Skins fall to the Fins

Frustrating loss. Here are my grades:

Offense: D- So I was very surprised to see Grossman start. I thought it was a good thing. I actually thought he played pretty well and certainly better than what Beck has to offer. I thought the pass blocking was solid enough. I was also very happy with Hankerson’s contributions. The guy caught 8 passes for over 100 yards. The reasons for the poor grade are because twice our defense set up the offense in a short field and we were only able to come away with FGs. That can’t happen. We need to be able to get it in. Another BIG problem is that we had virtually no running game and that can’t happen. We are not good enough to rely heavily on the passing game. I felt this was a combination of poor run blocking and the RBs missing the hole on occasion. Finally, the pick near the end zone was a killer. Offense, again, is where I knew we would struggle this season so I am not surprised. Again, happy that Rexy is back in and was happy with Hankerson’s production and hopefully he is not hurt too bad as I would like to see more of him and what he has to offer.

Defense: C I felt like this group did enough to win. As mentioned, we got two big turnovers that set up our offense on short fields. I thought Kerrigan had a big game as he had two sacks where he stripped the ball. Also pleased with Perry Riley’s production. He was in on a number of tackles and I believe had a sack. However, the defense also gave up two long drives ending in TDs that hurt but all in all, they did enough to win this game.

Special Teams: D Banks had one nice punt return but really nothing there. Coverage teams were fine. Gano missed two long FGs. Not good.

The loss stings and players seem frustrated but they also seem like they are putting it on themselves rather than the coaches so I don’t see any issue in the locker room. However, those things can creep up suddenly so we’ll have to keep an eye out for that. Again, there were pluses with some of the young guys (Kerrigan, Hankerson, Riley) stepping forward. I still like the direction of the team. As mentioned, improvements were made on the defense this season and we need to strengthen the offense for next season. I can take losses as long as we show improvement on the defense and we are competitive. Again, we need to focus on the offense in the offseason and see significant improvement next season. Year 3 will be very telling for the Shannys.