As promised, here are the Pro Football Focus grades on the offensive side for week 1. It's taken me longer to get to this because I broke my laptop that had the data on it. These are interesting conversation starters that I recognize not everybody will agree with, but I think they have enough value to look at. I'm not convinced myself yet it they have just some value or quite a lot of value, so I'm sort of looking forward to looking at them after games with the group to decide that question. In particular, I think they may prove interesting for the grades on players on plays when we DON'T see them. For example, what was a WR doing on the plays they weren't having a pass thrown to them? Did they catch a few nice balls but were largely covered up and unhelpful the rest of the day? Were they dragging help defenders toward them all day, opening up other lanes? PFF is grading that in a way we can't see on TV even if we're watching for it.
As a reminder, these grades are entirely based off of execution of assignment on a play by play basis, and are not adjusted for competition. In other words, getting torched by a future NFL starter on a power five team gives a low grade, and dominating a matchup vs a low level team gives a good grade. There is no adjustment whatsoever for quality of opponent or level. It's not a Madden attribute grade, it's purely based on how you performed. ALso, I'm not going to post every grade of every player, I'll skip some I think are less interesting or didn't play many snaps.
Also as a primer: 60.0 is considered average or neutral. Anything below 60 is a poor level of play. Low to mid 60's is acceptable rotation/role player performance, near 70 and into the 70's is solid starter level play and toward the high 70's is borderline star material. Anything near or above 80 is star level performance, and anything higher than that is extremely elite. Also, the overall grades aren't just an average of the composite grades. This will be an important point, because there are some disconnects there. I'll also add they appear to be continuously updating these numbers over the course of the week as they've changed a bit. They must be doing more work on the games, having more scouts grade them, etc., I'm not sure. I'll monitor it.
I'm going to use these more to double check my own perceptions. In most places, the grades agree with the general reaction to how guys played, so not a lot to see there. In some cases there is disagreement, and I think those situations give me reason to keep on eye on that player going forward to reevaluate my priors.
In general, the offense had much stronger grades than the defense and also far fewer surprises on the offense. The defense is more interesting.
QB
Hilinksi - QB1 got a very nice 78.3 overall, good for #8 out of 33 QBs in week 0 and right behind Casey Thompson's 81.3. To be perfectly honest, I don't really care about PFF grades for NU's QB because we watch them closely every play already. RH played well, we know this.
RB
Evan Hull - 77.0 overall (#12 rank), 71.8 running, 86 receiving. - I have the same feeling as RH. Hull played great, this number generally reflects that, and I don't care to really analyze beyond that.
Cam Porter - 60.9 overall, 62.2 running, 53.7 receiving - I think a lot of us recognized Cam looked a little tentative at times in week zero, missed some open lanes inside, got dinged by the bad fumble, etc, so I feel this grade is fair. However, he looked better and more confident late, so I'm not overly concerned about him going forward.
WR - Only listing three guys since none of the others played significant snaps. Niro obviously got a nice score, but he only ran three routes, so who needs a PFF scout to tell us that he made a big impact in blown coverage on his few chances.
Malik Washington - 75.9 overall, 74.1 receiving, 72.6 run blocking. - Malik played well, obviously. This score represents a solid increase in productivity from last year to a very high level that's just short of elite. He remains something I'm excited about this year.
Donny Navarro - 64.0 overall, 65.2 receiving, 49.2 run blocking. I expect this one to be sort of controversial since he made a couple very nice catches including the key touchdown. This is where the "every play" scoring comes into play since we didn't see him on TV much the rest of the game. I'd assume what this means is he was not very open the rest of the time. I don't recall him having a big drop. Regardless, a 64.0 is a respectable rotation guy, and adding a respectable rotation guy who can make tough catches to our mix is big since we usually don't have a full lineup of them.
Bryce Kirtz - 50.9 overall, 50.09 receiving, 61.3 blocking. This doesn't really surprise me since he didn't do much and also made a couple of poor breaks on balls in his vicinity (in my opinion) that he could have done a better job of catching. Certainly hope to see better out of him.
TE - This position group wasn't amazing, but PFF thought they did some good things in specific roles. Even this middling, rotational play represents a HUGE improvement over last year, even if it leaves me still more interested in seeing 3 WRs or 2 RBs on the field vs 2 TEs most of the time.
Thomas Gordon - 66.7 overall, 71.0 receiving but 54.6 run blocking. Gordon was certainly the TE who was the primary pass catcher. He had one of the better TE grades in the country last weekend, and it's the first NU TE I've seen in a few years that I'm all that interested in seeing on the field to catch passes agin.
Marshall Lang - 59.5 overall, 50.4 receiving (15 snaps), 65.7 run blocking (30 snaps). PFF was extremely unimpressed by Lang's passing routes, but thought he did a rotation worthy job blocking.
