• Please be aware we've switched the forums to their own URL. (again) You'll find the new website address to be www.steelernationforum.com Thanks
  • Please clear your private messages. Your inbox is close to being full.

Game Balls, Game Goats & FU's.............week 10..................vs Saints.....

Is it just me being biased?
It seems Dalton had the luxury of throwing to receivers in open space, while Picket always has to try to thread the ball because a defender is always draped all over our receivers.

That's the difference of using the middle of the field and NOT using the iddle of the field.

Salute the nation
 
Nice post.

But the reality remains the same. We had a home game against a bad team and we still were nothing special. Tomlin has zero feel for a game or its flow. It was easy to see our kicker was having a trash game (even if we assume he is otherwise ok) after the almost-blocked kick where he started the kick far too late. But Tomlin goes for a long FG instead of going for it on a play where we all probably knew a miss was likely. Canada was Canada. Spillane. WTH? Why is he seeing the field? Pickens made great plays so we cut him out when he showed too much. There is more, but no reason to go into it.

We will win just enough to screw ourselves out of the pick we need. And understand I am not cheering for us to lose. I am cheering for us to fire people that need fired (coaches and players) so we can succeed. The latter won't happen; the former will.
What were you watching in regards to Spillane? I thought the complete opposite -- this was one of his best games as a Steeler, leading the team with 7 tackles, 5 solos, 1 TFL, and the game-clinching stop of Dalton on the 4th down sneak attempt. Plus he was decent in coverage. No idea what you're talking about.

And I disagree with the other posters who said that Pickett was under constant pressure the whole game, and the Steelers never having anybody open. Yeah, KP was pressured a lot today, but he also had plenty of time on a number of occasions, and missed several throws, including a wide-open Pickens on the very first play from scrimmage. Rookie or veteran, there's no excuse for those.

Here's what I've noticed about the two "superstars" on the Steelers defense: While Minkah is replaceable, Watt is not. Along with his own prowess, Watt coming back takes double-teams away from Highsmith. Highsmith gets more pressure because he's no longer being doubled. That pressure from both sides makes the whole defense better. When Fitzpatrick misses a game, other secondary guys step up. The drop-off in talent/production is negligible in the secondary. The drop-off at outside linebacker is like falling off a cliff.

Good to finally see some production out of the running game, but this offense is still hard to watch most of the time.
 
Good to finally see some production out of the running game, but this offense is still hard to watch most of the time.
While the ground game did have better production today, the Steelers still won't commit to it early in the game. Pickett is falling back onto old college habits of running himself into pressure and I think it's from the volume of passes he's being asked to throw.

Today, he had 30 pass attempts, was sacked 6 times, and ran the ball 8 times (maybe 3 were sneaks?). That is once again over 40 drop backs for a pass compared to 35 rush attempts. That is a much better ratio than usual, but I think the Steelers should be looking to get Najee 25 carries and Warren another 10 weekly. That's on top of the usual jet sweeps. I'd also try to get more of those runs early in the game rather than late like they did today.
 
What were you watching in regards to Spillane? I thought the complete opposite -- this was one of his best games as a Steeler, leading the team with 7 tackles, 5 solos, 1 TFL, and the game-clinching stop of Dalton on the 4th down sneak attempt. Plus he was decent in coverage. No idea what you're talking about.

And I disagree with the other posters who said that Pickett was under constant pressure the whole game, and the Steelers never having anybody open. Yeah, KP was pressured a lot today, but he also had plenty of time on a number of occasions, and missed several throws, including a wide-open Pickens on the very first play from scrimmage. Rookie or veteran, there's no excuse for those.

Here's what I've noticed about the two "superstars" on the Steelers defense: While Minkah is replaceable, Watt is not. Along with his own prowess, Watt coming back takes double-teams away from Highsmith. Highsmith gets more pressure because he's no longer being doubled. That pressure from both sides makes the whole defense better. When Fitzpatrick misses a game, other secondary guys step up. The drop-off in talent/production is negligible in the secondary. The drop-off at outside linebacker is like falling off a cliff.

Good to finally see some production out of the running game, but this offense is still hard to watch most of the time.
It helps that kazee is a darn good player, current Norwood couldn't substitute his play, maybe in the future but not right now. As others have proposed, playing the 3 safeties most of the time, benching the
 
most would view this as a good game for the offense and it certainly did look like an improvement, but it's still 20 points scored which is below average.

I believe that every scoring drive was extended by a saints penalty.

Did Pickens get a single deep ball?

Steelers managed to pop a few big runs but aside from those, it was pretty average production. Improved yes, but still not anything great.

Matt Canada didn't do a damn thing different. The worst part of this is I'd bet that internally, they're high five-ing about their "great" offensive performance. It's still subpar. The WRs are still rarely open and there's little opportunity for run after catch.

If you thought that Matt Canada would use the 2 weeks to self scout and make some changes then you don't know matt Canada. By changing nothing, he essentially doubled down that his system is working and needs no adjustments.

Here's a scary thought. The Steelers remaing schedule is much easier than the first half. What if the Steelers finish up strong. Maybe they achieve that "non-losing" season and the offensive numbers do improve but only because there's no place to go but up. What if all of that happens and Matt Canada returns next year?
 
No, you are not being biased. Steelers WR, TE are very, very, VERY rarely wide open.
Hopefully people won't be that hard on Pickett. That's a tough job he's got.

A positive is that he's still young and maybe always needing to thread the needle will only help him sharpen his skills as a passer.
 
Hopefully people won't be that hard on Pickett. That's a tough job he's got.

A positive is that he's still young and maybe always needing to thread the needle will only help him sharpen his skills as a passer.
Half of this board is ready to draft his replacement. I've seen him called a bust, average at best, Rudolph 2.0, I could go on.

He's not going to come in and be an all pro immediately. In fact, what QB has? Ben had the luxury of the best running game in the league paired with the best defense in the league. It was just the perfect scenario.

Josh Allen had people questioning his draft position his rookie year. He took good jump in his second year, and exploded his third year. But even today he makes questionable throws. The past two weeks he's thrown four redzone int's. Cost them the game today as he threw two.

Give the kid a chance. He's got the worst OC on the planet. A shakey OL. There are going to be growing pains, especially following a HOF QB.
 
Half of this board is ready to draft his replacement. I've seen him called a bust, average at best, Rudolph 2.0, I could go on.

He's not going to come in and be an all pro immediately. In fact, what QB has? Ben had the luxury of the best running game in the league paired with the best defense in the league. It was just the perfect scenario.

Josh Allen had people questioning his draft position his rookie year. He took good jump in his second year, and exploded his third year. But even today he makes questionable throws. The past two weeks he's thrown four redzone int's. Cost them the game today as he threw two.

Give the kid a chance. He's got the worst OC on the planet. A shakey OL. There are going to be growing pains, especially following a HOF QB.
If you put a run game and a semi competent OC with this kid you could have something. To be fair I think that was the same for Mitch a polooza. People wanted to run him out of town. I don't think this setup would be friendly to Joe Montana.
 
If you put a run game and a semi competent OC with this kid you could have something. To be fair I think that was the same for Mitch a polooza. People wanted to run him out of town. I don't think this setup would be friendly to Joe Montana.
No it wouldn't. It's a stark difference from what we saw in preseason even. Our first TD had me rolling my eyes. Another trick play on the goal line.

I liked the mitch signing, but he was not playing with any confidence. And you could see a massive difference between starting mitch and back up mitch in the Tampa game. If he played with that kind of confidence and fire, we'd still be wondering what we had in Pickett.

Unfortunately this fan base is not kind to QB play that isn't all pro status. The rumors about Stewart, death threats to O'Donnell, dumping trash on Maddox lawn...I've even seen posts on Facebook under articles about Ben in retirement that just blue my mind. Things like "just go away already" 😳

It's no wonder Bradshaw stayed away for so long...
 
No it wouldn't. It's a stark difference from what we saw in preseason even. Our first TD had me rolling my eyes. Another trick play on the goal line.

