As promised, here are PFF grades for the defense for week 1 vs Nebby. You can take a look at the thread on offense for more thoughts on these ratings, how to think about them, etc.
I'll only reiterate here that I primarily am using these for now to challenge my own conclusions on who played well or who didn't, as well as to a get information about levels of play for guys who are hard to judge on TV (ie, guys in coverage off camera, etc).
Defense is a LOT more interesting that the offense IMO, as it should surprise anybody that PFF gave much more mixed reviews to NU's defense in week one compared to an overwhelmingly solid offensive performance. A couple of these grades will have me really keeping my eye on guys I didn't notice much.
D Line - Overall, PFF gave decent grades to the D line, with generally better results in run defense than pass rush. That seems fair. There is a little more mix of ratings than some might expect, with a few performances grades quite well but a couple starters grades more harshly. At any rate, these overall numbers as a group seem consistent with my impression that the group played fairly well but not amazing, mostly was in control vs the run, but did only just enough in the pass rush to avoid a terrible effort there.
Adetomiwa Adebawore - 75.9 overall, 72.8 rush defense, 76.5 pass rush, 62 snaps. PFF saw very strong if not elite play from Tomi. This seems fair to me given that he was reasonably visible on the day and had four tackles, but also didn't get a sack or TFL, so it's difficult to be at a mega elite level without those plays as a DE. Still, he's the very very good player we expected. I don't think I expected him to get so big and be so equally strong in both phases, to be honest, but here we are.
Taishan Holmes - 63.7 overall, 68..7 rush defense, 62,0 pass rush in 58 snaps. Limitations in the pass rush aside, God bless Taishan and his big body plugging up holes in the running game in a way we desperately needed.
Devin O'Rourke - 57.9 overall, 57.8 rush defense, 58 pass rush in 48 snaps. He didn't have much on the state sheet and PFF wasn't particularly impressed.
Sean McLaughlin - 59.4 overall, 53.6 rush defense, 63.1 pass rush, 57 snaps. Another performance PFF wasn't overly impressed with.
Aidan Hubbard - 78.2 overall, 69.8 rush defense, 74.4 pass rush in 31 snaps, mostly vs the pass. PFF thought Hubbard excelled in his rotational role as a pass rush focused end.
Ryan Johnson, 65.3 overall, 64.3 rush defense, 62,2 pass rush in 26 snaps.
Najee Story - 67.9 overall, 63.3 rush defense, 64.4 pass rush. PFF liked Story in his 9 snaps.
Linebacker
Bryce Gallagher - 60.3 overall, 82.9 run defense, 43.9 in coverage, all 75 snaps. To be straight: I agree with this 100% and was noticing it live. Gallagher was getting lost in coverage a LOT. However, PFF also thinks he was awesome against the run, which is mostly fair... except for his bad fit that largely led to a long TD. I'm watching this very carefully against Duke, who will test our LBs with their RPO game that targets RBs for passes a lot. One word in defense of Gallagher: he was defending the middle a lot against the sensational Vokolek, so perhaps a lot of this was imply matchup driven. Either way, if he can produce better against the pass, he has the potential to be an excellent LB according to PFF.
Xander Mueller - 64.6 overall, 62.3 run defense, 66.1 coverage, all 75 snaps. A more balanced performance. Despite overall mediocre ratings, Mueller was named to the national defense of the week for week 0 by PFF. That coverage score has to be bouyed by his big pick.
Greyson Metz - 94.5 overall, 62.8 run defense, 94.6 coverage, 21 snaps. PFF thought Metz was superlative in his rotational hybrid coverage backer role. Seems like most of us around here thought he played well too. Helps when you force big turnovers downfield. Getting Metz on the field more is something I'm looking for given how mediocre I (and PFF) thought Heard was, but you still are stuck playing speed matchups there. With the RB pass catching attack Duke offers, I wonder if we'll see more creative LB packages.
Safeties/Nickels - PFF graded NU's coverage pretty poorly overall, so as we get to the DBs... we shouldn't be surprised to see more mixed results.
