View topic - Stillers-Ravens Postgame Analysis and Grades

[StillMill Profile]

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

[caliswain Profile]

The give up 2 FG drives all night, and you give LeBeau a C??? .... do you even watch other defenses in this league and see how many player/coaching "mistakes" they make compared to ours? Are your grades based on comparing us to other teams or are they based on 100% perfection? If the latter, your C grade might be close.... if the former.... I'm sorry I disagree. I thought our D played pretty darn good last night... sure I wish they didn't have stone hands, but not sure that is a coaching issue.

[isfry Profile]

I, too, think the defense played better than the credit you gave them, Mill. The offense, however, was hard to watch. I think the worst part was the drive in the late 3rd where they ran the ball with success the whole way down to the 2 yard line only to burn a timeout and throw a fade pattern OOB. Why the fuck Dwyer didn't get one shot, if not two from the 2 yard line there is beyond me. Cut Mendenhall, fire Wallace, and hope that BR7 and AB get back in time to make something happen this year.

[StillMill Profile]

Sorry, gents. This wasn't akin to shutting down the '84 Dolphins. It was Joe Jacco, whom my colleague Palmer Sux exposed as the mediocre Qb that he is.

It was at HOME, with the associated crowd noise. Big hits? NONE. Turnovers? NONE. Punishing licks the QB ? NONE.

Let's not forget -- Late in the 1Q/early in the 2Q, Dick allowed a 9-play march from the BALT 30 to set up a routine 41-yard FG, but the Balt PK, Tucker, shanked it to the right; no good.

Very late in the game, the defense HAD to get a 3-and-out in order to give the ball back to the offense with some time and some kind of half-decent FP. Instead, Balt began at its own 13, at 4:13 4Q. 2 plays later, they got an easy 1st down to keep the clock moving and retain the ball. As it was, the RatBirds managed to run 7 plays and nudge the ball from their 13 to their 40, before finally punting. By the time PIT got the ball on their own 16 no less, there was only 1:05 remaining. #1 defense, my ass.

the grade stands.

[isfry Profile]

That's fair, Mill. I guess a "C" being average, this was an average performance by the D. Maybe it looked shinier against the backdrop of a pisspoor offensive and ST night...

[NOVASteel79 Profile]

No, it was not an average performance. It was a very good one, and this loss goes on the offense and special teams. So they gave up one first down in the 4th quarter late, and another 50 or so yard drive in the first half that resulted in no points....if those are the worst things they do in a game I'll take it. They basically allowed 3 points last night. The punt return TD, and the FG they got when Wallace fumbled deep in our own end were the only other points. I don't care what team you're playing, that's pretty damn good against any NFL offense. They shut Ray Rice down to next to nothing too. I would have loved to see a turnover or two myself, but without that defense playing as well as they did, we wouldn't have even been in it last night. Seems like caliswain's comment is true, only satisfied with complete perfection and nothing less. Pretty hard to ever be satisfied if that's what you're expectations are. This isn't the 2008 defense, but it's been playing pretty damn well since the Tennessee disaster.

[BoltX Profile]

I do think the defense played well. Limiting the offense of ANY team to only FGs - hell, even KC scored a TD against them - I felt they played as well as they could.

No, there will be NO BIG hits from this group. And NO, take-aways are NOT something they are good at. (see Taylor...)

I land this loss on the ineptness of this offensive unit. Drops by Mike W are calling for prozac, mendenhall's pirouettes are vomit inducing , and Colon's stupidity is a final call to return the practice of lobotomy.

I don't care how horrible Mill thinks the Defense played (C), limiting one of the better teams in the NFL (W/L - not necessarily playing - although - they put 55 points on cRaiderettes, mind you - team we lost to by giving up 30+ on D) to only 2 field goals - I do think they deserve a "B" for the sheer effort if not for the final result.

If Ben is in there - we win by a TD most likely. THis was a game that should be shown how NOT to play offensive football with an abject failure of an QB.

Oh, FUCK Mendy the ice skating princess.

[Pommah Profile]

Mill is right our D was only middling. Flacco looked as bad as I've seen him. A decent QB would have completed enough passes to win the game handlily.

