Stillers 24, Bungals 16 ……. Sep 18, 2016…………Game # 2
Stillers-Bungals Postgame Analysis and Grades
The Stillers (1-0) hosted the 1-0 Bungals in a bitter divisional match. The game itself wasn’t all that rancorous or bitter, but the Stillers fought off a late Cinci rally and held on for a key AFC North win.
Grades:
QB:
Shoddy, way off-target pass on 4th down, 1Q, to AB that was INT’d. Of course, the INT was better, field position wise, than if the 15-yard pass had simply been incomplete. Still, a horrible, piss-poor pass, apparently caused from Shitlesberger, the fellow who played ball in Ohip and Pittsburgh, having problems with a wet ball. Good scoot from pressure, next series, and then a deep lob to Coates for a 44-yard gain. Good TD strike to Grimble. Misfire to AB on 3d & 16, 2Q. Forced a deep seam pass to Rogers, 2Q, despite blanketed coverage and plenty of nearby help. A shit pass. Threw his 2nd INT of the game late in the 1H, on a deep bomb to Coates in which blanket coverage allowed the Cinic CB to go up and snare the pig.
Early in the 3Q, on a 3d & 4, Ben had Coates OPEN on a deep route, but woefully underthrew the pill, which was broken up and nearly INTd. Pitiful pass. Alert scramble of 14 yards to the Cinci 5 yard line, 4Q. Ben led a solid TD march in the 4Q that sealed the win. Still, he was spotty all game long, going 19 of 37 for 259. Yes, it was raining. Big shit. For a QB who played ball in Ohio and now in Pgh for a total of the past 20 years, that excuse doesn’t cut mustard. C
RB:
DeAngelo – ripped off 8 yards on the game’s first play. Good speed on wide run, 1Q, good for 11. Nice 8-yard run, early 3Q. Brilliant move after a short dumpoff, 4Q, gaining 20 yards out of a 5 yard play. Grabbed clutch TD late in game to help seal the deal. A+
Toussaint - nice juke of Jac Man on a 3Q dumpoff; gained 9 yards. Had 1 rush for 4 yards.
Richardson - nice gain on a wide sweep, 2Q, good for 6 yards. Nice to have Richie and 3-Saint come off the bench and chip in.
FB:
David Johnson - Grabbed a short pass, last play of 1Q, and got utterly drilled, although he held onto the pig.
Nix -
WR:
Brownie – was wide open, 2Q, on a 3d & 10, and dropped a PERFECT pass that hit him right in the chest on what would have easily been a 15 yard play, if not more with RAC. Maybe the imbecile should spend more time catching balls rather than jerking and twerking. Finished with a meager 4 grabs for 39 yards. Hopefully the haughty twerk n’ jerk has been humbled just a bit. C-
Pinkie Wheaton – Mister Sofftee has a sore shoulder, so he sat this game out. With AB drawing mammoth attention, PissAss Markus SHOULD be hauling in 9 grabs a game, EASY. Instead, he's sitting the pine in street clotches, and Rogers and Coates are becoming more entrenched and more comfortable.
Coates - hauled in deep lob, 1Q, for 44 yards. Hauled in a deep post, 3Q, for a 53-yard gain to set up the TDD pass to James on the next play. His speed and acceleration is the perfect complement to AB. A
Rogers - grabbed a curl pass, early 2Q. This was his lone grab.
Heyward-Gay – Thrown a 3d & 3 slant, 2Q, but got drilled as the ball arrived, forcing an Inc. (the ball appeared to be coming out of his hands before the lick was delivered.) Caught a WR screen and fought hard for 7 yards.
TE:
Jesse James - Good block on wide run, 1Q, good for 11. Two plays later, made a stellar grab of a high pass near the sideline chalk, good for 11. The Outlaw plucked a high, hard pass in the EZ for a clutch TD, 3Q. Had 3 grabs for 29. B+
Grimble - Superb pluck of a hard, high seamer, 1Q, and then good RAC to bust tackle and then athletically dive to the GL for a TD to put the team up, 6-0. Fight on !! Superb, clutch grab of a poor, low throw on 3d & 1, mid 3Q. A
Said Coach Stoogelin after the game: “We're not waiting for Heath or (Matt) Spaeth to come back,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “They're still legends, and we appreciate what they did for us. These are the guys who play for us now. They're capable, and we have a great deal of confidence in them, and they delivered.” So this is how a piss-ass like Spaeth stuck on the roster for so many years…..he was a legend in Stoogelin’s mind. Matthew Spaeth, career pisfuk......"the legend", according to Stoogelin. Putting Spaeth in the same category as Miller is an enormous insult to Miller.....kind of like putting Russ Cockrell and Richard Sherman in the same category. Unbelievably asinine.
