Frustrating Steelers Loss Due To 3 Team Weaknesses

[feltdizz]

Re: Frustrating Steelers Loss Due To 3 Team Weaknesses

If we throw the ball to Miller 15 times a game it won't be pretty. Miller is great for us because he is used in a limited fashion and usually comes up big. If we throw to him more often I'm sure people will start wondering why Heath is dropping more passes than usual.

Miller is not the best TE in the game... He is a solid TE in our offense but he is not top 5 IMO. I'm not knocking him I just feel Steeler fans on here are a little delusional when it comes to certain players on our team. Everyone keeps talking about all of our great weapons...

we have solid players, a few fast but raw youngin's and a gifted QB...

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Re: Frustrating Steelers Loss Due To 3 Team Weaknesses

However, I would bet the farm we win our next 3 games without much resistance.

You would bet the farm that the next three games are not only wins, but easy wins?

You are definitely what I would call a gambler.

[hawaiiansteel]

Re: Frustrating Steelers Loss Due To 3 Team Weaknesses

looks like Kemo also was responsible for one of those sacks looking at that picture...


The Ugly: Offensive Line Play



Matthew Sharpe/Getty Images


The Steelers gained an offensive lineman in Trai Essex but continued to play as though they were only allowed to have three of them on the field at a time Sunday night.

While Max Starks has been relatively solid alongside Chris Kemoeatu, rookie Maurkice Pouncey, the right side of the Steelers line, has not played well as of late.

Essex, along with right tackle Flozell Adams, were solely responsible for the Saints’ three sacks on Ben Roethlisberger. Aside from the obvious stats, the complete lack of chemistry between the two after Essex missed the better part of a month was compounded by a full out argument on the sidelines in the first quarter.

After the layoff many will want to blame Essex’s performance on rust, but frankly he is only confirming what we already knew with regards to his body of work from last season. Essex was slow off the ball and even worse at staying on his feet once he got them moving in Sunday’s loss.

While Doug Legursky had a week to forget last week and his three penalties against the Dolphins, his presence in the running game was especially missed this week in the limited playing time he saw.

While the Steelers coaching staff is likely going to give Essex another week to regain whatever form it is they think he has, Legursky seems to be a better choice at this point in both facets of the game.

With the success the Saints had recklessly blitzing the Steelers, they can expect to see a lot more of it in weeks to come.

The Steelers are slowly but surely abandoning the running game once again, and their "live by the long pass" mentality could very well become the sword they fall on if they don’t find a way to protect Roethlisberger long enough for receivers to get downfield.

[url]http://bleacherreport.com/articles/507001-pittsburgh-steelers-the-good-bad-and-ugly-of-week-8-with-video-highlights?source=rss_teams_Pittsburgh_Steelers#pa ge/9[/url]

[fezziwig]

Re: Frustrating Steelers Loss Due To 3 Team Weaknesses

If we throw the ball to Miller 15 times a game it won't be pretty. Miller is great for us because he is used in a limited fashion and usually comes up big. If we throw to him more often I'm sure people will start wondering why Heath is dropping more passes than usual.

Miller is not the best TE in the game... He is a solid TE in our offense but he is not top 5 IMO. I'm not knocking him I just feel Steeler fans on here are a little delusional when it comes to certain players on our team. Everyone keeps talking about all of our great weapons...

we have solid players, a few fast but raw youngin's and a gifted QB...

THANK YOU ! Please go over to the Tavern and repeat this !

[papillon]

Re: Frustrating Steelers Loss Due To 3 Team Weaknesses

If we throw the ball to Miller 15 times a game it won't be pretty. Miller is great for us because he is used in a limited fashion and usually comes up big. If we throw to him more often I'm sure people will start wondering why Heath is dropping more passes than usual.

Miller is not the best TE in the game... He is a solid TE in our offense but he is not top 5 IMO. I'm not knocking him I just feel Steeler fans on here are a little delusional when it comes to certain players on our team. Everyone keeps talking about all of our great weapons...

we have solid players, a few fast but raw youngin's and a gifted QB...

I said this exact same thing in a thread somewhere when we were debating amazing weapons. The only amazing offensive weapon the Steelers have is Ben Roethlisberger. The other offensive players, Rashard, Hines, Mike Wallace, Heath Miller and the other younguns at WR are good players, but none of them rise to All-Pro or Pro-Bowl caliber and that's what I consider amazing.

All of our the Steelers amazing players are on defense, Troy, Silverback, Woodley, Timmons, Hampton and Smith when he's healthy. Each and everyone of them could make the Pro-Bowl this year with the exception of Smith, since, he's now injured.

Pappy

[fezziwig]

Re: Frustrating Steelers Loss Due To 3 Team Weaknesses

I'm a Steeler fan 100% but, it doesn't skew my vision of how our team or players rate with their talents + or -

[NJ-STEELER]

Re: Frustrating Steelers Loss Due To 3 Team Weaknesses

If we throw the ball to Miller 15 times a game it won't be pretty. Miller is great for us because he is used in a limited fashion and usually comes up big. If we throw to him more often I'm sure people will start wondering why Heath is dropping more passes than usual.

