Chidi29
10-08-2011, 11:56 PM
We continue to show our ability to stay alive and keep games close, but in reality, Houston could've made this look a lot worse than it was. Know I'm late with the thoughts, but it's better now than never.
First Half
- Kickoffs: 3.97 (-8, TB), 3.92 (-6), 4.28 (-3)\
- On the Owen Daniels TD to kick off the scoring. Us selling out versus the run because of the circumstances, Houston having success on the first drive and being on the goalline. Hard to fault Pittsburgh here.
- Saw Cotchery on the first drive, saw him on only another play, maybe two for the rest of the game.
- Again, we see teams using a lot of window dressing in the running game. Baltimore did it Week 1 and Houston has seemed to take note. Use motion away from where you're running, but get the defense anticipating running to the motion. Cheating just a little bit is huge in a ZBS scheme that is all about finding the availabel gap, not hitting a specific pre-snap hole.
- Have to give the Texans' blocking a lot of credit. They run the zone blocking as well as anyone in the league. Lineman do an excellent job of taking angles and combo blocking and releasing to the second level. It's a tough scheme to stop.
- Give credit to Jonthan Joseph for making a big 3rd and 2 stop on Heath Miller on a little out route. Read the play, closed quickly, and wrapped up.
- I remember the last time we played the Texans, in the Week One blowout of them, there was a play where Schaub rolls to his right, Troy is right on him, and brings him down for a sack. This time around, Scaub rolls right, Troy is on him, but he fires it away to Andre Johnson for a first down (play where he got hurt). Microcosm of the game for us.
- For what it's worth, Worilds did get pressure on an inside stunt that forced an errant throw from Schaub and forced Houston to kick a field goal. Some people are down on him, but I think he's looked fine in limited action. Too bad injuries are forcing him to miss a starting opportunity.
- Heath Miller's crazy catch needs some Benny Hill music.
- Antonio Brown missed a hot read on the player right after the two minute warning. There's been miscommunication between he and Ben all year long. He's obviously an explosive guy, but I still think there's a lot of learning to do just as we saw with Wallace last year. Only now in his 3rd year do I consider Wallace to be a true threat as odd as that may sound. I still don't think Brown is that kind of threat...yet.
- For those who claim Arians don't adjust (because he runs when he should've passed or whatever oversimplified arguments are being made these days), here's a perfect example. He changed the formation on the Heath Miller out route I talked about above.
In the one that was stopped by Joseph, only Ward was to Miller's side in a very narrow split. Joseph in zone coverage was free to watch the routes unfold and watch the QB. He's already assuming underneath routes off the snap.
In the second go around, we send either Wallace or Brown far outside the numbers. This occupies Joseph. We still see Ward with a narrow split. It's just the addition of the "X" receiver to force the CB to cover deep, opening up the underneath out. Picture of the formation.
http://i52.tinypic.com/29ehkqc.jpg
- Zu, you were right about the blocked FG. Definitely falls on the feet of David Johnson. Have to pick up the inside guy. Let the outside guy with the farthest path travel to the kicker. \
Second Half
- Had both Sanders and Brown back as PR in the 3rd quarter. Looks like a high school formation or older school football (know it existed in the 70s, maybe later?).
- Wes Saunders with a nice scoop block on an Issac Redman 3rd and 2 run for a first. Still a raw, unrefined blocked as a whole though.
- Mewelde Moore apparently has the nickname "The Creeper". Worst. Nickname. Ever.
- On the 3rd and 2 draw in the red zone where we were stuffed, you can see Houston's safties rotating down late. Not much you can do about that. The Colts did the same that went a long way to help stop our running game.
- It was nice to see more success than usual this season running trap blocks with Kemoeatu on the drive that tied the game.
- Breaking down Foster's 42 yard TD run.
First thing we want to look at is what occurs pre-snap. Have 2 WR to the left with both our cornerbacks that way. So there's no CB help on the cutback side, to help keep the play inside. They motion James Casey from right to left. Timmons widens out a bit that way and off the snap. Clark comes down hard thinking/hoping the run would come that way. More window dressing as I talked about earlier.
Off the snap, Smith is blown off the ball by the slanting RT and ends up running into a cut blocked Casey Hampton. Farriro turns his hips to attack an inside run, and once he does that, Owen Daniels gives him a nice jolt to knock him off balance and essentially take him out of the play. Woodley's contain looks fine, we saw him do that a few times before so that's likely the way they coach it. Defends the rollout and attempts to keep the back inside (with no corner help, you can't let the RB get the edge so you play a little wider).
