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Chidi29
01-10-2011, 04:59 PM
Much later than usual, but I had the extra week to get around to it. Blow out of the Browns, always fun to watch.

First Half
- Suisham's times Not worth getting together. Squib quicks all day to keep the ball away from Cribbs.

- Troy makes his presence known on the 2nd play of the game. Took advantage of a tipped pass but proper positioning puts yourself in good situations.

- TD to Wallace may have been the best deep ball I've ever seen Ben throw. Made rookie TJ Ward pay, too. Single high safety and incorrectly rolled over to Sanders instead of Wallace.

- Wicked inside spin move Hood had on Floyd Womack. Womack fell down and Hood got the sack on McCoy. Ziggy's been getting a lot of pressure the past two games. He may finally be getting more comfortable against the run, letting him be able to play to some of his strengths he had coming out of Missouri, like pass rushing ability. Here's a picture of the spin.

http://i52.tinypic.com/6z0uxk.jpg

- With Moore out and Redman having an expanded role, Dwyer got a lot of action on special teams. He was on punt returns and kick coverage (perhaps replacing Worilds, it was hard to tell).

- Maybe just as fun to watch from Wallace was the 3rd and 3 slant with the run after catch he had. Another example of letting Wallace get underneath and get YAC. Could have been a hot by Ben, too. Browns playing tight coverage, tried to jam Wallace off the line, but Wallace beats it because he's on the slant.

- QB draw for a first down. May have been called by Ben. Please get it out of the playbook. Too risky.

- We still have to work on finishing sacks. Timmons missed one.

- Good hustle by Harrison to run down Massaquoi, probably saving a TD. Forced the Browns to kick a field goal, making it 14-3 instead of 14-7.

- With Moore out, Redman returned as the upback on kick returns.

- Interesting to note that our 2nd quarter point differential of +89 is the best for any team in any quarter.

- I think Pouncey had a right ankle injury, not a stinger. On a 1st and goal toss mid-way through the 2nd, you can see him hopping on his left foot.

- Congrats to Madison for his first INT! Also had a sack. Deserves it after being a special teamer his whole career.

- Pouncey is such a high motor guy. On a bubble screen, Pouncey runs about 15 yards downfield, pushes down the LB who in turn, knocks down the FS and springs Brown for a 20 yard gain down the sideline.

Second Half
- Miller drove Elam back a good five yards on one reception. Little revenge for Heath; Elam has always been a thorn in Heath's side.

- Ward should reach the 1,000 catch 12,000 yard plateau next year.

- Completely fooled Cleveland on the pass by Randle El.

- Forgot how bad of a windup Leftwich has.

- Legursky replaced Pouncey. Essex replaced Adams.

- Bunch of backups got some playing time. Hoke, Foote, Fox, Eason, Mundy, Sly, Allen, Lewis.

- Sly ran through a block to bust up a screen play. Didn't look good as a pass rusher though.

- We only had one trap block from under center and one or two from shotgun. We're not pulling our guards anymore.

Sacks
1. 1st and 10, 5:34 left in 3rd: 3 TE, 2 to the right, 1 RB, 1 WR. Dwyer does a poor job picking up the safety blitz, who gets the initial pressure. Foster follows Pouncey's guy,, getting confused by a stunt and all the movement the Browns had.

2. 3rd and 2, 13:05 left in 4th: 2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB. Essex and Kemoeatu both get bullrushed.

Sack Counter (Week)
Jonathan Dwyer: .5
Ramon Foster: .5
Trai Essex: .5
Chris Kemoeatu .5

Sack Counter (Year)
Ben Roethlisberger: 6
Ramon Foster: 5
Maurkice Pouncey: 4.5
Jonathan Scott: 4
Flozell Adams: 3.5
Coverage: 3
Chris Kemoeatu: 2
Wide Receivers: 1.5
Dennis Dixon: 1
Tony Hills: 1
Max Starks: 1
Rashard Mendenhall: 1
Defensive Scheme: 1
Trai Essex: 1
Heath Miller: .5
Mewelde Moore: .5
Jonathan Dwyer: .5

Injuries
Pouncey had an injury of some sort. It looked like an ankle injury to me. Tomlin denied it was a stinger as reported. No issue though.

Moore is expected to be back this week after missing Week 17 with a knee sprain.

McFadden has an abdominal injury. He's progressing.

Aaron Smith continues to improve but it seems unlikely he'll play this week.

Documentation
Empty: 2
Pony: 0
FB: 10

Documentation (For the Year)
Total of the three: 176 plays

Empty: 52 (29.5%)
Pony: 20 (11.4%)
FB: 104 (59%)

Even if you wanted to take out all the Pony formations from the FB (I counted Pony as FB as well since it has a FB), FB formations were still used 47.7% of the time.

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One other thing I wanted to talk about.

I think Ben is finally starting to get "it" from a mental standpoint. It's no secret that I've been critical of Ben in not being able to read defenses on a consistent basis. That he relied on physical talent and hadn't made the strides to be strong mentally as he should be.

Now, I think we're finally seeing it. He's played well in that regard for the past couple weeks and he showed it again against Cleveland.

This play really showed Ben's ability to read a defense and adjust on the fly. It was the play immediately following Wallace's 3rd and 3 long catch and run in the first quarter. Oddly enough, the pass wasn't even complete. It was supposed to be a draw, everyone expected that to happen (apparently including Randle El, who never looked back to the ball and blocked Haden). The safety creeps up to blitz with just two seconds left on the playclock. There's no time to change the play, no time to make any calls. Ben drops back and throws a quick pass to El. Again, he doesn't see it, but it was a GREAT read by Ben. He knows that the draw probably won't work with the safety crashing down. His best bet is to hope a veteran WR like El reads the play and gets his head around.

Other instances of it from the Browns game.

2nd and 6, 1145 left in the 2nd. He sees Haden backing off right before the snap, and throws a quick slant to Manny for a first down.

2nd and 9, 11:40 left in the 3rd: A safety blitz coming in free, Ben hits Brown underneath for a first down.

These are "read and react" plays. Quick drops and getting the ball out of your hand quickly. He's seeing what the defense is doing instead of being blind and just playing his game. He's being able to see blitzes early in the game and adjust to them as he sees them again at later points. He did that aginst the Bengals' safety blitzes.

I wouldn't take him over Brady or Manning, but I have no problem if you want to call him the 3rd best QB in the league over guys like Brees, Rivers, and Rodgers. To some, yes, he was already the 3rd best, but you won't get a fight from me anymore.

The Duke
01-10-2011, 07:08 PM
man, this has been one of your best analysis of the year. Hope you get one as good from this weekend :thumbsup:

See dwyer was responsible for a sack, but did you like his running? Didn't get to watch the whole game

Chidi29
01-10-2011, 07:43 PM
man, this has been one of your best analysis of the year. Hope you get one as good from this weekend :thumbsup:

See dwyer was responsible for a sack, but did you like his running? Didn't get to watch the whole game

It was tough to tell because we were in grind it out mode. He did show good leg drive, but he struggled in being able to convert some short yard situations.

Merchant
01-10-2011, 11:44 PM
Good analysis as always Chidi, keep it up :thumbsup: