this side of the ball. Almost all the poistion are 100% stable. I can't wait to see this offense gell and grow. And they have the perfect scheduel to do so this year. A very hard and challenging scheduel.

Your last point about TOP is very important. Penalties, Grad's INT, and the missed FG all resulted in no points even after decent drives.

If the Bucs can hold that kind of TOP edge, the defense is just that much more rested and should be able to keep playing at a high level despite their age.

[Q-man]

I think the grade is about right for the O.
IMO, the line is going to be a force in the future.
The reigning ROY RB is rapidly working into a workhorse
back, notice the CATCHES for Caddy. The burst on the long run today.
Alex Smith is the next great thing at TE.
Clayton might be turning the corner on being a force, too!
Grads is progressing very fast and I like the wheels.

[JudgeDredd]

I love how all the glamour positions are pretty much set for years to come.