Stillers 33, Giants 30 ���. Dec. 18, 2004 ����Game
#14
Stillers-Giants Postgame
Analysis and Grades
The
Stillers survived a stiff challenge by the lowly Giants, and after trading punches
back and forth all game, the Stillers emerged from the Jersey swampland with a
33-30 win.���
Grades:
QB:�
Ben busted the 300-yard mark for the first time in his career, on just
18 passes, courtesy of several big-yardage plays.� Ben got things going early, improvising and spotting El open deep
for a 38-yard gainer on the 1st series.�
He adroitly hit Ward on a deep crosser in the 2Q, for 24 yards, and then
showed a soft touch on the deep TD lob to El.�
He got somewhat lucky on the late 36-yarder to El, in that he threw into
double coverage .� Perhaps Benji's best
pass play of the day, though one of his shortest, on 3rd & 3 in the 4Q, in
which Ben did a nifty, Marino-like shuffle from inside pressure and then calmly
hit El for a huge, clutch 5-yard gain.�
I was also pleased with the rapidity of Ben spotting El and making the
throw on the 35-yard TD pass to El.�
���������� There were some downs.� Each of his 2 INTs was utterly hideous.� Both were forced passes while on the run, and the one that Burnt Alex picked was thoroughly inexcusable, as Ben was rolling to his right.� There could have been another INT on an out to Ward in the 3Q, which was a Pennington-like, softee wobbler that didn't have anywhere near the requisite mustard.� The deep pass to El could have been caught by a New Yorker as well.��
Credit Ben for again keeping his composure in the 4Q and for
truly leading the offense.� Keep things
in perspective, of course -- Benji threw for this prolific yardage courtesy of
a defense that starts Burnt Alexander at FS and a DC named Tiny Tim Lewis,
which is kind of like a MLB batter slugging home runs against a pitcher from AA
ball.��� B.�
RB:�
With Duce Staley sitting this one out, The Tubby Tailback, Jerome
Bettis, got the start and the bulk of the work. �The Doughboy mostly had his way against the NFC's 13th-best run
defense, rushing for 140 yards on 36 carries, with most of the yardage coming
on plays in which Bettis was entirely untouched until he was at least 3 yards
past the LOS.� Haynesie made the most of
his limited work, rushing twice for 21 yards, including a nice 18-yarder.� He also took a shovel pass from El and
sauntered in for a 10-yard score.�
Haynes made a superb reach & pluck of a high pass on 3d & 6
early in the 4Q, good for 11 yards.� The
down note for this group was Bettis' shameful, dim-bulbed pass protection in
the 2Q on 2d & 5, in which he stood around flatfooted behind a
well-protected right-side front, and then realized far too late that Greisen
was looping up the gut for an untouched sack of Ben Roth.� For a veteran with this many years in the
NFL, this was entirely unacceptable.�
A-.��
FB: It gets a bit dull in the FB
department each week, with Kreider so adeptly mowing down opposing
defenders.� A.�
WR:�
Ward and El took turns torching and abusing the Giants secondary.� El gave the Giants fits, grabbing 5 passes
for 149 yards.� El hauled in passes of
39, 36, 35 (TD), and 34, along with the clutch 5-yard grab on 3d & 3.� El saved Roth's bacon with the leaping,
athletic jump to snag the 36-yarder in the 4Q amidst double-coverage.� El had the shovel flip to Haynes that gets
credited as a TD pass.� Ward allowed a
pass to go off his fingertips on the 1st series, but had a stellar game, with
lots of excellent RAC work.� Mays
grabbed a 12-yard pass in the first series, but was unheard of thereafter.� I still have my doubts that El can be a
downfield receiver, and El won't get to face Burnt Alexander in the
playoffs.� Nonetheless, a very fine
effort today by Ward and El.��� A+
TE:�
The TEs had no involvement in the passing game.� There was some good blocking in the running
game, including Cushing's good block in the late Bettis TD run.� Even Matthew Kranchick was allowed to dress,
and play, today.� B+.�
OL: A lot of ups, but some downs.� Obviously, the run blocking was pretty
solid, as Bettis was running through gaping holes on most of his carries,
especially in the 2H.� Vincent was
providing some mammoth holes in the ground game.� The pass protection was mostly decent.� But there were some gaffes.�
Faneca was whipped badly, which caused the pressure that flushed Roth
and forced the hasty pass on the run for the first INT.� Jeff Hartings, who's been gushed over like
the next Mike Webster, was literally driven back onto his ass on a Bettis run
at approx. 8:50 of the 2Q, which caused a no-gain.� Key Vincent got totally abused on the 3d & 4 at the NY 12 in
the 4Q, which caused pressure and a hasty pass that was broken up at the GL.� There was also some shoddy run-blocking late
in the 2H, when the Stillers had to settle for a FG after a goal-to-go
series.� Seeing these kind of boners
against an injury-riddled front-4 of the Giants leaves me a bit concerned.� C.�
DL:�
It sounds odd, but the D-line was led for much of the day by Chris
Hoke.� The man disrupted the NY blocking
and really fought well.� He had a nice
dive and trip-up of Barber for a 3-yard loss in the 2Q.� He had a nice penetration and harassment of
Tiki, which caused a 3-yard loss in the 3Q.��
Smith had a nice pressure that forced a low incompletion to Hilliard in
the 4Q.� Hoke and Smitty were each
flagged for penalties (holding and tripping, respectively) in the 3Q.� Kirschke chipped in some.� Kimo wasn't shabby, although his name was
