THIS stat

[swissvale72]

On todays ESPN morning show, Dan orlovsky is campaigning for Steelers to play fields on 1st down, the notion being they have no chance of winning without better 1st down performance. Dunno about THAT but how about this??

During the Steelers 4 game slide their average to go on 3rd down was 8.3 yards. Ugh!!

Orlovskys premise is that on 3rd & long, ravens will show 6 or 7 on LOS, but then drop 7 into coverage, leaving no open receivers

[Ice]

This stretch has given us a symphony of awful stats, but that one's right up there. Close as numbers can come to communicating the emotion of watching, and that emotion was hopelessness.

Instead of playing Fields, they could also try not force feeding their slow, blind RB every first down (and most 2nds), too.

[Steelperch]

Nothing matters until they get a coach who can design and call plays for the offense. Nothing else matters. Not the QB, the RB, the WRs, the line, nothing. Tomlin ain’t leaving and we aren’t going anywhere. Celebrate your years NHALS and move on.

[swissvale72]

That said, the analysis of orlovsky, et Al, included some of my statements.
-Steelers ALWAYS play ravens tough
-last game was close, Steelers about to take the lead prior to the Russ fumble, had tied the game in 3Q, were down 7 with the ball in 4Q when the pick 6 ocurred. That game, with significant steeler injuries, was winnable
-no zay flowers is likely VERY significant

ESPN analytics has ravens at 72% to win. Of course, they also have notre dame at 59% to beat penn state tonight. Don't get it

As my brother Tony always said...."every Catholic who didn't go to college roots for notre dame."

[langer]

You gotta ask, why did they keep doing it over and over.

If it wasn't working, was it going to magically work sometime? While the other team is scoring, was this going to somehow stop that?

An absolutely stupid team.

Unless they're doing it all on purpose, which I can't discount.

[gpclay]

That’s what doesn’t make any sense to me - if asshats like us can see it isn’t working (even my wife was noticing when they ran Najee into a stacked box on first down by the end of the season), then how can this not be corrected by these professionals? It feels like it has to be deliberate.

[SteelerDayTrader]

Nothing matters until they get a coach who can design and call plays for the offense. Nothing else matters. Not the QB, the RB, the WRs, the line, nothing. Tomlin ain’t leaving and we aren’t going anywhere. Celebrate your years NHALS and move on.

Truth ^^^

We don’t/cant even use the guys we have properly

Pickens
Washington
Austin

Are proof of that

[Steel Bingo]

Fields is absolutely one of the guys that got the Steelers here to this point. His talent is off the chart, so he very well could be a positive X factor on Saturday night.

[TTP]

On todays ESPN morning show, Dan orlovsky is campaigning for Steelers to play fields on 1st down, the notion being they have no chance of winning without better 1st down performance. Dunno about THAT but how about this??

During the Steelers 4 game slide their average to go on 3rd down was 8.3 yards. Ugh!!

Orlovskys premise is that on 3rd & long, ravens will show 6 or 7 on LOS, but then drop 7 into coverage, leaving no open receivers

On the season, the Steelers are 3rd in running the ball on 1st down (56%) and 3rd in running on 2nd and 8+ yards to go (35%). Leads to lots of 3rd and longs and a busy day for Waitman. Just a totally inefficient approach to modern offense.

[Orangesteel]

Tomlin and Arthur Smith are goddamn morons.

Close thread.

[Stosh-67]

You gotta ask, why did they keep doing it over and over.

If it wasn't working, was it going to magically work sometime? While the other team is scoring, was this going to somehow stop that?

An absolutely stupid team.

Unless they're doing it all on purpose, which I can't discount.

Running on first, regardless of the outcome, will shorten the game by 35-40 seconds.
Throw another run in there, on 2nd or third down....
and almost guaranteed to shorten the game by 70-80 seconds.
?

[.Kodiak]

-Steelers ALWAYS play ravens

And don't we always play CLE tough? Pretty much own them. Beat them or almost at the end of the year with Rudolph, and THEN what happened in the playoffs? WITH their HC suspended...

