Raidas 21,Stillers 18 ……. Oct 27, 2013 …………Game # 7
Stillers-Raidas Postgame Analysis and Grades
The Stillers went out West, and as they often do, were still half asleep as the game began. The Softee Defense allowed a 93-yard TD run on the first play of the game, and soon enough, the OAK lead bulged to 14-0 and then 21-3 as the first half mercifully ended. The Stillers fought back and made a game of it in the 2H, but it was too little, too late. Hindered by 2 missed chippie FGs by Suisham, the Stillers lost, 21-18.
Grades:
QB: Ben had an okay day, going 29 of 45 for 275 yards. That’s a helluva lot of passes to gain only 275 yards.
On a 3d & 10 midway 2Q, Ben scrambled and had an ACRE of room, but tentatively held onto the ball, and then threw a hideous quail well after he’d crossed the LOS, resulting in a flag. Bell was also flagged for a hold on this play, but the bigger point is Ben’s timidity and indecisiveness. Bounced off a would-be sacker and tossed a TD pass to Sanders, 12:11 4Q. Threw a foolish pass into Hunter’s chest at 3:08 4Q, which luckily was not INT’d. Threw a hideous quail that was INT’d at 1:27 4Q, but a hold on OAK negated the INT.
The wasted TO at 1:43 4Q, down by 11 points and in desperate need to retain TO’s, was simply inexcusable, and it highlights the overall junior varsity nature that Ben has fallen into. It’s not merely the TO; it’s what led to the TO that enrages me. On the play prior, Bell caught a dumpoff and gamely fought to get OOB, stopping the clock. What’s Ben doing? He’s over at the sideline, arguing for a horsecollar flag. First, it wasn’t a horsecollar, as the defender grabbed at the shoulder of Bell’s should pads, which is clearly not a penalty. Second, and more importantly, who give a flying fuk ?? Does Ben, who’s been in the league 9 years, think the ref is suddenly going to toss a flag 10 seconds after the play because some dumbass is arguing for it??
All this stupid-assed arguing managed to accomplish was bog down the offense from actually getting huddled, getting the playcall, and then getting lined up for the snap. But it doesn’t end there. Instead of actually rushing the team and showing some simple football sense and leadership, Ben allows the entire offense to lumber around and then collectively waddle to the LOS as though this were some mindless drill in May mini-camp. By the time the offense had played grab-ass and gotten set, there were only 4 tics left on the playclock. At this point, Ben could have easily taken the DOG flag. It’s 2nd & 3 at the OAK 12. You’re down by ELEVEN. The 5 yards for a DOG flag mean nothing; time is far more of the essence. It all adds up to a QB who simply hasn’t mastered the finer nuances of NFL QBing.
For what it’s worth, Ben’s touch on screen passes were superb today; perhaps his best ever. Overall, it wasn’t nearly good enough. C-
RB:
Jones - good screen RAC for 11 yards, late 2Q. Had 2 grabs for 20. Carried once for -1. B
Bell - nifty screen RAC, 3d series, gaining 11 when it appeared he would lose 3. Flagged for a hold, mid 2Q. Good power run for 9 yards, early 3Q. Good low lunge to convert a 3d & 1 later on that long 3Q drive. Superb effort to fight off Burnett and get OOB, 1:43 4Q. Nice TD plunge late in the game. Gained 24 yards on 13 attempts, and grabbed 5 for 27. With the multiple injuries hampering the OL, plus having to play far from behind, there wasn’t a lot to be gained on the ground today. B
Dwyer - solid 7-yard run to move the chains, early 3Q. Had 3 carries for 9. Inc
FB: Will Johnson played some at FB, but due to the huge deficit, his use got scaled back quite a bit. Inc.
