Game Balls, Game Goats & FU's...........@ Texans............Week 4.....

[Chicoman]

Well it doesn't get much worse than it did today. I don't think I can remember a worse all around team performance by players and coaches in a Steelers football game like we saw today in over 30 years! I'll have to rewatch the game before I lay blame on the players but the coaching from Mike Tomlin right down to Matt Canada & Teryl Austin was downright awful. Give credit to the Houston Texans and their Rookie OC for a brilliant game plan to start as they came out with quick passes, 3 step drop and throw and setup great screen passes for big gains as they took the opening kickoff down the field for a quick 7-0 lead and that was all they would need to defeat an absolutely abysmal Steelers team. Defensively Teryl Austin had no answers for the Texans quick passing game and made no adjustments all game as they consistently rush 5 & 6 guys and were probably scratching their heads wondering how the Texans were consistently moving the ball downfield. Their WR's were just sitting in the soft spots in the zone Defense.....I expected Teryl Austin to start dropping guys into the passing lanes taking away some of those throws for Stroud but that nexer happened. Several times today I saw DeMarvin Leal lines up at ROLB....I'm not sure if that was intentional or by accident but the results when he was lined up there were not good! Defensively this Defense gave up 30 points & 451 yards......another stellar performance by a Teryl Austin coached Defense! Teryl Austin was a terrible DC in Detroit from 2014-17 & in 2018 in Cincy he coached one of the worst NFL Defenses in NFL History. Why does this guy still have a job? You see what Jim Schwartz is doing up in Cleveland? Just imagine if he was our DC? Heck I'd take 86 year old Dick LeBeau back right now over Teryl Austin. Offensively this offense is actually worse than the 1990 Steelers offense when Joe Walton was our OC and the Steelers went almost 5 games without scoring a TD! Back in 1990 the Steelers had no talent at the skill positions, QB, RB, WR, TE. This offense has way more talent than that 1990 Steelers team and they actually look worse! Matt Canada still has a job which is amazing to me at this point.....he is on the brink of ruining Kenny Pickett IMO......if Matt Canada still has a job after the Ravens game next week then you really need to turn your attention to Mike Tomlin and Art Rooney Jr for keeping this guy as our OC. He's absolutely awful! I know players play the game not the coaches but the game plan by Matt Canada is absolutely awful! I think the 8-bit NES game Tecmo Bowl has a bigger playbook than Matt Canada has in his playbook. It's so bad right now I'm really scratching my head but the offense is abysmal right now! They've got to start with taking the play calling away from Matt Canada.....check out my play chart below......the play mix was similar to last Sunday night but the Steelers didn't benefit much going over the middle of the field today. The one thing you can take away from this game was the 3rd down call near the goal line late in the 3rd Quarter...Pickett rolled to his left....locked on Allen Robinson.....Texans actually blew coverage on that play and Connor Hewyard was wide open in the endzone for an easy TD and Pickett was so locked onto Robinson he threw it to him and he was double covered.....seeing Pickett miss the opportunity for an Easy TD just shows you the lack of improvement in Kenny Pickett's progress to be a top tier NFL QB. I almost feel Matt Canada is on the brink of ruining Kenny Pickett.......Looking ahead I hope Pickett didn't tear his ACL and it's just a twisted knee but god dammit I hate ******* artifical turf! I can't tolerate Matt Canada's offensive play calling much long.....the play mix was similar to last week.....almost the same amount of passes over the middle of the field vs outside the numbers.....take a peek at my passing charts below. Looking ahead I can't believe this team is 2-2 right now...they should be 0-4. I beginning to wonder if the game has passed Mike Tomlin by.......Next week vs the Rats could be really ugly! Cmon Tomlin......make some ******* changes on Offense and Defense! Both your OC & DC are absolutely pathetic! Matt Canada didn't even have good success at the college level as OC....he was 3-1 as OC then took over as Interim head Coach and proceeded to go 2-6 the rest of the season losing 5 of 6 to close out the season for Maryland.

