It’s hard to believe a guy can throw for 350 yards, 4TDs and 1INT would be graded out at a B. He completed 36 passes out of 50..that my friends is 72% completion percentage. I understand the pick in the red zone, but maybe an A- or B+ might be worthy. That pick is really the only black mark on a rather amazing day for our young QB. The “fumble” didn’t count so we can ignore that. lol

Man, last year I despised the similar series you ran like this Guru…this year its fast becoming my favorite!! Let’s keep the dream alive against the Saints!

Offense “A”; how can you give anything else to a unit that scores 39 points? Even the best game has some clunker plays. Defense “D”; the best that can be said is that they didn’t lose it. Special teams “C”; the touchdown was a game changer that let them up off the mat but everything else was good.

Average everything out and my overall grade has to be a “C”.

Cutler – B+. 1 huge mistake and 1 that should have been. If not for “Early Whistle Ed” Cutler would have had 2 turnovers in the Red Zone late in the game. With the strides Cutler has taken in the off season, I expect these mistakes to happen every once in a while, but he will still have some growing pains every now and again. We won and otherwise Cutler had a great game, but those are 2 glaring mistakes that I can’t overlook.

WR – A+. Marshall and Royal might be the best WR combo in the league, they certainly have an argument to be up there. Stokely is back to his natural spot, so he shouldn’t wear down like last year. I don’t think I ever saw D-Jack on the field (that’s not a bad thing).

RBs – B. A pedestrian performance from the vaunted Denver running game. I would almost have Pittman #1 on the depth chart after the first 2 games, he just seems to want the tough yards more – we need 2 he gets 4. Selvin doesn’t look like he’s added any pounds from last year, maybe it will just show up in his durability over the season, but the way they are splitting carries, I’m not sure that it will make a difference. I think I saw Hillis only carry once, I don’t remember his blocking though.

TE – A+. Between blocking and catching we have the best TEs in the game.

OL – A. Passing protection is just awesome, especially with Clady and Harris as first year starting tackles. Run blocking needs some work, but it will come. I like seeing Lichensteiger as a blocking fullback and getting him some game experience.

Overall offensive grade – A. A couple of mistakes against a team that was in the AFCCG last year and a W.

Now we come to the Defense…

DL – D. A few holding flags should have been thrown on the SD OL, we got little pressure and just looked exactly like the cover your eyes defense last year.

LB – D. A bad angle taken by Nate Webster let Sproles get by him on that swing pass that went for a TD. I think I’d rather have Niko in there and be solid if slower to react. I see #58 chasing plays from behind way too much. I hope we spend our top pick on a Mike next year.

DB – B- Their jobs are made so much more difficult because of the play of the front 7. Bailey got beat on a perfectly thrown ball by Rivers, but made several good plays too. Didn’t really see Bly so that was good, but the Chargers went after Paymah big time, and it paid off. I’m wondering if Jack Williams will be seen by the end of the year as the nickel back.

Overall defense: D+ We need to get off the field on 3rd & long.

ST – C-. Prater needs to be booming kickoffs 8 yards deep at home like Kaeding was, but him nailing a 52 yarder was nice to see. Punting was solid. Kickoff coverage – UGH.

Coaching – A+. We’ve seen 2 weeks and can now say that “The Mastermind” has returned. Over the last 5 years, I was amazed at his coaching ability to get the most out of the offense with the players he had on the field. Now that he has all the weapons – look out league! I was nervous about the 2 point conversion only in the sense of the execution, not the call (not with the way our defense had been playing, we lose the coin toss, we lose the game).

Overall – B+ We beat a team that held us to 6 points over 2 games last year, while abusing our defense. Our team still has some work to do (namely on D and ST coverage), but we are light-years ahead of last year.

And why do people keep saying “we have one of the best special teams coaches in the league”? Because he’s been doing it for nineteen or twenty years? This guy needs to go…NOW!!!! Our special teams have been awful for years! This guy needs to be on the first train out of Denver. Having a good run defense means nothing if we are consistently burnt by wide open receivers. 2/3rds of this team looked flat out BAD on Sunday. We’re lucky to get a win and I’ll take it. But…