Stillers 27, Arizona
Stillers-Cards Postgame
Analysis and Grades
The
Stillers stormed to a 10-0 lead early in the 2Q.� �But
the Cards struck back with a TD to close it to 10-7, and then seemed poised to
take the lead just before the half.� But
Jamie Harrison picked off a Warner pass at the GL and dashed 100 yards for a
huge TD on the final play of the 1H.�
The
Stillers had a chance to take full control in the 3Q, but twice, on the same
drive, settled for a chickenshit FG after 1st &
goal inside the AZ 5.�� In the 4Q, the
Cardinals just shredded and decimated Dick LeBeau�s
vaunted defense, and took the lead on a late 64-yard catch & run by
Fitz.� But as has happened all season
long, Ben engineered a late drive, and Tonio atoned for a TD drop by snaring a
high pass on the very next play for the winning TD !!�
Grades:
QB:�
Ben had a superb 1H, going 11 of 14 for 130 yards.� The lone INT was off a bat by a
D-lineman.�� He had a superb scramble on
3d & 10 and hit Miller for 11 yards, which kept the drive alive for a FG
early in the 2Q.� He also had a couple
other good scrambles that avoided disaster.�
He wasn�t flawless in the 1H, though.�
On the 2nd drive, he had Nate open on a deep post for a TD, but lollipopped the pass (LOS was the AZ 44) and Cromar was able to bust it up.� This drive ended in a FG, but it should have
been 6 points off the deep ball to Nate. ��Later, midway thru the 2Q, Ben had Tonio WIDE
open deep on a stop n� go that had clearly beaten Cromar,
but Ben again lollipopped the throw, and Cromar was able to get back and bust up the pass
���� In the 2H, Ben had a foolish low throw
that was batted on 2nd & goal that nearly ended in a disastrous INT by Rolle.� He was timid
and tentative on the 3d & 8 at 12:08 4Q, and was sacked for a 12-yard
loss.� He then was timid, refusing to
shuffle or scoot from inside pressure by Dockett, on
2d & 6 at 6:44 4Q, and was sacked.�
He then under threw Nate on a lollipop lob down the sideline just before
the 2MW in the 4Q.� In retrospect, Ben
would have been better off simply allowing the 2MW to occur than trying to squeeze
off a hasty, disorganized play on this 2d & 6.� �At any
rate, Ben was Ben on the final drive, coolly marching the team 78 yards on 5 of
7 passing and passing for the winning TD.�
Actually, he threw a good pass on the prior play, but Tonio allowed that
one to go through his hands.� Ben
finished 21 of 30 for 256 yards, made some miraculous scrambles, and led a near
flawless final drive for the comeback victory.��
He should have been named co-MVP.�
��A
RB:�
After a promising 1st half (8 rushes, 34 yards) Parker finished with 19
rushes for 53 yards.� Park had a nice
bounce on a toss sweep, good for 9 yards in the 1Q.� He then had a good power run late in the 1Q,
for 8 yards.� He eluded Wilson -- who
spent the entire evening in our backfield -- midway thru the 2Q and gained 8
out of nothing.�
���� But the Cards sold out in the 2H and shot
thru every gap, and severely limited Parker in the latter half.� One of Parker�s biggest runs was to simply cross
the goal line -- from his own end zone -- to avoid a safety and force the Cards
to burn a TO at 3:04 4Q.� Park had a big
15-yard dash to the AZ 5 to set up the fateful, and unproductive, 1st &
goal late in the 3Q.� Aside from that
run, however, Parker had 10 rushes for 4 yards.�
Russell had
the big TD plunge early in the 2Q, burrowing low for a huge TD.�� He was engulfed by 4 defenders on a plunge
in the 1Q from the 1, which lost 4 yards.�
Overall, there should have been better production, but vanilla
predictability made the 8-man front by AZ difficult to run against in the 2H.���� B-��
FB:
WR:�
Tonio Holmes.�� Damn.�� What a game.�� I�m not sure where to start, but Holmes
finished with 9 grabs for 131 yards and 1 of the greatest, most clutch TD
