Steelers vs Pats Game Thoughts

[tapeANaspirin2it]

First off, i give no credit to the Pats. After this game, i am in no way scared or impressed with this mediocre team. Their defense is **** and the biggest success their offense had was steeler blown coverages.

They have 1 weapon, gronk. Gronk may be the NFL MVP. If Gronk gets hurt, the pats are screwed.

All the blown coverages, missed tackles, stupid penalties, 2 missed FGs and the steelers were still in this game until very late.

DeAngelo and DHB were making big plays. Imagine what Bell and Martavis would have done. At full strength, the steelers would have won that game easy.



This looked like preseason game #6. I get it that most teams don't play starters in the last preseason game but when your starting defense barely played any snaps together, you should have played them at least a quarter to work that out.

Why did they trade for Boykin to not play him? It sure isn't because Blake is so great. How badly must Boykin be in practice to not start in this secondary?

Not playing Coates was a mistake. Coates has no idea what he is doing, but he's real good at running fly patterns and getting jump balls. They could have used that against the pats.


Steelers changed holders on the FG after 2 misses. Maybe the holder was to blame for the misses. Didn't he see Ace Ventura?


Must be coincidence that the steeler defense started having communication issues as soo as there were problems with the radios.


Matt Spaeth could have scored on those 2 plays Gronk did. One he was uncovered and the second they let him run free.

WFT was Blake doing on the first Gronk TD where he was uncovered. Golden at least tries to make a play while Blake stands there and watches. If Blake gets in on the tackle, Gronk is probably knocked out of bounds at least.

Clock management is still a joke.

Tomlin wastes a TO because he wants a look at the DHB endzone play when it was obvious on first look that he was clearly out. I saw he was out live.

You end up both hurrying up and then somehow laeving a TO on the board at the half. Takes talent to engineer that scenario.

You are down 2 scores and you held all 3 TO until 1:17 left in the game. At that point, calling a TO is stupid. You should spkie the ball on 1st down because as soon as you are under 2 minutes, if you don't have 3 TO then you need an onside kick.

Then once you did break the seal on the 3 TO then why the hell aren't you calling them? They kept letting the clock bleed play after play.



Edelman looks like the captian of a Hitler youth squad.


Looked like Ben had Speath wide open on the goaline play fake that he threw away.


Haley made some horrible calls in the redzone.


Note to all NFL teams. When you get to the redzone vs the steelers, don't bother running. Just split out 2 TEs to the same side and the steelers will cover them with their 2 slowest LBs for an easy mismatch.

How do you not have that fixed after the last time? Maybe the Steeler offense should use that same play. Then Butler can see how to defend it.


Ben's INT was more on DHB. If he comes back to the ball, it's a pass interference call or he at least breaks up the INT.


Wheaton showing that he will always just be a #2 or 3. He's OK but not a playmaker.


Now for a few thoughts that may seem crazy.

1. I think the turning point of this game was the botched reverse pass by Antonio. They were moving the ball easily. Pats were on their heels and a TD seemed likely as the pats looked confused. Then they throw in that stupid play and it derails the drive. Then they miss the FG and it lifted the pats. It would have been a different game if the Steelers scored a TD on that drive.

2. I feel better about the defense after this game. Sounds crazy but they did a lot of good things. SHazier looks like he will be a star. Dupree made some plays. They did have some pass rush but Brady gets rid of it so fast.

The problem was just all the mistakes. Mistakes that can be fixed. I'm not saying this will be a great defense but they made Brady work for it aside from the blown coverages. I see signs that this defense can be at least middle of the pack and if you couple that with the steeler offense, that is enough to go a long way this year.

 

[IndySteel]

Except for the foot fault, DHB looked good. They'll be tough to stop when Bryant gets back.

 

[chipped ham]

First off, i give no credit to the Pats. After this game, i am in no way scared or impressed with this mediocre team. Their defense is **** and the biggest success their offense had was steeler blown coverages.

