Some day after thoughts. Keys to a season's demise.

[zulater]

1. Ryan Mallet. Ryan Mallet scared me going into this game. It doesn't matter he's only been on the roster for 12 days prior to the game. He's been in the NFL with the Patriots and Texans, so he knows the league. All teams have the same plays in their playbook, they just prioritize the plays differently and have slightly different terminology. That's why I found it laughable when people tried to excuse make for Vick's inability to function in our offense and attribute it to his not being up to speed in our system. Anyway in the last several weeks we've had Brandon Weedon, and now Ryan Mallet dispel that notion, for those of you that had it. ( I didn't) Getting back to Mallet in regards to this game. He scared me because I know he's talented enough to play in the league. He's got a big arm, good size, and can play at the NFL level. His problem has been that he's a dipshit who thought too highly of himself. But getting cut by the Texans figured to humble him, that and he knew he was his was given a chance to play for his NFL future. Play well and he can continue to cash NFL paychecks for years to come. Play poorly and you figure with his personal baggage chances are his days in the NFL are done. Throw into this equation the Steelers didn't have any film on this guy and as we know historically speaking the Steelers way too often struggle mightily with these type of qb's.
He had a helluva first half. The first touchdown pass he threw beat pretty damn good coverage. He came back to earth some in the second half.But he didn't make the big mistake, and their running game was working well enough that he didn't have to be great in the 2nd half. Just competent.
'

2. The first possession. The Steelers failure to put points on the board on the first possession was game shaping in so many ways. First off I thought Haley really screwed the pooch by not involving Ben and the passing game earlier. To wit, after DeAngelo runs for 30 yards to the Ravens 34 he comes out of the game to catch his breath. On first down they give the ball to Toussaint for 5 yards, to bring up 2nd and 5 at the 29. I'm down with that play call, because with Williams off the field the Ravens probably were expecting the pass at that point, so crossing them up with a run with your back up rb is a good call. But here's where you've got to get your passing game involved. Ben is a rhythm passer. 2nd and 5 at the 29 perfect down and distance to get things going. But no. Even with DeAngelo still on the sidelines he goes run again. 1 yard. Sets up 3rd and 4. Not the ideal time to throw your first pass of the game. Regardless they passed to Jesse James and picked up 3 setting up 4th and 1. Now of course all your revisionist historians are lambasting the decision to go for it there.Oneof those things if it works everyone's happy, and we all applaud the aggressive approach. But if it doesn't, how could they do that? Well I had no problem with the decision to go for it. I had no problem running for it. But what I did have a problem with is announcing the play call to the Ravens prior to running the play. You come out in a 3 tight end formation, you line up DeAngelo 8 yards deep, and pretty much say here we come, try to stop us! And they did. Easily. Anyone who knows the Ravens knows no matter how depleted they are by injuries they still match up solidly in the middle of the field. To pack every into the middle with that formation, and then come right at the teeth of the defense with a back 8 yards behind the line to start out with? It wasn't going to work. Well as we all know nothing puts the wind in the sails of a team quite like a big 4th down stop. This one play emboldened the Ravens. It gave them a chance to play with the lead. Something they hadn't had a chance to do in weeks. A bad team with the lead is dangerous. Also because of trailing the entire game combined with the Ravens dominating TOP the Steelers got away from what was working best.The running game.


3.3rd downs. Defensively we couldn't get off the field on 3rd down. Offensively we couldn't convert. Because of this they dominated time of possession.And because of that we had trouble establishing an offensive rhythm.

4. Ben. Ben didn't play patient. He kept attacking downfield despite the two deep look the Ravens played the entire game. Heath should have seen more passes. Jesse James should have seen more snaps.


5. Ravens Super Bowl and Steelers over hyped all week= letdowns happen. Disaster waiting to happen here. How easy was it for the Ravens to get up for this game? Very. One game where you can ruin your biggest rival's season. This after listening all week how great they are. This with them coming into your building. Well folks despite their injuries the Ravens aren't Georgia Southern. They're made up of pros. They have pride. Give them early life and they'll build off it.

