The Fifth Quarter - Week 1 Rewind

[Steelperch]

http://steelerfury.com/drupal/?q=node/62

[BethlehemSteel]

Thanks for that. Some nice positives and some same glaring negatives.

[Legacy User]

great summary and points Perch.

Game and clock management is emarassingly and comically bad as ususal.

Agreed on Williams, man he looked good.

The offense with Bryant and Bell back will be one of the best in the league., not taking into account future game/clock fuckups and asinine playcalls.

I was also pleasantly surprised at the amount of play and trust that Dupree got.


Shazier looked very good.

No words for the secondary, just ridiculously bad.


Wheaton is a turd, no doubt he doesn't see a C2.

[tbsteel]

Thanks, Perch. Love the Groundhog Day reference here too because that was the most frustrating thing about last night to me. Steelers looking flat and confused, Brady marching up and down the field with the ball never hitting the ground, the offense moving the ball but not doing what really matters in scoring points... I've seen that movie before, expected it to play out like that, and then watched in freaking agony as it went exactly like I feared.

There were definite positives though, as you noted. Gotta come back next week and get that win at home. No excuse with 10 days to prepare.

[Legacy User]

I cant say I disagree with any of it

[lifelongsteel]

Nice write up Perch.

I continue to be amazed by the clock management stuff. There really just aren't any words at this point.

It was also interesting to watch the Pats completely remade secondary play ok while our remade secondary was lost. How hard is it really to find a few guys that can cover?

The one glaring difference between the Pats and Steelers is in caliber of situational football. Pats are great. We suck. They convert 3rd and 5 or less with ease with little rub or pick plays. We're taking shots down field, or running the ball, or throwing crossers in traffic, or throwing back shoulder option plays. Obviously 1st and goal there is no comparison between the two teams.

I have no expectation of this gap closing

A few quick hitters
- Shazier looked great. Made 3-4 wow plays. Not sure he did much as an OLB rushing on passing downs
- Jarvis looked good and was close a few times. Had a couple nice bull rushes against a good OT that almost got there
- We always look bad in NE. This was maybe the least bad we've looked in the Brady era

[Orangesteel]

Great stuff, Perch.

The reason it feels like GH Day is because we have an arrogant as fuck HC that refuses to burden himself with the nuances of running a game clock. This is why I have no faith in our head coach leading this team to another trophy.

In my opinion it's a microcosm of the larger problem with Tomlin. If he won't even work on a simple deficiency like clock management, why would any of yunz think he would work or instruct others to work on larger scale problems that continue to hamper our ability to make a run?

I didn't think we would win last night; that shit was sealed last week. But once again, as Perch indicates and TB attests to, we are stuck in a GH Day rut, where the fans see the same stupidity week in and week out on the field.

I said this to the people I was watching the game with. If you were a Pats fan watching last night, really the only agitating thing you saw was the issues in the run game.

Other than that; Pats once again showed absolutely perfect execution. Game management, clock management, I don't think any procedural penalties, etc.

Again, it's the STANDARD. Bill B's is light years ahead of Tomlin's, but Tomlin continues to think he's infallible.

[jeemie]

A long 10 days to prepare for the home opener against the retirement depleted San Francisco 49ers. With that much time to watch the film and work out their communication issues on defense, the Steelers should be a much sharper bunch in their second game of the season.

There is no factual basis for this.

[jeemie]

Was there ever an explanation given for why we allowed the clock to run down to 19 seconds...and then call a timeout when the clock was already stopped?

[Orangesteel]

A long 10 days to prepare for the home opener against the retirement depleted San Francisco 49ers. With that much time to watch the film and work out their communication issues on defense, the Steelers should be a much sharper bunch in their second game of the season.

There is no factual basis for this.

Agree. I was arguing with Pierogi last night about this. We "should" be sharper, but let's not forgot the eggs this team laid last year, and at this point in terms of personnel, are we a better team than last year? We know from last night the coaching situation is at least on par, possibly worse.

Look I think we can win games, but I also think some of the preseason BULLSHIT hype about the Steelers is totally misplaced. We are still hamstrung by stupidity. That equates to losses, not wins.

