Stillers
28, Colts 10���. Oct 21, 2002����Game #6
Stillers-Dolts
Postgame Analysis and Grades
Playing on prime time TV at
home, the Stillers issued the Indy Colts a humbling can o' whipass en route to
a 28-10 thrashing in a contest that was statistically, and more importantly,
physically dominated by the Black n' Gold.�
This thrashing harkens the memories of the classic movie, "White
Men Can't Jump", in which Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson started arguing
while administering a whipping, "It's too easy"�.."No, no, It's
TOO easy"�."No, no, it's too fuggin' easy"� The way the Stillers
dispatched and dissected the 4-1 Colts in such surgeon-like fashion was a sight
for sore eyes for Stiller fans who've been waiting all season to see this team
perform at a level similar to its expectations.�
Big Plays:
1. After the Colts first
drive stalled, they punted, but Joey Porter swam through a block on the wing
and partially deflected the boot, resulting in a 3-yard punt and golden field
position.
2.� 6 plays later, Maddox caps off the drive by
hitting Ward -- ridiculously covered by DE Chad Bratzke -- on an up route for
the easy 17-yard TD.�
3.� On a failed 3rd & 2 on the Stillers next
possession, Colt LB Marcus Washington is flagged for a 15-yard masking penalty,
thereby keeping the drive alive.� 6
plays later, Bettis scored to give the Stillers a commanding 14-0 lead.
4.� Maddox is picked off late in the 2Q, giving
Indy new life�
5.� �but Manning forces a hideous pass that is
easily picked off by Alex deep in Stiller territory.�
6.� Pollard scores on a 41-yard TD pass to put
Indy somewhat back into the contest.
7.� With Indy driving again, Mike Logan --
serving as a spy just a few yards downfield -- snares a Manning pass and
returns it 46 yards, snuffing the drive and giving the Stillers great field
position.�
8.� Three plays later, Ward hauls in a 14-yard
TD pass from Maddox.
9.� Late in the 3Q, with the Stillers pinned on
their own 2, AZ bursts through the line and scampers 42 yards.�
Grades:
QB: Maddox overcame any jitters he may
have had from playing in national TV and playing at home with Terry Bradshaw as
honorary captain, with a very solid outing.�
He "only" passed for 188 yards, but he was very efficient and
accurate, completing 15 of 23, and also had a solid yards/attempt of 8.17.� He continued his good use of confidently
firing the ball before the receiver makes his break.� More impressively, Maddox continues to be as deadly as a
rattlesnake when inside the Red Zone, showing no fear and no reluctance to take
stabs for the 6 points, something Stewart was often reluctant to do.� Maddox also continues to conduct very sound
play fakes.� He threw but one INT, and
that really was the case of a very good play by LB Mike Peterson, by far the
best LOLB on the field tonight.� There
were a few misfires; a few forces; and a few blatant telegraphs, but overall
this was a very solid outing for the Tommy Gun.� A.��
RB:�
The Tubby Tailback gained 33 yards on 11 carries before tweaking a knee
in the 2nd half and sitting out thereafter.�
He scored 2 TDs, although the Colts defense ought to be ashamed for
allowing a RB to run between the tackles so close to the GL and barely get
touched on the 3-yard TD and not touched at all on the 6-yarder.� Amoz, who wasn't allowed to touch the ball
at all in the 1st half, came on in relief and had some sparkling plays,
including the 42-yard burst. Fu, back from injury, had a very impressive
16-yard scamper around end, in which he showed a good bursts of quickness to
turn the corner and head upfield.� The
only play that really enraged me from this RB gang was the 3d & 2 pass play
on the Stillers' 2nd drive, in which the Colts blitzed and a DE came thru the
right side of the Stiller line.� Bettis
remained in to block, and instead of simply bending over a tad and stymieing the
man (backup DE Raheem Brock), The Doughboy does this sissified "dive"
at the man's feet.� This is acceptable
when a little RB like Amoz goes to pick up the blitz of, say, Takeo Spikes, but
the 275-pound Bettis need not take such a pussyfied ploy when facing a small DE
who actually weighs 20 pounds LESS than The Tubster.� I fully understand the need for a RB to not stand upright
immediately in front of his QB, but the 5-10" Bettis, crouched down just slightly
and holding his ground against a smaller man, would not have been in the
way.� The DE vaulted over Bettis'
pathetic dive and Maddox was hit as he threw, and only the masking penalty on
Marcus Washington enabled this drive to continue.� A.����
FB: Kreider was absolutely devastating
tonight, continually punishing Colts defenders in brutal fashion.� The training room on Tuesday over in the
Indy facility will be jammed pack with Indy defenders, many of whom can thank
Dan Kreider for the lumps and bruises that he dispensed in prolific fashion.� Rookie V. Haynes continues to
disappoint.� Twice on the Stillers' last
drive, Haynes was called upon to lead-block as the FB, and twice he was grossly
pathetic.� His shameful lead block
helped cause the 5-yard loss on an Amoz run shortly before the 2MW, and two
plays later, on a 3rd-down play up RT, Haynes was stymied so badly that he was
knocked back a bit and clogged the hole -- much like Jon Witman was famous for
-- thus resulting in Amoz getting stuffed for no gain.� Kreider: A+.� Haynes: C+.
