Offense: I think we've made huge strides as a whole. multiple 400+ yard games is a significant improvement. Turnovers became a major factor with our QB under stress and throwing sometime bad passes. The run game is in a VERY good spot, imo. I'd say B-, and trending upwards.
Defense: Less of a step up than I was expecting, but still an improvement. Keep in mind, we never played a game with our full depth on DL (Chimedza and Yonjuen(sp?) were out for the year, Clayton injured/reduced playing time, Lee opted out, etc.) LBs were hit and miss, and DBs were not great. I'd give them a C, with plenty to improve on, including a lot of help with recruiting and returning to a normal offseason.
Special Teams: very very very bad. Having like 5 FGs/PATs blocked on the year is a fundamental scheme/planning problem. Returning KOs at all with our lack of consistent execution constantly amazed me in a bad way. Lack of coaching on some punt returns stood out. This should hopefully be an area we can greatly improve on for next year. Grade: D-, Harvin III was a bright, shining star here, though STs have been better in the last 3rd of games.
Other: Penalties stand out as a major weakness of this team. From 3-4 false starts per game to numerous personal fouls, this team was possibly over-juiced. I think with most of the team returning again, and therefore being mostly older next year, we should see an improvement here. D
Overall: C. I think a more typical offseason (spring camp, summer workouts, fall camp with normal practice including actually practicing FGs) will improve a lot of shortcomings and weaknesses, as well as returning a majority of our depth on the DL.
I think that there are no longer any excuses for CGC and the staff after 12/19. Starting with winter conditioning (or spring camp, whenever we are hopefully done with the "new normal") this is fully CGC's team. It may not be all players he recruited, but he knows what he has now and can plan around it. I think 6 wins is the acceptable floor for next season.
