Bungals 33, Stillers 31...... Oct 16, 2025 …………Game # 6
Stillers-Bungals Postgame Analysis and Grades
The 4-1 Stillers mosied west to take on the 2-4 Cinci Bungals. The Stillers marched right down the field after the opening boot for an easy TD, and after 1Q, the lead was 7-0. Soon in the 2Q, it was a 10-0 lead. But Cinci stormed back with 2 TD passes in the 2Q to take a 14-10 lead, and then added a FG as the half expired to take a 17-10 lead. It was a see-saw 2H, with the Stillers taking the lead on a late Frier TD. But Jacco marched his team down the field, easy as pie, for the GW FG.
Grades:
QB: Rodgers got the start. Good strike to DK on an early 3d & 11, for 39 yards. Good scramble to guy time and then hit Jonnu for a TD on the 1st drive. Dogshoit INT tossed by Rodgers, 2Q, on a deep ball into DOUBLE coverage, where either defender could have picked it. His 2nd INT, late in the 2Q, was a bizarre play on a well thrown ball to DK in which the Cinci DB managed to wrest the ball away from the much bigger DK.
Good shuffle from pressure and strike to Frier for a 68-yard TD grab late in the game, to give PIT the 1-point lead. Overall, a decent game, although it was against a team missing its best rusher (Henrickson) and a highly feeble pass rush. B
RB:
Warren – good chunks of yardage on the ground, 1st series. Big run in the 4Q for 37 yards. Good blitz pickup on the Darnell TD grab, 4Q. Gained hefty yardage nearly every time he carried, but carried only 16 times for 127. Also had 4 grabs for 31. Should have been fed the ball more than 16 times. A
Kaleb J. – Rotted the pine; 0 touches.
Gainwell – gained 12 on a toss sweep, late 1Q. Had 2 other meager gains on the ground, and 2 grabs for a yard. C
FB: rarely used.
WR:
Metcalf – good 39 yard grab down the sideline, 1Q. Got outmuscled for the ball on a bizarre INT, late 2Q. Had only 2 short grabs after the big 39-yarder early on. B
Austin – again sat out.
Wilson – grabbed a WR screen, 1Q, for 4 yards. Grabbed a slant, 3d & 8 3Q, and gained 13. Maybe this twerp can be useful on the short stuff.
Skowronek – did nothing, as usual.
Scott Miller – grabbed a 0-step hitch and had a nice RAC for 9.
TE:
Pat FryBoy – grabbed a TD pass on 3d & 18, 3Q. Grabbed a 68-yard TD on 2d & 20, late 4Q, via completely blown coverage by Cinci that left him WIDE open down the field. A
Jonnu Smith – committed a foolish false start, 2d play of game. Grabbed TD pass later in the drive. Had 3 grabs for 28.
Darnell – grabbed a pass, 3Q, which gained MINUS 8 yards. Unbelievable. (A dumb playcall, asking a lumbering 300-pound TE to run a screen like that.) Had 3 grabs for 2 yards, which should quiet the “Darnell is the next Gronk, except 3 times better” crowd. Decent blocking.
Con Heyward – failed to haul in a TD pass, 1st series, although he likely wouldn’t have gotten 2 feet down IB.
OL: Overall, the line (Jones, Seumalo, Frazier McCormick, Fautanu) had a solid game.
Frazier was called for a hold, which negated a Warren TD run, 2Q. McCormick committed a false start on a 4th & a foot deep in Philly territory, which then forced the FG. Jones was flagged for a hold, late 4Q, which negated a 12 yard pass play. They opened up plenty of large holes for Warren, and the pass pro was good, albeit against a weak, passive Cinci front who had no pass rush acumen and rarely blitzed. B+
DL:
Heyward – Stop the presses ! Scam got a solo tackle on a dive play, first play from scrimmage. Finished 1H with 1 solo and 0 A.
In the 3Q, a flare pass was nabbed by Scam, after the RB easily juked by Highsmith, for a solo.
-2-yd Pass
3:49 - 3rd
(Shotgun) J.Flacco pass short left to C.Brown to CIN 31 for -2 yards (Ca.Heyward).
Got a half sack, 4Q, when he swam around the LG. Scam finished with 2 solos and 1 As, all while Cinci gouged the defense for 142 yards rushing. F
Benton – Got a sack, 2d play of game. Then proceeded to do nothing else the entire rest of the game. C
Ekuale – did little.
YaYa Black – remember all the fawning over Big Yaya during preseason, while he feasted on 4th string blockers? He got a ton of snaps and rolled the donut.
Harmon – came back down to earth with a very lukewarm effort, with 0 solos and 2 As.
LB:
Queen – Had 1 solo the entire 1H, which ain’t nearly good enough. Had an easy tackle attempt on Chase, 4Q, but clumsily allowed Chase to bounce off and gain another 9 yards of RAC. Finished the game with 1 (ONE) solo tackle, which ain’t nowhere near good enough for a guy playing 90% of the snaps at ILB. F
Pey Wilson – supposedly THE God of LB coverage, he didn’t bust up a pass all evening. Had 3 solos, and did nothing to limit the Cinci ground success. D
Watt – shared a sack with Scam, 4Q. Was held in check and rarely harassed the QB. B-
Highsmith – Had 1 solo, 1 A in 1H.
