Bye Week Thoughts.

The bye is typically a good point to make some adjustments to the team to make the best possible changes to keep them competitive for the stretch to the playoffs. In some cases, some teams whose plans didn't work out, make roster moves to prepare for the upcoming offseason - a very depressing thought.

The Steelers thought they entered this season with a lot of potential, even given the fact that they lost a Franchise Quarterback. They drafted a promising young QB, made some moves on the offensive line, added some players to the defense and even outgoing GM Kevin Colbert was thinking he was leaving the team in good shape with the off season moves. Everything looked as though things might come together as the Steelers opened the season with a win over the Super Bowl participants Cincinnati Bengals.

But that is where the wheels came off.

TJ Watt was injured and lost till after the bye and a Defense that hassled Joe Burrows relentlessly, sacking him 7 times intercepting his passes another 4 times, just could not generate much thereafter.

Perhaps even more disappointing was the addition of QB Mitch Trubisky who was thought to be able to run the offense while the rookie Kenny Pickett gains his footing. But in hindsight, was it really Mitch or was it the now exposed poor offensive game plan?

It is not often you think of the Steelers as not able to run the ball let alone figure them to be in the bottom 10 in rushing in every category. What is more serious about those kinds of numbers is that Mike Tomlin decided to put his rookie QB in as the starter after a miserable offensive outing against the New York Jets, "to generate a spark."

So, now you have a rookie QB leading an offense that isn't very good at running the ball. You would think the conversation would have taken place during the decision to go with the rookie, that 'we need to run the ball and protect our investment.' Apparently, the memo to Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada must have gone to the spam file.

Everyone in the NFL knew Kenny Pickett was not Joe Burrow, but here we are, Kenny is throwing the ball 52 times against Buffalo, 44 times against Miami and 38 times against Philly. He probably would have been in the 30's against Tampa but suffered a concussion. This game plan leaves commentators, writers, scouts, ex-Steelers and fans baffled. This might show a lot of trust in the kid but in reality, it is a really bad idea. With rookies, you run the ball and play solid defense and limit the throws till you can gradually open the offense up to the rookie. Bill Cowher echoed those sentiments after the Philly debacle.

The current plan has Kenny Pickett looking more like Terry Hanratty than Ben Rothlisberger.

So, here we are at the bye week. Mike Tomlin is not the kind of guy that will air the team's laundry out for all to see, and he should not. But one has wonder, is that much needed conversation taking place? It does not take a genius to figure out that the offensive game plan is not working. When the offense is not working, that means the defense is on the field more and when they are on the field more that means dangerous guys like Josh Allen and Mahomes are taking more shots at them, even lesser QB's when given more opportunities can capitalize on that.

Teryl Austin's defense hasn't been great although it has had a lot of injuries. Some key players should be healed after the bye which should help, TJ Watt of course, being a huge injection that should make Cameron Heyward very, very happy. Still, this defense isn't quite where it should be and some of the additions are not working out as they had hoped. To be successful, Austin needs his star players, Fitzpatrick, Watt, Heyward to play like stars and make those star plays as there is just not a lot of room for error with this defense.

It would be self-serving if the offense made some changes to help the defense out. Things like reducing turnovers, stupid penalties, 3 and outs, all of which kill momentum. The biggest question on Mike Tomlin's mind should be "Is Matt Canada the guy for the job?" This is the #1 question throughout the NFL when thinking about the Steelers.

Firing Canada does send an accountability message. Firing Canada does not solve the current issues, but it is a step towards doing so. Additionally, Tomlin is facing a prospect of his first losing season in his career. In general, something like that can be acceptable if there is a promise going forward, but I don't see that currently.

Again, I am not piling on Canada or Tomlin, just putting forth some basic logic that we all know.

 

Only going to respond to one point. We threw the ball so much because of the circumstances. We are behind and have to score quickly to catch up. You’re not doing that playing three yards and a cloud of dust football. I bet 90% of the members on this board were clamoring for Pickett to start. Y’all got your wish and he’s led the Steelers to exactly zero wins. He’s thrown two touchdowns and 8 interceptions. I don’t care who your oc/coach etc is you’re not winning games that way. No, I’m not blaming KP for all of our woes, but he sure as hell isn’t helping them.

 

Maybe we could clamor to designing an offense and game plan tailored to a rookie QB. It looks the exact same with any of the QBs who ran it last year and this year.

 

I can expand on that.
When you decide to start your rookie, then you do what you do best.
Run the ball and play defense. Limit the exposure.
You simply are not doing the QB any favors having him air it out in a shootout.
I do agree that since the offense cannot run the ball effectively and shorten the game, it has become an issue.
And of course, what we have now.

 

Run the ball.... LMAO! In case you haven't noticed, Tomlin coached teams cannot run the ball. Except for his 1st season with Cowhers players. Steelers rushing for the past 5 years:
2022 - 25th
2021 - 29th
2020 - 32nd
2019 - 29th
2018 - 31st

What run game?

 

my bye week thoughts. when you order half a chicken at a restaurant, can you order a left or right?

how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop?

how many shrimp can jeh eat on vacation?

