Stillers 18, Poebirds 16...... Nov 17, 2024 …………Game # 10
Stillers – Poebirds Postgame Analysis and Grades
The 7-2 Stillers hosted the 7-3 Poebirds in a huge AFC North tilt. Stillers won the toss, and deferred. The Stillers took a thin 9-7 lead into halftime, and then hung on and clawed for a 2 point win. Balt helped, shooting themselves in the foot with a dozen or so penalties and 3 TOs.
Grades:
QB: Wilson got the start. Was spotty in the 1H, with lots of dink n’ dunk. Finished 1H, 10-15 for 65 yards, and 4 sacks.
Up 15-10, and facing a 3d & goal at the Balt 5, Wilson scrambled to his right, and then flung some silly lollipop that was 9 feet over the head of Darnell for an INT. Really ghastly. Finished 23 of 36 for 205 yards and the 1 INT. Sure, he was victimized by a few drops, but all in all, a dismal outing. C-
Fields – carried on a designed QB run, early 3Q, for 8 yards. Had a 4Q carry, although I wasn’t pleased when he slid 2 feet early on a late 4Q run that would have iced the game.
RB:
Harris – Had an ok game, with 18 rushes for 63, and 4 grabs for 30. The running stats were obviously mediocre. B-
Warren – 9 rushes for 41 yards, and 4 grabs for 27. Provided a spark with some nice chain-moving. B
FB: Conn Hey got some work here.
WR:
Pickens – failed to grab a low but catchable bootleg pass, 2Q. Late in the 2Q, he first failed to get OOB on a short out-curl. On the next play, he grabbed a similar pass, but clumsily failed to get his SECOND foot down in bounds, negating a 1st down. Grabbed a deep lob, 3Q, good for 37 yards. Had 8 grabs for 89 on 12 targets. B-
Van Jeff – allowed a well thrown pass, 3Q, to CLANG off his hands for an INC pass. Had 0 grabs. He saw 32 snaps while Mike Williams saw something like 9. Ridiculous. D-
Austin – CLANG ! A well thrown pass clangs off the shoulder pads & hands of Pee Pee Austin, on a 3d & 1, 1Q. Like I've been saying for MONTHS now, PeePee ain't a WR3 in the NFL, nor a WR4. Was thrown a 0-step hitch, 4Q, and was completely unable to juke the man, taking a 1-yard loss in the process. Finished with a laughable stat line of 1 grab for minus-1 yard. C-
Skowronek – Did a fair amount of blocking. Had a 4 yard grab.
Mike Williams – rotted the bench most of the game. Played like 9 snaps. Never targeted. He’ll be gleeful of this kind of rot, real fast.
TE:
Pat FryBoy – Had a measly 2 grabs for 14 yards. Good thing Khan rushed out and extended this 2-catch per game TE at a cost of like $14 per season ! C
Darnell – good grab and run, 4Q, good for 25 yards. Made a good grab on a 3rd down, mid 4Q. For no apparent reason, gave no effort whatsoever on the INT’d pass; he just STOOD there and watched even though he clearly was the intended receiver. C-
Con Heyward – never targeted.
OL: Overall, the line (Moore, Seumalo, Frazier, McCormick, Jones) had a sub-par game.
On 3d & 2 feet, and 4th & a foot, 1Q, the line didn’t get jack for push, and the plays were easily stymied. Very, very poor job of blocking here.
Moore got abused for a sack, late 1Q. Jones got whipped on a 3rd down for a sack, 2Q.
Moore got whipped for a sack, 6:00 2Q. Seumalo was flagged for a false start, last seconds of the 2Q.
Jones was flagged for a hold, 3Q. About 4 plays later, he was flagged again for a hold. Overall, the line play was below the line. D
DL:
Heyward – batted a pass, early 2Q. At the half, Big Scam Heyward had ONE solo and one piddly-assed assist. He's......just.....so....vaunted. Got a slop stop on a dumpoff to the bootfooted FB, 3Q. Batted a pass, late 4Q. Finished with a piddly two solos and 2 As. As usual, don’t fall for all the bullshoit tripe of the Pgh and national media regarding this fat waddler. C-
Ogunjobi – Good hit and stop of Henry, last play of 3Q. Had 5 solos in an active effort.
