Loose Slag from The Still Mill (Sep. 23, 2002)
- In reviewing the tape of
the Stiller-Raider game, I came away impressed with the work of rookie guard
Kendall Simmons.� He looks active;
willing to hit; and aware of his surroundings.�
Naturally, with this being his first NFL start, he wasn't flawless.�� On a few noticeable plays, he allowed
leakage by not picking up a delaying or stunting linemen.�� But on the whole, he acquitted himself
quite well.� Obviously, Simmons will
improve as the season progresses.�
Barring injury or a blowout score, we rightfully ought not see Fat
Oliver Ross at guard for the remainder of the season.�
- Bill Cowher is a fine
motivator, but as a strategist and planner he's a dullard of epic
proportions.�� No less than Sun Szu
wrote about strategy and planning over 2,500 years ago, in the classic The
Art of War.� Notes Sun Tzu,
"The general who is able to make careful deliberations beforehand can win
a victory.� He who is unable to make
careful deliberations must suffer defeat.�
Careful planning will lead to victory.�
Careless planning will lead to defeat.�
How much more certain is defeat where there is no planning at all!"� (emphasis added in bold).� I wrote this in a slag article back in
April, and the response was the typical "You're too hard on Cowher",
blah blah blah.�� After seeing Cowher
stand around dumb, blind, and clueless as his defense gets shredded the past 2
games, does anyone still care to disagree?�
- Congrats to Joey Porter
for being named the AFC Def. Player of the Week.� First, the Hard Hat Award, and
now this one.� Well deserved for the
Stillers' #1 OLB.� One question comes to
mind, however.� Last year, after Porter
thoroughly dominated Tampa in his 4-sack performance, there were bullshit
excuses and rationalizations bandied about that Porter was merely the recipient
of "Tampa was over-shifting to block Jason Gildon".� Of course, Stillers.com did the research and
immediately dispelled that myth as pure bunk.�
I'm just surprised the same lard-filled quibbling didn't emerge after
this latest performance by Porter.�
- Speaking of Porter,
there's a certain "professional" journalist who used to post on
Pittsburgh.com, who, this past spring, went on and on about how average and
mediocre Joey Porter is.� Offhand, I
can't recall this sham of a journalist's name, but I wonder what he thinks
about Porter now?
-
Funny guy, that Jason Gildon.� In the
Trib Review, he sobs, "The way they've been spreading us out, it's putting
us in situations where I will be in coverage when regularly I would be a factor
in the rushing," Gildon said. Gildon, who has 62 1/2 career sacks in eight
seasons, said he has dropped in coverage the majority of the time."�� Jason might say that the earth is flat, but
it does not make it a factual statement.�
Unlike the Pittsburgh media and most followers of the Steelers, I have
done the requisite research.� In game 1,
he was in coverage on
21 pass plays, while rushing on 24 of them.�
(This counts plays with flags.)��
Ergo, Jason rushed 53% of the time.� In game 2, GilDong was in coverage on 24
passes and rushed the passer on 41.�
Ergo, 63% of the time vs. Oakland, Big Jason rushed the QB.� These numbers may constitute a
"majority" in Florida, but in every other region of the globe, it's
called a minority.� Perhaps Jason
the Gimcrack should stop whining and start playing like a veteran linebacker,
not a rookie pansy.� The Stillers can
live without the Dong Sacks, but they cannot go 16 games in which Jason gets
ZERO pressure and ZERO harassment on the QB the entire game.�
- It's still hilarious how
Cowher got bamboozled by the Raiders.�
The Raiders claimed they were going to run the ball and use a balanced
offense, and Cowher, like the dunce he is, believed them so emphatically that
he spent about 4 minutes of practice preparing for a spread offense.� Good thing Cowher isn't the President of the
USA.� I could just see Cowher claiming,
"Well, Saddam Hussein said he's not hiding nuclear weapons, so of
course I have to believe him, and we'll just put our heads in the sand and
ignore Iraq from now on�."
- Note to Billy Cowher --
Despite whatever acting and faking that Butch Davis and crew might do this week,
the Browns are not going to try to pound the ball 45 times on the ground this
weekend.� Cleveland has an erratic
ground game, and last year they were immensely successful at dicing the Stiller
defense with a plethora of quick slants to KJ and company.� If Couch's arm can hold up, I expect him to
throw the ball at least 50 times on Sunday.�
- I thought the idiocy of
having the FB go out in motion and then out for a short pass, or having the FB
line up as a split receiver, would wither away and die with the retirement of
Jon Witman.� Not so.� Kreider has been doing this numerous times
in each game.� Note to Mike Mularkey:� no matter what you do with, or where you
place, your squatty, slowfooted FB, he is not going to anything of significant
value for your passing game.�
�
- Speaking of nonsense, many
fans are upset about some of the nonsensical celebrations by Steeler players
after meaningless plays late in games that the Stillers are losing badly.� Seems that the tone for this brainless,
self-aggrandizing nonsense was set in the opener at NE, when defensive captain
Jason Gildon got up and woofed, pranced, and gestured after making a routine
stop with his team down by 20 points midway through the 4th quarter.�
- Speaking of Jason Gildon, has
anyone even seen The Flopper lately�.?�
And, anyone seen Plex Burress�?�
- Did anyone see Jeremy
Shockey's big TD to help propel the Giants to the win over St. Lou last
week?�� Amazingly enough, there are
Steeler fans who will see that play, yet wouldn't trade Mr. Stonefoot, Mark
Bruener, straight up for Shockey.�
