Stillers 43, Chefs 14 ……. Oct 2, 2016…………Game # 4
Stillers-Chefs Postgame Analysis and Grades
The 2-1 Stillers hosted the 2-1 Chefs on Sunday nite football. The Stillers rolled to a 29-0 lead at the half, and then cruised to an easy 43-14 win. Due to the late-nite viewing of this game, this will be fairly succinct.
Grades:
QB: Poor, underthrown deep ball, first play of game, but Coates made the big grab. Hit DHB for a long TD, and then AB for a deep post TD late in the1Q. Superb back-shoulder pass to AB, 3d & 5, early 2Q, good for 18. Dogshit pass to AB, 3d & 1 late 2Q, but AB saved is bacon with a shoestring grab. Nice touch on the TD pass to James, late 2Q. 5 TD passes; not shabby. A
Jones - Laundry entered the blowout with 6:00 remaining.
RB:
Bell - returned from his 3-game suspension. Dropped a routine curl pass, 1st series. Good run of 14 on 3d & a mile, early 2Q. Nice RAC on screen, first play of 3Q, for 18 yards. Big 44-yard run, 4Q. Had 144 yards on 18 rushes, plus 5 grabs for 34. A+
DeAngelo – On only his 3rd carry of the nite, scored on a 3-yard TD in garbage time. Touched the ball all of 4 times. Next week, he’ll be lucky to have 2 touches.
Toussaint - no activity.
FB: N/A
WR:
Brownie – grabbed a short TD and a long post TD, 1Q. Foolishly drew a 15-yard flag after the 2nd TD for a moronic dance and jig. Had 4 grabs for 64, and 2 TDs. A
Pinkie Wheaton – Mister Sofftee finally did something, grabbing a cake-easy 2-pointer, 1Q. PAM (PissAss Markus) was wide open and grabbed a lob for a TD, early 3Q. Stunned he didn’t allow the ball to CLANG off his chest. Of course, his footwork was lazy and sloppy, and he clearly failed to get a 2nd knee or foot down, but the replay review concurred with the refs. C
Coates - superb grab of an underthrown deep ball, first series, for 47 yards. Had 6 grabs for 79. Def establishing himself as the clear #2. A-
Rogers - did not dress (turf toe)
Heyward-Gay – was WIDE open and hauled in a long TD pass, 1Q. B+
TE:
Jesse James - snared a TD pass, late 1H.
D. Johnson - wide open a simple curl, and gained 26 after a big RAC.
Grimble - nice grab on a slant in tight coverage, early 3Q. Took an incredibly poor blocking angle on the screen to Coates, 3Q. On the next play, committed a false start.
OL: Overall, good pass pro and run blocking.
Villeneueva - totally abused by Hali on a speed rush, first series. Had a decent game. B
Gilbert - FatAss Marcus committed his weekly holding penalty, early 2Q. Got nicked up, late 2Q. Did not return (ankle).
Foster – did not dress.
BJ Finney - started in place of Foster. Played every bit as well as the $65M man, David DeAsstro. Go figure. A
Pouncey - good hustle to lead the way, far downfield, on the Bell 44-yard run, 4Q.
DeCastro – Picking up where he left off last week, flagged for a hold, 1st series, negating a 9-yard run by DW. He then committed a sophomoric false start on 3d & 24, early 2Q. Gee, it’s a good thing GM Kevin Doltbert rushed out to extend this stiff. Even better, I suppose, that Dolbert overpaid him. C-
R. Harris - came in for Gilbert.
DL: Overall, a solid, stout effort.
Hargrave - had a rare pressure, 3Q.
McCullers - did nothing, as usual.
Heyward – fought thru a block and nailed Smith on a bootleg for a rare sack, 1st drive. B+
Tuitt – forced a fumble, 2d series. Tipped a pass on 3d & long, 2Q, and luckily he did so, as Wilson, the intended WR, was WIDE open for a 1D. A-
LB:
Timmons – cleaned up with Harrison on the end around, for a 2 yard loss. Solid game. A-
Shaquier – Yancey did not dress, due to his weekly injury malady.
