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zulater
02-08-2011, 09:52 PM
Here's some thoughts I have after rewatching the game today. Hope it's not too long, boring, or redundant.

Ben looked a bit better than I thought he was going to look. Well that is up until the final possession, my only real problem with Ben is how awful that last possession came off. Team was in total dissaray.

But anyway getting back to his overall game. a couple passes I thought Ben really threw poorly weren't so bad upon further reflection, the second interception wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was. The defender ( Bush) gambled and came off single coverage on Heath and made a great break on the ball. Probably due to film study, tendencies, something like that, but Ben didn't read double coverage, because it wasn't double coverage, it was a gamble on Bush's part that he won.

As far as the pick six, throwing from your end zone is risky, throwing deep from your end zone is riskier yet. Obviously you can't take a sack or thow the ball indiscriminatley away as you'll take a safety. Anyway if you're looking to place blame for that play blame Kemo who got beat like a rented mule off the snap. Or maybe you just should credit Howard Green for the pressure.

Ben's other worst moment was missing a wide open Mike Wallace on what should have been a touchdown after a perfectly executed play action.

Ben's best moments of the game were probably the Steelers final scoring drive in which he completed 6 of 7 passes for 71 yards and the td pass to Wallace. Worth noting on this drive was the Steelers had to overcome a 10 yard holding penalty on Flozell Adams.

Ben was also money in the Steelers final possesion before the half in which he went 5 for 7 for 77 yards and of course the TD pass to Ward.

Coaching up next.

zulater
02-08-2011, 10:31 PM
Coaching.

Bruce Arains. I'm not going to nit pick and break down every play call I would have done different. Overall Bruce had the offense prepared. But where I think the game was lost was in the 3rd quarter when the Steelers had two great opportunities to take the lead, and came away with zero points on the two possessions. Obviously you can't blame Bruce for Mendenhall's fumble, but where I do take issue is on the Steelers 8th possession. The Steelers scored their second touchdown on a drive where they did nothing but run the ball. 5 plays, 50 yards, all on the ground. On the next possession, our fatefull 8th possession, they move the ball from their own 40 to the Packers 29 on 4 plays, 2 runs, 2 passes. So first down at the Packers 29, all the momentum in the world, what do we do? Pass, pass, pass! Play results, incompletion, incompletion, sack!!!. Drive result, missed 52 yard fg attempt!!!
:frusty:

Well sorry, but if we can say Ben sucked on a certain play, then we sure as hell can do the same for the coaches can't we? And in my opinion Arians screwed the pooch on that sequence!!!!

Now as for our last possession, I call it our "cluster fuck series", that team looked in total dissaray, as if they didn't have a clue as to how to run a hurry up offense. Is that Ben's fault? Bruce's fault? Tomlin's fault? Or all their fault?~

Now for Mr LeBeau. I love ya guy, but I've got two major problems with how you called the game.

After Mendenhall's fumble, the Packers 3rd and 10, and we blitz 2 db's, both are easily picked up by Packer blockers, easy first down on the way to a touchdown.

Now on the Packers next possession, after the Steelers scored the TD to get within a fg LeBeau comes out aggresive and blitzes with the LB'ers, Ziggy picks up the sack after Rodgers is flushed by Timmons. Fast foward two plays to 3rd and 10, ball on Packer 25 yard line, 5.59 on the clock at the time of the snap, Steelers rush 3, no blitz whatsoever, no pressure whatsoever, Rodgers 31 yard pass to Jennings!!! :frusty: Wtf dick, go down fighting, you can't let that bastard stand back there and pick his target!


Now for coach Tomlin, again huge fan, but I thought he made two major mistakes. One, attempting a 52 yard fg. Did he see Sushi's first fg? 33 yarder and it wouldn't have stayed straight enough to go 35. He damn near missed the first extra point! Bad percentage play, but ultimately it didn't cost us as the Packers did nothing with the ensuing possession.

But what might have cost us dearly is Tomlin not using our final time out on defense on the Packers last possession. Here's the scenario, 2nd and goal from the Packers 7, Packers complete a 2 yard pass to Jones to bring up 3rd and goal from the 5. When the tackle is made there's 2.55 on the clock. The Packers use up most of the play clock before they pass incomplete on 3rd down, and then attempt and make the field goal with 2.10 on the clock, which dwindled to 2.07 by the time the play was whistled over. The Packers kick off, by the time the return is over the clock is down to 1.59, and we lose the two minute warning before we ever touch the ball!

So in other words, had we called the time out and had they still thrown an incomplete pass, then we get the ball back with approx. 2.45 on the clock. Big difference.

zulater
02-08-2011, 11:01 PM
Now for the officials. Great start as they shorted Hines on the spot of the ball on the first play from scrimmage by about a yard and a half. They also missed two other spots by my estimation, giving Emanuel Sanders first down yardage on a play he turned back before contact and ran his way out of the first down. ( made no difference on the scorebaord as the steelers settled for the same fg they would have kicked had the ball been spotted correctly) and they again shorted Hines a long yard on a play where Ward was ruled down at the Packer 29 in the 3rd quarter.

