Stillers 51, Dolts 24 ……. Oct 26, 2014…… Game # 8
Stillers-Dolts Postgame Analysis and Grades
The Stillers hosted the 5-2 Indy Colts, hoping to keep in the AFC North race with their first game against a quality QB. The Softee Defense got fairly riddled to death, but the offense was a juggernaut, with a 51-34 whipping of the Dolts.
Grades:
QB: After weeks of acting like he squats when he urinates, Ben finally manned up and had a complete, stellar ballgame. He passed for 522 yards, and 6 TDs, both Stiller records. Unlike the first 6 weeks of the season, Ben was crisp, decisive, and on target, rather than the meek, timid, scattershot QB he put on display those long 6 weeks.
Probably the only flaw out of Ben tonite, was the botched pooch punt in the 2Q. On a 4th & 4 late in the 1H, Ben literally took about 8 seconds to get off the punt, which ended up getting blocked, giving Indy golden FP at their own 35. A+
RB:
Bell - Stutter Bell was having a splendid game, but then got an ankle wrenched on a tackle after he grabbed a short dumpoff. He returned around 7:15 2Q. He finished with a good overall effort, gaining 92 on the ground and 56 via the air. Nicely done. A.
Blunt – plowed for extra yardage, deep in Indy territory, at 12:44 4Q, and was stripped of the ball like a complete jackass. Had a nice catch and RAC, 5:40 4Q. He was tackled just short of the sticks, partially by way of his HELMET, which is supposed to result in a facemasking flag, per NFL rule. The fumble obviously enraged me. C-
Archer: Pee Pee Archer dropped a screen pass, 2Q, while trembling in fear about getting licked by a nearby defender. Didn’t do jack squat the entire game. What a clever pick by Kevin Doltbert !! F-
FB: Will Johnson rotted the bench nearly the entire season coming into this game. He was finally given some meaningful PT tonite. Grabbed a short dumpff, 2Q, and rumbled 18 yards. Nicely done. Good thing Gayly has rotted this fellow the first 7 weeks of the season. 2 plays later, he made a nice grab and gained 4. These 2 gainers, by the way, set up the ensuing 47-yard TD pass to Tonio Brown. A
WR:
Brownie – superb catch on out route, 2Q, even fighting off illegal hands by the DB. Outstanding 1-handed TD grab of a short fade route, midway 2Q. Finished with 10 grabs for 133 and 2 TDs. A+
Pinkie Wheaton - grabbed a crosser, 1st series, and then ran as though he were carrying a sack of bricks, thus getting stopped short of the sticks. It wasn’t costly, but it was disturbing. A couple plays later, he somewhat redeemed himself with a decent TD grab. Good grab, early 3Q, in tight coverage on a curl pass. Had 5 grabs for 56 and 1 TD, his first meaningful contribution in his NFL career. B
Justin Brown – thankfully did not dress. Quick -- someone call Dumblin and Haley, and see about getting bootfooted Justin back into the gameday lineup….! Let’s again make it harder for our offense to produce points…!
Archer: Did nothing as a slot receiver. By the way, he’s just so fast & explosive, and quick, too. Good thing Doltbert rabidly reached for this smurf in the 3rd round…!
Lance “Yancey” Moore - good grab of 27 yards, taking punishment as he hauled in the pass. Had 2 grabs for 33. B
Margavis Bryant - good 19 yard grab over the middle, 1st series. On the first play of the 2Q, he hauled in a clutch TD grab. Dropped a short slant, 8:15 3Q. Woulda gained at least 25 yards. Had 5 grabs for 83 yards, and 2 TDs. Quick -- someone call Doltbert and Dumblin and see about getting this-here fellow sent back to the Deactivated List…!! We don’t need downfield production like this…! A-
Heyward-Gay - grabbed a rare catch, but then got up and coughed the ball away for a crucial turnover. What a sack o’ dung. He has more penalties, brainless plays, and last names, than he does receptions. D-
TE:
Miller - grabbed a 10 yard pass on 3d & 8, 3Q, and then, with no one within an acre, he rumbled and stumbled for 49 yards. Nice gain, although slow and painful to watch. Clumsily dropped a 2nd & long seamer, late 3Q. Easy TD grab, at 5:14 4Q, to give the Stillers a 17-point lead. Had 7 grabs for 112. Flagged for a hold on a Blunt 4-yard run, 1Q. B+
Spaeth - dressed, and wasted oxygen, plus a scare spot on the 45-man game-day dress roster. Did jack shoit all evening long. D-
OL:
Beacham - too slow to block for AB on a quick hitch, 11:55 2Q, resulting in a 3-yard loss. Provided solid protection on Ben’s blindside. B
Gilbert - FatAss Marcus again had to sit out.
