2021 Week Four GDT Steelers at Packers

[jebrick]

Looks like Ben could not audible out of the 4th down play.  It was called vs man coverage and they got zone.

[August4th]

Gilmore cut

I would say the steelers should take a look, but it might be pointless with this offense holding us down

[Dcash4]

It's near impossible to audible with 5 seconds left on the play-clock. Maybe Ben could have checked to a different route for someone? But whether or not he has the ability to audit doesn't much matter in that 4th down play -- there was no time to do anything. 

That was on the play call. You cant run a man beater against a zone. They had run the mesh earlier in the game and ben chucked it down the field, but had JuJu wiiiiiiiide open on the crosser. They noticed and went back to it, but the Packers, smartly, went zone on that play. Their chess beat ours. 

I'd rather talk about the 3rd down before that play. It's an RPO, which Ben proves is just a PO as he never intended to hand it off despite the coverage right over JuJu and a light box. I honestly enjoy watching Najee's reaction as he looks ahead of him and then watches the ball not come close to being completed. He knew.

JuJu doesn't even look like he knew it was a pass potential play. Not sure what he is doing....and DJ roasts his guy up too. 

[Dcash4]

Two hills I will die on: 1) your starting QB getting a weekly off-day is god awful for your team and his play 2) Extending Tomlin before the season was the wrong call

Quote

• People I've talked to in and around Pittsburgh would be shocked if Steelers coach Mike Tomlin benched Ben Roethlisberger any time soon. They've been together since 2007, and this could be a ride-or-die situation until Roethlisberger's contract expires after the season. Maybe mounting losses would change that, but there's no top-10 pick waiting to play, and the sense I get is Pittsburgh wants Dwayne Haskins to get a true redshirt year. - Fowler, ESPN

First off, I am happy about the Dwayne Haskins news. I want him to not touch a football field. Sit back, learn, mature -- come into camp next year ready to win a job. 

But with a coach who is sitting pretty with an extension, you don't feel pressure to make any changes -- even if they could help your current and future teams. At some point, if Ben is trash, you need to see Mason in live game action so you can make a decision next year. I am worried that Tomlin's relationship with Ben and his comfort with his job position will not allow him to bench the Legend and a future HOF. 

You are not going to learn about Mason without him on the field and you can't understand Matt Canada's offense and how it works in the NFL if you are barely scraping the surface of it. If Ben continues to play poorly, you need to find out about other things to help you future, otherwise you are just holding everything back. That's never an easy call for a coach, but it's an easier call to make in the wrong direction when you have stability. 

And just for the record: Me not wanting to extend Tomlin doesn't mean I didn't want or don't think he would be the coach next year -- I do. But requiring him to show a little more before committing to him? That makes 100x more sense after the last couple of seasons than it did to reward the mediocrity and disastrous/embarrassing finishes. You can't ask for changes when you reward not making any.

[cjfollett]

4 hours ago, jebrick said:

Looks like Ben could not audible out of the 4th down play.  It was called vs man coverage and they got zone.

If you have a play called that you know is not going to work, then either call timeout or let the play clock expire and take a delay penalty. I do not accept the explanation. Something is rotten in Denmark.

[jebrick]

2 hours ago, Dcash4 said:

Two hills I will die on: 1) your starting QB getting a weekly off-day is god awful for your team and his play 2) Extending Tomlin before the season was the wrong call

First off, I am happy about the Dwayne Haskins news. I want him to not touch a football field. Sit back, learn, mature -- come into camp next year ready to win a job. 

But with a coach who is sitting pretty with an extension, you don't feel pressure to make any changes -- even if they could help your current and future teams. At some point, if Ben is trash, you need to see Mason in live game action so you can make a decision next year. I am worried that Tomlin's relationship with Ben and his comfort with his job position will not allow him to bench the Legend and a future HOF. 

You are not going to learn about Mason without him on the field and you can't understand Matt Canada's offense and how it works in the NFL if you are barely scraping the surface of it. If Ben continues to play poorly, you need to find out about other things to help you future, otherwise you are just holding everything back. That's never an easy call for a coach, but it's an easier call to make in the wrong direction when you have stability. 

