Stillers 40, Chargers 24 ���. Dec. 21, 2003 ����Game
#15
Stillers-Chargers Postgame
Analysis and Grades
The
Stillers beat the hapless 3-12 Chargers in a game that meant little more than a
backyard football game among teenagers on the plains of Latvia.� Due to the relative unimportance and
meaninglessness of this game, I won't spend much time on this post-game
report.�� Had the Stillers properly used
this game to groom and evaluate some youngsters and backups, I could have used
the post-game to provide some analysis of that, but alas, nearly all youngsters
and backups were firmly rooted to the bench the entire game.�
Grades:
QB:�
Maddox had a solid day.� With the
success of the ground game, he threw only 18 times, but hit 3 TDs.� His TD pass to Ward was right on the money,
and he used a deft pump fake to set up Plex's 2nd TD.� On the down side, Maddox showed his extreme clubfootedness on the
3Q sack, when he had ample room and time to scoot from pressure, but
couldn't.� Because of the do-or-die
nature of this game, neither Charlie Batch nor Brian St. Pierre were allowed to
play.� B+.�
RB:�
The Tubby Tailback rushed for 115 yards on 32 carries, good for a
whopping 3.6 yards per carry.� While he
did have a few nice runs, all of his big gainers were on plays in which the
hole was wide enough to accommodate Rosie O'Donnell and John Goodman walking side-by-side.� Amoz had a few token carries and a couple
catches.� El lined up at TB and carried
on a toss sweep for 6 yards.� B+.�
FB: Kreider helped open up some of the
healthy holes that Doughboy Bettis ran through.� He was thrown one pass down the seam, but could not haul in the
slightly off-target pass amidst tight coverage.� B+.�
WR:�
Plex hauled in 2 TDs, although I was surprised the Chargers didn't
challenge the 1st TD, as I wasn't fully convinced that Plex had reached the
ball over the GL has he hit the pylon with his size 18 feet.�� Plex also committed his weekly dropped pass,
in which he unsuccessfully tried to catch an on-target out-pass with his
forearms and elbows.� Ward grabbed
another TD and had a tremendous array of RAC work.� �In a superb effort by the
coaching staff to groom and evaluate, Randle El caught ZERO passes the entire
game, as did Doering and Mayes.� El did
hit Ward with a perfect pass while on the run rollout, good for 9 yards.� Doering had a nice block on Ward's 25-yard
"run" that was ruled a lateral, not a pass.� A-.�
TE:�
It may come as a surprise, but there was no production in the passing
game at all from the TEs.� The run
blocking was solid.�� B.�
OL: The O-line played fairly well.� Maddox was given good time and room to
throw, and Bettis had plenty of gaping holes to run through.� Incredibly enough, the line committed no
penalties.� Had the opposition been a
defense that had talent and gusto, this grade would have been an
"A".�� B.�
�
DL:�
The line was pretty solid, although Tomlinson gashed them from time to
time.� Surprisingly, Kimo, who'd been a
terror lately, was pretty quiet.� �Smith and Hampton chipped in some.� Kendrick Clancy, who makes a tackle at least
once per season, actually made a solo stop during the game.�� B.�
LB:�
James Farrior led the way with 11 solos.� Ken Bell and Porter were active and tough.� Porter had a nice snuff of a Tomlinson swing
pass for 6-yard loss, and also rudely dumped SkinFlutie late in the game.� Then there's Jason GilDong, the so-called
"team captain", who did NOTHING the entire game.� Jason had 2 weak, cheezy assists and ZERO
solos, and futilely flopped & flailed a few times. �On a Tomlinson 20-yard run right up the RT
hole, Jason was kicked out by a pulling lineman so harshly and brutally that I
thought the refs might flag the blocker for "intentional roughness" on
this severe mauling.� Clark Haggans
wasn't allowed to play on defense, and Zo Jackson wasn't even allowed to
dress.� The Big 3:� A-.�
Jason GilDong: D.�
DB:�
The defensive player of the game was obviously none other than Lil'
DeShea Townsend, who has been deemed for over FIVE years now as being incapable
of starting in the NFL, yet turned in another strong game.� Townsend showed his toughness by finishing
2nd on the team in tackles, and showed great hustle to recover a Brees fumble
as it was rolling near the sideline.� DeShea
had an impressive catch for an INT on a bomb, and also returned a 4Q INT for a
TD.� On top of that, he had a nice
bust-up of a pass to Osgood in the 3Q, and had a nice stop of Tomlinson on a
3rd down screen pass in the 1Q.� Not far
from Townsend's fine effort was that of Troy Pola.� Troy had a huge strip and forced fumble of Brees, on a speed play
