GDT: Steelers (5-0) at Titans (5-0)

[titans0021]

 

[ttitansfan4life]

10 minutes ago, titans0021 said:

 

Interesting. People must be betting like crazy on the Steelers.

[deeluxx3]

I’m excited for this game. Really big test for us.
 

I think McDermott is a very good coach and buffalo is a well coached team (recent struggles aside). For us to beat up on them like that was a testament to preparation and game planning.

Mike Tomlin, though, is a different animal. I think very highly of him as a head coach and thinks he always has Pitt ready to play. He gets a lot out his less talented or heralded guys. This year he has a talented group that’s playing well. A win here would really say a lot for us and where we stand among the league’s best. 

[TitanLegend]

1 hour ago, ttitansfan4life said:

Interesting. People must be betting like crazy on the Steelers.

The opposite.

 

[ttitansfan4life]

Rich get richer.... one thing I’d like to see Robinson get in on. Need to make a move at the deadline whether it be a CB or OT or pass-rusher.

[titans0021]

Just now, ttitansfan4life said:

Rich get richer.... one thing I’d like to see Robinson get in on. Need to make a move at the deadline whether it be a CB or OT or pass-rusher.

I do not like this.

[KingTitan]

16 minutes ago, titans0021 said:

I do not like this.

I know this move wasn't made for "us."  But you do build your team in a way to stop the ones that beat you.  Best way to beat the Titans? Load up the front-7.  

Yannick always makes at least one play against, sack, strip fumble. Something. 

[titans0021]

I will say, the Riley Reiff contract is actually not as bad as I thought, think we’d take on under $4 million this year and, if he’s traded, obviously you can easily get out of it after this year.

[ttitansfan4life]

31 minutes ago, titans0021 said:

I will say, the Riley Reiff contract is actually not as bad as I thought, think we’d take on under $4 million this year and, if he’s traded, obviously you can easily get out of it after this year.

Going to need to do something because Sambrailo is not making it long term at LT.

[Titansfan_13]

31 minutes ago, titans0021 said:

I will say, the Riley Reiff contract is actually not as bad as I thought, think we’d take on under $4 million this year and, if he’s traded, obviously you can easily get out of it after this year.

We have 2 games before the deadline to see how Sambrailo does. If he's not holding up, we need to at least explore a move.

[ttitansfan4life]

 

[Airness McNairness]

1 hour ago, ttitansfan4life said:

Going to need to do something because Sambrailo is not making it long term at LT.

why do you think this? the dude came in and played real well after the first mistake and that could be due to him coming in off the bench cold. we dont need a CB, pass rusher or LT via trade. we simply need to coach up the guys we have. this aint madden. trading future assets for temporary fixes aint the answer. stick with who/what we have and coach them up and hope the entire team gets better as the season goes along. thats the formula most super bowl winning teams have.. we dont need to bring in anybody else.

[Steeler Hitman]

21 hours ago, Titans fan 617 said:

@Steeler Hitman

I haven't seen many Steelers games this year.

I seen the Giants opening week. 

So what if anything have the Steelers struggled at so far this season?

1. Offensive consistency. The offense really struggled early as you saw in the Giants game. Some timing issues, negative plays on first or second down that took the offense out of its rhythm. Penalties, fumbles or sacks that have negated positive gains or down in distance situations. Sometimes the Steelers would pick up five yards on first down. Then complete a 15 yard pass for another first down only to have it called back on a hold or other penalty and now second and 9 or 15. They get an incompletion on second down and then pick up 8 of 9 yards or 12 of 15 yards. They then punt. Very frustrating to watch games 1 - 4 (Giants, Broncos, Texans and Eagles). 

2. Defense can't get off the field on third or fourth down. This was not the case against Cleveland where they were pretty lights out in this area, but the other four games, they really struggled and kept a lot of games closer than they should have actually been.

3. Not playing together as a unit. There are times the defense forces a few series of consecutive three and outs, but the offense is not in-sync and doesn't convert good field position or flip the field. Great example is the Eagles game. The Steelers should have been up at least 17-0 in the first quarter. Then when the offense doesn't come through the defense plays well and puts the Eagles in a third and 15 or 17 and the Eagles use a conservative draw to Miles Sanders that isn't stopped for 8, 10, or even 12 yards, but goes 74 yards for a TD. Game tied at 7 - 7 after Steelers offense missed two shots at scoring after the defense gave them the ball with good or great field position.

4. Secondary has not been what is was in 2019 except for the Browns game.

Have struggled for most of the year. suspect in covering some of the better TE's and definitely susceptible to breakdowns in coverage (seen in every game including Cleveland where the TE was left completely uncovered on a few plays. Secondary seemed to get its swagger back after Minkah pick six. Consistency has not been a strong point thus far for the Steelers secondary. See eagles Travis Fulgham and bronco's TE Noah Fant.

All things that if the Steelers do against a veteran and quality offense/team like the Titans will lead to a defeat. That is what I call beating yourself. Good teams take advantage of these situations. The steelers corrected these things for the most part against Cleveland. The question is have they turned the corner is is what we saw the first four games more accurate of who the Steelers really are?

From highlights they look good at everything 

Not quite in my eyes, but they do show signs of being a very through and complete team if they can put it all together. A few areas that they have been consistent and improved:

1. Game to game and in game adjustments, execution and coaching in all three phases. The team has done an excellent job of making adjustments of things that have failed or did not work early and from game to game. Great example was the Texans game where after the Steelers took a 17-14 lead, DeShaun Watson marched the Texans downfield within 9- seconds and scored a TD after having a huge offensive first half (21 points).  The Steelers defense shut them out the remainder of the game and the Steelers offense score two more TD's which actually could have been three as they chose to run out the clock instead of punching it in for another score. Cleveland was prepared for the Steelers RPO plays and jumped/broke up three passes (one, two, or three could have possibly even been picked).  Ben started using the pump fake and the Steelers started completing deep passes to Claypool and James Washington. Special teams were very shaky week one and have been pretty solid the past four games. ST Coach Danny Smith, OC Randy Fichtner, DC Keith Butler and HC Tomlin have all shared criticism for being stubborn with unsuccessful plans or not be prepared. Thus far they have not been out-couched from a preparation standpoint or X's and O's. 

