Loose Slag from The
Still Mill
- Not sure
which Cinci loss was worse�..this latest debacle, or the come-from-ahead loss
in 1997 when Jeff Blake threw a deep ball up an elevator shaft and Carl Pickens
just toyed with DeWayne Washington to haul in the TD and
then the 2-pointer.��
- Said The Idiot Arians on the late 2M drill that produced exactly
zero yards:��
���� "We
were just trying to get the ball down the field deeper because we needed
chunks," offensive imbecile Bruce Arians said. "We didn't protect
very well. We had to go a long way. We couldn't nickel-and-dime our way down
there with that amount of time."��
� ���Damn.� This guy is more clueless than even I thought
he was.� The Stillers still had one
timeout.� The drive started at the Stiller
33.�� There was 1:49 remaining on the clock.�
We know Arians is a complete imbecile, so let me explain things for him.� Ya don�t need to
throw 53-yard bombs to move 67 yards in 1:49.�
The defense is SITTING BACK in a PREVENT defense, giving you plenty of
open room on short & medium routes.�
We have excellent RAC runners in Tonio, Ward, Wally, and Moore.� Three (3) medium range completions, with RAC,
of, say, 14 yards a piece would put the ball at the Cinci 25.� Now, you�re in striking range, as opposed to
flailing about like a beached whale on your own 33 on 4th down and 10.�� Bruce Arians -- the NFL�s Offensive Dumfuck of the Year.�
- More
Arians stupidity.� On a key 3d & 5 at
9:40 3Q, Hines Ward was kept in the backfield to PASS BLOCK.� No kidding.�
Go watch it for yourself.� The
play, by the way, failed to move the sticks and the Stillers punted.�
- James Harrison
had the entirely boneheaded personal foul flag late in the game to help sustain
Cinci�s long, clock chewing, yardage-eating
drive.�� Here�s what
�� Whitworth
pushed Harrison in the back after a 2-yard gain by RB Bernard Scott, prompting
�� ��Wow.
Great display of an unselfish, team-first attitude, eh?�� Any opposing coach worth his salt is going
to run out a backup TE to give
- For sick
comedy, you really have to watch Hartwig and Essex on the last 4th down play at
the end of game. 1:31 left in the game, one last play, 4th down, game on
the line, and THIS IS WHAT YOU GET??? From Hartpig and Gay Essex???� Really sorry.�� Toss in the wretched game by Chirs Kemo and Max Starks, and you have a good chunk of the
O-line that failed to provide even a modicum of adequate performance.� �I'm tellin' ya, Larry Zierlein must have been downloading porn all week...
- The
simplest, quickest, easiest answer to the Stillers KO coverage woes: start using the squib kick.�
I�m not sure what Tomlin is waiting for on this.� It�s simple; requires no new personnel; and
minimal training. �Reed has show he�s
incapable of booming his kickoffs deep into the EZ, like some NFL kickers.� Our coverage teams suck well-water.� Squibbing is the
key. Every team in the NFL should do it...at least the ones with good defenses.
There is no downside to squibbing, and a good
kicker could practice this into an "art", like they have with the
rugby pooch punt. If you could get that squib bouncing erratically
(not difficult with a regulation NFL football), you've opened a whole new part
of the ST game.� Fumbles by �up men� are
bound to happen, and even if the opposing team advanced the ball to the 35-yard
line, is that really so terrible??�� I�d
take that over watching another long KO return for six.� At this point, Reed should be practicing his
squib kicks and should be squibbing it on every
KO.�
- Tomlin
was asked about Reed and his puss-like tackling attemps
on KO returns during the Tuesday presser. Said Tomlin: "Man, I am
not going to go down to evaluating Jeff Reed as a tackler," Tomlin said. "When it comes down to that, we have failed as a coverage
unit. I don't lose any sleep on the quality of Jeff Reed's tackles -- or
tackle attempts. People have misread Jeff. Just because he punched
out a towel dispenser, people think he is a badass. I can assure you that
he is the biggest pussy on this team. Next year, we'll obtain a kicker
who is a real man."
- Farrior
once again gets tooled badly on 3d & 5 by a back-up RB running a simple out-pattern.� I ask
again: Why is Farrior even on the field on 3rd down & obvious passing situations??�
- One man
who I�d like to see on the KO team -- Ziggy Hood, as a wedge buster.� Orpheus Roye did these chores as a young
player.� Hood could easily do the
same.� And since Dick is terrified at
using this guy on defense, we ought to try to get our money�s worth from the
millions we�re paying this guy this season.
- I wrote
this after the Cinci loss in Week 3, and I believe it holds even truer
today:� What really disturbs me beyond
the loss itself is the fact they are losing to mediocre teams. Further,
you beat divisional rivals like the Browns & Bungals and you send them into
a tailspin of second-guessing, finger-pointing, coach-firings and
rebuilding. I have a feeling that if the Steelers had beaten Cinci, Lewis
would be gone by season's end and the housecleaning would begin, setting
them back by another 5 years. The truth is that every team in the league
has real talent -- even
- The 2-TE
offense -- which is essentially the base offense of Airhead Arians -- is built
upon the premise that the 2nd TE will created matchup
problems in both the passing and running games.�
And therein lies the problem.� Spaeth is a wretched, horrific, weak-kneed,
pile o� shit blocker at the POA (point of attack).�� Slow as he is, he has some redeeming value
as a pass catcher, but Arians, in a paradox only he could create, rarely ever
involves Spaeth in the passing game unless Heath Miller is out due to
injury.� Big Matthew has 4 grabs in 9
games this season; 17 in 16 games last season; and 5 in 14 games in �07.�� In essence, then, he�s good for, at most, 1
catch per game.�� In this latest debacle,
he caught 1 ball for 1 yard.� So alas,
you have a 2nd TE who can�t block and is rarely ever used in the passing
game.��
- Dick�s
vaunted defense once again failed to produce a turnover.� In all three losses, the defense has failed
to produce a single turnover.� Sure, Pola
was out.� I just checked�.there are 10 other starters, plus NFL rules allow us to insert an
NFL player when Pola cannot play.� It�s
no excuse to use
- If Troy
Brown was able to play both ways as a WR/DB, then yes, Hines, James Harrison, Keisel,
and others can play on the KO coverage team.�
With Arians� feeble-fuck offense, it�s not like we have a lot of
kickoffs to cover down on�
- Any truth
to the rumor that Hooker Reed�s agent -- after watching Reed do another �olay� on a kickoff returner -- is
reaching out to Colbert, begging him to re-extend the contract offer that
Reed�s camp summarily rejected just before the season began�.?�
- Any word
on if Colbert has offered Farrior yet another contract extension??�
Still Mill and
Stillers.com -- �When it comes to the analysis of the