Bengals 24, Stillers 20 ���. Nov. 20, 2003 ����Game
#12
Stillers-Bengals Postmortem
Analysis and Grades
The Cinci
Bengals shed their Bungals image, coming into Pittsburgh and pulling off
a win in a game they would have lost in days gone by.� The Stillers seemed to be in the catbird's seat, scoring a TD with
1:05 remaining to take a 3-point lead.�
But poor special teams play and The Softee Defense allowed
the Bengals to effortlessly march for the winning TD, thus ending the Stiller's
chance of a playoff berth.�
Grades:
QB:�
Maddox rebounded decently from last week's subpar game, although there
were a few too many misfires.� He took a
lot of shots in the pocket, and even left the game for a brief period late in
the 2Q.� Maddox threw an INT that, while
not hideous, was his fault.� To his
credit, he led two strong TD drives and a FG drive in the 2nd half, but in the
end, it wasn't enough.� His first half
was inadequate, but the 2nd half was good.�
Batch played briefly late in the 2Q for his first action of the entire
season.� �He adroitly completed his first pass on the first play, good for
22 yards.� His next pass was on the
mark, but El dropped it.� On the next
play, from the Cinci 10, he passed the ball under heavy pressure, but the pass
went backwards, resulting in a lateral that was recovered by Cinci.� Maddox: B-.�
Batch:� Inc.� �
RB:�
Well, so much for all the talk and bravado about the "re-energized
ground game".� The Tubby Tailback
got 20 carries, which isn't a shabby amount of work, and all the big fatboy
could do was gain 62 yards.� Amoz was
given a token 3 carries, and chipped in with 2 receptions.� Corey Dillon grossly outclassed the Stiller
RB tandem.� C+.�
FB: Kreider blocked solidly on some
running plays.� He also chipped in with
a sterling 24-yard pass reception, in which he rumbled over Hawkins after
making the grab.� B+.�
WR:�
This was the lone bright spot of the entire day.� Hines Ward put on a display of receiving
and, more importantly, brute toughness that will be talked about for years.� Ward snared 13 balls for 149 yards.� What the score sheet won't show is the
amount of punishment this man took, yet he hung tough and kept going at it with
sheer force of will.� Plex Burress
played his best game of the season, hauling in 11 passes for 112 yards, several
on leaping grabs.� Plex spent much of
the day tooling and using Tory James, so badly that James might not be allowed
to ride back to Cinci with his teammates.�
The one boner was a holding flag on Plex that negated a 26-yard Amoz run,
although this was a real ticky-tack flag.�
El dropped an easy out deep in Cinci territory late in the 2Q, and
finished the game with 1 paltry grab for 9 yards.� Doering had 1 grab for 7.�
Rarely do I hand out an A+ grade, but today, I have no choice.� A+.�
TE:�
Reimersma didn't dress, due to injury.�
Mark Bruener showed precisely what his value is to offensive
production.� He dropped one pass early
in the 3Q.� The only pass he did catch,
was good for (hold your laughter) 0 (zero) yards.� And the ground game averaged a whopping 3.4 yards per rush, yet
you'll still hear clamoring and fawning about how invaluable and indispensable
Breuner is.� Tuman grabbed 1 pass for 6
yards, and was flagged for holding on a reverse.� The blocking was marginally effective.�� C-.�
OL: Smith and Hartings had to succumb
to injury, resulting in a jumbled O-line that blocked ok at times but had
numerous mistakes.� Okobi's low snap led
to a Maddox sack late in the 2Q, which, more importantly, knocked Maddox out of
the game for the remainder of the half.�
Vincent was whipped for a 4Q sack.�
Smith was flagged for a hold, and Faneca was whistled for a false
start.� The overall run blocking was
average, and the pass protection was too leaky.� C-.� �
DL:�
The D-line wasn't lousy, but they were a bit quiet at times.� The pass pressure was nearly nil and they
were gashed for 4.5 yards per rush.�
C.�
LB:�
KenBell and Joey Porter led the way with strong games.� James Farrior was solid, although being the
Winged God of Linebacker Coverage, he failed to bust up the game-winning TD
pass to Schobel.� As has happened all
season, Jason GilDong did absolutely nothing the entire game, aside from a
batted pass.� The defense would have
been just as well off -- if not better -- inserting an empty quarter-keg of
beer at OLB in lieu of Jason GilDong.� The
height of hilarity was Big Jason getting mauled & bullied by a wide
receiver on a running play.� Haggans got
a few snaps at rush OLB.� The Big 3:
B.� �Big Jason GilDong: D-.� �
DB:�
The secondary didn't get totally abused, although they allowed a share
of big yardage and big plays.� Chad
Johnson was virtually unstoppable, and it's a mystery why Cinci didn't call his
