Winners, losers and the ugly

Winners:

Bell
Hamilton
DHB


Losers:
D-Line
Big Ben ( needs to change his name to Big Hurt)


Ugly:
O-Line

 

You know it was a bad game when two of your winners only had one good play each.

 

not too many winners today. Even the punter was bad. We did see more from Mr McCullers than ever, though I suspect he was more part of the problem than part of the solution.

 

winners: Dolphins
Losers: our team on the road
Ugly: I agreed with Real Steel today

 

Yep. I think McCullers was the only Winner I could think of. I guess Matekevich got a tackle or two?

 

Bad
The 3 B's
Bad
Oline, defense, coaching

Ugly
Watching that pitiful showing

 

Bell was a positive pretty much every time he touched the ball?

 

Alright guys. Considering that today was a loss.. there is still winners to be had. Best yet Glenn, I am not as upset nor enraged as I was by the Eagles loss. With that out of the way... let us get started shall we? As always.. not using superstar names.


Winners:


Jordan Berry:


Sorry Glenn.... but I am running out of creative ways within the language arts to describe how awesome he has been.... so.. I will just say it..








Honestly guys... give the unsung aussie hero your Pro Bowl vote. If he does get it... he will be the first Steelers punter since Bobby Walden did it in 1969: 47 years ago.




Damarius Heyward-Bey:



He did not log a catch... but that 60 yard run is what started the game on a good note. A splash play was needed.... and he delivered.



Cobi Hamilton:


While two catches are not going to wow you, that 18.0 YPC is quite good; the touchdown just icing on the cake. What I was most impressed was his ability of separation within those two catches. While it is not "Sammie Coates" levels of separation... it still was good enough to garner his first ever touchdown of his young career.



... onto the bad.....



Bad:




Jesse James:


I thought he was professing well in his blocking... then I realized Jesse was still progressing. He does not lack strength nor violence in his punches. It is his how he uses said hands along with his lack of leverage that is holding him back; strange considering that he was a better blocker than a receiver in my eyes when he was drafted. He is running out of time to use proper leverage and technique as we are heading into the midway point. To add insult to injury.. next week is not going to be much better either as Rob Ninkovich and Chris Long are not slouchy in their fundementals to dismantle blocking tight ends. Jesse has to step his game up.. and fast.



Front Seven:


From the lack of the pass rush.. to the inability to stop the run... this front seven is experiencing a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hdye" season. Against games like the Cheifs... they look like world beaters. Against games like the Eagles.. they look like paper soldiers being cut down by a dull edge pocket knife. However... this game was by far their worst statistically.


Bad enough was the career day by Jay Ajayi. Worse was Ryan Tannehill passing for over 250 yards. Yes.. he did not have a touchdown.. and the overall number of passing yards should not matter... but having both the air raid and the rushing attack on you, in dominating fashion, is a recipe for disaster. From Stephon Tuitt... to Lawrence Timmons.. all of these guys did not show up today in any single form or fashion. These "Jekyll and Hyde" moments need to stop if Pittsburgh wants to compete for a title.



There should be more "bad" guys... but the "ugly" section is a continuation of what many of us have seen for far too long. With that out of the way... the ugly.




Ugly:



Mike Tomlin and the Coaching Staff:


"There are three cetain things in life. Death, taxes, and the Steelers ability to play down to the level of their competition." - Avid Steelers Fans.



This has been nearly as synonymous as the legendary quote itself. This year though.. I thought it would end; especially after pounding an inferior Jets team that was well below the talent level that Pittsburgh has. Against the Dolphins.. I had no agony heading in this game.



Boy was I wrong..



... not only did a Tomlin-led lost.. they looked horrific doing it. Worse of all is that this is not the first time Tomlin has done this. According to CBSSports writer Ryan Wilson, Tomlin's record against teams with a record .500 or less is abysmal; 25-87 being the total. This averages to a .195 winning percentage. The worst part is that this has been dating back since November. 11 2009... six years ago.



However... this is not the worst of today's loss.


The absolute worst part of this is the fact that neither Todd Haley or Keith Butler made enough adjustments at halftime. For Haley.. the Wide 9 strikes again in spite of the inferior level of talent. To attack the Wide 9... attack those outside gaps (B and C) where the formation is most vulnerable. Running inside plays right into the hands of the Wide 9's strengths. Then again... this is not entirely on his part (more on this later).



For Keith... it is his lack of aggression in his play calling. Very little bliltz schemes and far too much reliance on two things, one of which cannot be done on this defense;


1.) Coverage schemes. Having the likes of Vince in zone coverage multiple times? Really?


2.) Four man pass rush. When is Butler going to get it that having said rush is not going to yield much of anything sans the seldom hits?



Haley and Butler are capable of doing great things. However... when you overthink something that is not that difficult to do considering that it worked for you to earn those four wins, you are setting not only your team, but yourself up for failure. To win... just stick with what works. No need to try out something that does not.




Offensive line:



Look David DeCastro. You have friends around this time. Alejandro Villanueva to Chris Hubbard.. this offensive line, for the second time, looked overwhelmed and outmatched against the Wide 9 formation. The worst part is that not only Ndamukong Suh was consistently giving either the combination of Foster/Pouncey or DeCastro/Pouncey or Foster/DeCastro individually headaches.. but Andre Branch was Miami's Connor Barwin today. The worst part was that this offense could not open up the necessary gaps to help Le'Veon Bell exploit it's weakness later on like they did early; Haley abandoning the run as a result. Even then... the pass rush still got to them. Considering that Bill Belichek will take away at whatever you do best.. he had two games to look at against the offensive line and will run similar looks. To say this group is in trouble heading into next week is an understatment.





That does it guys. To end my post... why not a "Chekmark"


"We're moving on to New Engalnd."

 

I was looking at the feed on my phone and 4 plays in a row had Dirty Red listed as the primary tackler

 

Tackle or 2? He had 8!

 

He did? Happy to be corrected, in that case.

Obviously I was struggling to identify players through the tears of frustration in my eyes .

McCullers and Matekevich stand as my winners of the game.

 

Forget to mention Artie Burns.
He had a rough game.

 

I blame Boswell. We need a kicker who can kick FGs from our own 20. It's his fault we lost.

 

No twerking for Anton-I-o Brown this game. How dare the Steelers not score a plenty so AB can have his TV camera time......

 

what are you crazy
Tomlin will start doing just that

Especially next week at Heinz
going into the open end side