 

Yes, and going back previous years, at best he was mid-pack. (Davenport, Mendenhall, Parker days.. and Bell later)
Bettis' era was the last bone crushing ground era.
Yet still, this does not dismiss the logical plan to bring on a rookie QB... he did have Ben, and that probably did spoil him.
2018 on was tough... that's why the drafted Harris.
And lack of the ground game has some bearing on playoff success too.

 

Have you actually watched the Steelers play? You would be hard pressed to design an offense that’s any simpler. I believe part of that is by design because we are so young on offense. They must have drafted some truly stupid people for them to screwing this offense up repeatedly

 

I watch them run the chip kelly jr offense each and every week. If you handed out points for reaching the sideline rather than the end zone nobody could beat us.

 

I was one wanting KP to play over Trubisky....I have seen Trubisky for 4 years in Chicago ,and what He was doing in Pittsburgh was exactly the same, but without a great running game that He had in Chicago.
Therefore play KP ,and let Him get experience.
Although as everyone on here knows......I was for Mason Rudolph starting the season, and still think He's the best Qb on the roster(as of now...because KP may get better), but You knew this wasn't going to happen because our coaching staff automatically crowned Trubisky starter, and team leader off the bat.....there is a reason He was the only one that played with the starters the whole preseason.....,and no matter what side of the fence You are on about our current Coaching regime...We all know they are all very prideful, and No way would admit this mistake.
Example: Green at center almost all year last year, and this year He can't magically even get a uniform for a game.
Hell We got less prideful people on this board that can't admit to a mistake.

 

it's the bye week. Time to watch red zone. Time to watch real teams play. It's awful and terrible. SAD but true.

 

Mason.... wow... he sure pissed in someone's Wheaties.
At the beginning, I figured Mitch as 1st (He beats Mason) or 3rd QB (He lost to Mason), and Mason as maybe 1st (he beats Mitch) or 2nd QB (Kenny wins 1st QB in camp)
and Kenny being 2nd QB

Mitch, I kind of hoped for but as STD points out, same thing as Chicago.
But I also question the OC for that.

 

Steelers are already down 7-0 during the bye week. Another one over Witherspoon's head.

 

LoL.
I got a chuckle out of that

 

Im seeing a trend here!! Not good MT, NOT good!

 

Thats what i was thinking, are these guys too friggin stupid to handle any multiple faceted offensive plays! Obviously they arent gunna say” well our guys aint smart nuff ta handle many dif formations

 

Steelers were not going to win with trubisky either. They are finding out what they have in Pickett. Him saying practice is too soft is not something we would have got from trubisky. On a side not it’s interesting that Pickett without practicing as a starter came in and played well for half a game. He won the starting job. Took reps in practice and received (coaching) and suddenly is worse than coming off the bench. Is he struggling because the coaches are screwing him up?

 

I`m expecting Canada to make some changes to the offense now that Claypool is gone if he has any sense and wants to keep coaching in the NFL. I`m hoping the number of throws that went to Claypool will now be doled out to our TE`s and Harris. This would mean less carries by Harris and more throws to TE`s and I think that would be a good thing. Don`t know what can be done for our run game because of the poor run blocking.

I feel strongly we need to run Harris less for remainder of the season. Defenses key on shutting Harris down. If we change how we use him, it will frustrate the opposition on defense a bit.

 

True. But running has never been a priority for Tomlin or Ben for that matter either. Even when the owner said they were going to run the ball. We all knew that Ben's retirement was imminent yet the steelers didn't prepare for it and now that Ben is gone, Tomlin has been exposed even more for the fraud he is.

 

I think the real problem is that we haven't had offensive lineman capable of blocking in the run game for the past 3 years, when Pouncey and Decastro were on their last legs.

And ever since Le'veon left, we really haven't had a premier RB. If you don't have personnel, you can't execute. Not drafting many OL in the early rounds has lead to a patchwork line.

And Najee seems to have regressed, either due to injury or getting worn out/hit too much. Not a good recipe for an effective ground game.

 

You had me with you till that..
The NFL wants a passing league. I saw Sunday, and I didn't make a note, but a player of the game was a RB with 58 stinking yards.
And with a QB like Ben you can have a Bell running the ball as he did.
But you are right in the fact that they didn't prepare well enough.

 

I think you make a good point.
Harris is wading through tacklers almost as soon as he gets the ball.
I now think it is a certainty that Canada is here for the remainder of the season.
So one has to hope he changes his game plan.

 

At midway point, I would like to see some new faces in the rotation
I would hope the Steelers college scouts are hard at it, trying to find talent.
I would hope the Steelers would be searching for a new OC and OL coach
who understand the run game. I would hope the Steelers keep their eyes on
a ILB, CB, OT, Guard, Center whether it be through draft or FA. I like our team,
I am not so sure of the coaching though. And our ability to evaluate players, this one is very big.

 

I just posted something like this in the "Who's at Fault" thread
You are dead to rights spot on.
They have a ton of work to do.

 

I am betting the Over of 12 dozen shrimp consumed by JEH on his vacation.