Game goats and ball vs Ravens

[Steel Peon]

And yes, I worded that in the wrong order on purpose, because I'm going goats out first. Plus,I'm in the middle of doing what the offense did today (rhymes with baking a fritter), so I might as well start this, so here goats.

Goats: The whole offense, Haley and Ben included, plus Tomlin. Honorable goats goes to Mike Mitchell who might be our worst saftey in 20 years, and our STs coach who acts drunk.

Ball: Harrison outperformed most of his fellow defense men who are 15 years or more younger than him.

[WCSteeler]

Game ball Artie Burns and Shazier, Goats....take your pick

[st33lersguy]

Balls: Artie and Shazier

Goats: Everyone else, chief of all the entire coaching staff

[86WARD]

Burns and Jarvis Jones. Goats are the coaching staff.

[86WARD]

Ben is a goat too. He's been horrible on the road. He's been Johnny Manziel horrible.

[steelerdude15]

My game balls go to Artie, James, Jordan and Ryan.

Artie had his first interception of his career, which also was the Steelers' first interception by a defensive back this season. He also did a good job of covering receivers at times. I think he can be really good in the future.

James had a pretty good game. He sacked Flacco and also stripped Flacco of the ball on a separate play. We didn't recover the ball, but it was nice to see James make a couple of plays today.

Other than his first punt, Jordan had some great punts. One punt went for 61 yards, another went for 56 yards.

Ryan made a couple of nice plays as well including hitting the Raven's running back and causing a fumble. He also had a nice stop on 3rd down.

The goats are plenty. Todd Haley, Sean Davis, Mike Mitchell, Sammie Coates, and Ben.

I think this was the worst game Todd has called. None of us understood why the Steelers were calling conservative running plays on 3rd down and long against the 4th best rush defense. It didn't make any sense. Also, continuing to run Le'Veon up the middle after he was continuing to get shut down by the Raven's defense didn't make any sense either. I'm also tired of the long bombs on 3rd and short. Why not try to go for the first down and keep the drive going?

I have to say Sean is a goat because of what happened when we had the punt blocked. If he blocks the Raven who made the play, even chipping him at the line of scrimmage, the punt isn't blocked. If this is a design flaw in the play where Sean wouldn't block the Raven, then the blame goes to Danny Smith.

I don't understand Mike. There are times where he can really bash someone with a huge hit, then today, he screwed up on two different plays that resulted in a big gain and a separate touchdown. I think the first one was against Steve Smith and the second one was against Mike Wallace that resulted in the touchdown. Instead of trying to wrap up the receiver around the core or legs, he tried to go high around the shoulders and didn't make the play. Poor fundamentals that resulted in positive plays for the Ravens.

One of the biggest issues about Sammie coming out of college was that he had issues with catching. It still is an issue now. There was a long bomb where it looked like it was a little overthrown, but he didn't try diving or even putting his hands out to make the catch. Also, it would have been nice if he caught the long pass from Ben in the endzone to make it 21-14 with over 4 minutes left in the game.

I don't know if Ben should even be a goat, but he didn't play well today. We all should know that when he comes back from injury, he doesn't play well. That's kinda why I don't want to give him the goat, but he missed a few easy throws today and just seemed off. I know that he wasn't fully practicing this week either, but some of the throws he still should have made.

[Shoes]

And yes, I worded that in the wrong order on purpose, because I'm going goats out first. Plus,I'm in the middle of doing what the offense did today (rhymes with baking a fritter), so I might as well start this, so here goats.

Goats: The whole offense, Haley and Ben included, plus Tomlin. Honorable goats goes to Mike Mitchell who might be our worst saftey in 20 years, and our STs coach who acts drunk.

Ball: Harrison outperformed most of his fellow defense men who are 15 years or more younger than him.

I agree with this. Haley's play calling sucked, Tomlin was in denial mode by halftime, blaming the poor offense performance on penalties. Meanwhile the offense converted their first 3rd down 12 minutes into the 4th quarter!! Danny Smith just needs to go. I would have said Ben should have stayed in Pittsburgh because Jones couldn't have played worse, but think it was good for him to get ready for next weeks game. I think the Oline was pretty good on pass protection tho.

[Steel Peon]

Meanwhile the offense converted their first 3rd down 12 minutes into the 4th quarter!!

I almost chewed off my bottom lip prior to that happening, and even after I was ready punch a kitten in the face.......j/k about the kitten.


