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I gotta admit, it got the ball out of Ben's hands pretty quickly. We even made completions during jail-break, all-out blitzes.
Then it seemed to me we were able to make longer plays as the Jets seemed to compensate and back off into coverage.
This was against a D-line the announcers were saying at the start of the game was pretty good.
Game plan as drawn up ... pretty good?
There are times when it is great, but don't make the offense about it when you have Ben as QB.
Love the win but it royally pi$$es me off that Bicknell, Haley, and Tomlin have such little faith in the capabilities of the O-line that they can't punch it into the endzone with 1st and goal on the 2. The 2!! They have to resort to a reverse, possible pass by the WR to trick their way into a TD. If Ben doesn't complete a long pass, the Sanders TD catch for example, this O sucks balls inside the red zone.
[QUOTE=Ghost;578983]Love the win but it royally pi$$es me off that Bicknell, Haley, and Tomlin have such little faith in the capabilities of the O-line that they can't punch it into the endzone with 1st and goal on the 2. The 2!! They have to resort to a reverse, possible pass by the WR to trick their way into a TD. If Ben doesn't complete a long pass, the Sanders TD catch for example, this O sucks balls inside the red zone.[/QUOTE]
Wasn't that the complaint when BA was here too? The O could move the ball between the 20's, but wasn't able to punch it in?
[QUOTE=Sugar;578985]Wasn't that the complaint when BA was here too? The O could move the ball between the 20's, but wasn't able to punch it in?[/QUOTE]
Absolutely. They were atrocious with BA in the red zone (in the 40's, percentage wise). I think it's one of the reasons they didn't see an issue with letting him go. Unfortunately, nothing has changed over the last season and a quarter. They are still mind-numbingly awful when they get in close. How do they not address this all off-season, training camp, and week in and out to come up with some set of plays that can get a TD when they get a 1st down inside the 10. Counting on the other team's QB to throw 2 interceptions inside the red zone is a losing strategy.
Suisham was awesome again yesterday (Team MVP so far) but at some point, possibly multiple games, kicking 4 FGs is going to lead to a loss because they needed to be scoring TDs.
The Steelers were able to get the long ball to Sanders and some other passes because of a small semblance of a running game. Play action only works if the line is doing it's job and they have to respect the run. Then bam everyone bit on the run and Sanders runs free. You can thank LeVeon Bell and the oline (finally) for that one.
Also the guy covering him was a crip, couldn't run worth cr*p. Was questionable as to whether he should have played, I'd say the Jests made the right call (from our point of view!).
Yeah, I thought that as well.
Oh, well. We'll take it ;)
[QUOTE=Ghost;578983]Love the win but it royally pi$$es me off that Bicknell, Haley, and Tomlin have such little faith in the capabilities of the O-line that they can't punch it into the endzone with 1st and goal on the 2. The 2!! They have to resort to a reverse, possible pass by the WR to trick their way into a TD. If Ben doesn't complete a long pass, the Sanders TD catch for example, this O sucks balls inside the red zone.[/QUOTE]
And you actually have faith they [U]could[/U] punch it in?? I think you are in the minority if you believe so.
Hopefully Ben understands that when he executes Haley's offense it can work. He started to get in a rhythm hitting those short passes which caused the Jets to back off and that opened up the deeper stuff. We still look sick in the red zone. Why we don't just throw it to some of our bigger receivers I'll never know. Trick plays don't cut it in that area.
One question ... how is it possible for our linemen in short yardage situations to completely wiff on trying to block the guy lined up directly across from them? It seems like at least one of our linemen does it weekly. :HeadBanger
[QUOTE=Sugar;578985]Wasn't that the complaint when BA was here too? The O could move the ball between the 20's, but wasn't able to punch it in?[/QUOTE]
The OL SUCKS. We had success with Redman as our short yardage RB for a year or 2 but even then it was due to Mend/Redman making a nice move or breaking a tackle instead of our OL getting a push.
The OL is softer than baby doo and their technique is horrible. I have no idea what their assignments are but it always looks like the guy in front of them isn't their guy to block and every defense knows it and walks right behind them to make a play in the back field.
[QUOTE=NorthCoast;579049]And you actually have faith they [U]could[/U] punch it in?? I think you are in the minority if you believe so.[/QUOTE]
i don't think he's in the minority, there. if the o-line puts a body on someone and you have a decent RB, then anybody can punch it in against anybody... i'm certain they could (with Bell) given 3 tries from the 2
[QUOTE=ikestops85;579086]Hopefully Ben understands that when he executes Haley's offense it can work. He started to get in a rhythm hitting those short passes which caused the Jets to back off and that opened up the deeper stuff. We still look sick in the red zone. Why we don't just throw it to some of our bigger receivers I'll never know. Trick plays don't cut it in that area.
