|
Game 6 Grades: Titans @ Chiefs
By Phil Montana
Oct 21, 2008 - 7:14:23 PM
With the Titans coming off their bye week, they traveled to Kansas City
to extend their winning streak to 6-0 against the 1-4 Chiefs.
Let’s take a look at the game 6 grades.
Quarterback: C
Kerry Collins could have been replaced with a cardboard cutout and no
one would have noticed. Collins only attempted 18 passes throughout the
entire game and completed 11 of them for 123 yards with 0 touchdowns
and 0 interceptions. Tamba Hali did fool him on a zone blitz when he
dropped into a zone from his defensive end spot and almost picked it
off, but other than that Collins avoided mistakes when he dropped back.
Running Back: A+
If I could give them something higher than an A+ I would. Chris Johnson
ran hard and well and finally started breaking tackles. He showed a
great burst on a lot of his runs, especially the 66 yard touchdown
run. Lendale White finally earned his own touchdown when he broke an 80
yard run and went untouched into the endzone for his third score of the
day. I’ve been saying it for four weeks, but Armahd Hall needs to get
the ball more than he does. Chris Johnson tried to give ground on a
reception in order to make the big play; hopefully he’ll learn you
can’t do that in the NFL.
Wide Receiver: D
The only reason this group gets a D instead of an F is because of their
downfield blocking. Lavelle Hawkins was the only receiver to register a
catch with two grabs for 11 yards. Paul Williams looked just as lost as
he did during the pre-season in the few snaps he was in the game.
Tight End: B
Bo Scaife and Alge Crumpler combined for five catches and 86 yards and
they were all on crucial downs. Scaife took a screen 26 yards down the
field on third down and Crumpler had a 28 yard reception to go inside
the ten. Both blocked very well.
Offensive Line: A+
Kerry Collins was pressured just once out of his 18 drop backs and both
Lendale White and Chris Johnson averaged over 8.5 YPC. There were only
two bad plays by this line; when Dave Stewart missed a block on Turk
McBride that almost got Chris Johnson killed and Eugene Amano didn’t
peel off of Glen Dorsey to block Pat Thomas who made the tackle for a
four yard loss.
Defensive Line: B+
This group stuffed the run very well, but with the lead over 17 points
most of the game, I thought they should have had more sacks and
pressure than they did. Granted, Vanden Bosch only played three snaps
and Tony Brown didn’t play at all, but the Chiefs were one-dimensional
for three quarters. Jason Jones played well, but he still needs to get
bigger if he’s going to be an every down player. I’ve been really
disappointed with Jacob Ford’s play this season. He only has one pass
rush move and he isn’t exceptionally fast off the snap, so his speed
rush rarely works. The two off sides on fourth down are inexcusable and
need to be corrected.
Linebackers: B+
The linebackers had a lot of tackles for a loss, but they lost track of
Tony Gonzalez for stretches in the game. Bulluck had 8 tackles and a
half sack and made a great play forcing Kolby Smith back inside on a
stretch play that went backwards. Both David Thornton and Stephen
Tulloch had 2 tackles a piece.
Defensive Backs: B+
Michael Griffin spent a lot of the game on Tony Gonzalez when the
defense played man-to-man and gambled for an interception and missed,
allowing Gonzalez to pick up extra yards. Griffin also missed a gift
INT late in the game that resulted in Kansas City getting a field goal
and ran right by the running back on a blitz and allowed Smith to have
his longest run of the game. Chris Hope is at his best in the box and
made a big hit on Kolby Smith inside the three yard line to keep him
outside of the endzone. Nick Harper tackled well, but was also beat
deep late in the game. Cortland Finnegan was pretty invisible for most
of the game; however he did give Dwayne Bowe a big hit on a short pass.
Special Teams: C
Rob Bironas was 2-2 on field goals and 4-4 on extra points and had
decent kickoffs through the day. Craig Hentrich was his usual steady
self. The glaring weaknesses on this team are the coverage teams. Every
kickoff return the Chiefs had went beyond the 30 yard line and there
appeared to be holes that could have gone much longer on each one.
© Copyright goTitans.com
|
