Stillers 26, Poebirds 24...... Jan 4, 2026 …………Game # 17
Stillers - Poebirds Postgame Analysis and Grades
The 9-7 Stillers hosted the 8-8 Balt Ravens in the season finale, in a winner-take-all, loser-go-home battle. PIT won the toss and deferred. Balt marched, easy as pie, after the opening KO for a TD, and led 7-0 at the end of 1Q. Thanks to an assaholic playcall on the Balt 1 with 2 secs left in the half, Balt led 10-3 at halftime.
The Stillers stormed back in the 3Q, first with a TD and then a FG, to go up 13-10. The 4Q started at 13-10. And what a 4Q it was, with Balt and PIT each scoring 2 TD. In the end, on the game’s final play, the Balt PK shanked a very makeable GW FG, enabling the Stillers to eke out a 2-point win.
Grades:
QB: Rodgers got the start. The 1Q was manure with little movement. Had Jonnu WIDE open on a deep crosser, 10:22 2Q. but hideously threw the pass too high. On a 3d & 6, 2Q, he scrambled and HAD the 1st down, and stupidly STOPPED and got grabbed 6 yards short of the sticks. Good scramble on 3d & 99, late 2Q, for a good 18 or so yard gain. Was 15 of 25 for 98 yards, 1H. Almost all of his passing yardage in the 1H was off short checkdowns to RBs or WRs.
Good strike to Thielen, early 3Q, for 28 yards. Rotten deep ball to MVS, early 4Q, which was nearly INT’d. Held the ball forever and took a sack a couple plays later. Very solid 4th quarter, leading 2 TD drives. Got the GW TD pass on an easy toss to PeePee Austin while the DB slipped on the mud bog. B
RB:
Warren – Good catch & run, 2Q. Good 14 yard gain on toss sweep, late 2Q. Opened the 2H with a 9-yard run on a toss sweep. Superb 15-yard run, busting tackles, on a toss sweep at 8:00 4Q. 14 carries for 66, and 5 grabs for 33. Quality effort. A
Kaleb J. – inactive.
Gainwell – Good catch & run, 2Q. Committed a foolish false start on 3d & 3, 6:00 4Q. Scored a late TD on a 2-yard run. Only had 5 rushes for 10 yards, but led the team with 8 grabs for 64 yards. B-
FB: Conn Heyward got a few 1H snaps at FB.
WR:
Metcalf – again sat out due to the suspension. What a fool. F-
Austin – Was thrown a deep ball, 1st series, and of course was smothered and the ball was easily slapped away. Grabbed a slant for about 12, late 2Q. Failed to grab the pass on the next play, though. Grabbed a slant for 17 just before the 2MW, 4Q. Grabbed a late TD while being WIDE open thanks to the CB completely slipping on the mud bog field at Acrisure Stadium. 3 grabs on 7 targets wasn’t all that impressive. B-
Thielen – big grab down the seam for 28 yards, early 3Q. Had 3 grabs for 43. B
Wilson – PeePee Wilson was again inactive.
Skowronek – played sparingly at WR.
Scott Miller – Grabbed a short pass, 1st play of 4Q, and then slipped like a moh-ron. Had 2 grabs for 9. B-
MVS – grabbed a short out, 3:20 1Q. Key, good grab on 3d & 8, early 4Q. Had 5 grabs for a piddly 34 yards. B-
TE:
Pat FryBoy – was blanketed on at out-pass, 2:00 2Q. Grabbed a pass for a 1st down, early 3Q. Flagged for a blatant OPI/pick, early 4Q. Big grab down the seam on 3d & 8, 6:00 4Q. Had 3 grabs for 51. B
Jonnu Smith – ran a toss sweep for 1 yard, early 3Q. Stopped easy as pie on the 2-yard line on a short pass, 4:25 4Q. This was his lone grab of the game. C+
Darnell – out on IR with the busted forearm.
Con Heyward – Got stuffed on a 4th & short-2 tush push, late 1Q. Ran a tush push for a 1st down, and then a TD, early 3Q. Thankfully was never targeted.
OL: Overall, the line (Cook, Seumalo, Frazier, McCormick, Fautanu) had a solid game. Granted, the Balt pass rush is woefully anemic, which made their job quite easy.
McCormick had a good block on the late Gainwell TD run. Overall, B+
DL:
Heyward – Got a paw on Henry on a plunge, but Henry easily busted that for a 3 yard gain, 12:30 1Q. Got a solo on a toss sweep, 9:00 1Q, for a 1 yard gain. Then got up and rejoiced as though he just won the Olympic 100-meter dash. At 6:37 1Q, Henry stumbled on a widish run, and Scam got a slop solo. Got an assist on a Henry run for 3 yards, 8:20 2Q. Scam had 3 solos, 0 As at the half.