Now from the Steelers perspective. Too many people telling you how great you are. Too many interviews. Too much smoke blown up your ass. You might blame it on Tomlin. I blame it on human nature. The Steelers didn't have the eye of the tiger. The Ravens did. No team brings their A game every week. Look how the Seahawks lost at home to the Rams yesterday. Look how the Panthers lost to a slumping Falcon team. Look how the Patriots lost to the Jets. Difference is we didn't have a safety net like those teams do. The way our season evolved, combined with the division and conference we're in gave us virtually no margin of error. Usually 10 wins gets you in as a wild card team. But this year it likely wont be enough.

6. Todd Haley. If you didn't think running into the teeth of a stacked defense on 4th and 1 from a 3 tight end set was stupid enough, how about passing out of an empty back set on 1st and goal from the 1? Yeah we got lucky and a guy was lined up in the neutral zone to offset a pick six. But why the hell do you announce the play when you don't have to? Again I've got no problem with passing from the 1, but line up DeAngelo in the backfield, make them at least defend the possibility of the run. Anyway Ben was more to blame than Haley. But I thought given the defense the Ravens were playing, and given that Ben wasn't sharp, and the majority of the second half was played as a one score game, I thought we got away from the run too early, and when we did pass we should have exploited the tight ends(and not Spaeth) and DeAngelo more in the passing game.

7. Antwon Blake. He didn't play much, but he played enough to leave his mark on the game. The perfect example. the Steelers get a fg ( after having a td overturned on replay ) the Ravens get the ball back. After the touchback they get a run to the 34. Anyway facing a 3rd and 4 from their own 40 Mallet throws to Matthews along the left sideline a good yard and a half short of the sticks,Blake is in perfect position to make the tackle short of the first down. He whiffs badly on the tackle attempt, as he always does, they get the first down. Because of this the Ravens sustain the drive for 7 more plays, burn up more than 3 additional minutes of clock and end up answering our fg with one of their own. This is a game changing play because not only did it lead to Raven points it also kept Ben and our offense chilled on the sidelines. Had we got the 4 and out there coming off the possession where we had scored our first fg who knows where the game goes?

Now to add further to this, a very similar play occurred in the second half. From their own 27 Mallet throws short of the sticks on 3rd down to Juszcyzk. Ross Cockrell keeps the play in front f him and makes the tackle well short of the sticks.

[86WARD]

Going for it on 4th down and not converting took the game from a mismatched game to a rivalry game. You could see from the beginning that the Steelers were dominating...but playing into the hands of the Ravens. When the Ravens stopped them in 4th down, it gave them the confidence and it just snowballed from there as the Steelers continued to play into the Ravens game plan...and get deeper and deeper into a hole. It was a major turning point in the game.

As for the pass in the end zone, that was a good call and should have been a TD. The ball went right through ABs hands. It's not like Smith jumped the route, it was nothing but a tip drill. That was far from Haleys fault there. I questioned the personnel there too, but it would've worked had AB just caught the ball...he left 12 points on the field yesterday.

49 pass yards in the first half...that's something that should be addressed.

[zulater]

Going for it on 4th down and not converting took the game from a mismatched game to a rivalry game. You could see from the beginning that the Steelers were dominating...but playing into the hands of the Ravens. When the Ravens stopped them in 4th down, it gave them the confidence and it just snowballed from there as the Steelers continued to play into the Ravens game plan...and get deeper and deeper into a hole. It was a major turning point in the game.

As for the pass in the end zone, that was a good call and should have been a TD. The ball went right through ABs hands. It's not like Smith jumped the route, it was nothing but a tip drill. That was far from Haleys fault there. I questioned the personnel there too, but it would've worked had AB just caught the ball...he left 12 points on the field yesterday.

49 pass yards in the first half...that's something that should be addressed.

I thought the pass was too high and a little too hard. But yeah AB makes that catch 8 out of 10 times. I also thought the touchdown AB caught in the 2nd quarter shouldn't have been overturned. To me unless the evidence is decisive you stay with the call on the field. If it had initially been ruled incomplete then that call should have been upheld as well. As it was you're splitting hairs trying to figure out stop frame where the ball was bobbled relative to his feet in the end zone. Again my understanding was replay was devised to correct blatantly wrong calls on the field. But at the same token it is what it is. AB could have done a better job controlling the ball, and if he does wouldn't it be nice to have those 4 points at the end of the day.

[B&GFever]

horse shit .... I stated on social media not kicking the FG ( in real time ) was a HUGE mistake its just STUPID knowing the history of these two teams to not take points every time they present themselves period...

