No Excuse
A Bug�s Eye View � Steel Termite
No Excuse.� Period.
There is no excuse for the recent Stiller collapse.� None.�
I don�t want to hear, �Ben hurt his thumb� or �Cheap shot on Ben�s knees� or any other silly blather of an excuse.
This team failed because of one over-ridding problem.� Attitude.
It manifests itself in two majors
areas:� First the vaunted Stiller defense
is a shadow of its former self.� Since
the
Unfortunately, they let Ben down.� Palmer went unpunished and the Bengals, gulp, are the better team and worse, the more physical team.� The Steel Curtain is more like a shower curtain.
The other main area of major failure is special teams.� For the life of me, why can�t the Stillers play consistent special teams?� The return to the 4 was painful.� We had just brought ourselves back into the game and once again, Special Teams costs us the victory.
Early in 2005, I wrote that our problem is this team, while often good, can�t seem to make the tough choices and decisions to become great.� http://www.stillers.com/articles/1427.aspx
I�m afraid even that assessment is wrong.� We aren�t even a good team now.�
Bill Cowher�s major positive impact on any team has been his motivating factor.� But from the looks of the Monday Night Massacre at the hands of Indy and now getting stomped on at our home field from the Bengals, I�ve even more convinced this team will never go far unless there is a change in the front office atmosphere that says, �this isn�t good enough.�� He seems to have lost the one positive asset of his coaching � motivation.� He is a distant shadow of his former self � and so are the Stillers.
Without Cowher being able to fire up the troops for either a Monday Night game or a do-or-die division rival game, he is left to nothing more than slobbering all over himself.� That, fellow Stiller fans, is scary.� The cupboard is really bare.� We all knew Bill Cowher was poor game planner, X�s and O�s guy.� But he used to be able to overcome those problems most of the time with sheer motivation.
It all comes down to attitude.� Not just the attitude of the players and coaches, but it�s an attitude of the team all the way from the top.�
Sure we were one game away from the Super Bowl last season, but many of us knew if serious issues were not addressed, it would be a long time until we had another shot.�
The Stillers problems are bigger than a few Ben INT�s or poor Special Teams.� It�s even bigger than a soft Defense and fumbles.� It�s an attitude that needs to change.� In Apollo 13, Flight Director Gene Kranz offers this great advice which all Stiller fans need to start chanting in unison, �Failure is not an option.��
There is no excuse for this Stiller slide off the top of the AFC North hill. �No excuse whatsoever.