WPBtoRNOFinFan
Practice Squad
Well, this is my first time trying to do some analysis work, but hell, here goes....
Quarterback - Daunte Culpepper - He finished the night with a 48 percent completion rate and two interceptions. However, up until the 4th quarter, I remember calculating his percentage and it was 65 percent or so when I had calculated it in the late third. He did an exceptional job reading blitzes and stunts that the Pitt defense was throwing at him, a very tough defense to read and play against. One thing I noticed about Daunte is that, granted he should be, but he is a lot more hesitant to run the ball. There were a number of operatunities where nothing was open downfield that he could have taken off, but this is a man who is still only months removed from serious knee surgery. Number two, Daunte stayed true to his competitive spirit, but sometimes being too much of a competitor in a critical situation can lead to the forcing of throws, which without a doubt, Daunte did with the Porter INT...the Polamalu INT was slightly forced, but mostly was a remarkable play by probably the best safety in the game.
Bottom Line: Culpepper played well, but showed rust. Considering the lack of throwing time he had on most plays, he did very well, but did not do so well fourth quarter, but that will happen. Maybe the defense threw some new looks at him on those plays that they had not shown the entire time, who knows. In the end, he made two very bad choices, and two others that were questionable, which is considerably better than anything we've had since Marino.
Joey Harrington - Way to carry a clipboard
Runningbacks - Ronnie Brown - First things, first, lets look at the statistics. 15 carries, 30 yards, and a long of 8. Very pedestrian numbers, right? Wrong. Pitt has always been very tough against the run, and if I had more time to do research, I would show other runners' statistics against them, but I don't. Lets face it, if there are no holes to run through, we have one of the best backs at trying to get those two yards that you can typically squeeze out of any running play. Ronnie exemplified this last night, and he kept moving, drove the pile a few times, and later in the game did what his style of running does; wears down the defense and starts picking up yardage in chunks late in the game.
Darian Barnes, Fullback - He did a decent job lead-blocking, but if this is the guy who beat out Fred Beasley, I would suggest that Beasley retire. Barnes let Porter, who granted isn't too easy to block, but he let him just fly right by him. Horrible pass pro on his part. Good run blocking, and that is what Barnes does best. In Saban We Trust.
Tight Ends - Randy McMichael - Where have you gone, Mr.McMichael? I saw a few drops on his part, namely the one where he got drilled in traffic, which is understandable, but Daunte did put the ball in there nice. I thought we would gameplan to make Randy a big part of our offense this game, due to the fact that the Steelers love to blitz so much, which would leave them much more vulnerable to tight end pop passes, outs, posts, etc but we only had two completions to tight ends the entire game.
Justin Pelle - Good blocker, one good catch and run...really didn't watch him too closely this game to be honest.
...and now the fun begins.
Offensive Line - I didn't watch the big guys individually, as I was having a few beers during the game instead of sitting there and TiVo'ing it, but from what I saw, the interior of the line once again was our weakness in pass protection, as well as run pro. Our tosses outside went well, most of our inside runs went for two yards. I hope Kendall Jacox can pick up our system (since he's a Houck protege, it shouldn't take much time) quickly, because Bennie "Air Block" Anderson is a joke and needs to be pulled from our starting lineup. Hadnot did a fairly good job from what I saw, and our book ends looked fairly good, (Shelton and Carey) not stars, but definately not like the scrubs our starters looked like in 2004. A positive in it all: We allowed two sacks against a VERY aggressive blitz scheme that Pittsburgh employs, one less than an offensive line that has all-pro guard Alan Faneca and a few other big names on it against our "aging" front seven.
now for defense....
Defensive Line -
Jason Taylor - If anybody makes an old man joke about our defensive line, at least these old men can flat our preform. Taylor came out there last night and was quiet the first quarter-halfish, but I know that I saw him out there looking like Jason Taylor 5 years ago, the man is ageless and didn't appear to be hindered by his back what so ever. His stats from the game aren't that great, 2 tackles, 1 tackle assist, and 1 sack, however if anybody here actually watched the game, he forced a lot of the good plays we had, in particular in the run game by forcing fast willie outside.
Vonnie Holliday- I was impressed, he can flat out play. 6 tackles, 2 assists, and he was key in the run stopping game in the middle. Another aging vet that still has it in him for a couple more years.
Keith "Tractor" Traylor - The big man makes big plays, plain and simple. It was a great run stop in the backfield that caused some great momentum for our team, no doubt about it. He had four tackles and a sack. Not too bad for a man who turned 37 soon, I would say. Bargain basket player? You bet. Great pickup before the 2005 season? You bet, so long as he doesn't go harming public buildings anymore.
