View topic - Stillers-Dolts Postgame Analysis and Grades

[StillMill Profile]

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

[Pump-N-Iron Profile]

Glad everything went smoothly with your surgery! Great write-up! Bryant finally gives us a LEGIT #2 WR to line up opposite AB... which should open up a ton more room for AB to abuse defenses. Only a complete imbecile like Tomlin or Haley could possibly keep this guy from shooting past Wheaton on the depth chart. Wheaton will be good in the slot as a #3, but Heyward-Bey just needs to disappear.

Defensively, MEANINGFUL PRESSURE > worthless sack stats. The 2 sacks were nothing compared to the multiple hurries and knock-downs Luck had to endure.

BR7 for Hard Hat!

[Pommah Profile]

Did not get to watch this game personally so I really appreciate the writeup Mill. And I have a new phrase for water cooler talk: "sucked in like a Ponzi scheme"

The point about the Dolts production in limited possession time is key. I saw a box score that they only had the ball 20 minutes. 34 points in 20 minutes of possession! That's a rate that yields 51 on a more normal 30-30 split. Frightening.

First time I've seen all A's (or nearly so) on the O-line grades in a dog's age.

[isfry Profile]

Great, thorough write-up, Mill. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery for ya!
A couple of comments:
Did anyone ever think they'd live to see Mill (deservedly) give grades of B, A, A-, A-, and A- to our O-line after a big game? Great job by those guys.
Neil Young has a song called Cortez the Killer, and that's basically what I think of Cortez Allen. He's killing me. He looks completely lost in coverage. Even when (for the first time all year) our D-line and LB's were applying pressure, Allen was out of position and badly beaten. Regularly.
Couldn't agree more about Blount on KO coverage. What the fuck? I posted elsewhere that he looks slower than Jonathan Dwyer. Does anyone else see any team in the league having their third down, short-yardage back as a KO returner? Ever?

As to the anticipatable lambasting of the DC, I will say this. He dialed up a lot more blitzes and pressure packages than we have seen all year. He gave up 34 points to the league's #1 offense. This wasn't Mike Glennon out there, mind you. You point out how bad it could have been if the O hadn't chewed up so much time, but without Blount's and Heyward-Gay's ASSININE fumbles at HORRIBLE times, the D might have gotten a little rest and held a score or two off the board. Who knows.
As to the penalties, I will never excuse ten accepted flags, but it sure seemed the refs were a little flag happy in this one. Even Phil Simms said it was like you can't give a receiver a dirty look without getting a five yarder, and that's coming from a former QB.
As for Heyward-Bey, I can't believe he is still on the roster. I could hear Mill in my head when he committed that ASSININE blunder. (more last names and turnovers than receptions...)

All in all an enjoyable (and somewhat surprising) victory. Couldn't agree more that it doesn't mean shit if we don't carry it into next week.

[fred Profile]

Thank God you survived your surgery, medicine in this country is only slightly better than LeBeau's defensive schemes. We would have withered away without your frank (and pointed) assessment.
Refs kept this a game with all the illegal hands and complete BS hands to the face penalties on our guys.
Bryant clearly has dominant tools as you say. His hands will be a problem one day ie fumble or dropped pass. As you speak about keeping Bryant without a helmet, we did the same with 62. You should occasionally heep as much praise on Williams and Butler as you offer Mr. LeBeau.
Steeler fans should not get their hopes up however, as Mike Carey gave as a preview of how the NFL will put the team that they want to in the Big Dance. His analysis of the safety is something only an official could see.
Cortez is probably the 4 year project that is done.
Munchak's line was championship football, he seems to have cleared the cobwebs out of Adams head!
Otherwise, the Steelers prevailed in a big midseason contest against at least one of the best teams out there. Indy had been playing very good football offensively and defensively. (I know they lost 2 Dlinemen reminiscent of us against Tebow in that ill-fated playoff.)

[BGSUsteelers Profile]

I disagree with you completely when you say that was not a safety. His butt and throwing elbow touched down in the end zone. Had he been touched down instead of throwing it, it would have been a safety.

[squid_roe Profile]

Hope you get well from your surgery!

[Sun and Steel Profile]

Yes, that's Mill, playing thru pain like a total boss...wishing you a speedy recovery! Speaking of which... the Steelers and their fans need to recover from all of the fawning and fellating each over what was very much a quality win against an upper echelon team. However, lost amongst the record setting day for Ben is the fact that the other team still hung 34 points on the Steelers and still had the game in reach with 5 minutes left in the 4th Q. This much has not changed, the defense overall is still highly suspect and hardly of a championship caliber. My guess is the next time the Steelers score 51 points in a game will be in oh, about 20 years and they might score more than 34 two more times this season even if the offense is getting its crap together. Sorry to be a downer, but stack a third convincing win against your divisional arch enemy and then maybe we can start talking playoffs.


