The Stillers kept their
extremely slim playoff hopes alive beating a decrepit, frustrated Raiders team
that is just playing out the string. The Steelers played their most complete
game of the season since the opener and at least have not quit.
QB:
Tommy Gun played well going 19
of 28 for 266 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. Tommy received good protection from
his o-line and was on target most of the day including a nice fade pattern to
the end zone for a Plex TD. Tommy completed passes to eight different receivers
and finishes the game with a 95 passer rating. Grade: B+.
RB:
Bettis rolled 27 times for
106 yards at 3.9 yards a carry. He moved up to 9th on the all-time
rushing list and has only 5 more yards to surpass Franco Harris and move to 8th
all-time. On the downside, Bettis once again coughed up the rock on the
Steelers 46. However, the inept Raiders were not able to do anything with back-to-back
turnovers. Dan Kreider was once again a beast run blocking and had a nice
26-yard grab to set up a Stillers TD. Kreider also scored on a 1 yard TD run. Zereoue
did little with 5 yards on 7 carries and Verron Haynes had a nice catch for a
12-yard gain. Grade A.
WR & TE:
Hines Ward hauled in 4
catches for 67 yards, one a 38 yarder. In addition, Ward took a chance after
catching a slant and backward-passed the ball to Mark Bruener that went for an
additional 11 yards. Plex grabbed three passes for 38 yards including a nice 14-yard
fade pattern in the corner of the endzone. ARE had a spectacular day receiving
and on special teams. He snared 4 passes for 48 yards. On a day when Maddox
completed passes to eight different Steelers (five of them backs) and the Bus
rumbled for over 100 yards, the receivers had a solid outing. Grade: A.
O-line:
The o-line did a nice job
protecting Maddox against a fairly poor Raider pass rush. Maddox was not sacked
and the run blocking was solid all day. The line opened holes for Bettis to
rumble for 100 yards and dominated a poor Raider front seven all day. Grade: B.
D-Line:
After
an early 1st quarter drive in which the Raiders ran the ball down
the Stillers throats, the d-line had a solid game. Von Oelhoffen had three
sacks, his first injuring Rick Mirer and limiting his mobility the whole game.
Now, that is a real game, changing sack. Kimo, a 3-4 DE that is not supposed to
get that many sacks, beats his man and injures the QB while sacking him. Mirer
also fumbled on the sack and the Stillers recovered. Smitty also recorded a
sack and he, Kimo and Casey were solid in run support after the first quarter
TD drive. Grade A.
LB:
The
big three were good today. As always, Gildon is not included in this grade. You
can look to the weekly Gildong report for his grade. Farrior had another strong
day stuffing the run and KenBell was all over the field stuffing the run and
applying solid coverage. Porter was once again solid in run support and in pass
coverage. He also applied consistent pressure all day form his rush end spot in
the dime. After the first drive this group acquitted themselves quite well. Grade:
B.
Secondary:
Well,
finally something good to report on this group. Dewayne Washington came off the
bench and had an INT and deflected another pass that Burnt Alexander snagged
for another INT. Chris Hope and Ivan Taylor were solid in coverage and run
support and Polamula had another strong day before leaving with some type of
head injury. Deshea Townsend provided solid coverage all day and held the
Raiders to 68 yards passing. Grade: A.
Special
Teams:
Jeff
Reed missed two 47-yard field goals but made a 44 and a 40-yard field goal. The
kickoff and punt return teams were very good. ARE had five punt returns for 132
yards. (average of 26.4 yards a return) The kickoff coverage team was solid and
Randle El and Ivan Taylor had kickoff returns of 34 and 23 yards respectively. Grade:
A.
Coaching:
The
Stillers did not quit but should have used this game to give some younger
players some more playing time. Ivan Taylor should have started at corner and
Chris Hope definitely should be starting for Burnt Alexander at FS. Alonzo
Jackson could have started for Jason Gildon and that would not have changed the
outcome a bit. In fact, it would have improved the Stillers� defensive performance.
Call me soft, but I understand the sentiment of Bettis passing Franco Harris and
becoming the 8th leading rusher in NFL history. The Raiders have a
soft run �D� and Cowher figured that Bettis could rack up some yardage. Let
Bettis start and get his 5 yards next week and then it is time to find out what
the B&G have in Verron Haynes. �Grade:
B.
The
Steelers are 5-8 and need a miracle to make the playoffs. The next three weeks should
be spent evaluating players such as Ivan Taylor, Chris Hope, Alonzo Jackson, Verron
Haynes and Troy Polamula. Bettis will get his five yards and then Cowher should
not waste the opportunity to see what Haynes can do when given the rock 25
times a game. The Steelers travel to New York next week to face the up and down
Jets who have improved their play since the return of Chad Pennington. I see
the Steelers pulling out a close one before Baltimore smacks the sorry Raiders
at 4:00 dashing the Stillers slim playoff hopes. The prediction is Stillers,
21-17.