that Burnt Alex could have never made in 100 years.� Troy also batted a pass while blitzing.� His one boner was a missed hit on Tomlinson on a TD plunge in the
2Q.� Ike had a nice bustup of a 3D pass in
the 1Q.� Hope also had a good bust-up of
a 3D pass to Gates in the 1Q, but was burned on the short catch-and-run by
Osgood for the long TD.� Still, that's
why you give a youngster some PT in a meaningless game now,
so that, perhaps in a playoff drive next season, Hope makes that play.� �B+.�
�
Spec
teams:� Just another shabby day at the office for
these misfits.� Josh Miller boomed one
punt into the EZ for a net of 20 yards, and boomed another punt all of 34 yards
to give the Bolts excellent FP.� The KO
coverage was absolute vomit.� Reed hit
FGs of 40 and 47, but shanked a PAT.� Reed
could have attempted a 52-yard FG in the 2Q toward the closed end of the
stadium, but due to the do-or-die, must-win nature of this game, he wasn't
permitted to try it.� El muffed a punt
deep in Stiller territory, but luckily he recovered.� Kreiwalt had a couple stops, but also committed a block in the
back penalty.� C-.�
OC:�
Fifteen games into the season, we saw the very first pump fake
by Maddox, and the result was a WIDE OPEN Burress in the EZ for an easy
TD.� One can only imagine why it took
Mularkey 15 weeks to try this, and when exactly he'll have the gumption to try
it again.� B.�
DC:�
Tiny Tim had the most envious of conditions: his offense chewed 34 minutes
of clock; the opposing offense committed numerous gaffes; and he had a healthy
lead most of the game.� B.�
HC:� Billy Cowher
will be all proud and pleased over this meaningless win over a hapless
opponent.� After all, why worry about
the future when you can cover your ass in the present? �This game provided the perfect venue for the
grooming and evaluation of future talent, but Billy accomplished his only goal
-- padding his personal win-loss stats with a meaningless win over a hapless
foe at the expense of long-term player development.�
You can tell Billy and his father, Marty Shittenheimer, are
cut from the same cloth.� On a day in
which Billy staunchly insisted on using all his vets well after the outcome of
the game was decided, Shittenheimer actually benched his QB of the present and
future, Drew Brees, and inserted over-the-hill Doug SkinFlutie in the 4Q.� All this move does is destroy Brees'
confidence; create a massive rift; and fuel controversy when clearly there
needn't be any.� Both Billy and Marty
would rather play over-the-hill vets that have no upside and no future
instead of grooming and developing younger players.�� That's a major reason why these two imbeciles have combined for
29 seasons of NFL head coaching and ZERO Super Bowl wins.�
What's hilarious about this staunch refusal to play
youngsters, along with this "mandate" from Cowshit and Rooney that
the team must play all out these last 2 games, is the bizarre ending of the 1H.� SD was flagged for a 15-yard masking penalty
during KO coverage as the half expired.�
Instead of accepting the penalty and taking a stab at a TD from the Pit 35
yard line, Billy declined the flag and went into the locker room.� This, from the same man who has decreed that
the entire future of the free world is at peril pending the overarching
importance of this tilt against the 3-11 Chargers.� This game is so utterly important that Billy can't afford to give
some youngsters some occasional PT, but at the same time the game was
apparently so unimportant that Billy felt no need to try a deep pass or a trick
play at the end of the half. Sure, the odds were low of a score, but haven't
Billy and Rooney blathered ad nauseum about how immensely important it is to
fight and claw and scratch and give it every ounce of effort possible?� And, we saw in the New Orleans game earlier
today where the Saints played pitch & catch on the game's final play to
score an unbelievable TD.� As usual,
this is just another case of Billy Cowher talking out of both orifices in his
body, and expunging little sense but an awful lot of hot, smelly air.� �F.�
Synopsis:�
According to Billy Cowher and the proponents of the "carryover
effect", the Stillers are looking at a dominating campaign in 2004, thanks
to this win over one of the 3 very worst teams in the entire NFL.� This win means absolutely nothing, other
than to prove that the Stillers are marginally better than the lowly 3-12
Chargers.� Perhaps in the finale next
week, some youngster will get some work in lieu of veterans who have no
business even being on the roster in '04.