Stillers 17, Jags 16 ���. Nov 5, 2004 ����Game #12
Stillers-Jaguars Postgame
Analysis and Grades
The
Stillers ventured down to J-ville to play their only prime-time game of the
season, and managed to eek by the Jags, 17-16, on a late FG by Jeff Reed and a
just-missed 60-yard FG by the Jags as time expired.�
Grades:
QB:�
Ben Roth had a pretty strong game, completing 14 of 17 for 221 yards and
scrambling for 40 yards on 3 carries.�
He also coolly led the offense to the late, game-winning FG.� Both TD passes were off nice reads and a
nice touch.� The downer was holding the
ball too long on a couple of sacks, including the sack late in the 2Q and also
the one in the 4Q that pushed the Stillers out of FG range.� Ben also got away with a weakish out-pass to
El on the last play of the 3Q, which was nearly INT'd.� In all, this was Ben's best game in a few
weeks, and it also showed that Ben could lead the offense to a come-from-behind
win late in the 4Q.� A.�
RB:�
Duce Staley rejoined the starting offense after a few weeks of nursing
his injury.� With the Jags giving little
concern to the deep passing game, Staley found little room to run, gaining just
51 yards on 17 carries.� Staley had a
good blitz pickup on the TD pass to Ward.�
The Tubby Tailback, Jerome Bettis, added 17 yards on 3 carries.� Willie Parker saw considerable PT, and
chipped in with 1 reception for 12 yards and a crucial SG draw late in the
game, good for 12 yards.� Parker also had
a nice blitz pickup on the 18-yard completion to Mays late in the 4Q.� Obviously, Parker should be provided more
work, as he brings the speed and dash that this offense lacks.� B+.�
FB: Kreider helped a bit on some ground
plays.� He committed a hold on a pass
play in the 3Q.� B.�
WR:�
Ward led the way with 4 grabs, including a sterling catch-and-run for
the 37-yard TD.� El had another strong
game, chipping in with 5 grabs for 71 yards, including some nice RAC work that
turned short completions into nice chunks of yardage.� Mays had 3 grabs for 32 yards, including 2 big completions on the
late drive for the FG.� He did drop an
easy out on 3d & 11 in the 3Q, which would have been an easy 1st down.� Doering committed an illegal block to the
back, which negated El's 19-yard catch-and-run on 3d & 2 in the 3Q.� Burress did not dress, and his absence
continues to show how teams have such little regard for the downfield passing
game.� Grant's sack, in fact, came on a
play in which both safeties blitzed in total disregard of the Stiller passing
offense.� A-.
TE:�
Jay Riem made the big play, hauling in Ben's pass for a huge TD.� Jax challenged this play, because Jay
allowed the ball to hit the ground as he hit the ground, but the refs upheld
the ruling on the field, as Riem had both feet on the ground and was blistered
by the Jax defenders, and held onto the ball just long enough for the TD.� Riem was injured on the play, however, and
did not return.� Tuman and Cushing
blocked some for the ground game.� Any
time the Stiller offense produces a 26-yard TD pass to the TE, it's cause for
celebration.� A-.�
OL: The line faced a very good combo of
DTs, along with a Jax front that pushed 7 and 8 men to the LOS with
regularity.� The holes were limited to
small cracks on a once-in-a-while basis.�
The pass protection was decent.�
Marvell Smith looked absolutely foolish on 1 play in the 4Q, allowing
Big Jason GilDong to loop to the inside and get a sack on Roth.� Then again, that was the 1 and only
tackle Big Jason made the entire game, so Smitty owned the Big Donger the rest
of the game.� Ross was whistled for
holding in the 4Q, which negated a 4-yard run by Staley.� Despite the loud crowd, the Stiller O-line
committed no false starts the entire game, which is worth mentioning.� B-.
DL:�
The D-line had a pretty solid day, despite being on the field a long
time due to Jax's TOP (34 to 25, including 10 minutes in the 3Q).� Kimo was strong and steady, including 1 play
in the 1Q in which he blasted Salaam way back into the BF and caused a 3-yard
loss by Taylor.� Kimo probably got away
with a roughing of Leftwich on the 3d & goal incompletion in the 3Q, where
Kimo blistered Left well after the pass was released.� A flag here would have precluded the FG try and given Jax a 1st &
goal at the 1.� Clancy and Hoke
platooned at NT and played ok.� Clancy
was buried on a 1Q 3d & 2, in which Taylor got an easy 4 right up the gut.� Clancy did have a nice stuff of Taylor on 2d
& 1 in the 4Q.� Hoke committed a
jackassed encroachment on a 3d & 1 in which he was foolishly drawn offsides
by the cadence.� Smith helped bottle
many a running play.� Kirschke got some
work in relief.� B+.�
LB:�
Farrior led the defense with 8 solos.�
He also had a nice reach-around bat-away on the Jags' first drive.� Foote had a mediocre game, getting tangled
quite a bit and having too many plays in which he was either too upright or had
his feet far too close together, thereby losing his base and his leverage.� Porter and Haggans were both active and
relentless. �Porter applied a couple
hits on Left just as the pass was released.�
On the down side, Porter was flagged for offsides on the 1st play of the
game, and then committed a foolish, boneheaded unsp. conduct penalty in the 2Q
after the Stillers had stuffed the Jags for 1 yard on 3d & 2.� Porter is too much of a veteran to be
committing such a moronic penalty in a close game like this.� Haggans had a sterling chase-down of a Taylor
run to the left in the 3Q, helping to force a 7-yard loss by Taylor.� It's this kind of grit and hustle that the
Stillers were sorely missing from their LOLB spot the past several
