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Thread: Loss Was a Team Effort

  1. #1
    Legend

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    Loss Was a Team Effort

    In a lot of ways, last night was more disapointing than Oakland. The Raiders are always tough for the Steelers, west coast travel, etc. Last night was a game the Steelers should have won and needed to win, plain and simple. I think there is plenty of blame to spread around:

    1) Special teams: the blocked punt and a big penalty to set back the final drive were brutal;

    2) Offense: losing Mendenhall and Redman hurt, as did losing Gilbert and Pouncey. In addition to the difficulties running after those two were hurt, Ben just seemed a bit off. He played well, but not excellent. Missed a big throw down the seam late that could have impacted things.

    3) Defense: Ugh. If Keenan Lewis holds onto the ball that hits him in the numbers, this is a completely different story. But, a big drop negates what was an otherwise decent night for Lewis and Allen. Ike Taylor has hit a few of these stretches were he can't cover anybody. He needs to snap out of it because he was awful. On the tying drive, looks like there was just confusion and a blown coverage leading to a big play, and then the D would have had a stop but for Ike. Can't give a team 2 sets of downs from the 15. Not sure about a coverage asking Harrison to cover Cook one on one. You would have to think that this was a blown assignment because that is a mismatch without anybody in a zone to support.

    4) Coaching: The FG call was questionable, but I'm ok with it. Ultimately, the head coach has to make a judgment and he did. It doesn't always turn out like you hope. I guess 52 really is the outer limit of Suisham's range. And to think, the Steelers had Bironas in camp years ago.

    Disappointing effort all around.

  2. #2
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    I agree completely. My running joke right now is that this is the most well balanced team in football right now. They stinking equally in all three phases of the game. Offense sitnks. Check. Defense Stinks. Check. Special teams stinks. Check. Coaching. I don't think this is a very well coacheed team right now. Check. So you're right about this loss being a team effort. They all had their "hand in the pile", including Mike T.

    Rockon

  3. #3
    Legend

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    5. Ben threw an INT at the end of the half that should have been points on the board. He made another bad throw to Miller who was blanketed in the End Zone later in the game.

    The Red Zone is Big Ben's kryptonite. He can't make decisions on a short field.

  4. #4
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    Good point Flippy. Almost forgot about the pick, but yeah, those 3 points would have been nice at the end of the game.

  5. #5
    Administrator

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    Which player will be apologizing this week
    Tomlin: Let's unleash hell and "mop the floor" with the competition.

  6. #6
    Legend

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    Quote Originally Posted by flippy View Post
    5. Ben threw an INT at the end of the half that should have been points on the board. He made another bad throw to Miller who was blanketed in the End Zone later in the game.

    The Red Zone is Big Ben's kryptonite. He can't make decisions on a short field.
    Careful, I posted a similar comment a few years ago and it was not kindly received. But I agree.

    [URL]http://www.planetsteelers.com/forums/showthread.php/27551-Ben-not-a-Red-Zone-QB?p=363885&mode=linear&highlight=zone#post363885[/URL]
    Last edited by NorthCoast; 10-13-2012 at 09:54 AM.

  7. #7
    Legend

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    No way to spin 2-3 start

    FRIDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2012 WRITTEN BY DAN GIGLER



    Those faces pretty much sum up the state of the Steelers at the moment.

    It's an election year, so go ahead -- act like a politco and try and spin this loss.

    Sure, you can say that the offense was generally more than competent enough to win.

    And hey, the Steelers were without LaMarr Woodley and Troy Polamalu, then lost Rashard Mendenhall (again), Isaac Redman, Maurkice Pouncey and Marcus Gilbert.

    A blocked punt? That's flukey.

    And Ike Taylor -- a pretty darn good cornerback by anyone's standards -- may have had the single worst regular season game of his professional career.

    Even Mike Tomlin, the normally unflappable head coach whiffed too. He probably should've had his team punt at the end instead of having his kicker attempt a career-long field goal and miss, which in turn gave the Titans a short field with a chance to win.

    None of that matters.

    Because for the third time this season, the Steelers simply could not make a stop when they absolutely needed to. And for the second time, they blew a fourth quarter lead of a touchdown or more to gift-wrap a victory to an "allegedly inferior" opponent.

    There's no way to spin 2-3. And there's a mighty ominous thunderhead appearing on the horizon for the remainder of the 2012 season with a pair of dates with upstart Cincinnati and AFC North standard bearer Baltimore still to come.

    No Mike Tomlin-coached Steelers team has started 2-3. Dating back to the beginning of the Cowher regime, only five Steelers teams have started 2-3. Those were in 2006, 2003, 2002, 2000 and 1999.

    Only one of those teams made the postseason: the 2002 squad which lost in the divisional playoffs -- to Tennessee on the road by a field goal, no less. And that was during a year in which Tommy Maddox came out of nowhere to give Pittsburgh a surprise jump-start.

    The others: 8-8, 6-10, 9-7 and 6-10.

    Consider also that since 2001, the Steelers have made the playoff in consecutive years, then missed -- 2001 & 2002, playoffs; 2003 miss; 2004 & 2005, playoffs; 2006 miss; 2007 & 2008, playoffs; 2009 miss; 2010 & 2001, playoffs; 2012 ...

    It's still too early to bet on a Pittsburgh-free postseason. But if the Steelers are unable to suddenly reinvent themselves by their Oct. 21 date at Cincinnati, history suggests it's might be a lock.

    But hey, they still get to play Cleveland twice. (Now that's some spin for you.)

    [URL]http://blogs.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/sports/blog-n-gold/35716-spinning-2-3[/URL]
    Steel Maniac's Time-Based Prediction: Lamar Jackson will be a bust and total flop in the NFL.

    What Actually Happened: Lamar Jackson became the youngest two-time NFL MVP winner ever.

    Gloat gloat gloat


    Boom........

    Hahahahahahaha

  8. #8
    Backup

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    Quote Originally Posted by flippy View Post
    5. Ben threw an INT at the end of the half that should have been points on the board. He made another bad throw to Miller who was blanketed in the End Zone later in the game.

    The Red Zone is Big Ben's kryptonite. He can't make decisions on a short field.

    Quote Originally Posted by NorthCoast View Post
    Careful, I posted a similar comment a few years ago and it was not kindly received. But I agree.

    [URL]http://www.planetsteelers.com/forums/showthread.php/27551-Ben-not-a-Red-Zone-QB?p=363885&mode=linear&highlight=zone#post363885[/URL]
    Here's the distance of all 10 of Roethlisberger's TD passes to date: 4, 3, 1, 37, 4, 4, 22, 11, 13, 83.

    Seven of his 10 TD passes this season came in the red zone, and five of those seven came in goal-to-go situations. Another one came from just outside the red zone. Only two of the 10 are long-distance TDs. I guess this is all made possible by his lack of quick decision-making.
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