Stillers 13, Dolphs 3 ���. Sep. 26, 2004 ����Game #3
Stillers-Dolphs Postgame
Analysis and Grades
The
Stillers survived an early monsoon and slopped out a 13-3 win over the lowly
Dolphins.� While the Stillers were in control
throughout the game, this game was more of a nailbiter than it may seem, as
they clung to a flimsy 6-3 lead with 10 minutes left in the game.� But rookie QB Ben Roethlisberger marched the
team down the field for a clutch TD with 4 minutes remaining for the score that
sealed the win.
Grades:
QB:�
Making his first NFL start, Ben Roth started out as bad as one possibly
can -- tossing a wretched INT on the first offensive play by the Stillers.� Roth shook it off, and completed a 42-yarder
to Plex on the next series, although the pass was woefully underthrown.� Aided greatly by that 42-yard gain, Roth
directed that 8-play, 58-yard drive for a FG.�
Roth struggled more with the longer ball, side-arming a 2Q deep pass to
Plex that was underthrown, and woefully underthrowing Plex on the 1st series of
the 3Q.� To his credit, he had the
clutch 3d & 12 completion to Burress for 18 yards, in which he rolled right
and hit Burress with a nice pass.� This
ultimately ignited the drive for the clinching TD, as this 3rd & 12 had all
the look of yet another Gardocki punt.�
Roth finished off this drive with an impressive 7-yard TD pass to Ward,
in which Roth scrambled to his right and then rifled the pass and threaded the
needle to Ward near the GL pylon.� In
fact, the primary criticism of Roth that I have right now is this
over-infatuation with trying to feather his passes.� It's good, on some occasions, to loft the ball with touch
and "air".� But Roth has been
trying to feather nearly every pass, which is why he woefully underthrew Plex
on a couple occasions and was off the mark on other passes as well.� Roth seems intent on trying to get the
perfect rotation on his passes, but this is the NFL, and as he did on the TD
pass, he's got to simply rifle the ball when the window of opportunity presents
itself, ball rotation be damned.� In
all, a more than acceptable NFL start for the young rookie.� B.�
RB:�
The Duce cracked the 100-yard mark, mostly due to ripping off a 38-yard
run late in the 4Q.� He ran pretty well,
though, including the 15-yarder he ripped off on the first play of the 3Q when
he turned the corner.� Verron Haynes
looked good, particularly on one 2Q sequence when he had a nice 10-yard gain,
and then on the next play, churned for 10 more yards on 3d & 10.� It's readily apparent that Haynes is, at the
very least, the 2nd best back on this team.�
Doughoy Bettis, determined to keep his yards/carry under 2, had 7
carries for a whopping 12 yards.� Duce
and Haynesie:� A.� Bettis: C.�
FB: Kreider had a good, punishing lead
block that helped spring The Duce on the 38-yard dash.� I'm a bit dismayed that Kreider has totally
been written out of the offense in terms of carrying & catching the
pigskin.� Not that he's the next John
Riggins, but last year Kreider had shown that he's a capable outlet receiver
and capable of plunging up the gut of a defense that is overkeying on the
halfback.� This season, he's treated
like a leper.� B+.�
WR:�
Hines Ward again led the way, snaring 9 balls for 96 yards and the
superb, clutch TD catch.� Ward also had
a great shoestring grab late in the 2Q, as well as an earlier catch & run
in which he hurdled over a defender.�
Ward just keeps on keeping on, and it's amazing to see this man perform
and excel, week in and week out.� Ward
was flagged for a hold, but I felt this was a weak call.� Plex had 2 grabs, including an excellent
adjustment on the underthrown, 42-yard completion.� Plex returned to his old self, getting flagged for a false start,
which is something that just annoys me beyond belief.� El had 1 grab for a whopping 7 yards and an end-around for 4
yards.� A-.���
TE:�
As usual, the TEs were totally non-existent in the passing game,
catching zero balls.� They did show up
on the stat sheet, as Riemersma was flagged for a false start in the 1Q and
Tuman was whistled for the same infraction in the 4Q.� Hey, if ya can't show up in the receiving stats, at least show up
somewhere on the stat sheet, right?�
