James Washington coming on

[Jizz Mop]

His best game of the year was a 4 catch, 69 yard effort vs the Colts

Yesterday he had his best game this year with a 6 catch, 90 yard effort plus an acrobatic TD

Yes he fumbled.....<please, for the love of God, please address the fumbling in practice and the proper hand to hold the ball in>

But he had a great game.....

If he can contribute 5 catches a game, (average over last 2 games) and with Diontae really showing well of late....we may have gone from inadequate at the WR position to adequate.....for the time being. They are not a trio who instills fear in anyone, but JuJu, Diontae and James are YOUNG.....could be a very nice group eventually.

[K_C_]

God knows the guy has unbelievable ability and now, he's finally showing it.

Also, as Washington keeps improving and making more plays, Mason will get more comfortable and hopefully JuJu will get more opportunities to make plays.

[Ice]

Way too early to give up on anybody in this group yet, and the arrows are starting to point in the right direction.

[955876]

please address the fumbling in practice and the proper hand to hold the ball in

Fumbles happen. It’s football. Especially when a defender gets a perfect punch on the ball.

However, allowing a defender to get that punch because you are either too stupid or too lazy to carry the ball in the proper hand is a dereliction of your duty. Both on the player and the coaches that have allowed that to continue.

We don’t sweat the details folks. No reason to live in our fears.

It wouldn’t surprise me if our guys are coached to NOT change to proper hand in fear of fumbling the transition. But that is dumb too.

Washington’s fumble doesn’t happen if he switches hands.

And yet, we continue to make that mistake. Over and over.

[Steelafan77]

Couldn't be a better time IMHO. The WR corps has been less than spectacular might even say bout average. I just hope the fumbling/drops are addressed and they fix that part of the game going forward. I have to believe that those combination of things meant they left points on that field yesterday.

Go Steelers!

[Smashmouth21]

Washington damn well better come on if the Steelers plan on making the tournament. Need him and Diontae to perform. Jury is still out on whether JuJu can consistently beat double coverage. And we know for sure Mason ain’t trying to squeeze it in between two defenders at this point. Minimizing turnovers is the edict right now.

[955876]

I just hope the fumbling/drops are addressed and they fix that part of the game going forward.

Don’t hold your breath.

Washington yesterday. Grimble last year. There are a couple other times as well but the particulars escape me where we fumbled and it was directly a result of not carrying the ball in the proper hand.

If it wasn’t addressed after Grimble’s gaff cost us a game it likely never will.

[COR-TEN]

It's clear other DC's are focusing in on the fact that the steelers WR's are susceptible to punching the ball. They need to work on that and use it to their advantage. Somehow.

[Flanker]

Glad he's playing better but he doesn't catch the ball cleanly very often and even the TD was fairly controversial. He made an incredible one handed snag last week but I still think his hands are questionable.

[Jobu]

It's clear other DC's are focusing in on the fact that the steelers WR's are susceptible to punching the ball. They need to work on that and use it to their advantage. Somehow.

Not just the WRs, but all of the Steelers skill position players. Opponents are really targeting the ball when tackling. It’s obviously something they are picking up on tape, and it hasn’t been addressed by the Steelers staff.
The Steelers have already lost several games the past season and a half due to fumbles... you can even make the argument it cost them a playoff spot last year.
This needs fixed, but I’m sure this falls under the list of “small things”, so I’m sure it will fix itself.

[Texas Black & Gold]

please address the fumbling in practice and the proper hand to hold the ball in

Fumbles happen. It’s football. Especially when a defender gets a perfect punch on the ball.

However, allowing a defender to get that punch because you are either too stupid or too lazy to carry the ball in the proper hand is a dereliction of your duty. Both on the player and the coaches that have allowed that to continue.

We don’t sweat the details folks. No reason to live in our fears.

It wouldn’t surprise me if our guys are coached to NOT change to proper hand in fear of fumbling the transition. But that is dumb too.

Washington’s fumble doesn’t happen if he switches hands.

And yet, we continue to make that mistake. Over and over.

