Steeler vs Ravens and End of Season Thoughts

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Very disappointing to lose to such a mediocre team and watch them puff out their chests like they accomplished something.

The ravens didn't do that much, the steelers just shot themselves in the foot repeatedly all night.

Ravens didn't run it that well. Flacco didn't have to make any hard throws. No pressure at all., blown coverages, and missed tackles gave the Ravens easy yards.

The raven defense didn't stop the steelers as much as the steelers stopped themselves. Dropped balls, penalties, missed blocks, not even trying to attack the middle.

When a team is beating themselves, get out of the way. Ravens just got out of the way.


Having said that, the Steelers beating themselves was the recurring theme of this season. They make way too many mistakes and for some reason, the steelers seem to only play hard for like 20 minutes per game.

Did this look like a playoff game? Did the steelers look like a team fighting for their lives against a hated rival? They did for about a 10 minute stretch when they got the fumble and the quick TD, then right back to comatose.

I didn't understand the offensive gameplan. I'm thinking that the last game with 6 TDs went to Haley's head and he expected easy plays. That's fine if you want to start out that way but why keep firing downfield when the Ravens were taking that away?

It looked like Arians called this game.

Where was the tempo? The Ravens are big and FAT on defense. You don't have to go no huddle but the plays seemed to be coming in so slow. The Steelers drained the clock themselves for most of the game.

The Refs - i hate bringing them up because it always seems like excuse making but the calls were very slanted. Offensive facemask on a stiff arm is rarely called. Brown got called. Offensive PI is rarely called. Bryant got called. They called the steelers for defensive PI and let contact slide for the Ravens. Apparently the ravens didn't hold all game either. The calls were not consistent.

It will be fun watching the Ravens get blown out by the Pats.


Season Thoughts

Jarvis Jones is completely useless. He looks like he weighs 200 lbs. If this ****** shows up next year at camp and he's not 230, they should trade him or cut him on the spot. I've read where he claims he can't play at a heavier weight. Guess what Jarvis, you are slow at a light weight. At least at a heavier weight you may be able to get some push.

Archer - this guy has to win the return jobs or he's a total waste. His problem is that despite his great speed, he doesn't make people miss. Antonio Brown makes people miss. They say you have to get him in space. **** that. Put me in open space an i'll gain you a few yards. I want a guy who makes yards without having to be in wide open space.

Mike Mitchell - dumb as a rock. Polamalu has been known to give up some plays because he is freelancing and trying to do other things. It was worth that trade off because for most of his career, he did deliver huge plays that were worth the occasional play he gave up. Mitchell seems to want to do the same but he never makes the big plays that warrant the chances. He's not smart enough to read what's happening.

Shamarko - He has to start next year. who cares if he makes mistakes. Mitchell makes mistakes every game. At least Shamarko might get better and i won't have to watch Shamarko flexing after every routine play he makes.

Cortez - i'd like to see him get a shot at Safety. I'm not sure he is athlete enough for CB, but he has good ball skills. Maybe he can be a ball hawk center fielder to pair with Shamarko's down in the box playmaker.

Worilds - If you can get him at a good price, bring him back. I'm not sure he'll get many offers after this poor season. If they can land a stud pass rusher in the draft, Worilds can be a good second rusher. So if you can get him for #2 money, do it.

Cam Thomas - here's a free coffee mug, now beat it scrub,

Heath - i think he's done as a #1 TE. He may have a few more years as a #2 blocking TE. They need to draft a TE.

Gilbert and Adams - Munchak is not a miracle worker. They need something better.

 

[Coryea]

not blaming the refs, but damn, they missed an obvious face mask against brown, we got a td called back on a hold by beachum on suggs, their LT did that same thing on 3 different occassions to harrison, Heath was clearly held on a 3rd down pass coming out of his break. the PI on Blake was weak, Smith was pushing him away with one arm, then when Blake turned his head Smith wrapped him up with both arms and Blake got the penalty.

as i posted in another thread, we need a legit pass rusher, imo more than a CB, then we DB help. we also need Bryant to take the #2 wr spot and give ben a consistant #2 guy. I agree we need a RT.