seasons.� He also rumbled past the RB
and nailed Leftwich for a sack.� Haggans
did commit a Dong-like tackle attempt of Taylor on a 3d & 8 3Q screen, in
which Haggans made contact with Taylor a good couple yards short of the sticks,
but then allowed Taylor to slip ahead and get the 1st down.�� B+.�
DB:�
Some good, a lot bad.� Ike Taylor
had a good, immediate hit on Edwards on a 3d & 4 pass in the 2Q, which forced
an incompletion and forced Jax to try the short FG that Scobee pushed to the
right.� On a 3d & 5 late in the 2Q,
Pola and Hope smacked Smith as the ball arrived on a deep curl, which forced
the incompletion.� That's about it for
the good.� Wee Willie committed illegal
contact on a late 2Q play, which negated an INT by Hope.� Townsend was soft on Edwards early in the
game, allowing an easy completion to Edwards for 13 yards, and then getting
tooled by Edwards in the 3Q on a deep crosser that gained 36 yards on 3d &
8.� Hope was flagged for illegal contact
on a late 3d & 12 play that netted only 5 yards, thus giving the Jags a
first-down.� Oddly enough, Hope actually
whiffed on his jam attempt, and Smith was wide open.� Pola whiffed in a bizarro tackle attempt near the end of a long
Taylor run around right end.� The middle
of the field was thoroughly exploited by the Jags, which was unacceptable.� Too many RAC yards were allowed as
well.� C-.�
Spec
teams:� Aside from Reed's clutch FG, not much good
at all.� Ike committed a false start on
a punt.� Stuvaints was flagged for a low
block on a KO return, although this was an iffy call.� Gardocki pinned the Jags at the 1 in the 1H, but then launched two
4Q punts into the EZ for touchbacks.�
Reed's KOs went to the 4, 9, 7, and then the 15 on the late 4Q KO, which
was returned to the 39.� Not good.� Coclough fumbled the 2H KO, and luckily
Kreider recovered.� El fumbled a 4Q
punt, and luckily the ball flew OOB.�
Ike did have a nice hit on punt coverage, blasting the return man as
soon as the ball arrived.� Zo Jackson,
who has rotted the bench for eons because he supposedly is no good on spec
teams, had a very, very strong evening, chipping in on multiple stops in KO
coverage and a solid solo stop in the 2Q on punt coverage.� Cowher again showed no confidence in Reed on
a long FG, eschewing a 53-yard FG in the 4Q and instead ordering a punt that
went into the EZ for a touchback.� All
in all, the spec teams tonight weren't anywhere up to standard of a team
aspiring to play football in February.�
C.
OC:�
The late FG march was nicely orchestrated.� I was puzzled on the previous 4Q drive, in which the Stillers
faced a 3d & a long 2 at their 34-1/2.�
WiseHunt called for a pass play off a SG formation that had Parker in at
RB.� My preference would have been to
insert Bettis -- the supposed unstoppable short-yardage machine -- and then, if
you want to pass, do the pass off of play-action to Bettis.� As it was, Roth found no one open, and only
by some nice luck and Ben's athletiticsm did he scramble for a 20-yard
gain.� Whisenhunt's challenge the next 4
weeks is to figure out how to open up the running and passing games when Plex
isn't in the lineup, just in case Plex isn't fully healthy come playoff
time.� B+.
DC:�
LeBeau took the cue from Cowher's "Let's Stay Back" ploy of
last week, and stayed back during numerous critical plays that
allowed Jax to bust huge plays.� Cases
in point:
���������� - 3d & 12, 1Q, 4-man rush, easy
completion to Edwards, 22-yard TD.
���������� - 3d & 8, 3Q, 4-man rush, 36-yard
completion to Edwards.
���������� - 3d & 15, 3Q, 5-man rush,
36-yard completion to Wilford.�
The blitz
isn't a panacea, but neither is allowing a QB to sit back in the pocket,
totally unfettered and unhurried.� The
5-man rush isn't too appalling, but the 4-man rush is an absolute joke.
Furthermore,
the old bugaboo of leaving the middle of the field WIDE OPEN cropped up
again.� The acreage of open field for
the Jaguar receiving corps was absolutely ludicrous.� The middle of the field was thoroughly exploited by the Jags, and
a team with a better receiving corps will exploit this even more.� The poppycock of being "the NFL's #1
defense" was exposed for what it is -- a farce.� This defense has amassed its gaudy stats by way of an offense
that dominated TOP in several games this season.� C.�
HC:� Bilbo Cowher
showed some rare, savvy clock management late in the 4Q, calling TOs prior to
the FG that put Jax ahead, 16-14, just after the 2MW.� The plethora of penalties isn't a good sign, nor is the slop on
special teams.� This is a time in the
season where discipline, focus, and special teams execution should be
fine-tuned, not digressing into slophood.�
Of course, as is his nature, Cowher isn't one to address problems,
especially with a gaudy 11-1 record.�
The �Let�s Stay Back� mantra from last week caused significant problems
this week, and the founding father of that paradigm is none other than Billy
Cowher.� B-.�
Synopsis:�
An ugly win, but facing a desperate Jax team fighting for a playoff spot
in its home stadium, this was a tough task and some of the ugliness was
an acceptable byproduct of the opponent and their situation.� To their credit, the Stillers fought through
the challenge for a big "W".�
Ben showed his coolness under fire on the late march, and Reed made a
clutch, game-winning FG.� But the
running game bogged down; the middle of the field was horrifically exposed; and
discipline and special teams warts were also quite evident.� The Stillers now host the NY Jets next
Sunday, which should be a grueling, hard-hitting game against a very solid Jets
team.