Mike Sadams - very quiet, but solid effort. Very impressive. Perhaps Munchak has fixed the very simple task of sealing off the inside rush move, which is where Sadams continually allowed pressure last year. A
Foster - decent game, both in run and pass blocking. A-
Pouncey – Good block to spring Bell on 10 yard run, 1Q. Actually resembled a legit All Pro blocker, rather than the stumblebum he’d been imitating earlier this season. A-
DeAsstro - solid game. Didn’t commit his weekly penalty, and blocked solidly. A-
DL:
Cam Thomas - As usual, did very, very little. A complete waste of cap space and oxygen. D-
Keisel - came in on a stunt and forced a Luck throw-away, 2Q. Applied some solid pressure. Held off the stat sheet. B-
McLendon - did not dress.
Heyward - Played ok, although hardly dominating. B-
Tuitt - the vaunted 2nd rounder got some PT, but did little. C+
McCullers - good stop of run, 2Q. Maybe by 2016, he’ll see some increased PT. Inc
LB:
Timmons – Good lick on QB, nearly a sack in the 2Q. Tooled by the TE, Allen, on a seam route for a TD, 2Q, although he received zero help, as is usual, from a safety on this play. Delivered some good licks on RBs and some good harassment on the QB. B-
Shaquier – good stop of screen play, 2d series. Had 2 solos, but then must have gotten nicked up, as he gave way to My Cousin Vinnie.
Worilds - The Hokie Hooker, Jason Worilds, had a half-adequate game. Rare pressure, 3d & 10, 2d series, which helped force an Inc pass. Incredibly rare play in the 2Q, actually reading the WR screen and, unblocked as he was, batting it away. Showing incredibly RARE hustle, Worilds chased Luck across the field on 3d & 15, stopping him 2 yards short of the sticks. But Jason quickly came back down to earth. On the Hilton TD pass just after the 2MW, a solo TE, Fleener, literally shoved Big Jason to the turf. With his dick in the dirt, The Hokie Hooker was a second late to harass the QB, and the result was an easy pitch n’ catch TD. Applied a hit on Luck, 3Q, which then resulted in a Harrison sack. B
Jones - did not dress, due to injury.
Moats -- got sucked in like a Ponzi scheme on the Bradshaw bounce-wide TD run, late 3Q. Very piss poor. Had some pressure here and there on Luck. B
Vinnie W. - good lick on Bradshaw after dumpoff, 2Q. Stupidly lost his gap contain on the 12-yard Bradshaw TD run. Got a ton of PT and had 5 solos and 1 A. B
Harrison - forced an apparent sack in the 2Q, which was ruled inc. Finished with 1 solo -- the sack created by The Hokie Hooker. B-
DB
Ike - did not dress, due to injury.
Pola - deflected a pass on a rush, 2d series. Flagged for a foolish illegal contact, 3Q, when h drilled a WR about 9 yards down the field. Flagged for an foolish illegal contact penalty, late 3Q, which negated a rare sack, and then, just 2 plays later, offered no help whatsoever on the Moncrief TD. Provided some good licks, limiting RAC and ground gains. B
Mitchell – clumsy as an assclown, whiffed on tackle of Hilton, 1st drive, for long RAC yardage. Very piss poor. When did this fellow start playing tackle football? Christmas of 2014 ?? Flagged for a hold, 2Q. Has some of the worst football instincts this side of Queertez Allen. D+
Gay - An incredibly rare pick 6, early 2Q. Surprisingly wasn’t tooled and abused downfield as he often is. A
Sharko Thomas – did not dress, due to injury. Inc
C. Allen - Queertez had a fiasco of a game, getting thoroughly embarrassed on national TV. Tooled badly on 3d & 11, good for 27 yards, on a deep sideline lob to Nix. Had exactly ZERO clue on how to make a play on the pigskin as it arrives. Two plays, he got burned deep by Moncrief, and whiffed on his bat attempt. Only a DROP by Moncrief prevented the TD. A few plays later, got turned around like a top on a 28-yard TD catch by Hilton. Got tooled by Moncrief for a TD, late 3Q. The man is such a queer tool. Also flagged for an illegal hands to face, 2Q. Mercifully, he was finally benched in the 4Q, but not before rabid amounts of damage was done. F-
Blake - had the rarest of rare occurrences by a Stiller defender the past 5 years, actually going up and HIGH pointing an EZ lob, and making the pick to basically end the ballgame. This ain’t happened with this defense since 2008, if not earlier. B+
McCain - Flagged for a needless hold on 3d & 15, 2Q, thereby sustaining the drive. Got juked out of his jock by Bradshaw after a flare pass, 3Q. Flagged for illegal use of hands, 3Q. D
Spec teams:
Wing – never punted in the 1H. Punted adequately in the 2H. B
Suisham - light workload, booting only PATs in this game. B
Archer – Wasn’t even used on KO returns. He’s just so fast and explosive, though. An absolute steal in the 3rd round. Colbert once again fools the rest of the NFL.
AB – decent punt return, 3Q, for 11 yards. This pushed the Stillers away from the shadows of their own goal post.
