Ravens 28, Stillers 14 ...... Jan 11, 2025 …………Wild Card
Stillers – Poebirds Postgame Analysis and Grades
The 10-7 Stillers went down to Balt to face the hated 12-5 Poebirds in an AFC evening wild card game. PIT won the toss and received. BALT dashed out to a 7-0 lead, then 14-0, and then 21-0 just before the half. The Stillers managed 2 TDs in the 3Q, but Balt countered with 1 of their own, and chewed a ton of clock as well. In the end, Balt coasted to a 28-14 win.
Grades:
QB: Wilson got the start. 7 of 9, 1H for 44 yards on little babyfied passes, many short of the sticks to force punts. Warmed up in the 3Q, with several good strikes and two 30+ yard TD passes.
Was far too slow on his scramble, last play of 3Q, which resulted in a 3rd down sack and forced a punt.
Threw a deep post into triple coverage on 4th & 15, 4Q, and the pass was a good 2 yards short of where it needed to be. Finished 20 of 29 for 270, which sounds respectable, but it was far too little, too late, and he also “took” at least 3 of the 4 sacks. Wasn’t nowhere near good enough in his last game in a Stiller uni. D-
Fields -got harassed and threw the ball away, late 2Q. For all the talk about how Fields was going to be deployed, he barely saw the field.
RB:
Harris – 3 rushes, 12 yards in 1H. Good RAC on screen, 4:30 3Q. Committed a foolish false start, mid 4Q.
6 rushes for 17, and 3 grabs for 41 in his final game as a Stiller. C+
Warren – barely played, rushing twice for 6 yards, and grabbing 4 passes for 19. B-
Cord Patt – thankfully never touched the ball on offense in his final game as a Stiller.
FB: rarely if ever used.
WR:
Pickens – correctly flagged for OPI on a long reception, late 2Q. Blatant shove of the BAL DB as the ball was arriving. Good 36-yard TD, late 3Q. Good grab on sideline lob, mid 4Q. Had 5 grabs for 87 in what could be his final game in a Stiller uni. B
Van Jeff – hauled in a 30-yard TD, 3Q. Had 2 grabs for 37 in what hopefully is his final game as a Stiller. C+
Austin – good grab on 3d & 9, 3Q, hanging on after taking a lick for 25 yards. Was throw a deep post in the EZ, 4Q, on 4th and 15, and never made a real play on the football. Had just the one catch. C
Skowronek – thankfully was never targeted.
Mike Williams – targeted 1st series, pass was a bit wide on a short pattern. Good grab and RAC on downfield lob, 3Q, good for 37. This was his lone grab of the game. Seeing how he was neglected, there is zero chance he’ll want to return.
Rom Wilson – again sat out.
Scotty Miller – thankfully inactive.
TE:
Pat FryBoy – dropped cake-easy 6 yard out-curl, first play of game. Early in the 2Q, on 3d & 2, nice RAC by Pat Friermuth, advancing the ball TWO INCHES when all he need was 5 inches. Punt ! Good thing Hextall Khan lavished this guy with that fatty extension just before the season started. Had 3 grabs for 15 in a weak-assed effort. D-
Darnell – dropped a low but very catchable pass, 3Q. Had 1 grab for 9. C
Con Heyward – only blocked.
Pruitt – only blocked.
OL: Overall, the line (Moore, Seaumalo, Frazier, Spence Anderson, Jones) had a subpar game. The run blocking was shoddy, and the pass pro had some leakage.
Seaumalo was flagged for a false start, late 3Q. Jones got whipped for a sack, mid 4Q.
McCormick was inactive, due to the broken hand suffered last week than to Cord Patterson. Dan Less got injured and was relieved by Calv Anderson. Overall, not good enough. C-[
DL:
Heyward – tackled Lamar after a 2 yard scramble up the gut, 2d series. This was his LONE solo of the 1H, along with 3 slop assists. He then, like a coward, limped off late in the half after getting his buttocks kicked up and down the field, and didn’t return for the start of the 2H.
Scam came back for the 2nd series, only to get shoved around and mauled, including on the 44-yard TD scamper by Henry that went RIGHT UP THE GUT.
