Stillers 19, Chefs 13 ……. Oct 15, 2017………Game # 6
Stillers-Chefs Postgame Analysis and Grades
The 3-2 Stillers went to Arrowhead to face the 5-0 Chefs. The Stillers dominated the 1H, allowing just 1 first down and leading 12-3. (Total yardage was 232 to 6.) The Stillers were still dominating in the 2H, although a poor INT, and a failure to convert any key 3rd downs, allowed KC to creep back into the game. The Stillers looked to have iced the game with AB’s TD at 3:24 left in the game, with a hefty 9 point lead. Sure as shit, KC marched right down the field at lightning speed, and booted a chippie FG with eons of time left. The Stillers did nothing and punted, and sure as shit again, the coverage teams allowed a hefty 32 yard punt return to give KC golden FP. Thankfully, KC was down to its #4 and #5 WRs, and Deebo got a key sack to help end the game.
Grades:
QB: After last week’s miserable 5 INT effort, Benji had nowhere to go but up.
Barely overthrew James on 1 play, 1Q, and on the next barely overthrew an open McDonald on a deep flag. Six games into the season, these are the kind of plays that MUST get connected. Threw a hideous INT on a 3rd down slant to QB, 2Q. However, AB foolishly stopped his pattern prematurely, which caused the INT. After the Stillers were dominating the first 20 minutes of play, it breathed new life into a sluggish KC team.
Good lob under pressure to AB, 3Q, for 30 yards. Misfired on a 3d & 2 to Bell, late 2Q. On a key 3d & 2, late 4Q, Ben should have been picked off, but the ball went thru the DB’s hands, hit his helmet, and then somehow landed in AB’s hands, who then raced to the EZ for a stunning TD.
3d & 8, just before 2 min warning, and Ben had an ENTERNITY in the pocket. He ended up throwing to a well covered Bell, and the ball was deflected by the defender. ALL this talent on offense, and that’s all Ben could see with that much time…?? A 1D there pretty much ices the game; instead, they had to punt.
The late TD to AB was enormously fortuitous, as the clumsy DB made a HOOP INT attempt, allowing the ball to go right thru his hands and then bounce off his helmet. AB managed to corral the pig and then raced to the EZ. All the same, this should have been a crushing INT on a lollipopped liner-like lob to AB. Benji finished 17 of 25 for 232, but that late TD that shoulda been an INT really hampers the grade. C+
RB:
Bell - Was simply dominating on the TD drive, late 1Q/early 2Q, toting the ball 7 times on the drive and scoring a short TD. On the down side, he drew an unsp. conduct flag after the TD, which of course didn’t sit well with me.
Started the 2H with a stellar 15 yard run. For no apparent reason, despite having an ACRE of room on a 3d & 10 dumpoff, 3Q, Bell did too much stutter-step bullshit and ended up 2 feet short, forcing a punt. Finished with 179 yards on 32 rushes, and had a stellar day toting the ball. On the down side, he mysteriously is almost nowhere to be found in the passing game, aside from ill-fated 3rd down passes that fall incomplete. He had 3 grabs for 12 yards, which would have been a banner day for a stiff like Jon Wittman, but it entirely unacceptable for a man with his route-running and pass catching acumen. A-
Conner - good 10-yard run, first series. Quick -- let’s rot this fellow on the bench, ALL season….! He had 2 carries all game.
Watson - converted an early 3rd & a foot plunge to move the sticks. Nicely done.
FB:
Nix - stellar lead block on Bell’s 30 yard run, 4Q. Had several good blocks in the power running game. A.
WR:
Brownie – nice grab of slant, first series. Foolishly stopped his pattern 2Q, and caused an INT. Big 26-yard grab and run, 2Q. Made the play of the game when he snared a deflected pass (which shoulda been INTd) and took it to the house. Had 8 grabs for 155. He’d have gotten an A+, were it not for the IN THE caused in the 1H. A
Bryant - gained 20 on a slant, 2Q, although were he not so easily tripped up on a shoe-string stab, he’d have taken it to the house. Had 2 grabs, both in the 1H, for a piddly 27 yards. Just not enough from a #2 WR. Actually sat at times in favor of DHB. B-
Eli - dressed, but never involved on O.