One question ... how is it possible for our linemen in short yardage situations to completely wiff on trying to block the guy lined up directly across from them? It seems like at least one of our linemen does it weekly. :HeadBanger[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE="Ikestops85"]our linemen does it [SIZE=4]weakly[/SIZE].[/QUOTE]
I think you misspelled a word, so I fixed it, now it makes sense. :p
Pappy
[QUOTE=SteelerOfDeVille;579095]i don't think he's in the minority, there. if the o-line puts a body on someone and you have a decent RB, then anybody can punch it in against anybody... i'm certain they could (with Bell) given 3 tries from the 2[/QUOTE]
you began your statement with "if", and that was exactly my point. It doesn't seem to happen very often, and even less often when they approach the goalline. it seems there is almost always someone missing an assignment leading to a jailbreak or tackle for loss.... thus the lack of faith I have for this offense.
[QUOTE=Steelhere10;578977]There are times when it is great, but don't make the offense about it when you have Ben as QB.[/QUOTE]
Agree with this statement!!!!
You always hear people say that OL love run blocking so much more than pass blocking. It is funny then how it always seems like the Steelers line approaches run blocking like they hate it and are afraid to do it. As much of a liability Kemoeatu was, there was a guy who just loved to run block. A guy who wouldn't stop until the whistle blew and then he looked angry that he had to stop. Obviously this is not a call out to bring him back - he sucked in so many ways, but I would just once love to see this OL approach any task with as much zeal as Kemo did when he wasn't getting penalized.
Was "Haley ball" a winner for the 2nd game in a row?
In a sense I think not, because it seemed like Ben had more than a few opportunities to hold the ball for a long time without getting squished. So, to the degree that Haley ball means getting it out of his hands in 2.3 seconds so he doesn't get squished, this was different.
But (at least to me) a big part of Haley ball is emphasis on reintroducing the medium length passes - the 5 to 7 yarders. I haven't looked at the stats but it feels like to me Ben is looking there more than he used to, and good things are happening.
Maybe one (of the several) reasons we got rid of Wallace is because there were too many wasted pass attempts of 25 yards or more to him. We've always had good crossing receivers (Hines, Heath), now there's Brown and Saunders (and Bell/Jones even?) - teams have to honor that part of the field against us, opening a whole lot of other options.
Haley ball = "Use the whole field" ... successful?
[QUOTE=SanAntonioSteelerFan;579694]Was "Haley ball" a winner for the 2nd game in a row?
In a sense I think not, because it seemed like Ben had more than a few opportunities to hold the ball for a long time without getting squished. So, to the degree that Haley ball means getting it out of his hands in 2.3 seconds so he doesn't get squished, this was different.
But (at least to me) a big part of Haley ball is emphasis on reintroducing the medium length passes - the 5 to 7 yarders. I haven't looked at the stats but it feels like to me Ben is looking there more than he used to, and good things are happening.
Maybe one (of the several) reasons we got rid of Wallace is because there were too many wasted pass attempts of 25 yards or more to him. We've always had good crossing receivers (Hines, Heath), now there's Brown and Saunders (and Bell/Jones even?) - teams have to honor that part of the field against us, opening a whole lot of other options.
Haley ball = "Use the whole field" ... successful?[/QUOTE]
It definitely looks like Haley and Ben made a few tweaks to the O and now we are beginning to see success. I also think getting a real RB in the backfield helps our play action and keeps the D on it's toes. Ben is also looking much sharper...
Whimper and Beachum look like upgrades at OT and Ben isn't as erratic as he was the first 4 games.
[QUOTE=SanAntonioSteelerFan;579694]Was "Haley ball" a winner for the 2nd game in a row?
In a sense I think not, because it seemed like Ben had more than a few opportunities to hold the ball for a long time without getting squished. So, to the degree that Haley ball means getting it out of his hands in 2.3 seconds so he doesn't get squished, this was different.
But (at least to me) a big part of Haley ball is emphasis on reintroducing the medium length passes - the 5 to 7 yarders. I haven't looked at the stats but it feels like to me Ben is looking there more than he used to, and good things are happening.
Maybe one (of the several) reasons we got rid of Wallace is because there were too many wasted pass attempts of 25 yards or more to him. We've always had good crossing receivers (Hines, Heath), now there's Brown and Saunders (and Bell/Jones even?) - teams have to honor that part of the field against us, opening a whole lot of other options.
Haley ball = "Use the whole field" ... successful?[/QUOTE]
I would say it was successful for the 2nd week in a row. If Ben gets the ball out of his hands in under 2 seconds teams are forced to back off and try and cover those short routes. This makes the offensive line look better. The red zone offense is still horrible.