rarely ever called.� Tiki did average
over 4 yards per carry, which wasn't too appealing.��� B.�
LB:�
The D was led in tackles by Larry Foote, who had 8 solos and 3 A's.� Foote wasn't brilliant, but he was adequate
enough.� Farrior was a bit quiet, and,
despite often being referred to as The Winged God of TE coverage, got beaten
badly by Shockey on the TD pass in the 1Q.�
James did have a nice slash & grab of Barber in the 1Q, good for a
1-yard loss.� Farrior also stuffed the
FB lead-block on the 3d & goal plunge, which forced a 2-yard loss by Tiki
and a NY FG.� Harrison was tough and
active at LOLB.� Zo Jackson got some
work as well at LOLB, but did very little.�
Porter had some pressure and bottled some ground plays.� Haggans did not dress, due to injury.� B.�
DB:�
A subpar day at the office for the secondary, especially considering the
fact that they were facing an offense with no serious deep threat and a
struggling, greenhorned rookie at QB.�
Stuvaints, who gets far more PT than is warranted, offered very little help
on the Shockey TD.� Wee Willie was
picked on a bit, and got dragged by Shockey for about 4 yards after a 3Q pass
deep in Stiller territory.� He was also
far too soft on a 0-step hitch to Hilliard in the 4Q, which was turned into a
15-yard gainer.� Pola got away with a
foolish rough out-of-bounds after a 5-yard gain on 3rd & 18, which very
easily could have been flagged for 15 yards.�
Townsend got turned around like a top on the 49-yard bomb to Tyree.� Williams was actually beaten by Toomer on
the 4Q bomb, and was lucky that Toomer got entangled and tripped.� A nice INT by Willie, but in the playoffs,
he'll probably face a better pass-catch combo than Eli and Toomer.� B-.�
Spec
teams:� Absolute, pure, unadulterated vomit.� These gimps allowed a KO return for a TD on
the opening KO.� Pola missed a tackle on
that TD, and Parker took a foolish angle near the end of the run that allowed
Ponder to skirt the sidelines and go for the score.� The KO coverage was as poor as piss on most boots.� Things improved only marginally thereafter,
as Reed had a lot of shallow boots, and his squibbers were entirely
ineffective.� El fair-caught a punt in
the 2Q with nary a defender within 18 yards of him.� On the plus side, Stuvaints had a good stop on KO coverage, and
Reed booted 4 of 4 FGs.� Gardocki, the
lonely Maytag repairman, did not punt for the 2nd time this season (and only
the 2nd time in Stillers history that this has happened).� Kriewalt did not dress and Harrison did not
cover KOs because of his insertion in the starting lineup, which showed very
markedly.�� The STs will have to show
improvement soon, lest we see the ST debacle of Jan. 2002.�� D.�
OC:�
The Wise Hunt called the nifty pitch to El-then-shovel to Haynes for the
TD score in the 1Q.� I always home in on
offensive line blocking, so I didn't realize the full chicanery of this play
until I saw the replay.� Very nice.� Wise had the luxury of facing a defense led
by Tiny Tim Lewis, which, quite obviously, makes an OC's job as easy as pissing
into a bathtub. ��B+.�
DC:�
It's not popular to critique Dick LeBeau these days, but frankly, this
was Dick's worst game of the season.� He
somehow managed to make Eli Manning look like Peyton Manning.� Remember, Eli had a passer rating of ZERO
last week, and today he was a solid 16 of 23 and 2 TDs.� The pressure, or lack thereof, on Eli really
irked me.� We had 0 sacks, but sacks are,
as the savvy fan well knows, vastly over-rated.� What I was disappointed with was the lack of harassment that
could have forced some poor Manning passes for easy turnovers.� I also wasn't all that pleased with the vast
acreage up the middle that Manning was able to scramble through on a couple
occasions, which has been happening with regularity the past several
weeks.�� No FF's today, either.� The 5WR sets gave us some problems, and
don't think for a minute that a genius like Belichick won't copy that formation
come playoff time.� C-.�
HC:� Billy Cowher
preached all week about no let downs, keeping up the intensity, and so
forth.� His team then went out and
allowed a game-opening KO return, followed by an easy 6-play TD march.� Not good.�
The team hung tough and clawed back and won� a close game on the road.�
The single major thing that scares you about a Billy-Cowher coached
team, is being in the position of the prohibitive favorite against an inferior,
underdog foe.� Today was a prime example
of that.� B.�
Synopsis:�
The Stillers survived and got the W -- their 13th of the season! --
which was the single-most important task at hand.� The 2nd-most important task was to escape injury-free, and aside
from Ward getting a small hip-pointer that won't cause any loss of work, the
Stillers escape unscathed.� They now get
an extra day's rest before facing the hated Poe Birds in Pittsburgh next Sunday,
in a revenge game that should be as lively and fiery as any played in Heinz
Field the past couple seasons.� The
concern I have is the Stillers becoming content to play nip-and-tuck football
with an inferior opponent, and suddenly, come the 4th quarter, instead of
striding to victory, the Stillers are hanging on by a thread or forced to come
from behind.� This has long been the
Cowhard playoff model -- witness the playoffs of 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2001,
and 2002 -- and it leaves that feeling of the apple lodged in the throat.