In the 4Q, Scam managed to jump on piles and gather a load of slop assists –
(14:18 - 4th) D.Henry left tackle to BLT 24 for -2 yards (Ca.Heyward, A.Highsmith).
Another slop assist - (10:20 - 4th) J.Jones reported in as eligible. D.Henry left guard to BLT 46 for 1 yard (E.Roberts; Ca.Heyward). Roberts made the stop, and Scam jumped on the pile.
Next play, Scam made an acceptable play on a plunge, getting an assist on a 2-yard loss.
Another slop assist - (6:06 - 4th) (Shotgun) D.Henry left tackle to BLT 45 for 2 yards (P.Queen; Ca.Heyward).
And please, before anyone makes the fool of themselves by asserting “Scam had 10 tackles” –
No, he didn’t. He had THREE solo tackles. In the 1H, when the game was LOST, Scam had ONE solo on a short Lamar scramble for 2 yards. Didn’t do jak fuq as Balt gashed the D for 164 yards rushing and TD drives of 96 (not 95), 85, and 90 to stake an insurmountable 21-0 lead.
In the 4Q, Scam piled on loads of junk calories and slop assists as Balt was content to blandly plunge the ball and chew clock. When the game MATTERED, in the 1H, this overhyped fraud was nowhere to be found, except on his back.
Scam finished with 3 solos and 7 A, while doing jak fuq allll game long. Henry and his boys gashed this defense for 299 yards on the ground, and Scam, as they vaunted “team leader” and “pro bowler’, was every bit responsible for this gashing. F
Ogunjobi – did little. Time for Larry to move on. C-
Adams – not much.
Lowdermilk – got some slop stops in the 2H.
Benton – bot run over by Henry on his 8-yard TD run, 1H. A massively sad soph season. C
LB:
Queen – whiffed on Likely on a RAC tackle, 1st series. Easy but good stop of Hill on a valve dump, last play of 1Q, for a 3 yard loss. Just waved at Henry on the 44-yard TD run, 3Q. Like Scam, had loads of slop stops on paper, but did very, very little of actual usefulness. D
Landon Rob – made shoestring stop of Henry, 2d series, for 1 yard. Slahe3d in, 3d & 2 early in 3Q, and stopped Henry short of the sticks. Actually fought hard and played hard. B-
Watt – dinged his left elbow, 1H. Did very, very little in the half. Held completely off the stat sheet. D-
Highsmith – Early 3d & 2, 1st Qtr -- Alex Fraudsmith gets completely bamboozled, and Lamar keeps (after faking the HB dive) for a cake-easy 1st down.
At 4:54 2Q, Henry ran a toss sweep to his left. Big Alex was SOLO blocked by 247-pouind TE I. Likely, and like a gutless pansie, failed to shed the blolck, and then TURNED his back as Henry cruised up Alex’s hole for a 17 yard gainer. A puss play by a puss player,
Dong sack, Big Alex ! Came in UNTOUCHED after an initial bump and go by the TE going out on a pattern. Lamar held the ball forever and then simply ate it, being up by 14 points.
2 plays later, Alex got completely bamboozled on an end around by Sims, in hilarious fashion, good for 15 yards.
(14:18 - 4th) D.Henry left tackle to BLT 24 for -2 yards (Ca.Heyward, A.Highsmith).
Big Alex finished with ONE solo (on the UNTOUCHED sack) and 1 assist. THAT was it. All this, for $17M per season. F-
Herbig – rarely played, because, you know, Big Alex is so great and vaunted.
Pay Wilson – chipped in here and there, but not enough pop as he arrives at the ballcarrier.
Pres Smith – healthy scratch.
DB
Joey Porter Jr. - flagged for a hold on Lamar’s long scramble, mid 2Q, which added 5 yards onto the play. Good tackle on Miller on 3d & 4, 4Q, to force a punt. Flagged for a hold, late 4Q. Showed some flash, as well as some garbage. B-
Donte Jackson – got abused by Bateman on the 1Q TD, on a 3d & 13 deep in PIT territory. Awful coverage. Good thing Khan traded for this stiff. C-[
Kazee – played here and there.
