Loose Slag from The Still Mill (Jan.14th, 2003)
- Casey Hampton ate up Titan
center Gennarro DiNapoli.� That is to be
expected.� What I didn't expect was for
Titan DT Albert Haynesworth to eat Jeff Hartings alive.� In reviewing the tape of this game (yes, I
realize that, in reviewing the tape, this makes me the anomaly amongst
nationally known Steeler analysts), I was appalled at the number of times
Haynesworth either shoved Hartings to the turf, or simply blasted right by
him.� On that 15-yard personal foul
penalty, in which Haynesworth dumped Amoz, Fat Albert tooled Hartings so badly
that Amoz should have gone back to the huddle and spiked Hartings into the
turf.� Hartings was also flagged for a
hold during the game.� ��
�
- As I'd noted last week,
the Stiller O-line was giving up a good bit of leakage on the backside of too
many running plays.� Sadly, the same
thing occurred versus the Titans�
- I lost track of the number
of times James Farrior -- aka The Great Winged God of Linebacker Coverage
-- got beaten in coverage by a TE or a back in this game.� Six was the last count I had, but I
should have charted it on a clipboard while scrubbing the tape, and regrettably
I did not.��
- Hartings had his share of
struggles, and Bell missed this game.�
Not coincidentally, both players were rushed back into the lineup after
being injured, and both were nagged and hampered thereafter.� One man made the decision to rush Hartings
and Bell back, and his name is Billy Cowher.�
But, you know the deal: it�s not Cowher�s fault that these 2 players
were needlessly rushed back into the lineup.�
Like everything else that goes wrong with the Stillers, it�s always
someone else�s fault, and never, ever the fault of the head coach who, in
return for $3M per annum, is paid to oversee the entire operation of his
football team.
- Seems like it was only
yesterday that the Pittsburgh media and fan base were fawning and
chest-pounding over the Stiller defense after beating Carolina and the
�signature game� against Tampa.� Amazing
how �shutting down� an offense led by Rodney Peete or Shaun King can do wonders
for a defense�s stats and the media & fans� outlook�
- Of course, there was one
writer who ignored the absurd hype created by defensive �shutdowns� of Houston,
Carolina, and Tampa, and instead brought reality into perspective
and pointed out the pathetic nature of the offenses �led� by David Carr, Peete
and King.� You�re reading him right
now.�
- Tenn lost the pre-game
coin toss, meaning they got to choose what end zone to defend.� I'm still puzzled why they chose to go into
the stiff wind in the 2nd & 4th quarters.�
Given the choice, most teams would prefer the 1st & 3rd quarters.� Perhaps the wind was nonexistent prior to
the game, but it was clearly evident soon after the game began.�
- Last week in this space,
I'd mentioned how Cleveland disrupted Maddox with 5+ rushers, while with 4 or
fewer rushers, Maddox was able to play pitch-and-catch.� Fisher harassed Maddox quite a bit in those
2 final drives in the 4th quarter, which ended in punts.� I'm just an idiot with a VCR, who doesn't
have access to the "coaches'' films�but I guess Coach Fisher was able to
study his "coach's film" and figure it all out.
- I'm trying to recall a
coach looking more pathetic after a loss, than Billy Cowher running across the
field like a complete jackass.� The only
thing that comes to mind is Joe Paterno pulling a similarly stupid stunt this
past season.�
- Wasn�t Cowher the guy who,
just last week, when asked about the 49er-NYG reffing blunder, replied along
the lines of,� �A single play doesn�t
determine an entire game�??� Cowher then
loses yet another playoff game, and what does he do?� He whines and cries about a single play.�
- Given Cowher�s 8-year playoff
history of overt slop and abject failure, perhaps Billy should start serving,
and drinking, hot broth over on his sideline�
- For those -- to include
Dan Rooney -- crowing about how great of a coach Bily Cowher is, and how great
of a job he did, let�s take a look at just how brilliant of a coach Billy
is.� The Stillers called a timeout with
0:08 remaining in regulation, with the ball on their 40 and 4th down &
1.� The Titans -- out of TO�s --
have 2, and only 2, choices:� either
throw the Hail Mary to the EZ, or get a quick completion at the sideline
and get OOB before the clock expires.�
Armed with the time allotted during a timeout, this is what your genius
head coach, Billy Cowher, came up with:
�
��� This play was doomed before it began.� The RB, Holcomb, is set right behind the tackle, while Haggans is
in the middle, aligned with the center.�
Billy Cowher, being as bright as he is, dug a moat to protect the middle
of the field and gave the Titans a free pass to get easy yardage and, more
importantly, get OOB to stop the clock.�
It didn�t matter if Haggans, Joey Porter, Ray Lewis, or Brian Urlacher
had coverage -- with this alignment, the LB is screwed before the ball is snapped.� Holcomb snagged the out pass and gained an
easy 10 yards and easily got OOB, setting up a very makeable 48-yard FG.� Nedney�s hooked miss made this gaffe a
distant memory, but it shouldn�t be forgotten.�
And this isn�t the first time Cowher�s blatantly wasted the time
allotted during lengthy timeouts late in close games.� A loss in 2000 to these same Titans was made possible when
Cowher, on a 4th & 13 and facing an offense with only 1 WR who�d ever
caught an NFL pass, refused to double-cover Mason, and Mason gained about 16
yards to set up the winning FB.� In the
1998 AFC title game, on 3d & 8 after the lengthy 2-minute warning timeout,
Cowher, as smart and clever as he is, rushed only 4 men and placed a horrible