Travis Vokolek, by the way, scored a 90.6 as the #1 overall TE in the country week 0 and was graded well in every phase of his game. This will be something to remember when we look at the NU defense, particularly the LBs who were graded very harshly in the passing game by PFF. I think this is fair from my watching, but we'll get to it more in the defense. It's also important to remember he's a superlative talent and a definite Sunday guy. Really hope Holt or McGee can look like this some day, what a weapon.
O Line - Schmidt and Rowley's grades are weird. They both have nearly identical category grades, just swapped, but totally different overall scores. Weird. Pete and Priebe are beasts.
Charlie Schmidt - 70.6 overall, 50.7 pass block, 70.8 run blocking. Not gonna lie, the pass blocking grade is weird to me. It's also one that was more balanced last time I checked these grades, I'm pretty sure. It's also weird he has the same overall grade basically as his run blocking grade, the #4 overall center grade in week 0. I'm going to keep an eye on this one. Anyway, Schmidt played pretty well in my opinion and PFF agrees overall, weirdness aside.
Josh Priebe - 75.9 overall, 73.3 pass blocking, 80.1 run blocking. Priebe played at a high level, no surprise, and was graded as the #2 guard in the country. Improved his abysmal pass blocking from last year to very good and his promising run blocking last year to elite territory. Stud.
Conrad Rowley - 49.9 overall, 70.7 pass blocking, 44.6 run blocking. This grade I do consider fairly head scratching. I'm also absolutely positive it has changed significantly from when I first transposed these figures on my fried laptop. The original numbers didn't love Rowley's run blocking either, but they didn't hate it this much. It's also weird to me his overall number is all the way down by his run blocking and doesn't seem to account for his good pass blocking. This is another one I'm going to keep an eye on as I almost wonder if they have database query issues going on. Watching some replays, you can definitely convince me that Rowley wasn't great in the run game overall, but you can't convince me he was one of the worst guards in the country in week 0. Even if you allow he was a weak link in the run game but was very strong in the pass game... that adds up to a decent overall performance, not a terrible one.
Skoronski - 83.8 overall, 84.3 pass blocking, 78.2 run blocking. Elite either way, but what's interesting out of this one is they originally scored him at about 90 overall and awarded him as the week 0 national offensive player of the week, but lowered the overall score later in the week. They appear to do fast passes at the games and then have more scouts review them?
Ethan Wiederkehr - 70.8 overall, 71.1 pass blocking, 69.1 run blocking. A strong performance and one that came against UNL's highly regarded edge rushers.
Vince Picozzi - 43.1 overall, 44.1 run blocking. PFF was EXTREMELY unimpressed by Picozzi in the heavy TE role. If you watch some replays, you have to admit you can see why on at least a few plays. On one of the TDs, for example, Porter had to cut around a DT Picozzi let come storming into the backfield before finding the hole. Despite some evidence of mistakes on film, I still expect this to be a controversial grade. It's one for us all to keep watching though.
As a reminder, these grades are entirely based off of execution of assignment on a play by play basis, and are not adjusted for competition. In other words, getting torched by a future NFL starter on a power five team gives a low grade, and dominating a matchup vs a low level team gives a good grade. There is no adjustment whatsoever for quality of opponent or level. It's not a Madden attribute grade, it's purely based on how you performed. ALso, I'm not going to post every grade of every player, I'll skip some I think are less interesting or didn't play many snaps.
Also as a primer: 60.0 is considered average or neutral. Anything below 60 is a poor level of play. Low to mid 60's is acceptable rotation/role player performance, near 70 and into the 70's is solid starter level play and toward the high 70's is borderline star material. Anything near or above 80 is star level performance, and anything higher than that is extremely elite. Also, the overall grades aren't just an average of the composite grades. This will be an important point, because there are some disconnects there. I'll also add they appear to be continuously updating these numbers over the course of the week as they've changed a bit. They must be doing more work on the games, having more scouts grade them, etc., I'm not sure. I'll monitor it.
I'm going to use these more to double check my own perceptions. In most places, the grades agree with the general reaction to how guys played, so not a lot to see there. In some cases there is disagreement, and I think those situations give me reason to keep on eye on that player going forward to reevaluate my priors.
In general, the offense had much stronger grades than the defense and also far fewer surprises on the offense. The defense is more interesting.
QB
Hilinksi - QB1 got a very nice 78.3 overall, good for #8 out of 33 QBs in week 0 and right behind Casey Thompson's 81.3. To be perfectly honest, I don't really care about PFF grades for NU's QB because we watch them closely every play already. RH played well, we know this.
RB
Evan Hull - 77.0 overall (#12 rank), 71.8 running, 86 receiving. - I have the same feeling as RH. Hull played great, this number generally reflects that, and I don't care to really analyze beyond that.
Cam Porter - 60.9 overall, 62.2 running, 53.7 receiving - I think a lot of us recognized Cam looked a little tentative at times in week zero, missed some open lanes inside, got dinged by the bad fumble, etc, so I feel this grade is fair. However, he looked better and more confident late, so I'm not overly concerned about him going forward.
