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Tale of the tape...the real reason we lost this game

When Brown fumbled that football twice, you immediately thought "Tomlin sucks..........."...When Ben threw both those INTs, you immediately conjured up images of Tomlin being inefficient....... You immediately absolved the players of any guilt in this loss even though pundits around the league stated those two individuals played the biggest role in the loss and the players themselves took responsibility.

Let me ask you something...assuming youve played the game of football....If a coach makes you part of the team, coaches you up, goes over drills/technique repeatedly, execution of plays during practice for weeks, makes you a starter because youve outperformed your peers and through the coarse of a few games you prove youre capable, if for the next game you go out and make a bonehead mistake like drop a pass (the only pass youve dropped) or run an incorrect route and it lands in the hands of the safety for a pick six which ultimately costs the team the game, are YOU personally gonna take responsibility or are you gonna suggest that YOUR COACH failed you and didnt prepare you to play that day ?

Preparation is done during camp, in practice in between games and pre-game meetings (mental aspect aka gettin hyped)....theres walk-throughs conducted the day before the games with most teams. As a player on that team, can you assess whether you or your mates are ill-prepared to play that game that day ? Can you tell if the coaches have ill-prepared you prior to kickoff ? At what point would YOU realize you werent ready to play ? Is it after youve gotten your *** whipped up and down the field for the first 4 series ?

Listen, its my opinion these guys get coached up in practice, .....plays are ran repeatedly, film reviewed, gameplans are set...these are professional athletes..the best in the game. What we seen on Sunday was professional athletes have lapses in judgement or make huge mistakes. Things done out of their character. Brown NEVER muffs punts...he never fumbles. Ben ....well that was just a bullshit throw even high schoolers know better than to attempt, but in most cases hes smarter than that. Bobbled snaps---trying to read too fast before doin whats most important and collecting the ****** ball from center.... Coaching isnt and wasnt to blame because had those four turnovers never occured, we win this game goin away and no one is talkin about Tomlin or coaching........well, correction, this group loves to hammer this topic ad nauseum so there still wouldve been grumblin and pissin regardless.

Folk love to blame coaches for everything......EVERYTHING.....cause you CANT fire your superstars, so coaching is the scapegoat.....when **** goes wrong on the field, blame the coach. No one on this team is blaming coaching..........seems the offenders took responsibility and owned it. But the group resorts to its favorite past time---HAMMER ON COACH T !!!! As if he dialed up these mistakes or coached em up improperly or suggested they ease up because its THE ****** JETS !!! We have a HOF QB puttin up a **** of a game at this stage of his career ? HE needs to be hammered more than any coach.....wouldnt you agree ?

You keep harping on turnovers. They were a big factor in the loss, but they were down 10-0 before the first turnover occurred, reflecting what always happens in these types of games: the team sleepwalks into the game, giving the inferior team, with nothing to play for, confidence and inspiration, as they hit the Steelers in the mouth early.

Roethlisberger did not play well against the Jets, but I've grown tired of you manipulating that into this false narrative that he always plays poorly in these losses. IT IS ABOLUTELY, UNEQUIVOCALLY AND TOTALLY FALSE! Get it out of your ******* head! I've previously cited multiple bad losses like this over the years where Roethlisberger played well and the offense scored well into the 20s.

Yeah, they sucked in the redzone, but you conveniently ignore how on a crucial first and goal situation, Tomlin and his staff thought it was an ingenious idea to put James ******* Harrison in the offense.

The bottom line is that this **** has happened for too long (since at least 2009) for too many difference reasons for the head coach not to be a major source of the problem.

Under his tenure, I've grown tired of the continual lackadaisical approach to the start of games, the persistent, inexcusable inability to develop a good offensive line and the steady dilution of talent and physicality on the defensive side of the ball. All that among many other things.

The guy needs to go.
 
You keep harping on turnovers. They were a big factor in the loss, but they were down 10-0 before the first turnover occurred, reflecting what always happens in these types of games: the team sleepwalks into the game, giving the inferior team, with nothing to play for, confidence and inspiration, as they hit the Steelers in the mouth early.

Roethlisberger did not play well against the Jets, but I've grown tired of you manipulating that into this false narrative that he always plays poorly in these losses. IT IS ABOLUTELY, UNEQUIVOCALLY AND TOTALLY FALSE! Get it out of your ******* head! I've previously cited multiple bad losses like this over the years where Roethlisberger played well and the offense scored well into the 20s.

Yeah, they sucked in the redzone, but you conveniently ignore how on a crucial first and goal situation, Tomlin and his staff thought it was an ingenious idea to put James ******* Harrison in the offense.

The bottom line is that this **** has happened for too long (since at least 2009) for too many difference reasons for the head coach not to be a major source of the problem.

