Brownies 13, Stillers 6 ...... Dec 28, 2025 …………Game # 16
Stillers-Brownies Postgame Analysis and Grades
The 9-6 Stillers mosied north to face the lowly 3-12 Browns. 47 degrees, drizzling, and 17 mph wins at the KO. 10 minutes in, Cleve had opened up a 10-0 lead. Bos nailed a FG on the final play of the 1H, making it 10-6. It remained 10-6 Clev to start the 4Q. Clev tacked on a FG at 2:00 4Q, and a late Stiller drive came up short at the Clev 7, for a hideous loss.
Grades:
QB: Rodgers got the start. Horribly overthrew Miller by about 13 feet on a key 4th & 1 at the Clev 22, 2:50 2Q. Was 9 of 17, 72 yards, 1H. The 2H wasn’t much better. ARod finished 21 of 39 for a measly 168 yards passing, while overly forcing the final 3 passes to MVS, of all receivers. D+
RB:
Warren – fumbled on his first carry; luckily his teammates recovered. Good 15 yard run up the gut, 2Q. Had only 12 touches; none in the passing game, which annoyed me. B
Kaleb J. – healthy scratch.
Gainwell – dropped a screen pass on 3d & 14, first play of 2Q. Had 7 rushes for 26 and 3 grabs for 12, which isn’t quite worthy of the Walter Payton praise that was being heaped on him the past 3 weeks. C
FB: rarely used.
WR:
Metcalf – sat out due to the suspension.
Austin – as usual, PeePee Austin was hurt and didn’t dress.
Rom Wilson – played 9 snaps; never targeted.
Skowronek – rarely if ever used on O.
Scott Miller – good diving grab on 3d & 5, late 3Q, for 8 yards. Failed to get 2 feet down at 1:19 4Q.
Thielen – dropped a perfect pass on 3d & 6, mid 2Q. Sure, the DB had his hand in there, but an NFL WR has to EXTEND his hands outwards to grab the pigskin.
MVS – allowed a pass to CLANG off his facemask, 2d series. Woulda been 10 yard gain. Next play, was flagged incorrectly for OPPI, negating a 23-yard pass to Miller. Fumbled after a short grab, early 3Q, but at least had the smarts to reach out and recover it. Was targeted each of the final 3 passes of the game in the EZ, and on 1 or 2 of ‘em, appeared to not know the correct route. Didn’t come close to catching any of them, either. C-
TE:
Pat FryBoy – Had 1 grab for 23, 1H. Had 2 big grabs on the final drive, and then was ignored.
Jonnu Smith – caught a fairly useless 3 yard lout, 2d series. Gained 7 yards on a toss sweep, first play of 2H. Had his usual catch for Negative yardage, and finished with a laughable stat line of 5 grabs for 18 yards. C
Darnell – injured a forearm in the 1H and did not return.
Con Heyward – took a direct snap on 3d &1, late 1Q, and ran around end for 29 yards.
OL: Overall, the line (D. Cook, A. Peat, Frazier McCormick, Fautanu) had a so-so game.
Seumalo sat out with a tricep. Frazier was called for a false start.
Fautanu was lazy on the sack, early 4Q. Cook was flagged for a false start, 10:00 4Q, on a key 3d & 1. What a moh-ron. Sure, they warded off Myles G. from the sack record, but they also allowed plenty of heat and harassment, and far too many times the running game was stuffed. C
DL:
Heyward – got a solo on a run play, 2nd series, when the blocker completely WHIFFED in his feeble-azzed block attempt. Scam got a slop solo after a long Sanders scramble and run for 10 yards, 2Q. Had 2 solos, 1 A at the half.
Correctly flagged for roughing the passer, 11:00 3Q. What a fool.
12:53 - 4th – got a slop solo after the RB Sanders fought off Joey Porter for about 8 seconds after an 8 yard grab. Got an assist on a plunge by Sampson at 4:30 4Q. Had 3 solos and 2 As in a mediocre effort. C
Benton – did little.
YaYa Black – also did little.
Harmon – didn’t do much, but wasn’t bad.
Logan Lee – pass deflected off his helmet, 2Q, and was INT’d by Sawyer.
LB:
Queen – solid tackle for 3 yard gain, opening drive. Goof sniff of screen pass, early 2Q, for a 1 yard loss. Had just 2 solos. B-
Pey Wilson – Very quiet today. Had a quiet 3 solos. Will need to play 7 times better next week to help bottle D. Henry. C
Watt – again sat out with the punctured lung.
