1. Hi Guest, Registrations are now open. See you on the inside.
    Dismiss Notice

Playing down to the competition

Discussion in 'Steelers Talk' started by 4EvrH8O'donnel, Sep 20, 2012.

  1. 4EvrH8O'donnel

    4EvrH8O'donnel Well-Known Member

    920
    0
    Nov 18, 2011
    I just looked at the Power Rankings for the week and they have the Raiders as being the worst of worst in the NFL right now. I don't agree with that ranking. McFadden can be dangerous any time he touches the ball. Carson can get him the ball on screens and they have some decent receivers along with a defense that can arise to the occasion when playing at the Black Hole. Are they really this bad? Ranked 32 out of 32 teams? I was very surprised and think that they will play better than that ranking.

    The Steelers PR is at #10. I thought they'd be ranked around 6 or 7 but what do I know.

    Either way. On paper this suggest to me that this should be a blow out. 41-10 or so.

    Why is it that time and again over the past decade or so the Steelers play down to the competition?

    I look for a closer game than the Power Rankings suggest.

    Can the Steelers travel to the West Coast and lay a beat down 41-10 or will it be another nail biter?
     
  2. gpguy

    gpguy Well-Known Member

    3,481
    21
    Dec 19, 2011
    Most teams arent as bad as their record says (except MAYBE Cleveland). And the power rankings...well they dont mean jack. ANY team can be/play tough on any given day regardless of records/etc. In reality nobody should expect a blow out in any game because of this.
     
  3. ScottChab

    ScottChab Well-Known Member

    3,575
    0
    Oct 17, 2011
    Key word - can. Any team can be good.
     
  4. 4EvrH8O'donnel

    4EvrH8O'donnel Well-Known Member

    920
    0
    Nov 18, 2011
    "Key word - can. Any team can be good".

    And we can play down to the competition which is often the case.

    The Question is "Why"?
     
  5. ScottChab

    ScottChab Well-Known Member

    3,575
    0
    Oct 17, 2011
    I wasn't talking about us playing down to our competition, I commented because you were wondering why the Raiders were ranked so low because of what they can do. Power rankings are more about a team's performance and less about their abilities.
     
  6. Steeldefense08

    Steeldefense08 Well-Known Member

    481
    0
    Oct 16, 2011
    I just hope we don't play like last year where we play a terrible game then the next week we dominate.
    Example
    Wk1 loss to Ratbirds
    Wk2 we killed Seattle
    Wk3 loss to the Texans
    Wk4 killed the Titans
     
  7. FeelTheSteel

    FeelTheSteel Well-Known Member

    171
    0
    Jun 7, 2012
    Well, master of the obvious states that we lost to two playoff teams and destroyed two non-playoff teams. Had the schedule been different, I think that it wouldn't have followed that pattern.
     
  8. Thigpen82

    Thigpen82 Bitter optimist

    10,527
    1,534
    Oct 17, 2011
    Cleveland have kept up with both their opponents in the last two games, and came close to beating Philly. I think we'll still beat them, but it may not be the manhandling their record suggests.
     
  9. CANTON STEEL

    CANTON STEEL Well-Known Member

    1,287
    3
    Oct 17, 2011
    Well I don't know about playing down to our competition but anytime you play a game on the road, especially one clear over on the west coast, it's usually never easy and rarely a blowout. And rankings only mean so much. It really comes down to match ups. The dead last team might not be able to do much against most teams but if they are able to exploit certain match ups against even the first ranked team they will give them fits.
     
  10. FeelTheSteel

    FeelTheSteel Well-Known Member

    171
    0
    Jun 7, 2012
    Yeah, I think Cleveland, believe it or not, is a good quarterback away from being a pretty good team. Cleveland's defense has looked pretty good. I was at the Philly game and the Eagles receivers were being covered like white on rice. Everybody was ripping on Vick in the message board world but Vick had nowhere to throw the ball that day and was getting smacked in the mouth on every play. Not to mention, they held McCoy in check all day long.
     
