Class, leadership, account for Vandebilt’s success
November 28, 2012
Ellender hoping offense sparks successful season
November 28, 2012
Saints:
Quarterbacks – For as great as he’s been the past month and a half, Drew Brees let the Saints down in Sunday’s game. Throwing two pick-six’s is not going to cut it against the 49ers. If one takes away the final drive of the game in garbage time, Brees hardly had 200 yards passing.
Grade: C+
Halfbacks – Rushing yards are difficult for anyone to muster against the 49ers. That spelled bad news from the very beginning for the Saints’ efforts.
Grade: C
Receivers – It takes a truly great defense to contain Marques Colston and Jimmy Graham to just 69 yards combined in a game. The 49ers have a truly elite, special unit. It’s hard to totally punish the receivers for that.
Grade: B
Offensive line – The Saints’ offensive line was manhandled by the San Francisco front. Having a backup right tackle isn’t an excuse. The entire line was being gashed for the entire game.
Grade: D
Defensive line – Against a quarterback making his second-ever start, one would think the Saints’ strategy would be to overload Colin Kaepernick with pressure packages. They tried, but the defensive line couldn’t generate enough pressure on its own to create mismatches.
Grade: D
Linebackers – One year after being demolished by Vernon Davis in the playoffs, the Saints held the dominant tight end without a catch in Sunday’s game. These guys are the bright spot of the defense.
Grade: B+
Defensive backs – The Saints’ secondary wasn’t awful – they made a few nice plays. But they were far from stellar against an inexperienced quarterback.
Grade: B-
Special teams – Travaris Cadet had a nice day returning. This unit will also get a solid mark because it forced a turnover – that’s a plus.
Grade: A-
Coaching staff – It’s hard to find a ton of fault in the Saints’ strategy against the 49ers. The coaches didn’t instruct the team to turn the football over at inopportune times – they just did. Sometimes that’s the way the cookie crumbles in a parity-stricken NFL.
Grade: B
Overall – I don’t really know a better way to say this – the 49ers are just better than the Saints are – it’s not that close, either. Any defense that can limit the Saints to fewer than 300 yards is a dominant group. Now with a quarterback capable of making plays in the air and on the ground, their offense is also becoming solid. They are this writer’s favorites to take home the Super Bowl title.
Grade: C+
LSU
Quarterbacks – After being really loose with the football in the beginning of the season, Zach Mettenberger has really become a pretty efficient player. Throwing just six interceptions in 340 pass attempts against an SEC schedule is no joke.
Grade: B
Halfbacks – Jeremy Hill got a bit of a late start to the action this year. But with three more seasons to play in Baton Rouge, this guy is going to be a treat to see. The guy’s a bruising, powerful back.
Grade: A-
Receivers – This group will get an A just because of Jarvis Landry’s all-world catch that will go down as one of the best in college football this season. That’s the only logic I need on this grade.
Grade: A+
Offensive line – The LSU offensive line didn’t have its best day, achieving just moderate rushing success, while allowing Mettenberger to be pounded in protection. This wasn’t the group’s shining moment.
Grade: C-
Defensive line – Tyler Wilson had a little more time to throw the football than LSU fans might have liked – but the Razorbacks’ rushing offense was completely stymied by the LSU defense.
Grade: B+
Linebackers – Linebacker play is vital against a short passing attack like that of Arkansas’. Sure, LSU missed a few plays, but by and large, it was a solid showing against an above average offense.
Grade: B
Defensive backs – After being grilled by Ole Miss, the LSU defensive backs again showed flaws that fortunately were not exposed early in the season. Tyler Wilson really did a solid job carving up the Tigers’ defense when he had time to throw. If not for a few poor coaching decisions, the Razorbacks could have easily had more points.
Grade: C
Special teams – LSU’s special teams were the heroes of this game. The obvious hero is Michael Ford, who took a return 86 yards to set up a touchdown. Honorable mentions are kicker Drew Alleman, who surprisingly made a 49-yard field goal and Brad Wing, who had a massive day punting the ball.
Grade: A
Coaching staff – Winning on the road is never easy in the SEC. Doing so against a rival school with a lame duck coach during a short week of preparation is even tougher. The Tigers didn’t play their best game of the season against Arkansas, but any victory has to be considered a success for the Tigers in this fiercely contested rivalry.
Grade: A-
Overall – The good news for LSU is that they won and polished a 10-2 season. The bad news is that the Tigers received very little help from other teams across the country. With Florida’s victory, LSU is pretty much mathematically eliminated from making a BCS bowl. Regardless, winning 10 games with losses to Alabama and Florida isn’t anything to be ashamed of.
Grade: B+
(From left) LSU fullback J.C. Copeland, Edwin Johnson and Cleveland Davis hoist ‘The Boot’ – the trophy at stake for LSU and Arkansas’ annual game. The Tigers won the trophy for the second-straight season in a close win against the Razorbacks, which pushed the team to another 10-win season.