In fact, watching this game, both teams sucked. And the coaching sucked. In fact...the whole NFL sucks. This isn't football anymore. It's geared toward women and Vegas and freaking fantasy football. The rules are utterly ridiculous and the league office is duplicitous. I mean, there's Ryan Clark who has had two concussions in the last 3 games still playing because he's got Kevlar in his helmet now, but Ed Reed gets a 15-yard penalty for helmet on helmet contact that was just beyond his control. He had no idea where Sander's head was going to end up when he had to commit to the tackle, and if he goes low to avoid the head entirely he could bust the guy's leg and end his career. That guy is as good a player the NFL has seen and is not dirty. In the old days you did not send a guy out on a pattern like that because you knew he'd get wasted; now you do because of the rules, but in reality it's not any less likely.

This isn't football anymore. I don't even think it's sport anymore. It's closer to that UFC garbage than it is sport. I had way more fun watching my nephew's pop warner game than this load of crap.

[anthonyc20 Profile]

I don't come on here often but I came to see the grade mill would give dick after the Ravens scored a franchise record 55 points last week. Mill is the same old genius. No wonder other sites are circling the toilet bowl just waiting to be flushed. YOU ARE A GENIUS MILL.

[Pommah Profile]

Anthonyc, 3 quick comments:

1. If the site sucks why are you here?
2. Ravens got 55 points against one of the teams that has given up the most points in the whole league, if not the most, making your point almost meaningless.
3. Week-to-week variation in performance among every team is so high that comparing how a team did one week vs the next is a borderline ridiculous thing to do.

Actually one of the nice things about this site slimming down is that you rarely find less than insightful comments on it anymore.

[jdpdts Profile]

This site has become a blast. Thank you Mill for your analysis and complete hatred for the Steelers. Nothing delights me more than seeing the defense play awesome and see how you'll spin it away. A thing of beauty.

Still analysis of the actual game: F

Delight and joy I get in reading Still rationalize: A+

Keep it up. I've been inviting Steelers fans to the site to read this stuff.

[BoltX Profile]

LOL - that was a funny post Pommah.

ALso - if people do not want to read Mills rants - don't come. I like them because he is coming from the extreme - and expects the extreme to be obtained - basically - 2 TDs a game by the D, probably at least 4 sacks, about 12 pressures on the QB and at least 3-4 defensive stands on 3rd downs when it matters.

That is FINE on the site like this. ESPN/NFL/Journalists - they come from the "middle" and if the needle is close to the expectations (middle) - it's an awesome D. Nothing wrong with that. Like any fringe group - and this is a fringe site - extreme is celebrated.

I'm ok with that - but also - unlike most fringe groups - Mill allows/invites discussion. I like that too. He is cornered himself into an indefensible position to any "normal" observer. Thus - sometimes he seems like a little child screaming in the corner. But that is what I like here. Different angle, and more stringent perception of what NORMAL is or should be.

So Mill, while I disagree on your grade for the Defense in THIS game, keep it up.

And yes - I also disagree with you on Offense this time. I give them an "F". But that's just me. I blame "Socrates", Colonoscopy, and Byron the Noodle.

[NOVASteel79 Profile]

Pommah, you don't think that our defense had anything at all to do with why Flacco looked so bad? That's part of it too. I know he's not an elite QB, but he's got alot of talent around him and we shut those WR's down and one of the very best RB's in football only got 40 yards on us. And they scored 3 points on our defense, again, what more do you guys want?

You gotta remember too, that this is also partly because of all of the new ridiculous rules of Adolf Goodell's. It's too hard to stop anybody anymore. You can't hit 'em, can't touch 'em, etc. There's not just less big hits out of our defense than we grew up watching, it's league wide, just watch other games. I agree that I hate what the game has become w/ all these ridiculous rule changes over the last few years or so, but that's also got to be factored in when we evaluate how our defense is playing. We'll never look like the Lloyd, Kirkland, Lake, Greene, Woodson days anymore, or even the mid 2000's either. The new bullshit rules don't allow it. Harder than ever to play good defense in the NFL anymore, and when you watch other teams and compare, we're still not that bad. And I'm not a LeBeau "backer" all the time either. But they played very well last night, and have for most of the season.

