Stillers 20, Bungals 10 ���. Sep. 21st, 2003 ����Game
#3
Stillers-Bungals Postgame
Analysis and Grades
The
Stillers ground out -- literally and figuratively -- a 17-10 win over the
hapless Bungals at Paul Brown Stadium.� It
wasn't the prettiest of wins, but after last week's whipping at the hands of
the Chefs, this divisional win allows the team to get back on track.� ��
Grades:
QB:�
Maddox rebounded from a slightly off week last week with a solid performance.� He was on target most of the day, going
21-34 and 1 TD.� �He threw one pick, but it's hard to fault him
on this pick, as he was throwing to a spot (curl) and seldom-used Doering cut the
pattern to the outside, not the inside.�
Maddox was impressive on a 3rd & 7 in the 1Q, scrambling to his left
and throwing against his body to Doering from a key 1st down.� Maddox also showed veteran maturity and
growth on a 1st & 10 pass play at the Cinci 20, on the 1st play of the 4Q,
with the Stillers clinging to a slim 14-3 lead.� Maddox looked left and pumped once, then looked right.� Finding no one open, he had 2 choices:� force a throw into tight coverage that could
result in a costly INT, or take the sack.�
Maddox did the latter, losing a whopping 2 yards and giving the offense
a chance to move on 2nd & 3d downs.�
The drive ended soon thereafter, but Reed punched a FG to make the score
17-3.� That play by Maddox to take the
sack -- losing a measly amount of yardage in the process -- is precisely what savvy
QBs are supposed to do, and why the sack is the very most overrated
& most useless stat in all of pro sports.�
Maddox also deftly lobbed a nice pass to Tuman on a fake FG late in the 2Q,
gaining 23 yards.� Perhaps the only down
note was the foolish DOG penalty in the 4Q, in which Maddox failed to recognize
the clock winding down.� He's got to be
a bit more cognizant of the clock in that situation.� All in all, a job well done by The Madd Ox.� A.�
RB:�
Amos started and played the entire 1H, toting the ball 11 times in the
half.� He finished the game with 16
carries for 69 yards, including a clutch 11-yard gain in 3rd & 8 in the 4Q
that essentially sealed the deal.� He
also showed his big-play ability, taking a screen pass 29 yards through open acreage
late in the 3Q.� And, he made a crisp,
text-book tackle on Beckett after the Maddox INT.� On the minus side, he dropped a perfectly thrown short out-pass on
3d & 7 in the 3Q.� He was wide open,
but foolishly bobbled and then dropped the pill.� He also was flagged for a foolish personal foul, which was
declined when the Bengals took Ward's holding penalty.� Bettis came in during the 2H and got all 16
of his carries as the Stillers chewed clock and worked over the soft Bungal
defense.� He chipped in quite nicely,
garnering for 59 yards.� The Doughboy
showed good determination and 2nd effort.�
He also did a good job of burrowing low for the TD plunge.� Verron Haynes was scratched prior to the
game with a small injury.� A.� ��
FB: Dan Kreider was a like a bull in a china
shop, barging and blasting into anything in his path.� He continually helped open up holes with rumbling
lead-blocks.� He also immensely helped
Hines Ward score the 2 Q TD, barreling into Ward and essentially pushing the
whole pile (including 2 Bungals) into the EZ for the much-needed Stiller
TD.� Kreider also got a few touches,
catching 2 passes for 7 yards and plunging 3 times for 13 yards.� A truly masterful performance by one of the
game's best FBs.� A+.�
WR:�
Neither Hines nor Plex put up prolific numbers, but has often been said,
football is played on the gridiron, not on the fantasy football scoresheet.� Plex helped seal the game in the 4Q with a
sterling, get-up-and-get-it pluck of a deep seam that was thrown high, gaining
23 yards. �For a chest-hugging kind of
pass catcher like Plaxico to go up and pluck a ball out of thin air is
certainly noteworthy.� Ward was never
better than on his 7-yard TD catch & run in the 2Q.� He was drilled as soon as he caught the
pigskin, yet kept churning, driving, and twisting for the goal line.� Hines also had a nifty RAC on a short pass
in the 3Q, gaining 23 yards.� Doering
chipped in with a nice effort on 3rd & 5 early in the 2Q, getting 5 and the
1st down.� El had a clutch grab on 3d
& 6 in the 3Q, getting 7.� On the
down side, Ward was flagged for holding, which appeared to be a ticky-tack
hold, and Doering may have run the wrong pattern on the Maddox INT.� B+.�
TE:�
After being ignored last week, the TE crew came out with a vengeance,
grabbing 2 passes (1 each by Riem and Tuman) on the first drive.� Riem also made a terrific catch on a
