Titans
34, Stillers 31 (OT) ���. Jan 11th, 2003 ����AFC Divisional Playoffs
Stillers-Titans Postgame Analysis and Grades
The Stillers went down to
the Grand Ol' Opry and battled the Titans tooth and nail in what was one of the
most exciting Stiller playoff games this writer has ever watched.� In the end, the Titans persevered --
overcoming injury, penalties, 4 turnovers, some questionable ref calls that
went against them, and a persistent, never-quit Stiller team -- and won an
exciting game in overtime, 34-31.�
Grades:
QB: Tommy Maddox returned to the house
of horrors, where he not only had his worst game of the season, but also left
the field on a gurney due to a spinal contusion.� Maddox had a pretty good game.�
The one INT was obviously not his fault, as Plex slipped on his
cut.� Tommy passed for 21 of 41 and 2
TDs, and led the team to 31 points, which will more often than not be good
enough for the "W".� Tommy was
a bit off at times, such as the 2Q slant to an open Plex in the end zone that
was behind, which caused an incomplete pass and a hip/back injury to Plex.� On that play, it should be noted, Tenn
rushed 6 men, which caused Maddox some problems during the playoffs.� There were some other slightly off target
throws, most forced by a Titan rush that was much more aggressive than the softee
Clev rush that Maddox feasted on last week.�
He was also victimized by a couple key 4Q drops by Ward and Plex.� I'd have liked a few more completions on the
last 2 drives of the 4Q, although the aforementioned drops were a primary
culprit.� All in all, this was a pretty
darned good playoff quarterbacking effort by Maddox.� A-.�
RB:�
Amoz got the start, and opened the game with a nice 12-yard run.� But partially because of the 14-0 hole, the
Stillers seemed to abandon much of the ground game, and Amoz finished with just
14 rushes for 49 yards, which included a sterling 31-yard TD jaunt.� Amoz showed a good combination of quickness,
toughness, strength, and desire to take the 31-yard run to the house.� Amoz had 2 short grabs, and Fu -- who wasn't
permitted to carry the ball -- had 1 short screen play.� Fu had a couple nice blitz pickups, and on
one he literally blistered the snot out of the blitzing DB.� The Tubby Tailback, Jerome Bettis, had 3
carries -- 3 more than I would have hoped for -- for a paltry 6 yards.� If this team truly want to address the holes
in this roster, they can start by ensuring that this is The Doughboy's final
game in a Black n' Gold uniform.� Amoz:
B+.� Fu: B.� The Doughboy: D.
FB: Like last week, Kreider's time was
diminished due to the deficit and the 3 & 4 WR formations.� He grabbed 2 dump passes for 14 yards, and
contributed some good blocking, including a good thumping block on Amoz's
31-yard TD run.� B+.�
WR:�
Hines Ward, as he has all season, led the way, making the tough catches
despite heavy hits.� Ward had 7 grabs
for 82 yards & 2 TDs, and gained a good bit of that yardage from tough and
clever RAC work.� Ward also completed
the pinpoint pass to Plex for the late 2-pointer.� The only downer for Ward is that he allowed one pass in each of
the offense's final 2 drives to skip off his hands, and both drives ended in a
punt.� Burress injured a hip on the 2Q
slant in the EZ, and was pretty quiet after that.� Prior, he'd done a nice job of getting a small Irvin-like push on
the bomb into double-coverage, which resulted in a 40 yard gain.� The huge sour moment was Plex's blatant drop
of a perfectly thrown pass on 3d & 8 at the Tenn 22.� After the drop, Reed gave the Stillers a
3-point lead with a FG at 8:30 4Q, but had Plex caught the damn ball, the team
might have scored 7 instead of only 3.�
As I'd harped on since the mid-point of the season, the Stillers never
wove Mathis into their passing scheme, and it showed today on a few misfires to
him.� El was also not tightly woven into
the passing game as much as he could have, and after catching a 30-yard seamer