[BoltX Profile]

oh, and if our Ds average was giving up 2 FGs per game to all opponents - I think ANYONE in this league would take that and run away with it - all the way to the SB.

Just saying that numbers lie most of the time - but I found myself actually SURPRISED how decently the D played. Yes - you WILL have an occasional breakdown, a mistake (an error if you will), but so will the other team as well (again - numbers LIE most of the time because like Mill I agree that WHEN, and HOW they happen CAN and DO determine the outcome in the end).

Case in point - INT on your own 5yard line by the D will not have an impact as INT on the opponents 5yd line! THat's at least 6 points swing. Now, Mill would say - no INT - bad defense.

Sometimes MIll views things too extreme -for example - most passes yesterday by Flaccido were very "safe" after the initial 1Q. THeir OC adjusted to play more on the "safe" side. Thus - less opportunities for quality D play. Mill tends to ignore those more often then not - but hey - it's entertainment. Just like radio talk shows. Not much substance - lot's of ranting and little value but entertainment. (This is MY opinion and how I perceive things)

[BoltX Profile]

BTW - in my eyes, Pommah's post was [sarcasm].

That's how I READ IT.

[JimPgh1 Profile]

Maybe if the defense gave up zero points, had 5 sacks & a couple of pick 6's, mill would give them a B-. Maybe.

[relictele Profile]

No excusing - or even debating - Leftwich's performance but his injury after flopping into the end zone was obvious. Instead of springing up to celebrate he crumpled in pain.

It will be interesting to see the level of honesty/disclosure about his injury. A healthy Leftwich is a liability. An injured Leftwich shouldn't even be considered.

[caliswain Profile]

I would like to see Mill's level of judgement turned on other teams and coaches and see how they fare ... if LeBeau gets a C last night.... Flacco looked bad last night for many reasons I'm sure.... one of which was that for most of the night, nobody was open! So who should get at least some credit for nobody being open? Jeez.... I mean LeBeau has had some major screwups to be sure (see: Denver playoff game)... but last night was not one of them. Mill... I love how you cite giving up Field Goal drives as some type of criticism... This is not 1985... or even 2000.... NO defense pitches shutouts on a regular basis anymore.... they gave up 2 FG drives last night. You can always find something that wasn't quite to our liking as fans ('no big hits', 'no turnovers', etc....again... you blame the coach for balls clanging off our DB's hands? Maybe they have hands drills and *still* stink at it.. who knows? ).... how about 'NO TD DRIVES'?? This was our best defensive performance for our biggest game.... I gave LeBeau an A- and I'm no big fan of his.

I don't care if they are ranked number one or whatever.... BOTTOM LINE is this....if they played that kind of "grade C" level of defense every week and we had Ben back, we'd get to the dance again

[ddemao Profile]

Collinsworth pointed out the Steelers run between the tackles 95% of the time and outside 5% - highest percentage in NFL. If this is true it is way too predictable. Are there reasons we don't run outside? Are the backs not fast enough? No. Are our linemen too slow? Maybe. Or, is Haley just not a very good OC. I would think that Tomlin must not be aware of this because he should never allow this level of predictability.

I am totally unimpressed with Haley as OC, not only because of the predictability but owing to other completely stupid decisions, as when the Steelers are running and mixing it up well all the way down the field to the Ravens 2 yard line with a 3rd and 1, and Haley calls for an incomprehensible fade to the corner of the EZ, a play which has about zero chance of success since the Steelers run this play as poorly as any team in the NFL.

I loved coming out and throwing deep down field on first play of game and would have liked to see more first down long passes and wondered why it wasn't happening. I also put this on Haley, but after reading some other analyses it's possible Leftwich's ribs were banged up from his awkward fall into the EZ, and that would also explain why he came up way short on the throw late in the game.

[caliswain Profile]

yeah I totally agree with most of you and Mill that a few plays were such HIGH RISK... on 3rd and short situations.... unless Byron freelanced.... but if that was the first read... very poor choices for a backup QB no less.... get the first down man!!!