Stillers
30, Panthers 14���. Dec. 15th, 2002 ����Game #14
Stillers-Panthers
Postgame Analysis and Grades
The Stillers came back
after last week's horrific loss and took advantage of Carolina's gratuity,
grabbing 4 turnovers en route to a 30-14 win that was much closer than the
score indicates.� The first half was
eerily similar to last week's game, in that, at halftime, the Panthers had
gained 0 (zero) net yards, yet were down only 13-6.� The Stillers managed to grind down the depleted Panthers in the
2nd half, led by 2 Reed FGs and 2 Bettis TD runs.�
Grades:
QB: Maddox had what can be described as
a fairly mediocre day.� He was spotty
and erratic at times.� Sure, the INT was
no fault of his own, as Plex slipped on the atrocious Heinz turf.� But there were numerous misfires, along with
some under thrown wobblers, along with a couple poor passes that could have
easily been picked.� For the 2nd
consecutive game, Maddox also allowed himself to be sacked when he simply stood
statuesque while a cut-down blitzer crawled like a toddler directly from in
front of The Statue and grabbed him for the loss.� There's something called "pocket presence" and I'm
starting to have my concerns as to whether Maddox has it or not.� C.�
RB:�
The Tubby Tailback had a workmanlike effort, churning for 73 yards on 18
carries.� Bettis gained a good bit of
yardage on 2nd effort plowing, and he delivered the blow to many a
tackler.� He also had one grab for 9
yards.� AZ was pretty ineffective in the
Heinz Field slop, gaining 40 yards on 14 rushes.� He did chip in nicely with the passing game, grabbing 6
passes.� A-.�
FB: Kreider was very, very effective
today, blasting many a Panther into submission.� Kreider also got his hands on the ball several times, grabbing 2
passes (for a whopping 2 yards) and plunging the ball twice for 4 yards.� Haynes grabbed one pass for 3 yards.� A.�
WR:�
Ward fought off his hammy problems and went over the century mark in
receptions, a first for a Stiller WR.�
Ward had a tremendous grab in the 1Q to help spur the offense's successful
first drive.� Plex snapped out of his horrendous
funk of last week, leading the way with 6 grabs for 120 yards, plus a TD.� Plex had some tough catches on the team's
first drive, plus a superb grab on the final play of the 1Q, and also made a
huge 47-yard catch on 3d & 11 in the 4Q that helped seal the win.� El only had 1 grab for 5 yards (off a
totally botched toss-sweep to Bettis that went awry), but ran the ball twice
for 10 and completed one pass for 6.�
Mathis did nothing, nor did Lee Mayes, who, in one series, short-armed
one pass and juggled another near the s-line.�
A.���
TE:�
Tuman, the "pass catching TE", caught no passes, but provided
some ok blocking here and there.�
Cushing had a nice block on the late Bettis TD.� John Allred, who receives his mail (along
with Fu) at the training room hot tub, did not dress.� B.�
OL: The O-line was adequate at times,
yet was spotty at times.� The 4 YPC that
Bettis got might look pretty good, but this was a beleaguered, decimated
front-7 that has been ravaged by injury and substance abuse suspensions.� When you allow Fat Brenston Buckner to eat
you alive, it's not too good, especially with the prospect of facing all-world
Warren Sapp next week.� Wayne Gandy, who
was having an exceptional season until getting injured, is really starting to
concern me.� His injury has really
hobbled him, so much that he is becoming a glaring liability at times.� Nkwenti could be a possible fill-in, but for
the 2nd week in a row, he was not allowed to dress.� Faneca pulled and had a good steamrolling block on Bettis' 4Q TD.� B-.�
DL:�
Aaron Smith led the way with a truly dominant effort, making plays all
over the field and causing havoc to the Panther offense throughout the
afternoon.� Smitty, in fact, led the
team in tackles, which is pretty rare in the 3-4 alignment.� Hampton was pretty dominant himself,
continually tooling center Jeff Mitchell or severely jamming the middle despite
the double-team.� It doesn't show on the
stat sheet, but Kimo was pretty effective.�
Bailey chipped in some.� As I've
lamented before, I'd still like to see a larger rotation of defensive
linemen.� Neither Keydrick Clancy nor
Chris Joke dressed, and Brett Kiesel played special teams.� In this writer's opinion, a 4-man D-line
rotation is a bit too thin, especially if the road to the Super Bowl goes
through, say, Miami and the Rickey Williams ground assault.� This grade is tempered a bit by the total
lack of quality on the Carolina offense; after all, stopping Dee Brown and Nick
Goings isn't among the stiffer challenges in the NFL.� B+.�
LB:�
This crew had a solid game against what obviously is a very weak,
feeble, and inept offense.� Bell,
Gildon, and Porter bottled up the Panthers� admittedly-weak running game, and
also harassed and hit the QB.� KenBell
set the tone early, when, on the 2nd play from scrimmage, he crushed RB Dee
Brown for a 3-yard loss.� Brown walked
on eggshells the rest of the afternoon.�
Jason -- cashing in on the matchup against the Panther's 3rd-string RT
-- had perhaps his best game of the season (not that he's had any games thus
far that were worth a tinker's damn), and had a strip of the graybeard Peete,
along with a couple of Dong Sacks.�
Disappointingly, James Farrior was a quiet as church mouse.� He hit infrequently and impacted
little.� 1 solo and 1 assist for an ILB
who was on the field for a huge majority of plays is grossly unacceptable.� Clark Haggans chipped in with a
half-sack.� Like the d-line grade, this
grade is tempered accordingly.� B+.