catches in the entire history of the Sup Bowl.� Tonio also had 2 long gains (22 yards in the 2Q
on 3d & 12; 19 yards on 3d & 10 in the 4Q) that were negated by holding
calls.� And, Tonio whipped Cromar on a stop n� go in the 2Q, but the lollipop lob was
underthrown and busted up.� Two aspects of
Holmes� game tonight were huge:� his
plucking of the ball, and his outstanding RAC that piled on a ton of
yardage.� With Cromar
playing soft, Tonio had big RACs on a bubble screen
and a 0-step hitch.� On the final drive,
Holmes had a superb pluck of a high pass on 3rd & 6, which kept that drive
alive and helped the offense avoid a do-or-die 4th down.� He had the superb RAC for a 40-yard gain
later in The Drive, although I wasn�t pleased with his foolish preening after
that catch when he should have been quickly lining up in case Ben wanted to get
a play off.� He did allow a TD pass to go
right thru his hands, but on the next play, made 1 of the greatest TD catches
in Super Bowl history to give the Stillers the victory.� It was only a few scant months ago that Tonio
nearly sabotaged the season by getting arrested for possession of a MaryJane blunt in his car during a police stop.� Kudos for Tonio for
learning from that mistake and then emerging in all 3 playoff games with 1 huge
play after another.�
Ward got
the offense going early, snaring a medium pass and then dashing down the field
for a big 38-yard gain.� He had a huge,
clutch grab on 3rd & 1 in the 3Q, snaring a very difficult pass amidst
tight coverage for a 5-yard gain that kept that scoring drive alive.� But, he dropped a short curl on 1st down from
our own 1 in the 4Q, and was a total non-factor aside from the 2 catches.�
Nate had only
1 grab, an 11-yarder on the final drive in which he foolishly took an asinine angle
on his RAC and failed to get OOB. �Just
prior, he failed to come down amidst tight coverage with the underthrown lob
down the sideline at the 2:00 mark of the 4Q.�
Sweed did
nothing.��
Holmes:� A+���
Ward:� B-��� Nate:�
B-���� Sweed:� Inc
TE:�
Miller was on fire in the 1H, grabbing 4 passes for 47 yards.� He had 21 yards off a pop pass on the first
series.� He also had a good block on a
bubble screen to Tonio, and a great catch on Ben�s 3rd & 10 scramble in the
1Q.� He had a good seal block on Parker�s
15-yard run in the 3Q.� However, he had a
drop of a short in 2 plays later.� The shame
of it all was that, in the 2nd half, with AZ selling out for the run and
walking up SS Adrian Wilson into the box on nearly every 1st & 2nd down,
Miller was totally neglected by his incompetent OC.� His lone grab in the 2nd half was a valve
dumpoff on 3rd & 16 that gained 10.��
Spaeth had
1 grab, a 6-yarder in the 3Q.� He totally
whiffed on Okeafor on the 1st Stiller play of the 3Q,
resulting in a 3-yard loss.� He also
whiffed miserably on Smith on the 1st & goal run
on the 1st series of the game, resulting in a 4-yard loss by Russell.�� Really, I�ve seen this turd stumble and
flail all season long in blocking assignments.�
Colbert�s first order of business, once he cuts Larry Foote, should be
to cut Spaeth.�
Miller:�� A-����
Speath:�
C-�
OL: Overall, the line played okay.� Hardly great, but not
pitiful.� In the first half, the
run blocking was more than acceptable, with Parker gaining over 4 yards per
carry.� But in the 2nd half, the Card
went for broke, run blitzing on every down, and there simply weren�t enough
blockers to block 8 defenders that were all within 4 feet of the LOS.�
���� To be sure, there a host
of boners.�� Piss Kemo bypassed an
interior rusher on 1st & goal in the 1Q, resulting in a 4-yard loss.� In the 2Q, he foolish hold negated a 22-yard
gain by Holmes on 3d & 12.� On the
first play of the final drive, Kemo committed yet another hold that nearly blew
