Stillers 23, Balt. 20 ���. Dec. 27, 2009 ����Game #15
Stillers-Ravens Postgame
Analysis and Grades
The
Stillers, again supposedly desperate for their playoff lives, waddled and
fiddled through yet another uninspiring performance, before eking out a 3-point
win over the equally mediocre PoeBirds.� The flimsy victory keeps alive the Stillers�
faint playoff hopes, although it�s difficult to discern exactly who on this
roster is all that interested in making the playoffs.
�
Grades:
QB:�
A week after his Steeler record-setting 500+ yard passing effort, Benji
had a rocky, laborious, shoddy afternoon, going 17 of 33 for 259 and 1
INT.�� There were a host of misfires,
along with poor decision making.� Even
the bomb to Wally for 45 yards in the 2Q was woefully underthrown (again).�� Ben actually threw 2 INTs; 1 in the 3Q and 1
in the 4Q.�� Each was mentally stupid;
the 2nd being even stupider and devoid of brain matter.�� Up by 3 with only 2:00 remaining, Ben
scrambled from pressure, and then lofted an ill-advised floating pass that was
picked and returned to the PIT 42.�� Only
a cheesy, ticky-tack illegal contact penalty negated this play and enabled the
Stillers to run out the clock and secure the W.��� Ben actually had 3 more throw-aways in this game, which is surely a career high for
him.� To me, the late INT really plummets this grade.���
C-�
RB:�
Mendy also had a rocky day.�� He
dropped a sure TD pass -- as softly thrown as a baby�s bottom and right in his
belly -- in the 1Q.� Soon thereafter, in
blitz pickup, he was literally shoved aside like a toddler by Ngata and Ben was
engulfed for a sack.�� Gee, wasn�t Tomlin
just crowing recently about what a great blitz blocker Mendy had become??� Mendy then added the final cherry to this
whipped shit sundae, with a careless fumble/turnover in the 2Q.� He did have a few good north-south power
runs, including the TD run, but too many colossal boners.� Parker ran twice for 17.�
FB:�
Rarely used.��� N/A
WR:�
Tonio had 5 for 86, but had a drop in the 4Q and also had a feeble
fight-off on the Foxworth INT in the 3Q.� His RAC work was stupendous.� Ward had 4 for 37 while being hampered by the
ham injury.� Wally had 3 for 83, with 2
terrific catches.� Tyler �John� Grisham
actually got playing time and had 1 grab for 14 yards on a key 3rd & short in
the 4Q, but a short while later, dropped an easy crosser on 3d & 11 that
would have been short of the sticks.�
Newly signed Joey Galloway did not dress, presumably because Grisham is
such a formidable wide receiver.��� A-
TE:�
Miller had 3 grabs.� He had a few
very solid blocks in the running game, although he had a couple weak ones as
well.� Spaeth played some and as usual
did almost nothing.� B+�
OL: The line play was okay; not poor or
strong.� The run blocking was off and on;
Mendy ripped off a few good runs, but there were a lot of no-gainers.� Then again, the running game was chucked
starting in the 3Q, so it�s hard to gauge if the ground game would have gotten
untracked if given a chance.� Foster had
a good pull and block to spring Mendy on an 8-yard run in the 1Q.� Starks had a pancake block on Ellerbe on
Parker�s delayed run up LT that netted 13 yards in the 1Q.� The pass pro was mostly okay.� Hartwig got abused for a sack in the 3Q in
pitiful fashion.�
DL:�
A poor afternoon.�� The Ratbirds
ground game ran all over the D-line.�
Rice ran for 141 and McClain and McGahee
chipped in a few more.�� Fat Casey
Hampton did little, aside from getting a hands to the
face flag that negated a sack.� Keisel
got injured midway thru the 3Q with a stinger.�
Eason had a good hustle play on a screen pass early in the 4Q to
Rice.� Making his biggest impact of the
season was Ziggy Hood, who flashed some of the prowess that made him so highly
regarded in the �09 draft.� He pressured
Jacco and forced a TA in the 4Q.� He then
had a sack later, on 3d & 9.� He then
was in the hunt and recovered the 4D fumble late in the game.� Dick LeBeau enjoys rotting his rookies and
turning their entire rookie season into a year-long apprenticeship; hopefully
Hood is ready to emerge from the shadows.���
C+
LB:�
Another overall average game from the unit that is supposed to lead this
defense in playmaking.�� The run stuffing
of the Raven rushing attack was downright putrid.��
To his
credit, LaMarr Woodley had a solid game, making 7
solos, forcing an INT and a fumble, and making Jacco�s
life miserable in the pocket.� Just to
