Stillers 21, Seattle 0� .���. Oct. 7, 2007 ����Game #5
Stillers-Seahawks Postgame
Analysis and Grades
The
Stillers hosted the Seahags at Heinz Field in a rematch of SB 40.�� Coming off a hideous road loss and starting
an injury-depleted lineup due to the recent rash of injuries to Hampton,
Polamalu, Ward, and Holmes, the Stillers held off the Seahags in the 1st half,
and then put together one of the best 2nd halves ever in the history of the
franchise, en route to a 21-0 thrashing of Seattle.��
Grades:
QB:�
Benji had an okay first half, leading the offense to one TD and a 7-0
halftime lead.�� He overthrew an open
Miller on a flag in the 1Q, and later in the quarter overthrew an open Reid on
a 3rd & 8 lob.� In the 2nd half,
Roethlisberger was simply on fire, and finished with a perfect 9 for 9
passing while leading the offense to 2 long scoring marches, all without the
services of Hines Ward and Tonio Holmes (pulled ham in pre-game warm-ups).�� (There was an incomplete deep pass to
Wilson on the 17-play march that was negated by Colon�s holding penalty.)�� And this wasn�t the case of a QB completing
easy, cheesy passes with gobs of time in the pocket.� Time and time again, Benji ducked under or twisted from a pass
rusher, and then scrambled and made a clutch completion, to include 13 and 8
yard completions to Wilson.�� The
17-play TD drive to open the 3Q actually gained 110 yards in offense, and Benji
converted 3rd & 13, 3rd & 7, and 3rd & 17 to keep the drive
alive.�� Especially given the loss of
his top 2 receivers, this simply was one of Ben�s best games ever in his NFL
career.���� A+.��
RB:�
Parker started slowly, and shades of Arizona started to creep into the
picture.�� Worse, he bobbled a simple
pitchout on a toss sweep in the 2Q, which lost a yard and earned him a seat on
the bench.�� To his credit, he rebounded
in the 2H, running with speed and toughness, even when Seattle knew the run was
coming.�� Willie finished with 28
carries for 102 yards.� Davenport was absolutely
superb in relief, making some clutch catches and then giving outstanding RAC
effort.�� He took a 3rd down dumpoff and
gained 26 yards in the 3Q, although the long gain was negated by the bullshit
flag on Miller.�� Later, in the 4Q, he
caught an out-curl on 3rd & 3 while split out wide, and busted a tackle en
route to a 17-yard gain.�� In the 2Q, he
set up the Stiller TD by dashing 45 yards on a 2d & 18 draw play, busting 2
tackles and then showing a good burst of speed.�� Daven also found the end zone twice with some good running.� Davis got a couple carries in mop-up
duty.��� A+.�
FB: Kreider got his most work of the
season, and I think Arians is reconsidering the stupidity of phasing out one of
the very best FBs in the entire league.��
Davis also got a decent amount of PT at FB as well.�� Davis caught a valve dump in the 2Q;
Kreider had a plunge in garbage time.���
The blocking was decent.���
Russell did not dress.�� B.�
WR:�
Hines did not dress, due to his knee injury.� To make matters worse, Holmes pulled a ham in pre-game warm-ups,
and could not go.�� This left the
offense with a starting duo of Nate and Wilson, which seemed dubious, at
best.�� To their credit, they each had a
decent game and chipped in to the winning effort.�� Wilson led the team with 5 grabs for 69 yards, and Nate added 3
for 26.�� Wilson nearly aborted the long
march to open the 3Q, with a totally assaholic hold on a 33-yard run by
Parker.� But he made amends quickly
thereafter, making 2 clutch catches on two 3rd & longs to keep the drive
alive.�� Nate didn�t drop any passes for
once, and had a key downfield nudge block on Davenport�s long run in the
2Q.�� Reid finally did something,
catching a short out on 3rd & 3 and rumbling through a tackle en route to a
25-yard gain.�� �A.�
TE:�
Heath Miller was again The Man, making clutch catch after clutch catch,
and adding numerous yards with good, smart, tough RAC work.�� He finished with 4 grabs for 44 yards and 1
TD.� His blocking was solid, including a
good kickout on the 5-yard TD run by Davenport.� The holding call on Miller in the 3Q was utter, unadulterated
bullshit.�� Miller astutely set himself
up square to the defender on this downfield block, and had his hands
IN.�� This was a textbook
downfield block, and the NFL should issue an apology for this outrageous
penalty call.�� Spaeth returned from
injury and chipped in, and Tuman saw PT as well.���� A.�
OL: The line had its fair share of
struggles in the 1H, but managed to do just enough in the 2H to open some holes
in the ground game.� The pass pro was
spotty; it was only by amazing grace that BenRoth was able to escape pressure
time and time again.� Mahan was shoved
onto his back on a 2Q sack.� Soon later,
Colon clumsily blocked down -- and blocked no one -- leaving a gaping hole for
a blitzer to crash through and drop Benji.�
This also happened on the 3rd & 8 misfire to Reid late in the
1Q.�� Colon was also called for a hold
in the 3Q.�� He did have a good lead
block on Daven�s 5-yard TD run.� Simmons
was just atrocious at times in pass pro, getting tooled far too easily.�� Smith was injured in the 2Q and Starks saw
some PT.�� Reviewing the tape of the
game, I can attest that Mahan is either getting stood up, or driven back, or
BOTH, on far too many occasions.� This
line still has a long way to go, as there is too much leakage and breakdowns
occurring on far too many plays.��
B-.�
DL:�
Hampton did not dress, but the line responded with a stellar effort in
stonewalling Alexander.��� Hoke started
