Play calling anomalies vs Cinci - disguised ?

Mike DeCourcy from The Sporting News had an interesting take on The Sunday Nights Sports Showdown (that airs a midnight). He seemed convinced that Tomlin and Smith were “all but” trying to lose to Cincinnati. He feels the Steelers were holding back their playbook intentionally as a guise of sorts. Why not let Russ throw more like he did in game 1 @ Cincinnati ? Why not more of Warren ? Why even use Patterson in bigger situations… ?

To be clear here, I’m not saying this actually happened. However, it’s not uncommon for coaches in the regular season to disguise their playbook. if a team gets a huge early first half lead…they’re not always going to subject their remaining playbook for film study to the following weeks opponent.

My buddy heard this same thing about Tomlin and Smith and had an interesting rebuttal. His claim was why start the likes of Watt and Heyward if you planned on not showing your entire playbook due to the upcoming WC game.

Look, I realize this is a reach just based on how they’ve been playing as a whole but I’m trying to find some light in this dark tunnel we Steelers fans find ourselves in. Even if true, it can’t excuse the way this game was coached and played. It was all around bad with the exception of the defense. Thoughts ?

 

I get it.. but how does that explain the previous 3 games? Because they were all very similar. Smokescreening for 4 straight games and flat out tank your playoff seeding? I don't really buy it.

 

Maybe we should have sat every starter as soon as we clinched. Would have made no difference.

 

And why not the coaching staff while we're at it.

 

Hanlon's Razor - Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice. Said another way - “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”.

 

Bengals fired their Defensive coordinator.

that loss hurts even more

 

Does this mean 'Assume that he's an idiot, until he proves that he's a di**'?

 

I can’t in good honesty disagree with your point.

 

Let's see: 3 x doubleyoi = hextayoi? This higher math is wild.

 

I watched him say that on the Nightly Sports show. He said proof of them deliberately putting forth a vanilla effort on offense was that they ran the ball on first down on every single series except at the end of the half and at the end of the game. He said it was like Tomlin was treating the game like a pre-season game with the exception he played the starters the whole time. It was discussed that maybe Tomlin remembered the beat down we got from the Texans last year and was more comfortable playing the Ravens who he has had success with in the past.

 

This is the type of play calling you get with a head coach that has an archaic philosophy.

 

With the way Wilson has played lately would a game plan of letting him throw 40 times a game work?

 

The play calling was even more predictable and atrocious than usual, and I think the Steelers have always been predictable. I don’t know, the game just had a strange feel to it. Pickins was literally a no show, Austin and Jefferson were virtually nowhere to be found…

Naturally, this doesn’t make DeCourcy right by any means but it is food for thought.

 

This has been the gameplan. It's nothing new.

 

Maybe it's a stutter?

 

I’m no expert, but it seems to me if you’re trying to tank the game, and you’re behind 19-7 with 11 mins left, putting up a frantic rally kinds ruins your strategy.

 

Why are you spoiling a good conspiracy?

 

Hoping to hide plays going into the playoffs would be pointless, especially since the first gave is against the Ravens. I understand there are plays that Reid conjures up, redesigns throughout the season, but Our O is is so simplistic any reinvention would be spotted by an opposing D right away.

 

DeCourcy never said they were intentionally trying to tank the game. He was basically making the point he felt they were simply holding back. I get what you’re saying though. It’s a stretch.

 

Tomlin said they were trying to play "keep-away" with the Bengals offense. He felt the best way to do that was to run the ball. Problem was the Bengals had the ball a whole 16 minutes longer. That's a full quarter of a game.

 

This all assumes there was any kind of plan, which has been questionable for a while.

 

I’d say it’s pretty obvious that George Pickens was ‘holding back’.

 

Probably did him a favor. Lou Amarillo (sp?) was a great DC who became the scapegoat after they decimated his defense. In 2 short years they went from a great defense to a terrible one only after letting all their playmakers go for scrubs that aren’t being paid due to all of the money going to the offensive side of the ball. They essentially now have 4 great playmakers. Burrow, Chase, Higgins and Hendrickson. The rest are plug and play guys all over the rest of the team. Lou could only do so much with the garbage hand he was dealt. Bengals saved face by firing 4 coaches instead of their HC who should have been gone years ago after always starting out slow due to not taking preseason seriously. Their ownership maybe dumber than Cleveland’s and that’s saying a lot.

 

The coaching has been so bad over the years at times that if they were trying to throw a game, nobody would really notice. I don’t think that’s the case. I just think we have very bad coaching year in and year out. Not horrible but just average enough to keep the hope alive.