Let us get one thing straight

[V DUB]

Players cost us this game. Nothing less, nothing more.

Talk about certain decisions made, but this was a comfortable win with Grimble not fumbling & giving up 7, JC fumbling in the red, & Ben not eating a busted play. Washington didn't help & 19 had drops.

BR was God damned near perfect all day, & guys let him down. He forced it at the end.

That's not coaching, that's execution.

[Steelafan77]

Yep, Ben's 2 lame INT's while trying to force the ball to Brown which every defense in the league is keying on. Which Ben himself claimed in an interview he wasn't doing that much this season. I agree with all of it.

[Legacy User]

Players cost us this game. Nothing less, nothing more.

Talk about certain decisions made, but this was a comfortable win with Grimble not fumbling & giving up 7, JC fumbling in the red, & Ben not eating a busted play. Washington didn't help & 19 had drops.

BR was God damned near perfect all day, & guys let him down. He forced it at the end.

That's not coaching, that's execution.

Cant argue with any of that!

[Jobu]

Players cost us this game. Nothing less, nothing more.

Talk about certain decisions made, but this was a comfortable win with Grimble not fumbling & giving up 7, JC fumbling in the red, & Ben not eating a busted play. Washington didn't help & 19 had drops.

BR was God damned near perfect all day, & guys let him down. He forced it at the end.

That's not coaching, that's execution.

True...but when it continues to happen, turnovers, penalties, blown assignments, game after game....sorry, but that absolutely is coaching.

[zeke5123]

Players cost us this game. Nothing less, nothing more.

Talk about certain decisions made, but this was a comfortable win with Grimble not fumbling & giving up 7, JC fumbling in the red, & Ben not eating a busted play. Washington didn't help & 19 had drops.

BR was God damned near perfect all day, & guys let him down. He forced it at the end.

That's not coaching, that's execution.

What did 19 drop? He was damn near perfect. I’d say Brown not getting that toe tap was more disappointing.

[V DUB]

Players cost us this game. Nothing less, nothing more.

Talk about certain decisions made, but this was a comfortable win with Grimble not fumbling & giving up 7, JC fumbling in the red, & Ben not eating a busted play. Washington didn't help & 19 had drops.

BR was God damned near perfect all day, & guys let him down. He forced it at the end.

That's not coaching, that's execution.

What did 19 drop? He was damn near perfect. I’d say Brown not getting that toe tap was more disappointing.

He had a couple. One hit him in the face.

[Legacy User]

Most of the blame should be on the players.

But this infatuation with shuffle screens at the goal line is odd.

Then on the int.....that ball is getting picked by the DB if not the DL.... I understand ben didn't see the tape when he did his presser...but he can't use the excuse that he didn't expect the DL to be blocked into an int

[Steelafan77]

The defense not getting off the field on 3rd downs had a lot to do with the loss yesterday. Case Keenum, LaCosse, Sanders and Lindsay had their way with a decent defense and humbled them embarrassingly.

[Havoc]

.

[Stosh-67]

Players cost us this game. Nothing less, nothing more.

Talk about certain decisions made, but this was a comfortable win with Grimble not fumbling & giving up 7, JC fumbling in the red, & Ben not eating a busted play. Washington didn't help & 19 had drops.

BR was God damned near perfect all day, & guys let him down. He forced it at the end.

That's not coaching, that's execution.

Bone head play by Ben for sure.

The overall play calling, strategy, play design, etc on these 1st and goal plays inside the 5, inside the 3.................are certainly coaching issues as well.

Watch the last three plays.
On first down, a run left behind a pulling DD may have been an easy walk into the endzone, as it looked like that side of the field was there for the taking.
Steelers and Conner have been very good at running the ball into the endzone this year.

Second down we can all see the tight formation of the offense, the tight to the line defensive alignment. We all saw run coming. Romo commented it would be tuff to run it here with the defense bunched up.
Predictable formation, predictable call, predictable result.

Third down play was brutal. Another tight formation, a quick rushed pass into the middle of a packed in defense. Has he not learned a thing from the Pats play.............of rushing a pass into the middle of a defense.
Yes Pouncey blocked/ pushed the DT right into that ball..............
But the DB running in front of AB would have picked that as well.

[COS]

Live in NYC area, was just listening to the radio and Chris Canty was talking about the Steelers loss, saying "they always have these lapses of focus and mental errors that make them very beatable". Even outside of our little Steelers bubble it's widely known we are full of sloppy bullshit, enough so that it stands out from other top teams. Do we just perpetually bring in dumber than average players? Is playing smart and taking care of the ball not emphasized as much as other teams?

