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Stillers-Jags Postgame Analysis and Grades

September 19, 2006 by Still Mill

Jax 9, Stillers 0 ���. Sep 18, 2006 ����Game #2 (MNF)    

 

Stillers-Jags Postgame Analysis and Grades

 

The Stillers commemorated the 5th anniversary of 9-11 by reliving that weekend in identical fashion, having their asses handed back by these same Jaguars just like they did on Sept 9th, 2001, in a 9-0 defeat that doesn't begin to tell the full story of this thorough assbeating.  This was a total team stink, replete with shoddy tackling, feeble blocking, lethargic ballhawking, and nonchalant, grab-bag playcalling. 

 

Grades:

 

QB:  Benji was 17 of 32 for a meager 141 yards and 2 killer INTs.  He started off the game crisply and sharply, hitting Two-woman and Miller to open the game.  After that, things fairly disintegrated.  Ben fully appeared rusty, missing several passes to open receivers, including a deep post to Ward on the 2nd drive in the 1Q that could have broken the ice.  Prior to the deep post to Ward, Ben threw an easy pop pass to Miller that was far behind and nearly picked off.  There were a couple bright spots, such as hitting Haynes from his own EZ while under pressure for a big 1st down late in the 2Q, and a good throw on the run to Nate to convert a 3rd & 5 in the 4Q.  The fist INT has to at least halfway be attributed to Holmes, who was stumbling with his head down as the INT was made.  As I'd noted in my pregame, I had concerns about the team letting down now that the "great savior" was back in the lineup.  That's precisely what happened, and Benji wasn't anywhere good enough tonite to carry the team on his back.   C.

 

RB:  Parker had a miserable night, with 11 carries for 20 yards.  He had one decent run, busting a gut play wide to the right for an 8-yard gain.  The fault isn't Parker's, as the O-line didn't open a hole all nite that was wider than a 6-pack of beer.  Haynes got a plethora of work -- perhaps nearly an NFL record -- on valve dumpoffs from a harried Ben Roethlisberger.  He did foolishly drop a designed out pass at the 7:00 mark of the 2Q, and he was bowled over by a blitzing Scott Starks on the late INT by Mathis.  Staley was deactivated.  Davenport dressed but did not play.  C+. 

 

FB: Kreider was a non-factor in this game, partially because the middle of the line was jammed to hell before Kreider ever got to hit the hole.  Inc. 

 

WR:  Nate Washington, the #3 WR, led the way with 3 grabs for 32 yards.  Ward had a frustrating evening, being the recipient of some off-target Roth passes and being ignored at times as well.  The 2d series saw the overthrow of Hines on the deep post and ended with an out to Ward that was behind and late, which caused an easy jar by the DB in coverage.  Wilson seemingly had an 18-yard catch on 3d & 5 on the 1st series of the game, but he allowed Williams to wrest the ball away as he fell to the ground.  As Cedric clearly had 2 feet down, long before he landed on his back, I felt this play should have been ruled a fumble OOB, but had Wilson not allow the ripping away of the ball, this would have been moot.  Cedric finished with 1 grab for 12 yards.  Holmes had 1 grab for 15 yards in garbage time.  This man looks as lost and clueless as a strung out cocaine addict trying to manage the trapeze wire.  He was stumbling forward, not looking for the ball or slanting, on Ben's 1st INT.  Later, a short crosser stunned him as he ran, lost as ever, with his head down over the middle.  Fer chrissakes, can Willie Reid be this bad that he cannot dress?    Holmes: F.     Other WRs: C+. 

 

TE:  Tuman opened the game with a rare grab, good for 10 yards.  The next play, Miller caught one for 10.  Thereafter, neither man caught a pass in the remaining 59 minutes of the ballgame.  Miller foolishly ran a route that put him in the way of an out to Ward late in the 3Q, in which Miller stuck up a paw and deflected the ball.  The run blocking was unimpressive.  C+. 

