Half Way Point Report Card

[barrett]

Let's get conversation going.

Defense

JJ Watt has been fantastic. I am not sure if I'm more impressed by his maniacal work ethic, singular football focus, or seeming gravitational pull on the football this year. Either way I cannot imagine a better player or a player who is more fun to root for. He does everything right while doing it all the right way. Mike Tomlin even described Antonio Brown's amazing play as 'Watt-like' this week. JJ has now become an adjective used by competitors to describe football excellence.

Crick has been solid as a Ninja replacement. He doesn't make as many plays in the passing game but he also doesn't jump offsides once a game and pick up a personal foul every other week. I would be very happy with him starting across from JJ for years.

The NT rotation has been unremarkable. They have not appeared to be a huge issue, but they also don't really make plays. And with the amount of upfield gambling JJ does, they need to be able to win battles in the middle of the field or we get gashed by patient running teams (like against NYG).

Cushing is possibly done. At the very least it has reached the point where I would be shocked if he plays like 2012 Cushing again. Very depressing.

Tuggle/Mohammed/random MLB have all been better than what we've had at this position in recent years. Our LBs are obviously being coached.

Mercilous looks like a player the last 3 weeks. I would not have believed it 4 weeks ago. He may be an option opposite Clowney going forward.

Clowney has been a zero at this point. Hopefully this first half season is a distant memory that nobody cares about when he puts up 30 combined sacks in 2015-2016.

Brooks Reed should be a rotation guy. He just isn't talented enough to be anything else at a position that is all about pass rush. If he is a low pick or a cheap vet FA playing run downs you are happy to have him. If he is a 2nd round pick he's a bit of a lost cause.

Anybody want to weigh in on the secondary/ST/Offense, or any of these guys?