in place of Hampton and played solidly.�
Aaron Smith and Keisel just ravaged the Seattle O-line, continually
slashing through to harass or drop Alex.��
Kirschke and Eason saw some decent PT.��� A.�
LB:�
Farrior responded after last week�s lethargy with a solid effort in run
stuffing.�� He also got a true Dong Sack
in the 2Q when Hasseljack slipped and fell to the ground well before Farrior
arrived for the touch.�� He did apply
good pressure on some blitzes in the 2H.�
Jamie Harrison was extremely active in run support, and also had good
coverage on several occasions.� Foote
was invisible throughout the game, and actually finished with zero
tackles.�� Haggans, too, was a wee bit
quiet, though he applied some pressure in the 2H.� He was beat deep down the s-line on the 4th play of the game by
Morris, but luckily the pass was overthrown.�
Late in the game, he fought through an illegal hands to the face that
ripped off his helmet and kept on chugging, helmet-less, to help sack the QB.� Timmons and Woodley saw some limited
PT.��� B+.�
DB:�
Missing Troy Polamalu as well as McFadden, the secondary turned it up a
notch with a very gritty, quality all-around effort.�� Ike led the way, consistently blanketing Seahag receivers.� He had 2 near INTs in the 1st half, dropping
each on semi-difficult but catchable balls.�
But, on the final play of the 1st half, Ike redeemed himself by picking
off a pass in the end zone to retain the slim 7-0 lead.� He also had a good stop of Alex from behind
in the 2Q, limiting Alex to a 2-yard gain.�
Clark established the Steeler identity early on, delivering a punishing
hit to Engram.� He also busted up a 3rd
& 3 pass in the 3Q.� Carter was lost
in no man�s land on the 30-yard pass play to Obomanu late in the 2Q, but he had
a smart blitz in the 4Q by not foolishly lunging or leaving his feet against
Wallace, which forced a sideways scramble and throwaway.�� Anthony Smith was flagged for a low hit to
the QB, although this was a pretty cheesy flag.�� Townsend provided solid coverage.� Gay saw some PT in the dime defense.� The D caught a break when Branch injured his foot in the 2Q, but
this was still a sterling effort while shorthanded due to the Pola/McFadden
injuries.��� A.�
Spec
teams:� Some good, some bad.�� Sepulveda had a good day punting.�� Reed�s KOs were mostly deep and he hit all
3 PATs.�� Gay was mauled on an early
punt cover, but came back with some good coverage on both punts and KOs.� Ty Carter had a good, immediate hit in punt
coverage in the 2Q.�� The rest was
pretty lousy.� There was sloppy KO
coverage in the 4Q, and poor punt coverage in the 1Q led to a 23-yard
return.� Taylor committed a totally
foolish block to the back penalty on a punt return, shoving a man from behind
in plain view of the entire stadium.�
Reid was flagged for a block in the back, which was such a weakling
block that his man pounded Rossum anyway.��
Allen Rossum had a rocky day.��
He bobbled one punt OOB in the 3Q, and then in the 4Q, with the game
seemingly in hand, he fumbled a punt return after taking a hard hit at the end
of a 5-yard gain.�� Luckily, Frazier
recovered the ball.� ����C. ������
OC:�
Arians overcame the loss of Ward and the unexpected loss of Holmes and
cobbled together a solid plan.�� The
17-play drive was a masterpiece, although Benji single-handedly made some plays
to overcome poor protection.�� Give
Arians credit for learning from last week�s disaster, which sent Miller into a
forest of defenders on the INT in the EZ.��
This time, on a 3d & 3 from Seattle 13, Arians went trips left and
put Miller on the right end of the formation, which left Miller in SINGLE
coverage without a thicket of defenders in the middle.�� A skinny slant produced an easy TD.�� After running about 8 screens per game the
first few weeks, Arians has gone to the opposite end of the spectrum, running
zero to the RBs (just like last week) and one nice, quick screen to
Miller.� With Ward and Holmes out, this
refusal to run any RB screens was bizarre.�
With teams run blitzing our offense, Arians simply must counter with
some quick flares to Parker (we�ve maybe tried this once all year) and a
screen once in a while.��� B+.
DC:�
Dick had his work cut out, due to Pola�s absence in particular, as well
as not having Hampton or McFadden.�� The
coverage was simply blanketing, as Hasseljack often threw the ball away even
though he was under no duress.� Dick
threw a 3-deep look at Seattle at times that seemed to baffle Hasslejack.� The defense gave up only 1
meaningless 1st down during the entire 2nd half, which is simply amazing.��� A+
HC:� Tomlin
suffered his 1st loss last week, but wasted no time moping, rationalizing, or
making excuses.�� He went back to work
and got his team focused and energized, and significantly cut down the
penalties as well.�� (Really, there were
only 4 legit Stiller penalties in this game.)��
Having to play without so many key players is never easy, but Tomlin
didn�t allow the team to feel sorry for themselves the way a Dave Wannshidt
does over at Pitt.���� A.�
Synopsis:�
A resounding, dominating victory despite an injury depleted lineup.� This 2nd half of today�s game may soon be
forgotten, but make no mistake, this was one of the very best 2nd halves,
against a quality opponent, that the Stillers have ever played.� Ever.��
Job well done!���� The team now
goes on the bye week with a huge boost, and gets the time needed to mend
several key players.�
(Still Mill and
Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no
one else comes close�.)