Under his tenure, I've grown tired of the continual lackadaisical approach to the start of games, the persistent, inexcusable inability to develop a good offensive line and the steady dilution of talent and physicality on the defensive side of the ball. All that among many other things.

The guy needs to go.

I agree with most of this. I will not call for Mr Tomlins ouster unless we fail again to make the playoffs.
 
You keep harping on turnovers. They were a big factor in the loss, but they were down 10-0 before the first turnover occurred, reflecting what always happens in these types of games: the team sleepwalks into the game, giving the inferior team, with nothing to play for, confidence and inspiration, as they hit the Steelers in the mouth early.

Roethlisberger did not play well against the Jets, but I've grown tired of you manipulating that into this false narrative that he always plays poorly in these losses. IT IS ABOLUTELY, UNEQUIVOCALLY AND TOTALLY FALSE! Get it out of your ******* head! I've previously cited multiple bad losses like this over the years where Roethlisberger played well and the offense scored well into the 20s.

Yeah, they sucked in the redzone, but you conveniently ignore how on a crucial first and goal situation, Tomlin and his staff thought it was an ingenious idea to put James ******* Harrison in the offense.

The bottom line is that this **** has happened for too long (since at least 2009) for too many difference reasons for the head coach not to be a major source of the problem.

Under his tenure, I've grown tired of the continual lackadaisical approach to the start of games, the persistent, inexcusable inability to develop a good offensive line and the steady dilution of talent and physicality on the defensive side of the ball. All that among many other things.

The guy needs to go.

Hold up..!!! Are you suggesting that we couldve overcome the four turnovers and won this game ? Yeah i harp on it because its the reason why we lost...James lined up on offense AINT the reason. It was questionable but it didnt contribute. Youre just diggin for **** now on the coaches--over a single play!!!!. Its a non-issue (the single play--because they had 3 downs to execute).

The turnover margin is something coaches EMPHASIZE heavily and theres a big reason why. You can be the better team, dominate a game in stats but lose on turnovers....i introduced the loss we had in 2002 under Cowher to the expansion Texans....we dominated that game...whipped their ***** up and down the field...422-47 yrds total offense and we lose....If you get your *** whipped on the field offensively and defensively, you gotta give it up to the other team....but when you beat yourselves, that drives coaches nuts...it used to be penalties....Sunday it was turnovers..Yeah im harpin hard on it because those are the facts ---we beat ourselves. It wasnt bad coaching or preparation that did us in.
 
Just curious but what are Ben's number in these types of loses?

Wow, really glad you asked as I was going from (flawed) memory. Here they are:

30/43 343 1 2 Loss to Jets (2014)
29/40 314 3 0 Loss to Bucs (2014)
21/33 191 1 1 Loss to Titans (2013)
36/51 383 1 1 Loss to Vikings (2013)
29/45 275 1 2 Loss to Raiders (2013)
36/49 384 4 0 Loss to Raiders (2012)
24/40 363 1 1 Loss to Titan (2012)
32/42 398 3 2 Loss to Chiefs (2009)
18/24 278 2 1 Loss to Raiders (2009)
18/32 201 0 0 Loss to Cleveland (2009)
15/25 195 1 1 Loss to Jets (2007)

In looking at this, even accounting for the fact that some of these number reflect teh need to throw when behind, Ben is obviously not the problem in most of these games.

I still think we are too conservative early in these games under Tomlin. That approached worked under Cowher and first two Tomlin years when our defense was dominant, but as that has become less and less true, we see it does not work anymore. Change that and get back to the playoffs. Ignore the trend and focus exclusively on individual game issues (e.g., turnovers last week) and you'll never improve.
 
It drives me crazy that anyone with a brain would not spread this team out and throw on them.

The Jets were "ready" for the passing game and passing downs. They dropped, quite often, 8 back in coverage - BUT still got good pressure on Ben upfront because their DL is underrated.

It was a bad loss; but, the season isn't over because of it...
 
The Jets were "ready" for the passing game and passing downs. They dropped, quite often, 8 back in coverage - BUT still got good pressure on Ben upfront because their DL is underrated.

It was a bad loss; but, the season isn't over because of it...

Obviously they were ready for the run, pass and special teams. But if you watch the game you'll see them stack the box in the first half. They took away the short passing game and the run. The Steelers didn't even try to stretch the defense. Of the 11 passes the Steelers completed in the first half, 4 went for 0 yds, and 1 went for negative yds. At one point in the game Ben was 11-15 for 30 yards. They ran a ton of screens as well. 7 of the first 10 throws were behind the LOS. No pass traveled more than 8 yards until midway through the 2nd quarter.

