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Chidi29
01-18-2011, 06:52 PM
The game took ten years off my life. Totally worth it. Kudos to Baltimore for giving us all we could handle, as usual. Let's get into the notes.

First Half
- Suisham's times: 3.9 (-3, RET to 35), squib, 4.02 (7), 3.76 (6), 4.25 (-2, perhaps his best kick of the year in a crucial time), squib.

- Real nice tackle by Suisham on the opening kickoff. Saved us 15 yards. Pretty sound attempt, too. Wasn't a lucky, got him by the shoelaces tackle.

- Another big play by Clark that got lost in all the giant ones he had. Broke up the pass on 3rd down on the Ravens' first drive with them in our territory.

- Quick note on our first 3rd down conversion. 3 and 12, deep out to Wallace. Real good blitz pickup. Overload right and they ran a stunt to the inside with Suggs. Pouncey did an EXCELLENT job of picking up the loop.

- Real nice run by Redman on 3rd and 1 on the opening drive. Remember that Ray Lewis caught Darren Sproles in the backfield on a 4th and 1 to end the game on a very similar play.

- We had a lot of ILB blitzes.

- We had Timmons lined up on Heap when Todd was split out wide on a 3rd down. Thought it was a CB on him at first.

- B-Mac hurt with 5:11 left in the 1st. The same play as the Ike hold. Happened away from the play, not sure what happened.

- Baltimore picked on Madison. Tried to get bigger WRs like Housh and Boldin on him.

- Obviously, horrible football IQ on the Redding TD. Just because the pass falls in front of the line doesn't mean it can't be a fumble. I didn't hear a whistle on the live play as I thought I did on the replay. Must have been some crowd noise.

- Way too many special teams penalties. At least four. Maybe as many as six. Two on veteran Fox. Unacceptable in every sense of the word.

- Beautiful rub by the Ravens on the Heap TD. Really well exectued and with our DBs playing close to their man, obvious in the red zone, there isn't much of a way to stop it.

- Tough miss for Suisham to end the half.

Second Half
- Had a screen to Wallace where no one blocked the man on Wallace, Chris Carr. East stop, not sure what happened.

- Keisel with a sick bull rush that took the LG off his feet. Harrison got a sack on the play.

- Great play by Clark to force the fumble. Talk about timely. Rice hadn't put the ball on the ground once all year long.

- Kruger had a cheap shot to Miller's face on an extra point.

- Screen to Sanders. Four of the five lineman, the lone exception being Essex, were downfield trying to throw blocks. Love it.

- First time I've seen us run a sneak out of an empty set. On 1st and 10 too, trying to catch the Ravens off guard.

- Kapinos with a really good day punting. Penalties negated a lot of it.

- Clark on the INT. Read the play beautifully. Probably also expected something deep. Knew that Week 13 the Ravens took two deep shots down the right sideline, both completions, when backed up in their own end. To think he almost went to Miami...

- Tons of success in the red one. Got 7 time and time again. So crucial in the playoffs.

- After the first return by Webb, our kick coverage was lights out.

- Took many of their screens away after they had early success using them.

- Scott was accidentally blindsided by Ngata.

- With Scott and Adams out, out line looked like this. Essex, Kemoeatu, Pouncey, Legursky, and Foster. Our backup OT was Matt Speath and our backup OG was....no one. Also keep in mind that Foster hadn't had game snaps at RT since the preseason.

- Ben said the 4th and 1 sneak was his decision.

- Wallace had a chance to score on a reverse but Josh Wilson did a nice job making Wallace indecisive.

- Suisha did redeem himself to give us the lead.

- Redman with a crackback on a punt return.

- Antonio Brown always seemed like he was so close to breaking one.

- Allen got his leg rolled into on a kick return. That's how he was injured.

- Brown's catch. Crazy. Picture.

http://i52.tinypic.com/mvthqv.jpg

- Another perfect deep bomb by Ben. Not sure when he learned to throw the deep ball, but I'm glad he did.

- Clearly defensive holding Cody had on Pouncey. With the ref moving behind the defense under two minutes, it was an easy call. Two pictures.

http://i51.tinypic.com/2vmdde8.jpg

Hard to see what is going on, but if you look under the "L" of the end zone, you can see Pouncey's arm being extended because Cody is grabbing it.

http://i52.tinypic.com/30m1q34.jpg

I'm clealy a candidate for photography school.

- Great cut by Mendenhall on his touchdown. It sure looked like he didn't have a chance.

- I bet the squib was partially influenced by Webb's big retrun on the punt.

- Got aggressive with Troy on the final series. Blitzed him.

- Let's not forget Gay breaking up a deep pass and getting inside position to make the play, Gay haters.

- 3rd down. Harrison comes from the strong side and attracts the RT and RG.Hood is able to come in free after getting by his guy, who passed him off to the RG thinking he'd be there.

