Steelers at Bengals

[Moonie]

Tomlin continues his non-losing season streak. Absolutely devastating news for the T-Haters. Devastating! They are at home, puking in toilets, buckets, sinks, shoes, closets, etc.

[feltdizz]

They played great defense against the Ravens two weeks ago. Probably best D in the league in that game. We definitely slipped a bit today, but then again, Burrows is unstoppable by any defense at times.

I don't know what is to be done with Porter. Is he really as awful as he looked today?

Not sure if the sacks occurred in zone but I have a feeling that is the main reason the D was bad at times today.

Made no sense to go to zone once up 16 when man was killing them.

and yeah, JPjJ is good and terrible. There was no reason to commit half those penalties

[hawaiiansteel]

Steelers TJ Watt Adds to Sacks List in Win vs Bengals - Postgame

[Starlifter]

there is no doubt Burrow with Chase/Higgins is a tremendous challenge. And with the Steelers at 9-3 it seems ticky tacky to look for flaws.

But as I was watching the 4th quarter unfold, the thought the resonated most in my head is - this is why Tomlin doesn't have a coaching tree. you're up 41-24 with less than 8 minutes to go. You have a top defense of the league - and Austin makes calls/schemes that are the antithesis of closing out a game. To switch to not only a soft zone, but a soft zone that apparently has everyone just run to the end zone and happily gives up the entire field - so that the bungles can score 2 TD's while only burning 3-4 minutes off the clock is criminal.

I doubt any of the talking heads will say anything - but those that know the game had to look at that and think it was putrid. The coaches like to express how the players need to possess sound fundamentals and execution. Well, it works for coaches as well. His play calling the last 8 of that game was horrific.

We should never have let Flores leave.

[NorthCoast]

there is no doubt Burrow with Chase/Higgins is a tremendous challenge. And with the Steelers at 9-3 it seems ticky tacky to look for flaws.

But as I was watching the 4th quarter unfold, the thought the resonated most in my head is - this is why Tomlin doesn't have a coaching tree. you're up 41-24 with less than 8 minutes to go. You have a top defense of the league - and Austin makes calls/schemes that are the antithesis of closing out a game. To switch to not only a soft zone, but a soft zone that apparently has everyone just run to the end zone and happily gives up the entire field - so that the bungles can score 2 TD's while only burning 3-4 minutes off the clock is criminal.

I doubt any of the talking heads will say anything - but those that know the game had to look at that and think it was putrid. The coaches like to express how the players need to possess sound fundamentals and execution. Well, it works for coaches as well. His play calling the last 8 of that game was horrific.

We should never have let Flores leave.

I kinda expected that the star safety (Fitz) would show up playing center field at the end. Honestly, he's regressed badly this season. Late in recognitions, late in tackling, no where near the ball.

But I'm not sure how much difference the defense would have made. Burrow likely targets Porter who would likely get yet another DPI for chunk plays. Those penalties would stop the clock, which was the real enemy for CIN at that point.

Oh, and Flores defense against the pass this season? 28th in the NFL....

[Northern_Blitz]

Not sure if the sacks occurred in zone but I have a feeling that is the main reason the D was bad at times today.

Made no sense to go to zone once up 16 when man was killing them.

and yeah, JPjJ is good and terrible. There was no reason to commit half those penalties

I think it made a ton of sense.

The idea is to make them take a bunch of 5-10 yard plays when they need to score twice with each drive taking maybe 50 seconds off the clock.

If you go man, the chances of them breaking a huge play a higher. And I think I heard before the game that the Bengals have the most 40+ yard plays in the league.

The problem isn't that we tried to make them nickle and dime their way down the field.

The problem is that we still gave up a 50 yard pass play when we were doing it.

I think that means it was less about going zone in general. And more about the specific play call. And that they have an elite QB throwing to the best WR in the league (by far?).

It will be really interesting after they have to pay Chase. I think they really screwed themselves with a bunch of Bengals like drafts for defensive players. They're going to have even less cap space for defense after next year (because Chase's 1st year on the new contract won't be bad).

[NorthCoast]

I think it made a ton of sense.

The idea is to make them take a bunch of 5-10 yard plays when they need to score twice with each drive taking maybe 50 seconds off the clock.

If you go man, the chances of them breaking a huge play a higher. And I think I heard before the game that the Bengals have the most 40+ yard plays in the league.

The problem isn't that we tried to make them nickle and dime their way down the field.