Coco Azema - 73.3 overall, 75.5 run defense, 68.8 coverage, all 75 snaps. Coco Azema is a strong but not elite player. I feel like we know this. Did everything well.
Rod Heard - 43.1 overall, 57.1 run defense, 39.8 coverage, 47 snaps. I was of of the people commenting he wasn't playing well in the game thread. Vokolek is really good, but when he's getting open against your Nickel back not with size but by creating separation with speed, that is a problem. I haven't really seen anything to like out of Heard personally since 2020.
Jeremiah Lewis, 74 snaps - 38.4 overall, 69.5 rush defense, 33.5 coverage. I didn't see a grade this bad coming TBH. Some of that is because I didn't spot him too much being involved. PFF was obviously VERY unimpressed by him in coverage. I don't really know what to make of it, if it was influenced by Vokolek/Palmer, etc. I'm going to try to watch for him more against Duke and form more of an opinion. Edit: PFF incorporates penalties into overall score and Lewis committed both a face mask and a late hit penalty, which are both obviously very hurtful penalties. The late hot being soft aside, that’s definitely having a big impact on his poor overall score.
Outside Corners
Cam Mitchell - 60.3 overall, 40.7 run defense, 65.1 coverage in 69 snaps. I'm trying to be fairly unbiased here because I'm one of the very high people around here on Cam, but I thought Cam played very well again, and he had a nice pick to boot. This is a very mediocre score pulled down by his run performance. I'm going to speculate that his ratings are badly affected by the breakdown play he seemed to be in coverage on and the long run he made a bad tackle on.
AJ Hampton - 53.7 overall, 60.7 run defense, 53.0 coverage, 19 snaps. I don't disagree with at all and am on the Hampton is a perpetual downfield liability who needs to be phased back train.
Garnet Hollis - 67.8 overall, 65.7 run defense, 66.9 coverage, 55 snaps. Adding steam to my Hampton point, PFF thought Hollis played reasonably well in his first major action after Hampton got hurt. Myself, I'd like to see much more of him regardless of Hampton's health status.
I'll only reiterate here that I primarily am using these for now to challenge my own conclusions on who played well or who didn't, as well as to a get information about levels of play for guys who are hard to judge on TV (ie, guys in coverage off camera, etc).
Defense is a LOT more interesting that the offense IMO, as it should surprise anybody that PFF gave much more mixed reviews to NU's defense in week one compared to an overwhelmingly solid offensive performance. A couple of these grades will have me really keeping my eye on guys I didn't notice much.
D Line - Overall, PFF gave decent grades to the D line, with generally better results in run defense than pass rush. That seems fair. There is a little more mix of ratings than some might expect, with a few performances grades quite well but a couple starters grades more harshly. At any rate, these overall numbers as a group seem consistent with my impression that the group played fairly well but not amazing, mostly was in control vs the run, but did only just enough in the pass rush to avoid a terrible effort there.
Adetomiwa Adebawore - 75.9 overall, 72.8 rush defense, 76.5 pass rush, 62 snaps. PFF saw very strong if not elite play from Tomi. This seems fair to me given that he was reasonably visible on the day and had four tackles, but also didn't get a sack or TFL, so it's difficult to be at a mega elite level without those plays as a DE. Still, he's the very very good player we expected. I don't think I expected him to get so big and be so equally strong in both phases, to be honest, but here we are.
Taishan Holmes - 63.7 overall, 68..7 rush defense, 62,0 pass rush in 58 snaps. Limitations in the pass rush aside, God bless Taishan and his big body plugging up holes in the running game in a way we desperately needed.
Devin O'Rourke - 57.9 overall, 57.8 rush defense, 58 pass rush in 48 snaps. He didn't have much on the state sheet and PFF wasn't particularly impressed.
Sean McLaughlin - 59.4 overall, 53.6 rush defense, 63.1 pass rush, 57 snaps. Another performance PFF wasn't overly impressed with.
