Who's to Blame

I’ve never once cried about the referees as I believe things even out in the end and there is no conspiracy.Saying that, you can’t call the pass interference on Haden in the end zone on 4 down where he barely touched the receiver.Takes all the momentum away from the team.That was huge!Saying that also,we put ourselves in this position with ridiculous losses to the Broncos,Raiders, and Chargers so I guess we aren’t as good as we think the Steelers were.

 

From the Sports shows i have seen this morning, all the ex NFL players believe this loss is on Tomlin more than anything else,

 

Dude... you may have just ruined NEXT season for me too!

 

??? I’m not a Tomlin-hater, you’re letting a bias get to you on this one. Tomlin is to blame to a certain extent, but multiple things factored into this season.

 

I voted for Butler, for not putting his players in a position to be successful, and for not fielding the appropriate playmakers. Maybe Tomlin plays a factor as to who gets a hat or not, but our defense has been devoid of playmakers all season, and I think you need to attempt to make changes for guys that aren’t getting it done.

Dupree immediately comes to mind. He doesn’t have the nastiness to be effective. Throw Ola in there and create some bookend pressure with Watt.

Maybe try a different CB than Sensabaugh. Allen? I don’t know. But our defense needs to generate more “splash plays”.

 

Oh, and 3rd and 20....wide open. Case in point. Dang it....

 

hall pf fame QB and receivers and you run Ridley into an 8 man front on third and 2. I called the fake punt before they ran it,but, why put a man in motion before the snap to alert the Saints. Could the tipped pass been reviewed?

 

We had Ryan Shazier then.


Keith Butler's arrogance REALLY showed from January 22nd of 2017 onward. I do not care how good a linebacker is. Put all your personnel in winnable situations in critical moments.

 

Hence why I said the whole team.

 

Among the people let down, JuJu did not.


He did not betray us nor himself. Keith Butler did both and then some.

 

4:15 left, 2 time outs and the 2 minute warning. And leading by 4. Yea, it was a solid decision.

 

Sorry if I’m busting your balls bro.

 

45 seconds to play and in scoring position. His fumble certainly prevented us from having chance. He doesn’t get a pass because of 1300 yards

 

JUJUs skill and effort won us more games than Tomlin/Butler did combined

 

I say Tomlin. Everyone that backs him only talks about how many wins he has but never talk about how many more he should have. This is a very talented team that can beat anyone in the league and if they get into the playoffs have a very good chance to win it all. The defense is weak and can no longer cover up his coaching like they did early in his coaching career. I remember love watching the def take the field knowing they could stop anyone and now I feel they are going to allow the other offense to score everytime. As much as I love the steelers it doesnt hurt as much as it did when they lose I dont know if I'm getting used to the Tomlin steeler teams or just getting older but I dont like it . But yesterday's game did hurt and the anger of them losing hit me again. Fumbles happen,cant control the refs decisions,but bad coaching the rooney's can control. This team should be coasting right now and here they are rooting for a browns win

 

Part of the thinking on the fake punt had to be wanting enough time to rally if the Saints did score and retake the lead. I think that actually makes some sense. The Steelers did get the ball back with plenty of time to score. Smith-Schuster's fumble ruined that.

I didn't bother to vote because there isn't one place to put the blame. Smith-Schuster deserves it for the fumble. Ridley deserves it for his fumble. Tomlin deserves it for the the play call giving Ridley the ball and the fake punt. Butler deserves it because his defense keeps breaking down at the worst possible time. It is on the officials for handing the Saints a touchdown early and screwing up other calls throughout the game.

 

I think this team is just lazy, it has too much talent to lose so many games to teams with lesser talent, they are not motivated enough and I hang that on the head coach. I just scratch my head and ass at the same time trying to figure out why they are always in such close games even with teams in the bottom of the barrel. I heard on sports talk this AM where at half time most of the Steeler players were on their cell phones yacking to someone, so I guess if you continue to get a big pay check that is all that matters to them.......In the real world if a person just puts a limited amount of time and effort in their job they will not go far in a company but most of these players already have a big bucks contract so with no leadership and poor coaching this is what we get in a Steeler team.

 

Screw Samuels - Ben was on fire and couldn't be stopped at that point. Why put the ball in the hands of Mr. Fumble-rooski?

 

If the punt fake was at the Saints 40 I could understand it but you just don't do that at your own 40. Not with your FB and not for 5 yards. I didn't go back and review the play but if they put Dangerfield in motion like some have said they tipped off the fake. So it's just another example of the lack of details costing us games. The D was actually playing well and had stopped them on 3 consecutive drives. Not to mention the 4th downs that were basically cheated into 1st downs. The Saints had all 3 of their TOs left if I'm not mistaken. So the Steelers still would of had to convert a 1st down to take any serious time off the clock. The Cons outweighed the Pros in that situation. It was a stupid risk to take. When is our former DC now HC gonna put together a defense that instills more confidence and belief that they can make stops when counted on. If he doesn't have faith in his D to stop a team from going 80+ yards to score a TD. It's his fault. You trusted your QB and your O to drive the length of the field to try and win a game but you didn't trust your QB on 3rd and 2 and put the ball in Ridleys hands. It's low percentage,dumb football.

 

I blame society.

 

We need some rule changes. Like the challenge flags, we need a couple just for the refs.
These questionable calls need to be reviewed in NY or where ever. I'm sick of it.

 

Low percentage football was trusting the defense to hold when the Saints would be in four-down territory the rest of the game. If the defense failed after the fake punt, it was likely to happen with enough time left for the Steelers' offense to respond. If the defense was going to fail, it needed to fail quickly. Instead of entrusting the game to the defense on one drive, the fake punt hedged the bet. Predictably, the defense failed and if not for Smith-Schuster's fumble, the offense had time to rally.

 

Hindsight is 20/20. The D was playing well. Well enough that you don't put them at a complete disadvantage to actually make a stop. If not for yet another blown call by the refs the defense would have done their job. Maybe JUJU doesn't get a chance to fumble either. You can't assume one things going to happen and then blame a further consequence. The smart thing was to punt the football that's why you never see teams faking from their own 40. Tomlin wanted to play Riverboat gambler....and he lost. Sometimes I think he wants to take unnecessary risks to make himself look smarter than he is......Fail!
If he had no confidence in his D he should of let them score with closer to 2:00 minutes on the clock. This would of given the O even more time to have a less chaotic drive. One that included a spike to waste a down when he also should have had 2 plays called. Once again not prepared for situational football.