5 up/5 down Titans game

[warfelg]

UPs:

1 - Robert Spillane.  Man he was good.  And not like he was everywhere making every play good.  Good in that he didn't make any notable mistakes so he slid in unnoticed.

2 - The defensive front 7.  Holding Henry to less than 100 and 1 TD on 20 carries was awesome.

3 - The OL.  Kept Ben very clean all day long.  There were a few hits but nothing bad.

4 - First half coaching.  It was unusually clean and super solid.

5 - Special teams.  Again just unusually clean today.  Good returns, good coverage, nothing to get super worried about.

DOWNs:

1 - Second half offensive playcalling. Fourth straight week where Fitchner decided to turtle the play calling in the second half.  Just a few extra drives in each game and they get put away in the early 4th.

2 - RB play.  I know it seems strange to add them on to this list after a seemingly decent game but there wasn't anything explosive about the game from their end.

3 - Shelving Chase Claypool.  Yes I get that they were putting Butler on him to negate him some, but it's time to just him more out there and get him more open.

4 - Referees.  Yes I'm putting them on the down list.  Every week we seem to be getting burned on 2-3 "by the letter of the rule" calls that are very much borderline calls (looking at the calls that bookended the last Titans TD then the play before Ben's last pick).

5 - Gunslinger Ben.  We got him in the second half and he nearly cost us the game after the tipped pass pick took him off of his efficient quick throws.  OL has to start undercutting those tip attempts better.

[August4th]

UP

the receiving core of Johnson, Juju and Ebron.

the front 7. bottled up Henry all game

special teams. feels good to have great return game + no holding calls

getting a win. this team is finding ways to win in pressure situations

down

the team putting itself in pressure situations after taking big leads(3rd time this has happened..coaches and players need to look into why its happening)

all the small things going tenn way before the miss FG. like I said in the other tread. this was a odd game. Steelers would of won by 10+ if not for some plays where the ball bounced for tenn favor...outside the offense going cold for a few drives in the 2nd half it felt like we dominated this game on both sides for most of it

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by August4th

[3rivers]

up

first half coaching mostly and execution 

down

2nd half was the opposite of the above. 

 

also the missed coaches challenge bothered me

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by 3rivers

[43M]

The AJ Brown touchdown absolutely humiliated Minkah.  Shocked no one mentioned that.  Secondary was definitely a down in the 2nd half.  Even with decent pressure, they were still giving up chunks of yardage.

It was a 2nd half collapse, plain and simple.

[CKSteeler]

Disappointed in Juju. I see some people saying re-sign him, but he's shown next to nothing this year. Today, he was getting covered by LB's to include on the final pick (blal shouldn't have been thrown, but he managed zero separation on a mediocre ILB).

And another down - the refs. This is one of those crews you dread getting in the lead-up to a game because you know they are going to insert themselves at key times.

Edited October 26, 2020 by CKSteeler

[CKSteeler]

And the only real issue I have with coaching - going for a hail marry before half instead of the FG. Yea, Tennessee is trying to take away the outside throws. By you have 14 seconds. There's enough time to hit something to get you in FG range and that's a lot smarter than heaving one into the endzone against that defense. Just moronic on everyone's part.

Those three points would have made all the difference in the end sequences of the game. There's no third pick and you can easily go up 9. Instead you end up forcing another one into the endzone to Juju who couldn't beat a LB and you give Tennessee a chance to tie/win it at the end. That was a clear take the points moment after a Tennessee mistake (essentially their only turnover of the day).

[jebrick]

Claypool had a safety over the top for most of the game.

[3rivers]

8 hours ago, CKSteeler said:

Disappointed in Juju. I see some people saying re-sign him, but he's shown next to nothing this year. Today, he was getting covered by LB's to include on the final pick (blal shouldn't have been thrown, but he managed zero separation on a mediocre ILB).

And another down - the refs. This is one of those crews you dread getting in the lead-up to a game because you know they are going to insert themselves at key times.

I never saw who was covering him, but since you did, this is going to be his last year. They will sign Watt and Dupree before JJSS if the cap is an issue and it usually is.  Too bad how it goes, but thats the nfl and has been for about 20+ years

[warfelg]

8 hours ago, CKSteeler said:

Disappointed in Juju. I see some people saying re-sign him, but he's shown next to nothing this year. Today, he was getting covered by LB's to include on the final pick (blal shouldn't have been thrown, but he managed zero separation on a mediocre ILB).

