MnB: Position Group Grades

Submitted by Eye of the Tiger on

LINK

QB: C+

RB: B+

OL: B-

WRs/TEs: B

DL: A

LBs: A

DBs: B-

Overall: A-

Thought these were pretty accurate. I'd probably downgrade QB to a C and upgrade the DBs to a B. But otherwise I pretty much agree. 

 

skegemogpoint

September 6th, 2017 at 5:24 AM ^

OL played reasonably well as did the DBs. I'd give them both B+. Also, Speight's overthrows were almost as maddening as the INTs. I'd give him a D+ and O'Korn a B-, so the position gets a C-.

Everyone Murders

September 6th, 2017 at 8:40 AM ^

That was a great pass.  I will note, though, that if O'Korn had been left in longer and given a chance to settle down, he might not have been just fine. 

I guarantee it.*

*Of course, he might have been just fine.  Or an early Heisman candidate.  Or thrown more pick-sixes than Speight.  "Might" is a really flexible word!

991GT3

September 6th, 2017 at 11:57 AM ^

is he is very good  against weak teams (thus he will play great next few games) and average to below average against competitive teams. Until he delivers good performance against good teams, he will be overall an average QB thereby holding this team back from playoff aspirations.

DrMantisToboggan

September 6th, 2017 at 5:34 AM ^

Especially given pre-game concerns, I would also bump up the DBs. There were no safety issues and Hill really only got beat (on something he could be expected to stop) once.



If Speight's grade is "accurate", imagine what this team can look like if we get B+ out of him.

Everyone Murders

September 6th, 2017 at 8:45 AM ^

I agree that the safety play was fine - I'll be curious to see how it grades out, but my impression during the game was that our safeties were well-coached, athletic, and (to the extent viper is a safety) as good as last year. 

The cornerback situation does not seem as solid, but I agree with you Dr. - the DBs overall were good if not quite lights-out.

ShruteBeetFarms

September 6th, 2017 at 5:42 AM ^

The blocked punt and the short fg miss were bummers. I can't hold the long fg miss against Nordin since he made two bombs. DPJ looked elusive and seemed to get yards out of nothing.

 

reshp1

September 6th, 2017 at 8:39 AM ^

They were running over Cheeseman the whole game. The snapper is supposed to be protected until he can get his head up and FL was really close to picking up a roughing the snapper penalty several times. I was surprised Harbaugh wasn't going nuts at the official offer this.

DrMantisToboggan

September 6th, 2017 at 5:56 AM ^

Probably not make the throws Wilton did to Black, Eubanks, and Perry downfield and throw more than 1 pick that was his fault.



Wilt had a pick that wasn't his fault and a TD taken away on an incorrect call. Those two things go the other way and he's at 50% completion, 2 TD 1 INT and we won the game 37-10 (and people who just want to hate him are less upset on a Wednesday after he played fine).

ColeIsCorky

September 6th, 2017 at 7:37 AM ^

Thank you.

Sorry to burst your bubble guys, but the bomb to Eubanks and the deep post to Grant Perry were as good as it gets. In the games people complain about last year, he didn't make those throws.

He was on the money on nearly all his short throws. Last season when he struggled guys were snatching them off the ground or reaching behind them and slowing down to make the catch. The mistakes were obvious, but I'm baffled by how not obvious to most people his makes were. They were at least obvious to me.

He looks like a more promising QB than this time last year by a mile. I'm not worried. By Penn St. he will be hitting more of those throws. 1st game in Dallas against a top opponent can do some funky stuff to you as well.

jackw8542

September 6th, 2017 at 7:55 AM ^

In any sport or job, recovering from a major breakdown is really hard, and Speight recovered amazingly well from those two interceptions.  Some of the misses were frustrating - the checkoff and the two fades he missed especially - but it was the first game of the year, and, at least on the fades, his timing with his receivers should improve as the year goes on.  Even at that, it should have been 2TDs and 1 Int, which is not terrible by any stretch of the imagination against one of the three best Ds we will play this year.

AA Forever

September 6th, 2017 at 12:56 PM ^

on any of his bad throws. The picks were sailed high. Crawford was wide open and strolling-Speight had lots of time to adjust and still sailed it. The fades were too far out of bounds to be catchable by anyone, no matter how well they were timed.