DB:�
Facing Rodney Beete and Chris Steinke, plus a WR corps that includes
just 2 above-average WRs, the DBs had a fairly easy time.� Brent ended the team's long
interception-less drought with a pick.�
Townsend had a good bust-up of a 3rd down pass in the EZ in the 1Q.� Chad and DeWayne tackled pretty
crisply.� I was a lil' disappointed in
Chad on the long Smith grab in the 4Q, which set up a Panther TD, because Chad
reacted poorly on the football and failed to leap to break up the pass.� Logan continues to be, by far, the
secondary's best blitzer.� Flowers was
flagged for offsides and had 1 tackle the entire afternoon.� B.�
Spec teams:�
Jeff Reed continues his amazing kicking, making 3 of 3 FGs.� He skimmed the one FG off the upright, but
put just enough English on the ball to allow it to go through for the 3.� Brett Keisel came out of nowhere to be a
real factor on coverage, but otherwise the coverage stunk like horse
manure.� Josh Miller -- who shares the
most overrated player in pro football honor with Mark Bruener -- had a pathetic
afternoon, punting the ball as though it were filled with sand.� Hank Poteat coughed up a punt in the 1Q,
although Cowher surprisingly left him in thereafter to do those chores.� The KO returns were shabbily blocked and gained
little.� Aside from Reed's sniper-like
kicking, the special teams continue to be a big bag o' barf.� C.�
OC:�
Mularkey had the luxury of facing a Carolina defense in shambles, along
with the aid of 4 Carolina turnovers that gave the Stiller offense golden field
position.� What concerns me right now
with Mularkey is his leanings toward the Grab Bag Offense, which
was used quite a bit by his 3 predecessors and is becoming a basic staple down
the stretch here in '02.� B-.�
DC:�
Even more so than his counterpart on offense, Tiny Tim Lewis had a task
today that was even easier than shooting fish in a barrel.� Timmy got to face an over-the-hill QB
(Peete), along with a grossly inept one (Steinke), as well as a running game
that "featured" Dee Brown (who runs the ball about as well as the
basketball player Dee Brown), Brad Hoover (who sucks, pun intended), and former
Pitt Panther Nick Goings (who is going nowhere).� Throw in an O-line totally decimated by injury, and you have a
job on defense that is no more difficult than taking candy from a baby.� To his credit, the defense seemed to play
with a good bit of zip, crispness, and desire.�
B+.�
HC:�
We all know Cowher well enough to pin the blame for today's turtling on
the jolly ol� field goal meister himself, Field Goal Bill.� From the turtling at the end of the half, to
the continual turtling in the 2nd half, there were more than enough turtles for
Rooney to charge an extra admission fee under the guise that the fans got to
see an NFL team (just one) along with a Sea World kind of exhibition
full of turtles on the unique, sandy slop of Heinz Field.� When a team refuses to even attempt
a single pass inside the boundaries of the opposing team's end zone -- despite
spending an inordinate amount of time in and near the Red Zone, that's an
indisputable signature of the Billy Cowher "play not to lose" brand
of turtling.� In fact, this week's game
was brought to you by Bill Cowher's primary sponsor, Turtle Wax.� �Nobody waxes his turtle more than your
favorite head turtler, Billy Cowher.��
B-.�
Synopsis:
�There wasn't a lot of prettiness, but at this
juncture of the season, the Stillers will take whatever W's they can get their
hands on, pretty or not.� A win's a win
at this point of the season, and coupled with Cleveland's' hilarious
come-from-ahead loss, the Stillers now sit in the catbird's seat.� On the other hand, beating such a depleted,
inadequate team in the comforts of a home field isn't much to crow about.� For the first time in over a month, the
Stillers will have to face a truly good team, and they'll have to do it on the
road in Tampa.� This will serve as the
season's final litmus test as to whether this year's edition of the Black &
Gold belongs in the upper echelon of the NFL, or in the large mass in the
middle of mediocrity.