[lifelongsteel]

Live in NYC area, was just listening to the radio and Chris Canty was talking about the Steelers loss, saying "they always have these lapses of focus and mental errors that make them very beatable". Even outside of our little Steelers bubble it's widely known we are full of sloppy bullshit, enough so that it stands out from other top teams. Do we just perpetually bring in dumber than average players? Is playing smart and taking care of the ball not emphasized as much as other teams?

This is a great question. I think there are a few things that contribute

1) Steelers value system has shifted to athleticism at the cost of football intelligence (you can't always have both right?). So you now see a ton of high Sparc guys in key positions like Davis, Edmunds and Dupree. All of those specific guys were drafted because of their athletic profile, and you could argue that all 3 were overdrafted.

2) Tomlin wants high energy and high emotion. I think he'll take the trade off of mental errors as long as his guys are competing. Again, you'd like to have both but you have to make trade offs re: what you focus on. The example that comes to mind is how the Patriots never try to extend the ball over the goal line at the risk of fumbling. I think Tomlin would see this type of coaching as a inhibitor to being competitive.

3) Ben is the ultimate feast or famine QB. He had the best play i've seen from a QB this year (TD to JuJu) and the worst play i've seen from a QB this year (I think you know which play) all in one half.

As I argued in a separate thread last week Ben has to be phenomenal if this team is to make a run. The Steelers won't likely win any playoff games with 2 bad interceptions, regardless of how spectacular he may be on his other 40 throws.

[Obviously]

Live in NYC area, was just listening to the radio and Chris Canty was talking about the Steelers loss, saying "they always have these lapses of focus and mental errors that make them very beatable". Even outside of our little Steelers bubble it's widely known we are full of sloppy bullshit, enough so that it stands out from other top teams. Do we just perpetually bring in dumber than average players? Is playing smart and taking care of the ball not emphasized as much as other teams?

This is a great question. I think there are a few things that contribute

1) Steelers value system has shifted to athleticism at the cost of football intelligence (you can't always have both right?). So you now see a ton of high Sparc guys in key positions like Davis, Edmunds and Dupree. All of those specific guys were drafted because of their athletic profile, and you could argue that all 3 were overdrafted.

2) Tomlin wants high energy and high emotion. I think he'll take the trade off of mental errors as long as his guys are competing. Again, you'd like to have both but you have to make trade offs re: what you focus on. The example that comes to mind is how the Patriots never try to extend the ball over the goal line at the risk of fumbling. I think Tomlin would see this type of coaching as a inhibitor to being competitive.

3) Ben is the ultimate feast or famine QB. He had the best play i've seen from a QB this year (TD to JuJu) and the worst play i've seen from a QB this year (I think you know which play) all in one half.

As I argued in a separate thread last week Ben has to be phenomenal if this team is to make a run. The Steelers won't likely win any playoff games with 2 bad interceptions, regardless of how spectacular he may be on his other 40 throws.

Two great posts. Unfortunately, both strengthen the argument that a Tomlin-led team will never win another Super Bowl.

[Jobu]

Live in NYC area, was just listening to the radio and Chris Canty was talking about the Steelers loss, saying "they always have these lapses of focus and mental errors that make them very beatable". Even outside of our little Steelers bubble it's widely known we are full of sloppy bullshit, enough so that it stands out from other top teams. Do we just perpetually bring in dumber than average players? Is playing smart and taking care of the ball not emphasized as much as other teams?

Take care of the small details. Starts at the top...

[Orangesteel]

Live in NYC area, was just listening to the radio and Chris Canty was talking about the Steelers loss, saying "they always have these lapses of focus and mental errors that make them very beatable". Even outside of our little Steelers bubble it's widely known we are full of sloppy bullshit, enough so that it stands out from other top teams. Do we just perpetually bring in dumber than average players? Is playing smart and taking care of the ball not emphasized as much as other teams?

This is a great question. I think there are a few things that contribute

1) Steelers value system has shifted to athleticism at the cost of football intelligence (you can't always have both right?). So you now see a ton of high Sparc guys in key positions like Davis, Edmunds and Dupree. All of those specific guys were drafted because of their athletic profile, and you could argue that all 3 were overdrafted.

2) Tomlin wants high energy and high emotion. I think he'll take the trade off of mental errors as long as his guys are competing. Again, you'd like to have both but you have to make trade offs re: what you focus on. The example that comes to mind is how the Patriots never try to extend the ball over the goal line at the risk of fumbling. I think Tomlin would see this type of coaching as a inhibitor to being competitive.

3) Ben is the ultimate feast or famine QB. He had the best play i've seen from a QB this year (TD to JuJu) and the worst play i've seen from a QB this year (I think you know which play) all in one half.

As I argued in a separate thread last week Ben has to be phenomenal if this team is to make a run. The Steelers won't likely win any playoff games with 2 bad interceptions, regardless of how spectacular he may be on his other 40 throws.

