GDT Preseason Week 3 Titans (0-2)@ Steelers(1-1)

[ragevsuall17]

I don't put too much stock in results from the preseason, but I agree with Ruskie to an extent here. 

We looked out of sync... especially on offense. I get that 2 of top 3 receiving options are out and we're putting backups vs opponents starters... but even basic run and pass concepts look off... 2 weeks away gettin the start of the season. 

Davis' route is an example of miscommunication. But it's a basic concept of this offense... be where you need to be... and after months of camps and practices, there's still issues. Will 2 weeks fix these issues?

I was at a live fantasy draft during the game and I haven't had a chance to rewatch it... but has Mariota completed a pass that's gone more than 10 yards downfield? I know he got Sharpe a couple times for 1st, but i'm not sure the passes traveled more than 10 yards downfield. 

Not scheming is one thing... not being able to execute or get on the same page is another thing altogether...

We've had a lot of players miss significant practice... and with the season just around the corner... the big question is can we get everyone on the same page in the next 2 weeks before Miami?

[TitanRedd]

https://sports.yahoo.com/m/32bcc824-569f-3e74-9b75-22482e83b8d0/steelers-defensive-end.html

Its's Funny, I remember the Kid came Out in the draft & I wanted him so bad & was ridicule of the Forum lol  The Kid is going to be a beast

[ragevsuall17]

1 hour ago, TitanRedd said:

https://sports.yahoo.com/m/32bcc824-569f-3e74-9b75-22482e83b8d0/steelers-defensive-end.html

Its's Funny, I remember the Kid came Out in the draft & I wanted him so bad & was ridicule of the Forum lol  The Kid is going to be a beast

Even a broken clock is right twice a day... 

[ragevsuall17]

Everyone... even our million dollar man... is our of sorts right now...

 

[-Hope-]

2 minutes ago, ragevsuall17 said:

Everyone... even our million dollar man... is our of sorts right now...

 

 

[ragevsuall17]

2 minutes ago, -Hope- said:

 

 

So Lewan gets off without fault?  No one to block on this play for him... just lucky?

Going off that link to MMC... it's a flip play... Kline (who is playing Spain's role in this example) blocks down on his man... it's Jones who roams out to the 2nd level.  Conklin also seeks out that LB with the inside position.  

Lewan should have taken on that linebacker who shot up.  Spain should have kept on the inside guy... but Jones couldn't get away from him... so Spain should have gone to the next level to get the next guy up... not Lewan's man.  Lewan should have picked up the shooting backer sooner... he didn't... and was just one piece of why this play failed.  (Even had Lewan gotten his man, it looks like Spain didn't get to the next man up, who woulda met Henry in the hole).  

[ttitansfan4life]

I mean it’s pretty obvious we have two pro bowl caliber OTs but this interior is a joke. Spain and Kline are below average OGs and Jones at best is average. Don’t expect Kline here for that full contract. He got whipped by Tuitt the 1st two plays(Kelly was a fault too on the 2nd play). An OL on his *** is not good.... Also bringing in bums like Su’a-Filo and Pamphile wasn’t exactly competition for Spain. We can only hope a zone blocking scheme can help them but I doubt it. 

[TitanLegend]

37 minutes ago, ragevsuall17 said:

 

So Lewan gets off without fault?  No one to block on this play for him... just lucky?

Going off that link to MMC... it's a flip play... Kline (who is playing Spain's role in this example) blocks down on his man... it's Jones who roams out to the 2nd level.  Conklin also seeks out that LB with the inside position.  

Lewan should have taken on that linebacker who shot up.  Spain should have kept on the inside guy... but Jones couldn't get away from him... so Spain should have gone to the next level to get the next guy up... not Lewan's man.  Lewan should have picked up the shooting backer sooner... he didn't... and was just one piece of why this play failed.  (Even had Lewan gotten his man, it looks like Spain didn't get to the next man up, who woulda met Henry in the hole).  

I haven't read that MMC link, but it looks to me like either Lewan or Spain one ran the entirely wrong play. Lewan was pulling out to go in between Smith and whoever the receiver is at the bottom of the screen to be Henry's lead blocker. Spain instead of blocking left like the entirety of the rest of the o-line, double teams a guy with Jones instead of blocking the LB.

And it looks like Henry was running to go in to that hole Lewan seemed to be headed towards, so it leads me to believe Spain was running the wrong play(well that and the fact that the entire o-line was blocking left outside of Spain)..but that's obviously not something I can confirm in any way.