  11. Rush2seven

    Rush2seven Well-Known Member

    13,755
    2,085
    Oct 17, 2011
    the standard is the standard
     
  12. ScottQ

    ScottQ Well-Known Member

    88
    0
    Jul 31, 2012
    :lolol: :applaud: :roflmao:
     
  13. BURGH43STEL

    BURGH43STEL Well-Known Member

    2,691
    418
    Oct 23, 2011
    Very little separates teams in the NFL. Mistakes by the team with the better record is usually the difference between a win or a loss.
     
  14. Bleedsteel

    Bleedsteel

    2,425
    94
    Oct 16, 2011
    I get what the O.P. is saying...
    We seem to get cocky/lazy, when we face a team that "on paper" we should crush.
    And we have had this bad habit for a while now, pretty much ever since Ben has been qb.
    I am not saying he has anything to do with it, just that before he got here, we weren`t really EXPECTED to "crush" any other team...
    Also, on a side note... IMHO... we seem to get "lazy", when we get up by more than 10 points on whoever we are playing that week...
    Maybe that is just the nature of the game, that the team that is losing, plays harder to get back into the game, than the team with the lead...
    It just seems to me, that we lack the "killer instinct", to pile on points on an opponent that is down, but when we are behind, or tied/close, all of our players give a bit more effort...
    Maybe some of that has to do with getting conservative with playcalling/going to a "prevent-type" defense, with the lead, but it just seems to me, to be more of the players` effort on the field, than the scheme of the coaching.
    Dunno how to fix it, but, I don`t like it...
    I hate getting nervous when we jump ahead of the team we are playing, and I am thinking... "well, now they`re gonna get sloppy/lazy", instead of " Cool... We`re kickin their ass!!! Time to put this away!!!"
    I have a feeling this is gonna change, with the newfound devotion to time of possesion... whether we are ahead or not, it seems that we are gonna be pretty even-keel all the time, with the goal of controlling the clock.
    (And I know this is not really "new"... It was Cowher`s specialty, but during the "Arian`s years", it seemed to disappear)
    That may be a good thing. Should lead to more wins.
    But, it will be a bit more "boring" to watch.... I don`t know if it would feel like a Steeler football game, if I was confident, that we would win, instead of "biting my nails", `till the last play...
    But, I would sure like to find out...It`s been a while...
    GO STEELERS!!!
     
  15. RobVos

    RobVos Well-Known Member

    978
    8
    Oct 16, 2011
    A few years ago we played Oakland and held then under 100 total yards of offense.........and lost!
     
  16. Lizard72

    Lizard72

    21,872
    1,846
    Oct 23, 2011
    You can say that about many teams that end up not getting it done against inferior opponents.

    The Ravens did it as well last year. Hell, I remember the years Cleveland absolutely brew chunks and the Steelers struggled with them or lost to them.
     
  17. mdbates2

    mdbates2 Well-Known Member

    1,359
    1
    Nov 3, 2011
    Yeah - Cleveland almost beat Philly because Vick & Co. were trying to HAND them the game. This was not an achievement on Cleveland's part. The close game was a failure on Philly's part.

    As far as ALMOST beating Cincy - I guess you could make a case for improvement - but their defense showed what I think will be more often the case than not this season for the Clowns. I think their defense is overrated and their offense will suck most of the time. They are a BAD team, and the way they'll win games will be highly dependent on opponents poor play or unpreparedness.

    This week, you would swear they had beaten the Bungles on Sunday and were a team headed for the Super Bowl. Yep - they're going to have games when the offense OVERachieves, but I don't anticipate seeing much from them this year.
     