Tuman had a nice seal block on a good Staley gainer in the 1Q, but then
was as poor as piss on a Bettis 1-yard loss in the 2Q.� I'm not asking for 70 receptions over the
season from the TE spot, but on a team that gets nothing from its #4 WR, it's
beyond ludicrous to get nothing from the TE spot as well.� B-.�
OL: The O-line blocked pretty well in
the quagmire.� Leading the way was
center Jeff Hartings, who had a very strong game from start to finish.� Hartings was able to get into the second
level and get his hat on Dolphin linebackers, which helped spring many a
run.� Smith and Fat Oliver held their
own on the ends.� This obviously wasn't
a stellar defensive front 7 that they were facing, but amidst the furor of
Faneca's taken-out-of-context statement earlier in the week, this line showed
up and simply got the job done.� A.�
DL:�
The D-line had a strong effort themselves, totally jamming the line of
scrimmage for the Dolphins, as well as putting heat on the QB.� Aaron Smitty had a nice slash-in and 1-armed
stuff in the 2Q.� Hampton had good
pressure early in the 4Q, on a 2d & 7 play.� The line totally walled off the Dolphs on the 3d & 1 and then
4 & inches attempts in the 3Q.� To
be sure, they were facing a joke of an offensive line, but this D-line really
ate up the Phish tonight.� A.�
LB:�
The LB corps put a hurtin' on the Dolphs.� In particular, Farrior, Porter, and Haggans terrorized and
demonized the 'Phins, especially in the 2nd half.� Farrior issued a brutal hit to RB Leonard Henry early in the
3Q.� Next up, Porter blistered Feeley
just after a pass was released.� Then
Farrior put the heavy wood to McMichael, limiting the TE to a -1 pass
completion.� Haggans and Farrior
harassed and hurried Mister McFeeley into a poor incompletion early in the
4Q.� Later, Haggans put the big hit on
Feeley but Farrior dropped a sure INT.�
Finally, late in the game, Haggans bullrushed his man back into the QB's
face, while Joey Porter sliced in and stripped the QB, with Farrior recovering
his 2nd fumble of the game.� Ken Bell
and Zo Jackson did not dress.� In all,
the Big 3 LBs really came on hard and heavy in this tilt, including lots of
pressure and harassment that simply does not show up on the score sheet.� A.���
DB:�
Townsend and Hope led the way for the secondary.� Townsend had a nice INT on a deep ball on
the 2nd drive, in which he had good coverage and simply outboxed the
receiver.� He had another good chance
for an INT in the 2Q, but dropped it.�
He blitzed in and blasted Feeley in the 4Q for a sack.� Probably the only blunder he made all night,
was foolishly standing around after a Miami reception and signaling
"incomplete", while the receiver got up and ran for another 10
yards.� The refs ruled that the receiver
was originally down, but a veteran DB needs to make sure the guy is down before
going into refereeing antics.� Chris
Hope gave the Stillers precisely what I've been desiring for years -- some
brutal hits by a secondary member.� He
drilled TE Donald Lee on the game's opening drive, forcing a fumble and giving
the Stillers golden FP, as well as setting a tone for the rest of the day.� Later in the 1Q, he came up in run support
and simply drilled the snot out of RB Lamar Gordon, sending Gordie to the turf
and literally out of the remainder of the game with what might have been a
separated shoulder.� That's the kind of
hitting that's been missing from this secondary since, oh, 1997, and it's
precisely the kind of hitting that was so lacking in last week's loss.� Troy Pola had a 1H INT, although this was
simply the base of a poorly overthrown pass that Pola was able to basically
fair catch.� Charred Scott had some good
downfield coverage in the 1H, so the Dolphs changed tactics and figured they'd
try Scott on shorter stuff.� And it
worked like a charm, as they toyed with Scott on numerous curls and stops, in
which Scott was giving away a massively soft cushion.� This really annoyed me, because the Dolphs had no game breaking
receiver and, for that matter, no QB that can deliver the ball anyway.� Ike Taylor was allowed to dress and chipped
in some.� This was a horrible passing
offense, but the secondary played good and hit quite well.� A.
