View topic - Stillers-Chefs Postgame Analysis and Grades

[StillMill Profile]

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

[SteelThatDon'tRust Profile]

Last week:

They should play fired up at home next week, but the KC defense will bring much more pass rush and harassment than this mediocre ATL defense did today. KC also possesses a dangerous return game, as seen today on the long punt return for a TD versus Oak. Don’t look now, but Dumblin’s spec teams are long overdue for a back-breaking KO or punt return for a TD. And lest we forget, KC has a roster full of WRs who have a combined Zero TDs….which could easily change next Sunday against Dick’s Softee Defense.

This week:

The Stillers hosted the mediocre KC Chefs, and mostly played grab-ass instead of putting this feckless foe to bed long before the 4Q. KC made it interesting in the 4Q, but the Stillers hung on for a tight 8-point win, thereby clinching a playoff spot.

An okay win over a mediocre opponent that has an inept passing offense. If only every playoff opponent had the same lack of a downfield passing game, this team might be looking at a trip to Phoenix. Alas, very, very few playoff teams will have the inept downfield passing attack that you saw from the Chefs today.

But the offense put up points on a premier defense (KC) and sacked Smith 6 times holding the Chiefs to 4 FGs, and it should have been three if not for the horrid taunting call on Gay. Given KCs TOP, I'd say the 20 points was very good. Too critical, IMO. It was a quality win.

[Pommah Profile]

Steel, I get your point. But I also get Mill's. I couldn't watch too much of the game due to a crappy internet feed, and looking at the box score it seemed like a decent enough win.

But after reading Mill's assessment, I looked a the drive charts. The Chiefs had 7 drives and made it into scoring position in all but one. Of the six that made it into scoring position, they didn't score on one because they went for it on 4th instead of kicking the FG, and there was a forced fumble on other. Of the 7 drives, 5 started on their own 27 or worse, so it wasn't mere field position. They moved the ball well on all but one drive.

So to me, the D gets credit for holding Charles ineffective, stiffening up in scoring position, 6 sacks, and a FF. But they gave up too many yards on 6 out of 7 drives. Mill is correct, Smith's deep passing totally sucks. Put a good QB in there, he converts one of those first two FG's into a TD, then Reid kicks it for 3 instead of going for it on 4th and 1 at the Steelers 12, and it's a totally different ball game.

It's nothing but quality teams from here on out, so we will see what they're made of.

[PGHeaven Profile]

I saw the game as a defensive effort and thoroughly enjoyed Harrison. Congrats to the Stillers for making the playoffs. Big game next week and I will key in on Ben's performance.

I am still FD off at Tomlin for his asshole race remarks - this league - this world - is SICK of that bullshit

I am enraged at the continued horror story that is the officiating in the NFL. To me this is what is destroying the game. Three years ago during the strike Mike Melonhead Turico torched the replacement refs. Thos eguys STILL stand out as being better than any of the assholes dressing like Zebras in the present tense. I want ALL those MFers to submit to testing

[Steelerssix Profile]

Steel & Pommah - Both make valid points. I mentioned a couple of times during the in-game thread about the inability of the Chiefs OL to handle Harrison without help and he disrupted a lot of plays. Again, as mentioned ad nauseum here, the horrid secondary and it will be glaring if we have to face a real QB the likes of Brady, Manning. Very poor taunting call on Gay, but as Mill pointed out why even do such garbage. I was glad to see some real emotion from our defense and it seemed to inspire a bit, but will it be enough in the playoffs? I missed the race remarks by Tomlin - where can I find them?

[isfry Profile]

Thorough work, as always, Mill. If only for the sake of playing devil's advocate, I feel obliged to point out a couple of things.

While 7-7, the Chiefs are not exactly "average" (as you pointed out last week) when you consider they boasted #1 pass D in league and one of the top rushers in the game.

Alex Smith may not be Johnny U, but he isn’t Blaine Gabbert, either. The dink n dunk is all the rage these days, and he does it well.

I absolutely agree with your assessment that Heyward, Timmons, and Harrison were stellar.

I agree with the lack of Sharko being bullshit, but I thought the penalities on Gay and Allen were ticky tack, especially Gay's.

You spoke of redzone gaffs and how they could be our undoing? While I agree with the frustration on the first FG, and all season in the redzone, I believe we finished with two TD’s, two fgs on four redzone trips. Not that terrible.

As for the fake FG, the other team gets paid too. It was well timed, a good call by Reid, and well executed. And, lest we forget, Dick's swiss cheese D turned it into a 6 and out in the redzone.

Charles may have injured his ankle in the 3rd, but he had about 18 yards at that point all game. The defense did a great job of eliminating him from the game long before Harry smashed his ankle.

I don't want to gush, and I realize that wasn't the '84 dolphins out there, but it was an inspired performance on D, the likes of which we haven't seen much of lately. There was energy and fire, sacks and tackles for losses, one forced TO, and no TD's. If the zebras stay out of it this game would have been sealed up earlier.

[isfry Profile]

As for the fake FG, the other team gets paid too. It was well timed, a good call by Reid, and well executed. And, lest we forget, Dick's swiss cheese D turned it into a 6 and out in the redzone.

Against, I failed to mention, the team with an offense with the second ranked redzone efficiency in the league.

