Stillers 26, Vikes 9, Stillers 14 ……. Sep 17, 2017………Game # 2
Stillers-Vikes Postgame Comments
I attended this rather sloppy game at Heinz, so this will be a more brief, bulletized commentary:
- The offense continues to slop around. Remember all the talk at camp about 30 points a game? Ha ha ! What tripe. They key is that they waste numerous series each game. Yesterday, they went 3 of 13 on 3rd down. There is no cohesion on where they are, down & distance, and field position. All too often, this offense goes out flinging the ball like a group of kids on the playground, with no rhyme or reason. Haley calls random plays out of his grab bag, with no thought of, say, gaining 6 yards on 2d down & 8 in order to set up a manageable 3d & short.
- Haley is too dim-witted to realize this, but with Bryant re-emerging as a valid deep threat and AB commanding the attention he deserves, Eli should be grabbing an EASY 8 passes a game. EASY. The man should be WIDE open 96% of the time. Haley is simply too daft to take advantage of this. All those shitting 3rd down conversions? That should be Eli grabbing an easy 6 yard pass and gaining 9 or 100 with the RAC.
- Bell looked better. Still, why is he getting 27 carries?? This is a man who has never, ever completed a post-season without sitting due to injury. He needs to be healthy in JANUARY. Conner, meanwhile, rotted the bench. Remember, he was the guy who gutted out training camp while Bell sat on his ass wherever he was loafing during his holdout. Conner had ONE carry all day, a hard-nosed, north south effort on a toss sweep for NINE yards. It’s idiocy at its worst. And then there’s Bell, one of the great RAC RBs in the NFL, grabbing 4 passes for 4 yards. He ought to have 5 or 6 grabs a game for at least 35 yards. This is Haley being a complete jackass.
- Speaking of bench rot, James Harrison rotted the bench, even as TJ Watt left the game with a groin. Very odd. I realize they want to manage his workload, but on a hot day, he wasn’t able to get 5 or 6 snaps on obvious passing downs?
- Ali Villa again struggled. Yes, he was ill leading up to the game, and yes, the Dyking front 7 is no chopped liver. Villa struggled all during pre-season and has now struggled in 2 regular season games.
- Cam Heyward was an absolute beast. Damn. What an effort. Very impressive.
- Hey, JuJu now has as many receptions as penalties. Impressive!
- Big Mike Mitchell was again nowhere to be found near aerial pigskins, and he feebly whiffed on the 20-yard run by Cook that set up the Vikes with1st & goal at the 1. Very poor.
- On the other hand, Hilton continues to shine and impress me. Unlike Big Mike, Hilton is a PLAYER. He has actual instincts. He makes plays on the ball. He’s fearless, and a sure tackler. He’s just about everything that Big Mike is not.
- That 3Q Dyking TD drive, led by a backup QB, enraged me. And again, before everyone fawns over this defense, they have now faced a rookie greenhorn QB making his first ever NFL start, and a scrub backup who got the starting call some 90 minutes prior to game time. Keith Assler is literally luckier than the little old lady who wins $200M on the PowerBall.
- Hats off to Matakevich for his adroit bust-up of a fake punt. Dude is a player.
- Alu has been a fine pick-up. 18 times better than Fat Cam Thomas and Dicardo Matthews. Only took Doltbert 4 years to get it right.
- 10 penalties, after 13 last week in Clev. And most of these weren’t the hard-hitting variety. It was silly bullshit, like a DOG on a 2 pointer. 8 men lined up on the LOS. False start by a WR. Mike Asslin talks about cleaning this sh!t up, and then nothing happens.
(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no one else comes close….)
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