OL: Overall, the OL played well, opening some decent holes for the ground game and giving Ben some decent time.
Villeneueva - was feeble on the Clark sack of Ben, 2Q. Had some other struggles, but played ok.
Gilbert - FatAss Marcus quickly committed a false start, which is typically is good for at least 1 per game. Played allright.
Foster – Had some struggles against Atkins.
Pouncey - got thrown aside by Peko, 2Q, which allowed Peko to crunch DW on a run. Also got away with a false start in the 2H.
DeCastro – Decent game, although he has still yet to prove he’s worth the fatty contract lavished by Doltbert.
DL: Overall, the DL did a fine job in shutting down the Cinci ground game, and applied some pressure on Smalton.
Hargrave - Nice hustle to chase down Hill on a dumpoff, because, you know, fuking NO ONE else on the defense was within an ACRE of Hill after the catch. Grave was also hit with a horsecollar flag on the play, but ya can’t deride a 320-pound NT from hustling and stopping a starting RB TWENTY yards down the field.
McCullers - saw some time here and there.
Heyward – got nicked up, 6:02 4Q. Solid pressure here and there on the QB.
Tuitt – good stop, opening drive. Legally drilled Smalton in the back, 4Q, popping the carrot-head’s helmet off in hilarious fashion. Excellent play to fight off a block and blast Hill on a screen play, 6:00 4Q.
Matthews - subbed in for Heyward.
LB:
Timmons – nailed Hill for a 1 yard gain, 2Q. Had 6 solos and 1 A. B
Shaquier – using his speed, harassed Smalton on a mini boot, 3d & 1, in the 2Q, which forced a TA. Excellent speed to stop a sweep, 3Q. Had 5 solos and 6 As in a very solid effort. A
Moats - helped stopped Hill after a short dumpoff, 4Q. Got his only solo on a Dong Sack, which resulted in a loss of about 10 inches.
Harrison – pretty quiet, but he did forced a late fumble by Boyd, which was scooped up by Golden.
Jones – The Stiff, Jarstiff, had a chance for an INT late in the 1H, but the ball hit him in the worst place, right in the CHEST, and he fuking dropped the ball. 4 plays later, the Bungals tacked on a chippy FG to make it a 4-point game, no thanks to Jarstiff Jones. Adequate stop of Hill, early 3Q. Had 1 solo and 1 A in a quiet effort. C-
Chickillo - saw a fair amount of PT, and had 2 solos.
Dupree – did not dress; IR.
DB
Golden – active in run support, 1Q. Shoved the TD OOB before he could get his 2nd foot down, 3Q. (the TE did get his knee down, and perhaps this should have been ruled a TD.) Two plays later, Cinci had to settle for a short FG. Had 5 solos and 3 As. A-
Mitchell – finally did something productive, making an easy tackle on a 3d & 6 dumpoff, along with Golden, near the Stiller 7 yard line in the 1Q. Big lick dislodged a deep crosser to the TE, late 2Q. Had 3 solos. He clearly was outplayed by Goldie. C
Gay - busted up a 2-yard desperation shovel pass that would have been like 8 yards short of the sticks, and then jumped and pranced as though he’d just won the Powerball lottery. Got tooled by Erickson on a 3d & 3, late 3Q, for about a 19 yard gain. B-
Cockrell - got hit with a PI flag on a deep lob, late 3Q. Frankly, this was a really ticky-tack call. Allowed some soft stuff underneath. B-
Sean Davis - blew up a ground play, opening drive, on a blitz. Busted up a slant to AJ, 2d series. Got tooled and humiliated by Tyler Boyd on a deep seamer, late 3Q. Feebly whiffed on Hill on the late-game TD. B
Justin Gilbert - don’t think he saw the field on D.