WR:�
Burres and Ward each abused the softee Indy secondary, Plex with 6 grabs
and Ward with 5.� Ward also had the two
big TDs, and a great RAC late in the 2Q a simple WR screen.� El had only one grab, but also ran the ball
three times and gained 27 yards.� Mathis
rarely played.�� A.�
TE:�
Bruener had 1 grab for a whopping 8 yards.� His blocking was adequate.�
He screwed the team's first drive of the 3Q by committing a foolish
false start on the first play.� B.
OL: The O-line dominated the trenches
in this game.� To be sure, as I'd noted
in my pre-game report, this was a soft, extremely mediocre Indy front 4, but
nonetheless, it was good to see the Stillers establish their physical
domination early and often.� The left
side of Gandy and Faneca just mauled and bulldozed the Colts all evening.� Rookie K. Simmons continues to progress and
develop.� The worse thing that happened
tonight for the Stillers was the injury to center Jeff Hartings.� His status is unknown but it appears he'll
be lost for a couple of games at a minimum, and if so, this win will be fairly
expensive.� Chukky Okobi replaced
Hartings, and on the late 4th & goal plunge attempt, Okobi allowed his man
to swim right by and tangle up the feet of Amos Z., which forced AZ to come up
short of paydirt.� Overall, had the
opposition be a bit more rugged and talented, this performance would have
merited an A+.�� A.�
DL:�
The d-line wasn't dominating, per se, but they did a solid job of
controlling the LOS and limiting James' freedom of movement.� Aaron Smith was quite active, and delivered
a couple good blows to rattle Manning.�
Hampton and Kimo also chipped in.�
They had the luxury of playing with a hefty lead and facing an inept
Colt O-line that was also banged up with injury, but this was a solid effort.� A-.���
LB:�
James Farrior led the way with a solid evening, playing sideline to
sideline with good instinct and aggressiveness.� Joey Porter, who very soon must begin making plans to be in
Hawaii in late January, had another good game.�
Kendrell Bell returned from his long hiatus, and while he was far better
than the Foote/Feel-all-a combo, Bell struggled a good bit as well.� James torched him on a downfield pass route,
as well as juked him to the dirt on a few occasions.� Bell did provide some heat and harassment on blitzes, but overall
this wasn't anywhere close to one his better career games.� The good news, of course, is that he
survived with no further aggravation, and he should be sharper and stronger
next week.� Despite the absurd fawning
and gushing by ABC announcer Fat John Madden, Jason Gildon had yet another
mediocre evening.� Jason The Gimcrack
stood around quite a bit, and was able to get onto the stat-sheet only by
virtue of picking up the slop left over by his mates' hard work.� Clark Haggans saw some PT, and on one pass
rush late in the 2Q, hit Mannings' arm/shoulder as the QB was trying to release
the ball.� Overall, this crew had a good
game.� A-.
DB:�
The secondary rose to the occasion with a pretty good effort.� The CBs were usually right near or on top of
the Indy receivers.� Mike Logan had the
defensive play of the game, with an adroit INT in 3Q and a big return, snuffing
what was Indy's last gasp at making this a close game.� I'd noted in my pre-game that it would be
nice if Burnt Alexander might be able to get his first pass-defensed of
the season, and Brent came through, batting one pass while jumping up during a
blitz, and picking off two others.� Both
INTs were of the Dong variety, but given Brent's outright avoidance of the pigskin
thus far this season, they were encouraging nonetheless.� Brent also had a good, clean hit under
Manning's chin on a sack, which seemed to rattle the QB.� Townsend chipped in with a blend of solid
blitzing and good coverage.� The only
downer was the 41-yard TD strike to Pollard, in which Alex was simply too slow
to get back over and haul down Pollard.�
Overall, Manning's erratic throwing helped, but this was a good
performance.� A.�
Spec teams:�
When your spec teams have stunk like cow dung the entire season, it's
not overly difficult to have the best spec teams game of the season.� But having said, that, this was the best
spec teams outing of the season.� The
tone was set on the opening boot, when Haynes and Mayes crushed Walters and
limited him to a 9-yard return.� Porter
blocked the punt a few plays later.� And
later in the quarter, Iwuoma nailed Walters on a KO return.� Of course, this being a Bill Cowher-coached
team, the spec teams were far from flawless.�
Peterson's kickoffs continue to be so woefully short that I keep
wondering if he's kicking a medicine ball, rather than a pigskin, on these
KOs.� Pete's 48-yard FG attempt was
pitifully short.� And, to add salt to
the wound, dumbass Peterson once again squibbed a KO OOB.� Josh had what appeared to be a nice 53-yard
punt, but he had weak hang-time and out-kicked his coverage, which allowed an
easy 20-yard punt return.� El muffed a
FC attempt, but recovered.� More work needs
to be done on the overall play of the special teams, but this was a marked improvement.� B-.
