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

[StillDodger Profile]

I just heard news that Willie Colon is out for the season............

I hate to sound cruel, but whoever replaces him will be an improvement.......... Contract or no contract.

[ballhair Profile]

What is real disappointing to me is that when Ben plays bad, he looks like a rookie backup QB that just got thrown into the game because of an injury to the starter. No other upper tier QB, when having a bad game looks as bad as Ben does. This guy won two superbowls. You would never know it. As far as an easy schedule , there are no easy games with this team. You think that Omar Epps is ready to "unleash" that hell he was talking about last season yet?

[Steel Holiday Profile]

Roethlisberger is still one of the all-time great Stillers. The whole team was catatonic. Ben's career doesn't get defined by one of his worst days as a pro.

Baltimore gets credit for being ready to play and making an emphatic statement. I'm not ready to definitively say it has the league's best team, though. The Ravens didn't face the late game adversity which historically has caused their quarterback to crumble. Flacco played real well, but he hardly went down the field consistently. (To his credit though, he did complete some deeper routes and looked good in the process.) The Poe-birds don't have a daunting schedule loaded with quarterbacks who threaten to put up 4 bills worth of passing yards. It's conceivable that the Rats will rarely be playing from behind, and therefore not overly exposed as the ball control offense which they still appear to be.

[btd343 Profile]

Ben didn't have a great day... fact. But most of his errors came when we were down and out and he was trying to make a play downfield. Not excusable, just what it is.

You can't blame Ben for our o-line getting abused. It all starts there... we couldn't block Suggs and Ngata... hence we can't run the ball and Ben doesn't have more than 2 seconds to throw. Our two fumbles came when we didn't pick up a simple interior blitz and when Ngata came in completely unblocked. If anyone needs to go it's Arians. Ben didn't have a great day but c'mon... he's bailed out a sh*tty offensive line and an even sh*ttier offensive coordinator more than enough times.

Watch the Patriots... it's the exact opposite. Brady has 8 seconds to throw and the defense is on their heels because of thoughtful, intelligent play calling.

[Still Peon Profile]

What is real disappointing to me is that when Ben plays bad, he looks like a rookie backup QB that just got thrown into the game because of an injury to the starter.

This is essentially how I feel about the day Ben had. He looked like a rookie QB without a clue, with the real irony here being that at one point he was a rookie coming into the game because of an injury to the starter, and he looked about 100 times better back then as a rookie.

Of course, he wasn't the only goat of the game, but as was mentioned earlier, he was the main one. When you're mostly or totally responsible for 4 out of 7 turnovers, and then partially for 2 more, and you're the QB, then you've given your team almost no chance at all of winning. Again, the whole team did not look good, but Ben looked like a giant doofus.

[zapunto Profile]

Mill spot on (stating the obvious). For the first time in this rivalry, Baltimore fielded an offense that can give the Steelers fits (Vonta Leach is elite as a lead blocker and Lee Evans was used to stretch the field; he caught no passes). Replacing Heap with the younger Dickson and Pitta helps too. No one here wants to hear it, but they might be the better team right now.

I have the Pro Football Focus stats on the game, some interesting tidbits:

• Despite the penalties, Wille Colon actually graded out well, especially in pass blocking. He is now out for the season. On the other side, Jonathan Scott had the worst performance by ANY left tackle in Week 1. And it's not an anomaly, it's a sickening trend that has not been fixed. Brutal run blocking and passing.
• Pouncey was pretty bad too.
• Redman consistently outperforms Mendenhall on the ground, and gets tough yards without the spin move. More carries, please.
• Worst defender on the field: Aaron Smith, and it's not even close. Ziggy Hood only 12 snaps in relief.
• Worst defender not named Aaron Smith: Troy Polamalu, whose pass coverage was execrable. Which seems right. He was a day late and a dollar short covering the tight ends. I don't care how many people say he looks healthy. He looks slower.

[Steelers76 Profile]

Great analysis as usual. I'm surprised Dick's die hard, kool-aid drinkers didn't come out of the woodwork and start hammering you with their dumb fuck excuses as to why he is so great, how he doesn't play in the games, therefore he bares no degree of responsibility, etc. I think the vast majority of them are starting to see The Emperor has no clothes....

BTW, something you mentioned a few times last season that I'm surprised you didn't mention in this game; Baltimore choose the bush league tactic of wearing their away uni's at home on a hot, sunny, mid-Sept game. Given the team we're talking about, I'm really not surprised they did it, though....

[ballhair Profile]

Anyone notice how many tackles Ryan Clark missed? Rice just pushed him away.
What a cunt.