thoughts from the Pats and Rats

Obviously, missing Bell hurt. I'd say no Bell equaled 11 points. Turn one FG drive into a touchdown and one stalled drive into a touchdown.

Having said that, the Steeler defense did better than the Pats defense as 30<31.

Our Oline sucked, and pressure killed. But the one thing I saw Brady use last night for success, to counter the pressure, was the short pass. They were able to turn 5 yard passes into first downs. Yet, going back to the game last week, Ben didn't really throw a lot of short passes. They knew Baltimore was going to bring pressure, and they didn't respond to it. I thought that was a staple of Hailey's offense? To get better, they have to improve the oline, and get a healthy Bell, with tested backups. But, maybe they need to get back to Hailey's style, which protects Ben.


Side note, I believe the Steelers had more players on their defense this year from the 2005 SB team than the Ravens did from their 2012 SB team.

 

The reason Brady can do that is in order to get pressure on him they have to bring a 5th man and sometimes 6, that leaves open lanes underneath. What happens to the Steelers is they are getting pressure with just 4 leaving 3 LBers in close coverage taking away the short pass. Rex Ryan has T. Brady's number, he almost beat them twice with very little offense, just like he did against the Steelers, the difference is getting pressure with the front 4, if you have to bring 5 and don't get to Brady he will kill you with the short passing game and Ben will do the same but we still have Beachum who is doing well but isn't great, Gilbert, who struggles against any decent pass rusher, and Foster who just misses blocks and gets pushed back to easily on bull rushes. When we beat the ratbirds the second game, they made it tough in the beginning but the oline tightened up making them bring an extra man to get pressure and what happened is Ben threw for 6 TDs but it isn't going to happen when a team can consistently pressure the QB with just their front 4, too many guys guarding underneath to risk a throw.

 

After deriding the bubbles screen for so long in Haley's offense, the game against the Rats was the perfect time to employ it... it seemed strangely absent, though.

 

Those screen work well if they are executed, and nobody executes them better than the Pats. They consistently get 5-10 yards out of those things. I don't know how. But their WRs are like greased pigs.

 

I still think the Steelers have failed to work the no huddle into their offensive approach. An up-tempo, pass-oriented approach would have put the Ravens on their heels. I didn't need to see the Pats do it to see that it would work. If nothing else, Ngata was out of game shape, so they needed to get him winded immediately.

 

Couldn't agree more and they always have guys who have an elusiveness about them Welker, Amendola, Vereen, etc.

You and I both agree no one has made a better career out of 5 yard out passes and slants than Brady. But one thing about Brady with those 5 yard passes is he is both incredibly accurate in putting it right where it needs to be which so often gives the receiver the ability to fluidly make his next move and the guy always seems to have a sixth sense in recognizing what the best matchup is to get the guy free.

 

Player Evaluation!!! can the players being selected,transfer college skills to the pro level?
I think Ozzie is LIGHT YEARS ahead of our scouting department.

 

just look at free agent signings in the last couple of years

 

I will add to that the play design and timing . The reason they make those screens work so well is the timing they have WR'S take jab steps counter steps they drift they dart they slant they fade whatever is needed to set up the block against the type of coverage they are facing . Bottom line practice time against multiple looks.

Also Bill not afraid to throw the running game out against a Team who wants to be in a phone booth . He actually pulled a OL and inserted a 6th. WR that couldn't even be used to catch . So not only did he spread them out he spread them out more.

That is just a glimpse of the future of what you will see against great fronts. Coach Bill stole that from a high school Team . We ran it 10 years or so back and called it pass sweep. 4 WR'S on 1 side and 1 on the other throw to RB in motion to both sides the single WR was never a pass catcher. So simply a strong side sweep and a weak side sweep that negated the play of there DL and LB'S .

 

To be fair, Ozzie is light years ahead of a LOT of teams..not just the Steelers.

 

yeah, I agree. He's been the general manager since 2002. Since then, they have 1 SB win, 1 AFC Championship, 4 AFC North titles, and 122 wins.

Colbert, who obviously sucks, since 2002, they have 2 SB wins, 3 AFC championships, 5 AFC North titles, and 132 wins.

Maybe be we could throw in Dre Archer and make a trade Ozzie for Kevin

 

Tell me the same numbers since 2009. I don't think anybody is arguing that Colbert has had some past success, but it is the last 5 years where his player evaluation, use of free agency, and management of the cap has come into question. Granted some of that is shared responsibility with the coaching staff and ownership as well.

I think a lot of folks still are aligned to the idea that after you lose some great stars, veteran players that you have to go through a rebuilding phase. Yet the Patriots, Ravens, Packers, and Colts are examples of teams that ReLoad....not that the past few years have been awful for the Steelers and they appear to be on a better track now, but the Ravens appear to have performed quite well in shedding players, drafting well, and being shrewd in FA all while taking on a massive long-term contract with Joe Flacco.