Stillers 19, Jets 6 ……. Oct 13, 2013 …………Game #5
Stillers-Jest Postgame Analysis and Grades
The Stillers finally got off the schneid with a 19-6 win over the equally mediocre Jets, in what was a fairly dull, boring, yawner of an NFL game.
Grades:
QB: Ben had a half decent day, in what was a very clear gamelan of short, quick passes, including a massive dose of screen passes. Ben pumped and took sack, 3d play of 2Q. Victimized by Brown’s dropped TD pass, 5:28 2Q. Gutsy scramble and plow on 3d & 10 on 1st play of 4Q, gaining10 and getting the 1D. Finished 23 of 30 for 262, and perhaps best of all, no foolish INTs or fumbles. B+
RB:
Bell - Got the start, and had a solid day on the ground. Nice 7-yard plunge to open the 2H. Nice power running to chew the clock late in the game. Finished with only 34 yards on 16 carries. Grabbed 3 passes for 22 yards. Made some nice blitz pickups. B
Redman - 6 weeks ago, was considered by Mike Dumblin the best RB on the roster, but once again, did not dress.
Jones - made a juggling grab for 15 yards off a lobbed pass from Tonio Brown. Nice 11-yard scamper around left end, 3Q. Had 5 rushes for 18 yards. Inc
Dwyer - carried 3 times in garbage time late in the game. Inc
FB: Will Johnson - on bone dry field turf, slipped after a short grab for no gain, final play of 3Q. Had a couple adequate blocks. Not being used as much as a lead blocker in the hole, as opposed to being a backside seal-blocker, which is puzzling. B
WR:
Brownie - superb RAC effort to gain the 1st down on 3d & 15 bubble screen, late 1Q. Lobbed a 15-yard completion to Felix on a gadget play, 2Q. Juggled and dropped a backshoulder pass in the EZ at 5:28 2Q, which should have been 6 points. Made a tough grab, wresting the ball from Cromartie on 3d & 10 for a 1st down, late 2Q. Had 9 grabs for 86, but the dropped TD was poor, and there was a bit too much preening for a guy playing on an 0-4 team. B
Sandy - hauled in the deep ball on the wide open post patter for the long TD in the 3Q. Coughed up the ball on a WR screen at 10:21 4Q, but luckily the Stillers recovered. Had 3 grabs for 70, and like Brown, a bit too much preening. B
Cotch - used only sparingly and did not have a grab. Inc
Wheat - due to the broken finger, did not dress.
Moye: dressed and played a little bit. Inc
TE:
Miller - totally tooled and abused by for a sack, last play of 1Q. Atoned for it on the next play with a stellar pluck of a seamer for 31 yards. Shit block on a bubble screen, late 3Q, which gained 0. Had 6 grabs for 84. B-
Palmer - saw a fair amount of PT. Inc
David Johnson - Dislocated his wrist, which was probably a classic over-use injury. With any luck and common sense, this will be his final game, ever, in a Stiller uni.
OL:
Adams - Puffer Adams did not dress.
Gilbert - Got wheeled back to the QB and the DE deflected the pass, 6:00 3Q. Allowed some pressure here and there, and is not consistent enough in run blocking. Flagged for a hold on a screen pass, 1Q, and a false start on 3d & 5, late 2Q.
Foster - totally abused for a sack on 3d & 3 in the 4Q. Isn’t consistent enough in run blocking.
Velasco - early in game, poor SG snaps Abused by Harrison for a 2-yard loss, on 1st & goal from the 2. Otherwise, made some blocks and did okay.
DeCastro - didn’t have his weekly penalty. Had a decent game, quite likely his best of this season.
Beacham - totally abused and early allowed a safefty, 2nd series. Only Ben’s Houdini act saved his bacon. Had numerous other struggles out there as well. Also flagged for 4 (four) penalties. Just doesn’t have the feet, or the frame length, to play OT at this level. Look around the entire NFL -- every team, every roster -- and you will not find a starting OT at 6-3”.
Levi Brown - injured a tricep in pregame warmups (hold the snickers, please) and did not play.
DL:
Keisel - lumbered around like he was on stilts on a throwback play at 11:50 2Q, looking hilariously ass-clumsy in the process. Injured a rib in the 2Q. Inc.
McLendon - stayed steady with his rush and forced a TA, 11:20 2Q. Did an okay job of holding his own at the nose. B
Hood - Didn’t start, but got a lot of PT, especially when Keisel got dinged up. As usual, did very little and finished with 1 solo. C+
Heyward - started in place of Hood. Had a whopping 1 solo and 1 assist. Gee, what a demon. C+
LB:
Timmons - delivered a big hit on Gates on WR screen, early 3Q. Jarred the ball loose from Smith on an option keeper, but Geno recovered his own football. Drilled the RB on a carry up RT at 9:21 3Q. Got a Dong INT off an errant pass late in the 4Q. Missed a couple tackles, but delivered some big hits, which are extremely rare in this defense. B
Vinnie Williams -- weak assed tackle attempt on WR screen, 1Q. Made an adequate stop on an end around, 11:00 2Q. Applied a good lick on a screen, 5:30 3Q. Had 4 solos. B-
Worilds - got a Dong sack of Smith in the 2Q. Had 4 solos and 1 A.
