Doncos 17, Stillers 14 ���. Oct 12th, 2003 ����Game
#6
Stillers-Doncos Postgame
Analysis and Grades
The
downtrodden Stillers went out to Mile High, and aided by facing a rusty backup QB,
fought the Yoncos tooth and nail.� The Stillers
grittily compiled a 13-play drive and tied the game late in the 4Q on a 2-point
conversion run by Betts.� In the end, Billy
Ball -- replete with The Softee Defense, botched plays, and foolish
penalties -- allowed Denver to march for and kick the game-winning FG as time
expired.�
Grades:
QB:�
After throwing crushing INTs the past few weeks, Maddox seemed pretty
timid in passing the ball today.� He
opened the game crisply enough, with an 18-yard strike to Plex down the
seam.� But after that, there were a host
of throw-aways, misfires, and rinky-dink completions.� He deserves credit for the late, long TD march, although most of
the yardage was via RAC yards after small passes, or on the ground.� Maddox also threw a nice block on a 12-yard
reverse by Ward in the 1Q.� But there
were several negatives.� Maddox allowed
one pass to slip out of his hands, which was ruled a fumble, and it was lucky
that Haynes recovered it.� He threw 2
near-INTs; one dropped by Mobley late in the 2Q and 1 dropped by Ferguson in
the 4Q at the start of that long TD march.�
He also overthrew an open Plex on a 3d & 13 bomb on the first play
of the 4Q, which should have been an easy 6 points.� Worst of all, Maddox showed today that he is almost totally
incapable of throwing the ball while on the run.� Between designed mini-rolls and flushes from pressure, Maddox
either awkwardly misfired or threw the ball away on at least 6 occasions, with
his only success in that situation coming on a completion to Ward on the long
4Q TD drive.� Sure, Maddox is no Favre
and never will be, but if an NFL QB cannot complete passes while on the move --
especially the slowest starting QB in the entire NFL -- he becomes a sitting
duck &/or an automatic incompletion when he's put on the move or flushed from
the pocket.� C.��������
RB:�
Amoz started and had a modest 10 carries for 15 yards, and grabbed 2
passes.� Bettis got increased PT as the
game wore on, and finished with 14 rushes for 34 yards.� Bus was tough and skillful on both the late TD
as well as the 2-point conversion, in which he spun and skimmed on the lower
leg of Faneca into the EZ.� On the down
side, Bettis coughed up the football after a mild hit from a little DB
(Ferguson), which set up the Denver TD that made it 14-6.� Haynes had a couple nice carries late in the
2Q.� Regardless of Bettis' costly
fumble, you can bet $50 that the Cowher's favorite toy, Jerome Bettis, will be
back in the starting lineup after the bye week.� B.���
FB: Kreider opened up some holes with
good lead blocks.� He also caught a
critical 13-yard pass.� A-.�
WR:�
Ward and Plex were held in check nearly the entire game, but both came
up with big plays on that final drive.�
Plex caught a short pass and added big RAC yards for a 23-yard gain.� On 4th & 6, Ward came out of the
backfield on a circle route and, with a big RAC, gained 15 yards.� Ward carried twice for 9 yards.� On a down note, Ward dropped a pass on 3d
& 8 in the 2Q, although he was hit just as the ball arrived.� El caught 1 pass for 7 yards; carries twice
for 7; and completed a WR screen to Ward for 4.� As has happened all season, the Stillers got nothing from their
#4 receiver.� B.�
TE:�
Reim had only 1 grab for 6 yards, but he showed his good hands and
athleticism on this slightly off-target pass.�
He also had a good down block on the DE on the Bettis 2-point run.� He dropped a possible TD pass in the 2Q just
before he was drilled, helmet-to-helmet, by Ferguson.� B+�
OL: With Smith out and Fordham hurt,
the O-line was shuffled beforehand, as well as during the entire game.� 3rd-year man Matthias Nkwenti was finally
allowed to play in an NFL game, and played some LT, LG, and RT.� Hartings moved to RG some in the 4Q, with
Okobi getting some PT at center.� Faneca
saw action at LT and LG.� Seldom used
Keydrick Vincent started at LG and Ross started at RT.� The result of all this jumbling and
switching was predictable -- the running game sputtered and Maddox was under
pressure nearly the entire game.�
Leading the way in stench and gross ineptitude was RG Kendall Simmons,
who had his sixth horrible game of the season.� As he has been in nearly every game this
season, Simmons was called for a hold.�
He also allowed 2 sacks with shit-laden blocking in the 3Q.� He was whipped badly to the inside by
Fatafehi on the 1 sack on 3rd & 9, and later on, on 3d & 1, he got
thoroughly tooled to the inside by Pryce.�
