Alright guys, this year I'm going to attempt to run my grades after each game. Rather than do it like previous posts have been done, I thought I'd assign actual point values to the good/bad things that happen each game. This means it's less of an arbitrary grade that I'm assigning and more of a statistical metric to judge by each game. I've come up with a little something that I'd like to try for the first preseason game, but I thought I'd run it by the community for any suggestions/changes you guys might make.

I've broken out the defensive line and the linebackers, as they'll have different responsibilities. For the D-Line, I was thinking something like this:

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Meanwhile, the linebackers would have something similar, but with added coverage stats, like this:

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Let's try out a couple examples here. First, we'll go over one of DJ's INT returns from the Denver game:

NFL Videos: Johnson INT return for TD

Of the players on the front seven, we've got Dorsey, Edwards, Tamba, Vrabel, DJ, and Belcher (Mike Brown's blitzing, and there's no Jackson in, so we'll call it six). As the play starts, Dorsey and Vrabel attempt to execute a successful bull rush. As neither is successful, 0 points are awarded. Edwards gets stymied and is pretty well taken out of the play, so 0 points are awarded. Tamba gains penetration and gets a QB pressure, awarding him 2 points. Belcher is covering his man, but the ball isn't thrown at him...successful coverage or no? DJ steps back, achieves a successful coverage as well as an interception, awarding him 6 points. On the run back, Edwards, Belcher, and Vrabel lay key blocks that get DJ into the endzone. DJ is awarded 5 more points, and Edwards, Belcher, Vrabel, and Tamba (pressure) get awarded the 3 TD assist points.

Tabulation:

DJ 11, Tamba 5, Edwards 3, Belcher 3, Vrabel 3.

Okay, let's look at a negative play now. Here's Jerome Harrison's 71 yard TD against us:

NFL Videos: Harrison 71 yard TD

In this one, the front seven is Gales, Edwards, Jackson, Tamba, Vrabel, Demorrio, and Mays. The play starts and the center has pulled to take on Tamba, leaving Edwards and Gales with 1-on-1 matchups. TJ eats both the guard and tackle, and right off the snap has gotten some decent penetration. No "free man" situation, but TJ pulls a double team, so he is awarded 2 points. Gales then gets pancaked, giving him -4 points (pancaked and opened gap for RB). Mays and Demorrio BOTH hit the wrong gap (-2 points) and Tamba gets shoved out of the gap (-2 points). Mays then whiffs on the tackle (-2 points) and Harrison takes it to the house, for another -3 points for everyone.

Tabulation:

TJ -1, Vrabel -3, Edwards -3, Tamba -5, Demorrio -5, Mays -7 and Gales -7.

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Obviously, most plays won't have quite the positive or negative swing for a particular player. In fact, there will be many where the player doesn't gain or lose any points. Ideally, this will create a game-by-game log and allow us to see improvement/faults from a play to play perspective rather than what I had done before. I realize that until game one gets completely under our belts, it will be difficult to tell what categories may or may not be over/under ranked, but I pose this metric to try and get some feedback at this early stage as to how you, the reader, would like for this to go...so please, give me your input in the comments!