slightly off-target pass in the 2Q, on a play that Mark Bruener could only
fantasize about in his sleep.� Tuman
caught the pass out off the fake-FG and gained 23.� Cushing got work on short-yardage plays.� Mark Bruener was deactivated, thus proving
that you can play power football and jam the ball down the opponent's throat
without the God of TE Blocking in the lineup.�
A.�
OL: The O-line responded from 2 weeks
of overt slop and lethargy with what was, by far, their best effort of the
year.� The RBs weren't dodging 2
defenders as soon as the ball was laid into their bellies, and the QB had
decent time and room to throw.� Leading
the assault was LG Al Faneca, who twice brutalized LB Adrian Ross in the
4Q.� On the one play, Fan blasted Ross
and knocked his helmet off; on the other, Fan literally steamrolled Rosscoe and
pancaked him onto his back.� Hartings picked
himself up after some subpar play the first 2 games, and had a solid effort, as
did Simmons.� Smith still is a bit soft
in the power running game, but his influence blocks were solid, as was his pass
protection.� The weak link, Todd
Fordham, at least didn't get victimized and abused as he did the first 2
games.� Hartings had the only penalty on
the O-line, getting flagged for a false start.�
They'll face far more stout front-7s than this, but the OL crew did well
in this win.� A.�
DL:�
The D-line got a break when Dillon was declared "out" for the
2H, but overall they stepped it up and played a better brand of football than
we'd seen the past 2 weeks.� Kimo & Smitty
were quite active and disruptive.� Bailey
and Clancy got some work.�� Hampton
stuffed the middle all day.� Overall,
the pocket push and harassment was the best from this gang all season.�� A-.�
�
LB:�
OLB Joey Porter played for the first time all season, and made his
presence felt.� Porter roared in and dumped
Kitna for a 14-yard loss late in the 3Q.�
He was solid against the run and in coverage, and provided some
harassment on the QB.� KenBell had his
best game of the season, and not because of the 2 sacks.� He was more active; he read better; and he played
with more ferocity.� When he ripped LT
Levi Jones aside and then buried the QB, that was Kendrell Bell
football.� �James Farrior had another solid game.� He showed his open-field tackling ability on 3d & 10 in the
2Q, when Bennett caught a short pass and seemed to have room, and an angle, for
the 1D.� But Farrior closed quickly,
then broke-down on the ballcarrier in textbook format and made the tackle a
couple yards short of the sticks.� �Farrior did miss a tackle on Chad Johnson in
the 3Q.� He was also beaten by a Warrick
shake-and-bake pattern for the late 5-yard TD pass, although there should have
been some other help from a safety on that kind of play, so I cannot place
anywhere near full-blame on Farrior on this play.� Haggans got some bit work rushing the QB.� Big Jason Gildon had 1 solo all day, on a
play in which he slanted in untouched for the easy stop.� Other than playing patty-cakes with the opposing
blocker, that was it.� He had an INT,
off a deflection by Chad Scott, then got up and, on his own 8-yard line, had
the brainless nerve to try a lateral amidst dense traffic, which was fumbled
but luckily recovered by the Stillers.� For
a 10-year veteran to even think of attempting such a boneheaded stunt under the
shadows of his own goal posts, speaks volumes of the dearth of football
know-how from this supposed "team captain" and "leader".� Jason also had a couple of bats at the line
of scrimmage.� �He was flagged twice; once for holding and
once for pass interference, with each penalty giving the Bungals an automatic
first down.� The Big 3:� A.���
Big Jason GilDong:� C-.��
DB:�
The DBs had an overall acceptable game.�
Chad Scott fully created and caused the GilDong INT with a good bust-up
on the ball as it arrived to the receiver.�
Being that this play was deep in Stiller territory, I was pleased that
the defense was not giving 9 yards of cushion, as they are wont to do.� Chad had an easy chance for an INT himself,
when a pass deflected off Chad Johnson's hands and right into Scott's bread
basket.� As is usual, however, Scotty
allowed the ball to slither right through and onto the ground, and then had the
audacity to lay on the field for a few minutes with an "injury".� DeWayne provided some good run support and
adequate coverage.� He technically was beaten
on the 31-yard bomb to C. Johnson, but his coverage was excellent; the catch
was simply remarkable, in a spot that could not possibly be defensed.� Logie had a couple hard hits.� Burnt Alex did little. Troy Pola saw a fair
amount of work.� He may have been at
