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[StillMill Profile]

Stillers-Ravens Postgame Analysis and Grades has been posted by Still Mill at Stillers.com.

[relictele Profile]

Ack! I wanted to read a disembowelment of the punting game and the punter - coaching paragraphs are incomplete!

We want more - hey! - we want more - hey! - we want more - etc.

[adbender Profile]

geez what happened?? Where's the weekly flogging of bruce arians??? I better tell the boss I'm taking a sick day - Im useless until I get my weekly supplement of bashing the pathetic excuse for a human being known as bruce arians

[Nashsteeler Profile]

Thanks for the analysis. Looks like part of it got cut off. Including the part that flogs Arians in some detail.

Hines Ward was money today when he was needed near the end of the game. No doubt. I mean....the guy always shows up big at crunch time.

This D is legit, though. Ratbirds have been putting up points and yardage on just about everyone. I'm not saying they are the 2005 Colts, but they are a good offense. 202 yds given up against anyone is big time. I like how the commentators kept on talking about how McClain was having such a good day, but when you looked down, he was still under 4 YPC . Flacco didn't look confused, but there was pressure and throwing lanes were tighter than a virgin inmates asshole. The completions he made were tough ones, and really good throws. Flacco is a good QB that will only get better in the years to come. Not looking forward to him being in the same division for the next 10 years. Reminds me alot of Ben in his rookie year.

[rifraff Profile]

Was there ever any doubt who was going to win .
The boys fought hard today. A great win.

Controversy? Com'n. Friggin talking heads trying to hype it up is all. A clear TD by at least an inch or so. If you look closer there is probably a bent painted blade of grass making it an easy 2 inches! Besides, its baltimore, screw-um.

So its 2nd n goal at the 4, game on the line? Oh boy, its empty backfied, QB under center, why would we tip our hand like this now, a run is a real threat? It should have been a TD, but after most likely a sack outcome, it was next likely a dropped pass! Unless it was thrown to Ward, probably had 4 defenders on him.

The TD play should be designed in, roll left then reverse back to right, as a gimmick! Go for the win on 4th, yessir, screw OT, probably safer but go for it!

Neon Deon was correct after the game when he said that Pitt & Balt were 2 best teams in AFC because of their D's. I hope Dallas beats em, no need to watch another boring game against these guys, weve already beat em twice .

I like our chances of runnin the table now. Tenn gave up alot of points vs Jets and if you stop there run, they can be beat.

[BenStiller Profile]

Mill, one of the things that I think you consistently correctly point out is how conservative NFL coaches tend to latch onto security blankets. You wrote about this with Cowher playing Ben too soon after the motorcycle accident when we had a perfectly good backup and then with Tomlin/Colbert grabbing up the god-awful Berger right after his injury was healed rather than having a tryout as we did when we got Reed. Do you see this same tendency with Tomlin continuing to give a less than 100%, generally ineffective Parker the lion's share of the playing time rather than going to Moore more often?

Second, you were strong in saying the Holmes TD was correctly ruled a TD. Just curious--why so confident about that? (I guess I agree with you but I thought it could have gone either way.)

Third, Garo Yepremian was EXACTLY who came to mind on the BR interception/fumble. But Garo was about 5'6", bald and from Cyprus (in fact I think he barely spoke English). Unfortunately, Ben doesn't have those excuses.

[Leo Profile]

Solid overall analysis by the Mill, as usual. A few comments:

- Overall, a great victory. The ball mostly bounced the Stillers' way yesterday, and we got some breaks, including the punt-muff recovery/advance and Russell's 3rd & 1 conversion call. But I'm not complainin'....

- The ShitBerger punting and poor KO/PO coverage in the 1H almost made me throw our Stiller Christmas tree at the TV.

- more WR drops! But I guess it's a good thing Santonio removed all the pig grease from his hands so he could at least make that great TD grab.

- Mill's criticism of Foote and Arians is right on.

- Minor note -- the Ravens logo (not the bird, but that dumbass coat-of-arms thing that covers about 750 square feet in the middle of MT&T field) is the ugliest thing on that football field since Tony Siragusa retired. Unfair shot at Goose, but I've hated that dumb logo for years.....

