Ravens 13, Stillers 10 (OT)���. Dec. 28, 2003
����Game #16
Stillers-Ravens Postgame
Analysis and Grades
The
Stillers finally put the dreadful 2003 season to bed, but not before prolonging
this fiasco of a season by going into OT before succumbing to the Ravens,
13-10.� The game meant little for each
team, and despite all the inevitable cries of, "The Stillers played
hard," this game meant nothing; proved nothing; and means absolutely
nothing in terms of "momentum for next season".�
Grades:
QB:�
Maddox finished off a disappointing '03 campaign with a disappointing
outing.� How bad was it?� He completed barely half his passes; he averaged
a laughable 4 yards per attempt; he had 3 passes batted in the trenches in the
1H; he threw 3 INTs; and worst of all, he was slow, tentative, and as immobile
as the Washington Monument back in the pocket.�
The INT to Reed in the 1Q was a classic case of a good safety reading
the QB and jumping on the pass.� The 2nd
INT was the result of a gimpy floater down the seam to Kreider, which was
busted up by Hartwell and picked off by Ray Lewis.� The INT by McAllister in the 4Q appeared to be a mis-commo with
Plex, and I'll absolve Maddox of that one. McAllister had an easy pick early in
the 4Q, but dropped it.� Maddox was at
his worst back in the pocket, where, on several plays, he had eons
of time, but double clutched and imitated Kent Graham, standing around and
doing nothing.� The epitome of this was
on a 3d & 7 in the 4Q, when DE Marques Douglas literally crawled on his
hands & knees and still was able to corral the stone-footed Maddox for the
sack.� Maddox and his agent will be
looking for a new contract after this season, but they'd better keep their
demands in check.�� D+.�
RB:�
The Tubby Tailback showed just how great he is, rushing 23 times for a
whopping 54 yards.� Yes, he passed Jim
Brown on the all-time rushing list, and that feat alone was as thrilling to
watch as, say, watching ketchup ooze out of a bottle of Heinz ketchup.� Yes, indeed -- 2.3 yards per rush, with a
long run of 8.�� The FatBack had 2
chances in the 2H to move the chains in short yardage situations, and failed miserably
on both attempts.� On a 3d & 2 in
the 3Q, he gained only a little more than 1, and we had to settle for a FG, and
on 4th & 1/2 yard late in the 4Q, The Doughboy was easily stuffed by the
Ravens.� All together now, folks -- let's
hear some more fawning for "the resurgence of Jerome Bettis".� Hip hip, hooray!!��� Jerome is just so great, so dominant, and such an offensive
weapon.� Oh, yeah, I forgot -- Bettis
also chipped in to the passing game with zero receptions for zero yards, on the
same day that Ladainian Tomlinson snared his 100th catch of the season.� Amoz had a couple token carries and a couple
grabs, and apparently was nicked up in the 2H.�
He did have a nice RAC on a 3d & 7 screen that gained 10.� Dee Brown, who just joined the team a few
weeks ago, saw a fair amount of work as a 3rd down back, as well as the lone
back in some 1-back sets.� �C+.�
FB: Kreider ran a plunge for 2
yards.� He was the odd recipient of a
pass by El on a trick play in which El was lined up as the SG QB, but the pass
was far too low.� Kreider's blocking was
decent.�� B.�
WR:�
Ward and Plex were far too quiet.�
Ward had only 2 grabs for a paltry 11 yards.� Plex had just 1 grab, for 13 yards.� He also dropped a slant on 3d & 4 in the 4Q, although the
Stillers got a reprieve when Balt was flagged for holding.� El had a couple nice grabs among his 6
catches, although his yardage (41 yards) was also paltry.� He also dropped an easy pass on 3d & 5
in the 3Q, but an illegal hands to the face flag by a Balt lineman allowed the
drive to continue.� El also had a poor,
low pass to an open Kreider on a short stop pattern near the s-line.� Doering had 1 grab for 12 yards.� El and Ward both took vicious hits as the
ball arrived; Ward held on, El did not.��
On a sour note, I wasn't too enthralled with Ward's cheap shot on Reed
well after the whistle on a running play in the 3Q.� It was a soft shot at the back of Reed, but cheap
nonetheless.� Ward is too classy a
player to resort to that kind of cheap stunt, and he's lucky the bumbling,
blind ref crew didn't flag him.�� And
frankly, the flag thrown on Porter in OT might very well have been an NHL-style
"makeup call".� This WR crew
didn't come close to getting the job done tonite.� C-.�
TE:�
Tuman had 2 grabs for 12 yards.� Supposedly
a total liability -- on par with a sofa cushion -- in terms of blocking, he was
instrumental to 2 of Bettis' best runs of the nite.� On the drive that began at 5:49 3Q, Tuman sealed his man to
spring Bettis for 6 yards 'round right end, and 2 plays later, made a similar
seal block to spring The Fat Boy for a nice 8-yard gainer, Bus's longest gain
