Steelers Christmas Classics: Week 15 GDT vs Pats

[August4th]

only way I see us stopping gronk in a rematch is keeping him off the field.. we would of won this if the offense killed the clock with 4 minutes to go...think that drive could of lasted longer if we had AB .. oh well

[jofos]

6 minutes ago, August4th said:

only way I see us stopping gronk in a rematch is keeping him off the field.. we would of won this if the offense killed the clock with 4 minutes to go...think that drive could of lasted longer if we had AB .. oh well

You guys did a great job of keeping the Patriot offense on the sideline except for the late three and out and that was the difference. And as a Patriot fan if AB wouldn't have gotten hurt keeping the Patriots on the sideline wouldn't have mattered. I hope we have a better plan if we see you guys again.

[Chieferific]

2 hours ago, August4th said:

such a stupid rule... james obv had control of the ball and was reaching to score... seeing the replay is triggering me lol at worse that's a freaking fumble

Exactly, just like a RB when he reaches over and the ball crosses the goaline but get knocked out afterwards. The play was over. TD. As a receiver, what does it matter what happens when he hits the ground if he had control of it when he crossed? Such a dumb/inconsistent rule

[3rivers]

1 hour ago, Chieferific said:

Exactly, just like a RB when he reaches over and the ball crosses the goaline but get knocked out afterwards. The play was over. TD. As a receiver, what does it matter what happens when he hits the ground if he had control of it when he crossed? Such a dumb/inconsistent rule

the league needs help doesn't it. First you have Goodell and his salary, then there is the catch rule that my avatar tries to simplify

[Shady Slim]

fwiw going for the pass play and not clocking was haley's override in to the mic as ben wanted to spike

[JustPlainNasty]

On to Houston.... 

Blame whoever you want. They finally had a great game plan for the Pats. Pittsburgh had a great controlled offense the entire game. I was happy to see how they handled the Pats Offense for most of the game, they got good pressure on Brady consistently. Save for not being more aggressive with 3 minutes + left, everything else was pretty damn good. Way more ups than downs for the first time in many years vs this team. They did all of this without the league MVP. We all saw how the Pats and Brady did last week without Gronk. 

The most encouraging thing for me is that they did this without Haden. The main thing I wanted to get from this game was to see if Brady was going to pick them apart and sit back there all comfortable all day. I don't think he did either and they didn't really run on us as well. Honestly before this game I hoped they won but what I really wanted was to see them not allow what i stated before. Im very encouraged, even if it has to go to Gillette. All I have to say Im a huge Bills fan next week cause that 1st seed  is still very much available and that Pats team looks extremely vulnerable, and if that doesnt happen, no big deal. On to Houston...

 

[JustPlainNasty]

I will say this .. it is interesting that the ground can't cause a fumble, but it can cause a catch to be incomplete? 

[jebrick]

4 hours ago, Shady Slim said:

fwiw going for the pass play and not clocking was haley's override in to the mic as ben wanted to spike

Ben admitted that he lost track of downs and thought it was 4th down.

[warfelg]

So I'll so everything I can to find this tweet chain again, but the guy had a great point:

He said the ref's choice of words of "not surviving the ground" was the biggest misapplication here.  The guy asks here "what part didn't survive" the contact to the ground.  Can you definitively prove that the ball touched the ground?  He argues no, because you can see James's right hand get under the ball, and in the back "skycam" angle you can see after his right hand rolls under he pulls it into his body.

So this guy argues that the ref's in game unclear wording leads to the issue here in that it makes it unclear what exactly he did.  He talked about how in another game this past weekend there was a similar thing where the players hand rolled under, the ball moved, and it was called a complete pass.

In the end his point was that the wording "not surviving the ground" leads the refs to have a lot of leeway in what they can call game to game, and that it's hit a tipping point.  They talked about how they need to get about 15 ex-players from long retired to just recently, and have them sit with the competition committee and explain what exactly is and isn't a catch and what happened that it was or wasn't.

They said to then use that wording in the rule.

His big one was at the endzone, if you catch the ball, get 1 knee + 2nd knee/elbow/hip down, that the play is considered over as long as you have complete control by the time that is all down and doesn't matter touched or not.  In the field of play, if he's touched when a knee is down it's complete as long as he has complete control before the ground can dislodge it.

