Random thoughts - w5. Panic time?

Things that didn't help and some reflections:

Not expecting a Nobel Prize for this, but you're not gonna win many games when you:

• Throw 2 pick 6
• Give up 5 turnovers
• Can't score a TD
• Only get 9 points from 3 redzone possesions
• Can't stop the run in the 4th quarter
• Throw away your timeouts with -obviously unsuccesful- red flag challenges

Some thoughts:

• Of the 5 ints, 3 were passes thrown for Brown.
• Deep threat? Bryant had 5 total receptions for 21 yards. 1 of them went for 9 yards = 4 for 13 total yards.
• Bell: 15 rushes <50 yds, against the worst run defense in the league. Bad Playcalling, Bad Oline performance or both?
• If you have: a) healthy Bell, Brown and Bryant, and b) 3 drives inside the opponents 20 yardline, you should be fired if you get only 9 pts off them.
• Seems long ago, but at the start of the season some debated if with those offensive weapons it was unreal to expect 30pts per game.
• Of the Steelers 12 offensive possesions: 5 interceptions, 3 punts, 3 FGs, 1 to end the game
• Defense dominated for 3 quarters, but run D giving up 150 yds in the 4th quarter didn't help, either.
  
• Expect KC to run a lot of counters and delays. That counter play, Bears, Ravens -once- and Jax used against us is on the MLB and OLBs: quick reads are misleading them, and unable to react to the RB cut. Note: Hunt is the best RB we're gonna see so far.
• Someone needs to take the red flag away from Coach Tomlin
• Talking about distractions: too much talk about Bryant being a strike away from being banned for life, Bell holding out until regular season and Brown preparing for the Olympics in Gatorade throw, but... How about "Maybe I'll retire" and "Maybe I don't have it anymore"?
• Ben had a bad day. An ugly one. IMHO, he's far from finished. but that kind of statement (above) doesn't help building confidence in your group. Question is: after all he has said and done: Does he really want to play?
• Underperformers of the week: Ben (gold medal), Oline, Dupree.

Time to panic?
Well, considering Haley is not going to be fired and Ben is not going to be benched, it's all about knowing if Old Ben can be again the Ben of Old, and if Haley is able to put together an effective gameplan.
Yes, our D is improved. But it's not a scoring D: it can't carry a team that doesn't produce any points, gives away short fields and lets other teams score.

IMHO, we'll se a close game in KC, with an improved Ben bouncing back. Our D should be able to make KC one dimensional (forcing A Smith to throw).
Real question seems to be: Can Haley create an effective gameplan, making the most from all talent he has on O?

 

I would add the need to establish an identity on offense. One week it is Bell and more Bell, next week it is the new base offensive set of 3 WR, 1 TE and a single back, next week it might be something different. Figure out who you are.

 

We're roughly a third of a way thru the season and I think these are issues that won't go away:

- Ben is in decline, he has been for a while, but it showed in spades today. He's a good QB, he's a better started than most teams have, but he's in decline, and will have his good days and bad days
- Besides AB, the depth of this WR corps is paper thin. Bryant doesn't catch anything downfield, goes down when a DB breathes on him. Juju is ok, but they love him too much.
- am I alone? Or do others think that perennial ProBowler David DeCastro has many,many bad games?
The D may be improved, but the last pass Jax thru was BEFORE Ben's first pick six. The Jags played almost the entire 2nd half as one-dimensional offense, and still ran a 13play 8 minute drive, and weren't stopped.

 

Our D is built wrong lol. Can’t stop the run yet we can never score enough to force them to pass lol

 

Brown is a diva only cares about himself.
Bell is a diva only cares about himself.
Bryant regressed
Ben wants a sandwich

 

Lost 30-9 to Jags....its like they didn't come out of the locker rooom....oops...my bad.