Maybe they can work on ball handling skills while on the bus ride to Cleveland.

[Flanker]

It's clear other DC's are focusing in on the fact that the steelers WR's are susceptible to punching the ball. They need to work on that and use it to their advantage. Somehow.

Not just the WRs, but all of the Steelers skill position players. Opponents are really targeting the ball when tackling. It’s obviously something they are picking up on tape, and it hasn’t been addressed by the Steelers staff.
The Steelers have already lost several games the past season and a half due to fumbles... you can even make the argument it cost them a playoff spot last year.
This needs fixed, but I’m sure this falls under the list of “small things”, so I’m sure it will fix itself.

I'm pretty sure all defenders on every team including ours are trying to force fumbles while making the tackle... our skill position players just happen to be exceptionally bad at ball control.

[955876]

I'm pretty sure all defenders on every team including ours are trying to force fumbles while making the tackle... our skill position players just happen to be exceptionally bad at ball control.

Ball control or fundamental football taught from Pop Warner through high school and on up?

Except for here. Obviously.

In other words, it’s a technique issue more than anything. We don’t carry in the proper hand and our sloppy in the hand we carry it. What happened to 5 points of pressure?

Some fumbles are just bad luck. It’s a violent sport.

Washington’s fumble yesterday was 100% preventable if only proper (elementary) technique is applied.

If he’s carrying in the proper hand he could have stiff armed or at the least used his free hand to shield himself from the defender.

Not on a Tomlin coaches team though. We don’t sweat that stuff.

Making matters worse Washington was holding it like a loaf of bread just before the defender arrived.

How this isn’t isolated and pointed out during film review is beyond me.

If it is. Props to the coaches. If it isn’t, shame in them and the dumb players that lack this most basic of knowledge.

[LakecrestSteeler]

please address the fumbling in practice and the proper hand to hold the ball in

Fumbles happen. It’s football. Especially when a defender gets a perfect punch on the ball.

However, allowing a defender to get that punch because you are either too stupid or too lazy to carry the ball in the proper hand is a dereliction of your duty. Both on the player and the coaches that have allowed that to continue.

We don’t sweat the details folks. No reason to live in our fears.

It wouldn’t surprise me if our guys are coached to NOT change to proper hand in fear of fumbling the transition. But that is dumb too.

Washington’s fumble doesn’t happen if he switches hands.

And yet, we continue to make that mistake. Over and over.

Fumbles do happen. That is a fact. Seems simple to state, but I think everyone thinks they are all preventable. Bettis fumble...he has carried the ball like that a zillion times....one perfect helmet placement later and we have the immaculate tackle.

I was posting about Conner’s fumble several threads ago, his last one against the 49ers was an absolute Jedi mind-trick pick pocket. That defender will never duplicate the feat again.

I also said this in the game thread, that JW was running towards the sideline, and he probably had it on the correct side when you map out players on the field for potential hits.

I don’t think you should be switching sides as the contact begins, just go to the cross arm carry and protect the ball as best you can and go down.

Don’t get greedy when you are in a vulnerable position, aka running horizontally. Injuries and fumbles probability goes up exponentially when you let defenders get angles and catchup without having a swivel head. Execute the play and get the yardage it was designed for...the rest is gravy.

[955876]

Dude, Washington ran untouched long enough that he had AMPLE time to put the ball in the correct hand.

Plus, given the direction he was running it’s otetty apparent which side the defenders will come from.

This is basic elementary stuff man. Carry in your sideline hand. Use your free hand to shield the defender.

These are pros and we are treating them like per wee league children.

Play the game the right way and it goes a long way I’m eliminating “bad luck”.

Proper hand, 5 points of contact on the ball Was nobody else taught this shit?

[steelmann58]

That fumble was inexcusable and can't happen if this team wants to take the next stepIMO

[Scunge]

I can't believe the blowback Washington is getting on this particular play. Every play can have nuance, and this particular play was complicated.