And let's be honest, all of his bad throws were ones he's practiced countless times. You can either put them on target at this point in your career, or you can't.

1VaBlue1

September 6th, 2017 at 8:34 AM ^

Mistakes and goodness are irrelevant to the anti-Speight crowd.  All they see - all they will ever see - is a stat line that doesn't look like 7th yr NFL starter Tom Brady.  Anything short of that, and the Speight Hate Club will howl like screamer monkeys in the Amazon jungle...

Bodogblog

September 6th, 2017 at 8:38 AM ^

He also missed the wide open throw to Crawford, and on the overthrow end zone corner route to Crawford, DPJ was coming wide open on a crossing route underneath and would have had the end zone.

Speight is the guy, but it's OK to say he was disappointing in this game. Still the no-doubt starter, but C- is a reasonable grade.

teldar

September 6th, 2017 at 9:21 AM ^

I'm not a huge fan of his accuracy. I think he make good decisions and has excellent pocket presence and escape ability. But his accuracy... Woof. Both pick 6 were over thrown.
Harbaugh said he told speight to keep throws under the shoulders and passes were still high.

44% complete.
2 passes picked returned for TDs.
These noted missed opportunities.

This game was not an excellent showing. Arguing that it was awesome or that Speight had a great day... I dunno. The world isn't going to end and Michigan's defense won them the game. Michigan won. It was good. I expect Speight to improve some this year and look better, but we might have to see something better than reasonably competent to beat an elite team.

I guess my question for people attacking people saying Speight looked rough is What do you day about Speight's game if Michigan had lost? Was it still acceptable? Does the spotty accuracy start to matter?

CTrace

September 6th, 2017 at 4:12 PM ^

Michigan up 20-17 with a 3rd & 6 from the Florida12 yard line. Florida has everyone up on the line of scrimmage. I thought Speight completely botched this play. I think the move is to go to Perry who immediately beats the saftey with a open lane right down the middle. Speight throws the fade route poorly to Crawford. I am no football coach, but isn't a fade typically when you can get 1v1 coverage on the outside and to avoid the safeties in the middle? When the safteies crowd the line of scrimmage, I think it makes more sense to attack them and Perry clearly had his guy beat. Speight was determined to throw the fade and I don't think he really read the defense on that play.

Speight still gives us the best chance to win and I think he will improve in these areas. My concern is the overthrows as he seems to get lazy with his mechanics.

Rasmus

September 6th, 2017 at 8:08 AM ^

These are grades from David Noe at Maize n Brew. OP: Not everyone knows what MnB means.

I like that he doesn't inflate the grades but his discussion of each group is not very detailed, so they seem like general impressions rather than an actual chart-based grading system like what the coaches do or Brian's UFR approach.

MGOENGINEER

September 6th, 2017 at 7:24 AM ^

I really can't wait for the UFR to come out and tell everybody Speight had two to three bad throws all game. The Perry overthrow and the Crawford pick play in the 4th. This team doesn't stand a chance with any other quarterback on this roster. Overall I thought Speight played very well. His largest error came at the worst possible time considering the tipped ball pick 6, and then followed the bad pick 6 up with a blocked punt which magnifies around his play. wutevs

cletus318

September 6th, 2017 at 9:21 AM ^

There were far too many mistakes to call this a B. There were several passes that landed out of bounds with no chance of being caught, the pass to a wide open Crawford being the most apparent example. As a QB, turnovers are going to be judged more harshly than a simple incompletion. While the first pick wasn't a great pass, it's one a player with Crawford's ability should catch, so that's mostly not on Speight. The second was as terrible a pass as you can see. Even the TD that was taken away was a pass where he threw across his body over the middle, a cardinal QB sin. If you take away the drops, you're still only looking at a 50% completion percentage with a really bad pick 6. A 'C' is more than fair.

WestQuad

September 6th, 2017 at 7:36 AM ^

Fairly accurate.   I think Speight will settle in with Cinnci and AF.   RT, CB and QB/WR are the concerns going forward.  If Speight settles in I think QB/WR will solve itself.  Crawford didn't have many catchable balls, Black looked more than decent for his first game ever and Perry looked great.   Throw in the TE hydra and we'll be fine.    I'm rooting for Ulizio.  He is probably the most important player on the team right now.