[Rotorhead]

Well the 2 deep passes on 3rd and 15 were pretty stupid also, just get the dam first down. The Blake play, I completely agree, we get that stop and I think the game changes. I am not saying that play lost the game, but several of those missed plays lost the game. Bryants deep ball drop at the end of the game, Wheatons deep ball drop at the end of the game (went through his hands and he usually makes that catch). This team cannot win when the offense isn't on its game, the defense just isnt good enough. I am not saying the defense lost this game though, considering the Ravens had the ball on 2 short field possessions due to turnovers and they got the stops in the second half they needed, it was the offense that killed this team.

[tube517]

I agree w/Zu on the empty backfield crap on 1st down. That is where you can run. Had success all day except that 4th down and 1. DeAngelo is a good red zone back and has a knack for getting short yardage TD's.

[86WARD]

I agree w/Zu on the empty backfield crap on 1st down. That is where you can run. Had success all day except that 4th down and 1. DeAngelo is a good red zone back and has a knack for getting short yardage TD's.

The play after the penalty, Williams got stuffed big time.

[tube517]

The play after the penalty, Williams got stuffed big time.

Right but they probably expected run at that point. Before the penalty, they didn't because there was no RB.


Meh, it's all moot now. I'm just too tired and frustrated to even think about that game.

[Psycho Ward 86]

4. Ben. Ben didn't play patient. He kept attacking downfield despite the two deep look the Ravens played the entire game. Heath should have seen more passes.

This is nothing new. He's been doing this all season. It costs us possibly the most cop out game of the year and suddenly people dont like it. We should have had a stronger mixture of passes in terms of distance like we did last season. More TD's, less INT's, and the world still fears Ben's arm by default and the most dangerous group of WR's in the league.

[zulater]

This is nothing new. He's been doing this all season. It costs us possibly the most cop out game of the year and suddenly people dont like it. We should have had a stronger mixture of passes in terms of distance like we did last season. More TD's, less INT's, and the world still fears Ben's arm by default and the most dangerous group of WR's in the league.

You take what the defense gives you or you should. You've advanced the thesis that you just don't attack downfield almost ever. Or if you do every single variable has to be in your favor first, therefore you would probably not even need it on the rare occasion you would endorse a downfield chance. Going downfield has been a valuable weapon in the Steelers arsenal. Take that away as much as you would have it and this team isn't nearly as good this year. Yesterday though the Ravens kept two safeties deep all game. Outside of the redzone this never varied. So yesterday for one time you were right and taking all the underneath stuff would have been the right play. But do that every game against every coverage and you have yourself a limited offense. Might as well get Alex Smith to be your qb.

[ALLD]

We got out coached. It was a hollow effort all around. Running into the gut on the 4th down play is like playing man coverage on Jerry Rice with no safety back. It wasn't a smart call. Fortunately for the Steelers, Belichek was too smart for his own good electing to kick in OT after winning the coin toss. Too much ego and not enough intelligence.

[teegre]

Great thread, Zu.

I agree with 99% of your first post. (The final 1% is my splitting of hairs.)

[augustashark]

Whoever dvr,d the game yesterday please look at the brown catch on the sideline on 3rd down that was ruled out of bounds. I watched it like 4 times in slowmo and it looked like a catch. Found it funny that we wouldn't challenge it at that point in the game. Don't mean to ask someone to do work for me but I've looked online for it and couldn't find it. Thanks. Longtime no talk.

[stillers4me]

Whoever dvr,d the game yesterday please look at the brown catch on the sideline on 3rd down that was ruled out of bounds. I watched it like 4 times in slowmo and it looked like a catch. Found it funny that we wouldn't challenge it at that point in the game. Don't mean to ask someone to do work for me but I've looked online for it and couldn't find it. Thanks. Longtime no talk.

[fansince'76]

Longtime no talk.

No kidding. Welcome back, Shark!

[86WARD]

Whoever dvr,d the game yesterday please look at the brown catch on the sideline on 3rd down that was ruled out of bounds. I watched it like 4 times in slowmo and it looked like a catch. Found it funny that we wouldn't challenge it at that point in the game. Don't mean to ask someone to do work for me but I've looked online for it and couldn't find it. Thanks. Longtime no talk.

I don't see how it's not a catch either and I've watched it 100 times. The nose of the ball is pinned to him he whole time.

[tube517]

I don't see how it's not a catch either and I've watched it 100 times. The nose of the ball is pinned to him he whole time.