[Nel Profile]

This was a superb, hard-hitting, and in-depth analysis of the Gavens game by Still Mill.

There were some low grades considering the monumental importance of the W, but I'm not complaining; I'm happy that Mill does not use the game outcome to pad the personnel grades. As the old saying goes, "reality is a bitch."

I wish Mill would grade the game announcers; I thought they were horrid on occasion yesterday. Fawning over the Ravens, and not giving props to the Steelers on that late TD call. It was obvious to me that it was a TD, why not to them? Phil Simms makes me nauseous sometimes, and heaping the praise on Farrior at one point iced the cake.

Yes, Flacco seems to have a good arm, but he lacks Benjisan's intangible leadership skills. These two QB's are on different levels, and it showed. Everyone, stop calling Flaccid a Roethlisberger until Flaccid shows the leadership and backbone that Ben showed from the start of his career.

P.S. the Still Mill use of similes/metaphors (e.g., groundhogs crossing a highway) really makes these summaries worth reading, IMO.

[andrewrose Profile]

I don't always agree with your commentaries and some times you're pretty damn harsh, BUT I never miss a column! Today's piece, in my opinion, was pretty solid.

That was a helluva drive at the end of the game, but there has been too much suspense leading up to these types of late-game heroics. I don't know how many times I've screamed "Get some friggin offense going!" It could have gone the other way. Thank goodness for the D - I hope they can keep it up, but as we know, all good things can come to an end. Just ask the 18-1 Patsys from last year.

I was floored to see Berger's punts go more than 40 yards. I think our coverage team was, too!

[El Nino Profile]

i cracked up at that 'dong interception' comment

[Leo Profile]

I don't like this recent comment from Ben:

"I mean, you go down to Tennessee, it's not like we have to win. We want to win, but we don't have to. I think we can go play more relaxed and have fun. I think it'll be another great game.''

I get it, and I agree with the sentiment.....but if the team plays with this attitude next week, it is a sure L. It's good for the QB not to press and force things, but don't give other guys, esp this OL, the greenlight to "play more relaxed."

[Nittany Steel37 Profile]

best grades column of the year...harsh, but reasonable, and even poor old dick lebeau didn't get ripped to shreds.

in the second quarter i told my girlfriend, "we're gonna play like shit on offense all game, and then with 5 minutes left we'll go to the no-huddle, drive down the field, score and win by 2 points or some bs." great, great to be right, but why wait that long? like mill said, keep playing like this you're bound to stub your toe eventually, and eventually we'll be down by more than a few points late in the game. no huddle should come out on the opening drive, maybe every other drive? that might cross teams up.

[El Nino Profile]

I don't like this recent comment from Ben:

"I mean, you go down to Tennessee, it's not like we have to win. We want to win, but we don't have to. I think we can go play more relaxed and have fun. I think it'll be another great game.''

I get it, and I agree with the sentiment.....but if the team plays with this attitude next week, it is a sure L. It's good for the QB not to press and force things, but don't give other guys, esp this OL, the greenlight to "play more relaxed."

i think (hope) what he means is that the titans game isn't a 'do or die' that could possibly eliminate us from the playoffs if we drop that one, whereas the balt game losing that would be much more costly.

however i'm hoping that's what he means, and not planning on going into tennessee and playing lax. i don't like the idea of losing any of the final 2 games of the season, going into the postseason with momentum is very important

[Hagerstown Steelman Profile]

Great analysis of the game. I agree with the other posters and applaud the integrity of the analysis.
Never grade on a curve just because it was a win. This is the Burgh if you can not take the heat get of out the kitchen.

One of the best things with the 2008 edition of the Steelers is that we get contributions from so many places. In the game Sunday Timmons, Gay, Fox, Nate, Kirschke, and others had serious contributions. Teams playing us have to pick their poison. If they go out of their way to take Harrison, Woodley, or Polamalu out of the game and someone else will get you.

Total team defense and offense is the way and we have it.

My prediction is Steelers 23 Titans 13.

[stilldigger Profile]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08354/936233-66.stm

After reading this article, I'm sure Mill will be feelin' the love for his guy Farrior!