Miller is not the best TE in the game... He is a solid TE in our offense but he is not top 5 IMO. I'm not knocking him I just feel Steeler fans on here are a little delusional when it comes to certain players on our team. Everyone keeps talking about all of our great weapons...

we have solid players, a few fast but raw youngin's and a gifted QB...

I said this exact same thing in a thread somewhere when we were debating amazing weapons. The only amazing offensive weapon the Steelers have is Ben Roethlisberger. The other offensive players, Rashard, Hines, Mike Wallace, Heath Miller and the other younguns at WR are good players, but none of them rise to All-Pro or Pro-Bowl caliber and that's what I consider amazing.

All of our the Steelers amazing players are on defense, Troy, Silverback, Woodley, Timmons, Hampton and Smith when he's healthy. Each and everyone of them could make the Pro-Bowl this year with the exception of Smith, since, he's now injured.

Pappy

i've been saying that for years.
although i'll say wallace's speed is a big weapon, not his overall game yet.

Heath's a good 2 way TE. has very good hands, but he isn't one of these hybrid/TE types that we are seeing being drafted that can run away from not just LBs, but DBs as well

[hawaiiansteel]

Re: Frustrating Steelers Loss Due To 3 Team Weaknesses

Steelers mix and match on line

By Mark Kaboly

TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, November 3, 2010


Look at the numbers and the differences are negligible.

The rushing yards, the yards per carry, the rushing touchdowns and the quarterback sacks are very similar for the Steelers through the first seven games of this season compared to the same juncture a year ago.

So why is new offensive line coach Sean Kugler being lauded for the job he has done with his group while Larry Zierlein was fired for having just about the same production?

It's what Kugler has had to deal with that has set him apart, and there has been plenty to sort through over the past several months.

• The Steelers have used the same starting line in consecutive weeks only three times.

• Kugler lost Willie Colon to injury before the season started, Max Starks for one game and Trai Essex for four.

• He helped Flozell Adams switch from left to right tackle, then had to deal with him leaving early in four games due to injury or dehydration.

• He has a rookie starting at arguably the most crucial position on the line — center.

• He had two undrafted players in Doug Legursky and Ramon Foster uncharacteristically split series in games during Essex's absence.

And, still, the line has performed above expectations.

"He has done a good job," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said of Kugler. "But we are not about patting ourselves on the back, quite frankly."

Tomlin might want to re-think that.

Kugler's line has protected the team's trio of quarterbacks admirably, has helped Rashard Mendenhall become one of the top runners in the NFL and has gone about it with a physical-style mentality.

"He wants us to be physical at all times," Essex said. "He tells us it's OK to make mistakes, but just make sure you hit somebody while you are messing up."

Relatively speaking, Kugler doesn't have the luxury of the top players at the position from which to choose.

The starting line consists of a rookie first-rounder (Maurkice Pouncey), two third-rounders (Starks and Essex), a sixth-rounder (Chris Kemoeatu) and a 35-year-old, 13-year veteran (Adams) who is playing out of position.

Throw in considerable playing time from two undrafted free agents (Legursky and Foster) and a former fourth-rounder (Jonathan Scott) and the loss of arguably their best overall linemen in the preseason

(Colon) with an Achilles' injury, and Kugler doesn't quite mimic what last year's New York Jets had with four first-picks along the line.

"It is the camaraderie of the group what makes them good, it's a good group of guys," offensive coordinator Bruce Arians said. "They have taken a beating for the past couple of years and a lot of it is undo. It is still out there and I think they are trying to prove themselves."

The Steelers hired the rough-and-tough Kugler in January to replace Zierlein, and he quickly got the respect of his linemen.

"He kind of has the same personality as us, we are all kind of (expletive) in our own way," Colon said. "But he is real loyal to us, and it is a good feeling to know you have a coach who will go to war for you."

Kugler played four years at UTEP and one season in the World League of American Football for the Sacramento Surge that experience is important to some of the linemen.

"You definitely gravitate to coaches who actually played the position and played the game," said Scott, who played for Kugler in Buffalo last season. "It's only natural. He knows some of the discrepancies of the offensive line. It is definitely advantageous to be able to coach and play. He puts a lot of pride in offensive line play."

Kugler's style is different than Zierlein's, and that didn't go unnoticed by the line from the beginning. And it wasn't something that wasn't welcomed.

"What I admire the most is that he has a blueprint of where we should be and how we should play," Colon said. "A lot of coaches don't have that. It is one thing to tell guys but another thing to show them. It is easier for guys to adjust."

[url="http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/print_707321.html"]http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 07321.html[/url]

[Jooser]

Re: Frustrating Steelers Loss Due To 3 Team Weaknesses

Ah, don't worry, we'll spend a couple of our top picks on more LB talent next April, and we'll forget all about these weaknesses, until next season starts...right?

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: Frustrating Steelers Loss Due To 3 Team Weaknesses

"He has done a good job," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said of Kugler. "But we are not about patting ourselves on the back, quite frankly."

You know that Tomlin really wanted to go Winston Wolfe here:

"Well, let's not start sucking each other's &!@%s quite yet."