Muuuuuch better game this week. I mean, all aspects of the game were improved. Read after the jump for my grades. (writing this on the road this week, so, nothing too fancy)
Offense
QB: I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Potts wasn't the most improved player on the field this week. I'll get to who was a bit later. Still, great improvement from the first week. 7 TDs, 450 yards, no ints. He started the game hot, got on a cold streak, throwing behind his receivers, but got everything fixed at halftime and came out firing. My only gripe is that he was 63% overall, though his WR's didn't help. I grade Potts as an A. Sticks was good in his series as well.
RB: So this was a better, more complete game by the RB's. Batch was a blocking machine, though he only averaged 3 yards per carry. Jeffers had the longest carry of the night at 16 yards and a good 4.6 yard average. 4 carries just isn't enough to let this guy get going, though. Stephens had 3 carries with a 5.7 yard average. The entire unit only produced 52 yards on the ground, but another 4 catches, 82 yards and a touchdown. B- for the entire unit, with an A for Stephens. He had a great game and Torres' personal foul stole a return TD for him. Electric.
WR: Mixed opinions on the performance of the WR's tonight. Detron pulled up lame with some sort of hamstring thing and if he's out for any length of time (read: next week), we're in a bit of trouble. Still, he dropped a big pass, sadly. Britton, he was dropful today, and we really need more out of him, especially when he's able to get as open as he does. On the other hand, Swindall and Leong had great games, over 100 yards each. Zouzalik is the real deal as well. Torres had a productive day but I seem to remember him dropping a few too. Unit score B-, though I'll give Swindall and Leong A's as well.
OL: This was the most improved unit of the night. We were more effective on the ground (even if we barely had many more yards), and 0 sacks and I only remember 2 hurries. They weren't perfect and I think they will need to be next week for us to beat UT, but that was a solid B+ night.
Defense
DL: 7 sacks. 7 Sacks! What a day for the defensive line. They got a bit lose in the 2nd, getting gashed for a few 5+ yard runs, but it was a solid A effort. The big news for us is how hurt is Ra'Jon Henley. It seems like they were going to be trying to get him back on the field and then decided against that and booted him. Hopefully that's a good sign.
LB: Fair B night for this team. I mean, as a unit they were involved in a lot of tackles, got our interception, and their fair share of sacks. Problem is, we still got beat up pretty bad in the short passing game.
DB: I really don't know how I can grade them yet. Neither team we played tried the deep ball regularly. Their longest pass was a 27 yarder on a broken play. We either make a stop right away after a short pass or give em an easy first down. Is a B- a fair grade for this unit? Franklin Mitchem was all over the place and was laying the wood very well.
Special Teams
As someone remarked in the game thread, we're just going to have to put up with something going wrong with our special teams. Today was penalties (calling back a 92 yard kickoff return) and a missed XP and Field Goal. Carona was great on kickoffs and our return team is great (I say Stephens and Zouzalik are the most dangerous pair and Zou and Stephens for punt returns). Stephens is just too dangerous to not have him on the field.
I promise, I'll work on my format for this next week (though you'd have to wait until Sunday) if you guys want a bit better a readable report card, eh?