Stillers 23, Jills 16..... Sep 12, 2021 …………Game #1
Stillers-Bills Postgame Analysis and Grades
The Stillers ventured north to Niagra land to face the vaunted Bills. The Stiller O had a wretched 1st half, and Buff took a 10-0 lead into the locker room. The Stillers roared back in the 3Q, aided in large part by a dubious decision by McDermott to go for it on 4th and 8 in a 1-score game, and a late blocked punt gave the Stillers their margin for victory.
Grades:
QB: Ben had a shoddy 1st half, which was no surprise for a guy who played about 10 snaps in preseason.
Hideous pass to Dionte, 1st drive, 3d and 4, with the pass going about 6 feet over Dionte’s head. Got stripped on 3d and 4, 2nd series, which luckily an Olineman recovered.
Shitty-assed lollipop lob, 3d & 5, to Clay, early 2Q, which fell inc. Rotten pass, 3d & 4, deep in Buff territory, which forced a FG try.
Ben did perk up in the 2H. He his Pat Fryboy for a big 24-yarder. He also made clutch passes in the 4Q on conversions to Ju and Clay.
I fairly despised the numerous, babyfied lil’ sidearm passes, which were complete dogshit. Going 18 of 32 for 188, and producing ONE TD the entire game, ain’t going to get it done on most Sundays. C-
RB:
Harris – made his rookie debut and pretty much played every snap that involved a RB. 1st and goal at the 4, 3Q, and Harris stupidly stuttered and went backwards on a 1st down plunge, losing 2 yards. Very poor. Had some solid carries in the 2H, including an 18 yarder. Has some work to do, but did okay for his first foray. B-
McFarl – never saw the field on O, as far as I saw.
Snell – never saw the field on O, as far as I saw.
Ballage – never saw the field on O, as far as I saw.
FB: Watt, as usual, was used very little, if at all. I honestly don’t recall seeing him for a single O snap.
WR:
JuJu – Superb catch, 5:00 4Q, on a 3rd & 7, good for 24 yards or so. But on the next play, was flagged for a false start, which was entirely assaholic when yer trying to salt time off the clock late in the 4Q. Had 4 grabs for 52. B
Wash - As usual, was the odd man odd, and played only sparingly. Had 2 grabs for 10. B
Dionte - good RAC, WR screen, 2nd play of game, for 14 yards. Huge TD grab off a DB deflection, 4Q. Great catch! Had 5 grabs for a paltry 36 yards, which ain’t nearly enough out of a #1 receiver. B
Claypool – stellar combat catch on sideline lob, 3Q. Tremendous. Superb pluck and grab, at 3:00 4Q, for a super-clutch 1st down. Had 3 grabs for 45.
A-
GayRay McCloud – fortunately never played at WR.
TE:
Ebron – Had 1 grab for 19.
Pat FryBoy – Big, 24 yard grab, 3Q. B+
Gentry – for reasons unknown to all of mankind, he was thrown some silly-assed little throwback screen that was engulged for a 2-yard loss.
OL: Overall, the line (Moore, Dotson, Green, Turner, Okorafor) looked precisely like an Oline that had played all of 12 snaps in the preseason. Until later in the 2H, the running game stunk. Dotson was flagged for a false start, 2Q. To their credit, they gave Ben some time on a few key plays, such as the FryBoy seam route. B-
DL:
Heyward – The $65M Man actually showed up to play, which is an extreme rarity. Had a deflected pass, 1st series, to force a FG. Forced a fumble, 2Q. Batted a pass, late 3Q. Got a Dong sack, 4Q, on a 3rd down to force the punt. A
Tuitt – Big Stephonie had to sit out, on IR, for his annual injury.
Alu – had a solid game. B
Wormley - played so-so. Didn’t do much.
Davis – chipped in here and there.
Buggs – Ditto as Davis.
LB:
Bush – returned for the first time since his torn ACL. Had 6 solos and 4 As. Wasn’t as active and involved as I’d prefer, and I’ll grant him a few more weeks to fully round into form. B
Schobert – Had 2 solos, 4 As. Wasn’t overly impressed with him. Am wanting to see far more. B-
Watt – Sitter Watt got a strip sack, 2Q. Got a sack late in the game, after the QB had been flushed. Had 3 solos and 2 As. Hopefully The Sitter will fully practice this entire week. A-
Highsmith – had 3 solos and 1 A. Drew 1 or 2 holding flags. B
Spillane – did not dress.
Marc Allen – thankfully played sparingly, if at all.