I liked the mitch signing, but he was not playing with any confidence. And you could see a massive difference between starting mitch and back up mitch in the Tampa game. If he played with that kind of confidence and fire, we'd still be wondering what we had in Pickett.

Unfortunately this fan base is not kind to QB play that isn't all pro status. The rumors about Stewart, death threats to O'Donnell, dumping trash on Maddox lawn...I've even seen posts on Facebook under articles about Ben in retirement that just blue my mind. Things like "just go away already" 😳

It's no wonder Bradshaw stayed away for so long...
Yeah. Not like I'm not happy they won but they are still pretty much a hot mess no direction on offense. And you are right. The jet sweep to Pickens pretty much showed that. Why I can't really judge KP at this point or Mitch for that matter.
 
I'm glad Pickens scored on his run. But that was a cringe worthy play call if I ever did see one.
Same with when they pass near the goal line. It can never be slant, body out the defender score like every other team in the league. It has to be some ridiculous back shoulder thow like they did to Muth. Oh and while we are on the topic of back shoulder anyone notice they finally completed a deep shot to Dionte Johnson and it was just a simple 9 route. You can run those back shoulder throws. Lord knows every other team does but sometimes you can just go he is even and leaving.
 
After the bye, Najee finally appears healthy and it showed on the field. He definitely showed he is the lead dog but Warren needs to get his snaps as well.

Did anyone else notice how quickly the officials were blowing the whistle? In many plays, including one of Najee's runs, they blew the whistle as soon as the defender touched the player with the ball. The players were still on their feet and moving. On one play, they blew the whistle and Najee was still running in there and would have had another 3+ yards if the whistle hadn't blown. Not sure what they were doing or directed to do by the league but blowing the whistles that early is a bit ridiculous.
 
Same with when they pass near the goal line. It can never be slant, body out the defender score like every other team in the league. It has to be some ridiculous back shoulder thow like they did to Muth. Oh and while we are on the topic of back shoulder anyone notice they finally completed a deep shot to Dionte Johnson and it was just a simple 9 route. You can run those back shoulder throws. Lord knows every other team does but sometimes you can just go he is even and leaving.
If I can, Im going to go find a breakdown of how infrequent connecting on those back shoulder actually happens in the NFL… they are a safe but low percentage throw… we put up 20 points yesterday… that was the second lowest total a winning team had… this offense is still not exactly a high powered one
 
I think Wright has to stay on the roster for a few weeks since he was signed off another teams practice squad. Don’t know what was wrong with Sciba?

DJ gets an FU for being the most situationally unaware player I’ve ever seen. It looked like he tried to lose the first down on that one catch. So aggravating!
 
Did anyone else notice how quickly the officials were blowing the whistle? In many plays, including one of Najee's runs, they blew the whistle as soon as the defender touched the player with the ball. The players were still on their feet and moving. On one play, they blew the whistle and Najee was still running in there and would have had another 3+ yards if the whistle hadn't blown. Not sure what they were doing or directed to do by the league but blowing the whistles that early is a bit ridiculous.
I see other teams (cough, cough, ravens) get an extra 3-5 yards all the time after forward progress is stopped and the whole team starts pushing the pile forward. Pushing the runner forward was actually a 5 yard penalty back in the day. I ***** about it all the time, saying "blow the damn whistle!" I guess it serves me right that they finally blow the whistle on a play like that when it's MY team!
 
DJ gets an FU for being the most situationally unaware player I’ve ever seen. It looked like he tried to lose the first down on that one catch. So aggravating!
I'm not giving Diontae a goat or FU, but that really was painful to watch.
 
He is doing his best crab impersonation. Hopefully the coaches tear him a new *** hole for that and he learns from it.
When I saw that play that was the worst backtrack from him that I can remember. Not understanding why he continues to do that dumb ****. The WR coach needs to tell him to go forward not backwards.
 
When I saw that play that was the worst backtrack from him that I can remember. Not understanding why he continues to do that dumb ****. The WR coach needs to tell him to go forward not backwards.
When I see plays like that, and like when Najee could barrel forward for a first down but chooses to dance and juke instead, it makes me think we really don't have a WR coach, or a RB coach, or a coach.
 
Top