And just for the record: Me not wanting to extend Tomlin doesn't mean I didn't want or don't think he would be the coach next year -- I do. But requiring him to show a little more before committing to him? That makes 100x more sense after the last couple of seasons than it did to reward the mediocrity and disastrous/embarrassing finishes. You can't ask for changes when you reward not making any.

Tomlin, like Cowher, is too conservative on offense to do squat.  I do not think Ben's career would be much different under Cowher vs Tomlin.  Tomlin runs the most conservative offense in the NFL and has been or the last 5-6 years?  It would be fine if they had a running game and a powerful Oline but now it is just bad.  He is hoping Canada brings him a more modern NFL offense but he still has Ben to run it.

[Dcash4]

2 minutes ago, jebrick said:

Tomlin, like Cowher, is too conservative on offense to do squat.  I do not think Ben's career would be much different under Cowher vs Tomlin.  Tomlin runs the most conservative offense in the NFL and has been or the last 5-6 years?  It would be fine if they had a running game and a powerful Oline but now it is just bad.  He is hoping Canada brings him a more modern NFL offense but he still has Ben to run it.

I, personally, do not agree with the Tomlin conservative part. I'm just not sure I see what part of the game plan Tomlin is deciding over the years that is ultra conservative over the years. We only run 32% of the time in the first quarter. Ben has lead the league in passing attempts per game in 3 of the last 4 seasons (the one being the injury year). Until 2019, we were a top 5 in total plays per game team. 2019, Tomlin notably mentioned slowing it down, but last year and this year are hard to tell because of how bad the offense has been -- but there is reason to believe we would rank within the top 10 based on the dink and dunk style. We are one of the most heavy blitz based teams in the league (until this season).

I think Tomlin's decision making rest entirely on what side of the ball he favors more in a year. When the offense was humming during the Haley/2018 year -- Tomlin would elect to go for it on 4th and short. Times like last year and this year, those are punt situations because our defense is king. 

Really only the last 2-3 years have we been overly conservative. Part of that is Duck/Mason and the other is aging Ben/poor o-line. I don't know that it's specifically Tomlin's nature. He's shown in the past it's not. There are certain aspects of the game I think Tomlin is fully conservative in -- the return game being one -- but I don't think he is as risk adverse as is being suggested. 

[MOSteelers56]

McFarland resumed practicing. He can come off the IR anytime in the next 3 weeks. With this news, and the Banner news, I think the offense is going to start picking up. This offense can look good with an effective run game. Banner and McFarland will help that. 

[Dcash4]

7 minutes ago, MOSteelers56 said:

McFarland resumed practicing. He can come off the IR anytime in the next 3 weeks. With this news, and the Banner news, I think the offense is going to start picking up. This offense can look good with an effective run game. Banner and McFarland will help that. 

I am just excited by the idea that Najee might not play 95% of the snaps. Snell offers no help on passing downs so at least I hope McFarland can take some of that burden

[AFF]

11 minutes ago, Dcash4 said:

I am just excited by the idea that Najee might not play 95% of the snaps. Snell offers no help on passing downs so at least I hope McFarland can take some of that burden

If this is indeed a lost year, no need running Harris into the ground. 
 

With either an incoming rookie or a stopgap type vet/Rudolph the most likely starter next year, he will be needed more next year.

[Dcash4]

34 minutes ago, AFF said:

If this is indeed a lost year, no need running Harris into the ground. 
 

With either an incoming rookie or a stopgap type vet/Rudolph the most likely starter next year, he will be needed more next year.

I am actually really excited about year 2 Najee. I think he is going to go through the same body transition Bell and Connor did, actually have the offense run through him, and get a better oline. 

Still nuts to me the way Tomlin and Ben have talked about Najee just getting check downs that they haven't really decided to run things through him more and rather just let him be the garbage guy. 

[43M]

1 hour ago, AFF said:

If this is indeed a lost year, no need running Harris into the ground. 

I have a feeling youre going to be disappointed.