Dialing back offensive expecations

[jeemie]

Sometimes simplifying the playbook is a good thing.

The Patriots run...what...about 3-5 basic plays?

[Legacy User]

Personally I'm not dialing back expectations. I'm cranking them up. Maybe not a lot but up.

I said for the vikes steelers would get 4 td. Didn't get there but that's ok. I'll say rats they get 5 tds

Please clean out the bong water before you pass it along

They're currently ranked 22. That sucks. I don't think anyone's fist pumping about that stat. But the very fact that we recognize it sucks means they're capable of doing better.

So yeah I'm not giving up after three games in.

[Steelafan77]

“I haven't been that special player yet,” he said. “I've been kind of just playing football. So I have to go out there and be the special player I can be.” http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/127 ... a-big-play

Here's a good bit of info.


Also looks like the secondary may have taken a huge hit last week.

INJURY REPORT

Marcus Gilbert was downgraded, and Sean Davis and Mike Mitchell upgraded on the injury report.

Gilbert (hamstring) was a limited practice participant after practicing fully the day prior. Also limited were starting safeties Davis (ankle) and Mitchell (hamstring) — neither of whom practiced Wednesday.

Linebacker Bud Dupree and tight end Jesse James remained limited because of shoulder injuries.

Guard Ramon Foster (thumb) and receiver Martavis Bryant (illness) sat out practice for the second consecutive day, and defensive end Stephon Tuitt (biceps) and linebacker T.J. Watt (groin) practiced fully for the second consecutive day.

Ben Roethlisberger and Bell returned to practice after sitting out Wednesday for non-injury reasons. Bell said he was excused for personal reasons.

[bradshaw2ben]

Personally I'm not dialing back expectations. I'm cranking them up. Maybe not a lot but up.

I said for the vikes steelers would get 4 td. Didn't get there but that's ok. I'll say rats they get 5 tds

Please clean out the bong water before you pass it along

They're currently ranked 22. That sucks. I don't think anyone's fist pumping about that stat. But the very fact that we recognize it sucks means they're capable of doing better.

So yeah I'm not giving up after three games in.

Steelers offense rank 6th in DVOA-- it's not like they've sucked out loud.... just dysfunctional and inconsistent. Granted, DVOA will begin to include strength of 2017 defenses faced as of next week, but, still, offense is winning on a per down basis.

[jeemie]

The offense has scored six TDs in three games.

That's the only metric that counts right now.

[COR-TEN]

The offense has scored six TDs in three games.

That's the only metric that counts right now.

Actually, the only metric that counts right now is 2-1. I'm optimistic. They might not win by a large margin against the ravens, but I'm thinking they will bounce back defensively, and the offense will do enough in key moments to win it. And then the only metric that counts would be the 3-1. Although I do share your concerns about TD's.

[Legacy User]

Personally I'm not dialing back expectations. I'm cranking them up. Maybe not a lot but up.

I said for the vikes steelers would get 4 td. Didn't get there but that's ok. I'll say rats they get 5 tds

Please clean out the bong water before you pass it along[/quote]

They're currently ranked 22. That sucks. I don't think anyone's fist pumping about that stat. But the very fact that we recognize it sucks means they're capable of doing better.

So yeah I'm not giving up after three games in.[/quote]
Steelers offense rank 6th in DVOA-- it's not like they've sucked out loud.... just dysfunctional and inconsistent. Granted, DVOA will begin to include strength of 2017 defenses faced as of next week, but, still, offense is winning on a per down basis.[/quote]

Good point. They're still bad as usual sealing the deal. They could have put the bears away at least twice. To Haley/Ben credit that opening toss to Martavis was such an attempt. They left points on the field against the Browns.

So yeah I think it's been messy inconsistent and below average overall about worthy of a 22 ranking. But I still can't help but believe there's just too much talent.

[Legacy User]

Ben blames himself.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2083 ... l-own-play

[Steelafan77]

Antonio Brown fastest to 650 career catches. http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/5698/antonio-brown

Congrats AB.

[Jobu]

Ben blames himself.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2083 ... l-own-play

Ben always blames himself...it's what he does.

[Havoc]

The offense is 17th in the league in Pts/Dr.

This is not a SB caliber team right now. And that's fine regarding the D but this is an enormous problem for the O being led by Tomlin/Haley/Ben/AB/Bryant/Bell... who have years experience together as a group. This was supposed to finally be the year for the offense with the gang all together. It's very disappointing to me.

[bradshaw2ben]

Ben blames himself.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2083 ... l-own-play

Ben also said his 2008 OL was fantastic and deserved all the credit.

[955876]

Brooks writes some dumb shit sometimes. This article makes some decent points. At the least, it’s full of some stats worth taking a look at.

A Raven defense that gave up 44 is going to be looking for atonement as is our anemic offense.