It seems the way Spain was blocking he expected a run between LT and LG the way he shoved the guy Jones was blocking. The way the blocking looks to me the o-line wasn't terribly concerned about letting the defender past them to the right, just wanted to hold their blocks left long enough for Henry to get behind Lewan.

So it looks like Spain ran the wrong play. But again that's about as much guess work as anything else.

[ragevsuall17]

There's 2 LBers that need to be blocked... and both our guys missed it.  Saying Lewan missed his block doesn't exonerate Spain.  Logic tells me Lewan is responsible for the outside guy... and Spain for the next guy at the 2nd level.  But Superhorn (MCM) seems to think this play's blocking scheme is the same concept as the one he posts about... and yet in that example (flipped as a run to the right), everyone blocks right... but with Spain maintaining that combo block and Jones seeking the 2nd level.  Even if Spain does have that 2nd level responsibility... Lewan is also uncovered... he had that 2nd level responsibility as well... missed the first block... Spain missed the 2nd... it was a busted play.  So I repeat... everyone, even our all world LT... is out of sync right now.  

[Mesa_Titan]

Jesus this forum, man. If we had looked good, everyone would have been talking superbowl right now. Literally feast or famine in here, all the time.

[TitanSS]

6 hours ago, KingTitan said:

The only thing for me with the play is that Marcus should be able to hit someone wide open regardless of where he is running. 

But it's a play I think we won't see often. 

I don't understand your meaning?

He could have the most "on target" throw in the world, but if he's throwing a 10 yd in because that's what he anticipates and the wide out runs a streak it's not going to land anywhere near him.

He should have seen the busted coverage, but I have no idea what the staff is preaching when the defense completely breaks down coverage. Have they told the WRs, if no one covers you just keep running? It's one thing when it happens and the offense is already outside of script (QB fleeing pocket to escape pressure and the structure of the play is gone), but to just be going through your reads I don't know how to judge that.

[TitanLegend]

1 hour ago, ragevsuall17 said:

There's 2 LBers that need to be blocked... and both our guys missed it.  Saying Lewan missed his block doesn't exonerate Spain.  Logic tells me Lewan is responsible for the outside guy... and Spain for the next guy at the 2nd level.  But Superhorn (MCM) seems to think this play's blocking scheme is the same concept as the one he posts about... and yet in that example (flipped as a run to the right), everyone blocks right... but with Spain maintaining that combo block and Jones seeking the 2nd level.  Even if Spain does have that 2nd level responsibility... Lewan is also uncovered... he had that 2nd level responsibility as well... missed the first block... Spain missed the 2nd... it was a busted play.  So I repeat... everyone, even our all world LT... is out of sync right now.  

I think the 2nd LB being there is the result of the play being messed up by either Spain or Lewan though. Because if the OL keeps blocking left the 2nd LB isn't coming through a hole to hit Henry because Henry is going to be hitting the hole presumably behind Lewan. The 1st LB hitting the gap between Spain and Lewan without being contested is what blows up the entire play and allows the 2nd LB to come though untouched as well.

I dunno if I agree with superhorn with his breakdown of this play at all(not the MCM article, but him calling this play the same as the one in the MCM article). Both Henry and Lewan are headed to the outside, seemingly to go between the WR and TE. It's obviously not the same formation as the play either(not that you can't run the same play out of different formations, just noting). There doesn't really seem to be any attempt to read anything by Lewan, his destination already being predetermined. And Henry looks to be following him to that hole from the start as well.

I dunno. I'm half asleep trying to figure this out and just keep getting more confused.

It's such a weird looking play I'm kind of at a loss on what to think. All I really know for sure is someone messed up pretty badly.

And using 1 game to claim anything is out of sync is a bit much. Coming in to the game the first team offense had 2 Tds on 3 drives. No one was saying out of sync then.

I don't doubt there's going to be hiccups, as someone like Orlovsky has said, it's gonna take a bit for it to be running smoothly even under the best conditions.

But overreacting to a bad series of drives in a single preseason game doesn't do anything for anyone I don't think.