Highsmith –
Got a slop assist on 1st series, on a little babyfied dumpoff on 3d & 9 that gained 2 yards,
3d & 5, 2d series, and Fraudsmith slashed in, mostly Untouched, and runs RIGHT BY the RB, who scampered up the gut for 9. Got a Dong Sack, 12:00 2Q, after looping way around the Horn of Africa and then nabbing Sanders from behind as he scrambled, for a measly ONE yard loss. Nipped the QB on the Sawyer Dong INT play (in which the pass deflected off Logan Lee’s helmet), although it wasn’t clear if Big Alex had ANY effect on the poor pass. Had only the 1 solo, 1H.
Got a solo on an off-tackle run, 8:30 3Q. Got a Dong sack a couple plays later, while being UNTOUCHED and UNBLOCKED on a designed inside rush and chasing down the QB as he started his scramble. The result was a ONE yard loss. Finished with 3 solos and 0 As, and despite Tony Romo’s near-constant ball washing, had a very mediocre game in which he did very, very little. C
Herbig – nearly had a pick 6, late 2Q, but the ball slipped thru his fingers. Played sparingly.
Malik Harrison – played some here and there.
Sawyer – got a Dong INT after a pass deflected off Lee’s helmet, 2Q. Not sure why he cut his run-back toward the MIDDLE of the field, instead of trying to simply run down the sideline. If he keeps running down the sideline, it’s a pick 6 TD.
DB
Joey Porter Jr. - started the game a bit soft, but had a decent game.
Dugger – good run stop for small 1 yard gain, first series. Played the lollypop lob, 2d series, like a damned fool, and allowed a TD like a complete fool. Got a Dong INT, mid 4Q, after Sanders threw a nobody ball that hung in the air for 4 seconds. Easy Dong INT. Had an okay overall game, but allowing that TD on the lollipop lob was unacceptable. C+
Jalen Ramsey - good tackle of Sanders on a scramble, just short of the sticks, under 4:00 left in the game. Played adequately.
Echols – sat out with a groin.
Samuel Jr. – got tooled by Juedy for an 11-yard dig route, early 2Q.
Clark – Made a cake-easy tackle on 3d & 9, opening series. Got abused for a 48-yard grab and run, 2nd series. Total vomit in coverage. Like Dugger, that 1 play ruins his grade. C+
Pierre – sat out with a calf.
Spec teams:
Waitman – good punt in 1Q, but dog-manure punt, mid 2Q. Overall, he punted okay. B
Boswell – managed to slice in a 44-yard FG, early 2Q, after a bobbled snap. Badly missed a 54-yard FG, early 4Q. For whatever reason, Bos struggles in the Clev stadium more than any other NFL venue. C
Decent punt return by Scott Miller, mid 4Q.
OC: Art Smith, who was being feted the past 3 weeks as the next Don Coryell, came crashing down to earth today.
After a PIT timeout, on a 4th & 1 at the Clev 22, 2:50 2Q, King Arthur calls an empty backfield, SG snap to Rodgers, and a fade route to the SIXTH string WR, Scotty Miller, which was thrown a good 14 feet too far. Brilliant. The offense sputtered and wheezed all day, and looked like pure dog manure. F+
DC: Austin will be all proud of the final score, in which his vaunted D held Clev to 13 points. But 10 of those points came in the first 2 drives, as Austin’s defense looked like they hadn’t practiced, nor watched Clev films, all week long. This deep into the season, the NFL’s highest paid defense shouldn’t be starting a game all flat and flaccid like this. D-
HC: Mike Asslin was being feted as a football guru and genius the past 3 weeks. Now, he lost to a lowly, downtrodden 3-12 Browns team. So what’s that make Asslin now? Why, a complete idiot, that’s what. The game plans were dull and written in crayon. The team showed ZERO emotion, intensity, or want the first 30-40 minutes of the game. It was a rotten effort and a pitiful performance, and the blame belongs to the head dunce, Mike Stoogelin. F-
Synopsis: Yet another Mike Asslin egg lay, which I called out on Twitter/X some 2 hours before kickoff. Up next, the season finale at home vs Balt, in a winner-take-all for the AFC North title and a playoff berth.
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