Now for the phantom calls, Heath Miller and Flozell Adams were both called for holding on plays that they didn't hold on.

And of course the Packers were called for a bogus facemask penalty on a Steelers punt return when the Packer defender never in fact made contact with the facemask.

As for missed calls, I saw one egrecious miss that badly hurt the Steelers, on the Packers first scoring drive, 3rd and inches, Tom Crabtree (#83) simply throws Lawrence Timmons down , literally grabs him by both arms and tosses him to the ground right before Timmons was about to make the play behind the line of scrimmage and the ref sits there mute! If that call is made, it's 3rd and 10 and who knows?

Now as for the two penalties we took on special teams, while both penalties were legitimate, ( though I've seen worse let go) neither had any effect on the play. On Mndy's penalty, he barely pushes the defender in the back after the guy had already run himself out of the play! Seriously I watched it about 5 times and the guy had no angle on Brown, so if dumb ass Mundy had been a little more heads up and managed to pull himself up, we start that posssesion at the 43 instead of the 7, and that pick 6 never happens! :frusty:

As far as Keyaron Fox, just a stupid undisciplined play after the whistle. Not the first time he's done that either this year. But hopefully the last, in a Steelers uniform anyway. Good bye Keyaron.

NCSteeler
02-09-2011, 02:08 AM
Very nice break down. Glad you did it, I couldn't stand to re watch that yet.

Steeldude
02-09-2011, 02:16 AM
all things being said, it would be nice if BR learned how to throw long. why haven't they correct this huge flaw in his mechanics? he throws off his back foot. this cause the ball to hang and end up short.

zulater
02-09-2011, 05:59 PM
Random thoughts and observations.

What was with that field? If you painted the parking lot green outside of your local Walmart I can't imagine it would be less unyielding than that turf was in Jerry's world. That field is a disgrace, I'm glad we don't have to play there anytime again soon.

I loved the option to Randle El for the 2 point conversion.

I thought Lawrence Timmons had a really good game.

The Steelers first priority in the draft has to be the defensive secondary. I wouldn't mind if the first 3 picks were dedicated to upgrading our secondary, and I wouldn't be opposed to trading up in the first round if it doesn't look like the right sort of player will fall to us.

fansince'76
02-09-2011, 06:03 PM
As for missed calls, I saw one egrecious miss that badly hurt the Steelers, on the Packers first scoring drive, 3rd and inches, Tom Crabtree (#83) simply throws Lawrence Timmons down , literally grabs him by both arms and tosses him to the ground right before Timmons was about to make the play behind the line of scrimmage and the ref sits there mute! If that call is made, it's 3rd and 10 and who knows?

Aikman even mentioned that one.

NJarhead
02-09-2011, 06:34 PM
Spaeth was on the radio today saying how they had a lot of 4 and 5 wide sets in the game plan and when Sanders went down guys did a good job, but stumbled around a bit on their assignments. Apparently Randel El lined up on the wrong side in our final "drive" which cost 30 seconds.

I guess the most painful part is knowing how close it was. My buddy wanted G.B to miss the final FG and I was like no way dude. I don't want us needing a FG in the final seconds. I want the XP to win it and if anyone can march down the field and get it, we can. Bummer that pretty much any one tiny detail may have changed the outcome for us.

NJarhead
02-09-2011, 06:35 PM
Random thoughts and observations.

What was with that field? If you painted the parking lot green outside of your local Walmart I can't imagine it would be less unyielding than that turf was in Jerry's world. That field is a disgrace, I'm glad we don't have to play there anytime again soon.

I loved the option to Randle El for the 2 point conversion.

I thought Lawrence Timmons had a really good game.

The Steelers first priority in the draft has to be the defensive secondary. I wouldn't mind if the first 3 picks were dedicated to upgrading our secondary, and I wouldn't be opposed to trading up in the first round if it doesn't look like the right sort of player will fall to us.

That play was awesome! That's one of those where a few years ago you see it and go, wow I wish our team had plays like that. haha

zulater
02-10-2011, 05:59 PM
http://nflfromthesidelines.blogspot.com/

Like Neil O'Donnell before him, Ben Roethlisberger is taking a lot of heat for his play in the Super Bowl.

But, like O'Donnell, there were some key plays during the game when the Steelers' young receivers did not run their routes as expected, resulting in some incompletions.

For example, on the Steelers' first offensive series, Roethlisberger made a throw to Antonio Brown's back shoulder that the receiver didn't read correctly, continuing his route down the field. The back shoulder throw was open had Brown adjusted, but the ball sailed out of bounds, looking like a horrible throw by Roethlisberger.

And on the deep route to Mike Wallace late in the game, Roethlisberger made the throw to the spot where the ball was supposed to go - to the pylon. But Wallace cut his route off more shallow than he should have, resulting in a pass in which it looked like Roethlisberger overthrew him badly.