WR:
Brownie - good catch along the sideline, late 2Q. Carelessly allowed the ball to be knocked loose on 3d & 15 at 10:0 4Q, which would have gained 25 yards. Instead, the Stillers, who were down by 11, had to punt. On a key 3D at 6:46 4Q, he allowed the ball to be poked from his hands, which then was INT’d by the Raidas. Superb luck of a slant, 4:05 4Q. Had 9 grabs, which is good, but for only 82 yards, which is too piddly for a #1 WR in today’s NFL. And the 2 drops were simply ghastly. C-
Sandy - flagged for 2 silly penalties in the 1H; one for a false start on 3d & 5 and one for OPI. Caught an out pass around 7:20 4Q, but stupidly failed to get OOB. Then soon after, dropped an easy slant, 6:52 4Q. Stellar effort to score on the keeper on the 2-point play late in the game, the first productive thing he did all game. C-
Cotch - clutch grab and RAC for 17 yards right after the 2MW, 4Q. Had 3 grabs for 39 yards, and it remains a mystery why this guy is ignored and under-utilized so often. B+
Wheat - did not dress, because even though Timmons can play with a broken hand, this pansie can’t play with a broken pinkie that was injured 4 weeks ago.
Moye - played, but was never targeted with a pass. Inc.
TE:
Miler - dropped a fairly routine pass on 3d & 9, first drive. Dropped another pass on the 3d series, on what was really a fumble that he recovered. His butterfingered foolishness forced Momlin to use a challenge in order to have the play correctly ruled a completion. Initially appeared to have a good TD grab, early 4Q, but in keeping with his butterfingered day, the bal clearly fell oout of his hands and was trapped as he landed. The review over-ruled the TD and correctly ruled it inc. Finished with 3 grabs for 19 yards, which isn’t nearly good enough. C-
Paulson - showed that he has no business being on an NFL team.
OL: To their collective credit, while playing on the road and with 3 O-linemen exiting the game, this crew did not commit a single false start or hold the entire game.
Adams - Puffer Adams saw some PT as an extra TE blocker. Because of laziness, I’m including him on the OL grade because I frankly don’t feel like expending any more energy than this band of sloths did during this sickly game. Plus, with all the injuries, had to play LT the final quarter of the game. He actually fared pretty well, and given Beacham’s immense limitations due to his complete lack of frame length, it may be time to look at moving Adams back to starting duty.
Gilbert - played okay. Allowed some leakage on pass rushes. Isn’t able to consistently maintain blocks in the ground game. Is more or less the last man standing from the Day 1 starting OL. B-
Foster - got a concussion in the 1H and gave way to The Whimperer for the 2H. Inc.
Velasco - Got run over and gave up a sack, early 3Q. Struggled to open holes up the gut on ground plays. Could be starting to get exposed. C+
DeCastro - injured his right ankle in the 3Q and left the game. Inc.
Beacham - failed to hold his block on Houston, and allowed a 3-yard loss on a Bell run, 5:20 1Q. Got totally whipped and humiliated by Houston on a sack at 1:21 2Q. Playing LG, got totally whipped on the deep ball INT early in the 4Q; the whipping forced Ben to unload more quickly than he would have preferred to. Good block on the Bell TD plunge late in the game. Is definitely getting exposed with the increased PT. And, as the only starting OT in the entire NFL that is under 6-4”, he’s simply overmatched against today’s brawny, long-framed DEs and OLBs. D+
Whimper - replaced an injured Foster, but got injured by wrenching a leg early in the 3Q. Inc
Cody Wallace - came in for Whimper early in the 3Q at LG. Soon enough, he got whipped on a draw play for a 5-yard loss. Inc
DL:
Keisel - recovered the Timmons’ FF at 13:06 4Q. Got a Dong Sack, 11:00 4Q. Had a fairly active game and may have been his best showing of the season. B+
McLendon - Had 4 solos on a quiet day. Had some troubles at the POA in the 1H.
Hood - like the complete fat-assed oxygen thief that he is, Hood waddled to and then fro on the 2nd McFadden TD. Held off the stat sheet, which is no surprise at’all. D-
Heyward - Was again fairly quiet. He had 3 solos and 3 As, but didn’t do much of anything impactful.
LB:
Timmons - delivered a huge hit on a bubble screen, forcing the first FF of the season. Despite playing with a busted hand, had 6 solos and 2 As. The low point was getting sucked in on the long TD run to open the game.
