Why wasn't Bell on the field?

On the drive with 9 or so minutes to play. Did he get dinged up or did Haley just decide to give him some rest at a critical moment in the game? 2nd and 23 and he calls a draw to Fitz? I understand wanting to keep the clock rolling, but if we have the best rb in the game then he should be on the field.

Edit- I thought the drive was around the 3 minute mark, but it was at 9 minutes.

 

Simple.


Haley outsmarted himself again. Within the same vein, Alejandro Villanueva did himself zero favors that drive.



He does not hold, the drive is sustained. Simplistic lack of discipline.

 

One of the guys on NFL Network post game said he was totally out of energy.
Not sure I believe that.

 

I do not for a second.


Dude receives more touches than any other back in the game and is still fine. No reason to use someone else.


As I said though, no reason that Big Al did not use better technique in his blocking either.

 

Never have i been a haley hater until this game. The drive with 3ish minutes on the clock and down in the redzone at the end. what an idiot. really hope he's fired after the season and that's not emotions talking that's seriously some horrid play calling that cost us the game

 

I was wrong about the 3 minutes to play. It was 9 minutes to play when we ended up with the 2nd and 23 draw play with fitz. 3rd and 21 we went with a 3 yard pass to Bryant.

 

See my previous post

 

Two questions?

Why am I watching this game again? Any word on Connor?

 

Tomlin said after the game that Connor has an MCL injury.

I don't have a problem with using Connor for a play or two, but running a draw with Touissant was an absolute waste. The draws were particularly useless last night. That play needed to be a pass of 10-plus yards to at least give them a shot on third down.

That said, Villanueva really did screw them on that drive. If he just keeps pushing, Bell gets through the hole. Villanueva was between the defender and the ball, so he didn't need to hold.

 

The play-calling on the final series was fine. The problem was Roethlisberger's decision to throw short to Heyward-Bey. If nobody is open in the end zone, he needs to throw the ball away there and take his chances on third down.

 

I'd have been fine had they not gotten into field goal range chalked it up as more Pats head games. BUT to go from depths of despair to hope to elation to shock and then soul crushing horror I'm just blank.

 

That game definitely left me with the feeling of Charlie Brown after Lucy yanked the football away again.

 

I lost 1,000.oo on the game and that last play would have reversed that, but all in all I feel good about the way they played the Pats overall. They probably will play again in New England but they showed last night they have a better way to win against them. With a couple of players back and a plan of some type to control Mongo I think the Steelers win that game and knock the Pats out at home. I would guess the line on that game will be 3 or 4 points with the Pats being favorite. If that is the line I'll take the bet if nothing else changes much. As I said in an earlier post win or lose life goes on. Now the Steelers need to win the next 2 games and see how the playoffs shape up.

 

While I like our chances with AB for the whole game the pats will have a couple of key defenders back by then.

 

I got the TV off for now for recovery sake. I think I will also be avoiding the NFL Channel for a while. Need time to think.

It`s like living in an alternate reality and you ask does anything really matter in the football universe after seeing that game? A win is not a win. Like watching a movie where the ending is immoral because the bad guys win. The "Tuck Rule" game comes to mind, now I know how Raiders fans felt. It`s just not right, what happened. A sense of wrong doing has been done and there are no answers. What did we do to deserve this? Is this payback for all the close wins this year? Why did it have to happen that way? It`s just wrong.

 

Of all the players who missed the game but might play in research, Brown is by far the most important, but I doubt you will see him even close to 100 percent in the playoffs.

Unless there are further injuries, the Steelers could get a boost from the return of Haden and McDonald while the Patriots will get back Branch, Van Noy and Hogan.