OC:�
Mularkey had a sound game plan, in which he kept the Dolts off balance
and kept them guessing.� Like an OC is supposed
to be doing, he was able to put his team into position of mismatch, such
as the Ward TD in which he was covered by a DE.� I liked the use of the reverse on first down in the 1st quarter,
because it kept the Dolts off-balance, and it slowed down some pursuit.� Ditto for the use of El as a RB receiving
direct shotgun snaps.� I was also
pleased with the stabs at the EZ in the red zone.� Probably the only thing that peeved me was this absurd rotting of
Amoz Zereoue in the first half, in which AZ didn't touch the ball a single
time.� In many respects, I actually hope
Bettis does not dress versus Baltimore, just so we can be totally assured of
getting AZ's speed and quickness onto the field against the Ravens.� A-.�
DC:�
Tim Lewis accomplished what I -- and many others -- have been hoping for
all season: some heat, harassment, and disruption of the opposing QB.� At first glance, one might peruse the stats
and see that the Stillers had but two sacks (one of which came from a DB), and
then conclude that the pass rush was soft, cheesy, and ineffective.� Nothing could be further from the truth.� The Stiller D not only pounded and punished
Manning all night long, but even when they weren't physically contacting him,
they were disrupting and harassing the QB with hands in his face and his
footwork room being limited to the size of a phone booth.� Heat, harassment, disruption -- this
is what putting pressure on the QB is all about, and despite only 2 sacks, the
Stillers created a huge amount of heat, harassment, and disruption for Manning,
who in turn had a rather awful evening of forced passes, misfires, and hideous
INTs.� A.�
HC: �Cowher improved his record to 10-0 at home on MNF, and also
improved to 70-1 when blessed with a 10-point lead.� He seemed to have his team motivated, focused, and ready to play
physical football.� On the negative
side, the special teams -- though improved -- still lag miserably behind.� And in the only intelligent comment all
evening by Fat John Madden, Cowher looked like a total dunce on the sideline in
trying to provide tutelage to Randle El on how to catch a punt.� It's bad enough that Cowshit knows as little
about catching punts as he does about offensive football, so Cowher giving such
advice is like a pastry chef giving advice on plumbing.� More embarrassing, though, is that Fat
Madden watched El catch punts last week in practice with his hands "upright"
-- just as he has since TRAINING CAMP -- and Cowshit evidently never had a
problem and never spent time to make what he felt was a needed correction.� In head-in-the-sand management that is all
too typical of Bill Cowher, Cowshit waits until disaster strikes to then make
his correction.� Hopefully the entire
nation was still tuning in and was able to see this classic example of Bill
Cowher's overt idiocy and inattention to detail.� B+.�
Synopsis:
�The Stillers have finally reached .500 and
seem poised to get on a roll.� The team
is playing with much more gusto, fire, and physical-ness.� And, instead of a possible maelstrom of
controversy at QB, Tommy Maddox now seems about as entrenched a starter as you
can have in the NFL, and only a horrific showing or injury will move Maddox to
the pine.� The team now embarks on the
flabby remainder of their schedule, in which they face a host of creampuffs and
have only a few challenges, such as @ Clev, @ Jax, and @ Tampa.� The contest next week in Baltimore might be
a stiff challenge, but the Stillers have had good success down there against
the PoeBirds, and this Stiller team fondly recalls the strong domination over
Baltimore in all 3 contests last season.� Let's hope the team's collective hat-size remains in check, and
that they avoid over confidence, because this could easily be, say, an 8-2 run
if the team keeps its perspective, irons out the rough spots, and plays a
physical & aggressive brand of football.