Antonio Browns TD pass

Because "Brown TD throw" isn't a play ... it's an outcome. 4th and 1 is a bunch of guys doing what they get paid to do, and what is reasonable to expect them to do successfully. That has no relation to having your WR throw it into the endzone at a critical point in the game. It's more along the lines of having Ben try a naked bootleg on 4th and 1 at a critical point of a game.

 

No, that's not it. I've been happy plenty of times.

But for as much as the Steelers talk about situational football, this is where they are struggling. They are just not calling the right plays in given situations. I'm ecstatic that they won and happy that the Brown Pass worked. But I also recognize that they were damn lucky that it panned out the way it did. But the 4th and 1 situation screamed that we should have went for it. It was a different situation that called for a different play.

My point is, the play calling seems to be disconnected from the ebb and flow of the game, taking risks when you shouldn't, and playing conservative when you shouldn't. Not saying Haley/Tomlin has got it all wrong, it's just that in some of these situations really makes you scratch your head and wonder if their paying attention.

 

This.

The team had an exciting 2:54 of gameplay that was truly entertaining and fun to watch. And they came away with a win based on following that with a solid 2nd half performance. Even though we all know it could have been better it was nice to see that much improvement over what we've been seeing.

I, for one, am happy!

 

Randle El to Hines Ward in Superbowl XL.

'Nuff said.

 

While I liked the outcome of the play, and certainly wasn't expecting it, I still think it was kind of reckless. Conventional wisdom says you don't do a WR pass on your own three yard line. But, it worked.

As for the 4th and one, I actually liked the call to not go for it. I thought it showed good situational awareness. While keeping the drive going and getting the first down would have been nice, if they failed they'd have given Houston the ball on their 40. Instead they took the delay and got off a great punt that pinned Houston deep in their own territory.

 

We used to use gimmick plays a lot when Cowher was here, funny thing is last week I was thinking why dont we use gimmick plays anymore, and bingo they popped one, no complaint from me whether it worked or not, it keeps defenses off balance, R-EL was our gimmick guy, now we have AB to do it, I liked the gimmick play where R-EL would lineup next to Ben in the backfield get the snap and he would fade to the right and lateral throw it back to Ben all alone on the left side and Ben would hit a wide open receiver for a TD, that play worked for a 43 yard TD against the bungles the last time it was used several years ago.....

 

Yep.

 

I also didnt like the call of brown throwing , but happy that it worked out. It was indeed a very risky play call at that spot on the field. I dont agree that there were only 5 outcomes and 4 were positive. There are fumbles on the toss, fumbles on a sack of brown, loss of 10+ yards on a tackle behind the line of scrimmage....the list is long.

As for the 4th and inches at the Houston 40, I think Ben wanted to go for it and probably would have but if you recall Pouncey appeared to have been injured on the play before and was hobbling off the field when Ben called him back for the 4th and 1. At that point I think Ben decided to simply try to get them to jump offsides since he wasnt confident Pouncey was able to get enough push off his injured legs....just my observation of the situation.

 

Count me in on those that believe there was NOT a thing wrong with that play call. There were options to get out of that play.. In fact I wonder if AB when he went right changed his mind because 99 would have popped him?

 

Exactly. Shows Tomlin's mentality. Some coaches onside kick to start the second half of the Superbowl and some coaches choose to punt with a two score lead in the regular season rather than QB sneak with a 250 pound QB and a Probowl C and Probowl RG to run behind.

Tomlin will QB sneak when said QB had a concussion the week before though.

Tomlin will then talk about "unleashing hell."

Ben is a gunslinger. It must drive him crazy to have such a passive coach.

Also- the ball has now been taken out of Ben's hands on 3 and 6 vs the Bucs and now in the redzone. Ben must be getting pissed off at that.

Ben is better than he has ever been and has earned more faith from his HC than this.

 

A passive coach that calls a trick play so his #1 receiver can throw a TD pass. That doesn't sound passive. That sounds aggressive. That sounds like doing whatever will work to get the team points.

If Ben is pissed then he should have been executing in the red zone. That's a sure way to make sure the ball stays in his hands. And he converted a RZ TD after Brown's. So that's good. Maybe it's just a little red zone competition to motivate Ben? Because Ben also drove the offense up the field in the 2nd half and completed a TD pass to Brown (I don't care that the refs overturned it; I say was a TD). Unfortunately, the refs are the final word... so technically Ben didn't get that red zone TD but it's a better showing that I've seen over the past several games of struggling in the red zone.

Ben's stats are much better under Haley. Hopefully those two will get the win streak going.

 

Trick plays are passive. Running the ball down their throats or throwing to the back of the ez is aggressive.

We are talking about the coach who has his defense play with a ten yard cushion and punts on every fourth down right?

 

Not when it isn't working. Running the ball down their throats and repeatedly failing to get into the endzone is not aggressive, its myopic. Nothing wrong with switching it up.

And didn't we run a fake punt already this season?

I've said it before about the 4th and 1 - I honestly believe if Ben had wanted to run a play there he could have. But it was a long yard, and with an o-line that's been inconsistent to say the least.

Nothing wrong with either call. But in all honesty, I don't think this is an argument that will ever be settled, is it?

 

Actually is was just 6 inches. My head moves that far just from burping.

 

Fair enough - memory isn't one of my strengths!

Still not a gimme, though.

 

We can agree to disagree. I don't believe in continuing to run the ball with the same O-Line and RB that couldn't punch into the end zone from inside the opposing 20 yard line. Nor do I agree with throwing to the back of the end zone with a QB that has repeatedly shown he has significant difficulty scoring in the red zone.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results.

After Brown broke the red zone ice, so to speak, Ben completed a red zone pass for a TD. Perhaps now the team realizes it can be done and will shake off the psychological cobwebs and get back to work.

But... like I said... we can agree to disagree.

As it stands, the man who is paid to be the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers made a call that worked. And it's that simple.

 

1 and goal from the THREE YARD LINE Tomlin calls a gadget play and you guys think that is ballsy? That is saying "We cant get 3 yards on 4 carries let's try a trick play that could easily cost us ten yards, another fumble, or a pick."

It worked sure. You can sometimes get the right result through the wrong method but good luck doing it twice.

I liked Bell in motion creating an assignment error on the defense and a gimme TD from the best qualified player to throw the ball.

 

Yep, this debate just isn't going to get resolved...

We've seen this team routinely fail to move 3 yards in 4 downs in the red zone. We've seen both QB and receivers miss gimme TDs.

Gadget plays are always risks. That's why the pay off is high, in terms of momentum, when they work.

 

This.

 

That was a nice play.

I'd like to see the offense be able to execute even when there isn't an assignment error by the opposing defense.

 

Take what you get and don't pitch a fit. LOL. I know what you mean though. You'd just like to see a traditional system having success.