2. More of a balanced team approach on offense. Ben has matured and is playing his best football from the neck up in my opinion. His leadership, his approach to winning versus style points, being more of a teammate than just a coach, adjusting to what the defense is giving versus what they are taking away, and a renewed passion for the game. Despite his success Ben has come under fire for his leadership at times and not always being the best teammate. He also played to get style points and stats at times rather than be effective and win. Few examples: 

1. Calling out players. He did this with James Washington his rookie season after he missed a sure long gain and most likely TD that would have helped win the game. They lost and he called out Washington. This wasn't the first time something like this happened.

2. In 2016, Leveon Bell was tearing the league up in the play-offs on the ground. He rushed for more than 160 yards against the Dolphins and Chiefs. In the first half of the divisional game, the Chiefs couldn't stop the Steelers from running for less than five yards a pop. The Steelers sputtered passing and settled for six Boswell FG's. They missed TD chances inside of the five yard line by passing(to get AB and Ben stats) instead of pounding the ball in for the win.  They completely dominated that game on both sides of the ball, but only won 18-16 and nearly lost on a failed two point conversion that would have tied the game up.

It seems like winning over stats is more important. Ben is spreading the ball and instead of simply forcing passes to JuJu, who is actually his #1, he is throwing to Washington, Claypool, Ebron, and Johnson (when healthy).  In past years 20 of Ben's completions would be to AB and Bell trying to keep them happy. Now he seems to have taken a spread the ball and hasn't cared that he has only thrown for 300 yards once this season. 

Sanders had the one big run in the Eagles game so was that just one bad play from the Steelers end or have teams been able to run on them but fall behind so have to go away from that?

See above as well as I mentioned this play. Great call by Eagles in the right defense. It completely caught them and the it was a perfect storm of missed tackles and a badly missed hold on SS Edmunds. Steelers defense held Sanders to 80 yards on ten carries for the entire game. 💪 What's deceiving is that he has an 8.0 ypc average, but in reality was held to 4 yards on 8 carries, not including the 2 yard TD.  If Henry can run like he did against the texans against this defense, your Titans are hella scary! 😨  This is the best run defense the Steelers have had since probably 2005 when Hampton, Smith, and Keisel were the D DL's. Tyson Alualu has been surprisingly good. The Steelers will have to try to get Henry going sideways and the DL's and LB's will have to penetrate and hit him to prevent him from getting started. 

21 hours ago, Titans fan 617 said:

Ben looked meh at the beginning of the Giants game but I think that was more due to rust than anything then turned it on and hasn’t looked back it seems 

As stated above, missing that year has given him a renewed passion to win, he is a better leader, teammate and is playing his smartest football from the neck up that i have ever seen him play.  The scary part is that he has not even come close to peaking himself.  

So just curious what the Steelers could be better at

See list of what they have struggled with. I will add emphasis to the importance of playing good team or complimentary football. When the defense gets support and the offense gets rolling and they do this together, this team is capable of putting up 30 plus points and holding opponents to single digits. Pittsburgh's biggest problem for years under Coach T has been consistency. Many can counter and say, no way, your team has never had worse than an 8-8 season under Coach Tomlin. But many Steelers fans would argue some of his teams have under-achieved 2016, 2017, and 2018 of late. Last season, they played hard with no Ben and I think like the Titans are building from the hard work they laid out as a team without Ben. I think the Steelers team (I know we fans think so) believe that they could be special history makers in 2020 by winning Lombardi Trophy #7. I know that is not what Titan Nation wants to hear, like the Titans, our goal is winning the big one. This should be a great game and test for both teams. 

[ttitansfan4life]

21 minutes ago, Airness McNairness said:

why do you think this? the dude came in and played real well after the first mistake and that could be due to him coming in off the bench cold. we dont need a CB, pass rusher or LT via trade. we simply need to coach up the guys we have. this aint madden. trading future assets for temporary fixes aint the answer. stick with who/what we have and coach them up and hope the entire team gets better as the season goes along. thats the formula most super bowl winning teams have.. we dont need to bring in anybody else.

So you’re comfortable with Sambrailo being the LT going forward? You do realize that’s going to limit the offense right? The backs, TEs, and WRs are now going to have to help a lot more.  Also lol at using madden like this team can’t go out and legit add someone. Did you not just see what the Ravens just did? A SB contending team went out and improved one of their biggest weaknesses. This team needs CBs and pass-rushers. The current ones are not getting the job done and getting Adoree back isn’t fixing that completely fixing that.

[twotonebluenation]

27 minutes ago, Airness McNairness said:

why do you think this? the dude came in and played real well after the first mistake and that could be due to him coming in off the bench cold. we dont need a CB, pass rusher or LT via trade. we simply need to coach up the guys we have. this aint madden. trading future assets for temporary fixes aint the answer. stick with who/what we have and coach them up and hope the entire team gets better as the season goes along. thats the formula most super bowl winning teams have.. we dont need to bring in anybody else.

He also called Adoree, "Pathetic little ole Adoree" acting like he wont help our defense at all. It is what it is. I trust that Vrabel and crew have there finger on the pulse with Sambrailo and a backup plan if anything were to go south real hard. They will make adjustments. I trust they will make the right call.