Again, it's tough not to chalk it up to a nice run by the Texans and another example of the trouble ZBS' have given us in the past. At least it doesn't seem like we face one for awhile.
- McClendon with snaps at DE. He'll be doing that again this Sunday.
- Personally, I think Harrison will only be out two weeks. Tough guy obviously and Darren McFadden missed only 18 days when he suffered the same injury in August.
- Antonio Brown with another big punt return late in the 4th quarter just as he did against Indy. Becoming a weapon at PR, something we've lacked in recent years.
- We tried running the same post play to Wallace that scored against Indy with 3:31 left in the 4th quarter. Only difference is that it came from right to left instead of left to right. David Johnson on the DE; it showed that blocking Mario Williams and Jamaal Anderson are two different things. I think Ben got a little happy feet from all the pressure and took his eyes off the field once he felt the rush. Wallace was open. I'm sure we'll go back to this play as often as we do with 22 double in the run game.
- Credit to Houston's special teams for pinning us deep multiple times, forcng a struggling offense to try and put together long drives.
- One thought to consider about our run defense. I think and have said in the past all of our CBs are solid against the run, you have to be in Dick LeBeau's scheme, but we're missing Bryant McFadden. Truly one of the best in the league against the run even in temrs of intensity and physicality something that goes a long way in run defense.
- Chris Kemoeatu also got beat on swim moves in addition to the usual bull rush. Not moving as well laterally, likely because he's been bothered by the knee/leg injuries. These are becoming chronic ahd have plagued him since the beginning of last year if not earlier. Still rememebr after the Titans game he said how he played through with a knee and ankle sprain. Tough dude but there becomes a point where your body wears down playing a physical position like guard.
Sacks
Buckle your seatbelts, people. Going to be a long read.
- 3rd and 10, :50 left in 1st. 10 personnel, shotgun. Playclock goes down to one second on an obvious passing down. Connor Barwin able to get a great jump on Trai Essex. On Ben for letting the clock run dow. You're not doing an unathletic line any favors.
- 2nd and 10, 13:29 left in 2nd. 11 personnel. Houston brings four. Very similar to Mathis' sack vs Indy. Gilbert pushes the end upfield as he's taught, but there's no one open and Williams is eventually able to track down Ben. Wish we could've gotten someone open since we sent four or five guys on routes but like Indy, throwing lanes are tough when a team can rush four, drop seven, and still get pressure.
One other possibility to consider is Chris Kemoeatu getting beat on a swim move that collapsed the pocket and forced Ben to roll out. If he stays in the pocket, Mario doesn't get to him. So I'll put half of the blame on the receivers and half on Chris.
- 2nd and 2, 11:20 left in 4th. 21 personnel. Two Texans hang up to bring Ben down. Kemoeatu looked very indecisive on the play. DE Smith crahses hard to the inside, Pouncey comes down to stop him from shooting through. Kemo leaves the double team on Smith to pick up the stunt but then looks back at Smith. Ends up not picking up a soul. Essex is beat around the dge by Mario Williams. Barely got his hands on him. Bleh. Half of Kemo, half on Essex.
- 2nd and 10, 7:06 left in 4th. Things get worse. Shotgun, 11 personnel. Texans send six. A lot going on here and it is tough to process, but we're missing the simplies pre-snap reads. But first, everything else that happened. The DL shift to the strong side and the safties roll down. One is sitting in the -A gap. Stunt by Watt collapses the pocket, and Antonio Smith gets under Pouncey to sack Ben. I actually think Pouncey bumped in Moore picking up Watt and that's what sprung Smith for the sack.
Back to the stunt. This should have been recognized right away. Two basic tells.
Antonio Smith's stagger.
DL alignment.
Let's start with the stagger because to me, that's what you see right away.
Normally, his left foot is behind his right.
http://i56.tinypic.com/zmfe6h.jpg
He's the NT, second from the bottom. You see this stagger on nearly every play.
On the sack, here is how his feet is positioned.
http://i52.tinypic.com/20i6skp.jpg
Right behind lefft. Tell tale sign of some sort of stunt happen. Which is what goes on. It makes sense that Smith's right foot is behind his left because he crahses hard to his left off the snap and it makes more sense to push off with your right foot than your left when crashing to your left. This should tell Pouncey and the rest of the line that the loop is going to come towards that area, by Pouncey (which is what happens).