on the game's 2nd possession, he grabbed 3 balls for a meager 23 yards.� Mayes had a deep bomb thrown to him in the
2Q, and his burst of speed forced Rolle to grab him, which resulted in a 35-yard
penalty.� The drops late in the 4Q
slightly sour what was otherwise a pretty solid day from this crew.� B+.�
TE:�
While the other team's TE was thoroughly ravaging the Stiller defense,
the Stiller TE corps did little more than elicit laughter and guffaws from the
Titans.� Tuman (and his backups at TE)
had no catches.� Sure, the Stillers
pulled their TE on a majority of plays in order to get 3 or 4 wides, but the
seven-year drought of sub par TE production has reached ridiculously pathetic
proportions.� Soon enough, we�ll hear
the absurd cries of, �If only Bruener had been able to play, we could have
won.�� C.�
OL: The O-line had a pretty solid
game.� Sure, the ground game was
negligible, but the Titans had the #2 rushing defense and, as I'd said in my pre-game analysis,
running the ball was going to be very tenuous against the Titan front 7.� As far as pass protection was concerned,
this was an awesome effort by the Stiller O-line.� The Titans can bring the heat with Carter, Kearse, and a host of
athletic LBs and undersized but quick DEs, but the Stiller O-line staved off
the rush in a fairly easy manner.�
Maddox, the slowest QB in the NFL, was sacked only once (off a jailhouse
blitz), and was pressured and hurried mostly only when the Titans brought the
house.� Facing that good of a front 7,
you can't ask for much more.� A.�
DL:�
The D-line had a pretty solid effort.�
Leading the way was NT Casey Hamtpon, who ravaged and pillaged the Titan
O-line.� Just as I said he would in my pre-game analysis,
Casey ate up center Gennarro DiNapoli as easily as Casey wolves and chows down
pepperoni pizzas.� Casey continually bulled
and ran roughshod over the pizza parlor proprietor, DiNapoli, as well as other
members of the Titan line.� In fact, it
was Casey's manhandling of backup LG Tom Ackerman in the 2Q, which caused the
George fumble at the 8-yard line.�
Hampton also knocked George out of the game with a crushing hit, made
possible because of Hampton's hustle and desire to get down the line on a toss
sweep.� Casey also had a batted
pass.� Smith and Kimo helped bottle the
Titan running game, and Kimo got a sack on a basic 4-man rush due to his good
persistence.� Bailey was fairly quiet on
the pass-rushing front.� B.�
LB:�
Kendrell Bell played just a handful of plays in the 1Q before bowing out
due to the ankle injury, and obviously his departure hurt this crew
significantly.� His replacement, rookie
Larry Foote, gave it a solid effort, but was obviously a boy among men.� On the 1st Titan TD, Foote was easily sealed
off.� He also flailed a good bit at
McNair.� James Farrior had a couple good
plays, including a slash and stoop late in the 1st half on a key 3d &
1.� But The Winged God of LB Coverage
struggled in coverage all day.� He was
beaten by Wycheck for a TD on the 1st drive, but Wycheck dropped the pass and
McNair ran it in on the next play.�
Wycheck got revenge by tooling Farrior on a TD catch in the 3Q.� Holcomb also beat The Winged Coverage God on
a bomb late in the 3Q, but the pass was errant.� Joey Porter spent a good bit of time back in coverage.� He chipped in with 5 solos and 3
assists.� He didn't get to McNair at all,
although he tangled with far and away the Titan's best lineman, Brad
Hopkins.� Jason GilDong -- the team's
defensive captain and highest paid defender -- once again did jack squat in the
pressure of the playoffs.� He collected
some slop stops early in the game, but provided no heat, no harassment, and no
disruption of the opposing QB.� On top
of that, he flopped and flailed at the feet of McNair 3 or 4 times in hilarious
fashion, and allowed an easy INT to clang off his hands and into the hands of
the WR.�� In all, the 3-4 defense is
geared to get big plays from its LB corps, and shamefully enough, this LB crew
- �led� by Jason GilDong -- failed to make any.� C-.