I think this was the worst game Todd has called. None of us understood why the Steelers were calling conservative running plays on 3rd down and long against the 4th best rush defense.

I'm still pissed off about that play, along with the next time it happened, which my friend and I were predicting based on what we thought the most boneheaded possible play call would be.

[Mojouw]

Ben is the goat. Wasn't physically ready to play. Gameplan was to protect him. Bad decision all the way a round.

[Steel Peon]

I've got another dumb question:

https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2013-10/enhanced/webdr06/13/19/enhanced-buzz-29463-1381705548-11.jpg

When the sun is no longer shining on ANYTHING in the whole damn stadium, why does Mike still look like this?

[DesertSteel]

Goats: the over-promised and under-delivered offense starring Big Ben and Leveon Bell. Both stunk it up today bad.

[steelreserve]

I really can't think of anything positive to say about this game. We stunk the place out in all phases.

[j-d-s]

Ben is the goat. Wasn't physically ready to play. Gameplan was to protect him. Bad decision all the way a round.

It seemed to me that in fact he was ready, but they thought he wasn't. Ben played the first three quarters in a way just not to even try to do something than protecting himself, didn't step in the throws, didn't scramble etc., and when he had to in the fourth all of a sudden he was back to his old self - but time ran out.

Basically we started playing with 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter and down by 21. And the coaching staff is to blame for this. I mean, even if you don't want to put anything on Ben then you just could hand it off to Bell every time.

[st33lersguy]

On a positive note, I continue to like the way Artie is progressing. I think next year he could easily become a solid cb if he stays healthy

[Steeldude]

Game ball: Harrison, Shazier.

Goat: So many. The entire O-line, Tomlin, Haley, Butler, Smith, Lake...

[zulater]

Ben is the goat. Wasn't physically ready to play. Gameplan was to protect him. Bad decision all the way a round.


If he wasn't ready to play it's up to the coach to figure that out. Any player worth his salt is going to take the ball if it's given to them. If he thinks so little of Landry Jones that he thinks Ben at about 50% is better than him then he damn well should have seen to it that he had a better 2nd string qb! It's one thing if your back up qb is hurt and your down to your 3rd stringer, but your number 2 guy has to at least somewhat competent. Personally though I think what they should have done is let Ben run the no huddle shotgun offense most of the game. If you remember a couple years back to a Cleveland game ( or was it last year?) Ben was Landry's back up, but Landry got hurt and since Ben had a hurt foot they decided to let Ben play the entire rest of the game from the shotgun so he was able to determine his movements in the pocket as opposed to having them dictated to him by play call and defense.

[Born2Steel]

Ben at 50% IS leaps and bounds better than Landry Jones. That said, Ben at 50% doesn't win many games.

[Mojouw]

If he wasn't ready to play it's up to the coach to figure that out. Any player worth his salt is going to take the ball if it's given to them. If he thinks so little of Landry Jones that he thinks Ben at about 50% is better than him then he damn well should have seen to it that he had a better 2nd string qb! It's one thing if your back up qb is hurt and your down to your 3rd stringer, but your number 2 guy has to at least somewhat competent. Personally though I think what they should have done is let Ben run the no huddle shotgun offense most of the game. If you remember a couple years back to a Cleveland game ( or was it last year?) Ben was Landry's back up, but Landry got hurt and since Ben had a hurt foot they decided to let Ben play the entire rest of the game from the shotgun so he was able to determine his movements in the pocket as opposed to having them dictated to him by play call and defense.

I think that was last year. Problem is, even if they wanted to, they can't do that right now. James, Grimble, Coates, Rogers, and the back-up center wouldn't have been up to that task. Now, whether or not they shouldbe up to that task is a very troubling question. Part of me wants to say "no" that it is unreasonable to expect young players to be able to do that mid=game but another part of me wants to say then what the hell do we pay the coaches for?

[Edman]

Ben at 50% IS leaps and bounds better than Landry Jones. That said, Ben at 50% doesn't win many games.

50% Ben went three quarters without a third down conversion yesterday. That was a Landry Jones performance.

Is it really THAT much of an upgrade over Landry Jones?

[86WARD]

Told you it was Jones' game plan that they handed to Ben...

[teegre]

GAME BALLS:

--Artie Burns: He's looking like a very good pick.

--Ryan Shazier: He forced two fumbles. When he's on the field, the defense is simply different.

--Defense: They really only gave up two FGs. That long TD was due to their crap FS (see below).

