Well, I have to put a bit of a disclaimer out on this one. I was in the stands in Neyland Stadium watching the Tennessee Volunteers play on Saturday afternoon, so I had one eyeball on the game there and one on my
phone watching Miami play.
Perhaps I need to watch with one eye instead of two from now on, as the Hurricanes had probably their best start-to-finish game of the entire season, throttling NC State over four quarters 41-7.
So, let’s see who Pro Football Focus says were Miami’s top five and bottom five players (based on grades of players with at least 20 snaps).
Top 5
1) S Jakobe Thomas – 97.9 (!!!)
T-2) QB Carson Beck – 90.2
T-2) DE Akheem Mesidor – 90.2
4) WR Keelan Marion – 90.1
5) WR Joshua Moore – 84.4
Well, this tracks about as well as you could expect. Thomas was a damned machine on Saturday, with two picks and a 60-yard pick six. He allowed just one catch for seven yards on four targets. And I hope they gave extra points in his grade for calling for CJ Bailey to come at him before he trucked him into the end zone on the interception return.
Beck and the passing game were truly phenomenal, and Marion was the biggest beneficiary on Saturday with 7 catches for 96 yards. I thought for sure when I looked that Girard Pringle, Jr. would be near the top, and to be somewhat fair to PFF, he had a high grade at 79.1. However, they dinged him with a 9.2 pass blocking grade, so that’s why he wasn’t near the top, I suppose. Still, Pringle was one Miami’s best player on Saturday afternoon in addition to Thomas, Beck, and Mesidor, and is someone a lot of people, myself included, have been calling for to touch the ball more.
Bottom 5
1) T Markel Bell – 54.4
2) CB Ethan O’Connor – 55.8
3) TE Elija Lofton – 57.0
4) DT Armondo Blount – 57.9
5) G Anez Cooper – 58.6
I remember Bell getting popped for a holding call in the second half. PFF also has him with two pressures allowed, so add all that up, and that contributed to his rating, I suppose. I really didn’t notice a whole lot bad, but I just got back home and have yet to rewatch in full, which I’m going to do later tonight before Monday Musings.
In any event, it was a tremendous game for Miami, and if they continue to play like this moving forward, it’ll matter even less who scored poorly.
