2022 GDT Da Steelers 2-6 Host Da Saints 3-6

[DR43]

My Current Mock:

1. Kelee Ringo Georgia CB

2a. Siaki Ika Baylor NT

2b. Olumuyiwa Fashanu Penn State OT

3. Cedric Tillman Tennessee WR

4. Justin Flowe Oregon ILB

7a. Warren McClendon Georgia OT

7b. Julian Fleming Ohio State WR

[warfelg]

 

[bigben07MVP]

5 hours ago, 43M said:

Im encouraged by some stuff I saw today, but its another rather meaningless win that doesn't move the needle whatsoever.   Just a bad team beating another bad team.   With TJ back, our defense will keep us in more games and we will likely win more than we should.   A 7+ win season does nothing but hurt us.  

TJ was awesome in his return. Kazee as well is nice to have back. Those two guys energized the defense. Najee ran a little better, it’s rare we see him hit 5 ypc. Pickens is a stud who still needs more targets.

Other than that there was not much to be encouraged by. It was the same team we saw before the bye. Pickett was shaky at best imo. Only difference is we got to play against Andy Dalton and a team who beat themselves with penalties all game.

[bigben07MVP]

4 hours ago, DR43 said:

My Current Mock:

1. Kelee Ringo Georgia CB

2a. Siaki Ika Baylor NT

2b. Olumuyiwa Fashanu Penn State OT

3. Cedric Tillman Tennessee WR

4. Justin Flowe Oregon ILB

7a. Warren McClendon Georgia OT

7b. Julian Fleming Ohio State WR

Do we need to use a top 40 pick in a 350lb+ NT? I’d rather find a Bush, Dotson, or eventual Heyward replacement with that pick. 

[43M]

31 minutes ago, bigben07MVP said:

TJ was awesome in his return. Kazee as well is nice to have back. Those two guys energized the defense. Najee ran a little better, it’s rare we see him hit 5 ypc. Pickens is a stud who still needs more targets.

Other than that there was not much to be encouraged by. It was the same team we saw before the bye. Pickett was shaky at best imo. Only difference is we got to play against Andy Dalton and a team who beat themselves with penalties all game.

Najee can be effective when the openings are there.   He isnt going to create a ton by himself, but if we can improve our run blocking, at the very least, we should have a guy than can give us 4 YPC.    Thing is, you can find backs like that later in the draft.

Im liking what Im seeing with Friermuth and Pickens being more involved.   Pickett needs work, but he again showed enough to where Im cautiously optimistic for next year....pending we do more than just make little tweaks.

What does everyone think about Josh McDaniels for OC?   He is an awful HC but could he be a good fit to develop Kenny?   Not championing him or anything, but pretty much any experienced OC we likely have a chance at will have blemishes and grey areas.    Should McD be on the short list if/when the Raiders inevitably fire him?

[Squanchy]

Mcdaniels will be on the Pats staff within days of his firing. 

[bigben07MVP]

8 hours ago, 43M said:

Najee can be effective when the openings are there.   He isnt going to create a ton by himself, but if we can improve our run blocking, at the very least, we should have a guy than can give us 4 YPC.    Thing is, you can find backs like that later in the draft.

Im liking what Im seeing with Friermuth and Pickens being more involved.   Pickett needs work, but he again showed enough to where Im cautiously optimistic for next year....pending we do more than just make little tweaks.

What does everyone think about Josh McDaniels for OC?   He is an awful HC but could he be a good fit to develop Kenny?   Not championing him or anything, but pretty much any experienced OC we likely have a chance at will have blemishes and grey areas.    Should McD be on the short list if/when the Raiders inevitably fire him?

McDaniels would be a Haley type hire. Not great from a vibes perspective but such a massive upgrade in knowledge, scheme, and experience from Canada I would be happy with it.

Edited November 14, 2022 by bigben07MVP

[bigben07MVP]

7 hours ago, Squanchy said:

Mcdaniels will be on the Pats staff within days of his firing. 

Very good chance you’re right but there’s a small chance he would take a job elsewhere now that Brady is out of town imo.

[jebrick]

I was impressed that the PA was working well.  I am totally unimpressed with Lenny's accuracy.  He is tending to throw high.  His deep throws suck. 

 

I think the Steelers removed the chip from his shoulder and now we will have a neutered QB.   And he needs to learn to throw guys open.