Moats - did little. C+
Harrison – strung out an end around, late 1Q. Had some solid QB pressures. B
Jones – grabbed an INT off a deflected screen, 1Q. Then looked slower than Jon Wittman on the INT return, and was easily brought down by the QB. Good chasedown across the field of a screen play, 2Q. Had a terrible jam on a 4th & goal, 3Q, but the TE dropped an EASY TD pass.
Chickillo - got nicked up, 2H, and did not return.
Vinnie W. - started in place of Yancey Shaz. Solid run stuff, 3d series. Good tackle on a WR screen, 5:10 2Q. Solid overall effort. A
Dupree – did not dress.
DB
Golden – did not dress.
Mitchell – very first play of the game, PissAss Mitchell is like 23 feet from Maclin for an easy 15-yard pitch n’ catch. As usual, was LATE on the 4th down reception to Maclin, 3Q. Yeah, he made a big, tough-guy hit….AFTER the catch. He was slow as shit to, you know, actually defend the pass. Feebly whiffed on the tackle, allowing Hill to score and break the shutout. All talk and all preen, and very little actual effectiveness. C+
Gay - good tackle of WR screen, 2Q.
Cockrell - wasn’t abused as he often is.
Dangerfield - good stop of a screen pass, 3Q. Despite this being his first ever NFL start, didn’t seem to be confused or bewildered. So much for the old days of a fellow requiring 3 or 4 years to sit around as an apprentice under Saint Dick’s system of asininity.
Burns - Waaay too soft on a 3d & 2, 1Q. Tooled by Conley on 3d & 11, 2Q, by playing meek and soft, and allowing an 11-yard grab. Very soff. Flagged for a hold, 3Q. Busted up a deep ball, 3Q, showing nice catch-up speed. Flagged for illegal contact, late 4Q. Got tooled for a TD by Kelce late in the game. C+
Davis - dressed, but rarely, if ever, on the field.
Justin Gilbert - just like Brandon Boykin last year, Gilbert mostly sat and rotted. He got a few snaps as the 4th CB. This is Big Mike, Michael Stoogelin, stubbornly asserting his influence over Kevin Doltbert.
Sharko Thomas – not permitted to play on D.
Spec teams:
Jordan Berry – Had some struggles. Shitty 38-yard punt, 4Q. Had another dogshit 38 yard punt, late 4Q. Yes, it was raining at times, but this was poor. C+
Boswell – Booted PATs well. Good placement on KO’s as well.
Rogers - did not dress.
AB – Stupidly allowed a high punt to LAND at his own 15, early 1Q, and it rolled to the 5. What a dumbass.
Shoddy KO coverage on opening KO. LB Steven Johnson made a big stick in KO coverage, 1Q. Matakevich and then DHB strung out a KC KO return, stopped at the KC 2. Burns committed a jack-assed illegal block on a punt return, late 1Q.
OC:
Haley went deep and often, and targeted suspect secondary defenders. Got the pass protection woes from last week rectified. Much more creativity than last week’s bland pablum of a gameplan. A-
DC:
Keith Assler had a comfy evening, esp. with the offense handing him a massive lead and making the Chefs 1-dimensional. Mega kudos to Assler for finally taking off the training wheels and ordering wave after wave of 5 and 6 man rushes, instead of the feeble, softee, infantile 3 and 4 man rushes that he’d used 90% of the time the first 3 weeks. They pressured and harassed Smith into numerous off-target passes, which is precisely what you want and need. B
HC: Mike Dumblin will be all proud of this one after last week’s completel whipping received from Philly. Called a smart (and for Stoogelin, that’s quite rare) TO late in the 1H, allowing the heavy rain to further soak the pigskin. The KC holder had an issue with the snap, and the FG clanged off the upright, no good. On the other hand, the Stillers were up 36-0, 3Q, and there was AB, still fielding punts. The Stillers were up by those 5 TDs in the 4Q, yet the Big 3 of Ben, Bell, and AB were still getting reps. Just unbelievably stupid, and myopic. B
Synopsis: A very solid bounce-back win after last week’s egg lay vs. Philly. Next up, the NY Jest. Hardly a good football team, but I have no idea who will cover B. Marshall. Sure, Ryan Fitzhue is an INT machine, but you have a Steeler secondary that still, 4 games into the season, doesn’t have an INT and hasn’t even come close to an INT. Could be a wild shootout.
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