that drive all to hell.� Kemo also had a
weak-assed block attempt on the 3d & goal QB keeper, barely getting a
finger or a nudge on the defender, who ended up nabbing Ben for a 1-yard
loss.�
����� Hartwig committed a false start on 3d
& 5 of the 2nd series.� He had the
good sense to help drag Ben to the goal line for the apparent TD in the
1Q.� He also had a good block on Parker�s
8-yard run late in the 1Q.� But, he
totally whiffed on Dockett on a 3d & 8 in the 4Q,
resulting in a 12-yard sack.� And, he was
bowled over in the end zone on the 19-yard reception by Tonio, which was ruled
holding on a very ticky-tack flag that resulted in
safety.�
����� Starks was beaten wide on the 3d &
goal at the 9 in the 3Q, forcing a pressure and throw-away.�
����� Darnell Stapleton was simply wretched
most of the game, especially in the 2nd half when he got tooled and abused on
nearly every single play.� He may have
been at his poorest on Parker�s 2-yard loss in the 4Q.�
����� Oddly enough, Willie The
Colon made few of the boners that he�s become famous for.� He wasn�t flagged at all -- perhaps a first
in his career -- and wasn�t totally abused and humiliated the way Stapledick and Hartwig were in the 2nd half.�� He had the presence of mind on the 2nd play
of the final drive to get up off his ass and at least try to help Ben, who
scrambled and found Tonio for 14 yards to help regain yardage after the 1st
down holding.�
On the
final drive, the pass blocking was fairly solid.� Ben had time and room,
and the line deserves credit for coming through in the clutch on that
drive.������ B-
DL:�
The D-line had some fairly easy stops of the woeful AZ running
game.� James was held to 10 yards on 4
rushes in the 1st half.� He had 5 carries
for 23 yards in the 3Q (19 coming on 3 carries early in the 3Q) and then AZ
finally woke up and realized that, if they were to win the game, they�d do it
through the air, not on the ground.� �
���� Aaron Smith was as quiet as a church mouse
the entire game, doing very, very little.�
He finished with 0 solos, 1 assist, and very minimal pressure on the
QB.�� Very
disappointing.�
���� Eason saw a fair amount of PT, and
Kirschke subbed in some as well.��
Overall,
they played okay, but hardly dominant.����
B-
LB:�
Leading the way were the Terrible Twosome, Woodley and
Harrison, who simply dominated and abused the Cards all game long.�
Woodley was
an absolute beast, continually tooling and manhandling Levi Brown -- precisely
as I stated he would -- and harassing Warner on just about every other
play.� He constantly pressured Warner,
and had the huge strip with 5 secs left in the game
to seal the win.� He also had a bullrush
sack late in the 2Q.� Woodley also hustled
downfield on the Harrison INT return and helped pave the way.�� Gee, it�s a good thing this guy rotted all
of last season.� After all, it�s just so complicated
and difficult for a LB to learn how to pin his ears back and run hell bent at a
QB.��
Taunto Farrior
tweaked his groin in the 1st half, but fought through it. ��He finished with a team high 6 solos, which
tells you how meaningless defensive tackling stats can be, as he had very
minimal impact the entire game.� He did
have a solid wrap of James on a mid-dump in the 1Q.� But he was far too slow to get to the outside
on James� wide run in the 2Q, which gained 6 yards.� He was literally buried into the turf on
James� 7-yard run early in the 3Q.� After
eons in the pocket, he applied a hit to Warner that forced a near-fumble that
was ruled an inc pass.�
He had a good ankle-nab stop on a draw play at 5:03 4Q.�
Timmons had
a strong effort throughout the game.� He
showed superb speed and had a good chasedown of James
after a dumpoff in the flats in the 3Q, limiting James to a meager 2-yard
gain.� He put a god, rugged hit n� stop