Per Tomlin's Post Game Presser: Tomlin said we didn't do alot of the things we needed to do, they did things we couldn't stop. They ran the ball on us and we've gotta get better stopping the run.
Kenny Pickett - Left Knee Injury will have MRI tomorrow
Dan Moore - knee injury being evalauted
Pat Freirmuth - Hamstring wasn't able to return
Demarvin Leal - Being evalauated for injury.....Tomlin was unsure of the injury


Game Balls:
Najee Harris - One of the few guys out there who played his heart out....14 carries 71 yds 1 rec 32 yds

Game Goats:
Mike Tomlin - WTF man...gotta be better prepared and quicker to make adjustments against your opponent. Had no answers today
Teryl Austin - No adjustments defensively the entire game to adjust to the Texans quick passing game vs Steelers pass rush. He just kept rushing 5 & 6 guys the whole game. WTF was Demarvin Leal doing at ROLB on several plays? He was a liability when he was there.
Steelers O-line - Absolutely ******* terrible! They can't run block, Can't pass block! How did they get this bad so quickly?
Patrick Peterson - This guy should have been cut after he ran his mouth on Week 1. I sure as hell would bench his ***! Let Joey Jr get his chance out there

FU's:
Matt Canada - If this guy is still our OC after the BYE week this season is ******! IMO I really think he has ruined Kenny Pickett! **** YOU MATT CANADA YOUR ******* TERRIBLE!

 

[slashsteel]

That man has no idea how to make adjustments, great coaches do.

 

[TDX27]

I'm giving a game ball to Najee. He ran hard and all game and was a beast in the 2nd half but it was just too little to overcome Canaduh, a crap OL and terrible play on both sides of the ball.

Also, FU to the refs. So many bad things. Did they call a single holding call on their O? If they did it wasn't until late and Watt was being held early and often. The two PI calls on Minkah and Muuth were ridiculous.

 

[Shane Falco]

The only thing glaring is a FU to Canada. That 4th and 1 not only cost you a shot at the game, but possibly your starting quarterback possibly for the season. That call should be the one that terminates him. Tomlin and his staff should start feeling their seats get warm-but we know this isn’t going to happen.

 

[xjx]

Can we just have an AI computer call plays?

 

[black and gold apex]

Game ball Warren who gives his all even last play of game
Brad Wing has not played for six year, did his job .

Goats. Highest paid defense could not tackle, could not cover , out coached all day
Offense line just bad.

FU This coaching staff everyone of them. Laid a big fat egg.
Fu FU Tomlin who gets that look, we all know we are doomed. Tomlin has not shown he can make any changes in a game and he sure does not look for a weakness in a team

 

[keslerclan]

Nailed it Chico!

Unfortunately, THIS needed to happen to corral the HCMT is great crowd on board.

Everyone expected our O to suck (as usual) BUT the highest paid D in the NFL is dependent upon our OLBs getting to the QB and our FS playing run support.

That is simple to defeat, just like our O is simple to defeat. No creativity is required here, just watch film and copy what other professional teams do. We can't even do that!

 

[SteelerFan448]

No game balls when you lose 30-6 to the Houston Texans. Everyone is a goat today.

 

[SteelBuckeye]

Game ball Warren who gives his all even last play of game
Brad Wing has not played for six year, did his job .

Goats. Highest paid defense could not tackle, could not cover , out coached all day
Offense line just bad.

FU This coaching staff everyone of them. Laid a big fat egg.
Fu FU Tomlin who gets that look, we all know we are doomed. Tomlin has not shown he can make any changes in a game and he sure does not look for a weakness in a team

Not disagreeing about Warren giving his all ... but, he'd be a GOAT in my book for the one fumble and the other "I got a lucky break" not fumble. Can't put the ball on the turf.

 

[bigben]

Gotta give Harris credit he played very well, why can't he play like his team is shopping for a rb every week??

 

[Steel G]

Teryl Austin has nothing to do with the D, it's all Tomlin. Until he's gone, nothing's going to change there.

 

[insaniti]

Gotta give Harris credit he played very well, why can't he play like his team is shopping for a rb every week??

Because even in this game, he was running into his own lineman that were being pushed into his lap. Hell, on one of his best runs, the DE/OLB destroyed the TE so badly, Najee ran into the TE, fought off the tackle, and hit the hole for 15 yards.

 

[slashsteel]

Teryl Austin has nothing to do with the D, it's all Tomlin. Until he's gone, nothing's going to change there.

They both get a blame. Austin was fired from his previous gig for a reason. He has a degree of suck right along with Matt and Mike.

 

[Steel Reign]

I knew there wouldn't be any game balls for coaching because our coaching has no balls.

 

[Steeltime]

Here's the thing - the EXACT same ******* results have happened for years. Quick timing patterns over the middle of the field? Never. 5-yard outs that take all ******* day to run and risk a pick-6 on a long throw all the way across the field, where the "upside" is maybe 7 yards? Cana-DUH says, "YES!" Offense that changes a single ******* thing all game? Nope. Defense that cannot stop a 4th string OL and rookie QB? Yes. Again.

Again and again, same ****, different game. Wonder what the constant has been ..

 

[Steelr4evr]

All of it.

 

[slashsteel]

I knew there wouldn't be any game balls for coaching because our coaching has no balls.

