My Thoughts after Seattle vs. Steelers

You know, it took me a little bit to digest what really happened yesterday. There was good and there was bad, but the bad outweighed whatever we did which was good.

Coaches

I thought the game plan was horrible offensively. I felt like I was watching Arians at the helm of this offense again. Run the ball a few times then pass pass pass. It was almost like they got caught up in what Ben did last time they played and forgot to include other things in the gameplan. Look at what Seattle did to us. They exploited the seams in the defense. We were able to do that with Wheaton, but never moved Brown around to allow that to happen with him. I felt like most of Ben's throws were to the sideline.

On the defensive side of the ball, I felt sorry for Butler. The defensive backs made mistake after mistake after mistake. Our Dline is very good. Our LBs are average and we miss Shazier's splash play ability when he isn't in there, and our defensive backs are horrid. We need to remember how to tackle. Yuck, that sucks. We need to start giving some other guys some snaps because these guys aren't getting it done in the defensive backfield. Did we try to adjust at all?

When it comes to the fake FG, I had no problem with the call. Success there would have completely put that game into a mental place where Seattle would have shut down, I truly believe that. The outcome that did happen though completely put our team on our heels the rest of the game. I don't even have a problem with the fact that the play was called or that Landry threw it, but if you throw that ball you have to overthrow the guy as the worst case not underthrow him. Landry made the worst possible outcome possible.

I find it weird that Tomlin was aggressive early with the fake FG, but didn't go for the win from the 3 even on 4th down.

Other things of note, OFFENSE:

We really miss Bell. Our red zone offense misses him more than anywhere else.

Jesse James is going to be a really good tight end for us. I truly believe that.

Wheaton played a great game.

The Oline was....okay, but what can you really expect with 2 backups in the game.


Other things of note, DEFENSE:

Explain to me how they have 11 PDs and we have 1, which is a deflection at the LOS by a Dlineman...

Our DBs made so many mistakes and blown coverages I lost track.

Our Dline played very well.

Our LBs are still a problem. Jones and Dupree played fine and I truly believe at some point they will start making plays, but it looks like they are both rookies still. Shazier is missed for his big play ability, but boy that guy has some crappy luck right now.

Can we see some snaps from some other CBs? Please. I don't think any CB played well yesterday.

Can we finally send Will Allen out of the starting lineup? The team played better with Golden. Add in Thomas who appears to be about as smart as the turkey I ate on Thursday and we need some upgrades at S.


A couple of remarks about the NFL and officiating.

1. Don't do replays if you aren't going to get it right.

2. If the NFL is serious about head injuries, a fine and 15 yards is not going to cut it. Let's think of it like this, Timmons push of a guy out of bounds.....15 yards. Bennett give our QB a concussion. 15 yards and a fine later in the week. If you are serious, you do something else. Anyone with half a brain knows that taking out the starting QB most times changes the course of the game, and when that player is Ben or Brady or Manning or Brees, etc. it could make major changes. If you know that all that is going to happen to you is a fine later in the week and you have a shot to take out the QB don't you take it? I can tell you Suh would. Harrison would. I have said this in the NHL and I truly believe it should be the case in the NFL as well. If you do an illegal hit which puts someone in the concussion protocol, guess what, you don't play again until he does. It is that simple. Bennett should have been out of the game the instance the hit was deemed to have caused a concussion and was illegal.

 

My take is despite how poorly the defense played, the game was still win-able. It would have been a close one, but we could have won.

If we kick the FG instead of a fake and Seahags do not get an easy TD as a result, maybe they do something stupid as they fall behind by more than one score and the whole outcome of the game is different.

One day we will lose or miss out on a Super Bowl because of Tomlin`s stupid gut decisions.

So many ways we could have won. Now we have injuries and have to struggle to get a wildcard. We are way better than this and stupid coaching is really hurting us. If we replaced Tomlin and Butler stopped throwing deep on third down and make-able, I would be much happier with the coaching.