[LenSherwood Profile]

Some of you mentioned an internet feed to see the game-- Steelersix I think did in the game thread... where do you find that? I just can't bring myself to foot the bill for Direct TV--don't know why the NFL gives them a monopoly on all access coverage. Sorry off topic, but it would be nice to know...

[StillMill Profile]

Let's not get all giddy over the "6 sacks". Smith ran OOB for like a 3-yard loss on the PIT 8 yard line in the 1st half, for a "sack". He could have simply flung the ball into the bleachers, but I don't think he was too worried about adding 3 yards onto what was basically a PAT for the kicker. In the 2H, Smith literally tripped over his own 2 feet, and then Heyward jumped atop him. Not really much of a "sack", and had that been any of about 22 other QBs in the league, the QB easily scoots away for positive yardage.

I'm not going to gush and fawn over an 8 point win, at home, against a team whose 2 best skill players were hobbled. I'll gladly take the W, but this wasn't like beating the '85 Bears.

Sherwood, one good, free feed for all sports, is: wiziwig dot tv. Works quite well.

[isfry Profile]

As always, Mill, you are entitled to have a different impression of the game than mine. I did not think I was either "gushing" or "fawning". I just thought that maybe keeping an NFL team out of the endzone for four quarters wasn't a complete failure by the defense. Either way, I have always respected this site for its willingness to have its own opinion.

[SoCal Stiller Profile]

Here's some familiar gushing and fawning for all of you......

11-5. We win the North. We beat the Fudgepackers in the Super Bowl.


The fact is that this team is doing better than most of us expected so I'm going to enjoy the ride.

[isfry Profile]

Here's some familiar gushing and fawning for all of you......

11-5. We win the North. We beat the Fudgepackers in the Super Bowl.


The fact is that this team is doing better than most of us expected so I'm going to enjoy the ride.

I stand by THAT gushing and fawning.

[SoCal Stiller Profile]

The fact that the shitbirds are close to missing the playoffs has made my Monday a little more special.

[LenSherwood Profile]

Thanks Mill.

[JimR Profile]

Maybe if the Steelers beat somebody like the Pats 99-0, Mill will give them credit for having a good game. Otherwise, no chance.
I'll need to check the transcript of Tomlin's press conference today to see if he said "obviously" more times than Mill reminded everyone that Archer was a 3rd round draft pick who hasn't done shit all year.

[Pommah Profile]

My recollection is that Mill pointed out lots of things wrong about the 2008-season Super Bowl win, and then in the last line said something like, "Oh well, at least we won the league championship with this shit-ass performance" or something like that.

It's just his nature.

To me there just aren't any juggernaut teams this year, meaning it could be all up for grabs, with us having just as good a shot as any. So we're not exactly closing out the season like the '76 team, those days are over, its parity-era in the NFL, meaning mediocrity pretty much across the board.

But is fry has a point, I did like the enthusiasm put forth by the D, if not better play in the secondary. If we're going to have a run, it's going to take a lot of sustained energy and play above what we've seen for most of this season.

[StillMill Profile]

As always, Mill, you are entitled to have a different impression of the game than mine. I did not think I was either "gushing" or "fawning". I just thought that maybe keeping an NFL team out of the endzone for four quarters wasn't a complete failure by the defense. Either way, I have always respected this site for its willingness to have its own opinion.

Ok, my bad. I thought ya were gushing and fawning.

[StillMill Profile]

Maybe if the Steelers beat somebody like the Pats 99-0, Mill will give them credit for having a good game. Otherwise, no chance.
I'll need to check the transcript of Tomlin's press conference today to see if he said "obviously" more times than Mill reminded everyone that Archer was a 3rd round draft pick who hasn't done shit all year.

Good call, Jim. Which won out today....?

[StillMill Profile]

My recollection is that Mill pointed out lots of things wrong about the 2008-season Super Bowl win, and then in the last line said something like, "Oh well, at least we won the league championship with this shit-ass performance" or something like that.

It's just his nature.

To me there just aren't any juggernaut teams this year, meaning it could be all up for grabs, with us having just as good a shot as any. So we're not exactly closing out the season like the '76 team, those days are over, its parity-era in the NFL, meaning mediocrity pretty much across the board.

But is fry has a point, I did like the enthusiasm put forth by the D, if not better play in the secondary. If we're going to have a run, it's going to take a lot of sustained energy and play above what we've seen for most of this season.

LOL. Your memory is a bit rusty, Pommer. Here's the postgame report from that game -- http://www.stillers.com/Article/View/da ... f6cb440460

[fred Profile]

Excellent post and comments. Like to add that LeBeau gave Smith the underneath routes, which he wisely took seeing how bad his passes over 20 yds are. But it should be understood that if you make someone need 10 plays to score, there is a larger chance of mistake and that logic played to a t.
D not only kept Charles checked, Tuitt hurt him on the FF. Tuitt could prove to be very good. Did others see Shazier get wiped out on the 4th down stuff?
Some point out that Steelers allowed no TDs, but 7 long drives diminished the good. Still, Steelers scored on 6 possessions, 4 times, and on a better D than KCs O faced.
Surprisingly JH still having huge impact.
Refs need instant replay on themselves and the dopey NFL ref call explanations are laughable and adds to the perception that some ref calls are to keep the game close so that the 4th quarter advertisers keep buying.
The way that the level of competition is increasing as the SB approaches is reminiscent of 05, I think we won 8 straight to close out that year with each game Steelers were facing tougher opponents.