Offense...what I saw at Heinz

[pepsyman1]

Was lucky enough to be there last night for Ben's home finale, bought tickets early in the year with hopes for a high drama primetime game. (Heinz field at night is awesome). Was able to see more of our offensive issues with the live view. Ben did not have his most accurate night last night, he sailed a number of throws but it became very obvious that our offensive struggles are deeper than anything Ben has been doing. People have been bitching and moaning about Ben throwing these very short passes (me included) and last night was no exception. Where are the throws down the field? Where are the midrange passes? Throws down the seam to the tight end? I watched in amazement and have an answer. On 70% of the pass plays we ran last night, NO ONE is running those routes. I watched on play after play we would have one receivers running a deeper route and everyone else in the pattern would run 3 to 5 yards and cut in or out. It literally looked like we we're trying to AVOID the areas of the field we might get open. If anyone has any insight on this please chime in. There were a few times we had some midrange 10-12 yard routes (DJ had a couple of horrible drops that went right thru his hands, Claypool had one where Ben threw back shoulder but he wasn't expecting it to be.). I didn't see anything run deeper into the middle of the field (where WE also seem so vulnerable on defense), nothing down the seam, not even any quick slants. (DJ's TD an exception and that one was VERY shallow). I really don't understand what Canada's design is. The passing attack seemed like it was designed stay along the edges.

Other observations: Rumors were floating with people I talked to that Klemm was playing favorites with the line. Last night with Hassenauer at center, it looked like an entirely different unit. Chris Morgan gets a thumbs up for his first game in charge. I think I'd seen 10-12 running plays ALL YEAR that Najee wasn't dodging someone in the backfield, LAST NIGHT they plowed holes. Give him 2-3 unmolested steps and he's VERY hard to get down. The pile was always falling forward. Last night was truly a coming out party and something to look forward to.

Defensively we looked like a completely different team than a week ago. Much more effort and pursuit. We still have issues in the middle of the field. All the bigger plays we gave up tracked thru the middle at some point. On passes going thru the middle of the field, if the receiver has ONE step, it turns into a big play. The rest of the secondary seems slow to recognize that a pass has been completed and they are slow to support. Other than that there was a good mix of zone and man coverage and the man coverage looked solid. Still can't understand why they NEVER try to bump the receiver at the line when they do play man, they just let the receiver take the route they want uncontested. That was it. Was a great overall night, even if Ben wasn't at his best. Everyone else stepped up.

[Edman]

Kendrick Green is not a natural center. He played Guard in College. They stuck him in a position he didn't play much and combined with being a rookie, he struggled.

Of course, they will have people labelling the "suck" label on him, when he is rookie playing out of position.

[pepsyman1]

Kendrick Green is not a natural center. He played Guard in College. They stuck him in a position he didn't play much and combined with being a rookie, he struggled.

Of course, they will have people labelling the "suck" label on him, when he is rookie playing out of position.

Totally agree....just don't understand why they didn't give him a little bit of a break or let him play guard when it became apparent he was struggling. The line looked totally different last night. Maybe Klemm is hardheaded..lol

[vasteeler]

That must have been awesome to have witnessed live. Sucks they waited this long to make a change at center.

[pepsyman1]

That must have been awesome to have witnessed live. Sucks they waited this long to make a change at center.

Was a great celebration. Najee was AWESOME. Ben didn't leave the field for forever 20 minutes after the game ended there were still 40000 people there cheering for him.

[Fire Goodell]

How much of the line’s performance had to do with the new coach? Run blocking was night and day better

[pepsyman1]

How much of the line’s performance had to do with the new coach? Run blocking was night and day better

Hard to say, obviously it started with the change at center but they looked like an entirely different group. Najee had actual space to work and once he gets a step or two he can simply run over people. Was very impressive.

[Fire Goodell]

Hard to say, obviously it started with the change at center but they looked like an entirely different group. Najee had actual space to work and once he gets a step or two he can simply run over people. Was very impressive.