on Boldin late in the 2Q, deep in Stiller
territory.� And he laid a punishing hit
on Breaston after a short crosser with zero RAC late in the 3Q.� He helped pave the way for
Larry FlatFoote gave up the TD pass to Patrick in the 2Q.� His coverage was fine.� Problem was, Foote
never left the ground on this high lob of a pass, literally standing FLAT
FOOTED and meekly just reaching up with his paw.� Had he jumped just 2 inches -- TWO
INCHES -- he very easily bats this pass and the play is broken up.� This was one of the most UNathletic plays I�ve ever seen
from a supposed �starting linebacker� at the NFL level.� We can only hope this will be Foote�s last
game in a Stiller uniform.�
DB:�
lke
Ike wasn�t
alone in the boner department, of course.�
After the dominating performance in the AFCC, Troy Pola basically laid
an egg, doing almost nothing the entire game.�
He was a wretched pile of shit in this game.� He flailed and whiffed on James after a short
dumpoff in the 2Q, resulting in an 11-yard gain.� On the very next play, he flailed again, this
time on a wide run by Hightower that was fortunately negated by a holding
flag.� Late in the 2Q, Pola made one of
the most absurd, airheaded blunders ever seen.� On a bubble screen from the PIT 5-yard line,
Pola flashed up, totally unblocked, with Gay in nearby stop support.� Instead of tackling the BALLCARRIER (Boldin), Pola literally jumped atop Gay�s shoulders
like a complete fool, taking both players out of the play.� What should have been NO GAIN resulted in a 3-yard
gain to the Steeler 2-yard line and a 1st down.�
Unbelievably, with 39 cameras inside the stadium, NBC never highlighted
this on a replay.� Like a total dumfuk, he jumped on a piddly-assed
12-yard out -- with a CB right ON that receiver -- rather than smartly reading
the play on the 64-yard TD late in the 4Q.�
McFadden
stopped moving on the 45-yard play to Boldin in the
2Q.� Overall, he played ok.�
Townsend saw
a lot of PT and provided decent coverage.�
Helped spring
Ryan Clark
was once again a total waste of oxygen.�
Like Pola, he jumped on a meaningless 12-yard out pattern -- with a CB
in good coverage on that receiver -- on the late 64-yard TD.� He was non existent in pass coverage the
entire game and did very, very little.
Ike:� C����
Pola:�� D+��� McFadden:�
B-��� �Townsend:�
A-���� Gay:� A-� �Clark:�
C-�
Spec
teams:� The coverage was decent, aside from the 1
lone breakdown that allowed the 34-yard punt return by
Breaston in the 2Q.� Bailey and Frazier
allowed Breaston to get to the outside on this
play.��
Reed booted
2 short FGs, including the shortest FG since
1976.� ��Holmes had 2 punt returns and did nothing on
either.�
Surprisingly,
Bitch Berger didn�t kill the Stillers the way we feared he might.� Yes, he did have the low, line-drive punt
that Breaston returned for 34 yards.� He
boomed a 49-yarder in the 4Q and then got off a mediocre punt that rolled for a
47-yarder later in the 4Q.� �Gay had a good immediate hit on Breaston on
the 49-yard punt.�
Bailey made
a crushing tackle on the free punt after the safety, holding the Cards to mediocre
FP.� �Russell had a good trip up in coverage on the
opening KO of the 2H.�� Timmons nearly
blocked a punt at 13:49 3Q, forcing a weak, 27-yard punt in the process.�
Madison and
Davis made the stop on the final KO, holding the Cards to the 23-yard
line.�
Russell
began the game returning KOs, but for no apparent reason, the slowfooted Carey Davis took the
Overall the
spec teams did little to add to the win, but at least they did little to cause
defeat, which is about the best you can hope for from Stiller
spec teams come playoff time.� �B-�
OC:�
The 1st quarter was acceptable.���
After that, Arians shit the bed with bland, vanilla predictability and Cro Magnon playcalling.� Total vomit.