coverage �backer (Gildon) on the most likely pass recipient, Shannon Sharpe.� The result?�
An easy 10-yard completion to Sharpe, with the QB under no harassment or
disruption whatsoever from the feeble 4-man rush, while Gildon flailed about
like a wounded seal.� As I�ve stated
time and time again: No NFL coach gets less out of a timeout than Billy
Cowher.� Dan Rooney pays Cowher $3,000,000 per year, and in return,
receives about $30,000 worth of coaching.�
- Note to any Stiller fans
who are still whining about the running-into-kicker penalty in OT: get over
it.� It was the correct call.� Blame the player, and blame the imbecilic coaching
staff that apparently never taught the guy to dive in front of the ball;
not at the ball.� If anything,
the Titans got jobbed on 2 piss-poor penalties in the 4Q.� The "helmet to helmet" personal
foul on Shulters was a farce.� Shulters
hit Ward with his shoulder pads, like he's supposed to.� There was absolutely nothing illegal with
that hit.� The NFL will confirm that
fact when they refuse to issue a fine to Shulters this week, whereas numerous
DBs around the NFL received fines for genuine "helmet to helmet" hits
all season long.� The "spike"
of Amoz by Haynesworth was a less pathetic penalty call, but still highly
questionable.� I re-played the tape 10
times, and no whistle ever blew.� It may
have blown, but one cannot hear it.�
Amoz was still moving, fighting, and churning.� Considering that Amoz had plowed 2 Titans into the EZ for an
earlier TD, the job of a defender is to wrap and drive the ballcarrier into the
ground.� Haynesworth did that and did it
the way he's supposed to.� Last, but not
least, Ward's knee was down well before the ball crossed the GL on his 21-yard
TD.� This was as easy as pie to see on
tape, and I'm not entirely sure why Tenn did not challenge it.� Perhaps the replay angle that was
"needed" to see this wasn't shown quickly enough before the Stillers
lined up for the 2-pointer, and the staff was probably consumed ensuring the
right personnel were on the field for the critical 2-point play.��
- Not to absolve DeWayne of
his horrendous whiff of McCareins on the 32-yard gainer in OT, but re-watching
this on tape made my ill.� No less than 3
Stiller defenders stopped as soon as the ball was en route in the air to the
WR.�� That's not championship-caliber
defense.� Championship defenses go
helter skelter after every ballcarrier and pass-catdcher, no matter how
innocuous the play might look.� Defense
is not always just a question of skill and talent; sometimes it comes down to
desire, grit, hustle, and heart.� The
'02 Stiller defense lacked this, and no one personifies that more than the defensive
captain, Joggin� Jason Gildon.
�
- It�s amusing that the
following salary cap albatrosses sat around and spectated during the
playoffs:� Kordell Stewart, Mark Buener,
and Jerome Bettis.� In the case of
Stewart, there was nothing the team could have done.� Stew, as the team MVP last year, was the incumbent starter, and his
backup hadn�t gotten any meaningful NFL work in years.� But Bruener and Bettis could have -- and
should have -- been jettisoned this past off-season.� I vehemently suggested that both should have been placed into the
expansion draft pool.� That was
pooh-poohed by nearly all fans and experts, because �Bruener and Bettis were
too valuable�.� Sure�and the droppings
from my neighbor�s pet poodle are too valuable for him to dispose of
properly.� The Steelers were content to
go into �02 with the same, plodding, inept secondary from �01.� The pat answer was, �There�s no more
money.�� Just so you know, the 2002 cap
hit from Bettis was $3.44M, and Bruener�s was $3.573M.� Combined, that�s $7M of cap hit for 2
low-impact players.� Not that all of
this could have been recouped, but just think what this team could have done to
bolster its secondary had the 2 cap albatrosses been dumped.�
- Here�s an amazing
statistic: Billy Cowher�s team has now had 8 unsuccessful runs in the NFL
playoffs.� (Success is, of course,
defined as winning the Super Bowl.)� In
those 8 runs, not once has Billy Cowher ever been responsible for anything that
went sour and led to defeat.� Our crack
staff here at Stilers.com even looked it up.�
8 seasons of playoff futility, and not once has Billy ever been
responsible for anything that led to playoff defeat.� Amazing, but true.� Go look it up.� Statistics
don�t lie.�
- Not only is Jeff Fisher
heads and shoulders above Billy Cowher as a coach, but Fisher's wife is also
heads and shoulders better looking than Billy's wife.� According to some Tennessee poll, Billy Cowher may have the
better looking beard, but Fisher has, by far, the better looking wife�
- While yours truly
provided you the precise, exact recipe of what the Titans needed to do to beat
the Stillers in my pre-game
analysis, here�s a sampling of what other �experts� wrote before this
game:�
� ��������As Cowher stated,
the Titans will try to run the ball. During the regular season, Tennessee
averaged 32 rushes per game (4th in the NFL) and 31 passes per game (23rd in
the NFL). Tennessee is not going to suddenly decide to mimic Tom Brady
and Rich Gannon
and stray from what has proven successful for them, particularly when this
formula was good enough to beat the Steelers the first time around.
������� �Jeff Fisher does not have Tommy Maddox
and the Steelers receiving corps. He still subscribes to a ball control
offense, spirited special teams, and a defense that is supposed to win the game.�
������ �Are the Titans going to spread and chuck, thereby giving
Maddox more snaps?� The answer is likely
no.�
- Stay tuned later this week
for The GilDong Report, and, soon enough, the individual player and coaches
grades�.