Burns - Smartie busted up a potential TD pass in the EZ, late 1H. Hit with a PI flag in the EZ on a silly-assed, needless grab of Lafell, which gave Cinci a 1st & goal. Luckily, the D held Cinci to a FG. Whiffed feebly on Hill after a dumpoff, which allowed the late TD by Hill. Very sad, and sorry.
Sharko Thomas – don’t think he saw the field on D.
Spec teams:
Jordan Berry – punted quite acceptably. Good 58 yard punt, 2Q. This may have been his best game as a pro. As I reviewed my notes last nite, it dawned in me that the 1 unsung hero was Jordan Cherry. No shanks, and consistently good boots, in rainy weather and a soggy field, no less. No idiotic booming of punts thru the EZ, either, aside from the punt with like 11 secs left in the game, where the touchback mattered little. Of course, next week, he could just as well shank 3 punts.... A
Boswell – drilled a 49-yard FG, 2Q. Good KOs. A
Rogers - returned the 1st punt for a few yards. Had a nice 15 yard return of a punt, 2Q. Nearly coughed up the ball on a punt return, early 3Q. Luckily, Heyward-Bey recovered the ball.
AB – returned the game’s 2nd punt for 14 yards on a very solid return.
Fort had good punt coverage, 2Q. Sharko Thomas nearly blocked a punt, early 3Q. Also had a good stop in punt coverage, late 3Q. Matekevich had a good stop late in the game on punt coverage.
OC:
Barf-inducing, vanilla playcalling, game’s opening series. After DW gained 8 on 1st down, Haley insisted on blandly plunging DW two more times, once for a yard and then nothing doing on 3d & 1. Yes, it was raining, but it wasn’t a monsoon, and there was no reason to go all Cro Magnon here.
The O managed to crank it up, although bogged down by the QB. Disappointing to see AB get only 4 grabs, along with the 1 drop. AB is the clear #1 weapon on this offense and the Stillers are not paying him big dollars for 4 piddly grabs. It’s Haley’s job to get the ball into his hands on double digit occasions per game. C+
DC:
Keith Assler had a massive luxury today, with Cinci having to play from behind AND Cinci being bogged down deep in its own territory on almost every single drive.
2nd series of game, the TE was WIDE open, but the high pass clanged off the backup TE’s hands. Assler had the luxury of Cinci being bogged down nearly the entire 1H with horrific FP, typically starting at their own 10 and even their own 5.
Ben hit James for a big TD in the 3Q, and it appeared the Stillers had all the Mo. On the ensuing drive, the Bungals began the drive with a holding flag, pushing them back to their own 15. Sure as shit, Assler allowed Cinci to march….and march….and march….all the way to the Pgh 1. Luckily, Smalton played small, as he often does, and Cinci settled for a FG. In the 4Q, Assler allowed Smalton to get comfy and cozy, and at 1 point Smalton was 11 for 12 on passes….with the only inc pass being a sloppy drop by a backup WR. Very, very shoddy by Assler. Furthermore, the complete disregard to cover Hill and Bernard out of the backfield nearly cost the Stillers this game. Bernard had 9 grabs for 100, and Hill had 3 grabs for 37. Very poor. C-
HC: Mike Dumblin managed to eek out the W, achieving a rare (for him) 2-0 record. The other shoe will probably drop, but I am amazed at the lack of silly, pre-snap and other penalties, along with the fairly solid play on spec teams, 2 attributes that you never see with a Stoogelin coached team. B+
Synopsis: A nice win over Cinci, setting the tone for the ’16 AFC North chase. This team HAS to be of a mindset that they need to, at a minimum, win the division and at least the #2 seed to obtain a bye week and the health that comes with it. Not to be a kill-joy, but next week’s game at Philly has all the look and feel of an egg lay. Having just beat a hated divisional rival, you can just see a Stoogelin-coached team letting their foot off the gas pedal in road game against a capable but not-hated opponent. The Stillers have had numerous struggles in Philly over the years. At 2-0, the team is fairly due for a Dumblin egg lay.
(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no one else comes close….)
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