Heyward-Gay – got some PT. in placed of Bry, but no targets.
JuJu - flagged for a hold, his FIFTH of the season. Good 3rd down grab, 2Q, to move the chains. Had 3 grabs for 32. At some point, this pudd-puller needs to learn how fuking block and stop drawing costly holding flags. C+
TE:
Jesse James - failed to haul in a longish lob, 1Q. No grabs, which is a bit rare for him. C
Grimble - no PT, did not dress.
McDonald - finally grabbed his first pass as a Stiller. Pancaked a defender on Bell’s good run, 2Q. Maybe this stiff is worth more than just a cold jar of piss. B
OL: Overall, the OL finally got some push and some creases for Bell, although they did vs. Balt as well. They also gave Ben good time in the pocket.
Villeneueva - tooled, as usual this season, for a sack, first series. A shit play, getting whipped to the inside. Among the regular starters, he is by far the weak link. C-
Gilbert - FatAss Marcus finally returned. Of course, he re-injured his ham in the 2Q. Hubbard came in for him.
Foster – sat out with injury. Finney started. Flagged for a hold, 3Q, which negated a 25 yard run by Bell. Overall, played good.
Pouncey - Solid game controlling the middle.
DeCastro – several good pulls and blocks.
DL:
Hargrave - did little, but at least clogged things.
McCullers - thankfully did not dress.
Heyward – Had some pass pressures. Quiet day in the solo dept. Had good pressure on the final KC pass play. B
Tuitt – blew up 2nd play of game, beating a double team and drew a holding flag. Excellent work. Batted a pass, late 4Q. Produced a bit more than Heyward. B+
Alu - little or nothing.
Walton - See Alu.
LB:
Vinnie– got a sack, late 2Q. Apparently not pleased, he followed up that play by literally pancaking RB Kareem Hunt and sacking the QB on the final play of the 1H. Applied a big lick on Hunt on a run, 3Q. Hunt got some revenge, trucking Vinnie after a short grab, late 3Q. Got injured on a running play, early 4Q. A
Shaquier – Had a fairly quiet day, with only 4 solos, although KC didn’t run that many plays. B
Moats - no PT on D.
Harrison – finally permitted to dress, and even play. Chipped in on a short pass, 2Q. Set up LT Fisher with an inside alignment, late 4Q, and then looped around for a huge sack. Gee, let’s rot this fellow another 5 weeks…! A+
Chickillo - saw some PT, did nothing.
Watt - good lick on RB after early flat pass. Blew up a run, late 2Q, which gained zero.
Dupree – flagged for a ticky tack roughing the passer, late 2Q. Had 1 solos in yet another lukewarm, do-nothing effort. D-
Matakevich - got PT after Vinnie was hurt.
DB
Mitchell – got away with a silly, needless helmet hit to West, late 2Q, in which West was clearly stopped. He then had Smith DEAD on a sack, on a key 3rd down, late 3Q, and WHIFFED, and to add shit to the sandwich, committed a dumb-assed roughing the passer on the same play. Instead of a sack and punt, KC gained 37 yards plus the penalty yardage. Thank you, Mike, you worthless piss-ass. Finished with 1 solo the entire game. A worthless piece of shit. Can’t wait to he receives his rightful fine for the hit on West. F-
Gay - whiffed on the Thomas TD. Did nothing.
Haden - busted up a pass to Kelce, 2Q, although it should have been picked off. Way too soft to come up and stop Hill after a short sideline pass, 3Q.