 

Brown is a monster, he's a playmaker. Bell wasn't given enough touches today, but i'd like to see connor in there to hit the whole instead of leveon always being patient. You're right though, Bryant has regressed and does not look like a good player at all at the moment and it's obvious the Ben does not want to play anymore

 

I’m just overreacting but kinda preparing myself for the future. Kinda sad to get all worked up over a meaningless sport lol but I do

 

I agree. This team is still mentally in the the tunnel.

 

It was supposed to be about the offense this year. The defense is okay but needs the offense to perform. I remember when I looked forward to our defense taking the field. Not so much. Then the offense was suppose to be so explosive, offensive line dominant, defense okay. Now, Ben is done and all those receivers we thought we had, we have only one.

 

That might be all I'd want if I had to play with all these drama queens and a coach more interested in being "respectful of our football team" than the standard which is the standard--Old Glory. In a way, maybe Ben feels like I have since the tunnel fiasco. This team isn't worthy of respect, and it just doesn't matter much anymore.

 

5 games in, how do we overcome the inability to score touchdowns?? If we get humiliated by the Bears & Jaguars, realistically what are our chances against the more powerful teams like the Chiefs, Patriots, & Packers?? With a tough up-coming schedule, this could be a long season if we can't score touchdowns....

 

Gentlemen you must face reality. The season is over all ready. Its not like we are waiting for a bunch of starters to get back from being injured. Yesterday we were at full strength, playing at home and got the snot beat out of us.
As much as I hate to say it, Ben is done. When your qb says "I don't know if I have it anymore", its over. I blame Tomlin the most for letting certain players detract the team from their goal of winning. The drought started yesterday. I'm over being upset about it. It was nice while it lasted.

 

Decastro seems to be at his best as a pulling guard when they run Bell off-tackle. I don't have the stats to back it up, but it seems to me that they have a lot of success running that play (and always have).

And yet, we just don't see it very often. They seem intent on running Bell up the middle.

Agree on MB as well. What our receivers were great at was getting a short ball in front of the defenders, and then using their footwork to make a play. Again, we don't seem to be doing that so much now. It might be that the defences have it figured out, it might be that Haley wanted to try something different. But its very frustrating to watch.

 

WWW great write up agree with all and would like to add one more thing:

3rd and long we need to stop playing a zone. This hasn't been talked about cause there is so many other problems. Our D has been improving however watch how easy it is to pick this zone apart........

 

Not going to panic, but ben’s play is definitely cause for concern. I really don’t think these last few weeks are an anomaly. He didn’t exactly play well last year either. Unfortunately, I think the end is near for #7.

 

Before last night we were 5th best defense in the league against 3rd down... So maybe not that easy.

 

Here is what I saw during that game and a lot of it has been hashed out here.

1.) Offense - Ben, making terrible decisions and throwing into double and triple coverage when flushed from pocket. The O-line is struggling, Decastro pulled on a trap play and completely missed his block, didn't even get a chip. Bryant can catch a ball if someone is within 2 yards of him and Vance McDonald can't help with all his speed because he can't catch let alone fight for a ball.

2.) Defense - Artie Burnt celebrates making a tackle when it is 3rd and 4 and he is playing 10 yards off and back pedaling to be 23 yards off, yes I saw him do that twice. Dupree is over rated and his quickness just gets him run completely around the QB and he doesn't wrap up runners. Alualu was let go for a reason, his new name should be "pancake taker", I have never witnessed a D-lineman get pancaked so much, even the disaster that Cam Thomas was didn't get pancaked like this guy. Pass defense looks good because no team really needs to pass, a TD off of a turn over that covered 42 yards without a single pass is ridiculous.

3.) Scouting - The Steelers always were able to get good RBs, and LBers from the draft as well as safeties. The CBs didn't matter because the rules were different but it is evident that we are missing badly on draft picks, we did get good RBs but that is it, and once again I'm sorry but Artie Burns is not very good, he does not possess the skill set to play man coverage, he is nothing more than a serviceable zone CB at best. Sean Davis isn't even an enforcer, he is lost and out of position on every single pass play with the exception of 4 plays in 5 games, even in run defense he is bad taking incredibly horrible angles, so bad that it makes you wonder what they see in him.

