The Fifth Quarter - Browns Game Recap

[Steelperch]

http://steelerfury.com/drupal/?q=node/12

For your reading pleasure...

[Orangesteel]

5 star, Perch. Excellent article. Sounds like you had quite the day at Heinz Field.

[Legacy User]

Nice read...im still dying after reading about the yinzer..

“"Why da hell did dat Tomlin make eeze boys wear em black shirts on a hot day like diss. Aint no wonder dey strugglin aht der. It's too damn hot to be wearin dem black jerseys. Jagoff gotta learn da hard way. See, 'em Brahns aint tired in 'em white jerseys." ”

[tbsteel]

Great work, Perch. Always enjoy your post-game reads.

10.7 - Ben's Yards per pass attempted today. His highest output in a game under Todd Haley.

Hopefully a sign of things to come this year, which I think can be sustainable given that Wheaton is a better straight line runner/separator than Sanders was on go routes and that Bell is 15 pounds lighter and a lot quicker than he was last year = him being more dynamic in the open field.

*I've never drank the Justin Brown Kool-Aide, but he was solid in the slot role. He is a big target, showed solid hands, and blocked really well. If they continue to use the 3 Wr set as the base offense, I think his blocking ability will be hard to take off the field. Especially if the other option is an aging 5'9 sloth.

Agreed. I honestly thought we'd miss Moore today because I was afraid Wheaton might turtle up and that Brown's run of owning Haden might come to an end, but JB was solid. He's definitely earned more snaps.

[Thrillsseeker]

http://steelerfury.com/drupal/?q=node/12

For your reading pleasure...

Thanks. Good read!

[Steelafan77]

Earlier this week Twitter was slobbering over the performance of Eddie Lacy vs the Seattle defense. Lacy is a rock solid power run for sure, but today Bell showed why he was the right pick for this team. He's got the speed. power, elusiveness, and run-after-catch ability that makes him an all purpose back.

From NFLN. LaDanlian Tomlinson when describing LeVeon Bell, "Bell has everything you want in a NFL RB today." He went on to say, "don't worry Steelers fans Bell is on his way."

Justin Brown was solid in the slot role. He is a big target, showed solid hands, and blocked really well. If they continue to use the 3 Wr set as the base offense, I think his blocking ability will be hard to take off the field. Especially if the other option is an aging 5'9 sloth.

I was seriously in doubt about JB as well. I found myself impressed by JB today. JB didn't get targeted a whole lot but when Ben passed him the ball he caught it and caught it sometimes in heavy traffic. Agreeed JB>Moore

Number of turnovers created by the Steelers Defense. Allen, Shazier, and Taylor all had their hands on passes, none made the pick.

I do find this a bit disparaging although I still have faith we'll see that goose egg morph into double digits by the end of December.

12 - Number of plays over 15 yards allowed by the Steelers D today. Still a major problem carrying over from last season.

There is no true 34 NT on the DLine I think that has a lot to do with those big plays. The middle of this current defense is soft and easily taken advantaged of. Totally Fixable.

183 - Rushing yards allowed by the Steelers. Most allowed by them in a winning effort in 14 years.

See the post above /\

Agree with QB and RB grades. I think the OLine grade is a bit generous. DLine grade unfortunately right on the money. Soft. LB'ers were fooled much too much for my liking and deserving of the grade you assigned them. Works in progress. DB's were scaring the shit out of me today. Looked like Troy was playing injured to me. Like he wasn't into it and wasn't playing at full speed. I think the DB's were a C-. ST's would have been an F if it weren't for a few plays from Suisham, Brown and Gay. ST's is where a majority of the penalties came from today.

Agreed with the Game Ball going to Bell. With William Gay and Antonio Brown runners up.

Agreed with the GOAT of the game being C Thomas. Couldn't get out of his own way. Gilbert was atrocious but not as bad as Thomas was. Watching Thomas was infuriating.

Thanks for all the efforts and time Perch as per the standard a fantastic read. Much Appreciated.

[R_S]

Why no Renegade in the 4th when they needed a stop? That's strange.

[swissvale72]

Why no Renegade in the 4th when they needed a stop? That's strange.

Is odd.....there were a few spots where it would have been apropos.