- Heath was pulled multiple times and had a couple of really nice blocks on Suggs.

- Pouncey had his fair share of struggles. Did a good job of combo blocks and getting to the second level, took Ray Ray out of a play at the goalline, but guys like Ngata, Gregg, and McKinney (another mammoth), plus the rookie Cody give Pouncey plenty on his plate. Of course, who won't struggle against those four?

Sacks
Buckle up.

1. 2nd and 7, 15:00 left in 2nd: 3 WR, under center. Lewis comes in on a blitz, Mendenhall with a nice job of cutting him. But Ben doesn't feel Lewis laying next to him and Lewis is able to get up and chase him down.

2. 1st and 10, 5:36 left in 2nd: Shotgun, 3 WR, back to left. 4 man rush. Suggs loops from his RE spot for the 3rd or 4th time in the game. First time it worked. Ngata slants away drawing the guard. Moore doesn't see Suggs as he goes out underneath.

3. 3rd and 12, 12:11 left in 3rd. Shotgun, 3 WR. Crazy defensiv look from the Baltimore. 7 on the line, no one with their hand down, one DL over C. Three overload to the left and three overload to the right. Left side rushes all three, right side drops two. NT Kruger also drops. Absolutely a nightmare to try and pick up. Pictures.

http://i52.tinypic.com/2nu26tw.jpg (Pre-snap)

http://i55.tinypic.com/2hmm047.jpg (Right after snap)

4. 3rd and 6, 12:58 in 4th. Shotgun, 5 WR. Suggs with a bullrush on Essex, who moved over to LT.

5. 1st and 10, 2:55 left in 4th. 3 WR, under center. Ravens rush four, pretty vanilla stuff. No one could get open since Baltimore dropped seven. Redding takes Foster close to the LG spot and is able to get under him. Not a stunt though. Tough to blame Foster since he's moving that much laterally, but it was his guy.

6. Flozell allowed a sack on the Ben fumble. Forgot to count that as a sack and I don't have a down/distance/time. He got beat off the edge.

Sack Counter (Week)
Ben Roethlisberger: 1
Mewelde Moore: .5
Chris Kemoeatu: .5
Defensive Scheme: 1
Trai Essex: 1
Ramon Foster: 1
Flozell Adams: 1


Moore and Kemoeatu split the second sack. Kemo got fooled by the stunt, as tough as it is. The defensive scheme was for the third sack. Crazy look, I have never seen something that odd looking before. And I've gotten to see some crazy looks from LeBeau.

Sack Counter (Year)
Ben Roethlisberger: 7
Ramon Foster: 6
Maurkice Pouncey: 4.5
Flozell Adams: 4.5
Jonathan Scott: 4
Coverage: 3
Chris Kemoeatu: 2.5
Defensive Scheme: 2
Trai Essex: 2
Wide Receivers: 1.5
Dennis Dixon: 1
Tony Hills: 1
Max Starks: 1
Rashard Mendenhall: 1
Mewelde Moore: 1
Heath Miller: .5
Jonathan Dwyer: .5



Documentation
Empty: 8
Pony: 0
FB: 8

Injuries
Taylor got nailed by Clark in the shoulder. He only missed a snap.

McFadden has an abdominal. Tomlin expects him to play.

Aaron Smith will practice this week. His status is up in the air, looking like he won't play.

Flozell had the flu. Tomlin said he was throwing up and it really hit him at halftime. Turned green, must've thought he became the Hulk. He tried to come back onto the field after Scott got hurt but Tomlin had to run out and take him off the field. Gotta love Flozell though. Just wants to play. Just wants to win.

Merchant
01-18-2011, 07:02 PM
loves me some Chidi post-game breakdown.

GoSlash27
01-18-2011, 07:03 PM
I absolutely love your posts. You have a knack for picking up on the details everyone else misses.

tube517
01-18-2011, 07:08 PM
Great stuff, Chidi.


- Baltimore picked on Madison. Tried to get bigger WRs like Housh and Boldin on him.

I didn't notice this until later but Housh and Boldin did practically nothing all day, esp Boldin

Chidi29
01-18-2011, 07:28 PM
Glad you guys liked them.

Chidi29
01-18-2011, 07:29 PM
Great stuff, Chidi.



I didn't notice this until later but Housh and Boldin did practically nothing all day, esp Boldin

Yup. Lots of credit to the secondary. Ravens had no passing game. A great pass rush like we were getting helps too.

Galax Steeler
01-19-2011, 03:13 AM
Nice job Chidi thanks for taking time to break these games down.

venom
01-19-2011, 05:51 AM
Great Job

crcsnail
01-19-2011, 09:50 AM
nice one chidi. always look forward to your game breakdowns :)