We also saw Wallace struggling in the two-minute offense late in the game, not knowing what the play was.

These are the kind of things that happen with young receivers - even talented ones. Sometimes they make mistakes and the quarterback takes the blame.

That's why there is a belief that receivers don't hit their stride until their third year, which shows the arrow pointing up for the Steelers' passing game.

SteelerSal
02-10-2011, 07:30 PM
all things being said, it would be nice if BR learned how to throw long. why haven't they correct this huge flaw in his mechanics? he throws off his back foot. this cause the ball to hang and end up short.

I've always thought that Ben's passing mechanics were way off when passing period..he has an unorthidox style that I don't think that 90% of anyone else with his style would last in the league...I don't think he is fixable and I think if he tried to change it would hurt more than help him.
All in all, I'll take his flaws anytime as long as he still finds a way to win. :)

zulater
02-10-2011, 07:43 PM
It's true that Ben's never been consistently accurate with his deep ball, but somehow he still ranks 5th all time in adjusted yards per pass att. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/pass_adj_yds_per_att_career.htm

tube517
02-10-2011, 09:29 PM
Very nice break down. Glad you did it, I couldn't stand to re watch that yet.

Ditto, but thanks Zu for your observations. I turned on the TV and the replay was on today. Turned it back off.

zulater
02-11-2011, 06:30 AM
Ditto, but thanks Zu for your observations. I turned on the TV and the replay was on today. Turned it back off.

Why? It was a great game, it was the Super Bowl, only two teams get to compete in it every year and we were one of them! I enjoyed rewatching the game, didn't hurt a bit, there obviously was some disapointing moments but I'm proud of the way the Steelers fought their way back in the game, and even dominated most of the second and third quarter.

Did they deserve to win? No. But I'm a football fan, and a Steeler fan, and they went down fighting. And I can't hang my head over that.

Craic
02-11-2011, 05:06 PM
It's true that Ben's never been consistently accurate with his deep ball, but somehow he still ranks 5th all time in adjusted yards per pass att. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/pass_adj_yds_per_att_career.htm

Not to mention, this year he seemed to get much better throughout the season. His work with a QB coach in the first 4 games was very good for him. Also, he actually OVERTHREW Wallace a couple of times. That alone says a lot about his improved mechanics-cause without them, he never overthrew receivers on deep routes.

Craic
02-11-2011, 05:07 PM
Why? It was a great game, it was the Super Bowl, only two teams get to compete in it every year and we were one of them! I enjoyed rewatching the game, didn't hurt a bit, there obviously was some disapointing moments but I'm proud of the way the Steelers fought their way back in the game, and even dominated most of the second and third quarter.

Did they deserve to win? No. But I'm a football fan, and a Steeler fan, and they went down fighting. And I can't hang my head over that.

Yeah, but I still can't watch it or even really see the score yet!! Maybe because I know that we just didn't really show up this game.

Of course, I still can't watch SB XXX either :chuckle:

SteelerSal
02-11-2011, 05:11 PM
Not to mention, this year he seemed to get much better throughout the season. His work with a QB coach in the first 4 games was very good for him. Also, he actually OVERTHREW Wallace a couple of times. That alone says a lot about his improved mechanics-cause without them, he never overthrew receivers on deep routes.

Ben threw alot of deep balls in college and it looked like he did it with alot more accuracy and ease...guessing since defenses were not as complex as what he sees now, he was able to eliminate having to read them, like he needs to do now, and was able to just concentrate on his throwing to his recievers.

Craic
02-11-2011, 05:15 PM
Ben threw alot of deep balls in college and it looked like he did it with alot more accuracy and ease...guessing since defenses were not as complex as what he sees now, he was able to eliminate having to read them, like he needs to do now, and was able to just concentrate on his throwing to his recievers.

It could also be the speed of the game. Ben has to read faster, and get the ball out faster, with a harder throw, just to get the ball to the same spot on the field for a pass to be complete. That means that on deep balls, Instead of Ben taking time and winding up, then Chucking the ball and letting a receiver run for it, he has to make snap decisions, or the receiver is out of his (or most other QB's) range at top speed.

zulater
02-11-2011, 06:03 PM
Yeah, but I still can't watch it or even really see the score yet!! Maybe because I know that we just didn't really show up this game.

Of course, I still can't watch SB XXX either :chuckle:



You know funny enough the game I have the most trouble watching is SB XL. Madden and Al Micheals poisened the water so bad by making legitimate calls seem as if they were being called by some mafioso trying to fix the game, it still pisses me off to this day. :frusty:

But on the bright side I got a DVD package recently with the Steelers broadcast crew doing that playoff run, so I think I might have to pop it in the DVD and watch it again without the b.s of Madden.

One last thing, I thought Madden and Micheals did a great job on SB XLIII. I'm not sure what got into them for SB XL?