This. Against a good team that can score we lose yesterday by probably 17-20 points.

Belicheck would probably have cut Grimble this morning.

[LakecrestSteeler]

Live in NYC area, was just listening to the radio and Chris Canty was talking about the Steelers loss, saying "they always have these lapses of focus and mental errors that make them very beatable". Even outside of our little Steelers bubble it's widely known we are full of sloppy bullshit, enough so that it stands out from other top teams. Do we just perpetually bring in dumber than average players? Is playing smart and taking care of the ball not emphasized as much as other teams?

That story line is 2-3 years old and not even relevant any more. Look at our record over the last 32 games. The Steelers have put that to bed over the last couple of seasons. I am not that shocked that we lost, shocked more in how we lost. Did not think we would win out. I expect us to beat NE and NO.

We are still the number 3 team in the league from what I have seen. Saints, NE and then Steelers. LA and KC are not that good and will not go deep in the playoffs.

[Stosh-67]

Live in NYC area, was just listening to the radio and Chris Canty was talking about the Steelers loss, saying "they always have these lapses of focus and mental errors that make them very beatable". Even outside of our little Steelers bubble it's widely known we are full of sloppy bullshit, enough so that it stands out from other top teams. Do we just perpetually bring in dumber than average players? Is playing smart and taking care of the ball not emphasized as much as other teams?

That story line is 2-3 years old and not even relevant any more. Look at our record over the last 32 games. The Steelers have put that to bed over the last couple of seasons. I am not that shocked that we lost, shocked more in how we lost. Did not think we would win out. I expect us to beat NE and NO.

We are still the number 3 team in the league from what I have seen. Saints, NE and then Steelers. LA and KC are not that good and will not go deep in the playoffs.

"they always have these lapses of focus and mental errors that make them very beatable".

That story line 2-3 years old AND still applies.
Vs. Cleveland
Vs. Baltmore
Vs, Jax.
Vs. Denver.

[Legacy User]

Live in NYC area, was just listening to the radio and Chris Canty was talking about the Steelers loss, saying "they always have these lapses of focus and mental errors that make them very beatable". Even outside of our little Steelers bubble it's widely known we are full of sloppy bullshit, enough so that it stands out from other top teams. Do we just perpetually bring in dumber than average players? Is playing smart and taking care of the ball not emphasized as much as other teams?

That story line is 2-3 years old and not even relevant any more. Look at our record over the last 32 games. The Steelers have put that to bed over the last couple of seasons. I am not that shocked that we lost, shocked more in how we lost. Did not think we would win out. I expect us to beat NE and NO.

We are still the number 3 team in the league from what I have seen. Saints, NE and then Steelers. LA and KC are not that good and will not go deep in the playoffs.

Maybe we have a good game against NE, but the Saints are going to destroy us. I think we lose to both, but the NE game will be competitive and perhaps come down to the last series. We'll be throwing bricks at the TVs in the first quarter against the Saints.

[Legacy User]

Coaching put us in a position to succeed. I'm usually the first person to blame Tomlin. It always starts with the HC, yada yada. But not yesterday. Coaching wasn't the problem. We were just "off".

Grimble's fumble wasn't lack of focus or hampered in ANY way because of coaching. It was a perfect shot from the DB. And the rule of fumbling out of the endzone being a touchback is top 3 worst rules in football.

AB's toe tap. I knew right then we weren't winning the game. I mean, when does the Diva miss a toe tap? That's signature AB. When you need him to move the chains and do something acrobatic on the sidelines, 9 times out of 10, he's Mr. Dependable. We were just "off".

Conner's fumble. I've been defending him and defending him and defending him. But he was simply trying to extend the play and got careless. For every one of you who have said his fumbling would cost us a game, I apologize for not agreeing. Neither the ball or his arm even got touched. That was all on a careless player trying to make more out of a play. We were just "off".

Ben's int's. Well, that's just Ben. He's going to make those throws sometimes. It's a given. But that last pick...the whole play was fucked from the beginning. We still had a timeout. Ben typically sees something wrong and burns the timeout to get us into a better play. We were just "off".

The entire game was a head scratcher. No offense to a decent Bronco's team, but they aren't in our league. We should have won by 4-5 td's. We gave them 14 points and gave up 14 of our own. We were just "off".

So that's encouraging, moving forward, because honestly, we can beat any team in the league. Yeah, I said it. Even the Saints. And Ben doesn't have to be phenominal to do it. He just needs to not turn the ball over and his receivers can't have drops.

The other encouraging thing is that now we're not in a position to get a bye. This team CAN'T WIN WITH TIME OFF. A bye would be the kiss of death for us. So we're exactly where we need to be. We just can't be "off" anymore.

