After watching four weeks of
abortion pre-season football by the Stillers, they
took it to the Titans today in Heinz Field.
The Titans, as described in
many pre-game articles, were destroyed by salary cap issues, resulting in a
bottom to almost middle tier NFL team.�
I was pleased with the Black
and Gold�s performance this afternoon, mainly because I feared the worse after
watching the slather during pre-season.
A few notes:
Good:
- Willie Parker.�
The Stillers have a real threat in the
running game and he played today.�
Over 200 all purpose yards.�
He was stuck on several attempts and made plays happen by his own
efforts, resulting in high yardage.
- Big Ben.�
9 for 11 on 9-11.� Nothing
earth shattering but he did pick up where he left off last regular
season.� Not Hall of Fame Stats but
consistent stats.� He threw to six
different targets and scrambled quite well.� He continues to look poised and didn�t
turn over the ball, one of the most important stats in football.� You won�t win fantasy football with Ben
R. but the Stillers will win some games.
- O-Line.� I
thought they did a decent job blocking and pass protections.� Barrett Brooks sucks and I can�t believe
he is playing on a NFL team after being in the league for 10 years.
- Defense.�
This game started off horribly for the defense and for the first
series I was thinking that StillMill was
correct; unprepared for the season opener.�
The D woke up and gave up a TD and that was it.� Taylor and Hope combined for 12 tackles
and the D forced a handful of turnovers.�
Great Effort for the D.
- Penalties.�
If there was one plus in the pre-season it was the lack of Stiller penalties.�
This carried over today.�
Three penalties for 27 yards are great for the Stillers.� I think two of those happened in the 4th
Quarter.� This may seem like a
worthless stat, but the Stillers have been known
to be a highly penalized team.�
Three flags in an NFL game is good, mistake free football.
- Coaching.�
I thought the staff did a good job this afternoon.� They didn�t get rattled after TN�s
opening drive and someone woke up the D.�
Bill let them play after half-time instead of protecting the lead.� This is good news.
Bad:
- Opening drive: but let�s not dwell on that.
- Miller.�
Hard to list him in the bad but we only threw to him once for three
yards; albeit a TD.� We need to get
Miller in the game more.� McNair
threw to multiple TEs on multiple occasions with
a fair bit of success.�
- Reed/Kick-off Coverage.� This was weak.� Reed would kick, say to the average of
the seven yard line, and the Titans generally got the ball around the 30
yard line.� We need to improve on
this.
- Keeping the starters in during a blow out.� We took some risks today against a team
that we didn�t need to take risks with.�
We had a sizable lead and have a robust schedule ahead of us and
didn�t need Ben and some others in this game as long as they were.
- I hate to put Hines in a �bad� category but we
need to get the money�s worth out of him.�
He had two catches for 25 yards and was minus one in rushing.
All in all a great opening
day game for the Stillers.� I�m sure my esteemed colleagues will chime in
as well but we need to remember two things:
- The Stillers played on
all cylinders today and we need to be talking shit.
- The Stillers played
the second youngest team in the NFL.�
Still a great win and the Titans are capable of winning six games
this season.
Willie Parker for Hard Hat is my vote!