Aidan Hubbard - 78.2 overall, 69.8 rush defense, 74.4 pass rush in 31 snaps, mostly vs the pass. PFF thought Hubbard excelled in his rotational role as a pass rush focused end.
Ryan Johnson, 65.3 overall, 64.3 rush defense, 62,2 pass rush in 26 snaps.
Najee Story - 67.9 overall, 63.3 rush defense, 64.4 pass rush. PFF liked Story in his 9 snaps.
Linebacker
Bryce Gallagher - 60.3 overall, 82.9 run defense, 43.9 in coverage, all 75 snaps. To be straight: I agree with this 100% and was noticing it live. Gallagher was getting lost in coverage a LOT. However, PFF also thinks he was awesome against the run, which is mostly fair... except for his bad fit that largely led to a long TD. I'm watching this very carefully against Duke, who will test our LBs with their RPO game that targets RBs for passes a lot. One word in defense of Gallagher: he was defending the middle a lot against the sensational Vokolek, so perhaps a lot of this was imply matchup driven. Either way, if he can produce better against the pass, he has the potential to be an excellent LB according to PFF.
Xander Mueller - 64.6 overall, 62.3 run defense, 66.1 coverage, all 75 snaps. A more balanced performance. Despite overall mediocre ratings, Mueller was named to the national defense of the week for week 0 by PFF. That coverage score has to be bouyed by his big pick.
Greyson Metz - 94.5 overall, 62.8 run defense, 94.6 coverage, 21 snaps. PFF thought Metz was superlative in his rotational hybrid coverage backer role. Seems like most of us around here thought he played well too. Helps when you force big turnovers downfield. Getting Metz on the field more is something I'm looking for given how mediocre I (and PFF) thought Heard was, but you still are stuck playing speed matchups there. With the RB pass catching attack Duke offers, I wonder if we'll see more creative LB packages.
Safeties/Nickels - PFF graded NU's coverage pretty poorly overall, so as we get to the DBs... we shouldn't be surprised to see more mixed results.
Coco Azema - 73.3 overall, 75.5 run defense, 68.8 coverage, all 75 snaps. Coco Azema is a strong but not elite player. I feel like we know this. Did everything well.
Rod Heard - 43.1 overall, 57.1 run defense, 39.8 coverage, 47 snaps. I was of of the people commenting he wasn't playing well in the game thread. Vokolek is really good, but when he's getting open against your Nickel back not with size but by creating separation with speed, that is a problem. I haven't really seen anything to like out of Heard personally since 2020.
Jeremiah Lewis, 74 snaps - 38.4 overall, 69.5 rush defense, 33.5 coverage. I didn't see a grade this bad coming TBH. Some of that is because I didn't spot him too much being involved. PFF was obviously VERY unimpressed by him in coverage. I don't really know what to make of it, if it was influenced by Vokolek/Palmer, etc. I'm going to try to watch for him more against Duke and form more of an opinion. Edit: PFF incorporates penalties into overall score and Lewis committed both a face mask and a late hit penalty, which are both obviously very hurtful penalties. The late hot being soft aside, that’s definitely having a big impact on his poor overall score.
Outside Corners
Cam Mitchell - 60.3 overall, 40.7 run defense, 65.1 coverage in 69 snaps. I'm trying to be fairly unbiased here because I'm one of the very high people around here on Cam, but I thought Cam played very well again, and he had a nice pick to boot. This is a very mediocre score pulled down by his run performance. I'm going to speculate that his ratings are badly affected by the breakdown play he seemed to be in coverage on and the long run he made a bad tackle on.
AJ Hampton - 53.7 overall, 60.7 run defense, 53.0 coverage, 19 snaps. I don't disagree with at all and am on the Hampton is a perpetual downfield liability who needs to be phased back train.
Garnet Hollis - 67.8 overall, 65.7 run defense, 66.9 coverage, 55 snaps. Adding steam to my Hampton point, PFF thought Hollis played reasonably well in his first major action after Hampton got hurt. Myself, I'd like to see much more of him regardless of Hampton's health status.
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