Raiders 27, Stillers 24 ���. Dec 6, 2009 ����Game #
12
Stillers-Raiders Postgame
Analysis and Grades
The
Stillers, amidst a 3-game losing streak, hosted the lowly, weak, feeble Raiders
in what should have been an easy tonic to cure their ills and halt the losing
streak.� Instead, as has been their wont
all season long, the Stillers dawdled around and played grab ass the entire
game, and allowed the Raiders to score 3 TDs in the
final quarter, the last with 9 tics remaining to steal defeat from
victory.�� For a team that was supposedly
intent on �unleashing hell in December�, they instead unleashed a steady stream
of vomit.� I�ll put about as much effort
into this report as the Stillers did on the field today, so this will be a
rather short, succinct report.��
Grades:
QB:�
Ben had a solid game, going 18 of 24 for 278 and 2 TDs.�� Still, the paper stats don�t tell the whole
story.�
����� On the 2d series of the game, a hideous
pass was dropped by a Raider; this was a sure INT and
possibly even a pick 6.� Then,
late in the 1Q, on a 4th & inches QB sneak, Ben slipped and merely just
fell forward, and gained nothing, thwarting a drive at the OAK 5-yad line.�� Yes, we know the field was chewed up
primarily because the Rooneys are idiots and because 4
HIGH SCHOOL games, of all things, were played on the field last weekend.�� So what.�� Ben has been playing on THIS sorry, piece of
shit field for 5 seasons now.�� He knows
the footing is often shitty.�� It was 4th
down and 2 inches.�� All�s he had to do
was lean forward and get the 2 inches, and he failed miserably.�� Then there was the utterly ghastly INT late
in the 2Q.�� On a 1st & 10 at the OAK
16, Ben had ALL DAY back in the pocket.� ALL DAY.� Like a
jackass, he tried to force a ball to Ward in the EZ amidst tight coverage, and
a safety roamed over for the pick.��� On
a 1st down play like this, if nothing is there, then either run forward for a
yard or 2, or better yet, fling the ball thru the goal posts and live for 2nd
down.�� But sure, enough, the stupid
refusal to throw the ball away cost the team again in the 3Q.� On a 3d & 6 at the OAK 25, Ben saw a blitzer coming right up the GUT, right in his face.� Instead of gunning a quick pass to a hot read,
or merely flinging the ball away, Ben insisted on clutching onto the ball and
took a 9-yard sack, which forced a 53-yard FG try instead of a much more makable 44-yarder.�� Very, very stupid.��
The boners really downgrade what was otherwise a decent day. ���C
RB:�
Mendy had an okay day, rushing for 103 yards on 20 carries.�� He got most of it on a 60-yard dash in the
1Q.� He also showed good athleticism
& persistence on the 3-yard TD run.��
Parker had a token 3 carries for 15, and was flagged for a phantom
hold.���
FB: N/A
WR:�
Holmes led the way with 8 grabs for 149, making a sterling TD catch and
also showing some good RAC work.�� But his
drop on the opening drive of the game forced a FG deep in OAK territory.�
�� Ward had 6 for 77 and a TD in which he
cleverly, and slightly, pushed off the DB on an 11-yard lob, showing once again
what a total farce the OPI call was on Darrell Jackson in Sup Bowl 40.� Wally had 2 for 19, and also had a smart, key
block on Holmes� 57 yard RAC play in the 4Q.�
��� The Stillers had a chance on a last-play
Hail Mary pass.� Who else but Limas Sweed
was in perfect position for the catch, but the ball slithered right thru his
hands for a harmless incompletion.���
Holmes,
Ward, Wally:��� A������� Sweed:��
F
��
TE:�
Miller caught only 1 pass, for 27 yards.�� He did have a bad drop on a crosser in the
2Q.��� Spaeth, as usual, did nothing.���� B�
OL: The line play was sporadic.�� Aside from the 60-yard jaunt, the running
game produced less than 3 yards per carry against a woeful run defense.�� The pass pro was decent, although there were
a few breakdowns on a couple key pass plays.����
