Takeaways from the game

It's very frustrating, and has been for the last 3 years.

 

I read his snaps were way down. They are opting to use Tyson over Javone. Not sure why because he was on fire last year and the start of this year.

 

Never knew Tomlin called the offense like Ben McAdoo did.


Maybe Tomlin should rescind his playcalling duties to Haley..... oh wait..

 

Never said Tomlin called the plays. But guess what? He could if he wanted to. Why? Because he is in charge!

If the offense ran the wildcat for an entire quarter, do you think Tomlin would stand quietly on the sideline and scratch his head, deferring to Haley? C'mon man!

 

I learned a lot with this game. I will give the defense props, they were shaky early but adjusted and played well. When watching it over in slow motion it is easy to see what the offensive problems are, it is 99% play calling plain and simple. The 3rd and 1 issue was hit on right away by Tony Romo, he said it, Pittsburgh comes out in the same formation, the Bengals know where the play is going before the snap. This is also why the passing game isn't as dynamic, I thought that might be a problem earlier in the season but today it was evident, the DBs know the route tree the Steelers use based on formation. Bryant can't get any passes because he can't get separation, and it seems no one else gets much unless there is a busted coverage or they put a new wrinkle in. Watch the game again and when Eli Rodgers is in look at where the LBers set up, they know the route he is going to run before the ball is snapped, if Haley is becoming that predictable then a change needs to be made, either tweak the offense or step down, simple as that but it is evident teams know what the play is and where it is going before the snap.

 

This will haunt us against NE if something doesn't change.

 

Not just NE. There are other competitive teams out there. And on any given Sunday, the Browns could show up and our defense could take a break. Field goals instead of TDs could be the difference.

I'm far more worried about us than NE.

 

I agree with you, it's just that NE seams to make teams pay for that stuff more than any other team. That's why the NE no name players keeping getting famous playing against us lol

 

As of right now, Steelers aren't gonna beat the Patriots with the glaring red zone deficiencies. The defense may be improved vs. the Pats with addition of Watt and Haden, but it's gonna take an above average performance by the offense to have any chance against the Patriots. I hope the Steelers can improve, but we're already 7 games in and the same problems persist in the red zone. I hope they can improve vs. the Lions and go into the bye on a positive note and 6-2 record. Need TDs, not FGs.

 

I absolutely despise the play calling and that will be what holds us back from where we want to be this year. Things better change. Can’t stand Haley.

 

Ben looked great this game. So did our O- Line. Couldn't be much happier on that front.
Bell and AB are incredible.
After a crappy start our D was great for the most part. Very happy there too.

Our special teams still need some work when it comes to punt returns.
Red Zone play-calling is...WTH?
As others have said - we're too predictable on Offense. Are we only using half a playbook or something?

All in all those these last two weeks have been awesome because what it really comes down to is "Are we winning games?" Two wins in a row against teams that played us hard and we're sitting at 5-2. Sweet!

 

Something i was wondering about with the play calling.. Do you think as the above poster sojourner said we are using half the playbook?
Maybe Tomlin and Haley are trying to keep a good deal of the offensive plays hidden for the playoffs and mainly the Pats.
The coaches were crucified last year for not being prepared, and out coached. Maybe they have a ton of new plays but dont want to reveal any of them until they play the big one in the playoffs. They feel they can win these games even with the predictable plays.
Thoughts?

 

Wishful thinking.....highly unlikely. Could of used a couple "new " plays to win the Chicago game. In reality I thnk Haley can design good plays but struggles tremendously with stringing them together . Situationally wise he's abysmal....like others have said ,no creativity out of his formations.

 

Ben still needs to do a better job of getting Bryant more involved, throw him some slants like he scored on against the Vikings instead of those damn bubble screens.

 

If you watched the Jags, Chiefs, and Bengals game closely you'll notice a trend that started with the Jags. Opposing defenses have taken away the slant and the crossing routes, they are all on to those plays now. If you have any of the game recorded go back and watch, like the Bengals game, when Eli Rodgers was lined up in the slot, watch how the LBers shifted and forced him to run outside rather than across the middle. The same thing for Bryant, the only routes he seems good at are the deep crossing or a go route but there always seems to be a safety underneath now taking that intermediate crossing route away, the only reason the safety wouldn't be over the top is because the defense knows the play and that is my problem with Haley, he has become predictable to a fault. I'd like to see Bryant more involved but Haley hasn't been able to, or is unwilling to change formations and plays and teams now know how to play against this offense, I really think 95% of the entire offensive problems is play calling. Think about the coverage that we see, either we are playing awesome CBs every week or they DBs know where to go before the ball is snapped.

 

Is it play-calling, or is it predictable plays based on their formations?

 

A couple of thoughts:

1. Bryant looks like he is doing nothing more than going through the motions. If the ball doesn't hit him right in the chest it isn't getting caught. You can blame everything under the sun (Ben, rust, etc.), but in the end it is Bryant. Bryant is the only one that is going to fix that.

2. Play calling is our only problem on offense, and it is an evident problem. It can be fixed if we are willing to adjust...we will see.

3. Yes, I wish every field goal was a touchdown, however, I'm more optimistic about the field goals. Every field goal we score is time and points kept away from the other team. We have proved we CAN win by kicking field goals, it just isn't the most ideal situation. (Once again I will reiterate that I wish field goals were touchdowns)

 

I'd have to go with predictable plays based on formation. When Haley got here the offense was terrible, but once the team got adjusted to it and they had the right personnel it became dynamic. The problem now is that the team runs the same plays all the time, no changes and if the fans can pick it up I'd imagine defensive coordinators are noticing. Take a look at the Falcons, the main change is Kyle Shanahan is gone and now their offense is just running basically the same scheme and it isn't working because of everyone on their schedule is picking up on the play calling, Julio Jones is having a tough time getting open because of the same thing we are seeing with the Steelers, DBs know where he is suppose to go based on their formation and so he ends up being covered much tighter than he has in the past. So I'd have to think that the plays are predictable and in certain cases the situational play calling is horrendous, specifically short yardage and red zone.

 

Please watch Sean Payton's offense in NO, the Steelers could take a few pointers
from this offense.