Ideally, both Foster and Pouncey pinch to stop Smith from crashing and getting penetration and then Pouncey can peel off for the stunt. Look at where Foster has his eyes off the snap.
http://i55.tinypic.com/50pk68.jpg
He's lucky the safety wasn't blitzing or odds are, he gets right through.
Anyway, the point is there needs to be communication and dual recognition on stunts. If one guy sees it and the other doesn't, the play will still fail. The frustrating thing is that we had done a pretty good job of picking up the same stunt times before; this should have been routine.
You can tell something is up since the DL are from the -A gap over. There's a big space between Pouncey and Kemoeatu. Antonio Smith is lined up over center, something he doesn't often do.
I mean, we saw this last year in the Super Bowl.
http://i52.tinypic.com/r2nnuh.jpg
Cullen Jenkins in a spot he usually isn't in, different stagger of feet, and the other side of the line being vacated by lineman with their hands down.
At this point, I'm just venting and angerily rambling because it is the details like this that are the real keys of the game.
- 3rd and 21, 6:10 left in 4th. Empty set. Vanilla four man rush. Gilbert killed by Wiliams off edge, who was able to rush with his hand down just like old times.
Sack Counter (Game)
Ben Roethlisberger: 1
Marcus Gilbert: 1
Chris Kemoeatu: 1
Ramon Foster: .5
Maurkice Pouncey: .5
Wide receivers: .5
Trai Essex: .5
Yes, that's every starting lineman being blamed for a sack.
Sack Counter (Season)
Ben Roethlisberger: 4
Jonathan Scott: 1.5
Wide receivers: 1.5
Bruce Arians: 1
Good defensive scheme: 1
Marcus Gilbert: 1
Chris Kemoeatu: 1
Willie Colon: .5
Ramon Foster: .5
Trai Essex: .5
Maurkice Pouncey: .5
Injuries
Too many to list. Kemoeatu out with leg, Harrison with orbital fracture, Worilds with a groin, McFadden still out, Aaron Smith with a foot, Hampton with a shoulder, Moore with an ankle. Ben will play, Mendenhall game time decision.
Not sure what the DL will look like. Hood, Keisel, Hoke starting. Heyward and McClendon as backups. Do we call up someone from the PS like Corbin Bryant? Can't see having just two backup DL. It's not like we'll be using a ton of sub packages against the Titans.
First Half
- Kickoffs: 3.97 (-8, TB), 3.92 (-6), 4.28 (-3)\
- On the Owen Daniels TD to kick off the scoring. Us selling out versus the run because of the circumstances, Houston having success on the first drive and being on the goalline. Hard to fault Pittsburgh here.
- Saw Cotchery on the first drive, saw him on only another play, maybe two for the rest of the game.
- Again, we see teams using a lot of window dressing in the running game. Baltimore did it Week 1 and Houston has seemed to take note. Use motion away from where you're running, but get the defense anticipating running to the motion. Cheating just a little bit is huge in a ZBS scheme that is all about finding the availabel gap, not hitting a specific pre-snap hole.
- Have to give the Texans' blocking a lot of credit. They run the zone blocking as well as anyone in the league. Lineman do an excellent job of taking angles and combo blocking and releasing to the second level. It's a tough scheme to stop.
- Give credit to Jonthan Joseph for making a big 3rd and 2 stop on Heath Miller on a little out route. Read the play, closed quickly, and wrapped up.
- I remember the last time we played the Texans, in the Week One blowout of them, there was a play where Schaub rolls to his right, Troy is right on him, and brings him down for a sack. This time around, Scaub rolls right, Troy is on him, but he fires it away to Andre Johnson for a first down (play where he got hurt). Microcosm of the game for us.
- For what it's worth, Worilds did get pressure on an inside stunt that forced an errant throw from Schaub and forced Houston to kick a field goal. Some people are down on him, but I think he's looked fine in limited action. Too bad injuries are forcing him to miss a starting opportunity.
- Heath Miller's crazy catch needs some Benny Hill music.
- Antonio Brown missed a hot read on the player right after the two minute warning. There's been miscommunication between he and Ben all year long. He's obviously an explosive guy, but I still think there's a lot of learning to do just as we saw with Wallace last year. Only now in his 3rd year do I consider Wallace to be a true threat as odd as that may sound. I still don't think Brown is that kind of threat...yet.
- For those who claim Arians don't adjust (because he runs when he should've passed or whatever oversimplified arguments are being made these days), here's a perfect example. He changed the formation on the Heath Miller out route I talked about above.
