Layoff a Hindrance, Not a Help,
For Stillers...
The Stillers will resume play next Sunday, in what
will amount to a 21-day layoff since the whipping the team absorbed from the
Jaguars.� (By the way, please note that
this article is in no way, shape, or form condemning the NFL for the cancellation
of games on Sep. 16th & 17th.� I
agreed wholeheartedly with the move.)�
Some might be confused into thinking that this
layoff is just what the doctor ordered after the asswhipping down in
Jacksonville.�
But, aside from small injuries to Kreider, Kimo,
Bell, and Plex being allowed to heal, this layoff is about the worst thing that
could have happened to the Stillers.� For
one, they had to forego what would have been an emotional opener in brand new
Heinz Field against an inferior opponent and long-time rival, the Browns.�� Although the Browns have improved and have
beaten the Stillers in each of the two seasons since their return to the NFL,
it�s highly probable that the Stillers would have prevailed.
However, the bigger, and much
more important, hindrance from the layoff is the layoff itself, and the absence
of a tune-up before a string of several tough games.� The last thing this blundering coaching staff needed was a lengthy
layoff.�
Just as no other coach in the NFL gets less out of a
timeout than Billy Cowher, there is nobody in the league less efficient and more
inept at using this much time to prepare for an opponent.� Witness Super Bowl 30, in which Cowher�s
team came out dazed, bewildered, and totally befuddled by the Dallas schemes en
route to getting manhandled well into the second quarter.�� Only when Cowher extracted his fat head
from his rump, and adjusted his offensive and defensive schemes to counter what
the Cowboys were doing, did his team crawl back from a deep hole that it should
have never been buried into in the first place. �And Cowher�s gross and perennial inability to have his team ready
for the season opener has been well documented on this site.� �Whether
his team has been getting whipped on opening day, or stumbling its way to sloppy,
eked-out wins over weak opponents, Cowher has set the NFL standard for overt slop
and shameful ineptitude on opening day.�
Remember, Cowher had over 4 months to prepare for
the Jaguar game that took place two weeks ago on Sept. 9th.�� Despite this monumental amount of
preparation time, the best Cowher could do was give us the same half-assed,
half-baked shit-sandwich that we�ve all been forced to digest the past 3
seasons.� There wasn�t one shred of
evidence that the Stillers did anything -- not one single thing -- to �gameplan�
the Jaguars and take advantage of an injury-riddled team that was starting a
host of inferior players on both sides of the ball.�� Moreover, the entire Stillers team looked slow, tentative, and
not anywhere near prepared nor ready for the high-speed, high-intensity nature
of the regular season.� If anything, the
team presented itself as if it were playing yet another meaningless exhibition
game, not a regular season game against a hated division rival.�
Some will rationalize that Cowher is breaking in a
new OC, and therefore, �It�ll take time to gel�, blah blah blah.� That�s horse manure.�� There isn�t a single coach in the NFL who
has more experience at �breaking in a new offensive coordinator.�� Not one.��
Cowher broke in Ray SpermMan in 1998, and the result was an
abortion.� So Cowher fired SpermMan, and
broke in Kevin Gaypride in 1999.� The
result was an abortion.��� Cowher then
allowed Gaypride to commit the same abortion in 2000.�� Cowher then fired Gaypride and hired Mike Mularkey to be his
latest puppet and blame-taker.� The
result from the 2001 season opener was yet another abortion, with an offense so
meek, weak, and anemic that, even if the refs had extended the game another 2
quarters, it�s highly doubtful this no-risk, no-reward offense would have
scored a single touchdown.�
Sadly enough, Cowher didn�t even appear to be fazed
by the whipping his ill-prepared team received down in Jax a couple weeks
ago.� I didn�t sense a shred of evidence
that indicated Cowher is fed up with his Nickle-Dime Offense that gains 3 yards
a crack on a good day, nor his Mamby Pampy Defense that passively sits back and
attacks nothing.� It all starts
at the top, and in this case, the man at the top is a dullard who is too
stubborn, too cowardly, and too ignorant to make the kind of significant
changes that must be made of this team is going to seriously challenge for a
playoff spot.�
He�s had 3 weeks to learn lessons from the embarrassment
in J-ville and to revamp inferior schemes that have no chance on Earth to
succeed.� It should be very interesting
to see what the Mensa Man, Bill Cowher, does this Sunday up in Buffalo.