Lomé Dzidudu (3-7)
After a 5 game losing streak, a 2-1 record has some minor causes for optimism in West Africa. But this is a team that lost its leader and has never really recovered.
Despite that, the offense is fine: top 5 in the league both running and passing. The worst pass defense in the league is certainly the most obvious area of need.
#Bottom Line
Roster Moves. Move Hull up at C, Saffold to starter somewhere. Move McDaniel up.
Draft Needs. LB, DB, OL/C-T, WR.
Week Four Draftee Update: Terry McDaniel. Has done alright, but moving up more to incompetence ahead of him than anything else.
#QB
When Jim Kelly went down in week 3, there was much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth. Totally unnecessary. Austin Davis has been fantastic as his replacement over about 6 games, and there are whispers he may have even displaced Kelly.completing 68% of his passes and throwing 11 TDs to 5 interceptions for a QB rating over 106. The total yardage is not that impressive, but that’s not what he’s being asked to do.
E.J. Manuel has been good in limited action; Doug Flutie has not.
#RB
Thurman Thomas has been fantastic, with 941 yards rushing and another 348 on 35 catches, and Fred Jackson has been solid behind him, with nearly 300 yards. C.J. Spiller has averaged over 7 yards a carry in limited action, and deserves a closer look when he returns from injury, and O.J. Simpson has come from off the roster to perform solidly over the last month. It’s been a good year for the backfield so far.
#WR & TE
The combination of Torry Holt (62 catches for 968 yards) and Henry Ellard (51 for 738) has been one of the best tandems in the league, but it falls off significantly from there, and a dependable 3rd receiver would be useful–neither Tavon Austin nor Elroy Hirsch have made the impact anticipated of them, and Sammy Watkins has struggled with injuries.
Scott Chandler has been decent at TE, but the Dzidudu are looking forward to Tom Fears return in a few weeks after his early season injury.
#OL
Ruben Brown, Jake Long, and Rodger Saffold have all been very good, Brown especially. Orlando Pace has been good at T, but with Long out the rest of the season, he could use some help there. Scott Wells has suffered in the run game at C.
#DL
QB pressure has been good, with Robert Quinn leading the way with 5 sacks and Mario Williams adding 3. Marcell Dareus has 6 hurries, Quinn 5, and Williams 4 and Aaron Donald leads the way in stuffs with 6 while Quinn and Williams have 5 each.That’s a strong front four, supported well by Merlin Olsen. The issues against the pass start behind this unit.
#LB
Archie Matsos leads the team with 3 interceptions and Cornelius Bennett has added 2 sacks from LB. But not a lot else has gone well here, with a lack of contribution from Isaiah Robertson standing out.
#DB
The secondary is hard to evaluate in some ways: Lomé has given up so much yardage through the air that the numbers are all slightly inflated. Stephon Gilmore, Todd Lyght, and Aaron Williams are the team’s 3 leading tacklers, and Lyght and Gilmore have 2 interceptions each while Williams leads the team with 8 deflections. The issue is one of basic coverage: nobody is even close to shutting down their man on a consistent basis.
#P & K
Greg Zuerlein has been one of, if not the best, K in the league so far: perfect on 31 XPs and 29 of 31 on FGs with a long of 59 and several over 50.
Johnny Hekker has been strong, putting a dozen punts inside the 20 and cresting over the 40 yard net.
#Returns
Jackson has been solid on KOs, averaging 24 yards per and Austin has been quite good on punts, averaging just over 14 yards.