jags 5up 5down

[3rivers]

up

1. we won somehow

2. decent pressure on the qb, from various players . Hargraves was allowed to attack and had a game. 

3. the offence persevered  , despite the terrible first 3 quarters

4. we probably eliminated a foe from the playoffs, the team that eliminated us

5. JuJu and AB making the plays when we needed them

 

Romo and nantz said our RZ offence is possibly the best ever percentage TD (was79% but after today might be 80%. This is serious ,  a major reason why we are winning and having a good season.  Instead of all the talk of bell in the media,. they should spend some time talking about our historic RZ offence.  How they don't makes no sense especially since we were middle of the league previous years.

 

 

down

1. run D - just terrible without Tuitt

2. not being persistent with the running game

3. ben in the first 3 quarters

4. some dropped passes

5. nantz 

HM Connor should have caught the pass for that TD and smith would have been told to eat crow.  Also not running Connor more especially near the goal line.

Maybe it was better having Ben get the TD on the ground because this allows him to get even with the jags a bit more fro all the trash talk

 

 

[Steeler Hitman]

11 hours ago, 3rivers said:

up

1. we won somehow - - Team would have folded in the past facing that kind of adversity and self-destructive play. They have grown and matured as a team and this should serve them well when it counts in the play-offs.

2. decent pressure on the qb, from various players . Hargraves was allowed to attack and had a game. - - By far the best game Hargraves has played as a pro.  He did a tremendous job getting pressure up the middle and having him out of the base showed his value in the running attack as well. Mt. McCullers was getting eaten up.

3. the offense persevered, despite the terrible first 3 quarters - - A lot of self-inflicted wounds there as well. Timing was off, missed a wide open AB early and trying to force the ball to AB.  These are all things that have been discussed and addressed. I will add abandoning the run early as well. However, despite this to score three TD's the final 17 minutes after being shut out for nearly three quarters was impressive.

4. we probably eliminated a foe from the playoffs, the team that eliminated us - - Gained a game on the Chargers as well with their loss.  Other big games still loom for us.

5. JuJu and AB making the plays when we needed them - - Ju Ju really stepped up this game. He was held in check in the play-off game, but he did a great job in his one on ones.

 

Romo and nantz said our RZ offense is possibly the best ever percentage TD (was79% but after today might be 80%. This is serious,  a major reason why we are winning and having a good season.  Instead of all the talk of Bell in the media,. they should spend some time talking about our historic RZ offense.  How they don't makes no sense especially since we were middle of the league previous years. - - No doubt our RZ offense under Fitchner is light years ahead of when Haley was here. Although, I believe that some of that is on Ben as well. He made some bad throws and left points on the field with turnovers from poor reads and passes. The key to our offensive turnaround has been the third down conversions and red zone TD's.

down

1. run D - just terrible without Tuitt - - Agreed!  I will add a positive that this is one of the only times that I seen DC Butler make really positive second half adjustments.  They did a great job shutting Fornette down in the second half and creating some mis-matches with Dangerfield in the box.  Defense holding the Jags to FG's and not TD's was also key to this win. Defense and DC Butler deserve some praise here.

2. not being persistent with the running game - - Yep. I thought that this was key.

3. Ben in the first 3 quarters - - He is a franchise QB and seeing him play that poorly is surprising at any point. he certainly rebounded well though.

4. some dropped passes -- Yep and some poor throws as well.

5. Nantz 

HM Connor should have caught the pass for that TD and smith would have been told to eat crow.  Also not running Connor more especially near the goal line.

Maybe it was better having Ben get the TD on the ground because this allows him to get even with the jags a bit more fro all the trash talk - - No he should have caught that pass. I am interested in seeing how he responds after a semi-bad game.  He is a high character kid and I fully expect hm t bounce back next week.

Sean Davis - -  Not a good game by his standards.  He missed a few tackles and dropped a potential momentum changing INT.

 

 

[warfelg]

5 minutes ago, Steeler Hitman said:

No doubt our RZ offense under Fitchner is light years ahead of when Haley was here. Although, I believe that some of that is on Ben as well. He made some bad throws and left points on the field with turnovers from poor reads and passes. The key to our offensive turnaround has been the third down conversions and red zone TD's.

I know it didn't happen today, but the use of Conner in the RZ has been the thing to change it for me.  Haley was allergic to going power set run inside the 5, and got cute with screens, misdirections, and passes.  Fitchner seems to be a back to basics, inside the 5, extra OT, FB, Big RB, good luck stopping this mentality.

[Lambert44]

We won

Chargers Lost

Ju Ju

Down

Whether it is Tomlin or Ben they are horrible (this has happened too many times over the last 10 years) at spiking the ball and giving up a play

when they still have timeouts or plenty of time to call a play at the line. They let 20 plus seconds run off the clock yesterday and then spiked the ball after

AB's catch........