 

[TAS]

We didn't beat ourselves the Ravens kicked our ***. Badly.

Miller , I'm not sure he has another year to give.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

We didn't beat ourselves the Ravens kicked our ***. Badly.

Miller , I'm not sure he has another year to give.

Yeah, the ravens really kicked *** with 250 yards passing and 49 rushing. Forsett had a 2.3 average. The run defense was good but the pass coverage took the day off.

It was very easy for Flacco. Aside from one big play to Stev Smith, what did Flacco do? He completed a bunch of wide open easy throws.

As for the Ravens defense. How many drives did they stop the steelers and how many did the steelers stop themselves with penalties and other nonsense? Steelers only punted 3 times.

Steelers had 10 drives in the game. They scored on 4 of them. There were no 3 and outs. Let's look at how the other 6 drives ended

Good Stops by Ravens
1. Punt - Steelers punt after 11 play opening drive - good stop by Ravens, only drive of first half steelers did not score.
2. Punt - 3rd qtr. No call on interference on deep ball to Bryant. Steelers punt. - Refs gave ravens some close PI calls but not steelers
3. Punt - 3rd qtr. Antonio jumps and gets pushed out on what should have been a TD. Next play OL gives up sack. - Steelers Punt

Steelers stop themselves
4. INT - Suggs gets a gift INT falling in his lap -
5. INT - Concussion Ben throws inexplicable INT right to a Raven in the endzone after a 12 play drive
6. Fumble - Heath fumbles with little contact - perhaps woosy from the uncalled helmet to helmet hit he took earlier.

 

[TAS]

I don't think we gave them anything they simply took it from our soft team. They harassed Ben much of the night while fucko went untouched, ran the ball, converted third downs... Simply beat us.

 

[Blackstone]

Ben had a lot of cheap yards after the game was over, they dominated us.

 

[Steeltime]

The Steelers lack pass rush, and have very mediocre QB's.

Also, they lost one of the 5 best players in the NFL last week.

Anybody who thinks that the team had much of a chance under those circumstances was ignoring reality.

 

[Spike]

Exactly what I warned against....wasted the whole first half trying to "establish the run" and slug it out with a team that was clearly their superior physically in the trenches.

We need a new 5 year plan for the defense. Wipe the slate clean and start over on the D line and secondary - not a single impact player left, they are all replaceable.

 

[steelcan58]

Good analysis of the game Tape. I also agree with Spike about cleaning out the defence. And while we're at it Lebeau. If we're going to transition we might as well wipe the slate clean. Good defence doesn't have to be as complicated as we seem to make it.

 

[Super Dave]

And also, Once again, a street Free Agent is starting for the Steelers the week that he is signed......that just SCREAMS roster mismanagement.

 

[Steelr4evr]

Exactly what I warned against....wasted the whole first half trying to "establish the run" and slug it out with a team that was clearly their superior physically in the trenches.

We need a new 5 year plan for the defense. Wipe the slate clean and start over on the D line and secondary - not a single impact player left, they are all replaceable.

I was screaming that at the start of the game. Why are you running? I had a bad feeling they would come out trying that bs and lose.It seems with intent.This team needs a good draft and a new defensive scheme.You just can't play that far off the ball big plays be damned. You'll just get killed with shorter passes all day that turn into big plays. They're just waves crashing on rocks game in and game out when it comes to pass rush..it's old and pathetic.

 

[bigtwnvin]

Yeah, the ravens really kicked *** with 250 yards passing and 49 rushing. Forsett had a 2.3 average. The run defense was good but the pass coverage took the day off.

It was very easy for Flacco. Aside from one big play to Stev Smith, what did Flacco do? He completed a bunch of wide open easy throws.

As for the Ravens defense. How many drives did they stop the steelers and how many did the steelers stop themselves with penalties and other nonsense? Steelers only punted 3 times.