Hit the QB as he threw, mid 3Q. Got a solo on a 4-yd Run, 9:40 - 4th Q - L.Jackson up the middle to 50 for 4 yards (Ca.Heyward). Helped stop Henry, 3:40 4Q. Finished with 5 solos and 2 assists, meaning in the 2h he had 2 solos. Hardly the dominant performance that BallWasher Colingsworth was raving and fawning over allll game long. B
Benton – good run stuff on 3d & 3, first series. Active game, with 4 solos. B
Harmon – good chasedown of Lamar on 3d & 5, early 2Q, for a stop of the scramble. It was for 0 yards, and thus ridiculously counted as a “sack”. Had 2 solos. B
YaYa Black – flagged for roughing the passer, mid 1Q.
Lee – deflected a dumpoff pass, late 3Q.
LB:
Queen – Wasn’t terribly involved, and finished with ONE solo the entire game. Also got torched by Flowers on the late TD; granted, it’s a mismatch, but Queen is supposed to be the Winged God of LB coverage, and he got cooked. D
Pay Wilson – Had 1 solo, 2 As in limited duty.
Watt – got a Dong INT off a batted pass by Big Alex, mid 3Q. Did very, very little, with 1 solo, 1 A, and very little pass pressure. D+
Highsmith – Got fooled by a Lamar pump fake, but at least helped chase down Lamar for a 3-yard loss, mid 2Q. That piddly 3-yard loss was Big Alex’s lone solo or assist of the 1H.
Batted a pass that Watt INT’d, mid 3Q. Got a solo on a run while being SOLO blocked by Walker, for a 1 yard loss. Gee, impressive to fight off a 198-lb.WR like that. Whiffed on a cake-easy sack, 4Q, which then allowed Lamar to whip a deep ball for an easy TD. A dog manure play by a dog manure player. Thank you, Alex Fraudsmith, for being upright as a giraffe with his typical grab-assed tackling technique. He's a fuking fraud. Had 2 solos, 0 As in a very, very lukewarm effort in which the one solo was when he was solo blocked by a WR on a stretch running play. Don’t believe all the ballwashing Collinsworth did all game long about The Fraud. D
Herbig – big sack on 3d & 5, mid 1Q. Harassed the QB into a throw-away on the late 3d & 7. B
Sawyer – played sparingly on D.
Malik Harrison – solid run support.
DB
Joey Porter Jr. - flagged for holding, declined, on the late, long Flowers TD pass.
Pierre – helped stop Henry for 1 yard, mid 3Q.
Samuel Jr. – Did little.
Jalen Ramsey - got brutally scorched, 1st series, on the 4th & 3, allowing a cake-walk 38-yard TD pass to Walker. Got nicked up, mid 3Q. Had an overall miserable game, seemingly getting lost time and time again on big pass plays. Undoubtedly his worst game as a Stiller. D-
Dugger – chipped in some in run support.
Spec teams:
Waitman – poor first punt, FC at the 14 on a 33-yard effort. Decent 53-yd punt from near his own EZ, 2Q. B-
Boswell – missed a late PAT, to keep the lead to 2 late in the game. Apparently, a defender got a pinkie on the kick. B-
Warren, good KO return, 1Q. Peppers was flagged for a hold on a superb KO return by Gainwell, early 2Q.
The KO coverage sucked buttock late in the game, allowing Balt to return the KO to the Balt 47.
OC: Art Smith had a fairly rotten 1H.
I despised the pass-happy 3 & out, 2Q, after a Balt punt. Very ugly. Then, on 1st & goal at the 1, with 2 secs left in the half, King Arthur calls for dumbshitted pitch play that was hopelessly outnumbered at the point of attack, and LOST a yard.
King Arthur lucked out when Kyle Hamilton was lost for the game early in the 3Q. This opened the door for both the passing game and the ground game. C-
DC: Austin had his usual struggles.
4th & 3, 1st series, and lotta blitzers with no pressure, and Lamar hit a WIDE open WR for an easy TD. Henry had 112 yards on 15 carries at the half. Austin then managed to urinate the lead in the 4Q….3 times no less. He basically allowed the GW drive in the final minute, giving up a 4th & long pass play to Likely that gained 28 yards and set up an entirely makable 44-yard GW FG that went wide. This vaunted D got shredded by 3 long TD passes, two well deep into the 4Q. As in, WTF were they thinking and doing? D-
HC: Mike Asslin was all proud after this one, gloating and pounding his chest in front of the NBC cameras after the Balt kicker shanked a routine 44-yard FG that would have won the game at the buzzer. What a tool. Leave it to Asslin to urinate a 4Q lead, 3 times, and then luck out at the buzzer thanks to a shanked FG attempt. C-
Synopsis: A thin, cheezy win that would be all for naught had the Balt PK made the FG as time expired. Lots of warts were exposed here, and it’s hardly a win to be all proud of. Next up, a visit from HOU next Mon nite for an AFC wildcard battle.
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