keep things in perspective, however, let�s keep in mind that Woodley was
feasting on Oniel Cousins, a bush-league BACKUP who
has started all of 2 games in 2 NFL seasons.�
To make matters even easier for Woodley, Cousins got injured in the 3Q
and then came back into the game for more abuse.�� Woodley also had a boneheaded offsides flag
on a critical 3d & 8 in the 3Q, which negated a sack by Ike.�
Timmons had
a whiff on Rice near the LOS in the 1Q, allowing a 16-yard gain.�� He did show tremendous athleticism to even
be in a position to put a lick on Mason on a deep seamer in the 3Q, and then
showed his hitting ability with a punishing hit on Mason that should have been
ruled a fumble.�� At the very least,
Timmy knocked Mason woozy and it took Mason several minutes before he could
hobble off the field.� This, my friends,
is a play that Larry Foote could never, ever make, even if he had a corn cob
jammed up his ass and lit with kerosene.����
Taunto Farrior
had another decrepit day at the office.��
This guy is just plain BAD; and getting worse by the minute.�� Totally unblocked, he had a weak-assed wave
and flail at Rice -- from the Steeler 16 -- for a 7-yard plunge in the 1Q.� He was far too slow and clodhopping on the dumpoff
to Rice in the 3Q, good for 14.� On the McGahee TD run that was negated by a ticky-tack holding
flag, Farrior first got chop blocked in gimpy fashion, and then was far too
slow to cut off the RB at the pass.� A
short while later, deep in PIT territory, Farrior got trucked by Rice on a
plunge, good for 6 yards (4 yards after contact).� Don�t let his INT fool you, as it was a
classic Dong interception off an
erratic, high floater that was created when Woodley hit Jacco as the QB was
releasing the pass.�
Again, the
run stuffing was very poor, and much of the damage was reaped against a totally
inept backup RT.���� Woodley: B���� Harrison and Timmons: C��� Farrior:�
D+�
DB:�
Just another wretched game.� Another Keystone Cops routine.�
Townsend
started in place of Gaybo.� He had good coverage on a deep ball to
Williams in the 2Q.� On the very next
play, he made no adjustment or play on the ball (an attribute the entire
secondary has shared all season), and Heap hauled in the long lob for a
TD.� Town was tooled badly by Mason for a
sure TD on the 1st play of the 4Q, but the future Hall of Fame nominee simply
dropped the ball.��
Ike, as
usual, dropped an INT.� He acted all mad
and surprised after the drop, as though this hasn�t happened at least 43 times
in his career.�� With Town getting
tooled, Gay was inserted into the game, and then got easily out-jousted by Heap
for the TD pass in the 3Q.�
Ryan Clark,
the big talker full of bravado and bullshit, got trucked badly by Rice on a 9-yard
run in the 3Q.� He was then far too slow
to cut off McGahee at the pass on the 32-yard TD run
that was called back due to the cheesy penalty.�
������C-�
Spec
teams:� A fair amount of vomit, with a few sprinkles
of acceptable play.�
Shitpulveda,
the most over-rated punter to ever come from the NCAA, had another barf-bag
afternoon.�� In the 1Q, with the LOS
being the BAL 38, he kicked a weak-assed pooch punt that was FC at the 13.�� Sorry -- not acceptable.�� Later, from the BAL 41, he rocketed a pooch into the EZ for a TB.� Early in the 4Q, with the LOS on the PIT 41,
he kicked a very mediocre punt all of 39 yards, which was yet another
barf-laden punt.�� Hey, Mitch Berger can
give us 39 yard punts and shitty pooch attempts.�� It�s high time Shitpulveda
live up to his draft billing.�
Hooker Reed
almost sliced his first FG, which barely made it inside the right upright.� The biggest suspense of the day was in the
2Q, when, thanks to a Raven penalty, Reed booted off from his 45 instead of the
30.�� Could Jeff Reed actually reach the
opposing EZ with a kickoff?�� Could Reed
garner his 2nd TB of the season??��
Perhaps aided by a stiff wind, Reed was able to reach the EZ and secure
a TB.� A miracle!!� �Equally
miraculous was the rugged hit OOB that Reed laid on the returner
(Parmele) in the 4Q after a 48-yard return.��
Instead of the usual love taps and pussyfied
cop-outs that we�ve seen from Reed, the brawler of paper-towel dispensers acted
as though Parmele were a roll of Bounty paper towels, and rudely blasted him
OOB.��
OC:�
Today you saw the risk of the pass happy, running-be-damned
offense.�� When your QB is on fire, 500
yards is about as easy as falling off a log.��
When your QB is scattershot and off target, 250 yards is a laborious
