Oh, Mama!
Commentary by PalmerSucks
December 5, 2014
If ever there were a game that summed up the current state of your Pittsburgh Stillers, this was it.
Let’s set the scene: it’s Saints ball, 3rd and 10 from their own 31. The Stillers, after a typically sloppy start, have clawed their way back from blowout to 21-13 off a Bell TD. They’ve just played Styx, and the walking-dead crowd has come back to life. The defense can rush the hell out of Brees, and the smell of momentum is everywhere.
Then, faster than you can say “I’m in fear for my life” it happens. Brees, with no Stiller near him, has time not just to look downfield, but look up in the direction of the Jumbotron. What he sees is Ike Taylor, flopping and flailing off a double move like some bug-eyed rookie. Calmly Brees steps up and lofts it, and seconds later, some dude name Stills is light-stepping it into the end zone.
There it is, boys, the classic game start where the offense moves it up and down the field early, and comes away with field goals. There it is, the defense that can’t hold on third downs, and coughs up yet another big play. There it is, the Cleveland game all over, ending up in a rout that was nowhere near as close as the scoreboard claimed.
So there it is, another week, another loss to a sub-.500 team. This was the same Saints team the Ravens had run over, and couldn’t even beat Cleveland. This was the same dome-warrior QB who looks so average outdoors, lighting it up at Heinz. At one point, I believe, the Saints had notched five TDs on six drives.
Again, it just goes to show that this team is driven by its offense. More specifically, by the passing of its QB. When Roethlisberger doesn’t come through, as he painfully didn’t Sunday, the rest of the team just isn’t equipped anymore to carry the load. And for those who still want to claim that playing “Stillers football” is the answer, keep in mind Bell racked up nearly 100 (including one sweet dash where he weaved through and then carried half the New Orleans defense about ten yards past the first-down marker.) They still lost.
The Stillers now sit at 7-5, and should be in fear for their lives in the tourniquet-tight AFC playoff derby. Only a Baltimore gag-job (how dare that Jones only return the kick to the other guys’ 30 and not bail out Flacco again!) and Cleveland fizzle saved the weekend from being a total disaster.
The team now heads to the first of two season-defining showdowns with the Bungals. It’s likely the Stillers will need a sweep to keep realistic playoff hopes.
In the past, the Stillers have owned Cincy by smashing this soft bunch in the mouth. We’ll see if they still have the defense for that anymore.
The key to Sunday’s game just may be the run game, though, with rumors that Ben’s wrist injury may be serious (i.e. “broken”), and Bell’s ability to continue the tradition of Stillers’ backs fattening up their stats against Cincy.
WASTING ARCHER’S TALENTS, PART 32: Last week I predicted that the Stillers would (laughably) go back to running Archer up the gut. Well, here is your one Archer appearance, courtesy of last Sunday’s play-by-play: (9:23) (Shotgun) 13-D.Archer up the middle to PIT 44 for no gain. And the comedy continues.
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