Kemo had a false start and an illegal hands to
the face.� C+�
DL:�
A so-so game.�� They started well
enough, when on the opening drive on a 3d & 1, Eason penetrated and created
havoc, and
LB:�
A fairly lackluster game by this crew.��
Woodley had a sack on a gimmick play as well as a Dong Sack off a
flush.� Timmons had a couple whiffs,
including one on the QB on a 3d & 3 scramble in the 4Q.� He did deliver a brutal clean-up hit on a Fargas plunge in the 2Q.�
DB:�
Once again, the secondary got scorched and abused. I swear, during the
4Q I thought Pitt (The University of) had someone inserted its hideous
secondary onto the field as some sort of Wannstedt
gimmick to sneak in more practice time before their upcoming meaningless Toilet
Bowl.�� The secondary was simply a
wretched, steaming pile of shit.��
�� Gay spent most of the 1H slipping around
like a drunken ice skater.�� He slipped
on a 3d & 14 in the 2Q, which resulted in an easy completion to Higgins for
22 yards.� On a 3d & 3 earlier in the
2Q, he was torched deep, but the ball was overthrown by 2 inches; otherwise,
this was 6 points.�
���� The overall abuse really heated up in the
4Q.� Carter was tooled badly on the Schilens 17-yard TD.�
Then Ike, lazy as a truant teenager, just lollygagged the entire time on
deep post to Murphy, and to top it all off, gave Murph
a lil� pussy shove at the 5 -- with Murph 2 inches from the sideline -- which failed to push
the man OOB and thus allowed the TD.�� A
75-yard play that was as vomit-spewing as any you�ll see around the league this
season.� Of course, there was no deep
safety help at all on this play, as the Steeler safeties offered no more help
than tossing an anchor to a drowning man.��
���� On the final drive, Raider WRs roamed wild
& free with very, very little coverage.��
Burnett had a chance to seal the game, but a poorly thrown pass hit him
right in the NUMBERS and fell harmlessly incomplete.�� Then, Gradkowski
threw up a wounded quail -- a floating lollipop lob that had more hang time
than a Ray Guy punt.� Ike Taylor was in
perfect position to bat the ball away, but instead, and as usual, he played the
ball poorly and was out-jousted by Murphy for a 23-yard gainer to the 17-yard
line.�� Mundy helped things a play later,
when he took an assaholic penalty by hitting a WR
after the pass had fallen incomplete.� On
the game-winning TD, Mundy totally lost sight of his man and instead stood flatfooted
in no man�s land, and the ball arced over his hands for the TD.�� Very poor.������ D-�
Spec
teams:�
���� But there were the host of blunders that
personify these spec teams.�� There was
shoddy KO coverage in the 1Q, allowing a 34-yard return by former Still Gary Russell.��
OC:�
Facing one of the worst defenses in the NFL, Arians was never able to
consistently exploit and take advantage.�
Until the 4Q, this offense scored a grand total of 10 (ten) points, 3 of
which were gifted to them when Logan�s game-opening KO return gave them FP at
the OAK 19.�� Last year, Mewelde Moore
was known affectionately as �The Chain Mover�; this year, he�s been written OUT
of the offense by Arians for no reason whatsoever.�� He had 1 grab today and has had 5 games with
zero catches; in the past 7 games (counting today) MeMo
has a grand total of 3 catches for a proven RB that is more reliable than a
German clock.����� B- �
DC:�
The Great Dullard, Dick LeBeau, once again shit the bed with yet another
wretched defensive performance, this time against the worst scoring offense
in the entire NFL.�� Just like last week,
Dick got things rolling along rather well, allowing an 8-play FG march on the
Raiders�� first drive.� Mind you, the
Raiders had only 1 opening drive score the entire season, but sure enough,
there was The Dullard, Dick LeBeau, all too happy to allow an easy waltz for a
FG.�� This drive was aided by a 3d
&10 harmless plunge by Fargas,
