Grade Troy Smith

**Dade** · 12-23-2007, 08:28 PM

I give his performance a C+. He wasn't great nor was he bad. Of course the 79 yard completion to Mason helped his stats. But the 2 sacks and lost fumbles hurt. He has great arm strength and can get away from the rush. He'll need that playing behind this OL. He has potential but I fear he will go down in flames like every other QB in this offense has.

**StingerNLG** · 12-23-2007, 08:37 PM

I don't think we can grade him. This was a losing situation for him. No QB would have been able to face down these odds. He had two balls that were should-have-been-picks, but other than that he was getting jobbed by his receivers and his OL.

A grade would be unfair.

**UKRavenStockers** · 12-23-2007, 08:37 PM

C+ from me too.

Positives:
- Good agility avoiding the rush.
- Able to get outside the pocket away from the rush to open up new passing lanes.
- Good enough arm on deep throws.
- Good composure in the hurry up.
- Made a series of good plays on 3rd and 4th downs thoroughout the game.
- Never really looked flustered.

Negatives:
- Too many low throws, far too many times the receivers were picking (or trying to) passes off their boot laces.
- We only scored 1 touchdown
- Forced some throws.
- Some off target throws.
- Fortunate to have a stone cold INT and a borderline stone cold INT dropped.
- Muffed handoff, not sure what went on there, both at fault.
- Fumble, can't be hanging the ball out there.

All in all I think it's something positive to take forward but nothing to be wetting ourselves with excitement about just yet. Considering the circumstances (rain, cold, hostile atmosphere) it's not too bad, but it's not what maybe people were hoping for to provide the silver lining to our season.......

**festivus** · 12-23-2007, 08:48 PM

I'll give him a C. Much better than Kyle's inaugural game. Doesn't deserve any better than that though, for the reason's stated.

Glad to watch him play, for sure.

**Sephy** · 12-23-2007, 08:49 PM

16/33, 199 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT (luckily).
With this O-line.
Without McGahee.
With a 3rd and 4th string TE.
Without a legitimate deep threat.
In those conditions.
With that crowd.
With that defense.

Is pretty damned good. B- from me. Would have been a B without the gimme INTs that were dropped.

**ravenwoman** · 12-23-2007, 08:50 PM

This game was not representative of our first string starters. In fact it looked worse than a pre-season game. I also don't think we are designing plays that play to his strengh, which is to roll out and throw the ball. The whole team looked horrible today and I was embarrassed to be a fan today.

**HoustonRaven** · 12-23-2007, 08:50 PM

C ..... considering the line he had to work with and the dropped passes.

I agree with Stocker points. He needs to tuck that ball away.

**festivus** · 12-23-2007, 08:53 PM

Originally Posted by Sephy

16/33, 199 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT (luckily).
With this O-line.
Without McGahee.
With a 3rd and 4th string TE.
Without a legitimate deep threat.
In those conditions.
With that crowd.
With that defense.

Is pretty damned good. B- from me. Would have been a B without the gimme INTs that were dropped.

Meh. That's the state of our entire offense more or less for the last few years, with the exception of last year when we had a decent set of receivers and OL who were healthy.

Heck if I'm giving him any credit I didn't give Kyle, but I readily agree with you most of those were legitimate hurdles for him to overcome.

**StingerNLG** · 12-23-2007, 09:00 PM

This is why I can't grade him. There is nothing Troy could have done to make any impact on the outcome of this game. There is nothing Tom Brady could have done to affect the outcome of this game.

There was no way to get into any kind of rhythm on offense, so of course some of his throws are going to be off. He made a couple bad throws, but all QB's do. The rest was simply the team around him not doing their job.

And just like we've seen with Kyle Boller, Steve McNair, and I'm not even bothering to list them all again, you just can't succeed at the QB position if the players around you can't play at an NFL level.

So Troy Smith still gets a total pass N/A from me tonight.

**Dade** · 12-23-2007, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by StingerNLG

This is why I can't grade him. There is nothing Troy could have done to make any impact on the outcome of this game. There is nothing Tom Brady could have done to affect the outcome of this game.

I understand your point but it's not like the coaching staff won't evaluate him cause of the conditions he had to face.

**StingerNLG** · 12-23-2007, 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by Dade

I understand your point but it's not like the coaching staff won't evaluate him cause of the conditions he had to face.

If that is the case, then it won't be a good evaluation. He did throw two balls into the hands of Seahawks, and fumbled the ball. They never operated in the redzone, and had one good throw for a touchdown. The entire offense generated 6 points, and couldn't even cross the 50 yard line until almost halftime.

I'm giving him a pass because of the conditions. Otherwise it's unfair.

**Heap86** · 12-23-2007, 09:15 PM

I give him a D.

He is not NFL starter material, has a good arm and mobility, but is very inaccurate. His best play was in garbage time, he did nothing in the game in the other 3 quarters.

The posters on the YBR board are drooling over him, he is a 5th round pick and possibly a future back-up with this team or some other team.