Kevin Carter - Another great player, two tackles, two assists, and a sack. I don't care if our D-line is old, it's holding up great so far against a great o-line and we held one of the best rushing teams in the league to a mediocre 3.8 ypc average. Carter is great against the run and good against the pass, he did well.
The Backups - D-Bowens had a tackle and an assist, Roth had a tackle (for loss if i remember correctly, but I could be wrong), and Dan Wilkinson had one assist.
Linebackers
Channing Crowder - Statistically, 3 tackles, two assists. Crowder is a playmaker, and although he isn't that big of a standout, he did a solid job last night. Didn't give up anything big and just played solid, that's all you need out of a second-year pro.
Zach Thomas - 8 tackles, 4 assists, sounds like the same old Zach Thomas to me. He played solid, was in there for every play whether he made the tackle or not, but there is one play where it's not necessarily his fault, but Capers' fault. Miller is big and fast, he runs a 4.7 or 4.8 depending on which combine/pro day workout you look at. You can't even find a Zach Thomas 40 time online, but I would estimate probably 4.8, 4.9, he's quicker than he is fast. Hell, when I play MADDEN, not saying it's like real life at all, but I'm always smart enough to have Crowder man up against people instead of Thomas due to the fact that most backs/tight ends are FASTER than he is, not necessarily quicker. All in all, solid play, one big play he gave up, but it was an exploited mismatch.
Donnie Spragan - 3 tackles, 2 assists. Quiet night for a solid player, I remember him giving up a few plays, but nothing tremendous, however I still wish we had picked up Arrington or that we could sign a Boulware/Sharper type. We need someone who is better at pass-rushing at the strongside position, especially when we run our straight up 3-4.
Secondary
Will Allen - Good run coverage, pretty good pass coverage, although watching the game on TV gives you little view of the secondary, so this will be the briefest part of my analysis.
Renaldo Hill - VERY undersized safety, made a lot of tackles, but also did that because he was having to tackle people after the catch
Travares Tillman - He tried to rip the wrong hand and was a second or two late to make a big play when Nate Washington got that touchdown, but all in all decent play.
Andre Goodman - Can we have Travis Daniels back? Goodman will be a good nickel, but we need someone who understands our system a little bit better, Goodman can hit, but his coverage is lacking significantly.
Quarterback - Daunte Culpepper - He finished the night with a 48 percent completion rate and two interceptions. However, up until the 4th quarter, I remember calculating his percentage and it was 65 percent or so when I had calculated it in the late third. He did an exceptional job reading blitzes and stunts that the Pitt defense was throwing at him, a very tough defense to read and play against. One thing I noticed about Daunte is that, granted he should be, but he is a lot more hesitant to run the ball. There were a number of operatunities where nothing was open downfield that he could have taken off, but this is a man who is still only months removed from serious knee surgery. Number two, Daunte stayed true to his competitive spirit, but sometimes being too much of a competitor in a critical situation can lead to the forcing of throws, which without a doubt, Daunte did with the Porter INT...the Polamalu INT was slightly forced, but mostly was a remarkable play by probably the best safety in the game.
Bottom Line: Culpepper played well, but showed rust. Considering the lack of throwing time he had on most plays, he did very well, but did not do so well fourth quarter, but that will happen. Maybe the defense threw some new looks at him on those plays that they had not shown the entire time, who knows. In the end, he made two very bad choices, and two others that were questionable, which is considerably better than anything we've had since Marino.
Joey Harrington - Way to carry a clipboard
Runningbacks - Ronnie Brown - First things, first, lets look at the statistics. 15 carries, 30 yards, and a long of 8. Very pedestrian numbers, right? Wrong. Pitt has always been very tough against the run, and if I had more time to do research, I would show other runners' statistics against them, but I don't. Lets face it, if there are no holes to run through, we have one of the best backs at trying to get those two yards that you can typically squeeze out of any running play. Ronnie exemplified this last night, and he kept moving, drove the pile a few times, and later in the game did what his style of running does; wears down the defense and starts picking up yardage in chunks late in the game.
Darian Barnes, Fullback - He did a decent job lead-blocking, but if this is the guy who beat out Fred Beasley, I would suggest that Beasley retire. Barnes let Porter, who granted isn't too easy to block, but he let him just fly right by him. Horrible pass pro on his part. Good run blocking, and that is what Barnes does best. In Saban We Trust.
