Loose Slag from The Still Mill (Dec 30th, 2003)

 

- Both Billy Cowher and Brian Billick showed on Sunday night how much they despise each other.� Ted Bouchette, who isn't the brightest bulb in the box, alluded to this in the PG, but as usual, Ted failed to see the whole picture.� Ted wrote, "Brian Billick must really not like Bill Cowher."�� It goes beyond that.� Billy doesn't like Billick, either.� Their mutual dislike is what drove both men to play veterans the entire game in a contest that had absolutely no meaning whatsoever.� Of course, you can't blame Billick for his dislike of Cowher.� After all, Billy is pompous, egotistical, mentally challenged, and has no jewelry on his fingers from a Super Bowl victory.�� What would Billick possibly like about a buffoon like Billy?�

 

- Here's the short list of teams in 2003 who have gotten FAR MORE with FAR LESS, than Little Billy Cowher:� Houston, Dallas, New England, Balt, Cinci, Green Bay, Carolina, and Miami.��

 

- Per the Trib review article, Billy Cowher said Chris Hope told him later that he was an All-American running back at Rock Hill (S.C.) High School.� "I didn't know he could run that well with the ball," Cowher said.� Duh-uh !!!�� No shit, Sherlock.�� Cowher doesn't know anything about what Chris Hope can do, because Hope has been MAROONED to the bench the past 2 years behind superstar safety Burnt Alexander.� There are probably several good things that Hope can do, but a stubborn, myopic, dim-bulbed idiot for a head coach is too busy fawning over Burnt "He's such a cerebral player out there" Alexander to notice.�

 

- Remember, despite the speed, athleticism, quickness, and football prowess that Hope showed on that TD dash, Burnt Alexander -- BROKEN HAND and all -- is still vastly superior.� That's precisely why Brent started and played the entire game, and that's why Brent was laughably too slow in chasing down Lewis on the TD run.�

 

- 2nd-year safety Chris Hope, by the way, was an Academic All-American.�� Over on the other side of the field on Sunday night, you had 2nd-year safety Ed Reed, who, in a good week at U of Miami, probably attended a class 2 times and cracked open his text books all of 35 minutes.� Yet Reed was allowed to start and play as a rookie, and by the end of his 2nd season, has already compiled 12 INTs and established himself as one of the premier safeties in the league.� But remember, Academic All-American Chris Hope -- who played big-time college football at FSU, one of the most advanced, pro-like football programs in the country -- simply isn't smart enough, or intelligent enough, to grasp Billy Cowher's advanced trigonometric calculus of defensive football, but Ed Reed easily mastered the Raven defense as a ROOKIE.�

 

- Anyone see what happened with the Browns this past weekend?� They gave rookie 4th round RB Lee Suggs a good amount of work, and all the former Va Tech star did was run for 186 yards and 2 spectacular TDs against a team that was fighting and clawing for a playoff spot.�� Because the Browns gave a rookie this kind of PT, they now know they have a flower ready to bloom, and they now can make all kind of intelligent personnel decisions.� (Knowing the Browns, they probably won't, but at least they placed themselves in a position to do so.)� They can cut the troubled Will Green, or perhaps trade him away for a 4th rounder.� At the very least, they needn't reach high in the draft at RB, because Suggs appears to be the real deal.� Bottom line: this is the BENEFIT one reaps when he plays youngsters instead of ROTTING them for years on end.�

 

- By the way, the next time you hear or see some Cowher-loving simpleton recite the banal mantra of, "Bill Cowher is in practice every day, and he sees these players every day and he sees the game films, and I trust his judgment on player evaluation matters," simply respond with these two words:� DeShea Townsend.

 

- Suggs, Barry Foster, Bam Morris, Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson -- all examples that you do NOT have to draft a RB in round 1 -- or even round 2 -- to get good productivity.�

 

- Speaking of Suggs, did anyone catch a good look-see at rookie OLB Terrell Suggs of the Ravens in the game on Sunday night?� Suggs, like Stiller rookie Zo Jackson, had to make the adjustment from college DE to a standup OLB in a 3-4 defense.� Suggs had a superb game on Sunday night, while Zo Jackson stood in street clothes on the sideline for the 14th consecutive week.� You can't hit a homerun if you're never allowed to bat, and you cannot show your stuff in the NFL if you're never allowed to dress, let alone play.� When it comes to player development, no one does less than Lil' Billy Cowher.�

 