GOATS:

--BB: He channeled his inner Kaepernick (overthrowing wide-open receivers). The game-plan was not "that bad"; the opportunities were there, but BB just couldn't hit the side of a barn.

--Sammie Coates: That TD drop was huge.

--Mike Mitchell: He allowed Steve Smith to get 20+ yards on what should have been a tackle for fourth down. Then, he lets Mike Wallace run for 95 yards, on what should have been a tackle for 15 yards. I miss Ryan Clark.

[StillCurtains]

GAME BALLS:

--Artie Burns: He's looking like a very good pick.

--Ryan Shazier: He forced two fumbles. When he's on the field, the defense is simply different.

--Defense: They really only gave up two FGs. That long TD was due to their crap FS (see below).

GOATS:

--BB: He channeled his inner Kaepernick (overthrowing wide-open receivers). The game-plan was not "that bad"; the opportunities were there, but BB just couldn't hit the side of a barn.

--Sammie Coates: That TD drop was huge.

--Mike Mitchell: He allowed Steve Smith to get 20+ yards on what should have been a tackle for fourth down. Then, he lets Mike Wallace run for 95 yards, on what should have been a tackle for 15 yards. I miss Ryan Clark.


So true man.... So true.

[Moose]

GOATS - ENTIRE PITTSBURGH STEELER ORGANIZATION
BALL - To ME for watching the whole damn game thinking things would change !

[ALLD]

Game Ball to me for not watching one second of football this past weekend.

Goats to the coaching staff for once again proving they can be great like anybody else when the team is firing on all cylinders, but they underperform the worst when they are not. Did they skip practice after last Sunday?

[pczach]

GAME BALLS:

--Artie Burns: He's looking like a very good pick.

--Ryan Shazier: He forced two fumbles. When he's on the field, the defense is simply different.

--Defense: They really only gave up two FGs. That long TD was due to their crap FS (see below).

GOATS:

--BB: He channeled his inner Kaepernick (overthrowing wide-open receivers). The game-plan was not "that bad"; the opportunities were there, but BB just couldn't hit the side of a barn.

--Sammie Coates: That TD drop was huge.

--Mike Mitchell: He allowed Steve Smith to get 20+ yards on what should have been a tackle for fourth down. Then, he lets Mike Wallace run for 95 yards, on what should have been a tackle for 15 yards. I miss Ryan Clark.


Have you heard anything about Mitchell being injured? I've never seen him play like that. He was tentative, and it looked like he was reaching to grab players rather than flying up to crush them like he usually does.

This game was just a complete shit show. Even Bell looked average at times because the team was so out of sync. On one play, it looked like he was going to be able to explode upfield for a big gain, but a tight end is inexplicably running toward the sideline with nobody around him instead of blocking the man like Bell expected him to and he got drilled and dropped in the open field. It was a very strange game with many puzzling aspects to it.

I disagree with you about the game plan. You have an injured quarterback coming off of knee surgery, and you open the game with an empty set backfield. You then proceed to end three 3-and-out drives with handoffs on third down and more than 6 to go in the first half. Think about that. The first play from scrimmage leaves your injured quarterback completely exposed, but on the money down, they are handing off on third and long. It doesn't make any sense.

There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the play calling at times, and the team has no identity.

Tomlin needs to make examples of players that continue to get stupid penalties or make huge mistakes. He takes a public shot at Le'Veon Bell as he's walking off the field at halftime because he got called for a facemask penalty while being hit 4 yards in the backfield. I don't think there's a guy on the team that makes less mistakes in every facet of the game than Bell. I don't understand what he's trying to accomplish by doing that. Why not pull a few offensive linemen out of the game for a play or two for sucking and getting their asses kicked? Bell carries the ball 14 times for 32 yards, and he's blaming him on national television for a facemask penalty? That's bush league and just plain stupid if you ask me. It says more about the man that had two weeks to prepare the team to play than it does about the guy that leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage per game over the last three years. The team almost had 100 yards of penalties at halftime, and you're picking out an anomaly by the guy that might be your best player.

Tomlin is obviously disgusted by the penalties, so he clearly makes a strong point with the team at halftime when they come out and jump offsides on the opening kickoff of the second half. This game wreaked of bad coaching. There's simply no other way to say it.

There's no dancing around the fact that the coaching staff was a complete failure in every way this week. Tomlin looked like the guy that just ripped a gigantic silent fart and is so embarrassed at the smell that he pretends he just got a whiff of someone else's fart and makes that stank face and asks "who ripped that horrific smelly fart?" It just seemed like he was pointing a finger at anyone but himself.