V. Williams - entirely soft and weak on the McFadden TD run, 1Q. Failed to fight off block on long McFadden run, 6:30 2Q. Finished with 3 solos, which is simply unacceptable for an ILB in this scheme. C-
Worilds - saw a fair amount of PT and did little. Had 1 solo and 1 A, and as usual, very little impact.
Jones - got sucked in on a pass play, allowing Pryor to scramble to his left for 7 yards, late 1Q. Despite the PT, finished with 0 solos and 1 A. Gee, I’m so impressed. C
Big LaMarr - Had yet another shit game, probably his worst of what has been a slovenly season. On the game’s first, play, The Dogger was totally untouched and unblocked, but gets sucked in on the fake dive and allowed Pryor a GAPING hole for a 93 yard TD run. That’s HIS play to make on the QB keeper, and there he is, roaming way over to a scrum in hopes of picking up a cheap slop stop.
Got pressure, 3d series, when he was untouched off the LOS, easily skirted a weak-assed dive by the RB, McFadden, but then whiffed on the sack attempt and allowed Pryor to dump off to a RB. Because of this WHIFF, instead of pushing OAK out of FG range Oak is able to continue the march and ultimately scored a TD to make it 14-0. Whiffed on a sack attempt, 3:00 1Q. On a 1st down at the OAK 10 early in the 2Q after a bobbled KO, The Dogger once again got SUCKED INSIDE on a dive fake, which allowed the QB to toss a quick out pass to the TD for 9 yards. On 2d & 7 from the PIT 11 at 3:56 2Q, The Dogger had Pryor HEMMED IN on a scramble, but instead clumsily went UPFIELD -- for no reason at all -- while Pryor easily ran underneath him and gained 5 yards on the scramble to the PIT 6. Instead of a sack, which could have forced a FG, or perhaps a STRIP, the Raiders gained 5 yards on the play, setting up an easy 3d & 1 plunge, which then set up the ensuing TD 3 plays later. Speaking of the TD play, McFadden took a Wildcat snap, while Big LaMarr was totally UNBLOCKED and UNTOUCHED. He had his sights on McFadden for a cake-easy stop, but like the gutless pussy he is, LaMarr simply dropped to his hands and knees like a faggott awaiting to be pumped by his boyfriend.
Late in the 3Q, Pryor kept on a read-option, in which Taylor flashed up and made a sterling stop for a 4-yard loss. Where was The Dogger on this play?? Why, once again, he got SUCKED IN and was nowhere to be found. If Ike doesn’t make the stop, Pryor has another long TD run. On a 3d & 8 at 8:24 4Q, Big LaMarr meekly fell to the turf and allowed Pryor an acre of room to scramble to his right. Luckily, Try was there to stop Pryor and save LaMarr’s bacon.
Said The Dogger after the game, ““We need to do better.” We?? How ‘bout “I need to do better. I need to stop avoiding contact and I need to at least make a tackle every now and then” ??? The lumbering fat-ass, oblivious to it all as he collects his $61M contract, continued, “"This is no step back for us; we're still movin' forward,”, and "I wouldn't question us as a football team." First, LaMarr is moving in one, and only one, direction, which is BACKWARD. Further, I -- and anyone who knows the game of football -- would question this stiff as a football player. As in, he’s not one at this level. At all.
