Randy Fichtner Encouraged By Jaylen Samuels’ Growth In Pass Pro: ‘He’ll Block Whoever They Put In There’

[polamalubeast]

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[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Samuels was well aware that he needed to work on bilitz pickup when he was at the Senior Bowl in 2018. Not surprising that he continues to work on it and improve. I think still more of a receiver than a runner, but does a decent job running the ball when called upon.

[DesertSteel]

He's going to be a good weapon in this offense, with more balls to go around now.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

He's going to be a good weapon in this offense, with more balls to go around now.

Maybe, but I still don't have much confidence that Fichtner is anything more than Ben's caddy, until he can prove it by calling his way thru close games. Fichtner single handedly lost the Chargers and Broncos games by getting away from the run game and becoming one dimensional. So whether he uses second year Jaylen Samuels with improved knowledge and skillset will be a big question mark to me.

[polamalubeast]

Maybe, but I still don't have much confidence that Fichtner is anything more than Ben's caddy, until he can prove it by calling his way thru close games. Fichtner single handedly lost the Chargers and Broncos games by getting away from the run game and becoming one dimensional. So whether he uses second year Jaylen Samuels with improved knowledge and skillset will be a big question mark to me.

Not for the Broncos game....The Steelers had over 500 yards in this game but 4 turnovers, which killed the Steelers including 2 fumble after a big play, which cost at least 10 points(maybe 14)

For the Chargers game, Keith Butler was the worst coach in this game....

I understand sometimes teams have to run the ball more often, but it depends on the score, the down and the distance .... Also, never a good idea to run the ball in front of a defensive wall, especially in the second down and 10 (one of the most frustrating things with Haley since the Steelers were almost always in 3rd down and long after)

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Not for the Broncos game....The Steelers had over 500 yards in this game but 4 turnovers, which killed the Steelers including 2 fumble after a big play, which cost at least 10 points(maybe 14)

For the Chargers game, Keith Butler was the worst coach in this game....

I understand sometimes teams have to run the ball more often, but it depends on the score, the down and the distance .... Also, never a good idea to run the ball in front of a defensive wall, especially in the second down and 10 (one of the most frustrating things with Haley since the Steelers were almost always in 3rd down and long after)

Steelers up 17-10 vs Denver in the 3rd quarter. They ran the football 4 times over the next 30 plays on the way to the 24-17 loss.

I never once asked or referenced Haley or Butler, so not sure why you would bring them up. Randy Fichtner abandoned the run game vs Denver with a lead. That is just terrible, one-dimensional playcalling as an OC.

[polamalubeast]

Steelers up 17-10 vs Denver in the 3rd quarter. They ran the football 4 times over the next 30 plays on the way to the 24-17 loss.

I never once asked or referenced Haley or Butler, so not sure why you would bring them up. Randy Fichtner abandoned the run game vs Denver with a lead. That is just terrible, one-dimensional playcalling as an OC.

They did not have the lead for a long time in this game (they had the ball with the lead only once) and when they had the ball for the first time in the fourth quarter, the Steelers were behind .... It would have been maybe the Steelers who would have had a 24-17 lead if Conner would not fumble after a long play

BTW, in the drive that the Steelers had the ball when they had the lead, here are the play ...

3 9:34 1 10 PIT 23 James Conner left end for 11 yards (tackle by Todd Davis)
3 8:55 1 10 PIT 34 James Conner up the middle for 4 yards (tackle by Josey Jewell)
3 8:19 2 6 PIT 38 James Conner left end for 8 yards (tackle by Josey Jewell)
3 7:36 1 10 PIT 46 James Conner right tackle for no gain (tackle by Keishawn Bierria and Zach Kerr)
3 6:53 2 10 PIT 46 Ben Roethlisberger pass complete short right to Antonio Brown for 7 yards (tackle by Chris Harris)
3 6:19 Timeout #1 by Pittsburgh Steelers
3 6:19 3 3 DEN 47 Ben Roethlisberger pass short middle intended for Antonio Brown is intercepted by Chris Harris at DEN-42 and returned for no gain

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201811250den.htm#all_pbp


They run the ball in the first 4 plays and they pass the first time on a second down and 10(pass of 7 yards) and pass another time on a another passing down(3rd and 3) and this pass was intercept.

It was the only drive that the Steelers had the lead in the entire game and they run the ball 4 times and pass 2 time in passing down ...Context is important sometimes

[Mojouw]

They did not have the lead for a long time in this game (they had the ball with the lead only once) and when they had the ball for the first time in the fourth quarter, the Steelers were behind .... It would have been maybe the Steelers who would have had a 24-17 lead if Conner would not fumble after a long play

BTW, in the drive that the Steelers had the ball when they had the lead, here are the play ...

