Losing to inferior teams?

Our situational football IQ is sub-par there is no denying it and the examples are plentiful. That's why when we lose we always say we beat ourselves. When was the last time some team dominated us and we all said OK we lost to a better team....rarely! there is usually some assinine decision associated with the loss. To be consistent in this league ,you have to be consistently football smart,and we're not.

 

All this Tomlin/Cowher crap is stupid, who freaking cares?

 

You can't simply look at stats and final scores objectively and make a case when it comes to football. The poster to Labriola brought up 1997: sorry, but the Steelers lost to a loaded Cowboys team on opening day. By mid-season, that Cowboys team was a shell of itself. The Steelers didn't get them in week 9. And I wouldn't consider the 6-9-1 Eagles a BAD team; they were mediocre. That 1997 season started slow and then got it going late in the season.

You have to look at WHO was on the field. Under Tomlin, the Steelers have regularly lost or squeaked by inferior teams with bad QBs. That is a FACT. Don't simply look at Ws and Ls...look at the game as a whole.

Not very often during the Cowher era did I find myself shaking my head, thinking, "How in the hell did they lose that game?"

Off the top of my head: 1992 at Bears, 1993 at Browns (when Metcalf had two punt returns for TDs), 1995 at home vs Cincy and at Arizona, and three bad divisional losses in 1996--though the Steelers had no QB).

 

NO!!!!!

a 4-10 team with 20 IR players
have a hungrier group of the NEXT MAN UP
individual success
situational football
playing against a qb who obviously should have been benched
SO yes I guess you are right
the coaches still fd up because they did not sit BB

 

1 and 2 are undisciplined plays
3 is bad luck
4 is playcall (LBer playing man on slot receiver going across the field. That's a matchup lost on the snap. Bad matchup lead to penalties taken).

Regardless, The issue is that you have to come up with scenarios that represent a small portion of flags.

And no one said penalties are the be all end all of discipline. What I said, and what it true, is that penalties are an objective measure of discipline. They aren't the only measure, and all flags aren't created equal. But in a large enough sample size (30 teams/full season), they are a fair barometer.

 

At this point of the season the Ravens are a team with a worse record.

The Ravens had professional players on the field. Facing other professional players can end up in a loss.

The Steelers won games with Vick and Jones playing QB.

 

I think it's a hell of a coaching job to win 10 games when you lose your franchise QB for 4, LT for 10?, C for 16, Franchise RB for 12?, WR, ILB, etc

How many games did John Harbough win this year? Tom Coughlin?

 

I agree. I believe the coaching staff did a good job considering the adversity the team faced. The Ravens were a competitive team. They couldn't find ways to win many of the close games.

 

I think you make a valid point, but at what point do you blame Tomlin for some of the really bad losses the last few years in which the team simply DID NOT look prepared to play a football game? When do you point the finger at Tomlin for being the worst clock manager in the NFL? When do you start to question when he chooses to put precious points at risk against a divisional rival to go for it on fourth down? When do you start to ask why he leaves an inept CB on the field when he traded a valuable draft pick for a player who, by most accounts, had pretty good ball skills and has ranked in the upper tier at the position the last couple of seasons? He's had the second best quarterback in Steeler history IN HIS PRIME and has failed to produce a playoff win the last six seasons while said QB has been in his prime! To me, this is totally unacceptable! But I'm just Joe Fan. Please forgive me if I don't send Tomlin a card congratulating him on another "non-losing season" (don't you just love that term) after he fails to win a playoff game, or even make the playoffs, again this year.

 

Well I would say that I don't have the same concerns you do. For example, going for it on 4th and 1 on the first drive against Baltimore... I totally agree with that call.

The fan narrative around clock management is blown way out of proportion.

I have no problem with the Blake criticism. But fans should realize that Boykins is NOT an outside corner, he's a nickel back, and Gay is a fantastic nickel, but not so good outside (see Baltimore). So... It's a roster issue more than a coaching issue IMO. Fans just want to see something done (with Blake and rightfully so), but with Cortez injury, Golston and a grant injuries, we were basically ****ed.nso again, the issue is bigger than "Tomlin Dumb!!!!".