Steelers had 10 drives in the game. They scored on 4 of them. There were no 3 and outs. Let's look at how the other 6 drives ended

Good Stops by Ravens
1. Punt - Steelers punt after 11 play opening drive - good stop by Ravens, only drive of first half steelers did not score.
2. Punt - 3rd qtr. No call on interference on deep ball to Bryant. Steelers punt. - Refs gave ravens some close PI calls but not steelers
3. Punt - 3rd qtr. Antonio jumps and gets pushed out on what should have been a TD. Next play OL gives up sack. - Steelers Punt

Steelers stop themselves
4. INT - Suggs gets a gift INT falling in his lap -
5. INT - Concussion Ben throws inexplicable INT right to a Raven in the endzone after a 12 play drive
6. Fumble - Heath fumbles with little contact - perhaps woosy from the uncalled helmet to helmet hit he took earlier.

THIS in a nutshell was the game.
If the Rats only managed 250 yards in the air and 49 on the ground with the Steelers anemic non- pass rush Defense, think of what coulda-shoulda-woulda be without the dumb *** mistakes!
The Rats knew they had to disrupt Ben. They planned for it and did it.

 

[Punxsutawney]

It's like Tomlin and Haley went out of their way early to try to show the Ravens they didn't miss Bell. That was perfectly illustrated on the second play of the game where they basically wasted a play by lining Tate out wide and forcing the ball to him, as if he is in the same universe as Bell as an open field player.

As I've alluded to in other threads, I would strongly consider firing Haley on Monday. The volume of scoring has fooled many people into believing that the consistency is better than it has been in recent years. That's just not the case.

As it pertains to Archer, they're going to need to develop him as a slot WR, as he's just not going to cut it as a back. His vision sucks and he's prone to being knocked down by a slight breeze.

 

[Yinzerlyn]

When we only got 3 on our first drive, I was OK with that because we had the ball for like 8 minutes. Then when the D came out blazing on their first series, I was ecstatic.

I guess the Steelers thought you only need to play 9 minutes of football to win the game and went flat after that. The disparity was beyond disturbing.

 

[topseed]

Very disappointing to lose to such a mediocre team and watch them puff out their chests like they accomplished something.

The ravens didn't do that much, the steelers just shot themselves in the foot repeatedly all night.

Ravens didn't run it that well. Flacco didn't have to make any hard throws. No pressure at all., blown coverages, and missed tackles gave the Ravens easy yards.

The raven defense didn't stop the steelers as much as the steelers stopped themselves. Dropped balls, penalties, missed blocks, not even trying to attack the middle.

When a team is beating themselves, get out of the way. Ravens just got out of the way.


Having said that, the Steelers beating themselves was the recurring theme of this season. They make way too many mistakes and for some reason, the steelers seem to only play hard for like 20 minutes per game.

Did this look like a playoff game? Did the steelers look like a team fighting for their lives against a hated rival? They did for about a 10 minute stretch when they got the fumble and the quick TD, then right back to comatose.

I didn't understand the offensive gameplan. I'm thinking that the last game with 6 TDs went to Haley's head and he expected easy plays. That's fine if you want to start out that way but why keep firing downfield when the Ravens were taking that away?

It looked like Arians called this game.

Where was the tempo? The Ravens are big and FAT on defense. You don't have to go no huddle but the plays seemed to be coming in so slow. The Steelers drained the clock themselves for most of the game.

The Refs - i hate bringing them up because it always seems like excuse making but the calls were very slanted. Offensive facemask on a stiff arm is rarely called. Brown got called. Offensive PI is rarely called. Bryant got called. They called the steelers for defensive PI and let contact slide for the Ravens. Apparently the ravens didn't hold all game either. The calls were not consistent.

It will be fun watching the Ravens get blown out by the Pats.

#1 I didn't understand the gameplan, either. But you have to realize that the 6 TD performances against the Ravens and Colts (to a lesser degree) were aberrations in a season where the Steelers' offense struggled to put up touchdowns in the redzone. The three field goals in the first half was more along the lines of the norm against Baltimore, like week one.

