Random thoughts after L vs CHI

-Let's start by the obvious: We lost today because we lost the football to many times, we created no turnovers and weren't able to stop them in critical situations.
-Haley is not the biggest problem. Turnovers are:
Not convinced about it? Let's take a look at the turning points of our past 3 games:

• vs Tenn, Redman fumble. We had a nice first drive, just about to score. Pouncey out, Redman fumble, game over, we were never the same after that.
• at CIN, Paulson fumble
• vs CHI, name any fumble or int

-And injuries have costed us too: Losing Pouncey, Foote, Bell & Allen was not on our budget at training camp. Not trying to take some heat off our coaches, but to be fair, none of us thought about that scenario 2 months ago.
-As many have pointed out, we have many problems (Oline, running game, lack of deep threat, no takeaways, losing the football too often -to name some). It's difficult to point to only one and think that solving that problem we'll be headed in the right direction. This seems to be the beginning of a long season... shame and painfully.
-Le'veon Bell: the standard is set so low, that even if you are not a star this will be your job to lose all season long.
-3 consecutive 3rd & long conversions by Cutler on the same 4th quarter series: game over
-2 sacks, not a lot of pressure, 0 takeaways... Steel curtain?
-We haven't been even close to get one takeaway the whole season. Not even close!
-Yes, Cutler was getting rid of the football pretty quick. Isn't that what NE was doing last year, and we found a way to stop them by using press coverage just 1 year ago?
-Don't let the commentators fool us: we moved the ball pretty good during some drives. A pattern: we stopped trying to run over the middle and spread the ball to our receivers... wait! Isn't that the exact argument why some wanted coach Arians to get fired?
-R Golden: prepare, your teammates will make fun of you all season long for taking that hit from Cutler. Awkward moment of the year so far
-Why was Wheaton targeted only once? Why was Moye inactive today? What's our FO thinking about our receivers heading into '14? Sanders will probably be gone, we need to develop some young talent right away.
-What does it mean to bench both tackles during the 1st half? desesperation, lack of performance, looking for scapegoats...? I mean, if Coaches really believe this are their guys, there should be no need to bench them. If not, why did we let Starks walk, or why isn't Beachum starting ahead of them? I confess clueless about this.
-Is it just me, or Haley is still trying to run over the middle in pass-first situations?
-J Jones seems lost in some coverage situations. Not only today, last week too. Lack of ability, or part of our D learning curve?

-Let's not lose perspective of this: Our veterans made some noise during this week (their meeting, new rules, all that stuff about the 08'ers)...
I'll need some help here to track their performance this week:

• Miller was effective, but not targeted enough, even though on some running plays he had great blocks.
• Clark was not a factor. Wasn't tested enough by Cutler (which indicates he wasn't targeted 'cause probably he was making a good coverage)
• Polamalu showed some flashes, but isn't creating turnovers as his old self
• Kiesel made a couple of nice plays.
• Taylor had a good game but gave up a big 3rd down conversion.
• Ben had a big stat game, made some good reads, some classic Ben's out-of-the-collapsed-pocket huge throws, but didn't took care of the football.
• Woodley had 1 sack, but wasn't a havoc creator.
• Timmons had a modest performance
• Gay had a solid performance as a #2 CB

Bright spots:
-And that's why A Brown was asking coach Haley to get more involved.
-Maybe this went under the radar for some of us: our TEs and FBs had 97 receiving yards.
-Is that one's V Williams' job to lose... And a farewell to Foote?
-The more I see, the more I'm convinced: We need to resign Velasco. Move Pouncey to LG?
-S Thomas will be a playmaker sometime soon. A couple of plays from him today reminded me of Polamalu's rookie season, and his rookie almost-made-a-play too (twice).
-Our team showed some character, and I liked that.
-Our offense improved quite a bit, showing some progress at both Run & Pass situations.

For sure, I'm missing something. A lot of things. But that are some of my random thoughts.
What are yours?

 

Yup T/O's will kill ya every time and we have mastered this well.

 

Always look forward to your post game thoughts. Always level headed observations.

 

I agree with everything you said under the "bright spots" section.

 

I just won't count Bell as a lost because we're not sure what he can do behind this oline. But like you said the standard is so low right now anything would be better.

 

pretty good there WWW...

 

Thx

Thx

Thx


Now, who helps me with this:

 

Good stuff as always WWW.

Miller wasn't targeted enough because they were purposefully easing him back in. I'm just happy he wasn't re-injured.
After one or two errors, Gay actually played well.

One guy I was seriously disappointed with was Heyward. One several plays he just wasn't wrapping guys up or delivering the devastating hits I've been expecting from him.

 

Good post WWW, just wanted to add, Timmons hasn't been very good at middle linebacker for some time now. He is out of position way too much, takes some bad angles, and gets pushed back with power up the middle.

The middle linebacker should lead the team in tackles, I have not counted or researched it but I bet he is not the leading tackler on this team.

 

In fact, he's the leader on the team in single tackles with 15. Clark leads the team with single and assisted tackles.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/stats/_/name/pit/pittsburgh-steelers