[Steelperch]

A long 10 days to prepare for the home opener against the retirement depleted San Francisco 49ers. With that much time to watch the film and work out their communication issues on defense, the Steelers should be a much sharper bunch in their second game of the season.

There is no factual basis for this.

Agree. I was arguing with Pierogi last night about this. We "should" be sharper, but let's not forgot the eggs this team laid last year, and at this point in terms of personnel, are we a better team than last year? We know from last night the coaching situation is at least on par, possibly worse.

Look I think we can win games, but I also think some of the preseason BULLSHIT hype about the Steelers is totally misplaced. We are still hamstrung by stupidity. That equates to losses, not wins.

Did you two just call Tomlin a potted plant?

[Orangesteel]

I think I did.

[jeemie]

Did you two just call Tomlin a potted plant?

I did not.

[bradshaw2ben]

It was also interesting to watch the Pats completely remade secondary play ok while our remade secondary was lost. How hard is it really to find a few guys that can cover?

look who we draft/cut/pick up on waivers/play? We are not interested in guys who can cover or take the ball away... we're interested in hitters and guys who don't make mistakes... supposedly.

Bud Dupree really flashed some explosiveness on a couple of plays landing a sack and blowing up a RB's block attempt and nearly picking up a second sack. The fact the team trusted him with around 30 snaps was a positive sign.

I know he must have played but I never once saw Moats.

I was a little disappointed with Deebo-- not much impact, although with the wide open guys in 1.5 seconds, not going to be much impact.

I did think that on first watch, Steve McClendon played well.

[Orangesteel]

And the one standout thing Mike Mitchell does in 20 games or so ends up giving the Pats a 1st and Goal from the "6 inch yard line".

It would be nice to see some defensive playmakers, not just defensive players.

[Nick79]

"As the Patriots ran the score up to a 14-0 lead, the Steelers were 50/50 run pass ratio. At the same point the Patriots were passing twice for every rushing attempt. At the start of the 4th QTR, despite trailing by double digits for nearly 2 quarters the Steelers were still at a 50/50 run-pass mix. This is not to disregard the importance of establishing the run, especially on the heels of a 6 YPC performance by Deangelo Williams, but to illustrate the difference in approaches to offensive football. The Steelers game plan was passive and centered around controlling the clock, not lighting up the scoreboard. When playing one of the best offenses in the league while sporting a young and weak defense of your own, the only way to approach this game was aggressiveness on offense. Embrace the fact that you are going to have to win a shoot-out. Instead, the Steelers far too often shy away from going into a game with the mindset of needing to score 30 to win."

With all the talk about the powerful offense WE WON'T GET IT, we'll get slightly more aggressive Yinzerball, being careful to run half the time whether you need to or not. Because they will refuse to play entire games with the "light up the scoreboard" mentality, we'll never see the true high powered offense, we'll see big stats and some high scoring games, but EVEN IF IT WORKS, they won't make it priority #1 to play that way all the time.

[Steelafan77]

What impressed me the most was how well Williams ran the ball. He was (at times) unstoppable. Very impressive for a 32 year old 10+ year veteran running back. Was excited to watch them execute in the first quarter. Right on as usual Perch. The gimmick play backfired and stalled the offense for seemed like several series. Like they couldn't find that same mojo they started off the game with. Disappointing.

Ben lost any confidence he started the game with. Ben had lightyears to stand in the pocket yet made only minimal progress as a result. I thought the OLine did a fantastic job last night. Wallace wiffed on what would become a sack and there was several penalties against them. Gilbert also wiffed on a sack IIRC but still had a decent showing. Better than his history would indicate anyway. DeCastro was in beast mode and made several blocks that even on network TV stood out, IMO. Beachum with the "Illegal Formation" penalty is inexcusable. Overall he played his ass off though. Foster? Is who he is. A middle of the pack not too exciting OLineman.

Without Bryant in the line up the WR's corp is missing. Like an engine with a bad cylinder. AB is who he is and he has become a Stud. I love watching AB work his skills and athleticism making play after play. Wheaton made some improvement since last season. Had a really nice catch along the sidelines where he went up high pointed the ball catching the pass above his head and still came down in bounds. Exciting play. Heyward-Bey is who he is. A disappointment. Especially when you figure in where this guy was drafted. Heyward-Bey is certainly upgradeable. I don't care if he plays ST's well. I want a reliable WR with the hands and abilities to make plays (splash plays). My hope is this upgrade is already on the roster and Coates will be that upgrade.

