My thoughts on reg season wk 3..

They ran the ball up the middle

That is not awesome defense

They also couldn’t cover the middle of the field

You have a poorly thought idea of awesome defense

 

I can assure you if the Steelers fumbled 4 times we wouldn’t be saying oh well the defense made good punches on the ball. No we would say that is piss poor ball security and be outraged. Let’s not act like NE didn’t 100% lose that game more than we won it.

 

I totally agree. It would be different if it was all blindside strip sacks and great punches... There are definitely times when a fumble is somewhat unavoidable (perfectly timed punch or QB taking his arm back to throw and getting hit at the same time), but these weren't that. I think Heyward's play on Stevenson at the goal line was really it for the "great defensive play" getting us the ball. Stevenson is a known fumbler and his first one was soft, not to mention the bad ones by Gibson and Maye.

The Pats achieved defeat from the jaws of victory because they aren't a good team and are a young team. We are quite literally a sliver away from being 0-3. If Boz isn't a kicking god and one or two of the fumbles from yesterday bounce in NE's favor, we're 0-3. We've certainly played like a team that should be 0-3. That needs to change and change fast. We have a back up QB next week and then a bye. We need to find a way to get it done in Ireland and then use the bye week to fix whatever garbage is ailing us. If this team isn't drastically different in a couple areas, we are in trouble the rest of the way.

 

I don't recall seeing anybody say they were it's hard to win in the NFL, just ask the Packers they were a TD favorite losing to the Browns .

 

The Steelers made it a point of emphasis leading up to the game to force fumbles.

 

I would think every game you would try to force fumbles. Come on man.

 

Then why this specific game? Why not all 17 try to force fumbles?

Its great that it was a POE and all, but it wasn't all swipes and punches. The Pats gave a few away too. It wasn't all us.

 

Because Tomlin talked about Stevenson being a fumbler, Vrabel should've benched him after the first fumble IMO.

 

It's definitely hard to win in the NFL. There's a reason why teams like the Jets (trash org) and the Pats (young team in transition period) tend to lose close games. There certainly is a reason why teams like the Steelers win close games too.... but the point remains that this team has been thoroughly outplayed all year. We've managed to win 2 of the 3 games (and that's great), but we aren't really in a position where we should be real optimistic about our prospects moving forward. We aren't causing 5 turnovers a game. The sole reason we are 2-1 is because we are #2 in turnovers and #1 in turnover differential. Its no surprise we lose the game where the diff is 0 and the two games where we are +5 we eke out close victories.... If that is how we have to win games this year, we're really making it even harder on ourselves

 

I guess you missed all of those games when Watt would try and force fumbles, you guys can't help yourself with the negativity Tomlin talked about it after the game.

 

You do know teams are allowed to get better during the season.

 

Yeah lol I've mentioned that a few times on this thread (and others) if you read my posts. We CAN get BETTER.

We HAVE to be BETTER if we want to not suck this season.

 

Both teams made big mistakes. The Steelers just made different types of mistake.

 

That isn't exactly true. Heyward also did a great job tipping the pass that Echols intercepted right before halftime. Peppers put his shoulder right on the ball on Gibson's fumble, then went through him to recover it. The Steelers were slapping at the ball all day, which is something they do well. Watt almost forced a fumble on his second sack. You can see the ball come loose, but Maye held on to it. The one Maye did fumble was a similar play, a good hit that he didn't see coming as he tried to scramble in the pocket.

 

I'd rather the defense get 3 and outs consistently and no or very few splash plays... than give up every 3rd and long and have a bunch of splash plays. Probabilities for winning will favor the solid defense that gets 3 and outs on a regular basis, over the defense that relies on splash plays to bail them out.

This is your philosophical lesson for the day. You're welcome.

 

Like it or not, Tomlin's defensive philosophy is to not give up the big play. It is tough to sustain a long drive without making a mistake in the NFL. Yes, it is frustrating to watch easy yards given up over the middle of the field, but it has worked so far. The longest reception NE had yesterday was 16 yards and for the season the long is 46 yards. We're missing 2 key starters in the secondary. If they start playing too much man they are going to get beat over the top.

 

Yeah if we have to be plus 4 in turnover margin in order to eke out a win, then that doesn't look good for the rest of the season.

 

Well, if we actually stopped big plays... then I'd be happy. We're bottom 3 in rushing TD's allowed, and bottom 5 in rushing yards allowed. We haven't given up any 40+ and only 1 20+, but we have to be among the league's worst in 10-19 yard rushes given up. We're 7th worst in passing TD's allowed and bottom 5 in 20+ yard pass plays given up. We're also bottom 5 in 3rd down conversion allowed. We've given up plenty of big plays. We've given up a 46 yard pass, a 33 yard TD pass, a 21 yard TD pass, a 19 yard TD run.... That's all in 2 games. The last game was definitely bend but don't break, but we've broken quite a lot in the short season so far. We're even 20th in red zone TD percent... We've essentially done nothing good defensively.

I wish it was bend but don't break. I could live with giving up 350 yards if we hold the opposition to under 50% RZ TD% and forced a ton of FG attempts. But we're giving up TD's (in the RZ and outside of it), we're giving up big plays, and we're giving up lots of points. We won't see many teams put it in the dirt 4 times in a game the rest of the way (if any). We gotta find a way to stop opposing offenses without them stopping themselves.

 

No RB gained over 30 yds

No receiver gained 100 yds

 

But their QB ran for 45 yards and they had 7 players with over 19 yards receiving.

 

Well, we definitely got hurt by the QB running it more than the RB's. We did a BETTER job vs the RB's, but we gave up too much to Maye. As a team we still gave up 119 yards rushing, so it's not like it was a stout performance. I'd be relatively happy if we held Barkley/Hurts or Henry/Jackson to that number. Not Stevenson/Maye.

As for the receiving... yeah we did okay against the WR's but we got gashed by the TE's and RB's. Giving up 175 yards receiving (and 2 TD's) to those positions is.... bad. We have a long way to go before our defense can be considered "acceptable", let alone "awesome". It could have been a lot worse if the Pats weren't so content putting the ball on the ground.

 

3rd down on defense is like entering The Twilight Zone, is this actually real? or am I tripping balls?

 

You plug a leaky dam one finger at a time. Much rather have Maye running the ball than Stevenson.