Najee is definitely a war horse lol, he almost never loses the 1on1 matchups in the open field and I love his Derrick Henry like stiff arms where he looks like he just throws defenders of him lol. Or as the old saying goes “beating off defenders” :chuckle:

[Steeler-in-west]

thanks for sharing your observations

I rarely see Ben holding the ball more than 2 seconds 3seconds max. He can’t run around and buy time anymore and if i remember correctly he had some pressure regularly even with those quick passes. the o line pass blocking is still not good. I’m sure they’ll make improvements to the line in the off-season. And I hope their done playing around with green at center.

theres just not enough time to allow those long plays to develop. And sure Ben doesn’t have as much arm strength either

[pepsyman1]

thanks for sharing your observations

I rarely see Ben holding the ball more than 2 seconds 3seconds max. He can’t run around and buy time anymore and if i remember correctly he had some pressure regularly even with those quick passes. the o line pass blocking is still not good. I’m sure they’ll make improvements to the line in the off-season. And I hope their done playing around with green at center.

theres just not enough time to allow those long plays to develop. And sure Ben doesn’t have as much arm strength either

He did have more time last night but somehow the route tree they are using for the receivers doesn't make sense. We're not even seeing someone taking 5 or 6 steps forward and just turning and looking back. All the patterns are either 2-3 steps or they are breaking across the field after 3 or 4 steps...that takes as long as running a simple slant or just running forward to a gap in the zone. Ben was getting the out very fast last year too, but the patterns didn't look like this crap. He still had 33 TD passes. Just very confusing to watch because there is still usually one receiver on each play going deep. Why no one running something midrange? Bizarre.

[86WARD]

Was lucky enough to be there last night for Ben's home finale, bought tickets early in the year with hopes for a high drama primetime game. (Heinz field at night is awesome). Was able to see more of our offensive issues with the live view. Ben did not have his most accurate night last night, he sailed a number of throws but it became very obvious that our offensive struggles are deeper than anything Ben has been doing. People have been bitching and moaning about Ben throwing these very short passes (me included) and last night was no exception. Where are the throws down the field? Where are the midrange passes? Throws down the seam to the tight end? I watched in amazement and have an answer. On 70% of the pass plays we ran last night, NO ONE is running those routes. I watched on play after play we would have one receivers running a deeper route and everyone else in the pattern would run 3 to 5 yards and cut in or out. It literally looked like we we're trying to AVOID the areas of the field we might get open. If anyone has any insight on this please chime in. There were a few times we had some midrange 10-12 yard routes (DJ had a couple of horrible drops that went right thru his hands, Claypool had one where Ben threw back shoulder but he wasn't expecting it to be.). I didn't see anything run deeper into the middle of the field (where WE also seem so vulnerable on defense), nothing down the seam, not even any quick slants. (DJ's TD an exception and that one was VERY shallow). I really don't understand what Canada's design is. The passing attack seemed like it was designed stay along the edges.

Other observations: Rumors were floating with people I talked to that Klemm was playing favorites with the line. Last night with Hassenauer at center, it looked like an entirely different unit. Chris Morgan gets a thumbs up for his first game in charge. I think I'd seen 10-12 running plays ALL YEAR that Najee wasn't dodging someone in the backfield, LAST NIGHT they plowed holes. Give him 2-3 unmolested steps and he's VERY hard to get down. The pile was always falling forward. Last night was truly a coming out party and something to look forward to.

Defensively we looked like a completely different team than a week ago. Much more effort and pursuit. We still have issues in the middle of the field. All the bigger plays we gave up tracked thru the middle at some point. On passes going thru the middle of the field, if the receiver has ONE step, it turns into a big play. The rest of the secondary seems slow to recognize that a pass has been completed and they are slow to support. Other than that there was a good mix of zone and man coverage and the man coverage looked solid. Still can't understand why they NEVER try to bump the receiver at the line when they do play man, they just let the receiver take the route they want uncontested. That was it. Was a great overall night, even if Ben wasn't at his best. Everyone else stepped up.