That ending screamed of throwing in the towel. Really embarrassing. Beyond embarrassing that they couldn't be competitive.

 

[Steel Reign]

That ending screamed of throwing in the towel. Really embarrassing. Beyond embarrassing that they couldn't be competitive.

I hate to throw a thumbs up for this kind of post, but it is so true.

 

[SteelerFan448]

They both get a blame. Austin was fired from his previous gig for a reason. He has a degree of suck right along with Matt and Mike.

Tomlin's biggest weakness as a coach, and it isn't even close IMO, is his staff. He refuses to hire innovators/top minds. Although rarely successful, Cowher's OCs were hired as head coaches. Capers and LeBeau were two of the biggest innovators during their time in Pittsburgh. Even Haslett, who wasn't in their league, was well known for his style of defense. On top of this they had some strong positional coaches over the years as well.

 

[Steel Reign]

Tomlin's biggest weakness as a coach, and it isn't even close IMO, is his staff. He refuses to hire innovators/top minds. Although rarely successful, Cowher's OCs were hired as head coaches. Capers and LeBeau were two of the biggest innovators during their time in Pittsburgh. Even Haslett, who wasn't in their league, was well known for his style of defense. On top of this they had some strong positional coaches over the years as well.

Not often you hear that a team hired the worst coordinator in the league. And we did it twice at the SAME time.

 

[JMM]

 

[GMC]

Here's the thing - the EXACT same ******* results have happened for years. Quick timing patterns over the middle of the field? Never. 5-yard outs that take all ******* day to run and risk a pick-6 on a long throw all the way across the field, where the "upside" is maybe 7 yards? Cana-DUH says, "YES!" Offense that changes a single ******* thing all game? Nope. Defense that cannot stop a 4th string OL and rookie QB? Yes. Again.

Again and again, same ****, different game. Wonder what the constant has been ..

I commented during the game that Pickett is constantly throwing the ball 20 yards or more to pick up 3. The number of throws outside the numbers for little or no gain is ridiculous.

 

[bkwheat28]

Can we just have an AI computer call plays?

I believe A.I. stands for artificial INTELLIGENCE. There is no intelligence in this organization any more. The Deuce is happy wiping his *** with hundred dollar bills. And it is us dumbass fans who can’t quit what we love that keeps putting that money in his pocket. He knows it, and deep down so do all of us. This isn’t a post HOF quarterback struggle either. We’ve been a consistent competitive team for 50+ years. This is as bad as I’ve seen it since the mid to late 80s. Couple rough years here and there but you always still had faith. Not now. We get cliches not accountability. **** you Art II, your dad and grandpa must be rolling over in their graves.

 

[steelhurt]

Well it doesn't get much worse than it did today. I don't think I can remember a worse all around team performance by players and coaches in a Steelers football game like we saw today in over 30 years! I'll have to rewatch the game before I lay blame on the players but the coaching from Mike Tomlin right down to Matt Canada & Teryl Austin was downright awful. Give credit to the Houston Texans and their Rookie OC for a brilliant game plan to start as they came out with quick passes, 3 step drop and throw and setup great screen passes for big gains as they took the opening kickoff down the field for a quick 7-0 lead and that was all they would need to defeat an absolutely abysmal Steelers team. Defensively Teryl Austin had no answers for the Texans quick passing game and made no adjustments all game as they consistently rush 5 & 6 guys and were probably scratching their heads wondering how the Texans were consistently moving the ball downfield. Their WR's were just sitting in the soft spots in the zone Defense.....I expected Teryl Austin to start dropping guys into the passing lanes taking away some of those throws for Stroud but that nexer happened. Several times today I saw DeMarvin Leal lines up at ROLB....I'm not sure if that was intentional or by accident but the results when he was lined up there were not good! Defensively this Defense gave up 30 points & 451 yards......another stellar performance by a Teryl Austin coached Defense! Teryl Austin was a terrible DC in Detroit from 2014-17 & in 2018 in Cincy he coached one of the worst NFL Defenses in NFL History. Why does this guy still have a job? You see what Jim Schwartz is doing up in Cleveland? Just imagine if he was our DC? Heck I'd take 86 year old Dick LeBeau back right now over Teryl Austin. Offensively this offense is actually worse than the 1990 Steelers offense when Joe Walton was our OC and the Steelers went almost 5 games without scoring a TD! Back in 1990 the Steelers had no talent at the skill positions, QB, RB, WR, TE. This offense has way more talent than that 1990 Steelers team and they actually look worse! Matt Canada still has a job which is amazing to me at this point.....he is on the brink of ruining Kenny Pickett IMO......if Matt Canada still has a job after the Ravens game next week then you really need to turn your attention to Mike Tomlin and Art Rooney Jr for keeping this guy as our OC. He's absolutely awful! I know players play the game not the coaches but the game plan by Matt Canada is absolutely awful! I think the 8-bit NES game Tecmo Bowl has a bigger playbook than Matt Canada has in his playbook. It's so bad right now I'm really scratching my head but the offense is abysmal right now! They've got to start with taking the play calling away from Matt Canada.....check out my play chart below......the play mix was similar to last Sunday night but the Steelers didn't benefit much going over the middle of the field today. The one thing you can take away from this game was the 3rd down call near the goal line late in the 3rd Quarter...Pickett rolled to his left....locked on Allen Robinson.....Texans actually blew coverage on that play and Connor Hewyard was wide open in the endzone for an easy TD and Pickett was so locked onto Robinson he threw it to him and he was double covered.....seeing Pickett miss the opportunity for an Easy TD just shows you the lack of improvement in Kenny Pickett's progress to be a top tier NFL QB. I almost feel Matt Canada is on the brink of ruining Kenny Pickett.......Looking ahead I hope Pickett didn't tear his ACL and it's just a twisted knee but god dammit I hate ******* artifical turf! I can't tolerate Matt Canada's offensive play calling much long.....the play mix was similar to last week.....almost the same amount of passes over the middle of the field vs outside the numbers.....take a peek at my passing charts below. Looking ahead I can't believe this team is 2-2 right now...they should be 0-4. I beginning to wonder if the game has passed Mike Tomlin by.......Next week vs the Rats could be really ugly! Cmon Tomlin......make some ******* changes on Offense and Defense! Both your OC & DC are absolutely pathetic! Matt Canada didn't even have good success at the college level as OC....he was 3-1 as OC then took over as Interim head Coach and proceeded to go 2-6 the rest of the season losing 5 of 6 to close out the season for Maryland.

