Stillers 24, Browns 9 ……. Nov 20, 2016…………Game # 10
Stillers-Browns Postgame Analysis and Grades
The reeling 4-5 Stillers went to Cleve to take on the woebegone 0-10 Brownies. As is their nature, the Stillers clawed and scratched for a flimsy 8-point lead deep into the 4Q, but then got a 4Q fumble recovery near the EZ for a cheap TD to ice the game. A drab, dull game all around.
Grades:
QB:
Horrible deep ball to AB, first series. Okay, there’s lot of wind. No shit. This isn’t Ben’s first game on a windy day. Threw LATE to Rogers on an open flag route, early 2Q. Good pass on deep out to AB, late 2Q. Then had a good pass, while off balance and scrambling, to hit Bell on a 3d & 2 late in the half. Was 23 of 36 for 167 yards, with most completions being little dumpoffs. The good aspect was that he threw 0 INTs and didn’t take any sacks. B-
RB:
Bell – Fumbled on his RAC, first series, but it rolled OOB. Cut inside after a dumpoff, late 2Q, and failed to get OOB to stop the clock. Stellar run for 7 yards, mid 3Q, busting 3 tackles in the process. On a 3rd down, 4Q, he failed to pick up the blitzer, instead giving a lame-assed shoulder that barely slowed down the rusher at all. Stellar overall game, with 28 carries for 146 yards, and 8 grabs for 55. Of course, with this heavy a workload, he’ll be injured sometime in the next 3 weeks. A+
DeAngelo – did not dress.
Toussaint – played in a few token plays.
FB:
Nix – saw some PT here and there.
WR:
Brownie – Had 8 grabs for 76, with a long of 21. B
Pinkie Wheaton – Mister Sofftee was placed on IR a few days ago. Hopefully he’s played his final game as a Stiller.
Coates - saw some PT, but no grabs. C-
Rogers - Had 4 grabs for 20. B-
Hamilton – good grab on 3d & 6 for 7 yards, 2Q. Unable to handle a high, hard pass at the Clev 2, late 2Q. He then failed to haul in a bit more catchable of a pass in the waning seconds of the half. Very shoddy. Flagged for a hold, late 3Q. Had 2 grabs for 11. C-
Heyward-Gay – did not dress, due to foot injury.
TE:
Jesse James – good lead block as a FB, first series, on a 13 yard run. Allowed 3d down pass to get dislodged, first series. Maybe a tough grab; maybe should have been caught. Flagged for a hold, 1st play of 3Q, negating a 10-yard run. Had only 1 grab. C-
Green – Failed to out-joust a defender in the EZ on a 3rd down pass, late 3Q. He’s as lazy as your common unemployed Dumocrat. Did little else. D+
Grimble – did not dress
D. Johnson – good 1-handed grab of 2-pointer, last play of 2Q.
OL: Overall, the line gave Bell some good holes, plus gave Ben some good pass pro. Of course, the front 7 of Clev is hardly daunting, but it was a solid effort.
DeCastro – Committed his weekly false start, 2Q. Instead of 2nd & 5, it becomes 2nd & 10. He’s just such a dominant lineman. Gee, it’s a good thing GM Kevin Doltbert rushed out to extend this stiff. Even better, I suppose, that Dolbert overpaid him. C+
DL:
Hargrave – Got a Dong sack, early 2Q, when the QB had decent time in the pocket before Timmons collapsed the blocking RB. Recovered the late McClown fumble for a TD. Had a whopping 1 solo. B
McCullers – Flagged for roughing the passer, late 4Q, which negated a Davis fumble recovery and TD. Had a tipped pass, his first ever in his NFL career, despite being 6 foot fuking 7. Did nothing else the entire game. C-
Matthews – blew up ground play, first play of game, for a loss. Only thing he did all day.
Heyward – out for season.
Tuitt – Stephonie finally did something, getting an earned sack late in the 1Q. Chased down the QB and delivered a blistering hit on the tackle, late 4Q. Had 1.5 Dong Sacks as well. At least he did something during this game, rather than the standing around that he’s pretty much done in all games prior this season. B+
Walton – saw some PT. Had a late-game hurry of the QB.
LB:
Timmons – Had a Dong pressure on the QB, late 1Q, when he was completely unblocked. Got completely tooled by Duke J. on a 22-yard middle dumpoff, 3Q. Very poor over-bite by Timmy. Flagged 15 yards for roughness, late 3Q, on a brutal hit on the QB. Dropped an INT, mid 13:00 4Q. Wasn’t cake-easy, but wasn’t overly difficult, either. Flagged for illegal use of hands on a passrush against a RB, on 3rd & 17 in the 4Q, which enabled Clev to maintain their drive. To his credit, on the very next play, he mauled the blocking RB, Crowell, and sacked the QB. Delivered a blistering hit on Duke that forced a fumble, late 4Q, but McBallers was flagged for hit to the QB’s head. Had 5 solos and 3 As in a relentless, Hard Hat kind of effort. A-
Shaquier – slashed in for a 2-yard loss, 1st series. Flashed up and dumped the RB for a 3-yard loss on a swing pass, 10:20 4Q. Pursued McClown and stripped the ball, resulting in the Grave TD late in the 4Q. Led the team with 6 solos. A
Moats – was SOLO blocked by a TE and did a Wide Loop Rush, and then basically WHIFFED on a sack attempt, but his fingertip graze of the rookie QB caused the QB to clumsily fall and be sacked. To be sure, this was hardly a terrorizing play by Big Arthur. Got another half of a Slop Sack, 14:00 4Q. Other than this, did nothing the entire game. C
Harrison – Got the start over Jarstiff Jones. Good bulrush sack, mid 3Q. With this sack, he becomes the leading sacker in Stiller history, supplanting the pile o’ shit himself, Jason GilDong. Did very little else. B-
Jones – chipped in a bit here and there.