chore, usually attained amidst an INT or two, along with perhaps a return for a
TD.�� Sound familiar?�� That�s pretty much how today unfolded.��
Facing a
defense devoid of Ed Reed (did not dress), the passing
game sputtered most of the game.� Of
course, after a half-decent 1H that saw the Stillers slap about some defenders and
create some holes in the run game, the ground game was literally chucked out
the window despite a 20-10 halftime lead.��
The offense then went on to score 3 (three) points the entire 2H.��
The biggest
joke of an offense was on the series late in the 2Q, starting at their own 6
with 2:00 remaining.� On 1D, Arians calls
for an incredibly risky WR screen, which was nearly INT�d
by Suggs for a walk-in TD.�� Stupid, risky, and brainless.�� Then, on 2d & 10, Arians calls for this
ass-awkward, gimpy-assed SG draw to Moore, in which Ben had to shuffle 3 yards
to his left and then dive and reach the ball out to Moore, who was engulfed
for a 2-yard loss.� This play looked as
though it had been drawn in the dirt just prior to the snap.��
The total
abandonment of the run in the 2H is just utterly inane.�� Not surprising, but incredibly asinine.�� C
DC:�
Dick once again was helpless and feeble.�� The Ratbirds ran wild all over Dick�s
vaunted run defense, and his pass defense once again sucked well water.�
Perhaps no
play showed Dick�s ineptitude more than in the 2Q.�� Coming out of a timeout, on 2d &
10, Dick goes totally VANILLA, with no pass rush whatsoever, and Jacco calmly lofts
the TD pass to Heap. �Was Dick expecting a
line plunge? ���Or perhaps
a FB dive? ���Or the old
FB belly play?? �
On a rare positive
side, Dick finally, for the 1st time all season, called the CB blitz !! ���Wouldn�t
ya know, Ike Taylor, the biggest, faster CB on the team,
came flashing in, UNTOUCHED, for the cake-easy sack !!
����Sham-wow!!
��The
CB blitz !! ���Let�s give
credit to LeBeau for �inventing� this and using it today. ��The man
is truly a genius. �
Brilliant
D-scheme here�..Dick puts Gay, a CB with the physicality of a ballet dancer, up
against Todd Heap, a huge, athletic TE.��
The Ravens lob it deep to Heap in the EZ, and Heap, as though taking
candy from a baby, just humiliated Gay by nonchalantly snatching the ball.��� Great scheme, Dick !!��
Don�t fawn too
much over Dick after this win. �The 3Q
saw total domination by the PoeBird offense over Dick�s
vaunted defense.�� The Rats began the
quarter with a 10-play, 64-yard TD march.�
They then embarked on a 6-play, lengthy march that got a FG.� The Rats then reeled off an 8-play drive at
the end of the 3Q.� With the score tied late
in the 3Q, Dick once again gagged away the lead, first giving up the 32-yard
scoring jaunt by McGayboy that was negated by a total
joke of a holding penalty, and then on the 1st play of the 4Q, on a 1st &
10, Mason was WIDE open for an easy 21-yard TD pass that he simply
dropped.��� C+��
HC:� I saw little
fire, little motivation, and no innovation from a team that was supposedly
desperate to make then playoffs.�
Instead, all�s I saw was the same old slop n� barf that I�ve seen rolled
out onto the field the past 6 weeks.��
The worst from Tomlin involved his refusal to challenge the
very apparent Mason fumble in the 3Q.�� Mason
caught a deep seamer, then took THREE full steps,
before being blasted by Timmons and coughing the ball up.�� Ryan Clark recovered the loose ball, but the
play was ruled �incomplete�.�� While I�m
never a fan of challenging some meaningless 2-yard reception on 1st & 10 midway thru the 1Q, this was a TURNOVER in the 3Q of a
tight, must-win game.�� It fully appeared
to be a fumble, yet Momlin never tossed the red
flag.�� Exactly WHAT did he have to
lose??� After the game, in the post-game
presser, Tomlin claimed that �the refs said the call would not be reversed.���� Oh, bullshit!!�� You make them review this play, you dumb
bastard!!��� You�ll recall the �Ed Hochule ruling� in
Synopsis:�
A lackluster win over the hated PoeBirds.�� Sure, any win over RayRay
and The Rats is something to be enjoyed.��
Still, it was a fairly uninspiring win, with the Stillers showing very
little abandon, interest, gusto, or ferocity.��
A host of ticky-tack flags helped win this
game.� This group of underachievers at
least lives for another day, with the team still in wild-card contention as
they embark on the finale at
(Still Mill
and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the