[warfelg]

12 minutes ago, jebrick said:

He is tending to throw high

He was back to throwing off his back foot again.  Not stepping into throws.  He’s going to need to work on that in the offseason.

I will say that was definitively one of the worst games I’ve ever seen him play from a ball placement standpoint.  He’s really going through the bad in the evolution to go from throwing to open players to throwing players open.  

That said, there were also a ton of good throws.  The deep ball to DJ was a good throw, and while it needed to be aired out a little more and could have been a walk in TD; it was one of those you could tell Pickett did not expect DJ to out run the ball that much.  The throw to Najee was on the money, and I would argue if that were a WR or Muth, that’s a TD 99/100 times.

I’ll add too: NO’s DB’s were grabby and high hitters.  It’s likely good that Pickett was throwing high, because I think a low throw or two would have lead to someone getting hit in the head worse than Najee got.  I think (and not saying this was intentional from KP to throw high) the inconsistent flags of defenseless WR and hits to the head factors in.  

[bigben07MVP]

This was one of the good Kenny throws. Really wanted Najee to come down with this one to cement what was otherwise a really solid day for him.

[bigben07MVP]

Couldn’t tell watching it live if Kenny missed anyone here. Turns out he completely missed DJ for a TD.

[warfelg]

Dave often makes a lot of great points, but he’s dead wrong here.  First off the LB is leveraging this perfectly, meaning Kenny doesn’t just have a horizontal window, but he’s got a vertical window.  On top of that the MOF safety makes that a highly risky throw. If you look at the 0:04 mark you can see the safety hasn’t moved off his mark, so if Kenny rips it with the right trajectory at Pickett, that gives the MOF safety time to get there.  

To me the miss is not seeing the back shoulder throw to Muth at the right pylon.  You got what you want in Matthiau having to go over the natural pick that Pickens gives you.  That gets Matthiau too upfield with no help. At the near 0:05 mark if Kenny lets it rip at the GL pylon you got 6’5” Muth stopping to reach back with a 5’9” Matthieu playing over coverage because of the pick.

The double clutch lets the DT beat Dodson to the inside (who frankly lost his base and deserved to get beat) taking Kenny off the read and needing to move. Kenny needs to bank away that spinning out to his left is not the move to make, because if he goes right he can still make the throw.

Partially here’s what I put on coaching:

Coaching needs to tell Kenny that as soon as he sees that natural pick work (you can tell his primary was Pickens) he needs to shift to that guy as he will be wide open.  He didn’t see it.  He stared down Pickens.  That tells me he knows our playbook, but he’s not being shown how to play the defense off of that.  

Partially here’s what I put on Kenny:

He needs to learn to pull the trigger when he sees something.  I think sometimes he things he’s seeing something open, and it is, but he’s double clutching.  I think he’s too in his own mind of ‘protect the ball’.  He needs to learn to know his escape lanes better.  He spins out to the 2-v-2 side where the Saints have the advantage, rather than rolling away from the pressure to the 3-v-2 side where he’s got numbers in blockers.  There almost seems to be a disconnect in the protection schemes vs what Kenny takes.  Makes me wonder if the OL is making protection adjustments without Kenny’s presnap inputs.

[jebrick]

Just now, bigben07MVP said:

Couldn’t tell watching it live if Kenny missed anyone here. Turns out he completely missed DJ for a TD.

I think he is hearing footsteps that are not there.  Or, as Mark Schlereth said, he needs to learn to throw when the receivers are NFL open not college open.  Hopefully he gains this with experience.  As i have said, Ben's rookie season ruined me for expectations for QBs.  Ben was making those throws where only his WR could catch them.  He also had Plax and Ward

[warfelg]

3 minutes ago, bigben07MVP said:

Couldn’t tell watching it live if Kenny missed anyone here. Turns out he completely missed DJ for a TD.

Actual good play design too.  But, I can’t tell if the Saints are in zone or man.  The LBs half flow with Muth as if its zone, but the 3 primary defenders are playing man.  If Warren goes out, that LB that ends up getting there likely stays shallow, meaning Kenny still has the chance to hit Muth on the cross (not that it makes missing DJ ok).  Issue is with both DJ and Muth in the same area, and Pickens not beating his man (playing 12 yards off) the MOF safety did not have to leave his spot at all.  Kenny had no chance to look off the safety and give him that clear as day window he was looking for.