fault on the Warrick TD.� The enormous
TOP advantage by the Stillers minimized the possible burnings and scorchings
that this secondary could have received, but overall this was a decent day at
the office.� B.� �
Spec
teams:� While the rest of the team was vastly
improving on their play, the spec teams continued to wallow in extreme
inadequacy.� Reed missed a chip-shot 23-yard
FG on the 1st drive.� From the Cinci 46,
Josh rocketed a punt into the EZ for a touchback, giving the Stillers a
whopping 26-yard net on the exchange.� Warrick
and Bennett each had open field on a punt and KO return, respectively, but each
stumbled over his own 2 feet and tackled himself after long returns of 31 and
33 yards.� This is the kind of bumbling stumbling
that the Bungals are famous for, but against a better team -- and 98% of the
NFL is better -- each of these returns would have been returned for 6
points.� Troy Pola missed another tackle
on the long Warrick PR.� Chidi Iwuoma
was flagged for a hold on a PR.� Ike Taylor
provided a spark on the opening KO, with a 40-yard jaunt.� And the fake-FG produce 23 yards and kept
alive a drive that ended in Ward's TD.�
Still, the bad continues to far outweigh the good.� C-.�
OC:� Mularkey put together a solid gameplan and deliberately attacked the Bengals with a shrewd array of weaponry and plays.� His reverses and FB plunges helped keep the Bungals at bay from going pell-mell at the ballcarrier.� He also got back to more hat-on-hat blocking, as well as less cutesy counters and more deliberate slashes at the point of attack.� On the sour side, I wasn't all that thrilled with the reverse to Plex on the opening drive.� Burress is a fine downfield receiver, but there's not much a defense salivates over more than a long-legged loper like Plex running horizontally on a reverse.� Plex lost 7 yards on the play and luckily wasn't busted in half.� To show the stupidity of using Plex on a reverse, 4 plays later, El ran a reverse, and when the outside was jammed up, El reversed field and juked and weaved for a nice 5-yard gain.� When the roster has players named Ward and Randle El, there is absolutely no need to get cute and clever by trying Burress on the reverse.� NONE.� I was also a little perturbed with all the passes thrown at Dan Kreider; 3 to be exact.� �I can live with valve-dumps to the FB when all options are covered, but at least 2 of these appeared to be designed plays.� Kreider has shown some ability to catch the ball, but his RAC skills are nonexistent, and again, it's the matter of players named Burress, Zereoue, Ward, El, and Riemersma who are far better options in the passing game.� I just don't want Mularkey becoming infatuated with throwing 5 passes a game to Kreider when there are a host of far more dangerous weapons at his disposal.� B+.�
DC:�
Tiny Tim caught several breaks that made this a rather cupcake endeavor
on his part.� WR PJ Houzmanzadeh was
injured, thereby preventing the Beungals from going 5-wide and spreading the
field against Tiny Tim's Softee Defense.�
Dillon hurt himself in the 1H and didn't play at all in the 2H, which,
given the close score, turned out to be a huge break.� The offense chewed so much clock that the defense's liability was
severely mitigated.� Thus, Tiny Tim was
spared this week.� B.� �
HC:� As one of
the very few coaches who are allowed the luxury of sharing the same division
with the NFL's worst team the past decade, Billy once again got to feast on the
toothless Bungals.� After the team stink
last week, the team did come out with more purpose and focus. �Billy used the fake FG at a time and field
position where it was appropriate.�
B+.�
Synopsis:�
A workmanlike effort by the Stillers.�
The dangerous thing, of course, is to fawn and gush too much over this
Stillers team after a 7-point win over the hapless Bungals.� It's one thing to beat up on the hapless
Bungals.� It's quite another to beat a
legit playoff contender, such as the Chefs, or the upcoming Titans.� It's also not very likely that the Stillers
will get to play such a gutless, vanilla coach like Marv Lewis.� In the 2Q, Lewis faced 4th & 2 and 4th
& 3 at the Stiller 36 & 33, respectively, and with his team 0-2 and
nothing to be lost, he actually punted the ball on both
occasions.� Most teams worth a damn
won't be so generous and gutless.� In fact,
the Stillers face a far sterner test at home this week, against bitter rival Tennessee.
�The Stillers have compiled 2 wins over hapless,
inept opponents, and have 1 miserable loss against a very good opponent. �Like the KC game, this Titan game will serve as
another good litmus test for this Stillers squad.