Mel Ingram – buried McKenzie on a jet sweep, 2Q. Hit the QB as he threw, late in the game, forcing a harmless inc. Played well, and showed he is still a STUD. Dude’s a baller. Nice to know that we have TWO ROLBs better than Crud DuPree, at a fraction of the cost. (Crud had all of 1 tackle today, by the way.) A
DB
Haden – had a decent game. Didn’t get abused and played adequately. B
Cam Button - stellar bust-up of a 3rd down trick play pass, late 1Q. Got tooled for a TD, late 1st half, although it was a bullet of a pass that was on the money. Helped bust up the 4th and 8 pass, mid 3Q. Flashed in and dropped the RB on the ill fated 4th & 1, early 4Q. Looks like he belongs in the starting lineup. A-
Edmunds – got picked on incessantly alllll game long. Just mercilessly picked up and abused. Not sure why Buff stopped picking on him in the 4Q. D
Minkah - Unimpressive showing. Got juked more than once on QB scrambles. Wasn’t around the ball as much as I’d prefer to see. Sure, he had 6 solos, but many were slop stops after easy receptions. B-
Tre Norwood – Torched deep by Sanders, 2d series, which should have been a TD, but the pass was 15 feet too far. Busted up a pass in the EZ, late in the game. Was quite active, and seems to be the 2nd iteration of Mike Hilton. B+
Maulet – saw a fair amount of PT and made some plays. B
Pierre – busted up a deep seam pass, 4Q, raking the ball loose. Will probably see more and more PT in the next 3-4 weeks.
Spec teams:
Harvin– punted mostly ok. Good 51 yard punt from the PIT 13, late 1Q. But then in the 2Q, from the Pit 5, Harvey SHANKED a weak 30 yard punt. Finished with a 41 yard average. Needs to cut out the bullshit shanks, and quickly, before he finds a spot in the unemployment line. B-
Boswell – 3 for 3 on FGs, including a clutch 45 yarder late in the game that pretty much salted the game away. A
RayRay – Fielded a punt, late 1Q, at his own 8, which is a severe no-no. Then got nailed at the 13 for a meager 5 yard return.
Opening KO, Buff had an alley TEN yards WIDE for the KO returner; returned 75 yards to set up a chippie FG.
Big play by Killebrew to block the punt, with Gilbert scooping the pill for a TD. An ultra rare, good spec teams play by the Stillers. Was obviously stunned, watching this.
OC: Matt Canada oversaw a 1st half that set NFL offensive football back 45 years. The 1st half was utter dogshit, with the offense stumbling like a JV team during its first week of summer practice. How bad was it? 1st half — 5 drives, 55 total yards, THREE first downs, ZERO points. Brilliant !!!
I despised how the 2nd series played out. Dionte snared a short pass for 6. On 2nd and 4, instead of pounding the rock, a piss-ant 2-yard out pass to Chase was inc. On 3d and 4, Ben got stripped back in the pocket, which forced a punt. All summer long, we were fed this bullshit about “a renewed commitment to the run”, and then we see a pass-happy stunt like this series.
I despised the passing play on 2nd down and 11, late in the game as the Stillers were trying – or SHOULD have been trying – to salt TIME OFF THE CLOCK against a foe that had ZERO timeouts left. The ball was at the Buff 28. This is a very makeable FORTY FIVE yard FG for Bos, assuming there are no holding flags, sacks, or other dumbassity. There’s 2:56 left in the game, meaning that the play on 3rd down will take the clock to the 2:00 warning, and the FG will occur AFTERWARDS. Instead, Dumbfuk Canada calls a needless PASS play, which fell inc and stopped the clock at 2:52. A fuking DIVE play here, without any cutesy bullshit, probably gains 1, and more importantly, keeps the clock running. It didn’t cost the team, but it easily could have.
With Harris being a greenhorned rookie, I wasn’t pleased that he was used EXCLSIVELY. He ain’tyet Walter Payton in his prime. He could have used a blow, which are often used as learning points for a young player to observe a few plays from the sideline and listen to advise from his position coach.
Overall, an offense that produced just one TD isn’t something to be all too proud of. C-
DC:
Keith Assler had an okay day, although Buff left a lot on the table, including the deep ball to Manny Sanders that was 20 feet too long. This should have been a cake-easy TD score in the 1Q.
Too many men flag, on the 37 yard completion late in the 2Q. I get enraged over these kind of silly flags that are mostly attributable to the coaching staff.
The blocked punt gave the Stillers a near-commanding 10 point lead in the 4Q. What does Assler do ?? He gets stupid, and soft, allowing the Bills to MARCH, mostly on the ground, right down the field as easy as a hot knife thru butter. Buff tacked on a chipshot, 26 yard FG at 5:23 to make it a 7 point game. B
HC: Mike Asslin oversaw a first half of complete ineptitude…..shoddy spec teams coverage, and an offense that completely sucked elephant gonad. To Stoogelin’s credit, the team came back after halftime and carried the play. To be sure, they were aided greatly by McDermott’s Tomlinesque decision to go for it on 4th and EIGHT in the 3Q, in a 1-score game. McDermott could have ordered a 53-yard FG, or a pooch punt. You can’t always rely on an opposing coach to make a bonehead move like this, of course. B
Synopsis: A solid road win against a solid foe. To be sure, Buff isn’t the 2nd coming of the ’94 49ers, so let’s hold off for at least a few weeks before rabid planning begins on a Sup Bowl parade. There’s another 16 games on the slate. Lots can happen.
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