3 9:34 1 10 PIT 23 James Conner left end for 11 yards (tackle by Todd Davis)
3 8:55 1 10 PIT 34 James Conner up the middle for 4 yards (tackle by Josey Jewell)
3 8:19 2 6 PIT 38 James Conner left end for 8 yards (tackle by Josey Jewell)
3 7:36 1 10 PIT 46 James Conner right tackle for no gain (tackle by Keishawn Bierria and Zach Kerr)
3 6:53 2 10 PIT 46 Ben Roethlisberger pass complete short right to Antonio Brown for 7 yards (tackle by Chris Harris)
3 6:19 Timeout #1 by Pittsburgh Steelers
3 6:19 3 3 DEN 47 Ben Roethlisberger pass short middle intended for Antonio Brown is intercepted by Chris Harris at DEN-42 and returned for no gain

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201811250den.htm#all_pbp


They run the ball in the first 4 plays and they pass the first time on a second down and 10(pass of 7 yards) and pass another time on a another passing down(3rd and 3) and this pass was intercept.

It was the only drive that the Steelers had the lead in the entire game and they run the ball 4 times and pass 2 time in passing down ...Context is important sometimes

Good try. But none of the "run the football and win more games" crowd has ANY interest in listening to context, nuance, reason, logic, evidence, facts, or much of anything besides insisting that there is a magical relationship between running the ball and winning games. Kinda like those mystical and elusive $4 million per season 8 sack pass rushers.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Good try. But none of the "run the football and win more games" crowd has ANY interest in listening to context, nuance, reason, logic, evidence, facts, or much of anything besides insisting that there is a magical relationship between running the ball and winning games. Kinda like those mystical and elusive $4 million per season 8 sack pass rushers.

Watch the games, understand the flow of the game and what is working and that you still have to run the football to setup the pass in the 3rd quarter with the lead. Its no time to be one dimensional with half the game to go on offense.

Long time fans that understand the game beyond PFF, DVOA and fantasy football have an idea that its more than just who gets you fantasy points and has the most yardage in the ESPN game summary.

[polamalubeast]

Watch the games, understand the flow of the game and what is working and that you still have to run the football to setup the pass in the 3rd quarter with the lead. Its no time to be one dimensional with half the game to go on offense.

Long time fans that understand the game beyond PFF, DVOA and fantasy football have an idea that its more than just who gets you fantasy points and has the most yardage in the ESPN game summary.

You said that Fichtner single handedly lost the Chargers and Broncos game which is not true, especially the Broncos game

These are the 4 turnovers who lost the game.....The 2 fumbles were after a big play by Grimble and Conner and the 2 interceptions were on a passing down.

[Mojouw]

Watch the games, understand the flow of the game and what is working and that you still have to run the football to setup the pass in the 3rd quarter with the lead. Its no time to be one dimensional with half the game to go on offense.

Long time fans that understand the game beyond PFF, DVOA and fantasy football have an idea that its more than just who gets you fantasy points and has the most yardage in the ESPN game summary.

Weird. It is almost like Polamalubeast's post demonstrated that the Steelers did indeed run the ball in the 3rd quarter. But you ignored that. We all had a detailed discussion about the Chargers game some time ago were I believe it was Craic (apologies if I got this wrong) provided a highly detailed post that looked at the game drive by drive (and I know I threw my hat in on this as well), detailing how on multiple drives the Steelers tried to run but through a combination of both penalties and lack of success got behind the chains and had to pass.

Cool dig at analytics and "understanding the game" though. That's a solid attempt to basically just stop any argument and discussion and rest it all on the authority of whomever is determined to "know the game" the best. I guess that would be you? Please let me know who else around here is on that list. That way I can never disagree with a knower of the game.

Running the ball to set-up the pass is far different than the reductive argument that a team needs to run the ball more to win. If we want to talk about running to set-up the pass - fine. We can get into my biggest gripe with the Roethlisberger-Haley-Fichner offense; the almost abandonment of play-action. Teams around the league are demonstrating that play-action, even when you don't run the ball is staggeringly effective. Ben R was a decent to pretty good play-action passer early in his career, and then it disappeared from the offense. Why? And why can the Steelers not see that other teams are using it to overload and melt through defenses, even when they don't actually run that much?

As to running the ball more, less, or balance. I figure it is really about possessing the ball, converting third downs/sustaining drives, and turning drives into points at a high rate. Does it really matter how that is done? And isn't drives turning into turnovers or punts more of the issue than drives being driven by the pass or the run? I mean the Seahawks really committed to the run in the Cowboys playoff game. Made sure it was right there to set everything up and they got smoked. Bet they wish they had called several more passing plays by their $30 some million dollar QB.

We could also talk about how the Steelers line the last few years has been incredible at pass blocking, but actually only average when run blocking. And they particularly struggled to incorporate Fieler into everything last season. Or we can just say that anytime the Steelers lose, they should've run the ball more. Why is it that it only happens after losses? When the team wins by passing the ball a whole bunch, no one ever seems to say a thing. Odd...

[Six Rings]

I think Samules could be a star back if given enough carries.