They have 1 weapon, gronk. Gronk may be the NFL MVP. If Gronk gets hurt, the pats are screwed.

All the blown coverages, missed tackles, stupid penalties, 2 missed FGs and the steelers were still in this game until very late.

DeAngelo and DHB were making big plays. Imagine what Bell and Martavis would have done. At full strength, the steelers would have won that game easy.



This looked like preseason game #6. I get it that most teams don't play starters in the last preseason game but when your starting defense barely played any snaps together, you should have played them at least a quarter to work that out.

Why did they trade for Boykin to not play him? It sure isn't because Blake is so great. How badly must Boykin be in practice to not start in this secondary?

Not playing Coates was a mistake. Coates has no idea what he is doing, but he's real good at running fly patterns and getting jump balls. They could have used that against the pats.


Steelers changed holders on the FG after 2 misses. Maybe the holder was to blame for the misses. Didn't he see Ace Ventura?


Must be coincidence that the steeler defense started having communication issues as soo as there were problems with the radios.


Matt Spaeth could have scored on those 2 plays Gronk did. One he was uncovered and the second they let him run free.

WFT was Blake doing on the first Gronk TD where he was uncovered. Golden at least tries to make a play while Blake stands there and watches. If Blake gets in on the tackle, Gronk is probably knocked out of bounds at least.

Clock management is still a joke.

Tomlin wastes a TO because he wants a look at the DHB endzone play when it was obvious on first look that he was clearly out. I saw he was out live.

You end up both hurrying up and then somehow laeving a TO on the board at the half. Takes talent to engineer that scenario.

You are down 2 scores and you held all 3 TO until 1:17 left in the game. At that point, calling a TO is stupid. You should spkie the ball on 1st down because as soon as you are under 2 minutes, if you don't have 3 TO then you need an onside kick.

Then once you did break the seal on the 3 TO then why the hell aren't you calling them? They kept letting the clock bleed play after play.



Edelman looks like the captian of a Hitler youth squad.


Looked like Ben had Speath wide open on the goaline play fake that he threw away.


Haley made some horrible calls in the redzone.


Note to all NFL teams. When you get to the redzone vs the steelers, don't bother running. Just split out 2 TEs to the same side and the steelers will cover them with their 2 slowest LBs for an easy mismatch.

How do you not have that fixed after the last time? Maybe the Steeler offense should use that same play. Then Butler can see how to defend it.


Ben's INT was more on DHB. If he comes back to the ball, it's a pass interference call or he at least breaks up the INT.


Wheaton showing that he will always just be a #2 or 3. He's OK but not a playmaker.


Now for a few thoughts that may seem crazy.

1. I think the turning point of this game was the botched reverse pass by Antonio. They were moving the ball easily. Pats were on their heels and a TD seemed likely as the pats looked confused. Then they throw in that stupid play and it derails the drive. Then they miss the FG and it lifted the pats. It would have been a different game if the Steelers scored a TD on that drive.

2. I feel better about the defense after this game. Sounds crazy but they did a lot of good things. SHazier looks like he will be a star. Dupree made some plays. They did have some pass rush but Brady gets rid of it so fast.

The problem was just all the mistakes. Mistakes that can be fixed. I'm not saying this will be a great defense but they made Brady work for it aside from the blown coverages. I see signs that this defense can be at least middle of the pack and if you couple that with the steeler offense, that is enough to go a long way this year.

I 100% agree with you on the failed WR pass. I still can't believe that that was the play call. And we heard all friggin week long how this defense was gonna be physical with Gronk. Was he touched at any time when he was coming off the LOS? Not only was he wide open for 2 big gainers on the pats* first td drive, but the play over Garvin too. I mean was the guys uniform even dirty? I get that Gronkowski is an absolute animal. If JJ Watt can be considered for MVP, why is this guy never discussed? However, What a crock all that was.