Will see who is up to task tomorrow...

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000853470/article/pittsburgh-steelers-offensive-woes-hybrid-playmakers-and-more

[Gonzo]

I dislike Haley and Tomlin and their style and believe completely a large part of the problem is that our guys have to be perfect as they get no help from playcall, scheme and personnel moves and in fact have a staff that blames failure on the inability to execute perfectly a flawed plan.

That said, every week I stow my cynicism and hope the will find a way to win. I hope that the great players they do have make plays. Bell and Bryant are most definitely rusty IMO and Ben has played below his line so far this year. They appear to be still sorting out the 3rd WR and the Online has been better in the past and has room to improve. So I hope ...

One of my concerns going into the rest of the year is despite struggles the rats and bungles get after the QB with limited rushers and that has historically abolsutley flummoxed this offense. So if they do what they do I fear splitting with the rats and bungles at best and getting Ben killed at worst by run run obvious pass planning

[COR-TEN]

Ben blames himself.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2083 ... l-own-play

Ben also said his 2008 OL was fantastic and deserved all the credit.

Suggs on BR blaming himself and forcing the ball to AB :

“He’s playing mind games. Rat bastard. He’s setting us up. Tell Ben, I’m on to his tricks. I know what he’s doing. I’m not going to let him fool me with trickery and Jedi-mind trick me”.

[Legacy User]

Ben blames himself.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2083 ... l-own-play

Ben also said his 2008 OL was fantastic and deserved all the credit.

Suggs on BR blaming himself and forcing the ball to AB :

“He’s playing mind games. Rat bastard. He’s setting us up. Tell Ben, I’m on to his tricks. I know what he’s doing. I’m not going to let him fool me with trickery and Jedi-mind trick me”.

[Jobu]

“He’s playing mind games. Rat bastard. He’s setting us up. Tell Ben, I’m on to his tricks. I know what he’s doing. I’m not going to let him fool me with trickery and Jedi-mind trick me”.

:
"These aren't the droids you're looking for."

[Kodiak]

"These aren't the droids you're looking for."

Sad part is...I think Ben is being completely honest (aside from shouldering the blame, which he always does).

I'm sure when BAL watches the film they think "none of these guys can really hurt us except AB".

[Suwanee88]

Was listening to Tunch and Wolf a bit yesterday talking about the offense.
They also had Hodge on as a guest.

Hodge said Bryant was not crisp and quick and did not come out of his turn running full speed.
Hence, reason he was a half step or more short of making that an easy catch.
Said he will see it on tape and be better next time.

I was a few minutes late to bar and missed the first few plays. Will have to re-watch.

They talked about Ben being off with his throws and not very good first three games.
One of them mentioned he just looked slow in the pocket. slow to shift or slide away from pressure.
Said not the same QB from 3 years ago.

They talked about the high risk, low percentage third down plays .....rather than high percentage plays to move the chains.
Its ok to keep moving the chains down the field.

I think Ben is hearing alot more talk of his average play this year, hence his comments yesterday on he needs to be better.
He also made some comments on how he needs to spread the ball around and that sometimes he zones in on AB.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20836052/pittsburgh-steelers-qb-ben-roethlisberger-critical-own-play

"I didn't play well enough to win. We lost the game because of me, because I didn't play well enough," Roethlisberger said. "It's not on anyone else. That's how I felt, that's what you've got to do is you've got to own it. And I'll own it.

"If I play better in that game, I feel we win the game. If I play better in the first two weeks, then we're going to score more points and have a productive offense and we don't have to answer questions about why our offense isn't where it is."

"Sometimes there are guys that might be open where I quickly go to AB," Roethlisberger said. "I need to reel myself in and just take what the defense gives us, give us the best play possible, not just the best guy possible. ... It's not about a No. 3 or establishing guys. We're going to rotate guys in. We have enough weapons that we can do that. I just need to be better at getting guys involved."

I am not a Tomlin or a Haley fan, but I think if Ben can get back to 2014 form when he threw for 4,900+ yards and 30+ TD's, this offense would be much more elite and live up to its hype. It starts and ends with Ben.

[Legacy User]

A provocative article on BR and the deep ball. I would wager that the abysmal numbers cited are largely due to force feeding deep balls to AB in the Vikes game. But it is very interesting that the numbers cited do not depend on a WR dropping at well thrown ball.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/p ... mpaign=nfl

The conclusion (is the argument any good?) is that Ben is dangerously close being on the wrong end of a ratio between "well thrown big-time throws" and "turnover worthy throws."

If I understand the article correctly, the implication is that the deep ball is Ben's greatest strength and that the offensive scheme is organized around deep ball strikes and that Ben is not at all throwing deep well. The outcome is that the offense is sputtering.

I think that that is probably too narrow a view of the offensive failings, but it is a reasonable hypothesis.