  18. HinesWardHOF

    HinesWardHOF Well-Known Member

    2,075
    0
    Oct 24, 2011
    loses were to two good teams... top 8 teams...
    loses were to s*(t teams...
    i think it was more the level of competition in those 4 games rather than a good week or bad week... we will lose at baltimore like that right now 75-80% of the time.. we will lose to the texans at texas 60-70% of the time..
    we will beat last years titans and seattle 80% of the time.. done matter how the games are played in which order

    HINES
     
  19. FeartheBeard

    FeartheBeard Well-Known Member

    3,126
    586
    Oct 26, 2011
    I have thought we played down to the competition for a long time now. Or maybe we are just incapable of blowing people out? Either way, while I think and hope we should blow out the Raiders (just based on watching them the first two games), I do not think we will. Palmer is VERY familiar with our D....
     
  20. Diamond

    Diamond Well-Known Member

    5,790
    469
    May 26, 2012
    There are two words in football vernacular I hate, and they are TRAP GAME. And this game has all the makings for just such a game. A hostile crowd, a desperate team with it's back up against the wall, a quarterback who has publicly stated he hates the steelers, and who spent 9 years playing against it's defense, that gives him the familiarity factor for this game. A young head coach who has to win Sunday or else, so this game is not going to be a walk through for the steelers, it's going to be a war against a desperate motivated team in a must situation for a win, plus they have the best kicker duo in football, my expectations for this game is one of caution...
     
  21. mac daddyo

    mac daddyo Well-Known Member

    30,195
    6,286
    Oct 22, 2011
    maybe KVO would want a one day contract. palmer would :bscow: himself. :cool:
     
  22. HinesWardHOF

    HinesWardHOF Well-Known Member

    2,075
    0
    Oct 24, 2011
    totally agree.. it is the proverbial TRAP GAME.. but if we lose this game we dont deserve to win the division .. even with all our injuries.. with the raiders injuries looks like its gonna be a pass happy game.. love to see it close and carson throw a pic 6 to end it... i hate him as much as he hates the steelers... hes a choker.. always was for the bengals... close games and he'd throw a INT everytime.. hes just hates the steelers because he couldnt ever beat them and then they tore his ACL or whatever it was hahah... just a USC surfer dude trying to play against MEN

    HINES
     
  23. FeelTheSteel

    FeelTheSteel Well-Known Member

    171
    0
    Jun 7, 2012
    I always thought a 'trap game' was a game you look past because you have a bigger game the following week against a stronger opponent -- not merely because you're playing a team you think you should win. If that were the case, almost all of our games would be 'trap games.' We have a bye the following week so it's not like we're focusing on a game the following week and taking this week for granted.

    For what it's worth, we're 5-3 going into bye weeks since 2004 -- 5-2 under Ben as Batch played the '10 Baltimore game while Ben was in the doghouse for playing with his bone in an outhouse (but, reviewing our past schedules, we've had some pretty brutal competition heading into bye weeks: 2004 @ Dallas, 2005 vs New England, 2006 vs Cincinnati, 2007 vs Seattle, 2008 @ Jacksonville, 2009 vs Favre's Vikings, 2010 vs Baltimore, 2011 @ Cincinnati).
     
  24. mac daddyo

    mac daddyo Well-Known Member

    30,195
    6,286
    Oct 22, 2011
    it seems like coming off the bye week is the toughest for teams. we should be fairly healthy by then. :cool:
     
  25. Diamond

    Diamond Well-Known Member

    5,790
    469
    May 26, 2012

    A TRAP GAME is any game where you dont respect the competition based on their record and weaknesses, it has nothing to do with looking ahead, it has everything to do with over confidence, we lost to 3 losing teams in 2009 which cost us the playoffs that year simply because we didnt respect them as an NFL team thats capable of winning a game on any given Sunday, these teams do tend to put up a fight when a winning team comes to town with the odds makers and sometimes even the team dis-respecting them, the steelers may not be putting any bulletin board material out there but they do expect to win this game, as they should, but if they think it's going to be easy they might want to remember those 3 losing teams that beat them in 09....
     

Share This Page

Welcome to the ultimate resource for Steelers fans. Sign Up Here!