In the second half they tried to go deep but the Jets knew this so they went to quarters and rushed 3.
 
Obviously they were ready for the run, pass and special teams. But if you watch the game you'll see them stack the box in the first half. They took away the short passing game and the run. The Steelers didn't even try to stretch the defense. Of the 11 passes the Steelers completed in the first half, 4 went for 0 yds, and 1 went for negative yds. At one point in the game Ben was 11-15 for 30 yards. They ran a ton of screens as well. 7 of the first 10 throws were behind the LOS. No pass traveled more than 8 yards until midway through the 2nd quarter.

In the second half they tried to go deep but the Jets knew this so they went to quarters and rushed 3.
Agreed. I just wanted to point out our "lack of preparation". But trust me, it's already been addressed...
 
Obviously they were ready for the run, pass and special teams. But if you watch the game you'll see them stack the box in the first half. They took away the short passing game and the run. The Steelers didn't even try to stretch the defense. Of the 11 passes the Steelers completed in the first half, 4 went for 0 yds, and 1 went for negative yds. At one point in the game Ben was 11-15 for 30 yards. They ran a ton of screens as well. 7 of the first 10 throws were behind the LOS. No pass traveled more than 8 yards until midway through the 2nd quarter.

In the second half they tried to go deep but the Jets knew this so they went to quarters and rushed 3.
Agreed. I just wanted to point out our "lack of preparation". But trust me, it's already been addressed...
 
It was a bad loss; but, the season isn't over because of it...

Really? Cause we have to face the Titans next in Tennessee... They're just about as good as the Jets and now have film on how to win that game. Then we have to play the Saints, Bengals twice, the Falcons, and the Chiefs... Of all that we can't lose more than 2 games. And we certainly can't lose any more AFC games.

Ya. I'd say we're pretty well out of it. So that's not really a reasonable part of the discussion.

Now, regarding whether or not turnovers were the primary cause of the loss and whether they could have been overcome. The game came down to 13-20. Clearly they 'COULD' have been overcome because it was a 1 score game and a field goal attempt was missed along the way. So obviously YES the 4 turnovers could have been overcome.

The more troubling issue is the fact that the Steelers in this season alone have lost to Tamba Bay, The Jets and to barely managed to survive the Jags. That represents 3 of the worst 5 teams in the league this year. We're about to go up against another of the worst 5 teams in the league, arguably one of the "better" sucky teams. It's entirely possible, even likely that the Titans will beat Pittsburgh on the road. That leaves ANOTHER AFC loss and a 6-5 record.

Then we wait a week for the Saints to come to town. That ought to be fascinating. Who knows which Steeler team shows up for THAT game. However I think we can be certain which team hits the road for the next two games against the Bengals and the Falcons.

So the point is, Tomlin's inability to pull consistent, focused performance from his team is not a NEW or sudden development. This is something that has been growing for the last 3 1/2 years. As players have gotten older he has been utterly incapable of refreshing the roster with capable talent nor has he been able to make up for the lack of talent and depth with good coaching and as a result his relatively strong winning percentage has plummeted over the last few seasons.

It's that simple.

I could even live with the Steelers losing to strong, contending teams. It's when they get their ***** kicked by the Clevelands of the football world year after year after year that I get frustrated. Complete inconsistency and lack of preparation have been his hallmarks. He needs to know that and own it.

I loved him when he came on. Eventually it was impossible to ignore that he was blowing a bunch of sunshine up my ***. I don't like sunshine up my ***. It causes sunburns. ***-sunburns are painful. They're unnatural.
 
FWIW I'm pretty confident we win the Saints game. They are a terrible road team and don't play well in cold or inclement weather. I have no confidence in any other game yet to come.
 
FWIW I'm pretty confident we win the Saints game. They are a terrible road team and don't play well in cold or inclement weather. I have no confidence in any other game yet to come.

The other thing in the Steelers favor for the Saints game - they'll be honoring the 40th anniversary of SB IX, so a bunch of 70's era Steelers will be in attendance and likely work to fire up the team and fans alike.
 
I think you're on to something, bas. We should have former Steelers at every game like they did with Mean Joe. They should be required to go into the locker room and verbally kick *** to get these guys fired up like they were for the Ravens game.
 
The bad plays by Ben and AB meant we were doomed from the start, imho.

If your best players **** up, you lose. **** this " not prepared" bullshit. Ridiculous.

Tomlin had them unprepared because Ben threw 2 ints and AB fumbled twice? Some of you people are absurd.

The only thing that bugged me was the weird playcalling....repeatedly, we ran into the strength of the team...their D-line, and got stuffed. Stupid.

Tomlin is 1-8 vs sub .200 teams on the road... go ahead and say something dumb like "that's not a coaching issue"
 
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