number a few more times.� Chad Scott bit
on the out-and-up by Washington, resulting in the 1st TD.� Townsend had a nice stop of Warrick on a 3d
& 12 in the 4Q, holding the dangerous RAC runner to just 10.� Burnt Alexander took a foolish angle on Chad
Johnson's 58-yard run-and-catch, and did little the entire game.� Ike chipped in decently as the 3rd CB when
Cinci went with 3 WRs.� Troy Pola got
away with a PI on Schobel on a 4th & 5 in the 1Q, but chipped in decently.� He showed the kind of speed and quickness on
the lone Stiller sack that the Stillers envisioned when they drafted him in the
first round.� C-.�
Spec
teams:� Well, so much for all the blather, the
fawning, and the trumpeting for how great the special teams have been
lately.� I'd repeatedly stated, time and
time again, how lukewarm and mediocre these short bus riders were actually playing,
but the Pittsburgh media tripped all over themselves proclaiming how great
these sorry SOBs were.� Billy Cowher had
them introduced in the pre-game intro's today, and they laid an egg.� On the game's very first KO, the Bengals sauntered
back 27 yards on the return.� And it got
worse from there.� Josh boomed a 69-yard
punt in the 1Q, but sure enough, on the very next punt, Josh rocketed a 55-yard
punt into the EZ for a touchback.� Haggans
was flagged for a hold on a KO return late in the 2Q; and Haynes was flagged
for a hold on a punt.� Ike Taylor was
confused -- thanks to a lack of coaching -- on a KO that squirmed into the Stillers
EZ.� And, to top off the shit sandwich
with a squirt of urine, Reed had a shallow boot on the KO after the late Ward
TD, and the coverage was far too soft, which allowed the Bennett to return the
KO 27 yards to the Cinci 48.� After the
game, feeble excuses about "the stiff wind" were bandied about, but
if the wind was so stiff, why not squib kick the ball, rather
than a shortie boot to the 21-yard line?�
The lone bright spot was the Haggans stick and stop of Warrick on a punt
return in the 4Q.� D-.�
OC:�
Mularkey didn't have too many glaring gaffes, but the slow start was the
kind of inexcusable stupidity that cannot be justified.� I wasn't too keen on the Maddox sneak on 3d
& goal from the 1 late in the 3Q.� You're
asking the slowest, least mobile, least athletic QB in the NFL to sneak the
ball over?� Preposterous.� Mularkey got the 'O' going in the 2H, but
the 1st half was full of far too much slop.�
C.�
DC:�
Tiny Tim once again showed that he's as worthless as tits on a
bull.� His defense gave this game away
on numerous occasions.� The Stillers
kicked a FG to make it 7-3 in the 2Q, and what does Tiny Tim's defense do?� They allow Cinci to march 82-yards on 16
plays, as well as overcome a DOG penalty and two 3rd & longs, for a Cinci
score and a 14-3 deficit late in the 2Q.�
This was the time of the game to make a stand, and Tiny Tim quivered and
bent over like a San Francisco homo.� In
fact, late in each half, The Vanilla Softee Defense allowed marches for
TDs.� The Stillers took the lead with
1:05 let in the game, and then Tiny Tim's Softee Vanilla Defense took over and
melted like an ice cream cone in the Arizona desert.� Kitna immediately hit Warrick for an easy 18 yards, and then third
string RB Brandon Bennett rumbled for 16 yards.� After an incomplete pass, Kitna hit Schobel for an easy 18-yard,
game-winning TD.� In typical
fashion, Schobel and Washington each caught just 1 pass, but both were huge
TDs.� There were two Lewis's coaching in
today's game, and unfortunately for Stiller fans, we're stuck with the vastly
inferior Lewis.� F.�
HC:� The Stillers
tried to play Billy Ball -- play not to lose -- and they once
again lost for the 8th time this season.�
The sluggish first half; the feeble special teams; and the 4th quarter choke-job
-- all constants of a Cowher-coached football team.� It all starts at the top, and no football coach in the NFL has
done so little with so much, as has Lil' Billy Cowher.� F.� �
Synopsis:�
Stick the fork in this squad; the season is done.� Sure enough, of course, we'll still be
inundated with the moronic cries of, "But we can still win a game next
week and get back into the race."� We've
been hearing that feeble bullshit for some 6 weeks now.� The season is over. The race is over.� Done.�
Finito.� It won't happen, but
now's the time to get long looks at the Ike Taylors, the Chukky Okobis, the
Verron Haynes, the Keydrick Vincents, the Alonzo Jacksons, and so forth.� Hopefully the cold, harsh of not making the
playoffs will snap this stodgy, stubborn coaching staff and front office out of
its funk and its imbecilic refusal to make the personnel changes in 2004 that
absolutely must be made.