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The Steelers Only had One Chance to Have a Lead in This Game

Stryker

Stryker

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And it was the opening kickoff...

Since the first offensive play was a 20yd snap into the EZ, the Steelers only had 1 play to have a lead in this football game.

To further add insult to injury, the Steelers could not hold Cleveland out of the EZ with their first 5 scoring plays being TDs. A better defensive performance would have at least kept 2 or 3 out of the EZ and given us a chance at a comeback. Browns were also 4/4 in Redzone Scoring TDs.

I'm sorry, but I just can't be upset over the terrible result of a game we were never in. Ben made it exciting, but he was the biggest reason why we were down in the first place. I would never have expected this with as healthy as this team was.

Browns put together a pretty great game plan. I know we only look at one side of the ball, but they were getting Baker hammered all year, so what did they do? Bootleg, and quick pass attack. They used our strategy against us, and it worked. The team that always gets sacks, had ZERO in this game. Losing Highsmith early was a factor, but the quick pass under 3sec, makes it very difficult to get pressure.

They really didn't have to have a defensive gameplan, since we just kept giving them the ball. I hear they were willing to allow us to run and work the short passes, but we never were really able to run since we were down 28-0 so quickly.

-5 in turnovers you are NEVER going to win that matchup.
 
Cope said:
And it was the opening kickoff...

Since the first offensive play was a 20yd snap into the EZ, the Steelers only had 1 play to have a lead in this football game.

To further add insult to injury, the Steelers could not hold Cleveland out of the EZ with their first 5 scoring plays being TDs. A better defensive performance would have at least kept 2 or 3 out of the EZ and given us a chance at a comeback. Browns were also 4/4 in Redzone Scoring TDs.

I'm sorry, but I just can't be upset over the terrible result of a game we were never in. Ben made it exciting, but he was the biggest reason why we were down in the first place. I would never have expected this with as healthy as this team was.

Browns put together a pretty great game plan. I know we only look at one side of the ball, but they were getting Baker hammered all year, so what did they do? Bootleg, and quick pass attack. They used our strategy against us, and it worked. The team that always gets sacks, had ZERO in this game. Losing Highsmith early was a factor, but the quick pass under 3sec, makes it very difficult to get pressure.

They really didn't have to have a defensive gameplan, since we just kept giving them the ball. I hear they were willing to allow us to run and work the short passes, but we never were really able to run since we were down 28-0 so quickly.

-5 in turnovers you are NEVER going to win that matchup.
Click to expand...
I completely agree with this. I will add I think despite this game they have done a remarkable coaching job on defense disguising the major inadequacies cause by first the loss of Bush then second the loss of Bud. Highsmith is also good but he isn't at Buds level yet and doesn't command the respect Bud did. Spillane did a good job early in the year but he was entirely scheme dependent and had to make the right initial read. He doesn't have the make up speed or instincts that Bush had and that is what was killing us game after game with the running back releases out of the back field and no one who could recover fast enough to minimize the gain. Despite certain posters agenda against Bush losing him was the single biggest loss of the season. With him Highsmith would have been good enough. The Browns exposed our defense last night when they got up on us and there wasn't much anyone could do about it without the players who were missing and left the game. It would have taken the offense not turning over the ball to keep them from exposing us. Had we had the whole crew together the whole season this defense could have carried us past a game like this as well as a few others. It could have been generationally good.
 
None of that is untrue. But to chalk it up to poor luck and go status quo more or less will get you worse than this next year. Tough schedule and loss of FA. And you will be rebuilding anyhow. This rebuild is at least one year too late, I cannot name the QB they could have gotten, but the way they use Fitzpatrick makes him totally not worth what they gave up for him. They band aided that situation and they are where they are.
 
Lots of non calls where TJ beat his guy and was held. Don't think they called but one holding penalty on them all night. The defense got gashed. Where we failed on offense before, the defense usually was right there to keep them out of the end zone. 31 points off turnovers. We should never win a game where we give up 31 points off turnovers. Such a disappointing end to an 11-0 start for the year. The clock struck midnight on us in November.
 
This week on "As the Game Turns"... The Steelers come out of the tunnel...
 
The drive where we punted on 4th and 1 trailing 35-23 was where we passed the point of no return. If we could have somehow scored a td then, it would have been 35-30. Cant spot playoff teams 28 points and not go for it on 4th downs.
 
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