 

[Punxsutawney]

The problem is that the blown coverages and missed tackles in the secondary have been a common theme going on three seasons now. I honestly would not expect much improvement. I know the Patriots have a great offense, but it looks like a lot of the same **** we've been seeing for years now.

I thought both Dupree, Shazier and even Jarvis Jones showed some good things, but the secondary is just so bad. They do not even do the fundamental things right.

 

[USDA#1]

the WR screen fake watusi scramble throw play earns Haley a bullet at dawn.

 

[Stoney]

I agree that the defensive play was encouraging. They seemed to push close to Brady on most passing plays, if only someone would coach them to put their arms up, they might even swat a few passes.

That reverse with AB was totally uncalled for. There's no reason to try to pull a rabbit out of your hat when you're already moving the ball at will. I agree it was a turning point.

Overall, I expected a blowout loss. Its hard when you see a play here or there that could've won the game for us, but I like this team's chances of winning 10+ games after what I saw today.

And I can't wait to watch Buffalo play NE, I am adopting them as my second favorite team. I'm really hoping that they or Miami take that division away from those cheating *****.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Watch Blake on the first Gronk TD where he was uncovered. You will be pissed off.

 

[fogdoctor]

The D held the Patriots to 28pts. That is about as good as they can play given the talent pool.

I put this loss on the piss poor performance of the offense.

 

[antdrewjosh]

I would love to know how to defend that play where they spilt Gronk and the other TE out wide.. for one they come out and show goal line formation. So of course you have to respond like wise..if you don't they will run it right down your throat. Either way it's a mismatch. The patriots have a match-up nightmare and no where is it more illustrated then right there. You play smaller CBs they stay in goaline and Gronk and Chandler bury them. You go big they motion out and now you have linebackers playing virtually a WR.

 

[Yinzerlyn]

I was surprised at the outcome. I went in expecting it to be at LEAST 35-0 at halftime, with the 35 being the Pats. Our offense looks good. We made a GREAT pickup in DeAngelo Williams. Made me not really miss Bell.

Our defense showed flashes of great....but the flashes weren't good enough. I'm not upset we lost- we kept it close. Would I have liked to have beaten the Pats? Well, YEAH. But this wasn't as embarrassing as I anticipated, and that's OK.

 

[Troglodyte]

I can't believe Tomlin's clock management doesn't have its own thread. It's incompetent and inexcusable.

 

[Buster]

Although we played very ugly on defense, I hang this loss on Bell and Bryant and their selfish decisions.

 

[Tibs]

Although we played very ugly on defense, I hang this loss on Bell and Bryant and their selfish decisions.

Funny I was thinking that same thing as the players were running onto the field before kickoff. How ******* stupid must Bell & Bryant be feeling right there and then, to not be there with their teammates on such a big stage. You'll have the better part of your adult life - from your thirties on - to relax and smoke as much weed as you want. Just focus on your job for the next few years, dumbasses! :/:

 

[Slash#10]

Original Poster you have some valid points but then you also have very questionable points as well.

We don't match-up defensively very well against tall TE or tall WR (see San Diego Chargers a few years ago). It's a physical mismatch. It's the reason Big Ben had been advocating for a tall target since the release of Plaxico. All you can hope for is an off target throw honestly. We lost this game because of our slow start on offense. Missed field goals and even worse is not scoring TD's. We attempted 3 FG- trade those in to TD's and is obviously a much different game. For playing a HOF 4 time SB QB and a future HOF TE and cast of mini-me WR (Amendola/Edelman) I think our defense played above expectations. Did you see all the pick routes that they were running? It's very hard to defend those route combinations when you are being picked.

Clock management is a none factor in the outcome of this game. We shot our own selves in the foot by our slow offensive start. You don't rely on defense to shutdown Brady. You got to jump out on top with touchdowns.

