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

[StillMill Profile]

http://www.stillers.com/articles/2293.aspx has been posted by Still Mill at Stillers.com.

[acewhiplash Profile]

Good analysis, Mill. Two things: how about Patrick Bailey on Special Teams? he was in on every tackle it seemed. Also, with regards to the Wards/BB hot read mixup, the replays supported TK's assertion that Hines never turned his head, and Jaws admitted as much. I do think Ben does hold on to the ball too long, but in this case Hines didn't turn his head.

One issue with Ben's holding onto the ball too long: When he moves up in the pocket, he doesn't re-set his feet and throw, like Brady or Romo. he throws on the run. There are many times where if Ben just moves up a step or two and sets his feet, he can make a throw, but he keeps going, often past his blockers, allowing the D to slide off and tackle him. This is not to excuse the horrific blocking that we see on many plays, however.

[stillgrill Profile]

Great analysis Mill, particularly on Holmes breaking off his route on that crucial 3rd down. I thought I was the only one who noticed. He made up for it on the RAC TD. Once again, Joe Walton clone Arians reaching into his bag of (useless) tricks on the 1st & goal on the Ravens 4 yd line. 2 line plunges by Moore ridiculous. Brady & Manning play action that D into EZ TD 95% of the time but once again, we're looking to go up by just 7 rather than get an 11-pt stranglehold. Also, Taylor & Taunto up to their usual disappearing acts. Keep dreamin' abouth the Pro Bowl, Ike. Harry & Wood saved this game, thank gawd.

[Nashsteeler Profile]

Thanks for the analysis.

Reed is so money I don't even bother looking anymore unless its a game winner or 50+ yarder.

Good thing we have OLB's that play hard every down and give all that effort. They and Troy P are carrying the D right now.

Is there such a thing as a nightmare scenario this early in the year? Short week...tough road game vs. a very physical opponent when you are already dinged up...and with a moronic OC that hasn't and may never find a groove. Doesn't get much uglier than that and it'll be on National TV. Could be embarrassing.

[Nel Profile]

Feet were slipping all over that field, and chunks of turf were flying.

Yeah, that field was dangerous, and on a rainless night!

[Homer J Profile]

Cut the ST unit some slack on the 10 men on the field. It should never happen, but I'd like to hear how this happpened. There's no excuse, but there may be an explanation.

This was a goddamn body bag game. No doubt the 11th man was Frazier AND probably his replacement.
Is that a problem? Sure. But they played hard against a Ravens ST that has outplayed them year after year. And they held them to no big returns.

If you've ever played on a kick return team, you know how chaotic it can be during the game. Especially if some of your guys are out there on the field in the offensive unit. You don't always have the luxury of being able to call them together on third down. If somebody goes down with injury, you plug somebody in and hope for the best. If several guys go down, your potential problems multiply. And you try to remind the subs to go in there. I can't tell you how many times I've seen guys with a surprised look when reminded they're gonna have to go out there. Only the new gunners never forget.

You want to fire the ST coach?

Sorry, Mill. I want to give him - and the players on that unit - a bonus. ST coverage has been the biggest and best turnaround on this team this year.

[dlbldlab Profile]

I totally agree that Arians needs to be gone. It is bad enough that no adjustments were made in the play calling in the second half of the Philly game, but we had a whole week to prepare for the "jailhouse blitz", which was obviously going to be a major part of the defensive plan of the Ravens, and it seems Arians had his head up his ass once again. Did they do anything in the past week to prepare: different blocking schemes, screens, short slants, etc.? I'm surpised the Ravens didn't do it more often.

I also agree that if they take the same "nothing's wrong" approach this week as they obviously did last week (which they probably will) we will most definitely loose to Jacksonville.

Question: I was at the game, but I never found out who called the time-out that negated Moore's touchdown run that would have avoided overtime and gave us the win?

I do, however, somewhat disagree about your opinions on Lebeau. Yeah, maybe some calls are suspect but I think you'll have that with every teams' defense. Remember, many calls are made simply from studying films and tendencies of other teams. If you guess wrong, which happens, you can look really bad. Overall, though, our defense won that game. They made several stops when they had to, especially in overtime. They stepped up there play in Philly which caused the game not tobe a blow out. It was our offense that couldn't get it done. Realistically, no defense can stop every offense every play nor every drive.

[Rocket Rashard Profile]

Disagree on LeBeau. Totally agree on Arians.

I'm not a huge LeBeau fan because of many of the points that you made, but I don't think he needs to go. Arians needs to go as soon as possible (which means after the season since we're talking about the Steelers)/

[adios el kabong Profile]

We can spell Roethlisberger and Polamalu, but can't spell "SPAETH" correctly?

[SteelerPower Profile]

I agree with Rocket Rashard. LeBeau is the man and makes that defense incredible. Arians is a joke. Our tight ends were all-stars last year and now they barely even get to see the ball anymore. The Steelers are great when the tight ends are involved but now that they aren't, it is tough to move the ball. I see that Moore got some passes thrown to him which was good. The Steelers need to start doing that and there will be good progress for the Offense. Thank god the Steelers fans booed their asses off the field because that got their heads out of their asses. What a shitty first half, good second half but they need to play better than that if they want to see a winning record.