In the one that was stopped by Joseph, only Ward was to Miller's side in a very narrow split. Joseph in zone coverage was free to watch the routes unfold and watch the QB. He's already assuming underneath routes off the snap.
In the second go around, we send either Wallace or Brown far outside the numbers. This occupies Joseph. We still see Ward with a narrow split. It's just the addition of the "X" receiver to force the CB to cover deep, opening up the underneath out. Picture of the formation.
http://i52.tinypic.com/29ehkqc.jpg
- Zu, you were right about the blocked FG. Definitely falls on the feet of David Johnson. Have to pick up the inside guy. Let the outside guy with the farthest path travel to the kicker. \
Second Half
- Had both Sanders and Brown back as PR in the 3rd quarter. Looks like a high school formation or older school football (know it existed in the 70s, maybe later?).
- Wes Saunders with a nice scoop block on an Issac Redman 3rd and 2 run for a first. Still a raw, unrefined blocked as a whole though.
- Mewelde Moore apparently has the nickname "The Creeper". Worst. Nickname. Ever.
- On the 3rd and 2 draw in the red zone where we were stuffed, you can see Houston's safties rotating down late. Not much you can do about that. The Colts did the same that went a long way to help stop our running game.
- It was nice to see more success than usual this season running trap blocks with Kemoeatu on the drive that tied the game.
- Breaking down Foster's 42 yard TD run.
First thing we want to look at is what occurs pre-snap. Have 2 WR to the left with both our cornerbacks that way. So there's no CB help on the cutback side, to help keep the play inside. They motion James Casey from right to left. Timmons widens out a bit that way and off the snap. Clark comes down hard thinking/hoping the run would come that way. More window dressing as I talked about earlier.
Off the snap, Smith is blown off the ball by the slanting RT and ends up running into a cut blocked Casey Hampton. Farriro turns his hips to attack an inside run, and once he does that, Owen Daniels gives him a nice jolt to knock him off balance and essentially take him out of the play. Woodley's contain looks fine, we saw him do that a few times before so that's likely the way they coach it. Defends the rollout and attempts to keep the back inside (with no corner help, you can't let the RB get the edge so you play a little wider).
Again, it's tough not to chalk it up to a nice run by the Texans and another example of the trouble ZBS' have given us in the past. At least it doesn't seem like we face one for awhile.
- McClendon with snaps at DE. He'll be doing that again this Sunday.
- Personally, I think Harrison will only be out two weeks. Tough guy obviously and Darren McFadden missed only 18 days when he suffered the same injury in August.
- Antonio Brown with another big punt return late in the 4th quarter just as he did against Indy. Becoming a weapon at PR, something we've lacked in recent years.
- We tried running the same post play to Wallace that scored against Indy with 3:31 left in the 4th quarter. Only difference is that it came from right to left instead of left to right. David Johnson on the DE; it showed that blocking Mario Williams and Jamaal Anderson are two different things. I think Ben got a little happy feet from all the pressure and took his eyes off the field once he felt the rush. Wallace was open. I'm sure we'll go back to this play as often as we do with 22 double in the run game.
- Credit to Houston's special teams for pinning us deep multiple times, forcng a struggling offense to try and put together long drives.
- One thought to consider about our run defense. I think and have said in the past all of our CBs are solid against the run, you have to be in Dick LeBeau's scheme, but we're missing Bryant McFadden. Truly one of the best in the league against the run even in temrs of intensity and physicality something that goes a long way in run defense.
- Chris Kemoeatu also got beat on swim moves in addition to the usual bull rush. Not moving as well laterally, likely because he's been bothered by the knee/leg injuries. These are becoming chronic ahd have plagued him since the beginning of last year if not earlier. Still rememebr after the Titans game he said how he played through with a knee and ankle sprain. Tough dude but there becomes a point where your body wears down playing a physical position like guard.
Sacks
Buckle your seatbelts, people. Going to be a long read.
- 3rd and 10, :50 left in 1st. 10 personnel, shotgun. Playclock goes down to one second on an obvious passing down. Connor Barwin able to get a great jump on Trai Essex. On Ben for letting the clock run dow. You're not doing an unathletic line any favors.
- 2nd and 10, 13:29 left in 2nd. 11 personnel. Houston brings four. Very similar to Mathis' sack vs Indy. Gilbert pushes the end upfield as he's taught, but there's no one open and Williams is eventually able to track down Ben. Wish we could've gotten someone open since we sent four or five guys on routes but like Indy, throwing lanes are tough when a team can rush four, drop seven, and still get pressure.
