Splash plays on offense - hurt our defense

Don't get me wrong. I love to see the 82 yard TD pass as much as anyone. It pumps me up and gets me excited with the quick score.

However - those kinds of splash plays do not seem to fire up the Steelers defense like you would think they would. It seems like every time Ben goes vertical and the Steelers score quickly, the defense comes out flat. Instead of coming out firing, they come out and get eaten up. It's not just last night's game - it seems to happen more often than not.

This defense - Troy or no Troy - seems to function best when the offense keeps them off the field. Personally, I would MUCH rather see the 15-play, 80 yard drive that lasts for 10 minutes than the 1-play, 80 yard drive that drives up Ben's fantasy numbers. For the Steelers to have any shot at turning this around, they need to focus more on that rather than moving quickly up the field.

Just my opinion.

 

sounds good on paper but as I recall the offense dominated the clock this year in Denver with long boring sustained drives while the defense rode the pine only to return to the field every 20 minutes or so to give up quick strikes of their own. If your observation is true and my observation is true - this means only one thing................................................................

 

Problem is 15 play 80 yard drives usually end up with field goals for us

 

This seems to be a variant of the old anti-BA complaint that the O scored too fast and tired out the D, because it didn't get enough rest.

I have no idea why this should be true. Take your points as you get thiem, as long as get them. Last night in the drive after the Wallace TD, the Titans got just a FG. So the Steelers netted out a 4pt gain on the exchange. I'll take that.

The screw-up came w/ the block punt on the very next drive.

 

Our defense seems to hurt our defense. Or more accurately, the opponents offense seems to hurt our defense. Have to score when given the opportunity; it's up to the defense to stop the other offense and ours has a hard time doing that after a 15-play, 10-minute drive or a 1-play, 10-second drive.

 

Personally, I think sometimes as fans we forget how the game builds. A decision with 4 minutes left in the 2nd quarter to go for 1 point or 2, to kick a FG or go for it and try to get a TD or maybe fail. All those decision in the 2nd Qtr. affect decisions later. The blocked punt had as large of an impact on that game as any other 1 play. Don't give up the block, you don't give up the TD....or at least not without them earning it. Don't give up that TD, you don't go for a winning FG, you are just trying to kill off the clock and the entire last drive looks different. Get points off the Timmons INT other than a FG....you don't need the FG later. The game builds and we often overlook that. One bad play, one bad decision.

This team has been poor, don't get me wrong, but there are plays here and there in every game. Long TD pass against Denver, long TD run in Oakland, blocked punt in Tenn., missed FG in Tenn. and made FG in Tenn. Those 5 plays go differently...what does our record look like. That being said, the margin of victory or defeat for playing those teams should NEVER be that close in the first place.

 

LOL! I was thinking the same thing. How many times was that posted, like 200 or something, even though our average TOP was just as good or better than our opponents most of the time. Just as you stated if the points are there to be had you grab them whenever you can.

 

That doesn't explain every single team taking the ball on the first possession and driving down the field for a TD or FG. The raider game was horrible, long drives that scored and the D hit the field and in 2 minutes the raiders were answering, even if the D is fresh they are bad, no logic in this argument anymore, this D has been exposed.