 

OL: Leading the way in wretched play was MaxiPad Starks, who played like an absolute piece of shit.  The man looked every bit like Pis Conrad tonite, lumbering around like Frankenstein and blocking like an epileptic paraplegic.  In the 1Q, Rob Meier easily shrugged off Starks and dropped Parker after a meager 1-yard gain.  Late in the 2Q, MaxiPad got eaten alive by Stroud, causing a 4-yard loss by Parker.  The rest of the line fared little better.  The interior of Faneca, Hartings, and Simmons never budged the twin-jumbo of Stroud and Hendu.  As I clearly stated in my pre-game, "The key matchup will be the Stillers' interior line against Henderson and Stroud.  This DT combo sets the table for the Jax defense, allowing Petersen to flow to the football; collapsing the pocket; and forcing dive plays to be strung out wide.   They've got to be neutralized in order for the Stillers to run the ball and protect BenRoth."  Obviously, none of this happened.  Hardly anyone laid a hat on Paterson all nite, and Stroud and Hendu bullied the line as though they were jayvee scrubeenies.  The pass blocking was spotty, and included lots of confusion where blockers were helping where help wasn't needed and leaving wide open gaps for easy Jag pressure.  Perfect example was Al Faneca providing help in the 3Q to Hartings, when help wasn't needed, and John Hendu rushed untouched into the backfield & dropped Benji.  Simmons also had a false start.  In total, a nightmarish evening for a unit that is far more capable than this.  D-. 

 

DL:  The line was mediocre.  They allowed gobs of cutback room for Taylor and applied no pressure on Leftwich.  Kirschke actually snuck in on the 1st series of the game with pressure, but then promptly whiffed like a blundering fool.  The line was also mediocre in eating blocks, which is supposed to allow the LBs to flow to the ball.  Keisel drew a 15-yard flag for foolishly roughing the passer.  C+.

 

LB:  James Farrior led the way with a sturdy effort. He made the Haggans INT happen, leaping high into the air and deflecting a pass that Hagg was able to corral.  On the 1st play of the 2Q, James bowled over the RB and applied pressure, forcing an errant pass.  In the 2Q, Farrior submarined the Jag blocking and made a terrific stop of Taylor on 3d & 1. 

           Larry Foote actually had a solid game.  He slashed in to stop Jones-Drew for a 3-yard loss in the 3Q, and applied pressure a couple times. 

 

           Clark Hagg had the big INT in the 1Q, making a nice dive and catch to corral the deflected pig.  He did get sucked inside, and then whiffed on Taylor on a 2d & 2 run in the 3Q that gained 4. 

 

           At the very bottom of the Steelers stat sheet was the "Most Feared Man in the NFL", Big Joey Porter.  Mister Fearsome finished with a whopping 1assist and zero solos.  Added to that, The Big Fearmonger applied zero pressure the ENTIRE evening.  All Porter did was basically stand around with his thumb inserted so far up his orifice that it was sticking up thru his mouth and out his facemask.  He was an absolute ZERO.  Worse, Jax TE Geo Wrightster used Big Joey like his own personal lil' bitch, mauling and shoving Big Joey around like a hapless toddler.  In the 2Q, Taylor easily ran 7 yards around left tackle while Big Joey was getting bullied about by Wrightster.  In the 3Q, Porter was easily sealed by Wrightster, allowing Taylor to scoot around end for a healthy 14-yard gainer.  On the rare occurrences when Big Joey wasn't getting mauled, he flailed and whiffed like a bumbling jackass.  He had the very first whiff on Taylor's 25-yard jaunt that opened the 3Q.  Later, he whiffed on a clear shot on Jonmes-Drew on a SG draw that netted 7.  Overall, this was as shoddy an effort from a Stiller LB as I have ever seen.  You'll hear a lot of hot air and blather from various fans, full of stupidity and fury, about how great Big Joey Porter is.  He was very good 3 years ago.  He's very average nowadays, as witnessed by this shameful standarooski tonite.     The main 3 LBs: B.    Big Joey Porter:  F+. 