Actually he wasn't "covered by LB's".  When we put him in the slot, they were bracketing him with the cover-2 principals in the middle where the SCB was taking away his outside break, the ILB was taking away the inside break, and the safety on his hash is taking away the deep throw.  Part of the reason that we were running the ball effectively is they were keeping the 2 high safeties and not dropping them into the box, so it made those things hard.  Where Ben had to be MUCH smarter than he was is knowing that Brown is one of the best cover LB's in the NFL with great range.  When Ben threw that Brown wasn't in position, but he got there right in the middle of the zone that looked open.

The miss on that play was that Brown did drop more than he should have and Diontae Johnson was wide open because the Titans were overplaying the deep route at that time.

[MOSteelers56]

So Ben's end of the 1st half INT was certainly a down, but I gotta say, that was maybe the best ball I've seen Ben throw in 5 years. That thing was a rocket. 45 yards, hardly any loft. The ball is jumping out of his hand like he is 26 years old.

[Steelers22]

Minkah has to be a major down this game. I think it was probably his worst game as a steeler. The AJ brown play was brutal and then the holding call was terrible as well. I know a major knock on him in Miami was his tackling and he's definitely regressed from last season in that area

[CKSteeler]

14 hours ago, warfelg said:

Actually he wasn't "covered by LB's".  When we put him in the slot, they were bracketing him with the cover-2 principals in the middle where the SCB was taking away his outside break, the ILB was taking away the inside break, and the safety on his hash is taking away the deep throw.  Part of the reason that we were running the ball effectively is they were keeping the 2 high safeties and not dropping them into the box, so it made those things hard.  Where Ben had to be MUCH smarter than he was is knowing that Brown is one of the best cover LB's in the NFL with great range.  When Ben threw that Brown wasn't in position, but he got there right in the middle of the zone that looked open.

The miss on that play was that Brown did drop more than he should have and Diontae Johnson was wide open because the Titans were overplaying the deep route at that time.

This is a lot of text to say that...yes, he was being covered by a LB. And your description of the safety play makes me laugh. They were in a cover 2. The middle is typically open, and both safeties were coming late to cover Juju. It wasn't needed because Brown was on him like glue.

And that wasn't the only play in the second half where he was matched up on Brown and Brown handled him just fine.

[Dcash4]

If you are concerned about Brown covering JuJu in that instance...I really don't know what to tell you. Its an obvious 12+ yard passing down, Brown is a good coverage LB, he lines up at 7 yards off the line of scrimmage, turns to opens his hips at the 10 when JuJu is at the 16, and JuJu is even/past him at the goaline while he slips into his trail coverage. 

A better throw wins the game right then and there. A good throw allows us to kick the field goal. Ben missed where he can't miss. That's pretty much the summary of that play. 

[warfelg]

On 10/27/2020 at 9:48 AM, Dcash4 said:

If you are concerned about Brown covering JuJu in that instance...I really don't know what to tell you. Its an obvious 12+ yard passing down, Brown is a good coverage LB, he lines up at 7 yards off the line of scrimmage, turns to opens his hips at the 10 when JuJu is at the 16, and JuJu is even/past him at the goaline while he slips into his trail coverage. 

A better throw wins the game right then and there. A good throw allows us to kick the field goal. Ben missed where he can't miss. That's pretty much the summary of that play. 

And Ben even admitted if that throw were 6 inches more to the right it's a TD.  I don't know why I see it here more than anywhere else, but there seems to be an issue with giving credit to other players on other teams for making good plays at times.  Like, Brown/Vacarro/Hooker made a great play there.  The throw could have been better but I can't fault Juju at all in any way on that play.

Personally I've seen a lot of Juju "bashing" this year.  I think some people are trying to set themselves up to make comments if Juju goes elsewhere this offseason about him sucking or overpaid or something like that.  Frankly I think it's crap to throw a kid under the bus in anticipation of something that might or might not happen.

[43M]

16 hours ago, warfelg said:

And Ben even admitted if that throw were 6 inches more to the right it's a TD.  I don't know why I see it here more than anywhere else, but there seems to be an issue with giving credit to other players on other teams for making good plays at times.  Like, Brown/Vacarro/Hooker made a great play there.  The throw could have been better but I can't fault Juju at all in any way on that play.

Personally I've seen a lot of Juju "bashing" this year.  I think some people are trying to set themselves up to make comments if Juju goes elsewhere this offseason about him sucking or overpaid or something like that.  Frankly I think it's crap to throw a kid under the bus in anticipation of something that might or might not happen.

Juju is an awesome guy, and I will support him if he goes to any team outside the AFC North.

Its ridiculous to bash him.   I get perhaps questioning if he deserves top end money or if he is a true number 1, but Juju has been really good for us for the most part.   I could see him going elsewhere and lighting it up.