One other possibility to consider is Chris Kemoeatu getting beat on a swim move that collapsed the pocket and forced Ben to roll out. If he stays in the pocket, Mario doesn't get to him. So I'll put half of the blame on the receivers and half on Chris.
- 2nd and 2, 11:20 left in 4th. 21 personnel. Two Texans hang up to bring Ben down. Kemoeatu looked very indecisive on the play. DE Smith crahses hard to the inside, Pouncey comes down to stop him from shooting through. Kemo leaves the double team on Smith to pick up the stunt but then looks back at Smith. Ends up not picking up a soul. Essex is beat around the dge by Mario Williams. Barely got his hands on him. Bleh. Half of Kemo, half on Essex.
- 2nd and 10, 7:06 left in 4th. Things get worse. Shotgun, 11 personnel. Texans send six. A lot going on here and it is tough to process, but we're missing the simplies pre-snap reads. But first, everything else that happened. The DL shift to the strong side and the safties roll down. One is sitting in the -A gap. Stunt by Watt collapses the pocket, and Antonio Smith gets under Pouncey to sack Ben. I actually think Pouncey bumped in Moore picking up Watt and that's what sprung Smith for the sack.
Back to the stunt. This should have been recognized right away. Two basic tells.
Antonio Smith's stagger.
DL alignment.
Let's start with the stagger because to me, that's what you see right away.
Normally, his left foot is behind his right.
http://i56.tinypic.com/zmfe6h.jpg
He's the NT, second from the bottom. You see this stagger on nearly every play.
On the sack, here is how his feet is positioned.
http://i52.tinypic.com/20i6skp.jpg
Right behind lefft. Tell tale sign of some sort of stunt happen. Which is what goes on. It makes sense that Smith's right foot is behind his left because he crahses hard to his left off the snap and it makes more sense to push off with your right foot than your left when crashing to your left. This should tell Pouncey and the rest of the line that the loop is going to come towards that area, by Pouncey (which is what happens).
Ideally, both Foster and Pouncey pinch to stop Smith from crashing and getting penetration and then Pouncey can peel off for the stunt. Look at where Foster has his eyes off the snap.
http://i55.tinypic.com/50pk68.jpg
He's lucky the safety wasn't blitzing or odds are, he gets right through.
Anyway, the point is there needs to be communication and dual recognition on stunts. If one guy sees it and the other doesn't, the play will still fail. The frustrating thing is that we had done a pretty good job of picking up the same stunt times before; this should have been routine.
You can tell something is up since the DL are from the -A gap over. There's a big space between Pouncey and Kemoeatu. Antonio Smith is lined up over center, something he doesn't often do.
I mean, we saw this last year in the Super Bowl.
http://i52.tinypic.com/r2nnuh.jpg
Cullen Jenkins in a spot he usually isn't in, different stagger of feet, and the other side of the line being vacated by lineman with their hands down.
At this point, I'm just venting and angerily rambling because it is the details like this that are the real keys of the game.
- 3rd and 21, 6:10 left in 4th. Empty set. Vanilla four man rush. Gilbert killed by Wiliams off edge, who was able to rush with his hand down just like old times.
Sack Counter (Game)
Ben Roethlisberger: 1
Marcus Gilbert: 1
Chris Kemoeatu: 1
Ramon Foster: .5
Maurkice Pouncey: .5
Wide receivers: .5
Trai Essex: .5
Yes, that's every starting lineman being blamed for a sack.
Sack Counter (Season)
Ben Roethlisberger: 4
Jonathan Scott: 1.5
Wide receivers: 1.5
Bruce Arians: 1
Good defensive scheme: 1
Marcus Gilbert: 1
Chris Kemoeatu: 1
Willie Colon: .5
Ramon Foster: .5
Trai Essex: .5
Maurkice Pouncey: .5
Injuries
Too many to list. Kemoeatu out with leg, Harrison with orbital fracture, Worilds with a groin, McFadden still out, Aaron Smith with a foot, Hampton with a shoulder, Moore with an ankle. Ben will play, Mendenhall game time decision.
Not sure what the DL will look like. Hood, Keisel, Hoke starting. Heyward and McClendon as backups. Do we call up someone from the PS like Corbin Bryant? Can't see having just two backup DL. It's not like we'll be using a ton of sub packages against the Titans.