Stillers 17, Jets 6 ���. Dec 12, 2004 ����Game #13
Stillers-Jets Postgame
Analysis and Grades
The
Stillers held off a stern, stiff challenge by the stubborn NY Jets, en route to
their 12th win of the season.� ��
Grades:
QB:�
Ben Roth had a somewhat shabby outing (9/19, 144 yards, 2 INTs), but to
his credit, he gathered himself and the offense in the crunch time of the 4Q,
and led the offense to a game-clinching TD with 3 minutes left to play.� Roth started off spotty, with Jet CB David Barrett
dropping an INT on a deep curl to Ward on the first drive.� Roth sailed a deep in to Mays at the goal
line on 3d & 5 later in the 1Q.� Roth
threw 2 INTs in the game, but 1 was on a hail Mary at the end of the 1H, and
the other was off a tipped pass on tight coverage by Abraham.� On the game clinching drive, Benji deftly
pumped and then lofted a perfect lob to Mays, good for a 46-yard gain that put
the stake in the heart of the pesky Jets.�
Benji will need to play better than this in the playoffs, but the good
news is that he got a taste of what a tough playoff game is like, and he hung
in there pretty well.�� B-.�
RB:�
Duce got the start and gained a solid 51 yards on 16 carries, and also
chipped in with a huge 21-yard gain on a 3Q screen.� Duce did have a fumble amidst a 3Q scrum -- luckily the Stillers
recovered -- and he also dropped an easy outlet pass in the 1Q, although it
would have gained only 3 yards or so.�
Duce's ham acted up after that big screen play, so Doughboy Bettis got
the RB work thereafter.� The Tubby
Tailback came on in relief and ran with authority, rushing for 57 yards on just
10 carries.� Bettis has the clutch HB
option pass, good for a 10-yard TD pass.�
Not content to just pass for TDs, Bettis rumbled off right tackle in the
4Q and sealed the game with a 12-yard TD run, rumbling through the weak grasp
of poor Reggie Tongue, whose tongue was hanging out in despair.� Wilver Parker had a clutch SG draw, knifing
and churning for 14 yards on 3d & 3 in the 3Q.� �A.�
FB: Dan Kreider blocked like a man
possessed, paving gaping holes through the supposedly vaunted Jest (sic)
defense.� He also snared 3 passes for 19
yards.� Tapes of this game should be
sent all over the league in an effort to get this man a rightful Pro Bowl
spot.� �A.�
WR:�
The reception numbers were obviously small, but the Stiller receivers
did make some big plays.� Perhaps the
biggest was made by Lee Mays on his lone catch, hauling in a perfect lob and
gaining 46 yards late in the 4Q.� Hines
had 2 grabs for 38 yards, both of which included some nice RAC work.� Ward did cough up the ball in the 2Q and NY
recovered, but an illegal contact flag on NY wiped away the turnover.� El had 1 grab for 11.� In what was a small oddity, neither Ward nor
El ran the ball at all.� The absence of Plex
Burress continues to bog down the WR corps.�
B.�
TE:�
Tuman started and hauled in the easy TD catch on the Bettis HB option
pass.� Rasby, who just joined the team 5
days ago, and Cushing saw some work.�
Kranchick, being a rookie, was not permitted to dress.� The run blocking was pretty solid.� A.�
OL: At times, the line played solidly,
and at times they smelled up Heinz Field.�
LDE Shaun Ellis simply ate Fat Ollie Ross alive most of the game.� Ross and Smith were weak on a 3d & 5
pass play in the 2nd series, resulting in a sack.� Ross was whipped severely by Ellis late in the 2Q.� On a 2d & 1 in the 3Q, Ross got thoroughly
abused, resulting in a 2-yard loss by Staley.�
I'm not sure if Ross is simply getting worn down by the grind of the
long NFL season, but right now a defense would be fools to not target Ross as a
soft spot to exploit.� Vincent had some
ups and downs.� M. Smith was flagged for
a hold in the 1Q.� To be sure, this was
a tough, gritty Jets defense, but this O-line has to be able to step it up a
notch against the rugged defenses that one expects to see come playoff
time.� With Ross playing so poorly, it
might not be a shabby idea to start having Starks platoon at RT, especially
against a very feeble Giants team that should be easy enough to dismiss this
Sat.� B-.�
DL:� The D-line helped hold Curtis
Martin in check and provided some harassment on Chad Penncilneck.� Aaron Smith continued his sterling play with
a very strong game, including a nice stuff of Martin in the 1Q on a widish
sweep.� Kimo, Hoke, Clancy, and Kirschke
chipped in.� Hoke gamely fought against
all-world Kevin Mawae, and even drew a tripping penalty by the great
center.� Hoke was a bit pokish lumbering
off the field, which caused a 12-men on the field penalty.� Hoke enraged me by getting blown off the
ball and pancaked onto his back on a 4th & 1 QB sneak in the 4Q, but
otherwise the line was solid.� A.�
LB:�
Ex-Jet James Farrior got revenge against his old team, leading the way
with another sterling effort.� Farrior
was all over the field, and even made an outstanding 1-handed tap and grab for
a huge INT late in the 2Q.� Porter had a
nice slash-in and trip-up of Martin in the 1Q.�
Haggans was having a nice game before hurting his groin late in the 1Q,
resulting in Harrison and Zo Jackson filling in at LOLB.� Harrison, as tough as a bulldog all day, had
a terrific penetration and stuff of Martin for a 4-yard loss late in the 3Q.� He did misplay two consecutive plays in the
4Q, getting badly bamboozled on a play-action bootleg that Penn threw
