Stillers 23, Raidas 18...... Sep 24, 2023 …………Game # 3
Stillers - Raidas Postgame Analysis and Grades
The 1-1 Stillers mosied out to Vegas to take on the 1-1 Raidas, The Stillers went in at half, up 13-7. The Stillers struck for a long FG and a solid TD march, and held on for a 23-18 win.
Due to the late-nite nature of this game, this report will be a bit shorter than usual.
Grades:
QB: KP got the start. Perfect pass to Austin for the 72 yard TD, 1Q. His next pass should have been a pick 6, but Peters dropped the fairly easy INT. Nice TD pass to Fryboy, 3Q. There were some rocky moments, but overall KP looked far more in command than the 1st 2 weeks. B-
RB:
Harris – victimized 2 or 3 times in the 1H, with Vegas reading the motion as easy as pie, and flashing Peters into the backfield, UNTOUCHED, to blow up running plays by Harris. Good power run for 5 yards, early 3Q. Good 17 yard run, 4:17 3Q. B-
Warren – stonewalled Crosby in pass pro, enabling KP to hit Austin deep for a 72-yard TD. Solid 11 yard run in 2Q. Nifty run on a screen pass, 3Q, good for 15 yards. B
FB: Heyward got stuffed on an early 3d & 1 plunge out of the FB spot. Wasn’t his fault, as Daniels completely whiffed on his man.
WR:
Dionte – DNP, due to the week 1 leg injury.
Pickens – dropped a short out pass, mid 1Q. Good footwork on an out grab, 2Q. Flagged for an illegal shift while fugging with his chin strap (yes, for real), negating a 27-yard scamper by Pickett. Big RAC on 3rd down pass, early 3Q. A-
Austin – Allowed a catchable 3rd down pass to clang off his hands, 1Q. Hauled in the deep ball for a 72 yard TD. B+
Robinson – nice grab of low pass, early 3Q. Clutch grab on 3d & 3, late 4Q. I’m liking this fellow. B+
Boykin – no PT on O.
GunnerO – Thankfully, sat out due to injury.
TE:
Pat FryBoy – Grabbed 3 passes, including a TD. And here, I thought it was illegal to force more than 1 catch by a starting TE under NFL rules. B
Darnell Wash – never targeted.
Con Heyward – never targeted.
OL: Overall, the line (Moore, Seumalo, Cole, Daniels, Okorafor ) had a moderately okay game.
Nice WHIFF by Fat James Daniels on the early 3d & 1 plunge, causing the play to get blown up. What a fat pilo shoit. The run blocking saw marked improvement. The pass pro had some struggles, largely with Dan Moore, but it wasn’t a total sieve, either. Hopefully this is a game to build upon for this crew, as they should be performing much better than what we saw the first 2 games. C
DL:
Heyward – thankfully on IR.
Ogunjobi – was very quiet.
Adams – chipped in a little.
Benton – Good thing Keeanu Benton mostly ROTTED the bench the 1st 2 weeks of the season. Huge sack, off a savvy swim move, which saved a cake-walk TD, last play of 3Q. Drew a holding flag, 2 plays later. B+
Lowdermilk – did nothing; I presume he rarely played.
Leal – saw some PT here and there.
LB:
Kwon Alex – led all LBs in tackles. Dude’s a baller. B
Cole Holcomb – good run stuff, 2Q. Good lick on Adams, early 3Q, to dislodge the pass. He’s slowly showing that he belongs. B
Elandon Roberts – chipped in a bit.
Mark Robinson – good run stop, late 1Q. But a few plays later, got trucked by Jacobs on a plunge, getting bowled onto his back.
Watt – created havoc and pressure all nite long. Dude earned his paycheck tonite. A
Highsmith – At the half, Big Alex Highsmith was ROLLING THE DONUT. 0 tackles. 0 pressures. 0 pass defensed. 0 nothing. He did jack fuk the ENTIRE HALF.
Hey, there was some rare pressure by Highsmith, 1st play of 2d Half. Oh wait, the LT never MOVED at the snap, and Big Alex came in UNTOUCHED. Gee, he’s just so vaunted.
Big Alex, who was the AFC Def Player of the Week, apparently did little all week except read his press clippings. The $17M Fraud finished with:
ZERO solos
ZERO assists
ZERO sacks
ZERO passes defensed
ZERO nothing
Highsmith did jaq fuq the entire game. He got credited with 2 QB hits, one of which was on the 1st play of the 2H, when the LT never moved at the snap and Big Al came in untouched.
The Donut Roller stole a paycheck tonite. F
Golden – got a nice sack, 4Q, while subbing for Big Alex, The Donut Roller.
Herbig – played here and there.
DB
Wallace – snared a rare INT, 2Q, on a poor throw by Jimmy G. Busted up a huge 4th down pass, early 4Q. Got an INT on final play of the game, which was basically a Dong INT. Was also abused continually by Adams & Meyers throughout the game. C+
Peterson - What da fuq exactly was Pat "Stooge" Peterson doing on that 1Q TD pass to Adams ?? This guy has the aerial football awareness of a 4th grader. Got a Dong INT off a hideous throw by Jimmy G, 3Q.
Joey Porter Jr. - good coverage on Adams on early 3d down pass, which was inc. Saw some 2-bit playing time here and there. Apparently will have to serve as a benchwarmer for another 7 weeks before being allowed more meaningful PT.
Kazee – played ok.
Keanu Neal – played ok.
Minkah - wrongly flagged for “roughing the passer” on a sack in the 4Q, which was complete bullshoit. He never led with his helmet ….his chest hit the QB first. Was all over the field tonite. Very strong game. A
Spec teams:
Harvin – booming punt, 4Q, good for 63 yards. Late in the game, had a shoddy 41 yarder with little hang time, allowing a 16 yard return. Boomed a 56 yard punt near the sideline in the final minute of the game. A-
Boswell – nailed a 57-yarder, 3Q. Also had 2 other FGs. A+
Desmond King – assigned the KOR chores, but all KO’s were touchbacks.
Austin – nifty early punt return for about 15, but azzhole James Pierre was flagged for a silly, needless hold.
OC: Matt Canada oversaw a much, much more competent, more varied offense. A staunch believer that it is illegal to complete more than 1 pass to a starting TE, Canada actually saw to it to have Frier grab 3 passes. What I despised was how easy it was for Vegas to anticipate running plays, esp on motion where the DB would slash in behind where the motion came from and completely blow the play up. There is loads of room for improvement, but this was much better than the pigslop we’d seen the past 2 weeks. C+
DC: Austin had his usual struggles as the game wore on. To be fair, his D got completely screwed on the Minkah pers foul flag, which basically handed a freebie TD to Vegas. I wasn’t fond with how Adams just danced and roamed free the entire evening, making it the 3rd week in a row where a WR has gone off against this defense. FFL alert – trade for whatever stud WR is facing the Steelers…..yer guaranteed 170 yards receiving and 2 TDs. B-
HC: Mike Asslin managed to eke out the win. Late in the 1H, with about 45 seconds and two timeouts and knowing the Raiders get the ball to start the second half amid a thin 6 point lead, and needing 35 yards to get into Boz’s range, Tomlin takes a knee before the half. He talks a lot, but then fails to back it up by living in his fears. B
Synopsis: A solid road win, which is often quite difficult in the NFL. Both sides of the ball looked much better than the slather n’ slop of the first 2 weeks. Up next, a road game at weakling HOU, which cannot be taken for granted. This PIT team isn’t good enough to lazily just show up and lollygag on the road.
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