When Tomlin makes the playoffs, April Fools comes early!

[jeemie]

You gotta ask, why did they keep doing it over and over.

If it wasn't working, was it going to magically work sometime? While the other team is scoring, was this going to somehow stop that?

An absolutely stupid team.

Unless they're doing it all on purpose, which I can't discount.

DK I think comes closest to getting it, and it's something Swiss even says about many posters here at SF.

Mike Tomlin in many ways would rather be right than win.

He is stubborn to a fault and never one to admit he was wrong about something.

The second closest thing, I think- also said by DK.

Tomlin views the game through the prism of how his defense will be impacted.

He wants to score points, but he mostly uses his offense to protect his defense.

Hence his obsession with "possessing the ball" and "weighty downs".

Which is also why he harps on execution...because such a strategy also limits his offense's chances, every mistake gets magnified.

[TimmayLake]

Some wise poster on here said the offense (maybe it was Canada's offense) was designed to get to 3rd and 3. Seems like we're not even achieving that goal.

[Deebo]

Instead of playing Fields, they could also try not force feeding their slow, blind RB every first down (and most 2nds), too.

That's the crux of the issue.
I respect Dan O, but he's missing the full context and comes across like a moron here.

Doesn't matter who the fuck your QB is: RW, Fields, Peyton Manning, etc. They would run into a stacked box on 1st down with Tom Brady as their QB

So sick of this shit. It's maddening.

[Stlcrtn1974]

On todays ESPN morning show, Dan orlovsky is campaigning for Steelers to play fields on 1st down, the notion being they have no chance of winning without better 1st down performance. Dunno about THAT but how about this??

During the Steelers 4 game slide their average to go on 3rd down was 8.3 yards. Ugh!!

Orlovskys premise is that on 3rd & long, ravens will show 6 or 7 on LOS, but then drop 7 into coverage, leaving no open receivers

I also saw Orlovsky and the 2 clueless ladies on the show absolutely gush over how great Tomlin is, it was rather nauseating.
https://youtu.be/V37biqt7LnE?si=pYep0dAJ5A4wGrWS

[swissvale72]

On todays ESPN morning show, Dan orlovsky is campaigning for Steelers to play fields on 1st down, the notion being they have no chance of winning without better 1st down performance. Dunno about THAT but how about this??

During the Steelers 4 game slide their average to go on 3rd down was 8.3 yards. Ugh!!

Orlovskys premise is that on 3rd & long, ravens will show 6 or 7 on LOS, but then drop 7 into coverage, leaving no open receivers

I also saw Orlovsky and the 2 clueless ladies on the show absolutely gush over how great Tomlin is, it was rather nauseating.
https://youtu.be/V37biqt7LnE?si=pYep0dAJ5A4wGrWS

Yeah, I saw that too...was ridiculous. Watching Michael Lombardi on mcafee right now, saying more important than being a hot team, is having a hot kicker. That could bode well for steelers. Also citing the importance of 3rd and 3 moreso than other downs/distances

[Ice]

On todays ESPN morning show, Dan orlovsky is campaigning for Steelers to play fields on 1st down, the notion being they have no chance of winning without better 1st down performance. Dunno about THAT but how about this??

During the Steelers 4 game slide their average to go on 3rd down was 8.3 yards. Ugh!!

Orlovskys premise is that on 3rd & long, ravens will show 6 or 7 on LOS, but then drop 7 into coverage, leaving no open receivers

On the season, the Steelers are 3rd in running the ball on 1st down (56%) and 3rd in running on 2nd and 8+ yards to go (35%). Leads to lots of 3rd and longs and a busy day for Waitman. Just a totally inefficient approach to modern offense.

Having watched the season, I'm actually surprised the percentages are that low.

[DP39]

You gotta ask, why did they keep doing it over and over.

If it wasn't working, was it going to magically work sometime? While the other team is scoring, was this going to somehow stop that?

An absolutely stupid team.

Unless they're doing it all on purpose, which I can't discount.