#2 No tempo whatsoever, and I just don't understand the lack of urgency from this team in situations where they're trailing late in games. Down 20-9 with 4 minutes left in the third quarter, the Steelers get the ball back. This is the amount of time they bleed of the clock between plays, in seconds: 34, 40 (after a 3-yard running play), 30, 51 (after Ben's worst attempt at a QB sneak I've ever seen), 44, 36, 6, (incompletion), and 7 (sack at end of quarter). Then they punt it back to Baltimore on the first play of the fourth quarter. It's not like you're the '85 Bears on defense; the Ravens had scored on both of their third quarter possessions -- you've got to start scoring some points, and quickly.

#3 I don't expect the Patriots to blow out the Ravens. I expect a close contest between two well-coached teams that will come in with a gameplan, and be able to adapt on the fly if things aren't working well.

 

[topseed]

Season Thoughts

Jarvis Jones is completely useless. He looks like he weighs 200 lbs. If this ****** shows up next year at camp and he's not 230, they should trade him or cut him on the spot. I've read where he claims he can't play at a heavier weight. Guess what Jarvis, you are slow at a light weight. At least at a heavier weight you may be able to get some push.

Archer - this guy has to win the return jobs or he's a total waste. His problem is that despite his great speed, he doesn't make people miss. Antonio Brown makes people miss. They say you have to get him in space. **** that. Put me in open space an i'll gain you a few yards. I want a guy who makes yards without having to be in wide open space.

Mike Mitchell - dumb as a rock. Polamalu has been known to give up some plays because he is freelancing and trying to do other things. It was worth that trade off because for most of his career, he did deliver huge plays that were worth the occasional play he gave up. Mitchell seems to want to do the same but he never makes the big plays that warrant the chances. He's not smart enough to read what's happening.

Shamarko - He has to start next year. who cares if he makes mistakes. Mitchell makes mistakes every game. At least Shamarko might get better and i won't have to watch Shamarko flexing after every routine play he makes.

Cortez - i'd like to see him get a shot at Safety. I'm not sure he is athlete enough for CB, but he has good ball skills. Maybe he can be a ball hawk center fielder to pair with Shamarko's down in the box playmaker.

Worilds - If you can get him at a good price, bring him back. I'm not sure he'll get many offers after this poor season. If they can land a stud pass rusher in the draft, Worilds can be a good second rusher. So if you can get him for #2 money, do it.

Cam Thomas - here's a free coffee mug, now beat it scrub,

Heath - i think he's done as a #1 TE. He may have a few more years as a #2 blocking TE. They need to draft a TE.

Gilbert and Adams - Munchak is not a miracle worker. They need something better.

I've been wondering what it's going to take to give Shamarko a chance. His special teams play has been pretty good...what are they waiting for? Cortez can't tackle well enough to play safety.

Not sure what you see in Worilds. The guy made maybe 4 or 5 splash plays all season. He's not a #2 pass rusher, he shouldn't even be a starter in this league.

Pretty much agree with everything else, but also would add that they dearly need to address the obvious depth issue at RB.

 

[nooneuno]

I honestly think we're a few players off from a team capable of winning it all. Some secondary help and some legit pass rush and with the talent we have on offence we could be a pretty dominant team.

Personally, I'd try to work the cap and then throw all the money you can at Justin Houston, then draft a CB and safety early.

 

[MeanJim]

The offensive line and defense are not playoff caliber. The offensive line hasn't been for 10 years. At least there are 2 guys on the O-line that belong in the NFL, unfortunately, neither of them will ever play the tackle position.

We over-achieved this year, going 11-5 against one of the easiest schedules. Ben finally learned the art of getting rid of it quickly or dumping it off to a running back, and we finally had a running back who was very capable of catching the ball and doing something with it. And Brown had the greatest season by any Steeler WR ever.