7-yd Run, 13:11 - 3rd Q. C.Brown left end to PIT 48 for 7 yards (K.Benton; A.Highsmith). Highsmith was SOLO blocked by the TE on this play, and got mauled and bullied as Brown gained an EASY 8 yards.
Got a slop assist on a line plunge, 3Q.
At 3:30 3Q, Cin completed a flare to Brown right in front of Big Alex, who then flailed and whiffed on his clumsy tackling attempt.
Got completely bamboozled by a QB keeper, 4Q, by THE slowest QB in the NFL, which gained 12 yard. Never pressured the QB, and finished with ONE solo and 2 slop assists in a paltry, worthless effort. All this, for $17M per season. F
Herbig – Had 1 solo, 1H. Pressured Jacco into a throw-away, 1st drive of 3Q. Finished with just 1 solo, although he sat the pine quite a bit as the staff foolishly used Lowsmith in starting-type reps at ROLB.
Sawyer – saw some PT, did nothing. Remember at camp, when this guy was hailed as the next Jack Ham, except 3 times better?
DB
Joey Porter Jr. - flagged for PI, 1Q, for a 14-yard penalty. Flagged for PI on Higgins late in the 2Q, setting up CIN at the PIT 36. Got abused on a few pass plays as well. Not good. D
Slay – got nicked up making a tackle, 1st play of 2H. Got abused on a deep ball, late 3Q. C-
Thornhill – good read and stop of RAC short of the sticks, 1Q. Didn’t provide much help on limiting the Cinci receivers. C-
DeShon Elliot – Chipped in some, but offered no help at all to the CIN receivers roaming wild and free. C-
Jalen Ramsey – got abused by Chase on an 8-yard TD lob in the EZ, 2Q. Was correctly flagged for DPI on the play, which of course was declined. Flagged for PI, late 2Q. Batted a pass to Higgins at the GL, 2Q. Got scorched by Higgins on a deep lob, late 4Q, which gave Cinci a 1st down at the PIT 5. All in all, a miserable evening for Big Jalen, who has been fawned over as the next Rod Woodson ever since he arrived. Yeah, the 1996 version of Rod Woodson. F
Echols – chipped in a lil, in limited PT.
Clark – nailed the RB on a valve dump for a 6-yard loss, 2Q.
Spec teams:
Waitman – booted pretty well on 2 boots. A rare bright spot. A
Boswell – Wasn’t used much; booted a 41 yard FG.
Ke-Shawn Wiliams had quite a nite, both on KO and punt returns. Very well done. Probably was the player of the game for PIT. A
OC: Art Smith was all cute and clever in this one. The running game was ripping off huge chunks of yardage pretty much on every Warren carry, but Warren was fed the ball only 16 times. There was the botched flea flicker in the 1H. And the wretched work in the 2Q, when the offense decided to go all pass-happy despite having their way on the ground.
I utterly despised the asinine behind-scrimmage screen pass to Darnell, 3Q, which lost 8 yards after the completion. The lumbering Darnell is no RAC runner, and this is King Arthur getting far, far too cute for his own good. D+
DC: Austin had the luxury of facing a decrepit QB like Jacco, as well as a comfy 10 point lead in the 2Q. Then Austin basically pooped his pants from that point on, getting used, scorched, and tooled by the Cinci offense, time and time and time again.
Worst rush team in the NFL with 57 yards per game, and Cinci rushes for 97 yards in the 1H alone. CIN finished with 142 yards rushing, losing about 5-6 yards from kneel downs late in the game.
Cinci got the 2H kickoff, and marched for over 13 plays before finally being stopped, but they did get a chipshot 23-yard FG after chewing up 7 minutes of clock. This was losing football coming out of the locker room for the 3Q.
Here’s how Cinci gouged this vaunted defense:
Chase: 16-161-1TD on 23 targets
Higgins: 6-96-1TD on 10 targets
Jamar Chase, going all Flipper Anderson on this vaunted defense. He got targeted 23 times, grabbing 16 passes and dropping 3 others. After the game, Chase showed up on the injury report for blistered hands. All the while, Clueless Austin had no clue on how to limit this. That’s the epitome of a jackmuled def coordinator who failed to make a single adjustment the ENTIR GAME. F
HC: Mike Asslin lived in his fears, pouting and moaning at his presser about Clev trading Jacco to the Bungals. Then Stoogelin allows Jacco to carve up his vaunted defense like a Halloween pumpkin. What a jackazz. Of all QBs, Stoogelin has faced Jacco the most, and should know his tendencies. Instead, Asslin stood ossified on the sidelines all game while, while Jacco calmly played pitch n’ catch with Chase. It was dog-manure preparation mixed with horse-manure in-=game adjustments. And don’t forget – defense is SUPPOSED to be Asslin’s forte’. F-
Synopsis: A ghastly loss to a lousy Cinci team that had lost 4 straight and was ready to mail it in. The team has 10 days to sit and stew over this loss before taking on the Jackers at home.
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