[Legacy User]

Goat Balls
In a game of atrocious run defense, one guys stood out like herpes sore. The Browns ran right at Cam Thomas to the tune of over 6 yards per carry.

Low blow on Big Sewer, Perch.

[Steelperch]

Why no Renegade in the 4th when they needed a stop? That's strange.

Is odd.....there were a few spots where it would have been apropos.

Believe me, ever drunken yinzer in the cheap seats asked the same question 30 times. Maybe they've finally moved on from it.

[Legacy User]

Good read.

I agree except I would give the Oline a D...tackles in particular an F.

I would give DL a B...he can't play run defense and the left side got there ass kicked all second half no matter who played DE and both Timmons and Shaz poor all game.

I would also give Tomlin a B...second half collapse aside imo that fake punt flipped the field, stopped the bleeding, and gave BR the chance to win it.

[Legacy User]

Finding humor in a stinker ain't easy....well-done.

[Legacy User]

There were a few Johnny Manziels in the crowd, but they were balanced out by a middle-aged Pittsburgh women sporting "Fuck Johnny Fooball" t-shirt. Wish I got a picture..

This was all I needed

[Old School Steeler]

Not easy to write concisely after a gut wrenching opener.

We seen the best we've got and the worst in first look; its all there all at once. If the deficiences aren't addressed and corrected to the greatest extent possible using every man on the 53 and every coaches' capacity the HC is crap.

[bradshaw2ben]

I with you most of the way on players, although I don't think Jarvis jones's game was very good, except in comparison to the bar he set for most of 2013. He did some things repeatedly vs the run that scared me-- overpursuit, failing to contain, poor tackling... Suffice to say, all our LBs sucked.

Two of three sacks were coverage sacks-- I thought coverage was not as abysmal as run D. It looked like they were playing Cover 2 in the second half-- maybe that's why the failure to stop the run well?

Every time someone says we need Troy back in coverage playing deep safety, I'd like them to remember how invisible he was in that role today. That guy needs to be near the LOS.

As for coaching, I don't know how you can ignore Haley's second half. I don't think he did anything to stop the bleeding, and I know you can use field position as an excuse, but I would say whatever they're trying to do when they're being conservative/4 min offense is delusional with this offensive line.

I do give the head coach and offense of Cordinator a lot of credit for the way the team came out. You can't say they weren't ready to play and you can't say they weren't aggressive. Just a mystery to me why quarter three was so ugly.

[Havoc]

Great recap, Perch

[StillerInCT]

Great write up Perch. I agree with just about all of it.

I firmly believe our offense can hang with the best of them if our coaching staff allows them to. I had reservations coming in to today but that first half showed me that there is enough talent to win high scoring games.

Bell is a beast. For the amount of doubt his pick received last year I think we nailed it. His vision and ability to find holes and hit them is incredible. Plus I think the TD run puts any doubt that he's not a home run hitter to bed. It was a joy to watch him run yesterday. The days of watching any jag we could fit in the backfield are over. Thank God

This brings me to one Antonio Brown. The tireless worker at perfecting his craft. I don't want to hear that he's a number 1 receiver. Joe Haden is possibly the best corner in our division and a top 10 in the league. Brown made him look like a Jag. The catches the guy makes are clutch and fairly hard. The one across the middle comes to mind. Plus his YAC is a huge bonus. Stop arguing whether he's a #1 or not. He is. Enjoy the hard work this 6th rounder has put in.

Tough win. Yeah we should never have allowed that 2nd half. But my fear has always been easing in to games. That first half gives me hope. If we put in a full 4 quarters of football against the Ravens we should be 2-0. Ravens don't scare me this year. The Bengals do however.

[swissvale72]

Good piece, Perch....but gotta say.

What's with the comments from the readership about it being so tough to write??? We won the fuckin' game!!!

[Legacy User]

Nice job... I disagree with the OL grade. C- maybe... More along the line of a D

[Legacy User]

We won one for Chuck.

Good read, Perch.

I believe the backers will get better, we already see a lot of improvement from Jones. The D-Line however...ugh.

[Legacy User]

This offense needs to feature Bell in the passing game. Splitting him out, getting him the ball in space, screens, misdirection - all of it should start with Bell.