That ball looked like it moved but I'd have to look again. I didn't watch it close enough and was too pissed after the game to take a 2nd look

[zulater]

That ball looked like it moved but I'd have to look again. I didn't watch it close enough and was too pissed after the game to take a 2nd look

The end of the ball away from AB's body did move.but as 86 Ward pointed out the nose of the ball remained firmly pinned to AB's body throughout the process of the play.

[teegre]

As I was saying in another thread (and, as I describe here: http://www.thepointofpittsburgh.com/...-painful-loss/ )

The ball did not move out of his right hand. His left hand came off, but his right hand never lost control. Focus on his right hand only.

[tube517]

As I was saying in another thread (and, as I describe here: http://www.thepointofpittsburgh.com/...-painful-loss/ )

The ball did not move out of his right hand. His left hand came off, but his right hand never lost control. Focus on his right hand only.

Yeah, I need to watch it again. Maybe after the regular season is over. If I don't delete it from my DVR first

[Psycho Ward 86]

You take what the defense gives you or you should. You've advanced the thesis that you just don't attack downfield almost ever. Or if you do every single variable has to be in your favor first, therefore you would probably not even need it on the rare occasion you would endorse a downfield chance. Going downfield has been a valuable weapon in the Steelers arsenal. Take that away as much as you would have it and this team isn't nearly as good this year. Yesterday though the Ravens kept two safeties deep all game. Outside of the redzone this never varied. So yesterday for one time you were right and taking all the underneath stuff would have been the right play. But do that every game against every coverage and you have yourself a limited offense. Might as well get Alex Smith to be your qb.

You sure do, thats why you dont force the ball constantly against the sideline in double coverage. I havent advanced any thesis i havent stated already, recheck the thread i made about how Ben could be BETTER that some people got offended about as if im dissing Ben. Seems to me, you've advanced your thesis and put words in my mouth. I literally state in the other thread that im still in favor of deep passes, just not necessarily the extreme average distance the ball travels in the air, especially on 20+ yard passes (which i believe someone tweeted out is 36+ yards). A pass of 15-20 yards is still plenty deep to me.

I guarantee you i was anything BUT anti-deep pass in the other thread.

"For yesterday for one time you were right." Uh, how about that broncos game? 2 deep safeties and no blonde bombing for eternity. but as good strategem would have it, we definitely have some 15+ yard balls thrown right in there for good measure that turned out to be some of the decisive throws. Ben has had open receivers on many of his interceptions this year that he has uncharacteristically ignored. Again, a look at my 1st post in my "Ben could be better" thread leads me to believe, Haley and/or Tomlin are encouraging Ben to do this instead of using his shorter range options even if theyre open.

No one's saying to throw short(er) every game, in this thread, or any thread.

There's more variation in throwing distance than just Ben to Alex Smith, so lets not reach for hyperbole to try to make a point. 2015, even when excluding games he was knocked out of/clearly hampered by injury is clearly NOT Ben's finest campaign. It doesnt hurt to look at what he's doing differently to see what he could do better. People seem to take it to heart when i say Ben could be better, as if im a thankless asshole that doesnt know how good he has it. Not at all, i do realize how good i have it with Ben and have so much faith in him that i think he's capable of even more than he's done for us. ill be the 1st to bitch about how we dont have the QB to win when Ben retires.

Does anybody here think Ben walks into the facility everyday past 6 lombardis and thinks to himself "huh, you know what. im really damn good. im very complacement about it and have no plans to get better."

i sure dont. and i encourage ben's desire for growth as a qb even though he's getting old

[zulater]

You sure do, thats why you dont force the ball constantly against the sideline in double coverage. I havent advanced any thesis i havent stated already, recheck the thread i made about how Ben could be BETTER that some people got offended about as if im dissing Ben. Seems to me, you've advanced your thesis and put words in my mouth. I literally state in the other thread that im still in favor of deep passes, just not necessarily the extreme average distance the ball travels in the air, especially on 20+ yard passes (which i believe someone tweeted out is 36+ yards). A pass of 15-20 yards is still plenty deep to me.

I guarantee you i was anything BUT anti-deep pass in the other thread.