[Obviously]

Live in NYC area, was just listening to the radio and Chris Canty was talking about the Steelers loss, saying "they always have these lapses of focus and mental errors that make them very beatable". Even outside of our little Steelers bubble it's widely known we are full of sloppy bullshit, enough so that it stands out from other top teams. Do we just perpetually bring in dumber than average players? Is playing smart and taking care of the ball not emphasized as much as other teams?

That story line is 2-3 years old and not even relevant any more. Look at our record over the last 32 games. The Steelers have put that to bed over the last couple of seasons. I am not that shocked that we lost, shocked more in how we lost. Did not think we would win out. I expect us to beat NE and NO.

We are still the number 3 team in the league from what I have seen. Saints, NE and then Steelers. LA and KC are not that good and will not go deep in the playoffs.

Avatar bet for a year on the bolded? What say you?

[steelmann58]

BEN last second INT was terrible but IMO Grimble fumble was terrible and turned the game..

[Kodiak]

BEN last second INT was terrible but IMO Grimble fumble was terrible and turned the game..

Unfortunately, you can't bench the HOF QB for his bullshit carelessness.

But ZERO doubt Belicheat benches Conner for that horrid fumble, and probably cuts Grimble. He doesn't tolerate that. PIT does, and other people said it well that Tomlin really doesn't enforce the little fundamental details and keep people accountable. He doesn't ignore it, but Belicheat has 0 tolerance while Tomlin is more of a, errrr, "4 strikes" guy.

Always something with this team. If it's not being careless with the football, it's dumb penalties. Or miscommunications. Or dumb penalties.

Not that I'm advocating it, but NO went out and signed Dez, and then when he got hurt signed Brandon Marshall. They have just about the best offense in football. PIT, meanwhile, keeps trotting out James Bustington.


My overriding perception of the Steelers is they all are just trying to have some fun. If they win a championship, great, but they just don't seem as hungry or singularly focuses as other teams. Fat and happy, just like the HC.

[955876]

We are still the number 3 team in the league from what I have seen. Saints, NE and then Steelers. LA and KC are not that good and will not go deep in the playoffs.

We’ve lost playoff games to the likes of Tim Tebow and Blake Bortles. I’d pump the brakes a bit with those claims.

I’d be happy to get a bellyache from eating too much humble pie. Not buying any Tums just yet.

[Steelersfan]

I agree with the OP and most responses in this thread. NOT coaching "totally" and we WERE just off, I can agree with. I'd much rather lose a game we gave away than get our asses kicked, when there is nothing we can do about it. We gave that game away, WE WEREN'T beat.

- But explain passing MORE THAN 50 times against the number 27 worst run defense in the league??? You can't without mentioning coaching, can ya. (specifically the OC)

- Explain getting a punt blocked by two guys (working in tandem) that's blocked one before (it was on "tape"), the EXACT same way. Can't, without mentioning ST coaching, can ya??? (specifically the ST coach)

- Explain the last possession play-calling (Short and goal) the last two weeks. It DIDN'T work last week (except we won by 6' 8" Ben streeeeeettttttccccccching out and touching/crossing the goal-line by .3789ths of an inch, .3789 seconds before his knee touched. We won so nobody's talking about how bad those play-calls SUCKED ass. So NO adjustment, no ingenuity, we just trotted out the same OLD predictable shit play-calling that didn't work the week before. You can't without mentioning coaching, can ya??? (specifically the OC)

So yes, not entire organizational coaching, but some specific coaching ABSOLUTELY!!!

And whoever said it, is absolutely right; Grimble and the ST coach should have been fired THIS MORNING. After the game in the locker room Tomlin should have asked James Washington, in front of everyone, for his helmet and then told him, he would NOT be needing it again this season. SHould have called Fictner out and told him HE'S the OC not Ben and to call the fucking plays when he should be.

That would have got the team focused from here on out. Since he didn't, we can probably expect Ben to have his way passing 80 times a game and for us to "shit-the-bed" again every few games.

[955876]

This team CAN'T WIN WITH TIME OFF.

The two times we’ve made the SB under Tomlin we’ve benefitted from having a bye. We haven’t sniffed a SB otherwise.

You are trying real hard to spin this in a positive light.

Nobody and I mean nobody in their right mind would think it’s better to play 3 playoff games instead of 2.

[RemoAZ]

This is just a decent team. They aren't good enough to overcome a bunch of mistakes. Since the defense stopped dominating, they need Ben and the offense to be consistently great to make a run at a Super Bowl. They haven't been able to do that and maybe Ben just isn't good enough to be at his best consistently, especially in the playoffs. When he's on, he's as good as there is in the game, maybe ever. Shame he can't put a stretch of great performances together like Brady has so many times to lead this team to a Super Bowl win. There's still time for that to happen. I just don't know if he has it in him. I don't think he'll ever have that Brady-like determination to get there.