4.) Coaching - If Sean Davis is starting and from week to week it looks like very little is changing, it makes you wonder what they do in practice? I know a lot of the offense must look good during practice when they go against this defense, I imagine Bell runs for 300 yards and Ben passes for 500 on a daily basis but c'mon. Through 5 weeks we keep looking for a breakout game and so far nothing comes close, offensively we get worse and defense shows no improvement, so what is the deal? Is this roster that bad? I got hit on here when I talked about bad coaching and lack of in-game adjustments but can someone tell me what adjustments were made after half-time? When things weren't working what did they do? I'll tell you, more of the same, nothing different and I seriously think Tomlin doesn't know how to game plan, I really wish the Rooneys would try to get Jon Gruden, at least he knows football, Tomlin talks a good game but never really addresses any problem, I.E the pass defense and now the run defense, everything stays the same and if the DC or OC are a problem he has to make a change but never does.

 

Speaking of Sean Davis, did you see Fournette run off and leave him on that 90 yard TD run? Embarrassing!

 

Fixes:
Need to fix the red zone offense, Especially from the 10 yard line and in. Develop something with Jesse James and don't be afraid to use Bell running the ball. For some reason they fall in love with passing from the 10 yard line and in. Lets do double tights, line up with a fullback and run it.

We need to rush the ball 35 to 40 times a game. Pass it about 20-25.

Let's take yesterday as an example. Steelers are leading 9-7, defense just had a big 3 and out. Steelers get the ball back and then abandon the run. The run game was being successful, Bell was getting yards. Not sure why they decided to keep putting the ball in the air.

Then the 1st pick six, puts the Steelers down 14-9. Ok not good, but why in the world do we go right back to throwing it?

When the Steelers went on the win streak last year, Bell became the workhorse and they rode him to one game short of a Super Bowl.

Yet here we are trying to throw it all over.

Bring back Eli Rogers, Ben seems to have some rapport with much more upside than Justin Hunter.

The goods:
I think the Steelers defense isn't bad. Most of Fournette's yards came on the 90 yard run, when everyone had given up for the Steelers.
They do need to shore up the run defense and force some more 3 and outs.

The Bad:

Leadership on this team sucks. I'm not talking coaching or Tomlin, I'm talking players. Ben looks defeated and has quit.
I really miss Hines Ward, Jerome Bettis, and Joey Porter.
Only guy who is much of a leader on the team is Cam Heyward. I also see TJ Watt has a leader, but the guy is only a rookie.

Offense is full of diva's. A QB who looks defeated, and boo hooing that maybe he doesn't have it anymore. A WR who can't get enough catches. A RB who wants $15 million a year. It's full of a lot of hooray for me and to hell with you's on offense.

Not really sure what the rest of the season has in store. But, I think it will be telling what happens next Sunday. If we can beat the last undefeated team in football at their house, I like how our season could play out.
Should we get killled, I'm not liking our outlook at all.

 

At the end of the day, KC’s Alex Smith will crumble in crucial moments. KC is a regular season super team, just as the past two years, playoffs are a different story. Won’t be surprised if the Steelers blow out KC.

 

The defense has been holding up their end. Wouldn't have 3 wins without. The offense is offensive. Last I checked the Defense didn't throw 5 picks, 2 for TD's...

 

I'm not sure which game you watched but Fournette had over 180 yards rushing and Ivory was averaging 5.1 per carry, 2 guys ran for over 200 yards. The offense is really bad but the defense isn't much better, they faced a bevy of bad QBs and the two games lost came from teams that had capable RBs. Kind of bad that you need to score 25 just to hold off a running attack.

 

Can someone explain to me....(I couldn't see another CBS game, thank CBS)..... if Ben was playing so poorly, the game was tight early in the 3rd..... why did Ben have 55 attempted passes? I'm scratching my head over this.