Thanks. That confirms some of my theories in many ways.

[pepsyman1]

Thanks. That confirms some of my theories in many ways.

Please elaborate

[Rotorhead]

This was brought up about midway through the season, someone post links showing wider angles of the route trees for a game and it was obvious they were lacking. I even started a thread about Canada not knowing what a pick play was. Simply our route trees don’t allow our WRs to get open.

[pepsyman1]

This was brought up about midway through the season, someone post links showing wider angles of the route trees for a game and it was obvious they were lacking. I even started a thread about Canada not knowing what a pick play was. Simply our route trees don’t allow our WRs to get open.

^^^THIS^^^

I couldn't make sense of anything I was seeing. People blaming Ben for all the short throws but most of the time those were the ONLY throws available. Not every play, but most of them.

[Steeler-in-west]

He did have more time last night but somehow the route tree they are using for the receivers doesn't make sense. We're not even seeing someone taking 5 or 6 steps forward and just turning and looking back. All the patterns are either 2-3 steps or they are breaking across the field after 3 or 4 steps...that takes as long as running a simple slant or just running forward to a gap in the zone. Ben was getting the out very fast last year too, but the patterns didn't look like this crap. He still had 33 TD passes. Just very confusing to watch because there is still usually one receiver on each play going deep. Why no one running something midrange? Bizarre.

I wonder how Canada would explain it? "Were trying to protect our QB"?

[pepsyman1]

I wonder how Canada would explain it? "Were trying to protect our QB"?

Right? That's the other thing...so many short routes are keeping more defenders closer to the LOS so there is even less space for the receivers to get open dooming every catch to go for minimal yardage. It's insane.

[86WARD]

Please elaborate

A lot of the season people were complaining that Ben was avoiding the middle of the field because he was afraid and not confident to throw those passes. Over the season we actually saw him throw in the 10-15 yard middle of the field range with no problem. Not often, but sometimes. My suggestion was that there were either guys not open or no one in the middle of the field to throw to. Meaning no routes there. Which you confirmed. I’ve also suggested numerous times that the plays being run are just that…short routes with no creativity or poorly designed as far as blocking schemes go. When you throw a WR screen and Freiermuth is just getting there to block 4 defenders, the OC isn’t accounting for those other defenders. It’s built to fail 99.9% of the time.

[pepsyman1]

A lot of the season people were complaining that Ben was avoiding the middle of the field because he was afraid and not confident to throw those passes. Over the season we actually saw him throw in the 10-15 yard middle of the field range with no problem. Not often, but sometimes. My suggestion was that there were either guys not open or no one in the middle of the field to throw to. Meaning no routes there. Which you confirmed. I’ve also suggested numerous times that the plays being run are just that…short routes with no creativity or poorly designed as far as blocking schemes go. When you throw a WR screen and Freiermuth is just getting there to block 4 defenders, the OC isn’t accounting for those other defenders. It’s built to fail 99.9% of the time.

your suggestion was 100% right. Saw it firsthand. Strangest thing I've ever seen. "Hey guys, I want you to confuse the defense by running your routes to where they are already standing. Maybe they'll be scared and run away"

[86WARD]

your suggestion was 100% right. Saw it firsthand. Strangest thing I've ever seen. "Hey guys, I want you to confuse the defense by running your routes to where they are already standing. Maybe they'll be scared and run away"

Which also explains why the Steelers receivers are always covered and never “open”.

[hawaiiansteeler]

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51807673288_13e8b22089.jpg

[pepsyman1]

Canada must be so smart he's setting the whole league up for an entire season so he can change it up next year when everyone is expecting us to just dump the ball off. lol. :chuckle::chuckle::chuckle:

[HollywoodSteel]

I just read that Green has been cleared from the Covid list. I hope they continue to play JC at center.