Buccaneers Game Grades: Gerald McCoy Broke PFF's Grading System

The Buccaneers have another preseason game under their belt, and that means another chance to consider the unbiased opinion of Pro Football Focus' grading and statistics to get an idea of how well the Bucs did.

(You can check out the statistics for yourself here. Subscription required, but it's worth it.)

The Offense

Offensive linemen wound up near the bottom of the list yet again for the Buccaneers, but this week, it's the backups bringing up the rear. Specifically, fifth-round rookies Kadeem Edwards and Kevin Pamphile earned the lowest grades on the offense, posing a -2.6 and -4.4 respectively on 48 snaps each.

The starting linemen did better than last week, but things still weren't pretty. Patrick Omameh had the worst grade of any starting lineman with a -1.3, while Evan Dietrich-Smith and Oniel Cousins wound up just below a zero. Demar Dotson and Anthony Collins emerged with grades slightly above zero, which is a different set of grades than I would have handed out.

To my eye, Dotson, Omameh and Dietrich-Smith were all fairly bad, but PFF gives Dotson credit for his run blocking, and they don't subtract all that much for his failures as a pass blocker against Cameron Wake. They don't take off very many points for Dietrich-Smith's failures in the run game, either, an area where I believe he struggled.

And just like last week, the quarterbacks grade out differently than their stats would suggest. Both signal callers wind up in the negatives, but Mike Glennon ended up slightly better than Josh McCown. McCown did make a bad throw that was nearly picked off, and "allowed a sack" on a play where his receivers were all well covered, so his slightly negative grade is fair.

Jorvorskie Lane and Austin Seferian-Jenkins both graded out well as run blockers, a very good sign for the Bucs' running game. Their contributions as blockers helped them lead the team in overall grades on offense.

The Defense

Gerald McCoy is ridiculous.

The Buccaneers' franchise player posted an 8.2 grade on 19 snaps.

Eight point two. On nineteen snaps.

To put that into perspective, over the course of the entire 2013 preseason, only one defensive tackle (Geno Atkins) posted a grade higher than 8.2, and it took him over 70 snaps to do so. PFF grades are cumulative, which means McCoy racked up positive marks at a ridiculous pace on Saturday night.

For more perspective: McCoy's 19 snaps finished with a better grade than Haloti Ngata, Paul Soliai, and Linval Joseph earned over the entire season last year. He put in a season's worth of positive work in a quarter of a preseason game.

Gerald McCoy played the best 19 snaps you'll likely see from an interior D-Lineman. Sack, hit, hurry, batted pass, and an absurd +8.2 grade

— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) August 17, 2014

McCoy is a dominant player, and a true game-changer on defense. Teams have to scheme to stop him, or he'll simply stop every run and pass play before it starts.

Apart from McCoy, fellow linemen Euclid Cummings and Scott Solomon earned solid grades for their jobs done along the defensive line. Solomon got some time with the first team defense, showing that he may be an under-the-radar player worth watching as the preseason continues.

Fellow camp standouts Matthew Masafilo and Danny Lansanah both earned good grades for their work against the run, while Akeem Spence posted a strong pass-rush grade.

Starting defensive ends Michael Johnson and Adrian Clayborn were among the lowest-graded Bucs, but they only earned grades barely below zero. Still, on 30 combined pass rush snaps, the duo compiled zero pressures on the quarterback, which is a big concern for the Buccaneers. Gerald McCoy is great, but the ends must get pressure to make this defense work.

Six of the nine players charged with a missed tackle on the Buccaneer defense were cornerbacks. This can't make Lovie Smith happy.

Update by Sander:

via here