of the nite.� Mark Bruener played some,
and as he's done since joining the team in 1995, did nothing and impacted
nothing.� Hopefully this will be
Stonefoot Bruener's final game in a Stiller uniform.� B-.� ��
OL: The line mostly played ok.� They weren't dominant, but they weren't
shabby, either.� They opened some holes
in the running game, but on a few occasions, Fat Boy Bettis was simply too slow
to hit the hole.� And they actually gave
The Madd Ox some decent time back in the pocket, but the tentative, timid
Maddox held onto the ball far too long, far too many times.� Of course, I'd be remiss if I failed to
point out Kendall Simmon's absolutely wretched play the entire evening.� The man stunk like rotten goose shit.�� His run blocking was soft and feeble, and
his pass blocking wasn't much better.�
The epitome of this stench-o-rama was the 3d & 2 SG pitch to AZ, in which
Simmons was simply overwhelmed and abused by Weaver.� Simmons: F.� Rest of
O-line: B-.�
DL:�
The D-line got gashed early by Lewis, but collected themselves and had a
decent effort.� Fat Casey Hampton was
buried on the Lewis TD run, but came back nicely after that.� He actually dropped into coverage and busted
up a short pass to Heap, although he could've been flagged for PI.� He also had a tremendous chasedown of Jones
on a TE screen late in the 1Q, on a play that showed his hustle and
quickness.� (Unbelievably, however,
Hampton, who clearly made the tackle, wasn't even credited for the stop; a flailing
-- and whiffing -- Jason GilDong was.)� Hampton
also had good penetration on a 3d & 2 plunge late in the 4Q, resulting in a
1-yard loss.� Kimo had a nice read and
stuff of a 2Q shovel pass.� Smith
provided some stoutness against the run.�
Clancy and Bailey saw a fair amount of work.� B.�
LB:�
The Big 3 (Porter, Farrior, and Bell) had a solid game against the
rugged Raven ground game.� Porter had 8
solos and a forced fumble, and on a few occasions made strong plays to fight
through a block and make the pay.�
Farrior was very quiet early on -- in fact, he was buried on the Lewis
TD run -- but responded with a strong effort with good sideline-to-sideline pursuit
and tackling.� On a down note, Porter
dropped an easy INT in the 1Q, and was flagged for a ticky-tack personal foul
in OT that set up the winning FG.� KenBell
chipped in with stout support.� As for
Jason GilDong, don't even be fooled by The Paper Tiger's stats of 7 solos and 1
assist.� He was credited for the solo
that Hampton made, and all of his solos came when he was either totally
unblocked, or on a TE after a reception in which Jason was fooled by the play
fake.� In fact, on his 7th solo, which
came just before the winning FG, Jason feebly tried a 1-arm flail on Lewis, and
despite doing nothing to stop Lewis (Alexander did), Jason was credited with
the solo stop.� In all, this was just
another softee, no-impact, no-hitting game from the softest linebacker in pro
football, Jason GilDong.�� Clark Haggans
played on spec teams but wasn't allowed to play even 1 play at OLB or rush
end.� Zo Jackson was once again inactive
for the 14th week in a row.� On the
other side of the field, rookie OLB Terrell Suggs was not only allowed to play,
but also start, and he had a terrific showing.�
The Big 3: B.� Big Jason GilDong:
D.�
DB:�
Townsend again led the way with another solid game.� He INT'd a lob to Heap in the EZ, out
jumping the much bigger Heap for a huge turnover.� He was slightly beaten by Robinson on a couple deep balls, but still
had the presence and the savvy to recover and be on or close to the receiver
(both balls were off target anyway).� On
the other hand, DeWayne Wash once again failed to make a play on the ball.� He failed miserably to bust up a floater to
Robinson late in the 3Q, resulting in a 29-yard gain.� He allowed an INT to go right thru his hands on a bomb in which
Robinson fell, and on another bomb DW failed to come up with the underthrown
ball.� This was a tough opportunity, but
for chrissakes, it was a do-able chance.�
DW had 9 solos, but many of those were simply on plays in which he was
beaten and came in to make the stop.� Despite
a broken hand and the fact that he's the very slowest FS in all of pro
football, Burnt Alex not only started, but played a vast majority of the
snaps.� Sure enough, on Lewis' TD run,
it was the slowfooted Burnt who was far too slow to stop Lewis short of the end
zone.� Any number of safeties in the NFL
would have made this stop, but not Coach Alexander, who such a cerebral team
leader out there.� Ike and Hope got some
work.� Troy Pola had a couple of sticks
and had a good pressure on a blitz.� Two
defensive backs laid huge hits on WRs during this game.� Shame of it was, neither of those DBs were
employed by the Stillers.� B.�
Spec