WR - Only listing three guys since none of the others played significant snaps. Niro obviously got a nice score, but he only ran three routes, so who needs a PFF scout to tell us that he made a big impact in blown coverage on his few chances.
Malik Washington - 75.9 overall, 74.1 receiving, 72.6 run blocking. - Malik played well, obviously. This score represents a solid increase in productivity from last year to a very high level that's just short of elite. He remains something I'm excited about this year.
Donny Navarro - 64.0 overall, 65.2 receiving, 49.2 run blocking. I expect this one to be sort of controversial since he made a couple very nice catches including the key touchdown. This is where the "every play" scoring comes into play since we didn't see him on TV much the rest of the game. I'd assume what this means is he was not very open the rest of the time. I don't recall him having a big drop. Regardless, a 64.0 is a respectable rotation guy, and adding a respectable rotation guy who can make tough catches to our mix is big since we usually don't have a full lineup of them.
Bryce Kirtz - 50.9 overall, 50.09 receiving, 61.3 blocking. This doesn't really surprise me since he didn't do much and also made a couple of poor breaks on balls in his vicinity (in my opinion) that he could have done a better job of catching. Certainly hope to see better out of him.
TE - This position group wasn't amazing, but PFF thought they did some good things in specific roles. Even this middling, rotational play represents a HUGE improvement over last year, even if it leaves me still more interested in seeing 3 WRs or 2 RBs on the field vs 2 TEs most of the time.
Thomas Gordon - 66.7 overall, 71.0 receiving but 54.6 run blocking. Gordon was certainly the TE who was the primary pass catcher. He had one of the better TE grades in the country last weekend, and it's the first NU TE I've seen in a few years that I'm all that interested in seeing on the field to catch passes agin.
Marshall Lang - 59.5 overall, 50.4 receiving (15 snaps), 65.7 run blocking (30 snaps). PFF was extremely unimpressed by Lang's passing routes, but thought he did a rotation worthy job blocking.
Travis Vokolek, by the way, scored a 90.6 as the #1 overall TE in the country week 0 and was graded well in every phase of his game. This will be something to remember when we look at the NU defense, particularly the LBs who were graded very harshly in the passing game by PFF. I think this is fair from my watching, but we'll get to it more in the defense. It's also important to remember he's a superlative talent and a definite Sunday guy. Really hope Holt or McGee can look like this some day, what a weapon.
O Line - Schmidt and Rowley's grades are weird. They both have nearly identical category grades, just swapped, but totally different overall scores. Weird. Pete and Priebe are beasts.
Charlie Schmidt - 70.6 overall, 50.7 pass block, 70.8 run blocking. Not gonna lie, the pass blocking grade is weird to me. It's also one that was more balanced last time I checked these grades, I'm pretty sure. It's also weird he has the same overall grade basically as his run blocking grade, the #4 overall center grade in week 0. I'm going to keep an eye on this one. Anyway, Schmidt played pretty well in my opinion and PFF agrees overall, weirdness aside.
Josh Priebe - 75.9 overall, 73.3 pass blocking, 80.1 run blocking. Priebe played at a high level, no surprise, and was graded as the #2 guard in the country. Improved his abysmal pass blocking from last year to very good and his promising run blocking last year to elite territory. Stud.
Conrad Rowley - 49.9 overall, 70.7 pass blocking, 44.6 run blocking. This grade I do consider fairly head scratching. I'm also absolutely positive it has changed significantly from when I first transposed these figures on my fried laptop. The original numbers didn't love Rowley's run blocking either, but they didn't hate it this much. It's also weird to me his overall number is all the way down by his run blocking and doesn't seem to account for his good pass blocking. This is another one I'm going to keep an eye on as I almost wonder if they have database query issues going on. Watching some replays, you can definitely convince me that Rowley wasn't great in the run game overall, but you can't convince me he was one of the worst guards in the country in week 0. Even if you allow he was a weak link in the run game but was very strong in the pass game... that adds up to a decent overall performance, not a terrible one.
Skoronski - 83.8 overall, 84.3 pass blocking, 78.2 run blocking. Elite either way, but what's interesting out of this one is they originally scored him at about 90 overall and awarded him as the week 0 national offensive player of the week, but lowered the overall score later in the week. They appear to do fast passes at the games and then have more scouts review them?
Ethan Wiederkehr - 70.8 overall, 71.1 pass blocking, 69.1 run blocking. A strong performance and one that came against UNL's highly regarded edge rushers.
Vince Picozzi - 43.1 overall, 44.1 run blocking. PFF was EXTREMELY unimpressed by Picozzi in the heavy TE role. If you watch some replays, you have to admit you can see why on at least a few plays. On one of the TDs, for example, Porter had to cut around a DT Picozzi let come storming into the backfield before finding the hole. Despite some evidence of mistakes on film, I still expect this to be a controversial grade. It's one for us all to keep watching though.