Chickillo - surprisingly quiet. I can only assume he may have gotten nicked up.
Vinnie W. - little or no PT on defense. A shame, really.
Dupree – did not play, although he was activated. On a day like today, his services were not needed.
DB
Golden – benched in favor of Davis.
Mitchell – delivered a big hit on a WR to jar the ball loose for an incompletion, 6:00 4Q. Applied a hard shot on a defenseless Pryor on a high, poor pass by McClown, 4Q. Hopefully Piss-Ass Mike will be issued a rightful $75K fine for this bullshit shot. Stop the presses !! Mike Bitchell busted up a pass, 1:28 4Q !! His first bust-up of a pigskin this season….!! Call the newspapers ! Had 4 solos. B
Gay - played some slot and nickel.
Cockrell – on an early 3d & long, got completely tooled, losing his man (Pryor) and allowing a huge 36-yard gainer. He’s just so great, according to the simpletonistic fools in the Pgh media. Then, on 4th & 9, 3Q, Cockjell AGAIN lost Pryor on a simple, routine up route, and Pryor snagged the poorly thrown, underthrown ball for a 26 yard gainer. Got tooled again by Pryor for a 15-yard completion, 4Q. D
Burns – got the rarest of rare birds, a PIT INT by a DB…! This was on the first series on a very poorly thrown ball that was underthrown by at least 18 feet. Flagged for a foolish hands to the face, late 1Q, which negated a 3rd down stop deep in Clev territory. Far too slow to react on the TD pass to Barnidge, 4Q. Had several decent tackles on short dump-offs, and is certainly improving in this regard. The ball hit him right in the chest on a late 4Q slant pass, but of course he dropped it. B-
Davis – Got the start over Golden. Whiffed on a QB sack on a key 3rd down & 10, 4Q, which allowed McClown to dump the ball to Duke J. for 14 yards. Very poor. Had 2 solos. B-
Justin Gilbert - Not permitted to play on defense. Will probably rot the rest of the season, unless 3 DBs are lost due to injury.
Sharko Thomas – did not dress.
Spec teams:
Jordan Berry – punted only 3 times. Had a 57 yarder. A-
Boswell – Booted a 32-yard FG, 1Q. Then booted a 33-yard FG at 4:43 2Q. Booted a 22-yard FG in the 3Q. B+
AB – had 1 punt return for 7 yards.
OC:
The offense dominated TOP and got a huge array of first downs, yet continually petered out in the red zone against a weak-assed defense. The lone Off TD was converted only due to ticky-tack flags on Clev as the 1st half should have expired.
The offense called a TO with 10 seconds left in the half, with the ball at the Clev 3. Then, with those 10 seconds, they failed to get 2 plays off in 9 seconds, and time ran out as the 2nd play was an incomplete pass. Only a holding flag on Clev extended the half, and then a PI flag on Clev allowed another play, which PIT finally converted with a 1-yard TD run by Bell.
In the 4Q, there was a chance to salt this game away, but the offense had 2 weak, short 3-and-out drives that resulted in punts. Overall, a mediocre day for this offense. C
DC:
Keith Assler had the luxury of facing a rookie QB, plus an offense replete with seemingly dozens of players who have no business in the NFL. As it was, Assler still had his struggles, even as Kessler got hurt and decrepit veteran Josh MClown was forced into action. Assler allowed a 4Q TD that should have enabled Clev to make it a 7 point game, but Clev missed the PAT. Sure, the defense collected all kinds of Dong Sacks, but it was against an O-line and RB combination who couldn’t block the rush of a AA high school team. Where the hell was this pressure against Dallas, or Balt, or NE ?? I don’t fawn over cheap results against weak-assed, entirely incompetent competition. C
HC: Mike Dumblin narrowly avoided yet another road egg lay. To be sure, it was awfully close there in the 4Q. There’s Stoogelin, allowing a Clev TD at 9:50 4Q to make it an 8-point game, and you could just imagine Stoogelin managing to piss yet another game away against a downtrodden, vastly inferior opponent. In the end, Clev’s ineptitude was too much for Stoogelin’s ineptitude -- odd as that may sound -- and Stoogelin managed to eke out a flimsy win. You can be sure that Big Mike will be all proud over this win. C+
Synopsis: A flimsy win over a weak-assed opponent. Pardon me if I’m not impressed. The Pittsburgh media, of course, will be fawning over Michael The Almighty for this “big win”, never once considering the complete ineptitude of the Brownies. Next up, a Thurs nite game at Indy. Stoogelin’s teams are 0-4 in these Thurs nite ballgames, and it’s a road game, where Stoogelin’s teams often struggle like little bitches.
(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no one else comes close….)
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