Let me begin with a brief intro.� I've been a regular on this site for about a year and a half now.� I haven't posted in a while, but I have been reading and keeping up with the drama here in Stillers.com land.
Here's a brief version of something I wrote to the Pittsburgh journalists 2 weeks ago.� Jerry DiPaola responded and they published it in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
Why Cowher blew it in OT of the Atlanta game.� Many will argue about the playcalling, and
the soft defense, but Cowher quite simply blew it worse than Gildon on a strong
side run.� 50 seconds left and the
Falcons staring at 4th and 3 with perhaps the most dangerous QB in the game,
Cowher has 2 options � (1) Call TO which gives Reeves the option to go for the
first down and get a more makeable FG attempt; (2) Let the clock tick away and
force the Falcons to kick a very difficult 56 yard FG in the sand pit called
Heinz Field.� Choice 1 gives the
Steelers a greater opportunity to lose or win the game, while Choice 2 pretty
much assures a tie.� Assuming Cowher
played for the win, called timeout, and Vick proceeded to befuddle our weary
defense � how much worse is the loss than a tie.� Remember, the Steelers own every tiebreaker within the division
(at the time they were 4-0 including a sweep over Cleveland) and will own every
tiebreaker within the conference at the end of the season.� Conference tiebreakers (for HFA/byes, etc.)
begin with conference record � we already lost to NO, Atl, and our toughest
remaining game is AT Tampa Bay.� Assume
we go 1-3 against the NFC (losses to Atl, NO, TB), our AFC record would be
better than any team we are tied with � no AFC team above 0.500 will have an
NFC record that bad.� Therefore, a
hypothetical season ending 10-5-1 is no better than 10-6.� However, a season ending 11-5 is infinitely
better than 10-5-1.� All of this went
through my mind as I watched the clock tick away that day, and I simply expect
a coach being paid $3 M per year to think the same.
So that was a rather lengthy synopsis, now onto current
events.� Let the Cowher bashers come out
in full force with the timid gameplan, playcalling, etc.� I don't have a problem with the playcalling
yesterday.� My only coaching beef is
what transpired late in the first half.�
Cowher didn't call TO on defense and let a precious 30 seconds tick away
before Cincy had to punt.� We get the
ball back with under a minute and drive down the field for a 51 yard field
goal.� Reed missed it � the sand pit
called Heinz Field didn't help of course.�
With an extra 30 seconds we could have gotten a little closer, or get
this � even taken a few shots at the end zone.
Kordell played rather efficiently, and as Mill stated, has
to provide the masses with more comfort in a backup than we've had in quite
some time.� I'd love to see him throw
the ball a little more to Plaxico (not just because I have him on both my
fantasy teams).
Wouldn't you love to see this dime defense: Rotate 3 DL
amongst A. Smith, Bailey, von Oelhoffen, Gildon, Haggans, Clancy, etc. to man
the DT and DE spots.� You play both
Porter and K. Bell as roving LBs who can either stand in the middle or line up
on the outside.� Then you go ahead with
your 6 DBs.� This not only gets your 2
best defensive players in the game (Porter/Bell) it gives them both the freedom
to make plays.
My take on Gildon: he's not as bad as Mill states but he's
no better than the 5th best LB on the team.�
Porter, Bell, Farrior, and Haggans are all superior and I haven't seen
enough of Foote yet to make judgement on him.�
Did you see Gildon get mauled on Dillon's TD run?� He got blown off the ball so bad he ended up
on the opposite side of the field, and he was getting mauled by #89 � that's
not typically a number for a bulldozing guard or tackle.� I'm sure it'll be captured in Mill's Gildong
report.
Musings from around the NFL:
As bad as you think Coach Cowher he'll never be as
boneheaded as Coach Marty Morningweg.�
This guy wins the toss in OT and decides he doesn't want the ball.� He decides to put the game in the hands of his
NFL-worst defense, citing the gusting wind as the deciding factor.� They proceed to take the kickoff and march
down the field � as most teams do in OT (except Pittsburgh & Atlanta).� Morningweg then accepts a penalty when the
Bears were facing 4th and 10 from the 35 (a 52 yard FG).� He says "the kid's got a strong leg and
could have made it" � I say "then the wind couldn't have been that
much of a factor, why the hell didn't you take the ball instead of the win(d)
dumbass"
Anybody watch the Broncos-Colts game last night?� It was a classic, unfortunately it was
marred by the imbecile himself Joe Theisman calling the game.� For those of you who stayed up, Theisman
couldn't understand why the Colts called their timeouts on defense and didn't
"save" one for the offense.�
Here's a clue to Theisman, you ALWAYS call your timeouts on defense when
you're trying to preserve time on the clock.�
Why?� You control the pace on
offense, and have the option to spike it if needed.� On defense, you have no choice but to watch precious seconds tick
away.� Going back to the Steelers
example I cited from the end of the first half, had Cowher called his timeouts
on defense (atleast one of them).� The
Steelers would have had an extra 30 seconds and one less timeout.� That means they could have ran atleast 2
more plays.� Do you think that would
have helped?� These are the kinds of
decisions that win and lose playoff games.�
Hell it could have easily determined the outcome of a game against the
Bungles.
Well that's all for now folks, I'll be going out of town for
the Holidays, but will try to contribute quite regularly with articles and also
on the message board.