So how long until Canada gets let go…

I am on board with the theory of the pass opening up the run but not the first game against that type of opponent. I guess there was talk that the 49ers secondary could be exposed so maybe that played into it but I thought there should have at least been a feeling out period to see how the line was going to play together. It's almost as if by the 5th series they realized Kenny was out of sorts and tried to go to a more conservative approach with two runs and a pass. Most fans hate that approach but it has its advantages when trying to settle down a rattled QB.

 

And stop the run on Defense. If we don't control time of possession this will get ugly fast. Remember when we used to have long streaks of never giving up a 100 yard rusher. It feels like to me we haven't been great agains the run since the big snack left us and we never really replaced him.

 

I don't have all the stats but but how many east west runs vs north south did we do. This line is not any better than last year yet. Until we have a dominant line on both sides of the ball we are going to be "mid" as my son says!!

 

Also Ben had a good point that dumb ass Canada in seeing Kenny was off should have adjusted plays to try to get him in a rhythm like some high percentage quick pass plays. He seemingly didn't do any of that and just adjusted to more passes after we fell behind. Its like when a receiver drops a ball, you right back to him with an easy one to get his confidence back.

 

The "you guys" part seemed to be directed at me as well. I honestly can't believe you don't realize that poor coaching affected that game, too. I'm genuinely surprised that you don't see it.

 

Part of the issue on defense was losing Heyward very early in the game. Losses like that are always even worse during the game when they happen before there has been time for the defense to practice an approach that covers for the missing star player.

 

You do know that calling the same play more than once happens all the freaking time. I mean all the time. Especially when there are people open, or the play is working. This is not a new thing. Lots of time a play will be called to see how a defense reacts to it, and then use it against them.

 

We don't play that style of D anymore. Thank the NE Patriots for that. When We play 3-4 now it's attacking that's why our DEs rush....in the 3-4 style we did play the DE, and NT was only meant to hold up line man.

 

Yes for the linebacker to shoot through and make the play either on run or lanes to the QB. We are in between because we still play 3-4 but our line isn't near dominant and our LB's are mid with the obvious exception of TJ. I wish we would play that D again. Key is you have to have the personnel. Tomline seems to want to go 4-3 but doesn't do it and our LB's are just not up to the task. Its gonna take time to add the pieces. Growing pain year for sure.

 

People are overthinking this. Relax. Watch some college football. Watch some Super Bowl contenders lose and go 1-1 or 0-2 on Sunday. Steelers will play better on MNF.

 

Yea, called more than once, but 8 times? That's a common, smart way to roll? It's not MORE evidence that our OC is in over his head and/or connected to a head coach who is lost?

 

Go outside. Breathe, breathe in the air.

 

I feel like it's been a slow decline since Tomlin took over. We have peaks and valleys still, as does every team, but if you were to create a graph starting with Tomlin's hire, I feel like that line of success would constantly be on a decline.

I'm a broken record though. Been feeling it and saying it so long I hate even talking about it anymore. Unfortunately it's also sucked a little bit of my passion away. It's hard to care when you don't believe' there's any realistic chance of success and the team won't do what's needed. Canada has shown absolutely nothing, yet he's still here. This team is obsessed with consistency, even if that consistency is mediocrity.

 

Anything less than a new head coach will be like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The head coach is not a figurehead or cheerleader. It is the single most important person to the team. Tomlin's greatest weakness is his inability to evaluate talent, including his assistant coaches. That alone is enough to make him and the team a failure. The Steelers were a top-tier team when Tomlin took over and they are now a lower-tier team. It's been 16 years. Time to move on.

 

I harp on this a lot but two offenses in the last ten years that have been very successful were the Jags with Fournette and Bortles and the Ravens during Jackson's first two years. The Jags knew that Bortles wasn't going to lead them to a superbowl so they designed a high percentage low risk system. They would pound Fournette and Yeudon on 1st and 2nd downs and in third and manageable the used short passes to get 1st down. Every 15 plays or so they would take a shot downfield and if it worked great, if not right back to ground and pound. They kept Bortles from having to win games with his play. The Ravens embraced RPO and designed 3TE sets that forced teams to chose how they wanted to get cut, if they cover the RB, Jackson could run, If they covered Jackson to contain him his TE's would chip and release and he would hit them for a first down, there just wasn't a good formula to stop or limit that offense until teams figured out that they needed to force Jackson to chose and chose early enough that the coverage was there. Last week the game plan sucked and Kenny wasn't ready and they failed to adapt. THis week its MNF which means Monday Night Magic but I still think they need to figure out who they are.

 

It really isn't that much work, it seems like it because of where the coaching staff puts themselves well before the game was played. Just preparing for the opponent specific to that week would go a long long way to being a competitive football team in the NFL. The generic we gonna do what we do is the main reason they aren't ready for primetime. Fix that and the work will begin to fix itself.

 

https://www.si.com/nfl/steelers/news/stephen-smith-calls-pittsburgh-steelers-head-coach-mike-tomlin

Stephen A. has seen enough of this putrid football. 18 PPG and dropping. He seems oblivious that it's the head coach who is the cause though.

 

We clearly don't see what happened the same way, but the second part of your argument is where you stop making sense. No, I don't think Canada could have drawn up a plan to give the Steelers a shot to win that game because he is terrible at his job. I do think that the game plan and play-calling affect the way the players perform, especially the quarterback. The game snowballed on Pickett. Putting a better plan in place and not panicking and abandoning the run would have put him in a better position. I'm not saying he was good, but your claim that Canada had no part in the poor performance by the offense as a whole and Pickett as an individual is pure nonsense.

As you said, the 49ers smothered the easy-look completions. Do you think that happens all game to Shanahan? To Andy Reid? No, it doesn't.

 

That was after the wheels had fallen off, which happened because of both Canada's plan and Pickett's execution.

 

No, I'm not absolving players of guilt. I have repeatedly criticized Pickett's play in that game. Nou are just making things up.

 

Stop speaking nonsense. Things snowball in football games. You should know that.