Sunlight-Falling on your Steel
Death in life is your ideal
Life is like a wheel

[SoCal Stiller Profile]

An unbelievable performance by the offense today, especially Ben and the O-line. Adams looks like a completely different player under Munchak. If this line plays up to it's potential, then this offense has the potential to be lethal with Ben, Bell, Brown, and Bryant. That's a hell of a lot of B's there which is fitting for Sunday's unis.
I will give Dick some credit for dialing up some pressure and bringing 5, sometimes 6 rushers. He needs to do something to offset the horrible play in the secondary. Maybe DHB should try out at corner because he sure as hell can't be any worse than Cortez. What exactly did this organization see in this guy to reward him with that contract?
From what I've seen, I think Kiesel is the MVP for the defense. What he lacks in athletic ability, he makes up for it in heart and effort.

[SoCal Stiller Profile]

"Adams looks like a completely different player under Munchak."

_______________________

Just found out Fat Gilbert is returning to the starting line-up. Perfect! Adams plays the best game of his life only to return to the bench. Gilbert has been the weakest link on that line to this point by far. Oh well, I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens.

[Steelerssix Profile]

Always good stuff here for a Stillers fan suffering here in the land of the Poebirds. I agree with several posters regarding the fawning over the last victory as it was pointed out the defense did give up 34 points. Coaches are still weak. Watching a Ravens squawk show last night and to a man the analysts agreed that the Steelers defense does not scare them. They mentioned the Poes defense got younger while the Steelers got/get older. They mentioned Harrison, Keisel, Pola, et al, and how they are not feared anymore. All true. I also notice the emotion that the Poes have on defense vs. the Steelers lack of same. I would like to see the Steelers D hit as ferocious as the Poes. Also would like to know if stats are kept on how many times a QB puts up the deep hoping for a PI call at a critical time moving the ball quickly to scoring position. I could be hallucinating, however, it seems as though Flacco does this frequently and with success. This is why I like the college rule regarding the PI penalty of 15 yards. Very little chance to see Steelers on TV because of Poebirds, so looking forward to this game. Go Steelers!

[StillMill Profile]

Always good stuff here for a Stillers fan suffering here in the land of the Poebirds. I agree with several posters regarding the fawning over the last victory as it was pointed out the defense did give up 34 points. Coaches are still weak. Watching a Ravens squawk show last night and to a man the analysts agreed that the Steelers defense does not scare them. They mentioned the Poes defense got younger while the Steelers got/get older. They mentioned Harrison, Keisel, Pola, et al, and how they are not feared anymore. All true. I also notice the emotion that the Poes have on defense vs. the Steelers lack of same. I would like to see the Steelers D hit as ferocious as the Poes. Also would like to know if stats are kept on how many times a QB puts up the deep hoping for a PI call at a critical time moving the ball quickly to scoring position. I could be hallucinating, however, it seems as though Flacco does this frequently and with success. This is why I like the college rule regarding the PI penalty of 15 yards. Very little chance to see Steelers on TV because of Poebirds, so looking forward to this game. Go Steelers!

You touch on a good topic. Joe Jacco LUVS the deep rainbow lob. LUVS it. To his credit, he throws a very, very, VERY good deep lob......nice arc, good accuracy. He often draws PI flags, and often gets big completions, or hell, even TDs in the EZ against the Steelers while Ryan Clark looks on, doing nothing, with just seconds left in the game. Jacco sux, but his rainbox deep lob is a very effective weapon, especially against secondaries who have zero ball skills. Such as Dick's ass-clumsy crew.

There's no reason to miss a Stiller game on TV, ever. Try: www.wiziwig.tv

superb reliability and quality.

[isfry Profile]

Watching a Ravens squawk show last night and to a man the analysts agreed that the Steelers defense does not scare them. They mentioned the Poes defense got younger while the Steelers got/get older.

While that may be true, Six, the fact is that defense doesn't scare anybody anymore. You can't so much as breath heavy near a QB or a WR without a flag. The Steelers offense, on the other hand, got better (Healthy Bell, O-Line, Bryant, etc.) and the Ravens offense got worse. The three biggest weapons for Baltimore last couple of years were as follows:

#1) Flacco's deep ball PI hopes (as you accurately point out.)
#2) Ray Rice.
#3) Anquan Bolden's ability to out-jump and out-muscle DB's for up-for-grab lobs. (See #1)

with #3 gone and #2 gone, all they have is a wing and a prayer from Flak-O. Rest assured the Steelers defense isn't gonna shut a lot of teams out this year, but neither is the Ratbirds'. I expect a completely different product on the field in Pitt tomorrow than the disorganized bullshit we brought to Baltimore.

[Steelerssix Profile]

Thanks Mill for the heads-up on watching Stillers w/o TV coverage and your always knowledgeable observations. And like all others here, hoping your are mending well from surgery.
Isfry I agree with your observations as well, however, I would love to see more defense "emotion" or whatever one calls it when they play. Also, tired of the phrase "all he is does is win" when discussing Flacco and his lack of flash. Certainly would like to see a beat down put on the Poes as opposed to the nail-biters and waiting for the bonehead coaching calls that will doom the Steelers.