incomplete, and then stuttering and taking a poor angle on a Martin run up RT
for a healthy 10-yard gainer.� Jackson
chipped a little, and his paw high in front of Penn's face may have forced the
high overthrow that resulted in the INT late in the 4Q.� Zo was carried by Martin for a few yards at
the end of a 11-yard run in the 4Q, which wasn't all that appealing.� Jackson did backpedal into a deep drop and had
decent zone coverage on the pass to McCareins that was INT'd by Farrior.� Foote blitzed and helped dump Martin for a
loss in the 4Q, but he did allow Martin to gash the defense for some nice
chunks of yardage on a couple occasions.�
The LB corps helped to limit the great Curtis Martin to just an average
day at the office on running plays, although Martin did gash them for 35 yards
on 3 receptions.� A.�
DB:�
A pretty good day for the DB crew, although Pencilneck's candy arm
helped make their job a bit easier.� Troy
Pola made a tremendous INT in the 1Q, dropping back into coverage after lining
up like a blitzing safety near the LOS and then showing the athleticism to get
back into coverage and make the pick.� Chris
Hope had a late INT, although this one was a "fair catch", gimme kind
of INT off a horribly overthrown pass by Penn.�
Hope had some weak, flailing tackling early in the game, but did buckle
his helmet and chip in better later on.�
Hope had a nice reach-around and bat-away on a 3d & 7 slant early in
the 2Q.� Townsend had a near-INT on a
deep curl in the 4Q, although he was beaten earlier in the 3Q for a TD, but
McCareins was unable to get 2 feet in-bounds.�
Willie Williams had a rough going in the 3Q, getting tooled by McCareins
on 3d & 9 for an 18-yard gain, and then getting beaten 2 plays later by the
same receiver for a 43-yard gain.� Williams
is obviously the weak link and the Jets showed just that, going after Willie
time and time again.� To his credit, Williams
(along with Hope) did have a good bust-up of a deep crosser to Moss in the 4Q
deep in Stiller territory.� �Stuvaints, Taylor, and Colclough got some
work.� B+.
Spec
teams:� Reed nailed a 34-yard FG, and had a nice day
of KOs.� Gardocki had a solid day, twice
pinning the Jets deep on their own 4.� I
was especially pleased with the KO coverage late in the 4Q after the Bettis TD,
in which the coverage team held the Jest to a short return to their 14-yard
line.� ��El was limited to jack on
punt returns, and the Stiller KO returns were lackluster.� B.�
OC:�
Whisenhunt oversaw an ugly 1H, in which the Stillers were 0-5 on 3rd
downs and scored a measly 3 points.� The
offense came a bit more alive in the 2H, and got some big 3d down production
from Parker and Bettis (1 TD pass, 1 TD run, both on 3rd down).� I still have nightmares over the ugly wounded
quail that Bettis threw for an INT versus Clev in '99, but fortunately Tuman
was wide open for the TD.� I do get a
bit concerned when a big, lumbering, slow FB like Kreider is leading the
offense in receptions.� Sure, Plex is
out, but the offense has had a few games now to adjust to this.� B.�
DC:�
LeBeau made Penncilneck look like dumfounded greenhorn and a
pencilnecked geek.� The use of Pola on
the play that he INT'd a pass was tremendous.�
Pola lined up as a "blitzer" in the OLB area, but then peeled
back into coverage, and Penncilneck never saw him.� This is simply using one's assets to the maximum extent possible,
and when you have a rare breed like Pola, you use him like this, not in the
vanilla manner that Tiny Tim Lewis would have done.� Limiting Curtis Martin to 72 yards rushing and few big plays is a
feather in Dick's cap.� The sour note
was the victimization on 3rd & long, just like last week, in which the
defense played soft and flaccid.�� A-.�
HC:� After last
week's horrific plethora of penalties, Billy Cowher got much better focus from
his troops, who committed just 2 penalties.�
Actually, 1 of the flags was a 12-men on the field penalty on the
defense, and this was likely caused by a late substitution by the staff.� The down note for Cowher was the imbecilic
challenge of the McCareins 43-yard catch.��
One has to wonder what goes through Cowhead's thick skull on a challenge
like this, because there was absolutely nothing in the replay to justify the
waste of a timeout.� Cowher's infamous
"Let's Stay Back" mantra still seems to have a grip on LeBeau and the
defense, playing far too soft and giving up far too much cushion and yardage on
3rd & long.� A-�
Synopsis:�
It's always good to get stern challenges late in the season, lest a front-running
team gets soft and complacent as they head to the playoffs.� The Jets provided just that, and the Stillers
hung tough and matched the Jets punch for punch.� The Stillers were fortunate on both the Staley and Ward fumbles,
as well the plethora of NY penalties (12 flags, all in the 1st half).� The Stillers have now wrapped up the division
title, although that was not the most joyous news in the Steel City (Wally Harris'
resignation being a much more gleeful and joyful bit of news -- hooray!!). The
Stillers get a huge breather this Saturday against the lowly Giants, but then
have 2 stern tests against the Ravens and on the road in Buffalo.� 15-1 is actually possible and within reach, but
it will take teamwork working on all cylinders, along with a break or 2.