This was some of the most wretched, vomit-inducing pass-blocking I've
seen in the past 5 years.� Finally, the
coaching staff pulled Simmons out of the game for a while, inserting Hartings
at RG.� Fat Oliver Ross was badly beaten
by Pryce for a sack in the 1st series, and waddled and struggled on numerous
other plays, and was also flagged for a false start.� Faneca, of course, played well at both LG and LT, although he was
beaten to the inside by backup DE Reggie Hayward on a 3Q sack.� Hartings, during a play in which he was the
RG, was flagged for a false start.�
Vincent was flagged for an illegal block in the 1Q.� Vincent, Nkwenti, and Okobi -- each in his
3rd year in the NFL and each rarely ever been allowed to play in a regular
season game -- all played more than acceptably.� Aside from coaching stubbornness, stupidity, and cowardice for
playing youngsters, there's not a single reason why at least 2 of these men
shouldn't be in the starting lineup.�
C-.�
DL:�
Facing a superb O-line, this was the D-line's best effort of the
season.� They held Portis to a mere 47
yards (3.1 YPR).� Hampton had a strong
game.� He totally blew up a 3rd & 1
plunge early in the 3Q, and also batted a pass in the 4Q while being
double-teamed.� Smith and Kimo provided
some harassment on Beuerlein.� A.����
LB:�
The Big 3 did a good job of limiting Portis.� Joey Porter led this crew with 4 solos and 2 assists.� KenBell slashed in and stopped Portis on a
key 3d & 1 early in the 3Q.� On
successive plays in the 3Q, Bell and Porter were flagged for offsides, and Bell
for a real ticky-tacke hands-to-face on the final drive.� James Farrior helped force a Portis fumble
in the 3Q, but later in the quarter, he hesitated to scoop up a live ball, and
after he finally did meekly pick it up, he immediately coughed it back up to
the Doncos.� Had he held onto the ball
and simply fallen on it, the Stillers would have set up shop around the Denver
23.� But give credit to Farrior for at
least doing something during the game.�
On the other hand, "team captain" Jason GilDong stood around
and did nothing the entire game.� He had
a couple of cake-easy solos on basic line plunges, in which he was mostly
neglected.� (1 solo came as Denver ran a
harmless plunge just before the game-winning FG.)� Otherwise, he spent his time tittybumping or dancing with the RT;
flailing at ballcarriers, or getting abused by Shannon Sharpe and then
backwards flopping to the ground in order to draw a cheesy holding
penalty.� He was also flagged for an
offsides.� The Big 3:� B.��
Jason GilDong: D-.��
DB:�
The overall stats will make it look like this crew played acceptably,
but as happens all too often, stats without relativity and analysis are mostly
worthless.� For starters, instead of
facing one of the NFL's hottest QBs, the DBs got a massive break when rusty,
creaky, Steve Beuerlein had to start for the injured Plummer.� Beuerlien was scattershot most of the game,
which really skews the numbers.� The DBs
had 2 INTs, but both were created by Denver.�
On Chad's early INT, Beuerlein threw a gimpy pass off his back foot that
was well off the mark, and Chad made the pick.�
Burnt Alex's INT occurred when Smith slipped on his cut.� One of the few bright spots was DeWayne's
crisp stop of Smith short of the sticks on 3rd & 5 in the 2Q, forcing a
punt.� But the defining mark of a DB crew
is in the 4Q, during gut check time, and this crew failed miserably.� DW was beaten on a deep route by Smith down
the sideline for a 38-yard gain, and 2 plays later, gave up the TD pass to
Smith.� It should be noted that both
catches by Smith were outstanding, and the coverage wasn't lousy, but
nonetheless Washington failed to make a play on either pass.�� DW was also flagged for illegal contact on
the final Donco drive.� Burnt Alexander
showed the world his true worthlessness in this game.� He got abused by Sharpe on the first Donco TD, and then dropped
an easy INT -- right in his bread basket -- a few plays before Elam's
game-winning FG.� But don't forget --
"Brent is a veteran presence who makes all the calls and does so much back
there", according to Billy Cowher.�
Troy Pola was beaten on a deep flag by Sharpe early in the game, but the
ball was overthrown.� He was flagged for
a ticky-tack PI on a bomb to Lelei.�
Logie had 5 solos and played acceptably.� Facing a rusty backup, this crew played ok, but fell short when
it mattered.� C-.�
Spec
teams:� For once, there weren't any long returns
against these riders of the short bus, but there was some poorness.� Troy Pola was flagged for a hold on a PR
late in the 2Q.� El did little on 5 punt
returns.� Josh boomed a couple of punts