[dirtydave61 Profile]

Great analysis as always Mill, but I also have to disagree with your wrath directed at Dick LeBeau.

Granted, it wasn't his defense's best game -- especially against a rookie QB -- but he still got the job done. In fact, the defense, because of the play by Harrison and Woodley, essentially won the game. Perhaps LeBeau was waiting for the right time to dial up the pressure. He certainly doesn't deserve a D- and to hate him as much as Arians is a little overboard. I agree they should have keyed on covering Mason, but then again, all the guy does is get open and catch passes like he's done for years. Catching 103 balls is a testament to his grittiness on an awful team, even if he is targeted a lot. I think LeBeau should have gotten a solid C.

Arians, on the other hand, is probably even more inept that you give him credit for. How about an F- for the first half and an INC. for the second half since Ben called the plays.

I really like how you're giving credit to McFadden. I think he's been a very overlooked part of the defense since his rookie season, and he certainly seems to be upping his play a notch this year. I like his versatility and his enthusiasm, but he does play too soft sometimes.

Keep calling it like you see it Mill. The actual games are the only thing I look forward to more than your analyses.

[steelerette Profile]

Disagree on LeBeau. Totally agree on Arians.

Me, too. Our defense is fine. That was proven against the Eagles. If it wasn't for Arians and our crappy O-Line, I honestly think we could have taken the Eagles, would have beat the Ravens by a much bigger score, and the Stillers would be undefeated right now.

Great write-up, Still Mill.

[StillMill Profile]

Disagree on LeBeau. Totally agree on Arians.

Me, too. Our defense is fine. That was proven against the Eagles. If it wasn't for Arians and our crappy O-Line, I honestly think we could have taken the Eagles, would have beat the Ravens by a much bigger score, and the Stillers would be undefeated right now.

Our defense is "fine" ??

Let's see. A slow backup RB averaged 4 yards per carry and also had a huge 25-yd. catch n' run that set up a TD.

The ONLY receiver that needed to be covered was Derrick Mason -- a guy we’ve faced at least 17 times over the years -- yet Mason was the guy that was LEAST covered. In caes you didn't notice, Mason tooled and torched the Stiller defense to the tune of 8 grabs for 137 yards. The other WRS combined for 1 (one) catch for 6 yards. The TEs combined for 1 (one) catch for 4 yards. Yet Dullard Dick was too dense, too blind, and too dumfounded to blanket Mason and force Jacco to throw to ANYBODY except his security blanket, Derrick Mason.

- After a timeout late in the 2Q and the ball on the Stiller 4, the Ravens lined up and NO ONE from the defense lined up opposite a Raven WR. Sure, the Ravens were flagged for an illegal formation, but that doesn’t absolve a veteran defense from failing to account for what could have been the easiest TD in NFL history.

- The defense was at its worst on the game-tying drive late in the 4Q. Protecting a 7-point lead against a greenhorn QB, Dick first called off the dogs and went vanilla. Then, he outright and staunchly refused to put an extra bump or shaded coverage on Mason. All Mason did on that drive was:

15 yard completion

10 yard completion

3rd & 12, 35 yard completion

But hey, everything is "fine".

[steelerette Profile]

Does this mean you don't love me anymore, Still Mill?

[StillMill Profile]

Not at all....just trying to keep ya straight...! Ya don't wanna look clumsy or foolish like StillaYinzer, The Truth, and some other dufuses who have been embarrassed here over the years.....

[Rushmore Profile]

down to your seldom-used, 4th-string running back against the #1 defense: what might be expected of an OC?

[SteelerPower Profile]

I can see where StillMill is coming from. The defense did let the shitty rookie qb and the ravens score 20 points. The defense that played the eagles only held them to 13 offensive points. I think the Steelers altogether need a gut check.

[MIK3Ysfv Profile]

How is it that Arians obvious shortcomings are invisible to his hire-ups?
Let's flush Tomlin too. In the mean time, I hope Roethlisberger's helmet speaker "malfunctions" the rest of the year, rendering Arians silent.

[McLovin Profile]

McLovin thinks that Mill isn't being critical enough of Tomlin for the promotion of Arians and the hiring of Larry Porn. I was never a huge Cowher fan but I give the man his due...he could put together a coaching staff. I never worried when cowher promoted a guy to a coordinator position that he was going to suck to the level that Arians does. He sucked in Cleveland and sucks here. I promise you when Cowher left he never in his wildest dreams thought Arians would be named OC. Would Cowher put up with the inepititude that Larry Porn displays on a weekly basis??? The worst Steeler O-line in half a century! Granted Larry Porn is not responsible for the lack of talent...that's a rant for another time.

I'm not disagreeing with the point that 20 pts is too many to give up to Flacco and a talent-less Raven offense, but why the hatred for Lebeau Mill? Do you really think he has tremendous talent to work with? Our DL is injured and ancient, Timmons should be starting, no db depth. You can't polish a turd Mill!

[SteelfordWexler Profile]

This Defense is the same as it always is. They play well when the offense can move the chains and keep them rested.
They played pretty well Monday until the offense gave up the ball on a short field on the first play of a drive. The Ratbirds scored most of their points during a time in the game when the offense went 3 and out 7 times in a row. These guys wear down if they are on the field too much - the injuries and age up front only makes it worse.