Per Tomlin's Post Game Presser: Tomlin said we didn't do alot of the things we needed to do, they did things we couldn't stop. They ran the ball on us and we've gotta get better stopping the run.
Kenny Pickett - Left Knee Injury will have MRI tomorrow
Dan Moore - knee injury being evalauted
Pat Freirmuth - Hamstring wasn't able to return
Demarvin Leal - Being evalauated for injury.....Tomlin was unsure of the injury


Game Balls:
Najee Harris - One of the few guys out there who played his heart out....14 carries 71 yds 1 rec 32 yds

Game Goats:
Mike Tomlin - WTF man...gotta be better prepared and quicker to make adjustments against your opponent. Had no answers today
Teryl Austin - No adjustments defensively the entire game to adjust to the Texans quick passing game vs Steelers pass rush. He just kept rushing 5 & 6 guys the whole game. WTF was Demarvin Leal doing at ROLB on several plays? He was a liability when he was there.
Steelers O-line - Absolutely ******* terrible! They can't run block, Can't pass block! How did they get this bad so quickly?
Patrick Peterson - This guy should have been cut after he ran his mouth on Week 1. I sure as hell would bench his ***! Let Joey Jr get his chance out there

FU's:
Matt Canada - If this guy is still our OC after the BYE week this season is ******! IMO I really think he has ruined Kenny Pickett! **** YOU MATT CANADA YOUR ******* TERRIBLE!

Cannot argue with one damn thing you said here.
I’ve been saying the exact same thing about Terrell Austin since Shades made him out DC. You’re exactly correct…. The guy was a failure in Detroit and got run out of Cincy in season with a horrible defense.
Canada, it’s all true! He ******* sucks! Playcalling and schemes are horrible.
How has this OL gotten this bad so quickly.

 

[topseed]

So there's about a minute left in the third quarter. Your team is down ten points, Your defense is doing its best to hold the line despite an inept offense that keeps putting it back on the field time and time again, and has you in the game with the fourth quarter still to play. It's 4th down and 1 at the 33.

a) Do you turn to your kicker, who has been solid gold this season, including 3 for 3 from 50+, and make it a 7-point game? Nah.

b) Do you quickly send Pickett up to the line and run a sneak, which is basically the only play which the guy has been able to consistently execute with any proficiency? Nah.

c) Do you waste a valuable timeout to think about it, allow the defense to get aligned, then come out in shotgun formation needing just a yard, and run a short out? Nah. A quick slant? Nah.

d) How about a long-developing pass play going God knows where, and getting your quarterback sacked and injured? Perfect!

It is getting harder and harder to watch this team for a full 60 minutes. I very well may have turned them off for the first time ever when Tomlin decided to punt the ball on 4th-and-2 down by 17 points with 10 minutes left in the game, if I hadn't had company over.