Spec
teams:� The spec teams had some good, some bad.� Reed had a 40-yard FG and a perfect 51-yard
FG, but he also missed a 45-yarder and kicked one KO OOB.� Kriewalt and Morey made some good
stops.� Ike Taylor blocked a punt late
in the 2Q.� Gardocki was pretty solid
with the punting chores.� El had a good
41-yard KO return after the Miami FG.�
Then there was the bad.� The
supposed God of Longsnapping, Mike Schneck, who serves no other purpose on the
team, had a poor snap on the 45-yard FG miss by Reed.� Morey was flagged for an illegal formation on a punt.� Stuvaints drew a 15-yard roughness flag for
blocking a man OOB during a Stiller PR.�
And Matt Cushing drew my rage when he was flagged for a false start on a
FIELD GOAL late in the 2Q, which Reed had made from 40 yards.� On the re-kick from 45 yards out, Reed
missed, and in a low-scoring game like this, that blunder could have been the
difference.� If Cowher had any guts,
he'd cut Cushing Monday morning to send a message that such asinine stupidity
will not be tolerated.� B.�
OC:�
With a rookie QB, a monsoon, and a muddy quagmire, Whisenhunt was
limited by what he could do.� Overall,
the offense did okay.� A few beefs I
had:
- The
abortion at the end of the 1st half.�
The Stillers got the ball in golden FP at the 50, with 1:38 left on the
clock.� On 1st down, Roth threw
inc.� Haynes then ran up the gut -- a
bizarre call -- for 4 yards.� This was
bizarre, but could easily be overcome if the offense had called 2 successive
plays in then huddle. Nope.� They
dawdled back in the huddle and took all the time in the world, and Roth hit
Ward for 5 yards.� Facing a 4th and 1,
with 19 seconds remaining, Roth hit Ward for 19 yards, but by then only 7
seconds remained and the Stillers had to settle for a FG try.� Very, very piss poor.
- In the
4Q, Plex runs a deep post�..right into the muddy quagmire!�� Hey Ken -- that big, brown, mucky piece of
terrain?� It's the infield of the
Florida Marlins�.and should be avoided when attempting a deep pass.� Next time, try Plex on a deep route in which
he doesn't have to slog through mud and standing water.�
Speaking of
Plex, another game in which he had a grand total of 2 grabs.� Again, this is an offense that gets very, very
little from the #3 WR; very little from its RBs in the passing game; nothing
from the #4 WR; and nothing from the TE.�
How, then, can you get so little from your immensely gifted #2 (really,
a #1A) WR ?��� B.�
DC:�
This was the classic case of a DC having a job as envious as being the
beer pourer at the Munich Oktoberfest.�
The Dolphs had no QB, no running game, no OL, and very little at
WR.� Probably the only beef I have with
LeBeau was the bizarre TO taken right after the KO that followed Ward's TD.� It seemed the defense got confused and
stumped, which, following a lengthy TV timeout after the TD score, is rather
incomprehensible.� B.�
HC:� Billy Cowher
got what he likes best -- a field goal fest and a "let's keep it close and
hope we can win it in the 4Q".�
This game really was too close for comfort, with the Stillers clinging
to a 3-point lead against a lousy opponent that was fully ready to pack it
in.�� B.�
Synopsis:�
A win is a win, and after last week's whipping, a win is certainly a joy
to behold.� More importantly to me,
after last week's beat-down, this team came out tonight and hit, hit, hit.� That's the way football is supposed to be
played.� The number of Dolphins that
limped or got carted off the field was a testament to the ferocious hitting,
and that's what I want to see, week in and week out.� This win, like the week 1 win over Oakland, must be kept in
perspective, however.� The Dolphs are a
weak, ravaged opponent facing yet another storm and flooding in their city, and
frankly, this is a Miami team that has now imploded and will be lucky to win 3
games over the course of the season.�
The Stillers now face division rival Cinci back in Heinz Field, and they
must be cautioned not to get too enamored and gleeful over this win.