"For yesterday for one time you were right." Uh, how about that broncos game? 2 deep safeties and no blonde bombing for eternity. but as good strategem would have it, we definitely have some 15+ yard balls thrown right in there for good measure that turned out to be some of the decisive throws. Ben has had open receivers on many of his interceptions this year that he has uncharacteristically ignored. Again, a look at my 1st post in my "Ben could be better" thread leads me to believe, Haley and/or Tomlin are encouraging Ben to do this instead of using his shorter range options even if theyre open.

No one's saying to throw short(er) every game, in this thread, or any thread.

There's more variation in throwing distance than just Ben to Alex Smith, so lets not reach for hyperbole to try to make a point. 2015, even when excluding games he was knocked out of/clearly hampered by injury is clearly NOT Ben's finest campaign. It doesnt hurt to look at what he's doing differently to see what he could do better. People seem to take it to heart when i say Ben could be better, as if im a thankless asshole that doesnt know how good he has it. Not at all, i do realize how good i have it with Ben and have so much faith in him that i think he's capable of even more than he's done for us. ill be the 1st to bitch about how we dont have the QB to win when Ben retires.

Does anybody here think Ben walks into the facility everyday past 6 lombardis and thinks to himself "huh, you know what. im really damn good. im very complacement about it and have no plans to get better."

i sure dont. and i encourage ben's desire for growth as a qb even though he's getting old

Fair enough. Good points.

[plenewken]

The key to our demise is the Steelers chronic inability to beat bottom feeders. We were, once again, outplayed and outcoached by a weak opponent.

[86WARD]

As I was saying in another thread (and, as I describe here: http://www.thepointofpittsburgh.com/...-painful-loss/ )

The ball did not move out of his right hand. His left hand came off, but his right hand never lost control. Focus on his right hand only.

Exactly.

[GBMelBlount]

The key to our demise is the Steelers chronic inability to beat bottom feeders. We were, once again, outplayed and outcoached by a weak opponent.

Agree.

[teegre]

The key to our demise is the Steelers chronic inability to beat bottom feeders. We were, once again, outplayed and outcoached by a weak opponent.

Here is a list of the playoff-caliber teams, and their records against teams who have losing records this season:


9-0 - Carolina Panthers
8-0 - Cincinnati Bengals
9-1 - Arizona Cardinals
8-1 - Minnesota Vikings
8-1 - New England Taperiots
7-1 - Kansas City Chiefs
7-2 - Green Bay Packers
7-2 - Seattle Seahawks
6-2 - Denver Broncos
6-2 - Pittsburgh Steelers
8-3 - New York Jets
8-3 - Washington Redskins
6-3 - Houston Texans
5-5 - Atlanta Falcons
3-4 - Indianapolis Colts

Both of Pittsburgh's losses to "losers" were against Baltimore... who is their rival. That fact can't be ignored. Even if the second game should have been a gimme, Vick started the first game.

[augustashark]

I agree with the touchdown should have held up. The play I was thinking about happened in the 2nd Q. I checked the play by play on nfl.com and it was a 3 and 16 from our 24 yard line. Happened with 7 mins left. We throw timeouts around like theyre candy and how many challenge flags have we thrown where we as fans knew it was worthless. I just didn't understand why we didn't challenge it. If you have the game please look and see if I'm crazy or not. Thanks.

[teegre]

I agree with the touchdown should have held up. The play I was thinking about happened in the 2nd Q. I checked the play by play on nfl.com and it was a 3 and 16 from our 24 yard line. Happened with 7 mins left. We throw timeouts around like theyre candy and how many challenge flags have we thrown where we as fans knew it was worthless. I just didn't understand why we didn't challenge it. If you have the game please look and see if I'm crazy or not. Thanks.

It was called a TD on the field.

The refs reviewed it, and reversed the call.

Challenging it would have done nothing, because it had already been reviewed.


The problem I have, and the problem that one of the networks had: there wasn't indisputable evidence to overturn the call on the field. If it had been called "no catch", there wouldn't have been enough evidence to overturn the call. As it was, it was ruled a catch, and since there wasn't indisputable evidence, the play should have stood.

[plenewken]

It was called a TD on the field.

The refs reviewed it, and reversed the call.

Challenging it would have done nothing, because it had already been reviewed.


The problem I have, and the problem that one of the networks had: there wasn't indisputable evidence to overturn the call on the field. If it had been called "no catch", there wouldn't have been enough evidence to overturn the call. As it was, it was ruled a catch, and since there wasn't indisputable evidence, the play should have stood.

Absolutely!