Special teams penalties really lit the spark yesterday. Sure the browns marched and scored the first drive in the second half, but that was blunted by a great punt return - which called back because of more special teams stupidity, pinning the Steelers deep in their own zone.

At that point the offensive coaching staffed puckered up more than a high handicap golfer with a 4 foot downhill put. R-R-P to keep it safe and it firmly got the momentum ball rolling for the Browns.

That offensive series was played with fear regardless of what cliche Tomlin throws out there. From the monday morning perspective, the defense had no answer and so handcuffing the offense was the wrong move in my opinion.

The steelers don't have a physical freak at TE who causes mismatches in the short to mid passing game, but they do have Bell, they need to use him.

[bradshaw2ben]

one thing I'll say about D Line and run game (also applies to Offense 4 min run game)-- with the lack of practice time in pads, it's always going to be a little rougher in week 1-- huge adjustment from practice/preseason... not that I think that's the main problem, just something to consider.

We're going to learn a lot Thursday-- if those turds in Baltimore can run it with impunity, that's bad news. They suck at it. OL & RBs pedestrian.

Furthermore, if we don't come out blowing shit up on offense to the point of making Baltimore one dimensional by the end of the first half, our coaches learned nothing from Thanksgiving.

[Mick]

one thing I'll say about D Line and run game (also applies to Offense 4 min run game)-- with the lack of practice time in pads, it's always going to be a little rougher in week 1-- huge adjustment from practice/preseason... not that I think that's the main problem, just something to consider.

We're going to learn a lot Thursday-- if those turds in Baltimore can run it with impunity, that's bad news. They suck at it. OL & RBs pedestrian.

Furthermore, if we don't come out blowing shit up on offense to the point of making Baltimore one dimensional by the end of the first half, our coaches learned nothing from Thanksgiving.

how did week 1 not alreadyprove this plan wrong?

For me the one thing we can definitively say at this point is that no steeler lead will be big enough this season to make anyone one dimensional with our current nickel personnel.

Kudos to the browns for staying with the run down by 24, knowing we truly were that bad. And goat balls to the fans, who couldn't be bothered to come back to the stands after halftime, making it easy for the browns to run no huddle on the road with a big deficit.

[jebrick]

I have not watched the entire 2nd half but the defense seemed lost when the Browns went to no huddle. Not getting a play called quick enough.

[Steelperch]

Good piece, Perch....but gotta say.

What's with the comments from the readership about it being so tough to write??? We won the fuckin' game!!!

As you know, it's way easier to find things to write about after a loss anyway. It's generally easier to bitch than be complimentary in life. This board is proof of that. I suppose beating Cleveland at the last second is considered a morale loss of some sort amongst the fan base.

[Mick]

I have not watched the entire 2nd half but the defense seemed lost when the Browns went to no huddle. Not getting a play called quick enough.

who has our green dot? Can you call plays in from sideline vs no huddle?

Edit: and I really hope no one in the locker room is pretending our issues were centered arouund confusion about the play call. Nothing in our playbook calls for our dline to get pushed 6 yards off the ball. That unit is not physically capable of stopping a run play. That's the issue.

[Legacy User]

Nice read, Perch.

Thank you.

[Steelperch]

And goat balls to the fans, who couldn't be bothered to come back to the stands after halftime, making it easy for the browns to run no huddle on the road with a big deficit.

Literally half of the fans missed those first two Browns TD's after the half. The place was as quiet as a church in the 3rd quarter. They were too busy piling a massive quantity of food into their arms before heading back to their seats halfway through the 3rd qtr. I suppose all of the greasy food they shoved in their fat faces a couple hours earlier at the tailgate parties wasn't enough to keep them full through 90 minutes of football. I hate people....

[R_S]

Why no Renegade in the 4th when they needed a stop? That's strange.

Is odd.....there were a few spots where it would have been apropos.

Believe me, ever drunken yinzer in the cheap seats asked the same question 30 times. Maybe they've finally moved on from it.

That would be highly disappointing. It's a classic.

[Legacy User]

The steelers don't have a physical freak at TE who causes mismatches in the short to mid passing game, but they do have Bell, they need to use him.

They did just that in the first half (of course this is what you're saying, I realize). Everyone must be mystified that Todd waited until 5 minutes to go in the 4th to begin doing so again.