Stillers 29, Bungals 14 ……. Oct 22, 2017………Game # 7
Stillers-Bungals Postgame Analysis and Grades
The 4-2 Stillers hosted the 2-3 Bungals. As usual, the Stillers marched up and down the field, only to continually piss away golden chances and settle for FGs. Dalton was his usual self, and did nothing after halftime, and the Stillers secured a key win, 29-14.
Grades:
QB: Good early TD strike to AB. Then showed good patience and wisdom to spot JuJu for the 2nd TD pass. The idiocy of wasted time at the end of the 1H was part BenRoth’s. As soon as he handed off to Bell, his NUMBER ONE task is to ensure a timely TO, unless, of course, Bell scampers into the EZ. Instead, as the worst veteran QB in the NFL at managing the clock, he’s nowhere to be found.
His pass to AB was too soft, and was busted up, early 3Q. But on the ensuing 3d & 8, Ben scooted from the pocket, and then hit AB for a key 1D. Ben was fairly spotty in the 2H, and finished with a modest 14 of 24 for 224. On the good side, he threw no INTs and did not fumble, which is a huge plus. B
RB:
Bell - Stellar running all game long. Superb catch and run, 2Q in which he eluded 4 tacklers, including a stiff-arm of Kirkpatrick in which he shoved the DB to the ground. Play gained 42 yards. Had 35 rushes for 135, plus 3 grabs for 58. A+
Conner - good plowing for 5 yards, early 2Q. Had a nice 11 yard run in garbage time. It fully appears he will rot all season, until Toker Bell suffers his perennial January injury.
Watson - good 2d effort on 4th & 1 plunge, first play 4Q, altho he was short. A bad spot gave him the 1D, and Cinci challenged the spot. The refs over-turned the spot, and Cinci took over on downs.
FB:
Nix - Good lead block on Bell’s 12 yard run, 1st series. Good lead block for Bell, 2nd play of 3Q, good for 15. Did a stellar job against a rugged Cinci front 7. A
WR:
Brownie – Had a TD, with 4 grabs for 65. Cinci always manages to limit AB. B-
Bryant - ran an end around, 1st play o’ game, for a piddly 2 yards. Thrown a deep ball, 3Q, and failed to ever spot, or read, the football. What a tool. Had 1 grab for 3 yards. LMAO !! Falls down at the slightest pinkie-touch of contact. Perhaps he should be traded, and soon. Then again, who would want this pile o’ shit ?? D-
Eli - grabbed a WR screen, 1st play of 2Q, and juked and weaved for 10 yard. Quick -- let’s rot this fellow on the bench !! Of course, that was his only grab of the game.
Heyward-Gay – no meaningful PT on O.
JuJu - supposedly the God of WR Blocking, he failed to sustain his block on an early 3d & 5, which gained 23 but would have gained 60 if this half-ass would have kept his block. Grabbed a cake-easy lob for a TD, early 2Q. Good 2nd effort to get OOB, late 2Q. Failed to haul in a sideline lob, 4Q, in which he allowed the DB to wrest the ball out of his hands. B-
TE:
Jesse James - rarely, If ever, targeted.
Grimble - good grab in tight coverage, late 1Q.
McDonald - got completely devastated and blown up by Burfict on a ground play, final play of 1Q. Good grab and run down the seam, 2 plays later, for 28 yards. Dropped a TD pass in the EZ, late 1Q. Very poor. I was enraged with the drop. C-
OL: Overall, the line opened up lots of creases in the ground game, and Ben was never sacked. The blocking on short yardage is the only blemish. A-
Villeneueva - got abused for a lick on Ben as he threw inc. on a 3rd down pass, 2nd series. Got completely humiliated on a 3d & 1-foot run, in which his man crashed inside then dropped Bell for a 2-yard loss. Just awful how this fellow has completely regressed this season. C
Gilbert - FatAss Marcus again sat out with a ham. Hubbard replaced him. Got tooled by Dunlap, who nipped Ben’s arm and forced an Inc pass, 2Q. Did ok. B
Foster – Blocked ok. B
Pouncey - Solid game. A-
DeCastro – On the key 4th & 1 plunge, early 4Q, that was Big David DeAsstro, the supposed Blo Bowler, on his ass, on the ground, doing NOTHING. Thank you, David, you overpaid, over-rated fatass. B-
DL:
Hargrave - good solo stop inside the 10, 2d series. Adequate game.
Heyward – over-pursued on the early Mixon run that gained 25. Had 4 solos. B
Tuitt – again sat out. He signed the big contract just before the regular season began, and has now missed, what ,4.9 games.
Alu - got the 4Q clean-up sack that DuPree forced. Had 4 solos in his best game as a Stiller. A-
Walton - flagged rightfully for holding a pulling lineman, 2Q.
LB:
Vinnie– Saw a ton of PT but had only 2 solos. B-
Shaquier – excellent lick and stop of a TE on a 3d & 9, 1st series, which was stopped short of the sticks. Good stuff on run, 2nd play of 3Q. Then, on the next play, he stopped a diving Smalton a yard short of the sticks on a scramble. Led the team with 5 solos in an active, solid effort. A
Moats - did not dress.
Harrison – got only sparse PT.
Chicklillo - got a lucky pinkie on a boot pass, which luckily caused the pass to be incomplete near the goal line. To his credit, he astutely read the bootleg, and at least tried his ass off on the play, which is more than a stiff like Jason GilDong or Far LaMarr Woodley would have done.