 

DB:  A shabby evening for this crew.  Every DB stunk.  Troy Pola had the bad shoulder and played poorly.  He whiffed and dove into the dirt as Taylor spun late in the 3Q, allowing extra yardage.  He also whiffed on Williams after a 0-step hitch, allowing 8 yards.  He did have a deflection of a late 0-step hitch that would have been spectacular, but that aside, he was an ordinary football player on the field tonite. 

 

   DeShea Townsend was simply wretched.  His tackling technique all nite long consisted of putting his head straight down, closing his eyes, and blindly diving at the ballcarrier's feet, whiffing 99% of the time.  Wrighster gained 16 yards, mostly on RAC, in the 2Q thanks to Town's shoddy technique.  On the very next play, Town meekly pawed at Wilford's shoulders and allowed an extra 5 yards of RAC for a 7-yard gain on 2d & 8.  Townsend whiffed on Fred Taylor's long jaunt, and then, not pleased enough, he took a poor angle and was picked off on the 48-yard catch & run by Williams.  When he wasn't flubbing, he played overly soft. 

 

  On the other side was Ike Taylor, who made a couple tackles but still displayed poor technique.  Ike, too, was soft, and gave up a lot of easy out passes.  After 1 such easy out, good for 18 yards by Jones, ESPN showed Cowhard chewing out Ike for his softee play. 

 

  McFadden played the 48-yard play very poorly, as did Carter, who whiffed on that play and is very quickly working his way deep into my doghouse. Carter was also shown on the sideline having his ass chewed by Billy Cowher.  Colclough was beaten deep by Jones down the s-line late in the 4Q, but the pass was too long.  Clark played a 2Q screen to Taylor poorly, but made the 1 decent DB play of the nite, warding off a blocker and stopping Jones-Drew on a screen pass short of the sticks on 3d & 2, which forced a FG attempt.  The absurdity of rotting rookie FS Tony Smith while Clark and Carter flail about has gone on long enough.  Smith absolutely must be given some gradual PT and then elevated to the starting role 2-3 weeks from now.    C-. 

 

Spec teams:  A big improvement from last week's poor showing.  Gardocki actually punted pretty decently.  The coverage teams worked their lanes and were very stingy. Jamie Harrison was quite strong, and Kriewalt had a good stop.  The return game, however, is overtly weak.  Holmes was timid and tiptoe-ish on kick returns.  I'll give Holmes some credit for making a slightly risky, but heady play in the 4Q, departing his "spot" for catching the punt and drilling the Jax gunner, Scott Starks, which prevented Starks from downing the punt and thus allowed the ball to go into the EZ for a touchback.  As long as you, the returner, don't get his by the punt or the bouncing ball, this is a solid, heady play.  Colclough bobbled the first punt and gained 3 yards.  The team's best kick returner, Reid, stood on the sidelines in street clothes.  When you get shut out, maybe it's time to insert a spark in your return game.    B. 

 

OC:  As noted above, Tuman opened the game with a grab, good for 10 yards.  The next play, Miller caught one for 10.  Thereafter, no TE caught a pass in the remaining 59 minutes of the ballgame.  Cheezenhunt had effectively "checked the block" with the early TE completions and apparently felt no need to use Miller in the passing game.  There was a 2d down pop pass attempt to Miller that was behind him on the 2d drive, and that was it for TE involvement in the passing game.  Tonite, I suddenly discovered a bizarre trend with Cheezenhunt --  the guy absolutely loves using his TEs on 1st down -- such as the big TD last week vs. Miami -- and conversely, he absolutely despises using his TE on 3rd down, especially 3rd & short when your TE can easily roll off a chip block and sneak out for the quick pass.  Absolutely bizarre when you consider how good & reliable a target Miller is. 

 

  It's rarely good when your #3 WR leads the team in receiving in a loss, which is what Nate Wash did while Ward and Wilson produced little. 