 

after further review

I do not fault Tomlin (as much)

I tried soooo hard to see him as the fault
but
it's Ben
and
only Ben
again

Cowher was right

 

Fair enough, but even though the issue is bigger than "Tomlin Dumb", to me that may be part of the issue. Tomlin coaches from his gut and with emotion and seems to constantly be out-maneuvered by head coaches that take a more intellectual approach to the game. He's admitted himself that he's not a big scheme guy. My perception, FWIW, is that he loses the chess match far too often to the "Bobby Fischers" of the coaching world, many of whom have inferior talent on their teams.

 

well
until the" Tomlin lift shirt victory dance" this year
I would have put all my money on BB having the bigger gut

maybe they are both playing from the gut
??
?
?.

 

How old is this dude ?...like 5 ? I mean learn to write, and...Oh I don't know...make an actual POINT!!

 

yeah jackattack
whats yo prob mang?

 

I would be interested in debating that in a more specific manner (game, calls, schemes, etc)...and look forward to doing it in the coming game/seasons.

Having been on other message boards I don't always agree with a lot of the stuff that gets filed under "out coached, bad coaching". But there are times of agreement (not going for the TD vs Seattle was unacceptable IMO, and the explanation - we needed a stop anyway - ignored the differences between the type of stop in all 3 potential outcomes).

I'm rambling

 

My Prob ?....other then I know how to write and communicate properly......nothing.

 

Yeah, well, she's a girl so...

 

are you david?
or Jack?

 

How do we determine if the team was prepared vs being unprepared? The very idea of this seems to boil down to a w vs a loss. Steelers win they were prepared. Steelers lose they were not prepared. I don't believe it's that simple.

The offense came out like it was prepared to face the Ravens. They ran the ball with a lot of success on the first drive. Going for it on 4th and 1 was a risk that Tomlin thought worth taking considering how the Steelers ran the ball. People are happy when risky plays work out and question when they don't.

It's probably a little more difficult to prepare for a QB the coaches and players didn't have much time to study on film. I believe the Steelers defense did a better job vs the Ravens offense in the 2nd half.

How do we determine a good loss vs a bad loss? Some people consider all losses as the devil and as such heads should roll.

Any facts to provide that Tomlin is the worse clock manager in the NFL? I've witnessed many coaches in the league make time management mistakes. Sometimes coaches provide reasons why they made particular decisions. It doesn't mean they are bad coaches because their calls or decisions didn't work out as planned.

Ben is just as responsible for the lack of playoff wins simply because he plays the game. Players win or lose games in the NFL.

Fortunately for Steelers fans the ownership understands that fielding a competitive team is just as important as playoff and SB wins. Some Steelers fans have the best of both worlds and don't even realize it.

 

I hear what you're saying, but are you suggesting that the reason Ryan Mallett had success against us is because we didn't have time to prepare for him? I'm sure they dumbed down the offense to its bare minimum for this scrub. Our secondary stinks and all of the first round draft picks we have on the front seven never entered the same zip code as Mallett.

I don't have stats to back up the assertion and I don't care to look for them, but I'll say with confidence that Tomlin is a terrible clock manager. In fact, he's a terrible game manager. Isn't it his responsibility to direct Haley to stick with the running game if we're having success with it as we were in the Ravens game?

As for Ben, you are correct. He certainly is not blameless. But he's been in his prime the last few seasons and Tomlin and company have not figured out how to win a playoff game in six years with Ben's tremendous talent? Ben has underperformed but so has the coaching staff and it starts at the top.

 

In the draft .... We need big time players with big time skills, from big time schools . Stop drafting small DB'S . Stop drafting slow DB'S. Stop drafting DB'S from smaller schools ..

 

Yeah the running game was working very well and then we went totally away from it and after DWill's great start we didn't give him the ball for most of the rest of the game. We get in the red zone and go empty backfield and throw a pick 6 only to be overturned by the rat's stupidity. For the NFL to be a "copycat league" I sure don't understand why teams don't "copycat" the pats because they will literally do the same thing over and over until the other teams stops it. I don't know why we don't do the same thing. We marched down the field against the pats on the ground and then run a stupid momentum killing trick play. Does that sound familiar? Yep. Sounds like the Seattle game. We march down the field with DWill and then go empty in the redzone. We DID wind up scoring but ONLY because the rats made a mistake. It's also not entirely true that only players can "win or lose games in the NFL". If you remember when the pats went undefeated the rats actually had them stopped on a 4th down play that would have ended the game but Rex Ryan called a TO that nullified that play and gave them another shot which they capitalized on and went on to win. Coaches can absolutely do things to win or lose games.