DK I think comes closest to getting it, and it's something Swiss even says about many posters here at SF.

Mike Tomlin in many ways would rather be right than win.

He is stubborn to a fault and never one to admit he was wrong about something.

The second closest thing, I think- also said by DK.

Tomlin views the game through the prism of how his defense will be impacted.

He wants to score points, but he mostly uses his offense to protect his defense.

Hence his obsession with "possessing the ball" and "weighty downs".

Which is also why he harps on execution...because such a strategy also limits his offense's chances, every mistake gets magnified.

These two bolded statements/guesses by DK aren't just ideas, they're realities.

And, you want to know why they're realities?

I've said it on here for years. Tomlin shows & tells you who he is and why he does what he does, and it's all ego — personal for him.

Tomlin grew up his complete life on the O side of the ball, it was his identity. He idolized his older brother who was a decent RB. After his college career ended (with absolutely zero NFL playing prospects), he went asking for a job in college coaching and was TOLD if 'he wanted any upward mobility chance he would HAVE to coach on the D side of the ball' — presumably, because of his color (himself publicly stating it many times).

So, what does he do when he finally gets a HC job? He spends all of his focus, game plan, and Cap on the D side of the ball. Not because he loves defense, but because he is determined to beat the people that told him he couldn't make it on the O side (being perceived as not smart enough/wrong color). His ego still wants to prove them wrong — end of story.

Unfortunately, for Steeler fans, Tomlin's ego, truth, and mediocre abilities have kept us at a ceiling of NHALS for the last decade plus (after he lost all of Cowher's players and coaches, and didn't have a FQB to bail him out).

That's the truth whether people want to hear it or not.

[langer]

This doesn’t seem like the same team. It isn’t except for one person.

Ben covered up so much.



https://youtu.be/sUMneZOTAYs?si=-o3kAM6HcChAYW2D

[Ovie]

On todays ESPN morning show, Dan orlovsky is campaigning for Steelers to play fields on 1st down, the notion being they have no chance of winning without better 1st down performance. Dunno about THAT but how about this??

During the Steelers 4 game slide their average to go on 3rd down was 8.3 yards. Ugh!!

Orlovskys premise is that on 3rd & long, ravens will show 6 or 7 on LOS, but then drop 7 into coverage, leaving no open receivers

On the season, the Steelers are 3rd in running the ball on 1st down (56%) and 3rd in running on 2nd and 8+ yards to go (35%). Leads to lots of 3rd and longs and a busy day for Waitman. Just a totally inefficient approach to modern offense.

Having watched the season, I'm actually surprised the percentages are that low.

Yesh me too. Skewed by being down 2 scores in most second halves though. I'd like to see this for first halves only. I bet it's off the charts.

Saw another article that Smith's offense is averaging something around 4.3 yards per first down for the year. Worse than all but one of Canada's years.

[StillerDownSouth]

You gotta ask, why did they keep doing it over and over.

If it wasn't working, was it going to magically work sometime? While the other team is scoring, was this going to somehow stop that?

An absolutely stupid team.

Unless they're doing it all on purpose, which I can't discount.

Running on first, regardless of the outcome, will shorten the game by 35-40 seconds.
Throw another run in there, on 2nd or third down....
and almost guaranteed to shorten the game by 70-80 seconds.
?

This is it in a nutshell, Tomlin likes the clock running, he likes less possessions so his defense doesn't get exposed and therefore he doesn't get exposed, it's attrition football and he will always be this way, the proof is in the pudding so to speak....so the only way the Steelers will ever beat really good teams is by having flawless execution, forcing turnovers, and protecting the ball, and if that fails they are toast...when he had Ben, he always knew he had a chance in the 4th quarter by letting Ben call plays and sling it for a comeback, but Ben is long gone.

[smithessmokin]

You gotta ask, why did they keep doing it over and over.

If it wasn't working, was it going to magically work sometime? While the other team is scoring, was this going to somehow stop that?

An absolutely stupid team.

Unless they're doing it all on purpose, which I can't discount.

It's the definition of insanity.