 

  How 'bout that 3d & 2, with 10:53 left in the game, where Cheeze went SG and threw the deep lob to Wilson?  If yer gonna pass on 3d & 2, why not eschew the SG and go from under-center, and why not perhaps put Ben on the move with a boot, where he was 2 for 2 during the game?   This followed a Jax timeout, which gave Cheeze plenty of time to work on a play, and the best he could come up with was this raggedy-assed grabbagger. 

 

  That reminds me, of course, about the grabbag playcalling.  Nothing was set up all evening. Further, despite rabid overpursuit by the Jax defense, not one reverse or end around  was run the entire evening.  Hey Ken -- preseason ended weeks ago!   You're allowed to open up the playbook! 

 

  Cheezenunt had 10 days to prepare for this Jags team, and the best he could come up with was this bag o' barf?   Big John Henderson comes in totally untouched from the left side while an OG and RB dash to their right to help out the center?   Jax blitzes and the entire offense looks dumfounded and befuddled?   Then, Mike Petersen is barely touched the entire game.  Every one of Parker's runs was a dive play between tackles.  Toss sweeps?  None.  Quickie pitches?  None.  Quick flare passes?  None.  Exactly which defense did this team prepare for�.Cleveland's?  

 

Thanks to Cheezenhunt's brilliant efforts, the Stillers were able to set the record for lowest points scored by 2 teams in a MNF game.  Nice work, Kenneth !    D. 

 

DC:  Dick has 2 problem areas that can easily be rectified:  

 

           a.  Get the CBs playing tighter, and recognize and shut down the 0-step hitch that has eaten this defense alive these first 2 games. 

 

           b.  The tackling is an embarrassment.   The technique is disgraceful.  Even McFadden, chasing down Williams from behind as another DB was corralling the big WR on the 48-yard gain, didn't grab at Williams -- he meekly just dove, NO-ARMED, at Williams' legs, in an entirely absurd manner.  Screw all the complexity; Dick needs to have this defense go back to the basics and work on simple, basic tackling.   Pull out the padded dummies and go back to the basics with elementary tackling drills�.and lots of 'em.  The tackling technique on this team right now is utterly atrocious.  Few men are keeping their heads up; few are breaking down; and few are eyeballing the ballcarrier's belt buckle and applying the hit to the carrier's midsection.  There's far, far too much no-armed diving at the carrier's feet, or flailing wildly & out of control, or pawing at the carrier's shoulder pads.  And the tackling problem is exacerbated when the CBs are giving up 11 yard cushions and 9 yard gainers on simple 0-step hitches. 

 

Dick also need to find a way to create pressure and harassment.  I'd noted last week that, despite Big Joey's 2 Dong Sacks, the pressure and harassment was meager, at best.  Tonite, it utterly sucked.     D.

 

HC:  Cowher was apparently proud as a peacock after the win over Miami, and then eased off the gas pedal during the long 10-day hiatus.  And boy, did it show.  The intensity was a joke.  Don Darius delivered 5 hard hits all by himself, which was 5 more than the entire Stiller defense provided.  There's a lot of confusion right now about player roles, with Staley not dressing, Davenport dressing but not playing, Reid not dressing, Anth Smith rotting the pine, and so on.  The responsibility to work all of that out falls squarely on Billy Cowher, and he'd damn well better get it sorted out soon.   D+.

 

Synopsis:  A thorough, old fashioned beatdown.  Of course, if yer gonna have yer ass whipped, it's better to do it now, early in the season, so that it can be used as a lesson learned and so that the team can rebound.  In 2001, the Stillers rebounded from the J-ville thrashing by winning 13 of the next 15.  That's not to say the same thing will happen again, but a good asswhipping this early can awake a slumbering, overconfident sloth.  As I'd noted in my pregame, I was worried about a stand-around with Big Ben back in the lineup.  Regrettably, that precisely what happened, as the hitting and intensity wasn't even half what it was 10 days ago versus Miami.  It takes 50 men to win a game, not just one.  Let's hope this team wakes up prior to Sunday's tilt against Cinci. 

 

 

(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no one else comes close�.)

 

 

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