The 1st
series was, for the most part, a thing of beauty.� On a total rarity, Ben ran a bootleg right on
the 2nd play, and then hit Ward for the big 38-yard gainer.� Then, in a miracle of miracles, Ben hit
Miller on a quick pop pass for 21 yards.�
On the 2nd
series, Arians went deep to Nate, which was underthrown.� Then the Stillers used the Wildcat and Parker
ran right.� It gained zero, but at least
it showed a different look to keep AZ off balance, which they completely were
in the 1st 2 series of the game.� This
play was followed by a QUCIK screen -- not the glacial, 7-second screen that
has been used all season long -- to Miler, which gained 11 yards and a 1st
down.�� Here we were, not even through 1
quarter, and the offense had run 4 plays that had rarely, if ever, been run the entire
season.�
But, as
noted, that was it for Arians.�� He shot
his wad in that 1st quarter, and having �checked the block� with those 4 plays,
he immediately reverted back to the bland, vanilla, dull playcalling
that is his forte.� In the 2nd quarter,
the offense gained all of 22 yards.�
In the 2H,
the Cards sold out to stop the run, placing 8 men well up into the box and run
blitzing on EVERY play.� Arians, as
stupid as he is clueless, was totally unimpressed by the Cards� selling out, and simply kept running cutesy counters into the teeth
of the run blitz for one loss after another.�
Here�s how stupid Arians is.� On
the 2nd down play from our own 1-yard line, Arians actually called a COUNTER --
with Kemo pulling waaaay to his right -- which
allowed more leakage than the Titanic and nearly got Parker nailed in the EZ
for a safety.�� You don�t call a counter from your
own 1-yard line in a tight game in the 4Q !!!��
The worst abortion were, of course, inside the Cardinal 5-yard line.� The Stillers had 2 of these 1st & goal
inside the 5 (or 7, late in the 1Q) opportunities in the 1H, and 2 on one drive
in the 3Q (due to a penalty that prolonged that drive), and all they came away
with were 3 FG tries and 1 TD.�� Every
one of these opportunities was the exact same -- vanilla plunging that netted
nothing, followed by bland, vanilla pass plays that did very little.� The 3rd & goal QB draw was an outright
fiasco, showing just how clueless Arians is.��
There were
other boners.�� After a 4-yard gain by
Parker on 1st down at 6:44 4Q, the Stillers had 2d & 6.�� Arians, like a clueless dumfuk,
goes EMPTY backfield on 2nd & 6 -- for no apparent reason -- and the QB
gets nailed for a sack to set up 3rd & long.� This is THE PERFECT down & distance to
run a PLAY-ACTION FAKE, but Arians has no concept of how to set up a defense
and take advantage of down & distance opportunities.�
The total
negligence of Heath Miller, after a scorching hot 1st half, was
reprehensible.�� With AZ selling out to
stop the run, Miller should have caught another 7 balls in the 2nd half.� Instead, he was thrown to all of 2 times and caught
1 pass, that on a valve dump on 3rd & 16.�
�
It is
utterly amazing, even in the afterglow of the victory, how the Stillers
overcame Bruce Arians and won the title.��
Unreal.���
The key final drive was BenRoth at his best,
running a no huddle with very little interference from Arians.�� �We
stated here at Stillers.com all season long -- the biggest hurdle to winning a
title is simply overcoming the chief saboteur, Bruce Arians.��� C-�
DC:�
After a nice 1H, which was helped by an enormous TOP advantage by the
Stillers, LeBeau just got eaten alive by the Cards offense.�� Of course, Dick started to show cracks in
the 1H.� With the Stillers in full
control of the game and up 10-0, Dick
decided to get cute and soft.� Like a
total imbecile, he stays in his BASE defense on 2nd & 7 and then rushes
only 3 men, and Warner has ALL DAY
to scan the field and walk up 4 steps into his throw, and completes a pass to a
WIDE open Boldin for 45 yards to ignite the drive that closed the gap to 10-7.�� We�ll never know why Dick went soft, but of
course, coming from Dick, it was expected.�
In the 2nd
half, Dick was exposed on national TV as the fraud and farce that we alone at
Stillers.com have exposed him for, as he repeatedly got tooled and abused.�� Dick had built up his vaunted �#1 defensive
ranking� against woeful, inept, injury-riddled offenses all season long.� Armed with a 13-point lead, Dick was
utterly helpless, going into a prevent-like defense and giving up a quick 87-yard TD march (after the long an 83-yard TD march in