Jones - good rush, 1st series, but whiffed on sack attempt. Whiffed on Goodson in the backfield late in the 4Q, which enabled a long gain of 18 yards. But, 2 plays later he hit the QB as he threw, which caused an errant pass that was picked off by Timmons. Finished with 2 solos, which ain’t quite enough. B-
Big LaMarr - Got a slop assist on WR screen, 2nd series (5:45 1Q) , in which Gay made 98% of the stop. Got a slop assist while solo blocked by a TE on a run up RT at 5:24 2Q for 3 yards. At 4:40 2Q, LaMarr looped around the entire Horn of Africa, and then got a scrambling Smith for a Dong Sack. Got bullied and shoved onto his back on the play Timmons drilled the RB on. Totally UNBLOCKED, LaMarr made a solo stop of Goodson on a gut plunge, at 11:37 4Q. Finished with 2 solos -- one on a Dong Sack, the other on a plunge in which he was completely unblocked -- and 2 slop assists. What a bargain at $61M !! C-
DB:
Ike - along with Pola, got abused and beaten deep by Hill in the 2Q, but the pass was overthrown by 2 feet. Otherwise, had an adequate game. B
Pola - Roamed all over and had some impact. Didn’t get his hands on any balls, but had 4 solos. B
Clark - Slowfooted Ryan got caught in no-man’s land and allowed a 29-yard flag route in the3Q. Got a Dong INT on a horribly overthrown pass to a receiver who was triple-covered. Dropped another Dong INT in the 4Q on a horrendously off-target pass. C-
Gay - weak tackle attempt, 2d series. Very soft. Had some decent coverage, although the NYJ receiving corps has to be 1 of the 3 or 4 worst in the entire NFL. B-
Golden - Inc
Thomas - saw some nickel PT.
C. Allen: Due to his ankle injury, Gay started in his lace. He did play a good bit. Put a lick on the QB on an option keeper, 3Q. B-
Spec teams:
Zoltan - didn’t punt as vomity as he has been, but not overly great, either. B-
Suisham - booted 46 yard FG in 2Q. Then followed that with a shitty KO that went OOB, giving the Jets the ball at their own 40. Nailed a 48 yard FG late in the 2Q. A-
Decent stop on punt coverage by Worilds, 1Q.
Brown: like the chickenshit returner he has become, he FC a punt at 10:00 2Q, with no Jet within 26 feet. B-
Shitty KO cover on the 2nd half KO, with the KO going 8 yards deep and still returned 33 yards to the 28, with the kicker making the stop.
OC: 1st play of game, bubble screen, 3 yards!! 2 plays later, on 3d & 3, another bubble screen that skimmed off Miler’s helmet. This set the tone for the day, in which Haley tried hard to set the NFL record for screens in 1 game.
Wasted far too much time late in the 1H. Just a complete fiddle faddle.
Rare, savvy playcall on the 3d & 2 deep ball to Sanders for the 3Q TD.
In the 4Q, with 12 minutes left in the game, burned a TO for no reason at all before a 3d & goal play. This wasn’t a “confused at the LOS, just prior to the snap” timeout, but rather a “let’s just let the clock run down and call a TO”, as though the team had another 10 of them at their disposal. Then, as he is wont to do, Gayley came out of that timeout & went to the well once too often, calling another gadget pass play with Antonio Brown on the critical 3d & G, which was easily sniffed and snuffed by the Jets defense.
With this OL, why even think of passing the ball on 3d & 3 at 5:37 4Q, at the PIT 37 yard line ?? It’s a very manageable situation to run the ball, and if nothing else, you want to keep the clock moving, and a punt isn’t a terrible event to occur. Sure enough, Foster got whipped and Ben gets sacked, and we were lucky it wasn’t a strip sack for an easy NY TD. Geno Smith was doing nothing against this defense, and the last thing you want to do in a 13-point game is give the opponent golden FP or a cheap TD off a strip. This is where an OC simply has to have some common sense and football intelligence, neither of which Haley possesses in any abundance. C-
DC:
Dick, for the umpteenth time the past 4 years, once again had the luxury of facing a rookie QB. This time, it was Geno Smith, who prior to last Monday nite had been a hideous turnover machine. Santonio Holmes did not dress, and Smith’s skill players consisted of a motley crew that wouldn’t have started for any Top 25 NCAA program, much less a competent NFL team.
Hill was WIDE Open for a deep TD bomb, 4:41 2Q, but the pass was 2 feet too far. Would have -- and should have -- been yet another long, scorching TD allowed by Dick.
After a Suisham FG and the ensuing KO, the Jets took over on their own 28 with only 40 tics left in the 1H. Sure enough, Dick gets carved apart like a Halloween pumpkin, with the green horned rookie QB completing 4 passes to set up a chippie 39-yard FG just before the half expired. What an utterly brilliant defensive coordinator…!! He’s just so clever and diabolical.
Dick’s vaunted defense managed to get not 1, but two Dong INTs, both of which were like Larry Brown's Dong INTs in Sup Bowl 30. Unimpressive, obviously. See me when Dick holds off a competent, capable offense. C+
HC:
I despised the refusal to go for it on 4th & a short 1 late in the 1H. You’re 0-4, and fighting for your very survival....yet Momlin eschews a chance to get the 1st down and instead goes for a FG ? All bravado, no action. The continual slipping by Steeler players on bone-dry field turf would indicate the players were wearing incorrect cleats; perhaps too long of a cleat. This falls upon the head coach to plan and if need be, adjust. To his credit, the team looked more focused and disciplined, although there were far too many foolish penalties during this game. B-
Synopsis: At this point, after going 0-4, any win is a good win. We’ll gladly take it. Hopefully the team won’t get all full of itself after beating such a sad-sack opponent like the Jest (sic). Next up, a visit by the hated PoeBirds in a critical
divisional game. Win that one, and there could be a sight ray of hope. Lose it, and they’ll be right back in the bottom of the dumpster where they were as recently as 2 days ago.
(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no one else comes close….)
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