which unbelievably netted 9-1/2 yards and enabled OAK to go for it on 4th down,
which they easily got.� (There is no
defense in the league softer on 4th down than Dick�s.)��
�� The long bomb for a
TD at 5:42 4Q shows just how inept and mentally feeble Dick has become.�� It�s 3d & 1,
and the Raiders have NOTHING to lose.��
Thanks to Dick�s clever scheme, there is NO safety help at all, and the
entire secondary is all befuddled and confused, with 3 defenders jumping on a
route to the left side of the Steeler defense and no one back in deep
support.�� Here�s the great paradox --
Dick employs The Softee Defense� because it supposedly prevents the big
play, but time and time again, this Softee Defense is GIVING UP the big
play.���
��� Amidst Gradkowski�s CAREER DAY of 308 yards passing and 3 TDs, here�s a snapshot of the fateful 4Q, in which Dick
LeBeau snatched defeat from victory:
����������� 11 plays,
57 yard TD drive by OAK
����������� 3 plays, 84
yard TD drive by OAK
����������� 10 plays,
88 yard TD drive by OAK.� This last drive
began, mind you, at the Steeler 12 yard line, with only 1:48 remaining in the
game.��
�
�� Not once in this 4Q
did Dick turn up the heat with heavy blitzes.�
Instead, he played a vanilla, mamby-pampy
defense that would have made Dave Wannshidt
proud.�� To really complete this shit
sandwich that LeBeau gave us today, consider that the Raiders completed that
long, 88-yard game-winning TD march while missing TWO starting offensive lineman.� The situation screamed for a
some heavy blitz pressure against backup linemen and a journeyman QB,
but instead Dick, the Dullard, played it �safe� with gutless, pussyfied football.�
�� This is now the 5th
time Dick has choked away a 4th quarter LEAD and lost, to go along with a 4th
quarter tie that he pissed away as well.��
There�s a reason 71-yeard old people in all walks of life are typically
RETIRED; it�s high time Dick do the same.�
Clearly, his mind is nowhere near as nimble and quick as it once was,
and he�s embarrassing himself on literally a weekly basis.��� F
HC:� Well, so much
for �unleashing hell in December�.�� Gee,
what a farce.� What a joke.�� For such bravado, Tomlin�s entire team went
out and spent 60 minutes playing fiddle-faddle and grabass with a creampuff cellar dweller.�� It�s quite apparent The Great Unleasher
of Hell has lost whatever motivational and leadership grip he had on
this team.�� His message is being soundly
ignored and his in-game strategy continues to be stone-stupid and almost as bad
as Wannstedt, who is generally considered to be
dumber than a caveman.�� Consider the
53-yard FG try, to the OPEN end of the stadium, in the 4Q.�� There has NEVER been a FG longer than 51
yards in this stadium�..ever.�� It wasn�t
like Tomlin had to make a rash decision, either, as he had the luxury of the
�end of 3Q� TV timeout before deciding what to do on the 1st play of the
4Q.� Given the 2% chance of Reed actually
making this long FG, Tomlin would have been far better served ordering a pooch
punt from the OAK 34.� As it was, he gave
the ball to OAK at the 43, and their ensuing drive against Dick�s Softee
Defense was that much shorter.�� F�
Synopsis:�
Yet another pitiful, shameful loss against one of the pure dregs of the
NFL.�� Al Davis -- the only man from
either team more senile than Dick LeBeau -- must be laughing his ass off.�� This basically pounds the final nail into
the coffin for the �09 season, a season of futility and failure.�� The Stillers have only a few days to mope
over this embarrassment, as they get to dick the dawg
on Thursday nite in the Dawgpound
against the woeful Clev Brownies.�� At
this point, I may or may not watch the game, as I really have little interest
on a weeknite watching 2 weaklings slap and paw at
each other like a couple of teenage sisters.��
(Still Mill
and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the
s