- Speaking of bench rot, it was only 5 years ago that a receiver named Hines Ward ROTTED the entire season behind one of the greatest -- in Billy Cowher's dim view of the world -- receivers ever to play the game, Pee Pee Hawkins.�

 

- For everyone who is squawking and moaning about the O-line, consider this.� I've harped numerous times on this very subject the past 4 years.� Billy Cowher NEEDS a star-studded, experienced, healthy line at ALL 5 spots.�� Otherwise, he's left befuddled, confused, and prone to more excuse making than Richard Nixon.� What Billy Cowher needs -- because of his overt stupidity and coaching inabilities -- is a utopia that rarely ever exists in this day of the sal cap.� Because of injury and the sal cap, it's virtually impossible to have an Al Faneca at each and ever spot on the line.� The O-line, which consists of 10 players when you consider depth, is reliant upon good COACHING to maintain effectiveness in the face of injury and sal cap losses, which is simply asking too much from a "coach" (sic) like Billy Cowher.

 

- For all those Bettis lovers who cling to the fallacious belief that "Jerome is in the best shape of his life", check out these 2 photos.� On a couple different plays, just before the snap, the ABC/ESPN camera showed Bettis slightly hunched over in the tailback "stance".� That which is hanging over Bettis' belt is known as FLAB.�

 

���

 

Fred Flintstone had less of a paunch that The Belly Back, Jerome Bettis.

 

- Speaking of bench rot, the NE Pats actually AVOID bench rot.� The TSN article by Dan Pompei is a MUST READ.� Some excerpts:

 

���� "The Patriots have started 42 players and haven't had the same offensive lineup in consecutive games this season. Players who have started for the team have missed 70 games because of injuries.

 

Last Sunday in Houston, the Patriots beat the Texans in overtime with help from three catches by Dedric Ward, their eighth choice at the receiver position this season. Ward, signed three days before the game, had to wear No. 17 because no number in the 80s was available.

 

How have the Patriots overcome attrition better than every other team? By counting on it.

 

Belichick prepares his reserves as well as anyone. Nobody rots away as a special teams player on the Patriots. Every player gets at least one-third of the practice reps, and almost every player has a role on offense or defense. Belichick likes to have three players ready to play every two positions. For instance, at the start of the season Rosevelt Colvin, Mike Vrabel and Willie McGinest were playing outside linebacker. When Colvin was knocked out for the year, the Patriots hardly were devastated.

 

The Patriots know how to get a player prepared quickly. Last Tuesday, the day receiver J.J. Stokes signed with the team, he met with coaches and studied his new playbook for 13-1/2 hours. He took the playbook with him all week wherever he went and studied it whenever he had free time. On the plane ride to Houston, coaches started teaching Stokes about sight adjustments. By game time, he was ready to play two positions, "X" and "F," in the Patriots' terminology -- and he made a 31-yard reception.

 

Patriots players also are "cross-trained," so they learn more than one position. Rookie Eugene Wilson began as a cornerback, the position he played in college, but he also learned how to play safety. He has started the last 10 games at free safety. "We've tried to build the depth all the way through the system," Belichick says. "The preparation comes earlier rather than the week a crisis hits."

 

But, remember, players like Ike Taylor, Troy Pola, Zo Jackson, Hope, Nkwenti, Vincent, Okobi, et al -- they all need YEARS to learn the Steeler scheme and playbook, according to The Grand Master, Billy Cowher, while players on other teams learn it in 13 hours or a few days.�

 

- Here's a rough order of magnitude of what Billy Cowher will think is "good enough" to tweak this team and get back to the playoffs:� scuttle Logan and Alex, and bring in a veteran safety (after all, we cannot possibly "trust" our safety corps to a 2-year and 3-year man); scuttle Bruener and add another TE (not that we really need it because the offense ignores the TE, but it makes it look like you're doing something); and bring in an average, plugging DE to help with depth.� That's about it.� Billy is far too in love with too many of his current players to cut the apron strings.�

 

- Tenn will beat Balt this weekend, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the Ravens being "tired" or "worn out" from the Sunday night game versus the Stillers.� Regardless of whether McNair or O'Donnell starts, the Titans have a far superior QB.

 

- Happy New Year!!� Hopefully 2004 will be better for the Stillers and the true, hard-core Stiller fans, than was 2003.�

 

(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- the only nationally read coverage on the Pittsburgh Stillers that has accurately predicted the how's and the why's of the past 3 Stiller playoff losses�.)