the 2Q), and then a 64-yard TD in which he had his safeties on an island a full
22
yards off the LOS
despite facing a QB that has NO ARM to throw deeper than 40 yards without a running
start.� As I personally noted in my pre-game article, the
bread n� butter of the AZ passing attack is the 15-yard in, not the Hail Mary
bomb.�� So Dick, the dullard that he is,
plays right into Warner�s hands by having his safeties line up 22 yards off the
LOS in no-man�s land, thereby playing 9 on 11.� You have to be a
total dumfuk to have your safeties out on an island,
defending NOTHING and doing NOTHING, but in many circles Dick will be praised
as the greatest man to walk the planet since Jesus Christ himself roamed the Earth
some 2,000 years ago.� This had to be the
most assaholic, most dumfuk
defensive alignment ever devised, and it very nearly pulled defeat from
victory.�
On the 1st
down from their own 13 early in the 4Q, Dick actually had LaMarr
Woodley -- you know, the big hulking fellow that was in the QBs
face the entire evening -- back in COVERAGE, and Warner, with all day in the
pocket , hit Breaston for 13 yards to get out of that deep hole and get the
drive ignited.� When you take a player
out of what he does best and put him on a task where he is least proficient,
you hinder yourself and you HELP the opponent.��
But remember, according to some, LeBeau is a supreme deity who is the
greatest DC to ever walk the planet.��
�
To recap, the TWO biggest plays by the Cards were the DIRECT
RESULT of stupidfuk schemes by The Dullard, Lick LeBeau
--
1.�� On a 2nd & 7,
Dick gets caught in his base defense, and on a pussyfied,
useless 3-MAN RUSH that gave Warner about 8 seconds back in
the pocket and all kinds of room to scan the entire field and connects on the 45-yarder
to Boldin,.�
2.�� 64-yard TD pass to Fitz, with our safeties lined up in NO MAN'S LAND, 22-yards
off the LOS.�
Warner�s final stat line says it all --� 31 of 43, 377 yards passing, and a
passer rating well over 100.� And the
Cards came back from a 13-point 4th quarter deficit to take the lead over the
supposedly vaunted great guru of defense. �Whisenhunt and Haley
have all winter and spring to lament why they waited to long to go pure-air
after wasting over a dozen plays -- and downs -- in the first 3 quarters running
worthless plunges.� �Had they chucked their worthless running game and
gone exclusively to the air, they probably would have scored 38 points, if not
more, by game�s end.� At any rate, had
Ben not performed The Drive, the Stiller fans would have formed a lynch mob and chased down
The Dullard, Dick LeBeau.�� �1st half:�
A���� 2nd half (where games are
won & lost):� D+
HC:� Tomlin had
his team mentally prepared, and the 1st quarter showed it.� After that, Tomlin allowed both Arians and
LeBeau to take their foot off the gas pedal, which allowed AZ to crawl back
into the game.� I would have preferred
Tomlin had gone for it on the 4th & inches after Ben�s TD had been
reversed.� The team got the benefit of a
long, freebie timeout during the replay review to discuss options to attack the
Cards for a TD, but instead wussed out and settled
for a cheesy little FG.� Against a high
octane attack like AZ, you cannot settle for cheesy 18-yard FGs;
you have to go for the gusto and the 6 points.�
I was pleased to hear Tomlin stated that, had the team been
forced to punt from its own 1, he would have ordered an intentional
safety.� That would have been the correct
call, as you don�t want to risk a blocked punt for a TD when up by only 6 that
late in the 4Q.�
The other down note was the plethora of foolish penalties in
the 4Q, with the game on the line.�� After committing only 2 thru the 1st 3 quarters, the Stillers
committed 6 in the 4Q, including 3 15-yard personal foul flags.�� The team lost its composure after
halftime.��
To his credit, the team fought -- as they had all year long
-- for all 30 minutes of each half.��
Tomlin has now far surpassed Lord Billy Cowher.� �Anyone
seen �The Mailman�, Billy Cowher, lately
??� �Tomlin makes Cowhard
look like the imbecilic, over-rated buffoon that he truly was.�� �A- ��
Synopsis:�
We�re The Champs !!��� #1, baby !!�� ��The
6-pack of Lombardi trophies shall rest inside Heinz Field !!���� We rule the NFL !!� �
The grading of all players and the coaching staff will be
published in the near future, once I am finished gloating and pounding my chest !!���� Stillers !!��� We rule !!�
(Still Mill
and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the