In 57 plays from scrimmage, without ever leaving the field, The Big He-Man, LaMarr Woodley, recorded ZERO solos and ZERO assists. None. Nada. The empty set. All the while, The Dogger faced RT Matt McCants, a rookie 6th round OT from Alabama-Birmingham. Let this sink in. In 57 plays from scrimmage, while facing a non-descript backup rookie RT, the $61M He-Man did not manage a single slop stop, or a slop assist, or ANYTHING. Utterly incredible, even for this dogger of a player. F-
DB:
Ike - totally abused on a slant, 3d series, for 14 yards. Had a rare bust-up, 4:25 3Q. Got tooled again on a 3d & 7 slant from the OAK 4, late 3Q. Just not enough, by any stretch, against such a mediocre offense, and the 2 3rd down completions allowed were killers. C
Pola - grabbed a Dong INT when Pryor threw awkwardly, off balance, and overthrew his WR, and Troy, who was just standing behind the play, basically fair caught the errant quail. Got a paw on a pass while blitzing on 3D in the 2Q, which deflected the ball enough to cause an inc. Still not making much, if any, impactful plays. B-
Clark - On the game’s first play, Clark, who is supposed to be a FREE SAFETY, came flying up to jump on the dive play as though the runner was holding a stack of $100 bills. Instead, the QB kept the ball and ran untouched for a 93-yard TD, while the free fucking safety was dawdling around the line of scrimmage trying to tackle a RB who was devoid of a football. But, Ryan Clark is just so cerebral and heady….!! Sure, he finished with 9 solos, most of which were slop stops after ground runs or short passes. I’m still waiting for this stiff to actually break up a pass, with his hands, this season. C-
Gay - allowed a few grabs with soft coverage. Had some okay run support. B
Thomas - didn’t get nearly the PT he recently saw. Inc
C. Allen - got a DONG INT late in the 2Q when a perfectly thrown pass bounced off the Raider (Butler’s) chest and then into the hands of Allen. Otherwise, did very, very little. B-
Spec teams: Overall grade: D+
Zoltan - had 2nd punt partially blocked. He basically missed the perfect punt snap, allowing the ball to hit him in the gut, which cost a split second. Paulson blocked like a complete pussy and allowed his man to get a paw on the ball, giving OAK the bal at the PIT 26. Got off a rare 51-yard boomer, 2Q, and the OAK returned allowed the ball to skim off his leg, which the Stillers then recovered at the OAK . But, Antwon Blake -- a stiff who was cut from the lowly Jaguars -- was called for illegal touching before the ball hit the Raider, which Momlin challenged but the ruling on the field was upheld. Dogshit 30-yard punt late in the 2Q. Got incredibly lucky on a 3Q punt that went 56 yards and curled laterally just before it crossed the GL, which pinned OAK down inside its 1. D.
Suisham - Nailed his 1st FG try. But late in the 1H, shanked a 34-yard FG that would have cut the lead to 21-6. Then, midway thru the 3Q, he again shanked a chippie 32-yard FG to the right, keeping the score at 21-3 and totally deflating what could have been some momentum after the long, 9-minute drive. His onsides KO late in the game completely sucked ass. F
Brown -- excellent 44-yard punt return in the 4Q. A-
Allen - flagged for a hold on the late punt return. D.
OC:
Another game full of some yardage, but not enough points. To be fair, he was victimized by an errant kicker that missed 2 chippie FGs, plus an OL that was in shambles when 3 men left the game due to injury. .
2nd series- 3d & 4, bubble screen, loss of 3. Completely homosexual playcall. This man’s love affair with the bubble screen knows no bounds.
Ran some Wildcat in the 2Q.
Wasted 7 seconds of precious time late in the 2Q after the middle dump to Jones. This, of course, is a basic staple.
Down by 18 points to start the 2H, and Haley decides to go plowball and chew the clock on a long, laborious 9-minute drive, all of which produced nothing more than a FG try. Didn’t go NH until 10 minutes left in the game.
The RB screens were nice, to a point. But after about 9 of them, it got fairly predictable for OAK.
A really annoying feature of today’s game was Haley’s outright refusal to take stabs INTO the EZ once inside the RZ. They ventured inside the RZ several times, but attempted a pass into the EZ just once --the pass that Miller dropped in the 4Q. Instead, Haley was content to run screens, or lil’ piss-ant circle routes, or line plunges. Take the final possession of the 1H. Out of TOs, the offense faced a 3d & 1 at the OAK 16. You simply MUST take a stab into the EZ on this play. THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION. Toss a lob to Moye and see if he can make a play. Worse case, it’s batted away and you boot the FG. Instead, Haley calls some mamby pamby bullshit, and the result is a check-down circle route -- in the MIDDLE of the field !! -- to Jones, who thankfully allowed the ball to clang off his hands. Had he caught the piss-ant 7 yards pass, there is simply no way the offense gets lined up to spike the ball, and the half expires without a FG attempt.