Watt - Good chase-down and solo for no gain, 1st series. Forced a TA (throw-away), 2d series. Good stick and stop, early 2Q. Good stop of run, early 4Q. Then 2 plays later, he submarined in and sacked Smalton on a key 3rd down. Had 5 solos in his best game as a Stiller. Damn, if he can improve beyond this, he’ll be a monster come Jan. A
Dupree – blew by the RB led to the sack of Dalton, 10:30 4Q. Then, 2 plays later, he attacked to the inside and sacked the QB. Am still not pleased with his run stuffing, but for a fellow who ain’t done dick all season, this was a welcome sight. B+
DB
Mitchell – as usual, did nothing. Had 2 solos. Nowhere to be found near an aerial football. Got tooled on a Cinci TD. C
Gay - Had a nice INT, 3Q, although he then stupidly ran backwards like a complete dunce.
Haden - good coverage on inc deep ball to Lafell, early 2Q. Snagged an INT off an AJ Green drop-deflection. Good coverage on a deep ball to Core, 3Q. A
Burns - whiffed on an INT attempt, 1st series, and allowed a 1D. Instead of, you know, wrapping Mixon on a long run, Burns gives him this chickenshit no-armed bump, which did nothing, and finally Viinnie had to haul him down (2d series). Very weak, and soft. Didn’t even make it on the stat sheet, but at least wasn’t abused.
Davis - Delivered a huge lick on Mixon, 3Q, which forced a fumble, altho Cinci recovered. A few plays later, he busted up a pass, which was then INTd by Gay. Had 3 solos. Very pleased and impressed with this fellow. A
Hilton - completely blew up a screen pass, 1st series. All the dude does is make plays. Then, on the ensuing 3d & 9, applied the initial lick on a TE, who was brought down short of the sticks by Shaz.. Had 2 solos and 2 As. Dude just makes plays. A
Golden - got a solo, 2Q, on a long Mixon run.
Spec teams:
Jordan Berry – punted just twice, thank God. From the PIT 14, he got off a shoddy, weak-assed 39 yard punt after the 2d series. Very poor, and weak. Cinci took over with GOLDEN FP at its 47, and in just a handful of plays scored the tying TD. He actually did get off a decent 51 yard boot. C
Boswell – 5 for 5 in FGs. Nicely done. A.
Rogers - not permitted to field punts.
AB – stupidly failed to catch, after a FC, an early 4Q punt, which landed and rolled another 15 yards, forcing the PIT offense to start on its own 4. C-
Chick made a good solo stop of the first KO. Nix had a good, crisp solo stop in KO coverage, 2Q.
Watson grabbed a KO and plodded to the 21 yard line.
Golden tossed a perfect lob to DHB on a fake punt, 4Q, for a key 1D and gain of 44 yards. Had the play gone inc, Cinci would have gotten the ball at the PIT 40 in a 12-point game with eons of time left (6:40 remaining). Gutty decision by Golden. A
OC:
Haley continues to oversee the worst short-yardage offense in the NFL, along with just about the worst RZ offense as well. With just a minimum of tweaks, this game would have been a 24+ point blowout.
Bell had just run for a 42 yard catch and run, 2Q, and then he gets the ball on the next play. THIS is where you insert Connor to give Bell a blow. Awful playcall to run the ball, late 2Q with 12 secs left, from the Cinci 5, which was stuffed, and worse, chewed the clock down to 3 seconds. Yes, the refs dicked the dog on the timeout & the clock….which you can EXPECT to happen in a scrum, which is why ya don’t call the chickenshit play in the first place. You have a $100M QB, and AB, Bry, James, and even Bell and JuJu. Throw the fuking ball on that play, and if it’s inc, ya have plenty of time to run another play before the FG.
I fuking despised the 3d & 1 deep ball to AB, 3Q. It wasn’t a surprise, at ALL, and the inc pass forced a FG. Then, on 3rd & inches, early 4Q, they try this stupid-assed out and up -- which fooled NO ONE -- instead of simply plunging the ball, making the 1D, and chewing the clock. Haley continues to try and be cute, and instead of effective. D-
DC:
Keith Assler had the luxury of facing Andy Smalton, who always shrinks like a cheap suit when he visits Pittsburgh.
The Stillers scored an early TD. Sure as shit, Assler rabidly and rapidly pisses away the lead, with a 3d & goal, chickenshit 3-man rush that allowed Smallton an easy window for the TD pass. Then, the Stillers score again to go up, 14-7. Sure as shit, Assler goes soft, and on a 3d & 8, easy 22 yards. Sure as shit, Cinci marches down the field and ties the game at 14. Brilliant !! Sure, the D totally shut down Cinci in the 2H. So I’ll issue 2 grades: 1H, D-; 2H, A.
HC: Mike Dumblin was heavily part of the wasted down (essentially, a LOST down) just before halftime. He calls a timeout, but of course, had to do it the “Joe cool” manner, nstead of getting in the ref’s face, yelling and signaling for a TO in order to stop the clock at SEVEN seconds, not THREE.
To his credit, at least the team was moderately fired up, and didn’t have the Chicago/Jax letdown that we all feared. Of course, sure as shit, this team could easily lay an egg on the road in DET next week. A
Synopsis: A solid win over a division foe. Of course, as noted above, there can be no let-up, as DET could just as easily run up and down the field on this oft-softee defense. And/or, Ben could again turn the ball over 3 or 4 times, as he plays far less effectively on the road. It would be nice to secure a W before the bye week.
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