that hit and bounced into the EZ.� On
the plus side, Reed was 2 of 2 on shortie FGs.�
Troy and Mays each had a good stop on a KO return.� B-.�
OC:�
Mularkey certainly has had better days.�
He seemed to be grab-bagging it most of the day.� Two reverses, 2 plays apart, in the same
series?�� Very dumb.� Then there's the meek, gutless series after
Chad's early INT gave us the ball at the Denver 9.� 1st down, Bus run (surprise!), 1 yard.� 2D - little crosser to Plex, 3 yards.� 3rd down, Maddox eventually dumped to Haynes, inc.�� Denver throws the ball to the END ZONE and
allows playmakers like Sharpe and Smith to MAKE PLAYS.� Mularkey gets chickenshit disease and gets
the apple stuck in his throat deep in enemy territory, and AVOIDS the end
zone.� Then there's the 3dd & 1 at
the Denver 42 in the 3Q.� Instead of at
least making the Doncos GUESS on the play, Mularkey goes with a SHOTGUN
formation, totally eschewing the play-action pass.� The result?� Maddox was
engulfed on a sack.� One telling number
from this game is this:� 2.6� avg. gain per play.� (Denver, by comparison, had 5.1)�� Given the weapons on this offense, that's
absolutely unacceptable.� Sure, we'll
hear the moaning cries about "Cover 2".� Guess what?� That defense
has been around since, oh, about 1953.�
Deal with it and exploit it.�
D.��
DC:�
Tiny Tim Lewis had the luxury of facing a decrepit, rusty backup QB, and
he still was unable to capitalize on it.�
Given the chance to stop Denver and force an OT, Tiny Tim's Softee
Defense easily allowed the Doncos to march 51 yards for the winning
FG.�� You saw Ferguson drill Jay Reim in
the EZ and draw a questionable personal foul penalty.� Wouldn't it be nice to see a Stiller DB close enough to make that
hit, and then actually make the bone-jarring hit?� Hitting and intimidation are what makes for
a good defense; this softee defense has none of that.� C-.����
HC:� Just another
day of Billy Ball, as follows:
���������� - 11
(eleven) penalties, showing the usual carelessness and lack of discipline
���������� - gutless
turtling deep in enemy territory
���������� - After a
Denver personal foul gave the Stillers a 1st down inside the 5-yard line late
in the game, Billy himself called TO.�
WHY?� It wasted a scarce TO that
may have been needed had we failed on the 2-pointer.� Equally bad, it allowed the frazzled Donco defense to
regroup.��
���������� - A
foolhardy, wasted challenge on the Maddox 1Q fumble.� The challenge had no chance of success and it wasted a TO.�
���������� - The
Softee Defense that allowed the easy, carefree march for the winning
FG.�
���������� - Mental
blunders, such as a costly 4Q fumble, an easy-as-pie dropped INT on the
game-winning Donco drive, and both a veteran LB and veteran QB treating a live
football as though it were a live hand grenade.�
Perhaps Billy might pull his head out of his ass during the
bye week and insert a couple young backup O-lineman and sit Fordham and
Simmons, and perhaps even Ross.� Don�t
forget -- it's Billy's, and Billy's alone, stoneheaded stubbornness and
cowardice that has kept Nkwenti and Vincent ROTTING while Simmons and Fordham
stumble and bumble on a regular basis.�
Way back in camp, in fact, I'd written that Vincent could even be
considered for work at RT, based on his size, frame length, and footwork.� Everyone decrees that the O-line has been a
disaster, but one man has stubbornly REFUSED to use the resources at his
disposal, and his name is Little Billy Cowher.�
D-.�
Synopsis:�
As written in my pre-game analysis, I expected the Stillers to give a
stiff fight, but succumb in a close game.�
"Close" is nice in horseshoes and hand grenades, but it
doesn't feed the bulldog in pro football.�
With Plummer out, this was a very "stealable" game, but
blunders and softee football snatched defeat from victory.� This team founders into the bye week at 2-4,
with a miserable 3-game losing streak.�
Problems abound, yet there are, in fact, solutions.� Ike Taylor and DeShea Townsend mostly rot
the bench on defense.� Burnt Alexander,
the worst starting FS in the entire NFL, continues to start on defense.� Zo Jackson and Freddie Millions are not
allowed to dress.� Nkwenti, Okobi, and
Vincent are bench-rotters or even inactive on most Sundays.� The "defensive captain" stands
around the entire game, doing nothing.�
Meanwhile, Denver coach Mike Shanahan sat Pro Bowl CB Deltha O'Neal and
started Kelly Herndon, a move that Billy Cowher wouldn't make if a gun were
held to his head.� Billy Cowher has 13
days to extract his head from his anus and make some changes, but myopic
stubbornness will most likely prevent him from making the changes that need to
be made.