DeShon Elliot – had 5 solos in an active effort. B
Minkah – was soft and feeble all game long. On one 2d and 20 or so, Stinkah played the RAC far, far too soft, allowing the RAC runner to plow for an extra 5 yards and a 1st down. Had 5 solos is far too quiet an effort, esp for one of THE highest paid DBs in the entire NFL. D
Bishop – rotted the bench behind Cam Button.
Cam Button – got tooled by Likely on 3d & 15, 2d series, for a hefty gainer. Also got abused on other plays. Thankfully he’s played his final game in PIT. C-
Trice – inactive.
Spec teams:
Waitman – punted pretty well. He’s a must-retain for next season. A
Boswell – for once, Bos wasn’t tasked to boot any FGs.
Skowrow got away with a masking on the first punt/punt coverage of the game.
OC: Art Smith had his usual grab-azzed gameplan and 1st half, doing absolutely nothing the first 30 minues. How bad was it? 27 total yards, 1Q. 33 total yards, 2Q. Sheer vomit. The 2nd half was better, although Balt was playing some softee defense with a comfy 21-point lead. All in all, you can’t produce 60 yards of offense in the 1st half of a playoff game and have any chance of a win. King ARhur’s mighty offense failed to score more than 17 in all of the final 5 games, all losses:
L 13-27 vs. Eagles
L 17-34 vs. Ravens
L 10-29 vs. Chiefs
L 17-19 vs. Bengals
L 14-28 vs. Ravens
Let’s hope King Arthur gets hired by another team, and very soon. F
DC: Austin had the luxury of not having to face WR1 Zae Flowers. Of course, undaunted, Austin found ways to bungle and stumble.
Allowed 13-play, 96 yard (not 95, as there was an early false start penalty) TD drive, on 1st series by Balt. Pure barf, culminated by Lamar having ALLLL day in the pocket on 3d & 13 and firing an easy pass for the TD. Jackson, who got tooled, was on Bateman, for no good reason, when Porter should have been.
Then allowed a 13 play, 85 yard TD drive, 2Q. Then, with just 1:54 left in the 1H and Balt taking over on its own 10, Austin promptly allows a lonngggggg march, all the way to the PIT 5, and then allowed Balt to score on a 5-yard pass with 2 secs left in the half. Allowed BALT to rush for 164 yards in 1H.
The 2H wasn’t much better, allowing another long TD drive culminated by a 44-yard Henry jaunt, and Balt chewing eons of time off the clock while Austin looked on like a doddering fool. Highest paid defense in the entire NFL got gashed again. F
HC: Mike Asslin had yet another miserable 1st half of a playoff game, getting whipped and raped en route to a 21-0 deficit. No game plan, no smarts, no sense, and no adjustments. Armed with THE highest paid defense in the NFL, Asslin stood ossified as his defense got gashed for a game total of 299 yards rushing and another 175 thru the air.
Asslin was completely unprepared for the Balt 4& 1 sneak, 4Q, and the confused defense failed to get their 12th man off the field. The Ravens obviously subbed out to their heavy package for the QB sneak, and the defense was late getting their own subs on. 12th guy never even got off the field. This is ALL COACHING, plain and simple. Asslin still has not won a playoff game since 2016, and has been run out of the gym in EACH of the past 5 playoff losses. Here’s the list of the losses since The Almighty’s last playoff win:
L 36-17 vs. Patriots
L 45-42 vs. Jaguars
L 48-37 vs. Browns
L 42-21 vs. Chiefs
L 31-17 vs. Bills
L 28-14 vs. Ravens
Including this loss, the Steelers have been outscored an aggregate 73-0 in the first quarters of their past six playoff games. And dating to the final four games of the regular season, the Steelers have been outscored 47-3 in their past five games overall.
Time for this overhyped fraud to move on to his life’s work. And fast. F-
Synopsis: Just another grisly, embarrassing playoff loss under the supreme tutelage and leadership of Mike Stoogelin. What a disgrace. It’ll be a long 9 months as we await the 2025 season.
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