Still, it's easy to get aggravated after a playoff loss to a team that's no better than us, to a team whose best offensive play is a defensive penalty. I realized early on this season, we need to score 35 to win, and it turned out true once again last night. Baltimore's weakness was their DBs, their strength is their front 7, and Haley didn't seem to realize that. We had Ben under center more often than I've seen all year, when he should have been in the shotgun and hurry-up, wearing out their DBs and pass rushers. Could have put up 500 yards passing and scored over 40, and still wouldn't have been sacked more than 5 times. I think Haley had one of his worst games of the year, never attempting to exploit the opponent's weakness. Every 1st and 10 or 2nd and 8 run just gave the DBs and pass rushers a break.

I'm not even going to get started on the defense. This team needs DBs, LBs, and DL. Name one defensive player that had a good season, is consistent, and has a bright future.

 

[SteelerFan448]

The Ravens played aggressively on both sides of the ball. Defensively, they absolutely took it to the Steelers with their pass rush. On offense, they may have finished with more carries than the Steelers, but they didn't give a care to establishing the run and let Flacco pick apart the secondary with absolutely no pressure in his face and with receivers running wide open across the middle of the field. Our linebackers are dreadful in coverage. It was a shame that we didn't try to pressure him because the few times that brought it, he threw the ball into the ground.

 

[Rod Farva]

As it pertains to Archer, they're going to need to develop him as a slot WR, as he's just not going to cut it as a back. His vision sucks and he's prone to being knocked down by a slight breeze.

I'm not a hater but Archer's roster spot is pretty hard to justify at this point. Sometimes you just have to admit to a **** up and move on....this is one.

Still, it's easy to get aggravated after a playoff loss to a team that's no better than us, to a team whose best offensive play is a defensive penalty.
.

Yep. That hurts the most.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

This:

I don't think we gave them anything they simply took it from our soft team. They harassed Ben much of the night while fucko went untouched, ran the ball, converted third downs... Simply beat us.

For most of the night they had a pass rush and we didn't. 1 TD doesn't get it in a playoff game.

 

[Spike]

It's like Tomlin and Haley went out of their way early to try to show the Ravens they didn't miss Bell. .

Exactly - that old "next man up", huff & puff, "We're playing Smashmouth Steelers Football" no matter what...Idiots. They got their ***** **** kicked

After everyone and their brother agreed they should spread the Ravens out and attack their weak secondary we stick with the SMALL BALL DINK AND DUNK formations.... and hope for our leftover RB's to break a big play?

Stupid;....I didn't see one 5 Wide all night - no wonder they were doomed

 

[ExUSAF]

The so-called "weak Ravens secondary"

Exactly - that old "next man up", huff & puff, "We're playing Smashmouth Steelers Football" no matter what...Idiots. They got their ***** **** kicked

After everyone and their brother agreed they should spread the Ravens out and attack their weak secondary we stick with the SMALL BALL DINK AND DUNK formations.... and hope for our leftover RB's to break a big play?

Stupid;....I didn't see one 5 Wide all night - no wonder they were doomed

They pretty much had our receivers covered last night - the pass rush helped quite a bit but I didn't see glaring deficiencies in the Raven's secondary.

 

[deljzc]

I don't really like to look TOO deep into games to decide what is wrong with a team. Too many situations in a game are just the bounce of the ball or one guy out of 11 making a wrong, split second decision.

What I saw is exactly what I expected. We could have won that game if a few things bounce our way, if we get the Ravens off the field on all the 3rd and longs they seemed to convert or if a call goes our way. But that same logic worked in a lot of games we won this season too.

This team played on the edge far too often this whole season. It was nice to watch when the snowball was rolling in our favor, but for the most part, I saw a team invested heavily in the offensive side of the ball have a lot of success between the 20's and struggle in the red zone. I saw a team that was inconsistent in game plans, the ability to run the ball or the ability to pass protect.

The defense isn't very good. They struggle to gain pressure unless they blitz and the secondary can't hold coverage for more than 3 seconds very often. The run defense is hit or miss.