DB:�
The Stillers propaganda machine spent most of the off-season crowing
that "the team returns 10 of 11 starters".� As I'd said all spring and summer long, this was not the panacea
that the team was claiming.� The
safeties, Burnt Alexander and Lee Flowers, needed to be replaced.� Sadly, it never happened, and the blatant
weakness was never more obvious today.�
Despite facing a team with only 1 truly good WR, the Stillers got sliced
and diced worse than a victim of Jason Vorhees.� Neither Flowers nor Alex made a play on a ball the entire day,
and the Titans took full advantage of the ineptitude and slowfootedness of the
Abbott and Costtello routine of Flowers and Alex.� Flowers was also steamrolled by George on the 1st drive, and was
beaten by Simon on a bomb late in the 3Q, which fortunately was off the mark.� The CBs also share some in the blame
game.� DeWayne was having an ok game
that went straight downhill in OT, where he allowed a big play of 32 yards to
Justin McCareins, thanks to a hasty break-down that gave the WR loads of room
to spin after the catch.� Townsend had a
nice INT, but that was about it as far as defending passes.� Chad had a nice INT on a bomb, albeit on a
woefully under thrown pass to a receiver who'd beaten Chad deep.�� Give kudos to Chad to hanging tough with
the injured thumb, because it was evident that the thumb was a large hindrance
to his aggressiveness and tackling.� The
season ended just like it began -- with the secondary getting unmercifully
scalded and burned the entire game.� F.�
Spec teams:�
There were a couple bright spots: solid KO return work; some good KO and
PR coverage; and Reed making 3-4 FGs.�
But there was also the slop and stupidity that knowledgeable Steeler
fans have come to expect from a Billy Cowher coached special teams unit in the
playoffs.� Fu's foolish block to the
back negated El's PR for a TD, although the offense took the ball and marched
it to the EZ a few plays later.� Mason
ran a PR back for 30 yards late in the 3Q.�
Simon had a hefty gain on a KO return after Reed's FG made it
31-28.� Reed himself missed a makeable
FG.�� Punter Tom Rouen punted like Josh
Miller, with loads of inconsistency and failure to deliver in the clutch.� And, of course, there was the
running-into-the-kicker flag on DeWayne that gave Nedney the 2nd chance in OT.
This penalty, of course, was the correct call, and simply signifies the special
teams stupidity that is perennially promulgated by Coach Billy Cowher.� As a defender, you don't "aim" for
where the kicker or punter is; rather, you aim in front of there they are.� D.�
OC:�
Mularkey had a solid afternoon.�
Scoring 31 points in the playoffs ain't shabby.� I wasn't enamored with the lil' trick play
on 3d & 4 in the 3Q, in which El was pitched the ball and then had to throw
away under heavy duress.� Everyone's
radar goes up on third downs, and with the way the Stillers were moving the
ball, it seems rather unnecessary to go to the bag of tricks on 3rd
down.� One other beef is the refusal to
allow Fu the chance to run the ball.� Fu
gave the offense a big spark last week, and his combination of quickness and
smashmouth football might have been useful.�
B+.�
DC:�
Here's Tiny Tin, facing an offense with a banged up QB; the star RB who
was lost of the game on the 1st play of the 2H; the primary and only backup RB
shaken up badly; a starting guard shaken up and removed from the game; and the
opponent's best WR shelved for the season a few weeks ago.� Despite all of this, Tiny Tim's defense
still gave up ground as easily and freely as the French did in either World
War.� The height of stupidity was after
the final Titan TO at 0:08 4Q, in which the Stillers actually defended the middle
of the field and allowed the easy catch and RAC out-of-bounds by Holcomb on 4th
down, which allowed the 48-yard FG try (and miss) by Nedney as regulation ended.� I, and I alone, personally jeered at all the
fawning over Tiny Tim last winter.�
Hopefully, the rest of the Pittsburgh media and fan base will come to
the realization that I'd made ages ago: Tiny Tim is a mental midget.�� F.
