Stillers 26, Poebirds 9……. Oct 1, 2017…………Game # 4
Stillers-Ravens Postgame Analysis and Grades
The Stillers went to Balt. to face the hated Poebirds, whom they’ve struggled like bitches against in the past 6 or so years. After dominating the 1H, up 19-0, the Stillers lollygagged thru the 3Q, which ended with the score 19-9. The Stillers were once again wheezing and gasping in the 4Q, but huge INTs by Shaz and Hilton helped stave off disaster, and a late Bell TD salted the game away.
Grades:
QB: After last week’s miserable game in Chico, Benji had an okay, but hardly stellar, comeback game.
Held ball forever, and took the sack, 1st series. Very poor. Missed seeing a WIDE open AB, 2nd series, on a 3rd down throw-away that would have been an easy 6 points. Had a pass batted (surprise!) at the LOS, 2Q.
Good composure to find JuJu for the TD pass, late 2Q. But followed that with a poor, low pass to AB on the 2 pointer that was incomplete.
Obviously, the INT, early 3Q, was not his fault, but rather AB’s for his foolish carelessness.
Similar to the season opener, threw a deep lollipop into TRIPLE coverage to AB, 3Q, but luckily AB was able to kind of bust it up. Had another pass batted by a pass rusher, early 4Q. Brady can go 15 games without a batted pass, while Benji seems to have one swatted away just about every game.
Poorly overthrew a deep ball to a WIDE open Bryant, 3d & 3 4Q, which could have salted the game away. Just a completely shit-eating pass. B-
RB:
Bell - superb efforts, first series, twice toting the ball and then earning a 1st down on a 3rd down shovel pass. Stellar run of 16 yards later in drive. Good successive power runs, late 2Q, the first getting a 1st down at the 1, and the next scoring a rare Stiller TD. Stellar grab and run for 18, late 2Q. Knifed into the EZ for a 1-yard TD to salt the game away, 2:25 4Q. Had 35 rushed for 144,and 4 grabs for 42. A+
Conner - On an early 2nd & 19, dashed up LT for 23 yards. Hey, look, we have ANOTHER back besides Bell ! Good 8 yard run on a toss sweep, late 2Q. Was too timid and patient on a run left, 3Q, and was tripped up from behind when he should have gained a good 5 yards. B
Watson - good plunge on 3d & 1, first series, to move the chains.
FB:
Nix - Good lead block on Bell’s 21 yard run, 5:00 4Q. Good lead block on the late Bell TD run. B+
WR:
Brownie – Got all mad, 1Q, after Ben failed to see him wide open down the field, and then did his best OBJ & Sean Rodriguez imitation by throwing a Gatorade jug amid a sideline tantrum. Far too casual, he was stripped of the ball, early 3Q, which was ruled down. Balt challenged it, and the idiot ref ruled this an INT, giving Balt life in a game they were getting blown out. Yes, it was a moronic decision by the ref to reverse the call on the field, but it was an entirely lazy, careless, assaholic play by AB to have the pigskin come out in the first place. Had 4 grabs for a piddly 34 yards. C-
Bryant - stellar pluck of a high pass, 3d & 6, gaining 23, late 2Q. On the next play, grabbed another pass for 19 yards. Had 3 grabs for 48. B+
Eli - surprisingly inactive.
Heyward-Gay – Carried on an end around for 3 yards.
JuJu - good grab & run, 3d & 7, and gained 19 yards. Committed (surprise!) an illegal block to the back, late 2Q, his 4th flag of the season. Atoned for his boner with a TD grab, late 2Q. Good, sure, grab on 3d & 10, 3Q, for 17 yards. B+
Hunter - finally dressed. Failed to corral a high but catchable pass on 3rd down, 2Q. Very poor. Grabbed a high pass for about 6 yards, 3Q. B-
TE:
Jesse James - gained 15 yards on catch & run, first series. Gained 18 yards on a big play, late 2Q, when the Steeler offense was self-imploding. B+
Grimble - no meaningful action.
McDonald -good lead block on 9 yard run by Bell, first series. Grabbed a TE screen, 1st series, but it was negated by a hold. Clumsily dropped a pass right in his GUT, late 2Q. B-
OL: Overall, the line played solidly, finally opening up some creases for Bell, and limiting the Raven D to just 1 sack. B+
Villeneueva - Committed a dead ball, dumb-assed head butt that was flagged for a personal foul, which completely killed a drive that had gotten to the Balt 12.
Gilbert - FatAss Marcus did not dress, due to injury.
Hubbard - started in place of Gil. Committed a jack-assed false start, 1st series. Got abused by a pass rusher, 4:09 3Q. Then, on the very next play, committed a jack-assed false start.
Foster – Solid game. The only O-lineman not flagged today.
Pouncey - Good pull and block on Bell’s 16 yard run, 1st series. Flagged for a block to the back, 2nd series. What a jackass.
DeCastro – flagged for a hold, 1st series, on a TE screen. Incredibly asinine, as the interior lineman he held had ZERO chance of making a stop on this play. Flagged for a false start, late 2Q. Leave it to DeAsstro to lead the club in penalties today.
DL:
Hargrave - very meager impact. All the hype and fawning about this fellow at camp, and in 3 games he ain’t done squat. C
McCullers - thankfully was inactive.
Heyward – whiffed on RB, 2nd series, allowing a 6 yard gain. Got a Dong Sack when a poor snap was dropped by Jacco and then the play got blown up. Popped ball out of Collins’ hands on a run, forcing a key 2Q turnover. B+
Tuitt – finally returned to action. Abused an OG on 3d & 2, late 2Q, and blew up a ground play that lost 3. B-
Alu - did very, very little.