Tight Ends - Randy McMichael - Where have you gone, Mr.McMichael? I saw a few drops on his part, namely the one where he got drilled in traffic, which is understandable, but Daunte did put the ball in there nice. I thought we would gameplan to make Randy a big part of our offense this game, due to the fact that the Steelers love to blitz so much, which would leave them much more vulnerable to tight end pop passes, outs, posts, etc but we only had two completions to tight ends the entire game.
Justin Pelle - Good blocker, one good catch and run...really didn't watch him too closely this game to be honest.
...and now the fun begins.
Offensive Line - I didn't watch the big guys individually, as I was having a few beers during the game instead of sitting there and TiVo'ing it, but from what I saw, the interior of the line once again was our weakness in pass protection, as well as run pro. Our tosses outside went well, most of our inside runs went for two yards. I hope Kendall Jacox can pick up our system (since he's a Houck protege, it shouldn't take much time) quickly, because Bennie "Air Block" Anderson is a joke and needs to be pulled from our starting lineup. Hadnot did a fairly good job from what I saw, and our book ends looked fairly good, (Shelton and Carey) not stars, but definately not like the scrubs our starters looked like in 2004. A positive in it all: We allowed two sacks against a VERY aggressive blitz scheme that Pittsburgh employs, one less than an offensive line that has all-pro guard Alan Faneca and a few other big names on it against our "aging" front seven.
now for defense....
Defensive Line -
Jason Taylor - If anybody makes an old man joke about our defensive line, at least these old men can flat our preform. Taylor came out there last night and was quiet the first quarter-halfish, but I know that I saw him out there looking like Jason Taylor 5 years ago, the man is ageless and didn't appear to be hindered by his back what so ever. His stats from the game aren't that great, 2 tackles, 1 tackle assist, and 1 sack, however if anybody here actually watched the game, he forced a lot of the good plays we had, in particular in the run game by forcing fast willie outside.
Vonnie Holliday- I was impressed, he can flat out play. 6 tackles, 2 assists, and he was key in the run stopping game in the middle. Another aging vet that still has it in him for a couple more years.
Keith "Tractor" Traylor - The big man makes big plays, plain and simple. It was a great run stop in the backfield that caused some great momentum for our team, no doubt about it. He had four tackles and a sack. Not too bad for a man who turned 37 soon, I would say. Bargain basket player? You bet. Great pickup before the 2005 season? You bet, so long as he doesn't go harming public buildings anymore.
Kevin Carter - Another great player, two tackles, two assists, and a sack. I don't care if our D-line is old, it's holding up great so far against a great o-line and we held one of the best rushing teams in the league to a mediocre 3.8 ypc average. Carter is great against the run and good against the pass, he did well.
The Backups - D-Bowens had a tackle and an assist, Roth had a tackle (for loss if i remember correctly, but I could be wrong), and Dan Wilkinson had one assist.
Linebackers
Channing Crowder - Statistically, 3 tackles, two assists. Crowder is a playmaker, and although he isn't that big of a standout, he did a solid job last night. Didn't give up anything big and just played solid, that's all you need out of a second-year pro.
Zach Thomas - 8 tackles, 4 assists, sounds like the same old Zach Thomas to me. He played solid, was in there for every play whether he made the tackle or not, but there is one play where it's not necessarily his fault, but Capers' fault. Miller is big and fast, he runs a 4.7 or 4.8 depending on which combine/pro day workout you look at. You can't even find a Zach Thomas 40 time online, but I would estimate probably 4.8, 4.9, he's quicker than he is fast. Hell, when I play MADDEN, not saying it's like real life at all, but I'm always smart enough to have Crowder man up against people instead of Thomas due to the fact that most backs/tight ends are FASTER than he is, not necessarily quicker. All in all, solid play, one big play he gave up, but it was an exploited mismatch.
Donnie Spragan - 3 tackles, 2 assists. Quiet night for a solid player, I remember him giving up a few plays, but nothing tremendous, however I still wish we had picked up Arrington or that we could sign a Boulware/Sharper type. We need someone who is better at pass-rushing at the strongside position, especially when we run our straight up 3-4.
Secondary
Will Allen - Good run coverage, pretty good pass coverage, although watching the game on TV gives you little view of the secondary, so this will be the briefest part of my analysis.
Renaldo Hill - VERY undersized safety, made a lot of tackles, but also did that because he was having to tackle people after the catch
Travares Tillman - He tried to rip the wrong hand and was a second or two late to make a big play when Nate Washington got that touchdown, but all in all decent play.
Andre Goodman - Can we have Travis Daniels back? Goodman will be a good nickel, but we need someone who understands our system a little bit better, Goodman can hit, but his coverage is lacking significantly.
i was trying this for my first time and was hoping for some input