[3rivers]

1 hour ago, warfelg said:

I know it didn't happen today, but the use of Conner in the RZ has been the thing to change it for me.  Haley was allergic to going power set run inside the 5, and got cute with screens, misdirections, and passes.  Fitchner seems to be a back to basics, inside the 5, extra OT, FB, Big RB, good luck stopping this mentality.

No doubt this is the difference .  This was looking like the haley steelers when they didn't try a few handoffs to Connor, I was feeling like watching a game in recent year, then instead of the TD , FG or shall I say FG attempt

@Steeler Hitman Maybe Tomlin made the changes on D, and yes DMC was terrible and can run off into UFA for all I care. Davis brought some physicality at least, and the team needs more of that.  I watched the best D in the league last night (Bears) and we have a ways to go.  Hargrave deserves to play some snaps at DT in nickel and dime downs, because he really is a good pass rusher, better than Tuitt possibly. 

[Steeler Hitman]

2 hours ago, 3rivers said:

No doubt this is the difference .  This was looking like the haley steelers when they didn't try a few handoffs to Connor, I was feeling like watching a game in recent year, then instead of the TD , FG or shall I say FG attempt

@Steeler Hitman Maybe Tomlin made the changes on D, and yes DMC was terrible and can run off into UFA for all I care. Davis brought some physicality at least, and the team needs more of that.  I watched the best D in the league last night (Bears) and we have a ways to go.  Hargrave deserves to play some snaps at DT in nickel and dime downs, because he really is a good pass rusher, better than Tuitt possibly. 

I am a Sean Davis fan. Excellent kid and an improving football player (this is just his first season at FS).  However, he missed a potential INT and missed some tackles that I have seen him make in the past. I am not by any means down on him, but giving some objective and constructive feedback on his game from my vantage point.  

 

4 hours ago, warfelg said:

I know it didn't happen today, but the use of Conner in the RZ has been the thing to change it for me.  Haley was allergic to going power set run inside the 5, and got cute with screens, misdirections, and passes.  Fitchner seems to be a back to basics, inside the 5, extra OT, FB, Big RB, good luck stopping this mentality.

I agree and usually he does hand Connor the ball. For whatever reason, we seemed to force it in the red zone and missed a huge opportunity for points and momentum swing prior to halftime. I know they were being aggressive, but you can't come out of trips to the red zone in a game when the offense is struggling with zero! 

 

4 hours ago, Lambert44 said:

We won

Chargers Lost

Ju Ju

Down

Whether it is Tomlin or Ben they are horrible (this has happened too many times over the last 10 years) at spiking the ball and giving up a play

when they still have timeouts or plenty of time to call a play at the line. They let 20 plus seconds run off the clock yesterday and then spiked the ball after

AB's catch........

Agree 100% here as well.  The clock management has to improve.  I don't understand why they seem to struggle with time management on both sides of the ball. I would have called a timeout after the Jags first offensive run prior to the two minute warning.  They let about 18 seconds run off that they would have had another play run and then the two minute warning to stop the clock.  I will give them credit in saving the last timeout because after Connors dropped TD, they moved the ball and still had the option to run. It worked out and they left the Jags with very little time.  It worked this time, but more often than not, I scratch my head with some of the clock management decisions and strategies.

[CKSteeler]

I didn't realize Jacksonville had signed Landry Jones. And then cut him today. The Jaguars were on top of everything the Steelers offense did. Wonder if it didn't have something to do with it.

[3rivers]

3 hours ago, CKSteeler said:

I didn't realize Jacksonville had signed Landry Jones. And then cut him today. The Jaguars were on top of everything the Steelers offense did. Wonder if it didn't have something to do with it.

I never knew about this,  let us know what you learn

[Livewire]

Tom Coughlin always use to sign former Steelers when the Jags were in the same division.

[3rivers]

2 hours ago, Livewire said:

Tom Coughlin always use to sign former Steelers when the Jags were in the same division.

I remember this now that you bring that up. 

[Chieferific]

3 hours ago, Livewire said:

Tom Coughlin always use to sign former Steelers when the Jags were in the same division.

Yep. Landry was signed by them like 3 weeks ago. That's not to say they didn't hold on to him long enough for this match-up but I don't think he was signed for that reason. 

[Alex]

I'm not defending the performance of Steelers today, but the Jaguars have the exact personnel and scheme to prevent the Steelers from the offense they could. The Jaguars are one of few teams that would completely halt the Steelers- yet we won. The Jaguars actually reminded me of the early 2000's Memphis Grizzlies. Playing old-school, forcing the opponents to slow down. The point is we WON because of our defense which was to be thought as the weakness of the team, I'm seeing more and more of schemes and personnel unfolded under Keith Butler, am under the impression now that he was coaching restricted mainly due to the lack of personnel.

It's crazy how much of players could affect the coaching aspect, huh?

[VigilantZombie]

I'm going to make mine short and sweet here.

Downs

1. Entire offense  - It was polluted with turnovers, bad passes, dropped balls, poor blocking in the running game, not sticking with the running game, guys not getting separation or not being seen when getting separation, etc in the first 3 quarters.

