Loose Slag from The Still Mill
- In the first game of the post-Bettis era, the Stillers rushed for 143 yards and had the ball for 35:27. Not too shabby for those fear mongers that quivered & trembled in fear of the day that the almighty Jerome Bettis would no longer be on the roster.
- I'm still puzzled, although not surprised, by the deactivation of rookie WR/kick returner Willie Reid. This man was drafted, following the Santonio Holmes selection in the 1st round, to fill in the void left by Randle El in the punt/KO return game. Reid is, by far, the most polished and accomplished kick returner on the roster, far more so than Holmes, Taylor, and Colclough combined, yet there he was on Thursday nite, walking the sideline in street clothes. Meanwhile, Colclough muffed the 2nd punt of the evening, and Holmes fielded one punt on his own 4-yard line.
- Remember, of course, almost 5 years ago to the day, this same head coach sat Kendrell Bell while Mike Jones started the season opener against Jax in a game that was dominated by the Jags.
- Equally puzzling was the keeping of Morey over Chidi Iwuoma. Morey stayed and played, and the coverage teams sucked ass. Here's the solution -- activate Reid and deactivate Cowher's latest luverboy, Sean Morey.
- Alas, the most troubling personnel decision was the decision to overwork RB Willie Parker and totally excuse Duce Staley from any and all work, despite being active for the game. Apparently, the rift between Staley and Cowher/Colbert is larger than the Persian Gulf. So be it. If Staley was, in fact, healthy enough to dress, it's presumable he was healthy enough to play. And if he was healthy enough to play, there's no reason why he couldn't have carried the ball on a few plunges, to relieve Parker from handling the ball 32 times (counting receptions). Parker gave a very tough, gutty effort -- which helped gain him the Hard Hat Award -- but he needn't be subjected to 32 touches per game until deep in the playoffs. Frankly, he'll never make it to the playoffs with this heavy a workload. And if the staff's intent was to freeze out Staley, why the hell wasn't Haynesie used for more than 1 plunge? Haynes isn't a stonefooted oaf and could have easily been trusted with 6 or 7 of the plunges that Parker had. Burning out your #1 RB while freezing out your #2 RB isn't exactly the recipe for success over the course of a long, grueling season and playoffs. It's reprehensible that Cowhard worked Parker like a rented mule Thursday evening.
- For all the positives from this game -- and there were plenty, particularly the run defense -- there were 2 areas of concern:
a.) The pass rush from the front 7 fairly sucked well-water. Yes, there was some pressure from the blitz. Yes, Big Joey had a pair of Dong Sacks on plays in which he had a coverage sack or was soloed by a journeyman FB. But overall, the pressure from the base front-7 was meek and lukewarm.
b.) The offense had 4 (four) 3-and-outs in their six 1st-half possessions. Yes, you can't score points on every possession, but aside from a TO, nothing is worse than the 3-and-out. They improved considerably in the 2H, but a ball-control offense can't afford to have many 1st half's like this one.
- I made a glaring mistake in my post-game analysis. (Hey, I'm only human!) It wasn't only 4 consecutive plays that Ike Taylor played like a bumbling boob. In reality, it was 5 straight plays. I failed to read my own sloppy hand-writing. On the play prior to the 4-play sequence that I'd annotated in my post-game, Ike Taylor got trucked by RB Ronnie Brown on a plunge up RT, which allowed an extra 2 yards by Brownie. That was lousy enough, but then the next 4 plays added salt to the wound. Mercifully, Brown scored (by plowing over a no-armed tackle attempt by Taylor) to put an end to this hideous 5-play sequence. Ike really, really needs to step it up next week against the big, physical, athletic WR corps of the Jags.
- The Pitt Panthers are 2-0 ! Hail to Pitt ! Truth be told, I'm as big a fan of the Mighty Panthers as I am of the Stillers. Pitt CB Darrelle Revis would look terrific in a Stiller uni�
- Can you really believe that the Stillers won a football game without the almighty king of RBs, Fat Jerome Bettis ?
- On the duck-hooked FG attempt late in the 4Q, it appeared that Reed's plant foot simply slipped. Should come as no surprise, as nearly the entire team slipped and slid the entire evening. In fact, a couple plays prior to the FG, Parker turned the corner and had an easy 1st down, until he went down short of the marker as though he'd been shot by a bazooka. The culprit? Nothing more than yet another slip.
- Phantom and I chatted on the phone the other day. While we both are ok with the Davenport signing, we are both annoyed that the root problem to this scurrying about at backup RB was the team's horrible decisions on Day 2 of the '06 draft. Instead of selecting a total stiff like TE C. Davis, the team could have selected a RB and groomed him for future work. This is a team that has gotten terrific mileage the past decade from Day 2 and undrafted RBs and FBs. And it seems sensible to use that point of the draft to address a need "2 years out" -- in this case, 2007 -- rather than any urgent need. MLB uses the draft to fill needs long down the road. Obviously, the NFL draft has a smaller number of picks, and these players have all gone thru the "minors" while playing football in the NCAA. Still, there is some shrewdness to use Day 2 to select guys with strong upsides -- regardless of current roster needs -- that can help your team 2 years out after serving a rookie apprenticeship.
- For the imbeciles that insist that Ben Roth was "illegally blocked in the back" on the long INT return by Seattle in the Sup Bowl, Brent Keisel's left hand was SQUARELY PLANTED on the "8" of Culpepper's jersey as Brett blocked the Miami QB on Porter's INT return as Culpepper shied from contact by showing his back. Of course, this block by Keisel was not a penalty. For the imbeciles that think this type of play is a "penalty" -- if this were an infraction, every defensive back in the NFL would play a power sweep by merely turning around and flashing his back to the rumbling FB or OG that was preparing to maul them with a block. Every power sweep would thus result in a 10-yard penalty. Fortunately, pussing out by turning one's back to the LOS is not a penalty.
- In NFL news, the San Fran Chronicle reports Oak Raida WR Jerry Porter is still acting out against the club in little ways. The disgruntled former starter parked his vehicle in owner Oakland Al Davis' personal parking space last Wed, the space that's closest to the front door of the team's facility.
I applaud Jerry's audacity. Couldn't happen to a bigger dickhead of an NFL owner. However, note to self: never draft players from WVU�..Vanderjagt, Porter, Henry, Jacman Jones. Too many head cases from the Mountaineer state�.must be the lack of shoes worn as kids.
(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no one else comes close�.)