View topic - New Article: Stillers-Ravens Postgame Analysis and Grades

[StillMill Profile]

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

[tourosteelersfan Profile]

The Steelers have lost some games they should have won and now, after GB and Baltimore, have won some games they should have lost. What is most revealing about the team's last two "victories" is that they show how mediocre the Steelers are. Let me dispense with the game comments quickly: The defense was pushed around, especially in the second half; Rice ran unchecked and even the truly mediocre Flacco was able to move the ball through the air far too often. The offense rises or falls with Big Ben; kudos to Santonio Holmes for some great footwork after a few catches. The Hard Hat can be awarded to Woodley, though it really belongs to the Ravens for all of the penalties that sank their ship.
Two final thoughts about the season: First, after the 6-2 start, it is as if the Steelers fast-forwarded two years of steady decline into the next five games: from over-confident to shaky; the injuries to Smith and Polamalu turned the defense into the over-the-hill gang; and the Ben R show - the offense of the foreseeable future, even with Mendenhall, who is generally an improvement over Parker (at the least the Parker of the last three years) -is potent but erratic and can't control the ball. This is a recipe for .500 football, always living in the fumes of the last wild-card spot.
Second, the most revealing loss of the season was the second loss to the Bengals. We have no business in the playoffs if we don't split with the Bengals. (Let me put it this way: The Steelers almost always split with the Ravens, so this year was par for the course; The Green Bay win offsets one of the losses to Oakland or KC; and I'll even accept the Browns loss as some form of karmic gift to the city of Cleveland.) But only a second-rate team comes up empty against the Bengals - who are good but so beatable - twice. Tomlin has a full plate for the off-season, no matter when it starts.

[WillyWonka Profile]

I am not sure how you place the int on Ben? It went through the hands of the reciever into the beer gut of the defensive back. The throw only looked low becasue of the old 'pull the reciever as soon as he breaks' trick by the DB. Not that BR had a great day but this one wasnt on him.

[steeler_fanatic Profile]

The Ravens in the 3rd quarter imposed their will on the Steelers - this was worrying. I'm not as quite dismayed with this win - the team did show some heart in pulling this out.

[oldschoolhunkie Profile]

Touro, spot on.

[rifraff Profile]

Thanks for the gift PoeBirds, maybe we took u out with us for the playoffs Looks like the Jets are being given a free pass. Mill states offensive play calling 2min left in 2Q we have ball about our own 6, the video speaks for itself on 1st & 2nd down calls, ugh. We could eat clock and punt and maybe hold em, ok probably not, but we were up at the time, maybe the Birds shoot themselves in the foot somemore The offseason should officially start next week and we can start to jam some corn cobs up some aholes and lite them with kerosene to celebrate the end of this season. Does Reed get consideration for saving a TD by actually performing a push out of bounds for Hard hat??

[Tonydesal Profile]

Simply put, the Steelers did not win this game. Yes the newspaper will show Pitt in the "w" column, but we lost. Again.

If not for the Ravens snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the Steelers would be placing reservations for an early tee time in two weeks.

There were some good plays for the Black and Gold in that game, but for each one, there were a plethora of bad ones.

There are far too many people that post on this site that know more about the game than me, so I won't go into what I think needs to be done to fix this excuse for a defending Super bowl team. I'll simply say this: it's going to take a lot of help from other teams to make the playoffs. It's going to take a MIRACLE to win a playoff game.

[PGHeaven Profile]

Another right the fuck on analysis by Still Mill. And Hilarious as usual ala "whipped Shit Sundae" and "corn cob soaked in kerosene up the ass and lit"

TFF

[pinpon Profile]

Still Mill is absolutely correct about Shitpulveda. How do you take a punter in the 4th rd. when you can find an undrafted kid who could do as well. Furthermore Shitpulveda cannot coffin corner on his kicks. How are the STs coaches not telling this kid to simply kick it OOB instead of the crappy pooch punt that always gets into the EZ?????

[PGHeaven Profile]

Still Mill is absolutely correct about Shitpulveda. How do you take a punter in the 4th rd. when you can find an undrafted kid who could do as well. Furthermore Shitpulveda cannot coffin corner on his kicks. How are the STs coaches not telling this kid to simply kick it OOB instead of the crappy pooch punt that always gets into the EZ?????

agree pinpon. welcome to Stillers

[Still CA Still Profile]

How long did we go in the third quarter before registering a first down? Once again, we made no adjustments on either side of the ball and quickly squandered a 10 point lead; this after having all the momentum going into the half. It's always nice to win one vs Balto and even if somehow the stars align and we sneak in; this will be the weakest B&G playoff team in memory.

[SteelHawkeye Profile]

Even good teams in the NFL have holes and could use personnel upgrades, but the most glaring thing about this game and so many games this year was the piss poor coaching. The team has come out flat against bad teams which is an indictment on the coaching staff for preparation, and the team repeatedly is out-matched in the 2nd half which is an indictment on the staff for a lack of adjustments made at half and through the game.

The offense lives and dies by Ben's play-making and the defense lives and dies on the other team screwing up.

[Jeemie Profile]

Mill- on Ben's second INT...that's the first time I've ever heard an illegal contact penalty being called "cheesy and ticky-tack" when the DB essentially mugged and held up Wallace going into his route (not to mention it was done in front of the official who called it). I suspect you need to watch that play again with a little more objectivity.

However, cheesy or not, Ben deserves no downgrade for tossing the pick there because in case you missed it, in the post-game interviews it came out that Ben saw the hold, saw the flag and knew he had a free play.

[novascotiastillerfan Profile]

Still - Great summary as usual. Over many years, I can count a ton of games that we lost due to over zealous zebras. This win was because of them. The win was nothing to gloat about, but we were bloody well due for a few of these wins. We wouldn't have won last year if we didn't have several of these.

[croppyboy Profile]

Absolutely ridiculous. Pretty funny, but ridiculous nonetheless. Put any NFL team under a microscope like you do and you'll see the same types of miscues and "tittyslapping". Oh, and guess what; Dick Lebeau is a freakin' legend, Ben is a future Hall of Famer, and the OPI on Darell Jackson was legit!