I asked for this game because while I hadn’t seen the Titans defense this year, I had heard many good things about them and wanted to see if they were a true force to be reckoned with or just a group that got some lucky breaks. Never mind right place at the right time; complete and utter garbage is the term I might have preferred to use, but this is the man who chose to analyze Cam Newton’s debacle against the Jaguars instead of any of his other games, so maybe it’s just me. They better hope that’s the case, because after seeing the unbelievably hopeless Steelers offensive line hold them to one sack, one hit and one hurry (no that’s not a misprint) and perennial PFF whipping boys such as Jonathan Scott and Doug Legursky registering positive grades I have no idea how they’d fare against say, the Patriots line.
Anyway, now that my post analysis dope test is in (so many lines guys – don’t let me down) and remarkably clear, here’s how Pittsburgh brought Mike Munchak’s team to an embarrassing hiatus.
Tennessee Titans – Three Performances of Note
1) Witherspoon disappoints
Of all the Titans players I was looking forward to seeing Will Witherspoon (-4.9) was at the top of the list. He had a terribly inconsistent year in 2010 so I was hoping his early season form would continue and I’d get to see the best of him. The term “no such luck” immediately springs to mind. He looked lightweight in run defense. It didn’t seem to matter which Steeler was blocking him, it was pretty much the same throughout – linemen gets to the second level and pushes him aside with ease; Max Starks, Ramon Foster, Legursky, you name them. He also had real problems handing the lead blocks of FB David Johnson in the hole but perhaps the play that best illustrates his ineptitude was with 5:35 to go in the 3rd, Trai Essex, who was only on the field because of an injury and played only seven snaps, got downfield, locked him up and pushed him completely out of the picture.
2) Michael Griffin – Athlete
No term should please a football player more than those exact words “football player”. In itself it conjures up stories of determination, hard work and above all else, performance. To me, being called “an athlete” has rather more insidious connotations; potential, inherent ability and a consummate failure to deliver anything consequential consistently. I think you see where I’m going with this. In 2008 Michael Griffin was very much a football player but what has happened since leads me to think this was just a blip on his way to proving just how athletic he really is. How is it possible for a player with his range to fail to get over the top of so many plays? Why does he bite on so many play action fakes? Two plays sum up the whole point:
2nd Quarter – 11:19 left. How badly does he bite and end up in no man’s land on the touchdown to Hines ward?
4th Quarter – 2:46 left. Which other receiver is he concerned with that stops him getting over the top of Mike Wallace on the 40 yard bomb? No one else runs a route beyond 11 yards so playing that deep how does the Steeler speedster get behind him?
3) More Snaps Please
There is one Titan who hardly ever disappoints and that’s Alterraun Verner. He average about 45% of snaps playing RCB in nickel and always does a good job. Just have a look at these stats and see what you think. So far this year he’s been in coverage on 135 plays. He’s been targeted only 13 times of which he’s given up five receptions for 33 yards. He’s made one interception and defended another three balls and quarterbacks throwing at him have a rating of 14.6. It’s not even as if this is a fluke. He had a good rookie campaign and graded out at +5.1 for 2010. Keep your eyes on him as a future superstar.
Pittsburgh – Three Performances of Note
1) My Kingdom for a Line
It would be something of an understatement to say the Steelers have had problems on their O-Line this year. After RT Willie Colon went down after Week 1, not a single player has had a positive grade overall. Despite the best efforts of Dan Dierdorf to follow the hype script on Maurkice Pouncey,(+0.9) pronouncing his “run of the mill” pull blocks on safeties that happen to have force, as the stuff of All-Pros, it’s still obvious to anyone actually watching o-line play regularly that his less heralded brother is already a superior player. Putting the soap box to one side for a moment, the line really did well here particularly protecting their gimpy QB. Ramon Foster was beaten badly by Jurrell Casey for a sack but that aside it was a superlative display. Most impressive was Max Starks, (+4.9) fresh out of retirement to rescue the Steelers from benched LT Jonathan Scott, he played a flawless game. Perfect in pass protection he was also a force in the running game and got the better of all the DREs when needed as well as the aforementioned Witherspoon who got his comeuppance on the first play on the 4th Quarter as he was pushed five yards away from the ball carrier.
2) Good Troy
Never mind Rex Grossman, another player whose consistency is what some may call variable is SS Troy Polamalu (+2.3). Last year he started off brilliantly, had a dreadful middle to 2010, came back strong and then disappeared in the playoffs. This year he just may be back to his best and some of his coverage in this game was outstanding. He was around the ball all day, knocked down three passes and also beat Jake Scott on a screen block to end a drive (9:07 left in the 1st quarter). He’s currently our top rated safety but will this continue? My view is he looks healthy for the first time in a while and its likely any honors he receives this year will be well deserved.
3) Out of Position
It’s too early to make a fair judgment, but on the basis of this game Lawrence Timmons looks out of sorts playing OLB. With James Harrison injured, he was filling in at ROLB with Larry Foote replacing him by returning to his original position of RILB. The sample is somewhat biased by the fact he was facing Michael Roos who looks to be coming back into form and he only managed a single hit on 40 rushes. This in itself was odd as one of Timmons strengths is coverage and no 3-4 linebacker drops more than Harrison (42% of passing snaps this year) and here was Timmons rushing on 75% of all plays; far more than Harrison. Next week the Jaguars visit so if the coaches persist with Timmons then it will probably give us a clearer view as to the viability of this option in the longer term.
Game Notes
● It may be a function of his foot but Ben Roethlisberger never threw a single pass outside the numbers to his left.
● Matt Hasselbeck actually did OK when under pressure. It was his poor 60.5% completion percentage and putrid 74.6 QB rating on the 44 drop-backs he had no pressure which were the real issue.
● The Commentators kept guessing at how often Ike Taylor had been targeted. For the record his excellent numbers were: Thrown at seven times, yielding one reception for seven yards.
PFF Game Ball
Max Starks, LT, Pittsburgh Steelers
If all returns from retirement went this well we’d expect the Commentary boxes to be empty. LT, Max Starks had an unbelievable performance on his return to protect Roethlisberger’s blindside.
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