A few days ago I posted a
Fan Poll on the front page of Stillers.Com entitled �How will the
Stillers play against Oakland?�
The choices were fired
up, dominant, slop and slather or good enough to win.
Whatever the response was a
Stiller fan needs to be happy tonight.�
An opening day win and a Ravens and Bengals loss is the makings for a
great start to the work week.
The Stillers were fired up
as evident by team co-captain Joey Porter rallying around the D before the team
took the field.
I�ll eliminate slop and
slather, because the Stillers played decent in all three aspects of the
game:� O, D, SPEC Teams.
I wouldn�t call the Stillers
dominant, however.� We blew a decent 4th
QTR lead and were a wind shift away from going into OT on Reed�s FG.� That leaves me with good enough to win.
My colleagues are sure to
write more detailed post game articles so I�ll focus on some numbers to tell
the story.� Numbers don�t necessarily
tell the entire story but can help:
First, my Hardhat vote goes
to Casey Hampton.� He only had one
tackle and one assist but he was everywhere.�
He played Stiller football today.
By the numbers, this was a
close game and in some instances the Raiders were a lot better than the
B&G.
Keep in mind that:
- We won a game while passing for 142 yds.� The Raiders threw for 305 yards but had
two picks.� Tommy had zero, which
in the NFL today is a good stat to have.�
The yard stat doesn�t make me too confident with the secondary
though.� The TE�s got two
receptions and PLAX doesn�t seem to be in the mix grabbing one catch for
13 yards.� I�m a Plax fan and we
could be a hell of a lot more dominant on offense by exploiting his
abilities.�
- The O-Line was not that bad.� Gave up one sack and gave Tommy time.
- We won without an individual rushing for 100
yards.� Duce was close with 91.
Which is a 3.7 average.� With the get
back to the running game vibes we�ve been reading as of late, we didn�t do
it.� The o-line wasn�t horrible but
not dominant.�
- The team�s second leading rusher was Tommy
Maddox with 13 yards.� See #2.� Bettis had one yard rushing and Haynes
had two.� I�ve been watching
football for well over 30 years and can�t remember a game in which a back
scores three TDs on one yard.� We
need to be a lot more dominant on the rush than Tommy being #2.� Keep in mind that the Raiders were
suffering some starter injuries in their LB Corps.� We didn�t get the job done rushing,
IMO.
- The Stiller D recorded three sacks today.� Not a dominant stat but the D did play
dominant, getting something we�ve wanted for years, pressure on the
QB.� The D disrupted Gannon.� I was watching the game with a friend
and I had my doubts if Gannon was going to be back in after half time.� The D held all OAK rushers to 61 yards.
- The secondary didn�t fair to well IMO.� Troy was off but Chad Scott was on.
- Foote, Haggans and Farrior played IMO�Dominant.
- The Stillers were only penalized twice.� That has to be a record.�� The Raiders were the second most penalized team in 2003 and started where they left off with six.
- I think we need to see more off passes to Staley out of the backfield.�
- Turnovers were they key this afternoon.� The Raiders lost four, two by fumble
and two INTs.�
I�m not a huge Maddox fan
and he didn�t impress me much today.� I
was impressed with the D minus the secondary.
We need to be pleased with
this win.� Any win against a division
rival or the Raiders is the makings for a great Sunday.� The Stillers did enough to win.� I�m sure we can all agree that the B&G
need to turn it up a few notches for a playoff run.� We weren�t dominant and we weren�t sloppy.� Fundamentally it was a good show.� For the first game of the 2004 season, few
mistakes are key.� As much as I complain
about Cowher, this team was at least prepared for this opening game.
We�re 1-0 and tied for first
in the AFC North.
Here we go Stillers, here
we go!!!
I�m off to watch a football
classic on ESPN, Something for Joey.�
Another classic is on next Sunday, Fighting Back-The Rocky B
Story.� Two PA football classics.