It is definitely time for coach to look into the mirror and do an honest assessment of himself like he says he asks everyone else to do. If he's honest, he won't like what he is seeing and will act accordingly.

[tube517]

Have you heard anything about Mitchell being injured? I've never seen him play like that.

Yeah, he didn't look right. He injured his knee against the Dolphins so I wonder if he's fully recovered.

I'm not a big fan of Mitchell's celebrating after routine plays but the guy is tough. He's played through alot of injuries and continues to do so.

[teegre]

Have you heard anything about Mitchell being injured? I've never seen him play like that. He was tentative, and it looked like he was reaching to grab players rather than flying up to crush them like he usually does.

This game was just a complete shit show. Even Bell looked average at times because the team was so out of sync. On one play, it looked like he was going to be able to explode upfield for a big gain, but a tight end is inexplicably running toward the sideline with nobody around him instead of blocking the man like Bell expected him to and he got drilled and dropped in the open field. It was a very strange game with many puzzling aspects to it.

I disagree with you about the game plan. You have an injured quarterback coming off of knee surgery, and you open the game with an empty set backfield. You then proceed to end three 3-and-out drives with handoffs on third down and more than 6 to go in the first half. Think about that. The first play from scrimmage leaves your injured quarterback completely exposed, but on the money down, they are handing off on third and long. It doesn't make any sense.

There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the play calling at times, and the team has no identity.

Tomlin needs to make examples of players that continue to get stupid penalties or make huge mistakes. He takes a public shot at Le'Veon Bell as he's walking off the field at halftime because he got called for a facemask penalty while being hit 4 yards in the backfield. I don't think there's a guy on the team that makes less mistakes in every facet of the game than Bell. I don't understand what he's trying to accomplish by doing that. Why not pull a few offensive linemen out of the game for a play or two for sucking and getting their asses kicked? Bell carries the ball 14 times for 32 yards, and he's blaming him on national television for a facemask penalty? That's bush league and just plain stupid if you ask me. It says more about the man that had two weeks to prepare the team to play than it does about the guy that leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage per game over the last three years. The team almost had 100 yards of penalties at halftime, and you're picking out an anomaly by the guy that might be your best player.

Tomlin is obviously disgusted by the penalties, so he clearly makes a strong point with the team at halftime when they come out and jump offsides on the opening kickoff of the second half. This game wreaked of bad coaching. There's simply no other way to say it.

There's no dancing around the fact that the coaching staff was a complete failure in every way this week. Tomlin looked like the guy that just ripped a gigantic silent fart and is so embarrassed at the smell that he pretends he just got a whiff of someone else's fart and makes that stank face and asks "who ripped that horrific smelly fart?" It just seemed like he was pointing a finger at anyone but himself.

It is definitely time for coach to look into the mirror and do an honest assessment of himself like he says he asks everyone else to do. If he's honest, he won't like what he is seeing and will act accordingly.

Good points

MITCHELL:
He's always been... dumb. For example, a few years ago against the Titans, he had a chance to push the TE out of the back of the end-zone. Instead, Mitchell waits for the TE to land, and then tries to dislodge the ball (with a hard hit). Ryan Clark shoves that TE out of bounds 100 times out 100.

GAME PLAN:
Good play-calls, bad play-calls... either way, BB simply wasn't hitting the open receivers. Furthermore, on at least three third-downs, he forced the ball to a triple-covered AB (as opposed to throwing it to a wide open receiver).

Yes, the play-calling did not help the situation, but there were opportunities which were squandered.

PENALTIES:
I saw a team gripping to make a play, in order to change the momentum. Two defensive face masks are a good example of this. So is Bell's face mask. The two off-sides on special teams were guys trying to make a something happen. Similarly, with an injured QB, I don't count the holding penalties on the O-line against them.

CALLING OUT BELL:
That sounds like coach who was frustrated. It's not an excuse, though.

[Born2Steel]

50% Ben went three quarters without a third down conversion yesterday. That was a Landry Jones performance.

Is it really THAT much of an upgrade over Landry Jones?

That's not the ONLY game to compare with. YES, Ben is that much of an upgrade. :crazy:

[steel striker]

Well bad game for a lot of players Ben, the first the and half quarters were tough to endure. Shazier & Harrison Burns played well but, that slant to Wallace brought back flashback moment for that damn Bronco playoff lost Tebow to Thomas. How come we did not try one slant to any of our speedy WR's? Outside of the Washington game the steelers have played like crap on the road.