The problem is that we still gave up a 50 yard pass play when we were doing it.

I think that means it was less about going zone in general. And more about the specific play call. And that they have an elite QB throwing to the best WR in the league (by far?).

It will be really interesting after they have to pay Chase. I think they really screwed themselves with a bunch of Bengals like drafts for defensive players. They're going to have even less cap space for defense after next year (because Chase's 1st year on the new contract won't be bad).

They will lose Higgins next year when he goes to UFA. If they draft WR early, that just leaves another gap in their already struggling defense.

The Steelers have done a pretty masterful job balancing talent on offense and defense. Not an easy task even when not paying a QB. BAL and CIN are paying for their QBs using defensive talent.

[feltdizz]

there is no doubt Burrow with Chase/Higgins is a tremendous challenge. And with the Steelers at 9-3 it seems ticky tacky to look for flaws.

But as I was watching the 4th quarter unfold, the thought the resonated most in my head is - this is why Tomlin doesn't have a coaching tree. you're up 41-24 with less than 8 minutes to go. You have a top defense of the league - and Austin makes calls/schemes that are the antithesis of closing out a game. To switch to not only a soft zone, but a soft zone that apparently has everyone just run to the end zone and happily gives up the entire field - so that the bungles can score 2 TD's while only burning 3-4 minutes off the clock is criminal.

I doubt any of the talking heads will say anything - but those that know the game had to look at that and think it was putrid. The coaches like to express how the players need to possess sound fundamentals and execution. Well, it works for coaches as well. His play calling the last 8 of that game was horrific.

We should never have let Flores leave.

I was furious at the zone defense. Not to give excuses but this is what the Bengals have done all year to everyone. They get down a few scores and then mount a comeback with some quick strikes to make things interesting before losing.

I wouldn’t be upset if Austin leaves, I wanted him gone after that last easy TD.

[feltdizz]

I think it made a ton of sense.

The idea is to make them take a bunch of 5-10 yard plays when they need to score twice with each drive taking maybe 50 seconds off the clock.

If you go man, the chances of them breaking a huge play a higher. And I think I heard before the game that the Bengals have the most 40+ yard plays in the league.

The problem isn't that we tried to make them nickle and dime their way down the field.

The problem is that we still gave up a 50 yard pass play when we were doing it.

I think that means it was less about going zone in general. And more about the specific play call. And that they have an elite QB throwing to the best WR in the league (by far?).

It will be really interesting after they have to pay Chase. I think they really screwed themselves with a bunch of Bengals like drafts for defensive players. They're going to have even less cap space for defense after next year (because Chase's 1st year on the new contract won't be bad).

Sure, the idea is to make them burn clock mare sense but all game it felt like soft zone led to easy chunk plays.

When you go soft zone and give up large chunks its a bad idea. We have seen the Bengals gouge teams who go soft zone all year. When you don’t get after Burrow its pitch and catch with Higgins and Chase.

[Mr.wizard]

I haven't seen anyone mention this, can anyone tell me what Van Jefferson was doing on that long catch and run? If he had just run straight he would have scored, it looked crazy on TV but maybe it was just the angle?

[NorthCoast]

Sure, the idea is to make them burn clock mare sense but all game it felt like soft zone led to easy chunk plays.

When you go soft zone and give up large chunks its a bad idea. We have seen the Bengals gouge teams who go soft zone all year. When you don’t get after Burrow its pitch and catch with Higgins and Chase.

In the first half Burrow averaged 6.1 yds/att with a long of 18 yds. In the second half he averaged 7.1 yds/att with the long a 49 yd play. Take away that one play (which I still blame Fitz for) and Burrow averaged 5.4 yds/att in the second half.

[Chucktownsteeler]

I haven't seen anyone mention this, can anyone tell me what Van Jefferson was doing on that long catch and run? If he had just run straight he would have scored, it looked crazy on TV but maybe it was just the angle?

I mentioned that at the time in this thread. I said something like “why did he cut in”. It looked to me if he kept running straight he may have scored.

[Mr.wizard]

I mentioned that at the time in this thread. I said something like “why did he cut in”. It looked to me if he kept running straight he may have scored.

Ya it looked really strange lol

[NorthCoast]

Entertaining stuff... Orlovsky and Sharpe duke it out over Joe Burrow losing the game:

btw, I side with Orlovsky... anyone putting the Bengals loss on Burrow is out of their mind.

[hawaiiansteel]

Pittsburgh Dad