2. Run Stopping Defense - Fournette, Hyde, Yeldon, and even Bortles were having their way with us early in this game.

Ups

1. Entire Offense.  When the pressure was on and we needed plays, they made plays, despite all the mistakes and even dropped passes in the last couple minutes of the game, they got it done.

2. Entire Defense.  Have you ever seen a Defense spend as much time on the field as they have and give up as little points? I'm sure we have but I don't remember it.  They were champions of the moment nearly every play, yeah they gave up some first downs and some points but they did a great job limiting the opportunities in the passing game (granted the Jags didn't have to pass much).  They also stood as tall as possible despite being tired in the end of this game.  

 

BONUS UP:  I think you all can admit that I've been critical of this individual at times.  But what he did in two critical moments of this game showed me his true moxy.  Mike Tomlin, the first thing he showed serious balls on is the decision to accept a holding call to push back the offense instead of accepting the 4th down.  He basically told the defense "I know you have been on the field for what seems like forever, I also know you can take care of business and I believe in you".   When he made this decision and the Defense came up with a sack, this, to me, was the moment I felt we were going to come back and win.

The second thing is when he chose not to take a time out before the 2 minute warning.  To me, in this moment, he showed his confidence in the Offense not needing that extra time, in the coordinator making sure to call plays that negated the need to 'slow poke it' down the field.  He left the team with a TO in their pocket and the ability to call what felt like a billion plays down on the goal line.  Had he called that time out, we wouldn't have had one left, maybe it wouldn't have changed anything, but I feel like Karma was on our side and I feel like without that time out, perhaps it wouldn't have been.  As critical as I and others have been of Tomlin's decision making, these two things stuck out at me, I thought a lot about them after the game and these are the opinions I came up with.  This team could be very dangerous and if we are able, somehow, to just keep winning and finish the season no worse than 12-3-1 we could seriously be looking at the #1 seed.

[grubs10]

9 hours ago, Alex said:

I'm not defending the performance of Steelers today, but the Jaguars have the exact personnel and scheme to prevent the Steelers from the offense they could. The Jaguars are one of few teams that would completely halt the Steelers- yet we won. The Jaguars actually reminded me of the early 2000's Memphis Grizzlies. Playing old-school, forcing the opponents to slow down. The point is we WON because of our defense which was to be thought as the weakness of the team, I'm seeing more and more of schemes and personnel unfolded under Keith Butler, am under the impression now that he was coaching restricted mainly due to the lack of personnel.

It's crazy how much of players could affect the coaching aspect, huh?

Our defense won us a game against the jaguars.  I'm not ready to act like the defense isn't still a major weakness though.  The top teams in the league have elite passing attacks or Tom Brady and there's no way in hell I trust our defense to hold a team like that down.  I have a little bit more hope with this defense when it comes to pressure and turnovers compared to years past but there's no doubt in my mind that after the saints game or the patriots game there is potential for half the people in here to be saying we are doomed because of our defense.

The secondary is still a major weakness and it doesn't surprise me that a team rocking Blake Bortles and that receiving core couldn't take advantage of it.

Edit: I still think we are a contender for sure but its gonna take some luck and our offense consistently producing up to its potential.  Both in points and long drives that keep the defense off the field.

[CKSteeler]

4 hours ago, wwhickok said:

 

The second thing is when he chose not to take a time out before the 2 minute warning.  To me, in this moment, he showed his confidence in the Offense not needing that extra time, in the coordinator making sure to call plays that negated the need to 'slow poke it' down the field.  He left the team with a TO in their pocket and the ability to call what felt like a billion plays down on the goal line.  Had he called that time out, we wouldn't have had one left, maybe it wouldn't have changed anything, but I feel like Karma was on our side and I feel like without that time out, perhaps it wouldn't have been.  As critical as I and others have been of Tomlin's decision making, these two things stuck out at me, I thought a lot about them after the game and these are the opinions I came up with.  This team could be very dangerous and if we are able, somehow, to just keep winning and finish the season no worse than 12-3-1 we could seriously be looking at the #1 seed.

This is Tomlin SOP procedure. The TO was never used, even though it probably should have been. If not, they probably should have called a run play. That would have made the TO worthwhile, but they didn't do that and instead elected to throw the ball repeatedly. This exact scenario actually cost the team a game in the past. It wasn't moxy. Using the TO's and daring Jacksonville to throw would have been ballsier. And in this specific instance, they would have had plenty of time to run the ball regardless - especially if after the Brown catch they didn't mosey on down to the line to spike the ball in a goal to go situation.

For all the talk this year about Aaron Rodgers's supposed brilliance in the two minute drill, no one is better at it than Roethlisberger. That's despite his own clock management miscues (spiking when it isn't necessary). When he does what he does there, it's ho-hum.

For my  money, this is probably the second best coaching job of Tomlin's career if not the best behind '08. I have few complaints on a week-in, week-out basis. But saving the time there is the best bet.