Buyer Beware.
I stole the title from a
loyal poster�s thread entitled Caveat Emptor by Jaron.� His title made me think about the 2004-05
Stillers.� Stillers.com will give the
usual quality coverage from Phantom and Mill during the course of this week and
they will break down each position in detail.
Jaron�s post reminded me of
what I�ve been thinking for a few weeks.�
How good are we, really?
Since 1990, the Stillers
have failed to make the Monday Night Football schedule twice, 2000 and
2004.� Obviously coming of a 6-10
season, there wasn�t a lot of interest in scheduling the Black and Gold for
this season.� The Bengals got a slot
though, tonight.
Many of us didn�t expect a
great deal after the 2003 campaign.� The
front office appeared to be asleep at the wheel during free agency and our
draft yielded us two players that are making an impact.� Big Ben R. and Rico Colclough.� Ben R. was drafted to be the franchise QB.� He got a bunch of good looks in pre-season
but nobody expected Maddox and Batch to go out.� Ben was thrown into the breach and has reacted better than anyone
possibly could have anticipated.
Ben is riding high.� Four straight rookie of the week honors and he
hasn�t been beaten as a starter.� Rookie
QBs, historically have bad starts.� Ask
Bradshaw, Elway or Peyton Manning.
Some things I didn�t
expect:
- The emergence of Big Ben.� Isn�t it fun to watch the Stillers with
him at the helm?
- Duce Staley.�
I liked the signing and he is a tough physical runner.
- Red Zone Offense.� We�ve been struggling with this for a few seasons.� We are near the top of the NFL.� Albeit, six scores are Jerome falling
into the end zone, but I can live with that.
- The offensive line.� Not much went into fixing this unit but they are playing
well together.� Even Ross.
- Plaxico.�
I�m convinced that Plaxico was hindered by Maddox.� Ben will connect with him.
- Special Teams.� Not playing bad at all.
- Coaching.� I�ve been all over Bill Cowher as many here have.� Whether or not he has the right coordinators in place isn�t the issue.� Somehow we are 5-1.� I must give some type of credit to Cowher.� If his coordinators fail and we are 3-2, Bill will take the crap.� If his coordinators produce and we are 5-1, logically Bill is doing something right or at least listening.
- We are 5-1.
The buyer beware comment
comes into play because a reasonable person has to ask, �Who have we played to
date and are we really a 5-1 NFL team?�
Our opponents have a grand
total of 13 wins and 25 losses.� That is
pretty sorry.� We really haven�t
decisively beaten anyone.� We�ve had
some good luck and big plays at the right time.� Out of our six opponents, only one team has a winning record.� The RatBirds at 4-2.
New England is 6-0 and their
opponents have a slightly higher win percentage (Colts and Jets with winning
records) at 16 wins and 20 losses.� I�ll
also ask Pats fans, whom have you really played to date?
Tom Brady and the Pats
offense must be neutralized or defeated quickly.� I don�t believe our secondary will do it, so we need to rely on
blitz and stunt packages to disrupt Brady and take some heat off what I
consider our major weakness, the secondary.�
The last time we played the Pats, 50 passes when up in the air and we
could never recover.�
We haven�t beaten the Pats
since 1998 and are 0-3 since then.� Two
of those losses were at home.� Since the
Bye week was established in 1990, the Stillers are 7-7 coming off a bye week.
Like it or not, the Pats
have a complete squad.� They are capable
of blowing out a team or doing enough to win.
Conversely, the Stillers
match up fairly well with the Pats.� We
haven�t blown anyone out and there is a case to ask if we�ve done enough to win
or enough not to lose?
I predict a classic football
game between two teams that are 11-1.�
It doesn�t get any better than this.�
The Stiller crowd was the 12th man against Dallas and I
expect nothing less from them at home against the hated Pats.
Stillers:� 20-17 (OT) as a good consumer.