All in all, an okay day, but obviously not good enough. The grade would be lower, but again, the offense did move into position for 2 chippie FGs that were missed, plus the offense lost the services of 3 O-linemen during the game. C+-
DC:
Facing an inept offense such as OAK’s, Dick nevertheless got eaten alive in the 1H, when the lowly Raider offense produced 3 (THREE) touchdowns.
It all began on the first play from scrimmage, when OAK ran a Read Option KEEPER from its own 7-yard line. No less than THREE players -- Woodley, Timmons, and Clark -- rabidly over pursued on the dive play, which is a direct no-no when facing a read-option offense. I re-watched the 1st play of the game. It wasn't just Big LaMarr who rabidly OVER-PURSUED. Timmons needlessly went waaay to his right over to the scrum, over-zealously trying to jump on the stack instead of ensuring it was NOT a QB Keeper, which is a very likely play in THIS offense. Clark, who is supposed to be a FREE SAFETY, came flying up from the FS spot to jump on the dive play as though the runner was holding a stack of $100 bills. So, there are THREE players, all over-pursuing on the SAME play. Ergo, this isn't the case of "one guy just flubbing up”. It's a SYSTEMIC problem related to PREPARATION, in which NO ONE was acutely prepared for the READ OPTION KEEPER, which is a basic staple of the OAK offense. It’s a shame no one managed to wake up Dick from his daily afternoon nap and have him ready for the outrageously obvious Read Option Keeper.
After the partially deflected punt gave OAK the ball at the PIT 26, here was a chance for a real defense to, you know, make a fucking stand and forced a long FG. Or hell, perhaps push the Raiders out of FG range. Or, hell, create a turnover. Nope, not Dick and his Softee Defense. Dick goes soft, and they stand around and allow the bumbling OAK offense to march for a cake-walk TD score to make it 14-0.
3d & 7 from the OAK 4, late 3Q. Here was the chance to force a Punt from the OAK EZ and claw back into the game. Nope, not Dick. He allows a cake-easy slant for 18 yards to give OAK breathing room. What a clueless, senile FUKTARD.
Sure enough, the overall stats, as meaningless as they are, will show that Dick’s defense was pretty effective. Complete bullshit. Armed with acomfy lead, the Raiders turtled the entire 2H. The INTs were purely Dong INTs. The game was lost in the 1H, when this Softee Defense stood around and got embarrassed by a completely inept OAK offense.
Anyone notice that all 4 of our piss-ant INTs this season have come from DONG INTs ?? Not once has Dick’s Softee Defense actually READ the QB and READ the route, and then JUMPED on a pass for an INT. Not once.
All in all, just further proof of how decrepit, how dimwitted, and how derelict Dick has become as a coordinator at this level of football. High time for this salary thief to do the right thing and move on to his life’s work. F
HC:
Dumblin once again failed to have his team ready to play right from the get-go. The entire team mostly sleep-walked through the 1st half, allowing the lowly Raiders to waltz to the locker room at halftime with a 21-3 lead. Dumblin is supposed to be a defensive expert.....so how in the living hell do you not prepare for the Read Option Keeper ????? How ?? Apparently, when your head coach is a complete clueless tool, that’s how. His penchant for losing to the dregs of the NFL continued today. Let’s see....he’s now lost to Tenn, Chico, Minn, and Oak...all dreg teams. Of course, Dumblin himself presides over a dreg team, with no hope in sight. D-
Synopsis: Obviously, for all intents and purposes, the season is over. At 2-5, there is simply too much ground to cover in too little time. Mistakes made early in the season still aren’t rectified, and at this point, they’re not going to be. The offense isn’t prolific enough and the defense is too soft, too inept, and too meek. It all adds up to a shit record and a well deserved place in the AFC North basement. Of course, only by finishing with a 4-win season will this myopic, head-in-the-sand franchise make the changes that simply must be made and that are long overdue.
(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no one else comes close….)
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