Walton - good pressure on the play in which Jacco threw the INT to Shaz.
LB:
Vinnie– good lick on RB, 4Q. Was far too quiet and had only 3 solos. C
Shaquier – slashed in and dropped the RB, -1, 2nd play of game. Good, crisp tackle of Wally, early 3Q. Splendid INT, 4Q, when the entire team was wheezing and gasping. While in coverage, tipped a 4th down, 4Q pass that was INT’d by Hilton. If you noticed, Shaz was doing a ton more WRAPPING of ballcarriers, and much less attempting kill shots, which he himself said were the cause of the plethora of missed tackles last week. Had 10 solos in a stellar, All-Pro type of effort. A+
Moats - no PT.
Harrison – inactive, due to illness. Heck, he wasn’t getting any playing time anyway
Chickillo - no PT (2 snaps).
Watt - Way too wide and soft, first play of game, which helped create a massive hole for a 20 yard gain. Good 3rd down coverage, 1st series. Slashed in and dropped the RB for a loss, last play of 3Q. Had 4 solos. B
Dupree – slashed in and dropped RB for -6, 1st series. Found an empty lane on a 3rd down, 2nd play 4Q, to sack Jacco on a 3rd down. Still too quiet on both pass rushing and setting the edge. B-
DB
Mitchell – did not dress, due to a ham. Humorously enough, he wasn’t missed in the least.
Gay - Did next to nothing. Had a tackle late in garbage time.
Haden - got tooled by Wally on a TD, 3Q. Just soft on coverage all over the field, all during the game. C
Burns - Quiet day. Had 4 solos. Got abused by Wally on deep ball, 2Q, but as usual Wally dropped the ball. B-
B
Davis - conducted the rarest of rare birds, a 3rd down pass BUSTED UP ! Amazing. Good tackle of Macklin, late 2Q. Had 5 solos. B+
Hilton - good blitz and sack of Jacco, 3Q, which forced a FG. Blitzed and forced a TA, mid 4Q. Helped bust up a huge, key 3d & 12 pass to Macklin, 4Q. Then, on the ensuing 4th down, he snared a pass that was tipped by Shaz for a huge INT. Question -- why in the fuk is this man not getting more PT ? A+
Wilcox - started in place of Mitchell. Decent tackle of TE after a boot pass, 1st series. Feebly whiffed on the RB on the 50 yard run, 3Q, when he had the RB pinned along the sideline and simply got shrugged off like a toddler. B-
Sensabaugh - did little.
Spec teams:
Jordan Berry – punted like vomit. Got off a poor, shitty punt, late 3Q, that went all of 32 yard to the Balt 23. Then had a sorry-assed 27 yard pooch punt to the Balt 14. A better punt is landed at the 5, not the 15. D-
Boswell – I fuking hated the high, intentional spinner of a KO, late 2! (40 secs left), which was caught at the 10 and returned to the Balt 39. I presume the coaching staff ordered this. You have a kicker who routinely is booting it 6-8 yards deep into the EZ, and then you order this stupid-assed, short spinner that allows Balt some life late in the half. Sure as shit, Balt gets a crack at a 62-yard FG on the final play of the half. Fortunately, Tucker, who has the leg for it, was just wide and short. Bos missed a fairly easy 44-yard FG, 3Q. C-
Rogers - did not dress.
AB – did the punt return chores, but did nothing.
Watson - took the 2nd half KO at the GL and ploddingly returned it allll the way to his own 16. Very poor, and stupid. He returned another KO a short while later, from the GL to the 21. Again, shoddy and stupid.
OC:
Nice opening drive, starting from their own 3, and chewed up 10:23 of clock on a 16 play drive, eventually settling for a chippie FG when a false start and a hold bogged down the drive.
I despised the 3d & 8 toss sweep to Bell, 3Q. Ben was having an okay day, and this was far too chicksnhit of a playcall.
It was good to see Bell getting untracked, although, given Bell’s injury history, it’s fairly asinine to run Bell 35 times a game and expect him to make it thru the season unscathed. B+
DC:
Keith Assler had his weekly luxury, this week getting to face the 32nd ranked QB in the NFL, Joe Jacco.
Overall, the D did ok, with an extremely rare FF and 2 INTs. This D generates 3 turnovers in a good MONTH, much less a single game. Keeping it real, Wally dropped a deep ball in the 1H, and Perriman dropped a tough but catchable pass near the GL, 3Q, which could have certainly changed the game’s complexion.
The D continues to get gashed up the tackle alley on ground plays. The OLBs are not setting the edge -- instead getting shoved another 9 feet outside -- and the ILBs are not filling the hole at all. Opponents are going to try to exploit this continually until Buttler gets this fixed. B-
HC: Mike Dumblin finally got his team prepared to play, instead of jerking around planning Anthem protests.
TO called, at 2:33 4Q, with a 1st down at the Balt 10. What in the fuk? WHY in the fuk ?? At this juncture, with a 10 point lead, you can kneel 3 fuking times and boot the fuking chipshot FG if need be. The last thing ya want to do is stop the clock for Balt.
Stoogelin warrants a good bit of the blame for the over-use of Bell. Stoogelin has done this time and time again, dating back to Willie Parker. B
Synopsis: The Stillers were dominating this game at the half, up 19-0 and just dominating the LOS on both sides of the ball. Sure as sh!t, they took their foot off the gas, and allowed a shitty, feeble-fuk Poebird team to crawl back into the game. It was good to beat the Poebirds on the road, which has been a rarity these past several years. Next up, a much improved Jaguar team.
(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no one else comes close….)
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