Don't mean you or really anyone in specific here, but we got people all over Titans twitter breaking down frame by frame a single pass by Mariota.  Like whoever's fault that pass play was, it's no where near as big of a deal as everyone's claiming it is even if it were the regular season. Tom Brady misses throws like that occasionally. Antonio Brown has miscommunications with Big Ben sometimes. And hell according to that one guy who watched it frame by frame, the pass was short because it hit a Steeler player's helmet, which renders the entire discussion moot anyway.

Just feels like people need to take a step back and just breathe for a bit.

I feel like social media is the worst thing that's ever happened to the NFL when it comes to preseason. Everyone over analyzes everything. It's exhausting to read twitter at times. I forget if it was a Steelers fan or the official team twitter or what that posted a gif of I think Heyward blowing up our 3rd string guard and going crazy about it. One of those moments that makes you ask yourself where did we go wrong as NFL fans.

[TitanSS]

3 hours ago, ragevsuall17 said:

Everyone... even our million dollar man... is our of sorts right now...

 

No matter what Lewan shouldn't be blocking back inside. In an outside zone he's supposed to be head on a swivel moving to the sideline. 

I think his assignment was to double the edge and make sure he doesn't set the edge and then get next level. He starts after the edge who immediately gets wide but doesn't get next level because he looks back inside him for Spain's man. Spain isn't blocking an outside zone and everyone else on the team is.

I'm not trying to let him off the hook because he's Lewan, I just think that was his assignment.

[ragevsuall17]

11 hours ago, TitanLegend said:

And using 1 game to claim anything is out of sync is a bit much. Coming in to the game the first team offense had 2 Tds on 3 drives. No one was saying out of sync then.

Again, I understand it's preseason, there's no scheming, and we're missing 2 of our top 3 receiving weapons. Our passing game has obviously been handicapped.

Both previous 1st team tds were results from a short pass turned into a big play. I get that was a big part of the Rams' success last year and assume its going to be part if ours this year as well. 

But it being preseason,  why aren't we trying to adjust the deep ball... if even an attempt or 2 by the 1st team? Like I said previously,  I don't think Mariota has completed a pass beyond 10-15 yards... and those he has attempted in all 3 games have resulted in various ugly looking passes. Miscommunication? Bad throws? I don't know, but it's a trend 3 weeks later... and we're 1 game away from the regular season. 

I was praising Lewan last week... did an amazing job eliminating JPP from the game. The OL for the most part is the ultimate group effort though. From the little I've seen, the line looked out of sync this past game... which is strange given that it's one of the few groups that had experienced continuity this offseason (Conklin's been out since the offseason and that's about it). I wasn't a big fan of Spain's but some here thought he was more than good... some even thought that he'd get the type of contract or bigger that Kline got.  I think I may have been the only anti-Spain guy (vocal at least)... but now it's a consensus he's trash...? 

Going back to that one play... it was a bad play... More than 1 missed block... the line has to fix that. Without knowing the exact cal, I just can't see how Lewan is free from any fault here. He didn't block anyone... and a LB came straight through his gap.  TE had the edge... WR had the CB... had the two ILBs been blocked... it's Henry vs a safety. 

But everyone gets up in arms when one of our favorites gets called out... oh, its never Mariota's fault... Lewan can do no wrong... forget about saying a bad thing about Byard, etc. Preaseason results don't mean much, as this is essentially practice. But some of these issues we're seeing... miscommunication between wr/qb, between the ol... those kinda things need to be worked out pretty quickly. Week 3 is typically the measuring standard because teams by now have usually worked those kinda basic kinks out. We may not. 

... or we may have... and the lack of execution Saturday is just a bad "practice"...  

I mentioned Lewan since he's been our gold standard all offseason. It just seems like our whole offense has yet to get in sync... and outside of 2 short passes turned big plays, we haven't shown much as a starting unit. It'd be nice to see a successful deep ball... not the bad throws or miscommunication we've seen. Itd also be nice to see more sustained drives... but whatever... we're beating a dead horse at this point. We all agree this is a practice we're privy to see live. Some of us are just concerned we're still not on the same page with some basic concepts. 

[Titan89]

I actually am not worried about Kline on the interior as others are here. I think this new blocking scheme fits him well as he moves well in space. I am most worried about Jones and Spain as neither moves all that well. I think we should have brought in more serious competition for Spain then we did.

I would like to see Levin get some more work as I feel he fits the scheme well.

Also let's please relax a bit it is preseason. If they come out in Miami and struggle like this I will worry but until then realize it is the worst football of the year preseason and move on. Cannot wait till the last preseason game is over.