HC:�
Once again, a Billy Cowher-coached team found, not a way to win in the
playoffs, but a way to lose in the playoffs.� The Stillers had faced the Titans twice last year and once this
year, but nevertheless the defense comes out befuddled, flat, and confused as
the Titans took a 14-0 lead.� The team
is in the do-or-die nature of overtime, and Little Billy has his CBs playing 12
yards off the WR.� The Titans call their
last timeout prior to the 4th and 1 late in regulation, and what does Cowher
respond with?� He guards the middle
of the field like a fortress, and keeps the sidelines wide open.� A short completion to Holcomb --
"guarded" by Clark Haggans, who'd started the play in the middle of
the field -- allowed the Titans to get off a 48-yard FG that would have won the
game if it'd been on-target.� No head
coach gets less out of a full timeout, than Billy Cowher.� The player development, game plans, and
in-game adjustments on defense are largely made by the DC, but he has a boss,
and his name is Billy Cowher.� To
Cowher's credit, his team scratched and clawed throughout and never gave up,
but to his discredit they came out, just like last week, flat, befuddled, and
woefully ill-prepared.� Special teams
and pass defense were severe problems from Week 1, and Cowher -- whose forte'
is supposedly special teams and defense -- failed miserably to correct those
severe problems.� All in all, just
another sloppy, thoroughly inadequate coaching job by the most over-paid coach
in the NFL today and the modern-day NFL's biggest playoff flop, Billy
Cowher.� D.�
Synopsis:
�Obviously, this one is tough to swallow -- as
tough as any other Stiller playoff loss that I've witnessed, and that goes back
to the early 70�s.� The Stillers fought
like demons after going down 14-0, and losing in OT -- especially under the
circumstances of a boneheaded spec teams blunder -- makes this one so
tough.� Then again, the team would have
been annihilated -- again -- by the Raidas even if we'd won.�� The season began with an aerial
fire-bombing, and ended with one.�� A
disappointing end to a disappointing season.�
Despite the valiant fight,
unfortunately everything that I'd predicted in my pre-game analysis
came to fruition.� The Titans exploited
our weakling secondary with the spread offense, even though "the Titans
don't have a big stable of receivers" and �the Titans don�t have the kind
of offense that can spread us out�, as most so-called experts were claiming.� The Titans abused us with Frank Wycheck, even
though most deemed him to be "too old".� Cowher�s team was woefully ill-prepared and laid an egg in the
1Q, getting down 14-0.� The Titans
bottled the Stiller ground game and used the blitz to hurry and disrupt
Maddox.� The special teams made their typical,
grave boner that helped destroy the chance of a win.� Billy Cowher was once again out-coached in a playoff game,
something that has occurred in the vast majority of the playoff games he's been
involved in.� As I said in the pre-game analysis,
�This should be a fairly high scoring affair, full of lots of emotion and
hitting.� Losing in the playoffs is an
inevitability for Billy Cowher, and it may as well come on Saturday.� With the Titan blitz, McNair's
quarterbacking, the Nashville crowd, and 1 grave Stiller special teams failure,
the Titans will emerge with a 29-23 victory.�
This is now the third
consecutive Steeler playoff loss -- dating back to the loss to Denver in Jan.
1998 -- which I've predicted in writing with painstaking, detailed
analysis on why the team would falter and lose.� Frankly, I'd more prefer to be on the wrong side of the details
some day soon, because I'd like to see a championship, not a meek bow-out in
the playoffs.�
Stay tuned, as I will be
issuing my annual player-by-player grades, as well as the popular off-season
outlook that examines the needs and direction this team needs to look at
during the offseason.� Following that
will be the Stillers.com pre-draft analysis, which, like all of our analyses,
brings you, the fan, unparalleled and comprehensive analysis of the upcoming
draft.