I'm not saying it's an excuse because I don't accept it as one, but the inconsistent nature of the Steelers is a lot like many .500 and borderline playoff teams around the league. There are not many really good teams out there. I have long felt we should be one of them, but we are not. We are good and very, very similar to a LOT of teams out there. Honestly, we are in a group of borderline playoff teams that include: Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Houston, Kansas City, San Diego, Philadelphia, Dallas, Giants, Detroit, Arizona, San Francisco, Carolina, New Orleans, Atlanta.

What REALLY separates the Steelers from those other teams right now? They all have bounced in and out of the playoffs the last 5 years. Most have quarterback play that bounces from below the line to above the line. Most have some amount of talent NOT counting the QB. Most have average coaches (or even good coaches by some analysis).

Throw those into a hat and I guarantee you generally get your playoff wannabes for 2015 from the group.

I can't explain the inconsistency with ALL those teams. Our fan base is bitching about the same exact things as all of those teams (except Indianapolis and the Dallas/Detroit winner, although those fan bases will likely be soon).

There is only 4 very good teams (and I'm not even calling them great):

Seattle, who found a very good quarterback on the cheap and built an all-time great defense with timely draft choices and good coaching.
New England, who is still riding the Belichick/Brady regular season juggernaut even if the ring has eluded them
Denver, because they have Peyton Manning who is the greatest regular season quarterback ever and is going all-in with their cap dollars in the short-term
Green Bay, because they have the best quarterback right now in the game and are kind of not screwing themselves quite as much as some others (although they have tried).

The problem I have with this regime is I have NEVER felt like we are perennial top-4 team around the league. Not even when we won lʍoq ɹǝdnSs, they never could do it consecutively or consistently enough for my liking.

This front office would rather be in the very large group of good teams listed above and hope for a magical run in the post-season (like New Orleans or Baltimore or Steelers or the Giants) than come up with a WAY to be a top-4 team every freaking year for half a decade. The light bulb seems to have come on for Roethlisberger that this is his last gasp and sometimes I think there are just too many front-office, coaching and talent obstacles for us to every get into that consistently very good football for year after year after year. How about just ******* THREE years straight of very good football? We haven't come close to that. It's always excuse after excuse after excuse. Too old, injuries, transition, old guard moving on, waiting on the young guys to develop. Bullshit, blah, blah, blah.

This team just has no desire to take it to the next level. When your ******* coach comes out on national television and basically states his whole ******* game plan is hoping for "splash plays", what the **** is that? Why isn't the game plan to come out and execute on twice as many ******* plays as Baltimore? Why isn't the game plan to ******* block and tackle correctly and not make stupid mistakes? Why isn't the game plan to run correct routes and throw to the correct player? Nope, our ******* game plan is "live in the moment and be the one to get the splash play".

What is that ****?

I'm telling everyone. I know what this football is. It is hit or miss average football with an above average quarterback. It is 10-6 football that in any given year can be 12-4 or 8-8 depending on how boneheaded our opponents are. It is one-and-done in the playoffs or a magical run. It is the same ******* **** in 10 other football cities around the country. I guess we can hide behind cliches like "the new NFL" and that's what the league wants or come up with excuses about how much parody is in the league or how hard the ******* salary cap is on teams or how not being able to practice leads to ******** execution.

Bullshit. And I can't stress enough how much bullshit all that **** is.

This league is THERE for the ******* taking by one GREAT team that just wants to go out and be great. Draft better, build the roster better, practice better, execute better and coach better.

I don't know when it's going to happen, but it's going to happen. It's just not going to be the Steelers.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Exactly - that old "next man up", huff & puff, "We're playing Smashmouth Steelers Football" no matter what...Idiots. They got their ***** **** kicked

After everyone and their brother agreed they should spread the Ravens out and attack their weak secondary we stick with the SMALL BALL DINK AND DUNK formations.... and hope for our leftover RB's to break a big play?

Stupid;....I didn't see one 5 Wide all night - no wonder they were doomed

I don't know that that would have worked. The Rats had a pretty good pass rush most of the time.