PFF Heroes and Villians of the Cards game (plus O-line)

[Trench]

I just can't resist. The grades on Neal are ridiculously low. He played a good game. He was solid. There is no way he should be graded this low.

Yeah he did a nice job. He clearly was working very hard. Good to see

[MightyGiants]

I just can't resist. The grades on Neal are ridiculously low. He played a good game. He was solid. There is no way he should be graded this low.

I would think that holding call that negated a TD dinged his grade a bit.

[B1GBLUE]

I'm really disappointed in Xavier McKinney.  There's still a lot of season left, but I was hopeful that after last year he'd be a Pro-Bowl caliber player on the backend.  Instead he's out there getting pancaked by quarterbacks and generally showing an awful attitude with no mental toughness.  He was completely down-trodden yesterday when the Giants were losing.  Take a page from Daniel Jones' book, the guy who continued to play his ass off even when presented with a 3 touchdown deficit. 

for a guy complaining about his contract and not getting enough respect, he is doing nothing to earn it.

[B1GBLUE]

I just can't resist. The grades on Neal are ridiculously low. He played a good game. He was solid. There is no way he should be graded this low.

the penalties probably hurt his score. he played decent enough

[PSUBeirut]

Also worth noting that Barkley has now shown to be one of our best pass protectors - if he's out on Thursday that should of course increase our anxieties with SF coming to town....

[madbadger]

Mighty, do you have the run blocking grades for Neal? Can't help but feel that he could be an all pro guard despite his height. His play has been disappointing and it's too early to write him off but I don't think they should repeat the mistakes made with Erick Flowers and wait too long.

[Dgoodmantrublu]

I'd give him this full year at tackle. Maybe even next year with a different OL coach. There was definitely improvement yesterday to ok-solid. Not perfect by any means. But progress.

[MightyGiants]

Mighty, do you have the run blocking grades for Neal? Can't help but feel that he could be an all pro guard despite his height. His play has been disappointing and it's too early to write him off but I don't think they should repeat the mistakes made with Erick Flowers and wait too long.

54.5

The run blocking grade is the second number under each lineman's name

[DaveBrown74]

I'd give him this full year at tackle. Maybe even next year with a different OL coach. There was definitely improvement yesterday to ok-solid. Not perfect by any means. But progress.

If he's just as bad as last year all this year (ie horrible), then I don't see how they can plan on him being the right tackle next year too. Hopefully that doesn't happen. But were it to, I think they'll be going in a different direction at that position in 2024. Putting him back in there yet again and hoping it's just a matter of better coaching doesn't feel like the right move to me. Hope is not a strategy.

Again, hopefully he improves very imminently and they're not in the above position.

[Dgoodmantrublu]

What if the improvement is to ok, but not where we really want him to be. I think that is a pretty plausible scenario. I always thought judging him off the Dallas game was gonna be silly. That is his toughest matchup.

If he's just as bad as last year all this year (ie horrible), then I don't see how they can plan on him being the right tackle next year too. Hopefully that doesn't happen. But were it to, I think they'll be going in a different direction at that position in 2024. Putting him back in there yet again and hoping it's just a matter of better coaching doesn't feel like the right move to me. Hope is not a strategy.

Again, hopefully he improves very imminently and they're not in the above position.

[DaveBrown74]

What if the improvement is to ok, but not where we really want him to be. I think that is a pretty plausible scenario. I always thought judging him off the Dallas game was gonna be silly. That is his toughest matchup.

Yes, I do not think he needs to improve all the way to being very good in 2023. If he's just serviceable then that would be fine and would be suggestive that there is a trend in place. I was referring only to a scenario where there is basically no (or very modest) improvement.

If he improves to "just ok" in 2023, I would consider that significant improvement.

[Stringer Bell]

for a guy complaining about his contract and not getting enough respect, he is doing nothing to earn it.

Not defending McKinney in the least, but point me to one quote where he specifically complains about his contract. His comments on social media, while cryptic, could have been about a million things other than a contract. You're making a VERY loose assumption.

[AZGiantFan]

This is way, way, way premature, but wouldn't it be cool if Ezeudu turns into their new David Diehl?  Those are pretty good grades for a guy who just started taking LT reps.

[B1GBLUE]

Not defending McKinney in the least, but point me to one quote where he specifically complains about his contract. His comments on social media, while cryptic, could have been about a million things other than a contract. You're making a VERY loose assumption.

true enough. but you can read between the lines most of the time. its always about money