If you look at the play, when he immediately catches the ball he cradles the ball with his left arm. The defender immediately to his right has a chance to dislodge the ball if he kept it in his right arm.



But upon further look he notices that not one, not two, but three defenders are coming up on him and if he leaves the ball in his left arm they might be able to swipe away at the football. So, he moves the ball from his left arm to his right and proceeds to run.

Again, here is a defender coming right behind him on his left side, if he has the ball in his left arm, the defenders can swipe at it easily.



Now yeah, he does have a defender come up and swipe the ball from his right hand, and yeah, he should have transferred it to his left arm, but I can see how he got caught in the moment and maybe thought there was not enough time to switch yet again. He went from having it to his left arm, to his right arm, and then having to process and read the blocks being set up by JuJu and then late in the play one by DJ.

Now, I sit here and realize how difficult that play was, how nuanced. Somehow, people think it is so easy to just keep switching from left arm to right arm to left arm. Like that happens with every single WR or RB every single play, come on, be sensible people!!!

Do I wish the fumble happened? Of course not, but I can see how it did and it wasn't because Washington was lacking in fundamentals, he knew what he was doing, he was switching the ball from each arm, but how many times can you do it in a single play???

The only criticism I have is that the fumble happened not because he didn't have the ball in his proper arm, but that he allowed the ball to get away from his body, he failed to keep it high and tight.

[955876]

Watch the play again Scunge and do so in real time. I just did. Like 5 times in a row.

Upon catching it he has it in both hands for the first several steps. He then transfers to his right arm and leaves it there.

It wasn’t nearly as “nuanced” as you are making it out to be.

It was nothing more than a lack of situational awareness. Something that plagues this team.

And it’s not like this wrong arm stuff is an outlier. It’s happening more and more frequently with our guys and has led to preventable fumbles.

Seriously, watch again in real time. Notice how he cradled it in two hands (good) but after he cleared the defenders moves it to his right arm. By then all defenders are to his right.

He literally ran from just past the left hash to the sideline where he was tackled with the ball in his right arm and no defenders to his left.

That’s an eternity of time in terms of being able to change ball position.

[SteelerDayTrader]

DJ is the only WR the Steelers have DCs might fear.

JuJu and Washington probably wont ever get to that level.

The Steelers have a HUGE need for a blue chip WR threat. That would make the others noticeably better

[Scunge]

We will have to agree to disagree.

The egregious thing here is that he did not have the ball high and tight, he allowed it to get away from his body.

You can clearly see this in the photo I attached.

[955876]

The egregious thing here is that he did not have the ball high and tight, he allowed it to get away from his body.

Even more fundamental than waiting to proper arm.

People talk of bad luck but that wasn’t bad luck. That was horrible technique that allowed the defense the opening they needed to make a play.

This is basic shit. Basic shit we keep fucking up. Fortunately it didn’t cost us the fame yesterday.

These correctable issues that aren’t corrected will come back to bite us though.

[955876]

DJ is the only WR the Steelers have DCs might fear.

JuJu and Washington probably wont ever get to that level.

The Steelers have a HUGE need for a blue chip WR threat. That would make the others noticeably better

Agreed.

A single injury to that unit at this point puts the Ryan Switzer or Joe Blow Horton’s of the world on the field.

Need to find another WR in the offseason.

[Jobu]

It looks like he is handing the ball to 21.

[Smashmouth21]

DJ is the only WR the Steelers have DCs might fear.

JuJu and Washington probably wont ever get to that level.

The Steelers have a HUGE need for a blue chip WR threat. That would make the others noticeably better

Agreed.

A single injury to that unit at this point puts the Ryan Switzer or Joe Blow Horton’s of the world on the field.

Need to find another WR in the offseason.

Sometime I wonder about the sanity in this forum. If DCs feared Diontae they’d double him and not JuJu. Kid has got talent and have always loved the pick. Maybe one day Diontae will be a legit threat at WR and scare somebody but my goodness he is not there yet. JuJu gets that treatment. Add depth yes. Blue chip is better saved for the Front 7.