Blunt - stopped at his own 13 on a KO return. Is there possibly a slower KO returned in the entire league ??
Ventrone and Blake had a good stop on KO coverage, 2Q. Vinnie had an excellent solo tackle on KO coverage, mid 2Q.
OC:
Gayly obviously had his coming out party as an OC, with his offense hanging 6 TD passes on the Dolts.
3d & 3 on Indy 13, and Gayley calls a chickenshit line plunge to Blunt, which gained 2 feeble yards. This enraged me to no end. Gayly got a reprieve when Indy was flagged for offsides.
Gayly redeemed himself in the 4Q, when, facing a 4th & 1 deep in Indy territory, he ordered a PAP lob to Miller, wide open in the middle of the EZ.
It was nice to see Bryant integrated into the scheme and scoring 2 TDs. The obvious question, of course, is: how in sam hell did this man see fit to deactivate Bryant the first 6 (six) games of the season???
Nice overall game by The Ball Boy, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. A
DC:
Dick had his weekly luxury of facing an offense missing a key cog, this time with Indy missing WR Reggie Wayne. Wayne isn’t the prolific receiver he once was, but he’s a steady, competent, veteran presence who has often torched Dick in the past.
3d & 3, 2Q, and Dick employs some bizarre defense that allows MASSIVE RAC yardage after a 3-yard grab by Moncrief, good for 52 yards.
Late in the 2Q, Dick allowed a long march he has become famous for. 3d & 11 ? Easy as pie conversion. 3d & 15? Easy as pie, with a dunce, McCain, getting flagged for a silly hold. A couple plays later, Hilton grabbed a 28-yard TD pass to make the game 35-17.
Late in the 2Q, IND took over at its 35, with only 35 secs left. . After a short dumpoff, Luck, with ALL day in the pocket, hits Hilton down the middle for 39 yards, followed by a Luck scramble for 13. All throughout this drive, Dick went with the mamby pamby 3-man rush. Luck ran out of time, and Indy had to settle for a FG, but it was needless softness that enabled this late 3 points.
As is his nature, Dick got gashed and gouged on a 69-yard TD march, late 3Q, cutting the lead to 42-27. At this point, there was a lot of puckering going on amid the fans in the stadium as well as those watching worldwide. Luckily, as they had all game, the Stiller offense not only chewed a TON of clock and TOP, but they also put TDs on the board, making Luck’s and Indy’s job all the more challenging.
In typical Dick fortuitous fashion, he got a Dong safety when the QB, Luck, clumsily tripped on his drop-back and just flung the ball -- ala Mike Tomczak -- from his BACK, for an intentional grounding in the EZ. Luck’s arm was actually outside the EZ when he released the pig, in which case this should have been a “half the distance” penalty rather than a safety.
It was nice for a couple of DBs to actually make a play on a ball in the air, rather than aimlessly watch the ball into the intended receiver’s hands, which has been the modus operandi the first 7 games of the season. It was also nice for Dick to finally wake up and start applying pressure in the face of the QB, rather than, such as the week 2 game in Balt, allowing the QB to stand in the pocket, totally unfettered, while sipping on a mocha latte for 5-6 seconds before casually flipping the ball to a wide open receiver.
All in all, I’m not going to fawn and dance with glee when a defense, playing at HOME, gets savagely shredded for 34 points. As noted above, had the PIT offense not so effectively chewed clock, the Colts likely would have scored 10, 14, even 17 more points. Giving up 34 points, at home, is a sure fire recipe for losing football. C
HC: Mike Dumblin will be all proud after knocking off the 5-2 Colts. Let’s hold the Sup Bowl parade, however. The team committed a hideous rash of 12 penalties, which isn’t going to cut the mustard in a close game, particularly a road game. Dumblin has final say as to who dresses and who gets deactivated, and at this point, it’s simply unfathomable how Martay Bryant could have rotted the first 6 weeks of the season in favor of a stiff named Justin Brown, supposedly because “the staff likes Brown’s run blocking”. Let’s see -- you have a struggling offense trying to put points on the board. Hmmm, what about this Bryant fellow? Fast and rangy? Check. Tallest WR on the roster? Check. Smooth route runner with deceptive, explosive speed? Check? Vertical leap far superior to anyone else on the offensive roster, and a good ability to high-point the football? Check. Good football and WR instincts? Check. So…..let’s rot this fellow !! Let’s bog down our offense with a steady dose of Matt Spaeth and Justin Brown….!! B
Synopsis: A nice win, although not a divisional win and therefore nowhere near the importance of the upcoming tilt against Balt, or the 2 remaining games against Cinci. The key here is simple: will this team learn and apply what worked well, or will they wallow around in smug over-confidence and then proceed to lay an egg?
Admin note: The ol’ hip surgery went well, and I was able to be released on Sat, just in time to watch Pitt lay a total egg against Ga Tech. (Amazing how the lure of football speeds the recovery process…!) Thanks to everyone for their kind get-well wishes.
(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no one else comes close….)
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