Breaking Down 0-3

Everyone wants to cast some sort of blame on the 0-3 start, and I think we all see it as a combination of things. So here's where we are:

35% Poor offensive line play
25% Turnovers on offense
12% Lack of takeaways from the defense
10% Poor set of receivers (the ones actually playing)
8% Haley's scheme and playcalling
5% Ben missing receiver
5% Defense can't get three-and-outs in big situations

Now, WHO is responsible for this?

The first four items on this list are mostly on Tomlin. Forget what you think Kevin Colbert's job is; he works in coordination with the head coach, and you'd better believe the head coach has as much, if not MORE, say on personnel matters. This is why Tom Donahoe was forced out. The fifth item is sort of Tomlin's responsibility, too, since he's the one who hired Haley. The sixth item is on Ben and Todd. The last item is on LeBeau.

So breaking that down:
Tomlin: 58%
Colbert 16%
Haley: 12%
LeBeau 11%
Ben: 3%

 

Not sure Tomlin wanted Haley, But i also think Tomlin is nothing more than a puppet, I still dont kno what he does here, he doesnt call the offensive plays he doesnt call the defensiv play's I have heard he was a great motavater, this team doesnt look verry motavated to me. If someone kno's what Tomlin does plzz tell me

 

How are the turnovers on offense Tomlin's fault?

 

It is very difficult to figure out how much Tomlin is at fault, but I really lean towards that it isn’t near the 60% you suggest. I think Big Bunch has it right that Tomlin is largely a puppet coach. When Tomlin was hired he was overall in many ways the right man for the job at the time. I know people have called him nothing more than a caretaker, but I don’t think that’s fair. I think Mike had a much more cooler persona compared to Cowher. Yes Cowher was a great motivator and he had a major influence over what was being done offensively and defensively, but he created an air of puckering up in a lot of big situations. Tomlin gave the team a bit more of a relaxed atmosphere that was needed. There is something to that, it can’t be discounted as meaningless.

With that said though, he doesn’t seem to be the right guy for these times. And I think part of that is Tomlin’s fault because either he doesn’t have the ability or has poorly convinced the Rooney’s that he needs to have more control in the decisionmaking about personnel and his coaching staff. The big rumor is Tomlin did not want Arians fired and I think he had little to do w/hiring Haley – who seems more like a guy who doesn’t have the right personnel (including the QB) to run his system. He has no input to LeBeau who seems as though he is immune from any criticism from the Pittsburgh press even though the guy actually deserves a fair amount of criticism for a defense that for the last three years rarely makes splash plays and has a very hard time ever holding a lead.

So I blame Tomlin for not doing anything to really put his stamp on the team – i.e. what is the identity of a Mike Tomlin coached team….I really have no idea. But then again, I do wonder how much blame the Rooney’s and Colbert deserve for not allowing him to put any kind of stamp on the team.

 

Well, he is not the one on the field doing this. However, protecting the football is a mindset. Notice how good teams rarely beat themselves with turnovers? Protecting the football is a must, and whatever it is, Tomlin is a complete failure in getting this message through this team's heads. Yes, this is on the head coach, because it cuts across multiple coordinators. The problem has not been fixed and has just kept getting worse.

 

Im not a Tomlin homer by any stretch, but I was genuinely confused as to why you thought this was on him. I think ALOT of things are on him, but Im not sure that I can place what happened last night on his shoulders. Lack of discipline, lack of passion, things like that- definitely. Now, having said that, if we play next Sunday and the same thing happens, then I would say that the turnover ISSUE not being addressed is on Tomlin - what happens on the field is on the players.

 

But last night was not an isolated incident. This team has become a turnover machine under Tomlin...slowly but surely. It's like a virus that's invaded them.

 

You won't have to poop for days after pulling all this out of your ass.

 

0-3 goes directly to the poor oline play. Whoever is drafting these guys needs a new profession. How can you wiff on 2 second round picks so badly? Why can't we fine a decent oline coach? Who is making these decisions to let veterans go before the backups are ready to take over.

I know Starks wasn't that good and wanted to be a started but someone should of known that Adams was not ready to be a starting left tackle in the National Football League. I know Colon was a little injury prone and a penalty magnet but someone should of known that Gilbert wasn't a starting right tackle in the National Football League.

This falls on whoever is making the personnel decisions.

 

I was thinking that as I was typing my response. You are right. That was not an isolated incident. Last night was an epidemic. I dont know what the answer is.

 

Gilbert is horrendous. I watched him in his rookie season, opening day and he nearly got Ben killed. I was trying to give him a little credit since it was his first game but.....

 

And his twin brother Adams just isn't any better. When I watched last year game against the Giants I knew Adams was going to be bad. I just watched his technique and he was horrible. I know he was a rookie but somethings rookie or not you should know how to do. For a 2nd round pick we shouldn't have to go back to the drawing board and retrain you on everything.

 

Last night, I put the blame with Ben. He turned the ball over 4 times, 2 were immediate scores. As far as we can see, Haley did nothing about it and Tomlin did nothing about it. So 33.3% for each

 

... and the "tiebreaker" should be, which one hired the new O-Line coach?

 

No doubt. He definitely slices and dices it all nice and pretty to bad it defies common sense and logic. That is unless they've suddenly changed things and 1+1=3.

 

It's just a way to quantify what really can't be quantified. Just a conversation starter.

 

Yeah, I know a lot of bad teams just tell their players not to bother about turnovers. I've also heard they get coached to deliberately drop the ball.

And players clearly need to be told about this, as protecting the football is quite NFL-specific, and not at all important at any other level of the game.

Turnovers are a mindset... to quote gpguy: "smh".

 

Then how do you explain the lack of turnovers on the Patriots, year after year, no matter WHO the RBs and WRs are??? They simply do NOT beat themselves with turnovers and penalties. This doesn't mean it doesn't happen: it just doesn't happen all that often. THAT COMES FROM COACHING!

 

I don't disagree that there's a technique issue here. That's different to mindset, though.

As a small point, though, NE's fumbling stats changed significantly when they acquired Benjarvus Green-Ellis. Having a guy who NEVER fumbles is always going to help. Why does he never fumble? I've no idea, but it's not just limited to NE.