[Scunge]

All I am seeing is your typical Steeler Fury bed wetting.

Yeah, ALL WRs fumble. It is downright stupid to hold our WRs to some impossible standard. Antonio Brown had seasons where he fumbled 3, 4 times.

Minnesota's Stephon Diggs has 4 fumbles this season, should the Vikings look to replace him I wonder?

Would anybody argue that Bill Belchick coaches his team to perfection?? That they coach their players to have the best fundamentals??

Then how come Julian Edelman has 2 fumbles this season and had back to back seasons where he fumbled 6 times the one year and then 5 times the other? 11 fumbles in a two year span.

All WRs fumble. All RBs fumble and all TEs fumble.

The Ravens Mark Andrews has two fumbles this year but when Vance McDonald fumbles it is the end of the world here on Steeler Fury.

And when Washington fumbles you get the same typical Steeler Fury bed wetting. Never mind that the kid made some tough catches and big plays, those 6 catches for 90 yards and a TD, remove that from the game and do we win the game?

No? Then what are you bed wetter's complaining about? Get over yourselves, even with a win you have to find something to bitch about.

[Jobu]

Retooling the O line should be the priority...several picks for the next 3-4 drafts. If you add talent outside and allow the line to deteriorate, and it is most certainly starting to, you become the Cleveland Browns.

[Smashmouth21]

Retooling the O line should be the priority...several picks for the next 3-4 drafts. If you add talent outside and allow the line to deteriorate, and it is most certainly starting to, you become the Cleveland Browns.

This on both sides of the ball. Especially if Gavedigger walks. BPA: OL/DL/OLB.

[El Kabong]

No? Then what are you bed wetter's complaining about? Get over yourselves, even with a win you have to find something to bitch about.

Well this is Steeler Fury.

For me it just seems like there's been this string of bad fumbles lately. Conner in Cleveland, Conner in Denver, Conner in San Francisco, JuJu in New Orleans, JuJu vs. Baltimore, Grimble in Denver, Washington vs LA. On top of that all of the multitude of dropped passes lately, and I'm getting mighty sick of seeing the ball on the ground when it should be in a Steeler's hands.

[Scunge]

Yeah, the O-Line I think may be that 2nd round pick.

Consider this::

BJ Finney will be an unrestricted free agent.

Zach Banner is a restricted free agent, to keep him you probably will have to put a $3.3 million 2nd round tender on him.

Matt Fieler is a restricted free agent, to keep him you probably will have to put a $3.3 million 2nd round tender on him too.

I personally believe that Ramon Foster will have to be the sacrificial lamb, that they will have to cut him to insure that they keep the 3 players above from leaving.

Imagine if they do anything different. Imagine they let Finney go and then only place a 2nd round tender on Fieler and then low ball Banner with a lesser tender. Banner will get poached by a starved NFL looking for tackles.

Then that leaves you with gaping holes on the O-line and the Steelers will use that 2nd round pick on an offensive lineman, probably an interior player, a guard, maybe Center capable player.

And all because they want to keep Foster an extra year. Sometimes it is better to part with a player a year early then part with them a year too late.

[955876]

All I am seeing is your typical Steeler Fury bed wetting.

Yeah, ALL WRs fumble. It is downright stupid to hold our WRs to some impossible standard. Antonio Brown had seasons where he fumbled 3, 4 times.

OMFG...

You typically have really good analysis Scunge. Sorry to say this isn’t one of them.

So now not carrying the football loosely away from your body or transferring it to the proper hand is some sort of “impossible standard”??

That’s horseshit. A load of it.

Securing the football is but fundamentals 101.

And ya duh fumbles happen. However, it’s been clearly stated in this thread there is a difference in the type of fumble. Some fumbles are easily preventable with some elementary and basic football technique.

So now we can’t even expect professionals to exhibit even a shred of basic fundamentals? Hold the ball loosely from your body. Carry it like a hot potato. Don’t switch hands so you can oh I dunno shield the defender or maybe pull off the mystical stiff arm.

Impossible standard???