Basically his point was in a catch the ground is a 12th defender, but when you are a runner it is not, and that inconsistency is what hurts the credibility of the "surviving the ground" rule.

[43M]

2 hours ago, JustPlainNasty said:

I will say this .. it is interesting that the ground can't cause a fumble, but it can cause a catch to be incomplete? 

Well, only if the supposed process of the catch isnt completed.

The entire "process of the catch" thing is the biggest issue IMO.    No one is going to convince me that Jesse James didnt establish possession.   He quite clearly caught the ball and made a football move by reaching a ball that was firmly in his hands over the goal line, and it absolutely should have been a TD.    Based on the terribly written and implemented rule, I suppose it was called right, but even that isnt entirely clear....and thats the problem.    The only reason Im not too mad is because its something that can affect any team.    The fact that it hurt us in the biggest game of the year is what really bothers me.....when stupid NFL rules and poor officiating determine a game, its never good.   Not that the officiating was all that bad last night, but the entire game was marred by the terrible rule.

[VigilantZombie]

The problem is he was already on the ground when the ball cross the goal line therefore it should have been a touchdown he didn't lose control until he actually hit the ground with the ball but he was already on the ground he had already established control as soon as the ball crosses the goal line is a touchdown by rule

[1ForTheThumb]

9 hours ago, Magnus-Viktor said:

Btw, if the Steelers had just 1 of Brown, Shazier or Haden, this is a blowout.  You're talking the best WR in the NFL, arguably the best LB, and a great CB.  It's amazing the Steelers were even in the game with so many handcuffs put on them.

I mean, the Patriots were without Edelman, Hogan, Cannon, Van Noy, Hightower, etc. It's the NFL. At this point in the season, a huge part is of success is health. It's crucial to make a deep run.

Good game guys. That offense was giving the Patriots headaches all night. 3rd down conversion after 3rd down conversion. It's going to be one hell of a rematch, because we all know it's coming.

[iothar]

9 hours ago, Chieferific said:

Exactly, just like a RB when he reaches over and the ball crosses the goaline but get knocked out afterwards. The play was over. TD. As a receiver, what does it matter what happens when he hits the ground if he had control of it when he crossed? Such a dumb/inconsistent rule

It does if he has never established himself as having possession.

 

Regardless, Pitt should have won that game. Juju and bell gashed the Patriots minus AB. I almost felt like the Steelers played better without AB because Bell just couldn't be stopped.

[Neumatic]

2 hours ago, FourThreeMafia said:

Well, only if the supposed process of the catch isnt completed.

The entire "process of the catch" thing is the biggest issue IMO.    No one is going to convince me that Jesse James didnt establish possession.   He quite clearly caught the ball and made a football move by reaching a ball that was firmly in his hands over the goal line, and it absolutely should have been a TD.    Based on the terribly written and implemented rule, I suppose it was called right, but even that isnt entirely clear....and thats the problem.    The only reason Im not too mad is because its something that can affect any team.    The fact that it hurt us in the biggest game of the year is what really bothers me.....when stupid NFL rules and poor officiating determine a game, its never good.   Not that the officiating was all that bad last night, but the entire game was marred by the terrible rule.

Pretty much this. By the rules sure not a TD, but there’s nothing you can say to convince me that should not have been a TD. The rule is flawed and I hate every time it is said “you have to survive the ground”. If you have clear possession of the ball and break the plane then it’s a TD in my eyes and the play is over.

It’s a dumb rule that ultimately effected the game. Outside of that I thought it was a good game. Compared to a lot of others the officiating was good, nothing really jumped out as awful. Which is a nice change of pace.

[43M]

11 hours ago, August4th said:

only way I see us stopping gronk in a rematch is keeping him off the field.. we would of won this if the offense killed the clock with 4 minutes to go...think that drive could of lasted longer if we had AB .. oh well

We need to milk the clock to keep their offense off the field altogether, much like we did tonight.

I really hope they activate Brian Allen and maybe give him a chance vs Gronk.   I realize that may be a asking alot of a rookie, but we dont seem to have better options.    Sean Davis is completely awful...and no, its not just based on his vs Gronk.   Dude has terrible instincts and I really hope they look into replacing both starting safeties this offseason, because I cant take another season of these two bums.