Lowdermilk – Had a clean-up sack, but it was negated by a flag.
Benton – made stop of Henry on 3 yard gain, 1st play o’ game. Got injured, 8:38 4Q.
Lowry – batted a pass, late 1Q.
LB:
Queen – The Queen was feeble and slow on the long pass & gain to Likely for 42 yards, 1Q. Flagged for a hold of Andrews, 2Q, which negated a sack by Lowdermilk, 2Q. Raked the ball loose for a FF, late in the 2Q, and also recovered it. Had 3 solos and 7 As in a “some good, some bad” effort. B-
Landon Rob – was fairly quiet. Zero solos, 3 As.
Watt – Had a variety of quality, legit pressures. Had 3 solos, including a sack. Saw a variety of double and even triple teams. B
Highsmith – Sat out, due to injury.
Herbig – punched the ball out of Henry’s hands on a superb backside hustle play, first series. A superb FF.
Grabbed Lamar’s legs and forced INC pass, 1Q. Got bamboozled the next play, for a Lamar keeper for 15 yards.
Flagged for offsides, 3Q. Completely blew up the late-game 2-point try by Balt, knifing thru 2 Balt blockers and forcing Jackson to kleep the ball and run much wider than he wanted to, which made the stop of Lamar as easy as pie. Had the 1 solo and 1 A. Received a slew of double teams and chip blocks. B
Pey Wilson – Got beaten on a long lob to the RB, but hung in there and managed to wrest the ball out of Hill’s hands for an INT, mid 4Q. It was a lucky, fluky INT, so I’m not going to fawn over it anywhere near as much as many folks are. Had 2 solos. B
Pres Smith – Saw a fair number of snaps. Had 1 solo in a drab effort.
DB
Joey Porter Jr. - busted up a slant, early 2Q.
Donte Jackson – Got completely abused and scorched on the late TD by Zae Flowers. Very, very poor. Saw what ya will about Diontae; Hextall Khan got burned on this trade with Carolina. C
Kazee – did little.
DeShon Elliot – solid game in run support.
Minkah - got tooled by Andrews for a 13 yard pass, mid 2Q. Was active, with 4 solos and 3 As.
Bishop – Got abused, 1Q, for what should have been a long TD lob to Diontae, but the pass was poor and, even if caught, would have been grabbed OOB.
Cam Button – Played sparingly.
Spec teams:
Waitman – booted the ball well. A
Boswell – Dude was money, going 6 for 6 on FGs and supplying all the points for the team. Included was a 57-yard FG, which is always a challenge at Acrisure Stadium. A+
OC: Art Smith had his share of struggles.
Nice illusion of a wide toss sweep to Harris, 1Q, which was designed to actually go up the gut. Gained 12 or so yards. Next series, though, Smith ordered a clever, overly-elaborate screen pass to Cord Patterson, that gains.....ZERO yards.
4th & a foot, 1Qand Art Smith calls for a whaleshoit counter play that takes about 4 seconds to develop, and is EASILY engulfed. Brilliant ! Overall, I wasn’t pleased with the stagnant offense, nor the non-stop settling for FGs. C-
DC: Austin will be raved over after this game. Thing is, his defense wasn’t quite as dominant as you’re being led to believe. Balt had 199 total yards, 1H, despite 1 turnover. In other words, the D got gashed. Were it not for 2 very makable missed FGs in the 1H, Balt goes in at halftime up 13-9. The D tightened a bit in the 2H, although, sure as shoit, late in the game they allowed Balt to march as easy as pie for the TD, and a hideous playcall on the 2 pointer helped stop the Ravens from tying the score. B
HC: Mike Stoogelin warrants some credit for having his team ready and focused. Fortunately, his squad didn’t suffer the rash of penalties the way the Poebirds did, although they still had 7 flags. B+
Synopsis: A big win over the hated Poebirds. There’s little time to rejoice, as the Stillers must venture to Clev to take on the Browns on Thur nite football. This is no gimme, as Cleve fans treat this game as their Sup Bowl, so they’ll be loud and ready for this game.
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