Burns - got the rarest of events, a PIT DB busting up a pass, first series. In the 4Q, stupidly fell asleep on the play, and then got turned around like a top and got beaten on a downfield pass, and then compounded it by foolishly whiffing on a guy TWO INCHES from the sideline chalk. The result was a TD that cut the lead (with the PAT) to 12-10 with 6 minutes left in the game. Then, on the next drive, he completely departed HIS portion of the field, and a KC WR was WIDE open in the EZ. Only a poor pass by Smith allowed this to be incomplete, as it should have been a cake-walk TD. D
Davis - stopped a run, 1st half. Out-wrestled a KC WR in the EZ to turn a sure TD into an incomplete pass. That was some incredible savvy and instincts to out-wrestle the receiver on this play. Got tooled by Kelce on a key 3d & 6, 4Q. B+
Hilton - stellar play, 2Q, dropping RB for a NINE yard loss. All this dude does is make plays. Yet ANOTHER stellar play by Hilton, blowing up a WR screen. All the dude does is make PLAYS. He did miss on Hunt on the big gainer, late 3Q, as well as on Thomas’s long TD in the 4Q. B
Spec teams:
Jordan Berry – punted like a complete bag o’ shit. With a chance to pin KC deep after the first series, Jordan The Cherry lamely booted a 30-yard punt that was fielded at the 16 and returned 5 yards. This is a SHIT punt, plain and simple. Shanked a 36-yard punt OOB, 3Q, although at least it prevented a return by Hill. With a PERFECT chance to pin KC deep, 3Q, Cheery instead boomed a punt that landed at the 10 and rabbit-hopped into the EZ. Only a KC hold provided somewhat of a small win on this play, which put the ball at the 10. Hit a mediocre 36 yard punt, 4Q. He finally got off a good boot, late 4Q, but at 62 yards he outkicked his coverage, and Hill returned it 32 yards. F
Boswell – Booted a FG, 1H. For no apparent reason, unless he was ordered to, he booted a shallow spinner to the KC 2 after AB’s TD. Hunt returned it to the 33 and nearly busted it. With all the cake-easy touchbacks on KOs, why on earth would the kick be so shallow and give a team with all that return-game speed a crack at a long KO return?? B-
Rogers - not permitted to field punts because AB is THE God of punt fielding.
AB – stupidly allowed an early free kick to LAND, which is a live ball after a safety. KC recovered the rolling ball at the PIT 32. 4 plays later, KC got a freebie 3 points, thanx to dumbass AB. Muffed a FC punt, 3Q, but luckily recovered. Using Stoogelin’s logic of benching Rogers, shall we expect AB to not dress next week….? F-
Nix and Matakevich delivered a wicked lick on Hill on the late punt return, which forced the speedy WR to sit out the rest of the game under concussion protocol.
OC:
3rd & a foot, first series, and this stupid-assed offense had to piss away a TO. 3rd & 2, late 3Q, and Haley goes pass happy, with an inc pass forcing a punt.
There were loads of slop stats that Haley amassed in this game. Only problem, is that the ONE stat that matters -- point on the scoreboard -- they did dick. This vaunted O scored all of 17 points, the final 7 off an absurd play in which KC should have picked off the pass but instead it got deflected to AB for a gift TD. I’m still puzzled and even enraged that Haley still has yet to get Bell exploited in the passing game. There MUST be mis-matches out there, and for a RB who was so elite the past couple of seasons in receiving, this is utterly bizarre. C-
DC:
Keith Assler finally faced a legitimate NFL starting QB, 6 games into the season….! Go figure.
Assler had a cake-easy 1H, with the Stiller offense chewing gobs of clock. I was generally pleased, until Assler went soft as moldy butter after the AB TD, late 4Q. Two plays of 29 and 23 yards had KC set up at the PIT 15 in a 9 point game. What should have been an iced game after the AB TD suddenly became a nailbiter. At least Assler had the presence of mind to get Harrison in the game in the 4Q. Assler started to get raped by QB scrambles, yet he refused to assign a rusher to delay-rush and more so spy. B-
HC: Mike Dumblin at least had his troops energized and ready to hit and hunt bear after last week’s disgraceful embarrassment. I was pleased with the enormous amount of gang-tackling and hard licks delivered to KC ballcarriers. I didn’t like the turtling in the 2H, in particular the punt on 4th & 2 at the KC 35. Not sure why a 52-yard FG wasn’t chosen, or simply using Bell to grind it out. B
Synopsis: A big win over the AFC’s top team, on the road no less. Def takes some of the sour taste away from last week’s debacle. Of course, they cannot get soft and complacent, as this team is wont to do. They host the Bungals, which should be easy fodder, but as we’ve seen this year, this team has struggled like bitches against weak foes.
(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no one else comes close….)
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