teams:� The big play was obviously the pass by Josh Miller
to Chris Hope, who weaved and dashed his way for the 81-yard score.� On the TD, Hope showed speed, athleticism, quickness,
on-field awareness, and football savvy -- pretty much everything most teams
would desire in a free safety.�� Hope
wasn't allowed to start at FS, because even with a broken hand, Burnt Alex is
such a dominant force at FS, but at least Hope got to strut his stuff on this
fake punt.� El had a couple nifty punt
returns and Reed nailed a 42-yard FG.� Clark
Haggans, who wasn't allowed to play even a single down on defense, had a superb
horse-collar tackle of a Raven during KO coverage.� But, as usual, there were numerous gaffes and boners by the spec
teams.� Hope was flagged for holding a
gunner on a Stiller punt return in the 2Q.�
Iwuoma was flagged for an unsportmanlike "illegal substitution"
on a Stiller punt in the 2Q.� Actually, Russell
Stuvaints was the culprit, and he was wholly deserving of this 15-yard
penalty.� Stuvaints, lined up as a gunner,
didn't merely run out of bounds "on his own" and then come back in.� He actually ran BEHIND the
Stiller coaching staff and players standing along the sideline, and then came
back in-bounds some 25 yards later.� �I'm not exaggerating, and we'll try to get a
pic of this later in the week.� Chidi
Iwuoma had a chance to down a punt inside the 1-yard line in the 1Q, but foolishly
stepped on the GL.� Doering nearly
allowed a short Raven punt to bounce and hit him.�� Josh was his usual mediocre self.� B.�
OC:�
Mularkey seems intent on trying to discourage the rest of the NFL from
hiring him, such is his bizarro tactics.�
His fetish with forcing passes to Kreider was absolutely
incredulous.� He inserts El at QB, and
has El fake the QB run, only to attempt a pass to a stationary Kreider standing
2 inches from the sideline chalk. �All
that work and cleverness for an 8-yard pass attempt to a slowfooted, blocking
FB.�� The INT early in the 3Q was a seam
route to the same slowfooted Kreider.� Furthermore,
the Stillers didn�t attempt a deep pass the entire game.� That's right -- the entire
game.� Everything was nickel and dime, 8
yards here and 12 yards there.� Then
there's the wacko sequence in the 3Q.�
Bettis had just run twice, gaining 2 and then 7 yards.� On 3d & 1, what does Mularkey do?� He actually removes Bettis -- the perfect
decoy on a play fake if ya really wanted to pass the ball -- and
inserts never-used Dee Brown into the game.�
Mularkey was then harassed during a mini rollout, and the Stillers had
to punt.� C-.�
DC:�
Tiny Tim was easily gashed by the Raven offense for the early TD.� Some will fawn over Lewis after this game,
but nothing he did was special or extraordinary.� He did little to harass Wright and failed to hold Lewis under 100
yards.� B-.�
HC:� Billy Cowher
said the Stillers would treat this game as a playoff game, and indeed they did,
losing the game with a combination of slop, a pathetic offense,
and a defense that made very few big plays, all of which are hallmarks of a
Billy Cowher playoff team.� Cowher
showed his blatant, stubborn stupidity, starting a FS with a broken hand instead
of promising 2nd-year man Chris Hope.�
Alex won't be here next season, and starting and playing Alex in a
meaningless game instead of getting a long look at Hope speaks volumes of the
myopic, dim-bulbed management style of Little Billy Cowher.� Cowher will be lauded for the fake punt,
which was a gutty call and a nice job of exploiting an opponent's weakness.� Problem is, this came in a totally �meaningless game in which the end
result meant no more than any of the preseason games.� When Billy actually exploits an opponent during a playoff
tilt, it will be the first time he's ever done so.� Billy tried valiantly to save face by playing
all his veterans in a meaningless game, and in hilarious fashion, it backfired
with yet another loss, his 10th of the season.� D+.�
Synopsis:�
The 2003 season has mercifully come to an end for this sorry, underachieving
team.� It's all the better that they
lost this meaningless game, since the loss improves their draft position and it
exposes this team as a double-digit loser that needs an immense OVERHAUL in the
offseason, not merely a tweaking with a couple of 3rd stringers being changed
in & out.� A win may have been just enough
to cover the hideous warts that permeate this team, and that's the last thing
this franchise needs to have happen.�
Stay tuned for our intensive offseason analysis here at
Stillers.com.� I'll be issuing grades
for each and every player, as well as each primary coach.� I'll also do my annual Offseason Analysis,
which analyzes the management of this team and the personnel needs related to needed
cuts, free agency, and the draft.� Stay
tuned.