I expected the defense to struggle. I think we all did. Especially being in that stadium. However challenging the Brady led cheats are I feel like this defense showed promise. Promise to improve as the season wears on. Shazier was a run away freight train and certainly played his best football (IMO) as a Steeler. Bud Dupree had me excited at one point. He will come around and be a hell of an OLB. Coverage is not his forte yet. I say yet because he seems a bit slow reaction wise. It will come to him.

Secondary is the Steelers glaring hole. Once was the OLine. Now the secondary. I think they should blow it up in the 2016 off season and start new. Mitchell continues taking poor angles and is always late to the play. Blake just isn't the answer going forward. He's a try hard guy and can play but is limited both as an athlete and technician. Tez continues to struggle with diagnosing plays and defending his side. He's certainly no Ike Taylor. Willie Gay made some decent plays and almost IIRC had an INT or two. Gay similar to a fine wine just gets better with age. His surrounding cast however needs addressing.

Coaching staff and time management is an issue but not as much an issue as the poor execution and lack of talent on the field. JMO

[lifelongsteel]

What impressed me the most was how well Williams ran the ball. He was (at times) unstoppable. Very impressive for a 32 year old 10+ year veteran running back. Was excited to watch them execute in the first quarter. Right on as usual Perch. The gimmick play backfired and stalled the offense for seemed like several series. Like they couldn't find that same mojo they started off the game with. Disappointing.

Ben lost any confidence he started the game with. Ben had lightyears to stand in the pocket yet made only minimal progress as a result. I thought the OLine did a fantastic job last night. Wallace wiffed on what would become a sack and there was several penalties against them. Gilbert also wiffed on a sack IIRC but still had a decent showing. Better than his history would indicate anyway. DeCastro was in beast mode and made several blocks that even on network TV stood out, IMO. Beachum with the "Illegal Formation" penalty is inexcusable. Overall he played his ass off though. Foster? Is who he is. A middle of the pack not too exciting OLineman.

Without Bryant in the line up the WR's corp is missing. Like an engine with a bad cylinder. AB is who he is and he has become a Stud. I love watching AB work his skills and athleticism making play after play. Wheaton made some improvement since last season. Had a really nice catch along the sidelines where he went up high pointed the ball catching the pass above his head and still came down in bounds. Exciting play. Heyward-Bey is who he is. A disappointment. Especially when you figure in where this guy was drafted. Heyward-Bey is certainly upgradeable. I don't care if he plays ST's well. I want a reliable WR with the hands and abilities to make plays (splash plays). My hope is this upgrade is already on the roster and Coates will be that upgrade.

I expected the defense to struggle. I think we all did. Especially being in that stadium. However challenging the Brady led cheats are I feel like this defense showed promise. Promise to improve as the season wears on. Shazier was a run away freight train and certainly played his best football (IMO) as a Steeler. Bud Dupree had me excited at one point. He will come around and be a hell of an OLB. Coverage is not his forte yet. I say yet because he seems a bit slow reaction wise. It will come to him.

Secondary is the Steelers glaring hole. Once was the OLine. Now the secondary. I think they should blow it up in the 2016 off season and start new. Mitchell continues taking poor angles and is always late to the play. Blake just isn't the answer going forward. He's a try hard guy and can play but is limited both as an athlete and technician. Tez continues to struggle with diagnosing plays and defending his side. He's certainly no Ike Taylor. Willie Gay made some decent plays and almost IIRC had an INT or two. Gay similar to a fine wine just gets better with age. His surrounding cast however needs addressing.

Coaching staff and time management is an issue but not as much an issue as the poor execution and lack of talent on the field. JMO

nice write up

[Legacy User]

Why care about the run/pass ratio here? Williams was ripping off 18 yard runs. In this case the Pats safeties were generally playing back so the Steelers (rightly) ran it down their throats. The point is to move the ball, which they did extremely well.

Red zone and near red zone execution was bad. Some execution issues, some playcalling (hello reverse pass on opening drive), and a lot of missing Bell and Bryant. The 3rd down draw inside the 10 was weird, but often those are option calls decided by Ben at the line. Don't know what happened there, but weird. Consider if the Steelers had Bell and the Pats were missing Gronk how the red zone situations would have changed.

I thought the front seven played fine - above my expectations actually. The pass rush was pretty good considering how quick Brady was getting the ball out. Not that Solder is an elite LT or anything, but Jarvis got his ass benched. I think Shazier is gonna be pretty good.

The safeties were somehow worse than I expected. I thought the reason to start Will Allen was to avoid the mental errors? The corners sucked exactly as much as I expected once I heard Blake was playing ahead of Boykin. That foolish idea will be ended before week 3.

The time management sucked but that's usually the case. I thought that Tomlin handled the headset issue well.

[Legacy User]

I figured it was a loss.

When the offense is fully in tact, it could be really special.

The D needs to be mediocre and cause an occasional turnover.

That combo will win us some games.

Hope to bounce back at home vs SF.

[Stosh-67]

Well done Sir.

The Antonio Brown gadget play on the opening drive was a drive killer and monumental momentum swing. The Steelers ground game and rhythm passing attack was carving the Patriots defense in chunks. At 1st and 10 from the Patriots 24, why go away from it? Why take the ball out of Ben's hands to have a WR go on a reverse and attempt a pass to a RB? Facing 2nd and 18, and 2nd and 28 following a penalty, Todd Haley called two runs up the gut instead of attacking the defense through the air to try and get back into makeable 3rd down range

Terrible call...........and yeah just as terrible follow up call on 2nd and 28...even if we break of a 14-16 yard run.......your still in 3rd and 12 or 3rd and 14..........

CLOCK MISMANAGEMENT

I don't think there is anything more to say.......its a staple of Tomlins resume...if you will.
And yeah...the worst part.....he will shrug it off with some catchy phrase......"We can't be concerned with the clock in those insensis"
He has no idea how important an extra 3-5-7 seconds are........
How about we recover an onside kick with 5-7 seconds left........instead of recovering it when the the clock strikes zero......ya think they'd be wondering about all the seconds they burned?

I would never in a million years.....guessed that Boykin would not get much play time.........
two millions years..................that he did not get a defensive snap......
three million ....that he would not get a snap even after the slop on the field could not defend anyone......
How the fuck do we see Garvin, Will Allen and Golden get on the field.......and not see any thing for Boykin.

Like someone said.......they need time to teach the playmaker out of him......

Boykin > DB than Tez, Blake.......
Toddman > Return/ #3 RB than Archer....and Toddman is a pretty good ST player......Archer is not tackling anyone. I think the one return Archer had....he just ran straight ahead and into the pile.....
Coates.......> potential than DHB.....and shows he knows how to get behind a defense. Speed alone does not get you past defenders. He played a good amount of ST in pre-season......regularly getting around
and downfield as a gunner.

Does anyone see Tomlin making any of these changes?.......in his slow to change, easing into a season approach.

Very disappointed in the cushions that allowed Tommy to make so many easy throws...........so many.
Look at how few wide open completions Ben had. Almost every throw had a defender with-in arms reach of the ball.

How many none play makers can the PS assemble at the same time when they get inside the five........
Johnson, Nix, Heath, Spaeth..........in a power formation........
A defense can certainly sell out to stuff the run.........when nobody worrying a lick about PA with those guys.............when if you are fooled......you still will be able to stick with those guys if any of them flare out or slide thru for a pass. They are not short area separation guys.

Anyway......
Game and score could have been worse.......eliminating stupid play calls and mental mistakes........tighten up the coverages........and this could have been a pretty fun Friday.
Look forward to.....hoping they have a good 10 days of work........can see the mistakes they made....... and come out fired up at the home opener.

[lifelongsteel]

We tried a gadget play on our first possession of the season. The latest example of easing in

Next game we will probably ease in with an onsides kick on the opening kickoff.

[JackLambert58]

We tried a gadget play on our first possession of the season. The latest example of easing in

Next game we will probably ease in with an onsides kick on the opening kickoff.

Agreed. So tired of the cutsy shit by Haley. Go with what works. Why is that so difficult for him?

[Legacy User]

We tried a gadget play on our first possession of the season. The latest example of easing in

Next game we will probably ease in with an onsides kick on the opening kickoff.

Agreed. So tired of the cutsy shit by Haley. Go with what works. Why is that so difficult for him?

I'm not a fan of the cute stuff either with this offense, BUT am I missing a sarcafont somewhere? Running a WR pass is definitely not easing in. It's an aggressive call - not a smart one situationally - but aggressive.

[Orangesteel]

We tried a gadget play on our first possession of the season. The latest example of easing in

Next game we will probably ease in with an onsides kick on the opening kickoff.

Agreed. So tired of the cutsy shit by Haley. Go with what works. Why is that so difficult for him?

I'm not a fan of the cute stuff either with this offense, BUT am I missing a sarcafont somewhere? Running a WR pass is definitely not easing in. It's an aggressive call - not a smart one situationally - but aggressive.

It's an aggressive call if the target is someone who can score. IIRC, the play was designed to hit Spaeth flanking out left. That isn't aggressive any more than it is fucking stupid.

[lifelongsteel]

We tried a gadget play on our first possession of the season. The latest example of easing in

Next game we will probably ease in with an onsides kick on the opening kickoff.

Agreed. So tired of the cutsy shit by Haley. Go with what works. Why is that so difficult for him?

I'm not a fan of the cute stuff either with this offense, BUT am I missing a sarcafont somewhere? Running a WR pass is definitely not easing in. It's an aggressive call - not a smart one situationally - but aggressive.

Agreed. I didn't feel a that a sarca was necessary.

I don't see how it's possible to complain about easing in last night.

[JackLambert58]

Well obviously they were not "easing in." Whoever's saying that wasn't watching the game. They just went away from what was successful the plays before. And they got burned for it. Completely changed the game. Like the failure to punch it in after the PI call.

[bradshaw2ben]

stosh, Garvin has been on the #1 Goal line D for a couple years now. No news there. The news, to me, is that Blake is so entrenched as a starter that you can't bring Boykin in just to give the other guy a breather and try something different. They're so worried about the psyche of a guy off the street that they can't fire all the bullets in the gun.

[tbsteel]

Blake's effort as a tackler was so weak and lazy at times last night. I will be pretty upset if they don't give Boykin a healthy amount of work next week.

[stinger8]

Great stuff, Perch.

The reason it feels like GH Day is because we have an arrogant as fuck HC that refuses to burden himself with the nuances of running a game clock. This is why I have no faith in our head coach leading this team to another trophy.

In my opinion it's a microcosm of the larger problem with Tomlin. If he won't even work on a simple deficiency like clock management, why would any of yunz think he would work or instruct others to work on larger scale problems that continue to hamper our ability to make a run?

I didn't think we would win last night; that shit was sealed last week. But once again, as Perch indicates and TB attests to, we are stuck in a GH Day rut, where the fans see the same stupidity week in and week out on the field.

I said this to the people I was watching the game with. If you were a Pats fan watching last night, really the only agitating thing you saw was the issues in the run game.

Other than that; Pats once again showed absolutely perfect execution. Game management, clock management, I don't think any procedural penalties, etc.

Again, it's the STANDARD. Bill B's is light years ahead of Tomlin's, but Tomlin continues to think he's infallible.

Yeah good points except you forget that as many posters here remind us frequently Tomlin has won two super bowls so he is awesome. Colbert drafted Brown and Bell, he too is awesome. Never mind that we have not won a playoff game in 5 years with a top 5 QB, we have won super bowls so we are awesome.

I honestly think that Tomlin does not have the mental capacity to manage a clock. He gets the bugged out eyes going, stares in a dazed and confused fashion, and his brain freezes. If you think I am being unfair, just think how many clock management fiasco's he has had, and how many examples of effective clock management he has provided. I would say its about 25 to 2 bad to good. He can't do it, it's too much for him to process. Same reason he gets out coached by good H.C.'s all the time. Just glad we were able to extend him before he got to the open market.