Can someone please explain this...

First off, this post is not to blast Tomlin, but I would like some honest feedback/assessment.

Why in God's name does this team have such a hard time with cupcake games?! I know, "any given Sunday," but come on guys, this became a pattern a LONG time ago, and it's not changing! So many people, myself included, worried that this week was going to be yet another trap game, and sure enough...you saw the results yesterday.

And we can't blame the injury to Ben because he looked terrible from the get-go.

 

I agree seems they only get up for home games and not terrible teams on the road. A few things are still problems with the team Todd haley is brutal... i dont want people to say look how well the offense has done the past few year, because its not Todd Haley. With Ben, Bell and Brown any offensive coordinator would look good. You are playing a team who cant stop the run and the only part of their defense that is any good is the pass rush... Leveon averaged 5.3 yards a carry but only received 10 carries... The issue is once again todd haley calling plays against the grain. This is one game I wish we would have had Cowher because he loved to feature the run. There is no excuse for why between leveon and deangelo we should not have run the ball 40-50 times in this game.

 

I think it's more of a result that other teams know they are playing the Steelers so you getting extra effort, than say, like if they were playing the Browns.

But, your right it's been a common trend with Tomlin, losing to inferior teams.

 

I have no explanation for it.

 

Agree with post above... Steelers always get A+ effort from bad teams. It's like their "Super Bowl"... so they are fired up and motivated to play the best they can. Just look at the Raiders games (except last year) since '09. We only beat them once out of 4 games...and it was at Heinz Field in '10 if I'm not mistaken.... and the Raiders had an aging Duante Culpepper starting for them.

 

Not sure why to be honest with you.


I have no stat. from any source as to why they struggle (will never be one either). All I can say is there has to be a bias with this team against inferior competiton; choice supportive bias or otherwise.

 

I am not sure that answer holds water. Seems like everyone's A game would be reserved for the Patriots, especially if you play them twice every year.

 

A choice supportive bias among players and coaches not named Tomlin from the media yesterday does not help either.

 

They game plan the same for every team. They do not try to exploit any teams weaknesses. They just go about it in a "We are going to do what we do" mentality no matter the competition.

The person harping on Todd Haley is dead wrong though. He has brought more creativity than any other coach has in a long time to the offense.

Butler hasn't put anything creative on the table yet. Just running the same old Lebeau defense but with fewer blitz packages.

 

Literally multiple people came up to me today and said "THE DOLPHINS?!" They couldn't believe I didn't seem surprised at all. I can honestly say I'm not surprised by that game. I think I did read that Tomlin said in his presser that we never pay attention to a team's record when we go to play them. I guess that explains why Tomlin seems so indifferent to this stat. Either that or it's an inconvenient truth. LOL!

 

I still like the theory that instead of preppping for the dolphibs, for example, we are preparing 2 weeks for Patriots, for example

 

This tells me then that Tomlin must have a sight form of a cognitive bias known as the curse of knowledge. Look it up Blunt if/when you get the chance.


Psychology and sports do go hand in hand, do they not?

 

You Nailed It. I agree that Haley is a below average OC. I would love to see Wisenhut back on our side line calling plays. He knew how to set up a defense for the bomb better than any. Haley is a Boom or Bust type and if the boom is not there we fail. While we are at it, clean house from HC on down, only keeping Special Teams and Offensive Line Coach.

 

In that psychology and sports are both sorta "pseudo sciences" I'd say they sorta do. There will always be unexplainable things in both of them. I've always found the psychology of sports fascinating. Like how is it we can love the game of football, and love the Steelers but hate the ravens who play the exact same game as the Steelers? Casual fans don't see the game like die hard fans do either. There's not nearly the "emotional investment" and they really care more about their fake football team than a real one. My buddies that play fantasy can never understand why I get so worked up over Steelers games and how I can have such passionate hatred of other franchises. While on the other hand I don't see how people can like football and NOT love the Steelers. LOL!

 

The inferior teams don't bring their A+ game, but by us playing the worse football ever against them...then in the 4th qtr they realize that they're still in the game and have a great chance to upset us. And 9 times out of 10...it happens. We give those games away in every aspect. The potent offense can only produce 3pts..the online forget how to block, the defense let rookies and bad backup qbs look like they're hofers, they forget how to tackle, and our whole coaching staff get out coached by new coaches. This is the recipe for a loss...period!

 

So Ben is on pace for a career year and we've been a top ranked offense for a few years now but Haley is clearly a problem? AB is rewriting our record book but Haley is clearly the problem? Bell is on pace for a HOF career but Haley is clearly the problem? The internet is a magical place.

 

for me its quarterback play. go back and look. ben plays bad against bad teams. we go 3 and out so much because I think they get away from what they can do. they go into it overconfident I believe

 

More like the "Last Great Frontier".

 

Sometimes I read what people say and I feel like I've just gone where no man has gone before. LOL!

 

You have to admit, though, that the D didn't show up to play yesterday. This is a very undisciplined bunch at times, and it showed. No reason why someone like Ajayi should have been shredding us like he did.

 

Curse of knowledge, choice supportive bias, false consensus effect, optimism bias, negative bias, the Semmelweis Effect, status quo bias (thank Pats fans for this one gaining massive popular use now haha) and the most ubiquitous of them all; the bandwagon effect...


Oh.. the number of psychological mind games American Gridiron Football plays with itself haha.

 

Either Haley, or Ben decided, that the answer was not to run against the last ranked run D.

That's a HC's decision to check either or... Didn't happen.

Just like a couple years ago when San Diego was using o linemen off the street and owned our front... Seems like we don't game plan to take what should be given, and be lax when it's a give. On paper...

No adjustments just plain flat out flat play and that is stupidity at its finest.

10 carries for bell? Stupid.

No D adjustments? Stupid.

No HC questioning the onslaught of stupidity? Stupid.

No benching of starters when it's obvious that the team flat out stank? Stupid.

Just a hands down stupid showing top to bottom.

 

I would pretty much bet the Steelers just made that dude a fantasy DARLING! LOL!

 

Took this off the good the bad and the ugly article on NFL.com
It isn't only us who know tomlin is good for this. I also would like to see him slap fines or heads of idiots like mitchel. I think he had three 15 yarders. We had more, all from woffing after making a tackle while we were getting our asses whipped

THE BAD


4) AFC North


Every team lost on Sunday, and the division is a combined 3-9 since Week 4.






I thought Pittsburgh would smoke an overmatched Miami team. I forgot about the annual, inexplicable Mike Tomlin loss to an inferior opponent. This was batty. Jay Ajayi, of all people, gashed the Steelers' run defense to the tune of 204 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries. Adding injury to insult, Ben Roethlisberger suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee. The timetable for Big Ben's return is unclear at the moment, but he certainly won't be out there this coming Sunday. This was not the way the Steelers wanted to go into Patriotsweek.

 

Add Dolphins to the list of teams that OWN the Steelers. Dolphins, Patriots, Raiders and Broncos. Yes, I know Steelers beat the Broncos and Raiders last year during the regular season... but for the most part since '06... Broncos and Raiders completely PWN the Steelers.