 

[oicu8ad]

I'm usually optomistic, but our tackling sucks. I don't know how many missed tackles is saw. I lost count. And our DBs can't cover those ****** receivers? (Not counting gronk). Where was boykin?

And I'm tired of hearing about our great offense. Same ****. Move the ball between the 20's, then bog down. SMH!

 

[jitter77]

All this talk about gronk gronk gronk and they let him run free. I know he is a beast but at least try to stop him.
The game was not as close as the score. Sure the D only gave up 28, but that is all the Pats needed. If we scored 40 they would have scored 50.
The offense did not live up to the hype. They basically scored 14 points. Moving the ball was fine, but this team needs Tds.
I agree 100% about the reverse call. It was a momentum killer. You are moving the ball at will and decide to Try something so stupid. I do not get it.

 

[nitsuj1225]

I can't believe Tomlin's clock management doesn't have its own thread. It's incompetent and inexcusable.

At the end of the first half after we pick up that 4th down and we're at around the 30 yard line with about 40 seconds left and coming out of a timeout, we run a flippin draw to Deangelo. How is that going to accomplish anything at that point in time?? Not only that, with 2 timeouts remaining and Deangelo getting stopped in bounds, they let the clock run all the way down to 18 seconds before snapping the ball again. At least call a timeout if you planned on doing a running play there. It made absolutely no sense to me why you even call that play and why they didn't at least call timeout after the play was over because they still would have had 1 timeout remaining and it was only 2nd down at that point.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

- The WR pass was an absolute ridiculous call at the time. It wasn't needed and way too early to fool a team like the Pats.
- Where was Boykin? You trade for the guy and he doesn't see the field....no way would he be worse than what we saw last night.
- Antonio Brown is a mismatch for any team. The one handed catch, even the TD catch were beauties.
- Why the hell is Archer on this roster if he's not even taking punts? 90% of kickoffs go out of the endzone and even when he takes one out he only gets to the 17.
- Did anyone miss Pouncey?

 

[Omar10213245]

- The WR pass was an absolute ridiculous call at the time. It wasn't needed and way too early to fool a team like the Pats.
- Where was Boykin? You trade for the guy and he doesn't see the field....no way would he be worse than what we saw last night.
- Antonio Brown is a mismatch for any team. The one handed catch, even the TD catch were beauties.
- Why the hell is Archer on this roster if he's not even taking punts? 90% of kickoffs go out of the endzone and even when he takes one out he only gets to the 17.
- Did anyone miss Pouncey?

Nope, not really

 

[Omar10213245]

Any of you yee-haws that actually still thinks archer has a legitimate place on the roster, please pass me whatever the **** you're currently smoking.

 

[antdrewjosh]

Pouncey was definitely missed. He doesn't give up the sack up the middle on a play action play which could of been a big play. Maybe we score on the goaline with Pouncey. To say we aren't better with him is crazy

 

[mdk2]

Pouncey was definitely missed. He doesn't give up the sack up the middle on a play action play which could of been a big play. Maybe we score on the goaline with Pouncey. To say we aren't better with him is crazy

I think we missed Martavis more than anything in this game. Wallace held his own IMO.

 

[Turbo Pig]

Our offense will be better than I thought, our Defense will be worse

 

[oicu8ad]

Pouncey was definitely missed. He doesn't give up the sack up the middle on a play action play which could of been a big play. Maybe we score on the goaline with Pouncey. To say we aren't better with him is crazy

I think we missed Martavis more than anything in this game. Wallace held his own IMO.

What we missed was tackle, after tackle, after tackle, after tackle. We missed A LOT of sure tackles. Whiff, whiff, whiff. That was embarrassing to see a Steeler defense display piss poor tackling.

 

[mdk2]

What we missed was tackle, after tackle, after tackle, after tackle. We missed A LOT of sure tackles. Whiff, whiff, whiff. That was embarrassing to see a Steeler defense display piss poor tackling.

Defensively speaking, yes. Blake was atrocious at tackling.