"You've heard people brag about 'being in the zone'. They don't know what the Hell being in the zone is about. I played in the NFL for 15 years and I was only in the zone that one time." - "Mean" Joe Greene on the 1974 playoff victory over Oakland
1st and Goal from the 2 yard line, with one Timeout remaining and................3 straight pass play calls????
That is the difference. If the ref misses that facemask on Switzer...……….this entire board is wondering why the Steelers didn't run the football to James Conner. Really bad playcalling. Its just the same as the Seahawks not handing off to Lynch, but throwing on the goal line instead.
I agree...unless this didn’t come from the sidelines and Ben is just out there running the 2 minute and calling his own shots. If that was the “plan” then I can see how they go so pass wacky.
On the other hand, then the sidelines should force a timeout and get things reset.
Yeah, I'm not blaming anyone. I have no idea who is responsible for spiking the ball instead or running in that situation. It might be Ben. I also thought I saw Ben look toward the sideline, so I don't know.
All I do know is they wasted a down to spike the ball when they could have run a play.
It's one of those things that happens with a clock running down and 11 men are scrambling to get the play call and get in position.
They only had one timeout left so that wouldn’t have helped run the ball. At that stage, if they call TO, get Ben in check and then run the ball and fail, the game is over with no FG attempt.
The Jags don’t get that INT without the face mask penalty. But yes...this place would’ve erupted in anger had the officials missed that...wondering why Conner wasn’t handed the ball.
I dont care about the spike of the ball, as much as they passed the football 3 times in a row from the 2 yard line when they had lots of time, one timeout and James Conner and an O line that consists of 3 Pro Bowl players. Run the football one time at least, then call your TO and run a pass play if you havent already scored the TD from the 2 yard line.
But to throw it 3 times in a row, against a fast defense with talented secondary in a confined space like the end zone is just dumb playcalling. Fichtner abandoned the run game too early and almost lost the game by not calling a single run when he had opportunities to from the 2 and 1 yard line.
I'm wondering if they decided to throw the ball instead of running it because of how well Jacksonville's run defense was.
With the way the Jaguars defense were positioned in the goal line, I do not think Conner would have had a TD in this situation.
After these past two weeks, I would have to say Randy Fichtner isn't awesome. Good, but not awesome. The Steelers have effectively abandoned the run game the past weeks, when they had no reason to, and its been costing them.
When Conner was getting touches, he was dominating and the team was rolling, now he's disappeared from the Offense, and the team (and Ben) is off-kilter and inconsistent. Now Conner is hurt and will be out for a while.
Abandoning what worked in make yourself seem smart is exactly what we bashed and hated Arians and Haley for. That makes Fichtner not awesome by default.
Dude is not Haley bad but he's been bad these past 2 weeks
James Conner has been missing from the offensive playcalling since Carolina. The Steelers have effectively abandoned the run game since. Even Samuels isn't getting any touches.
Is it really any shock that now that Conner isn't getting the ball as much as he used to, and the run game has been abandoned, the team has gone into a sudden tailspin?
As much as we hate to say it, Ben is not the engine that drives the offense. The more Ben throws, the more he forces to AB, the more chances he takes, and the more stupid interceptions keep piling up.
Well said. Its not just the past 2 weeks that Fichtner has abandoned the run and sucked. James Conner only had 9 carries against the Jags and that game was mostly a 6 point deficit. Lots of time to run the football and instead he chooses to roll the dice with Ben that lead to turnovers or mostly 3rd and long situations.
4.0YPC and 2TD last night. Those are pretty good numbers but he was only given 15 carries in the game.
In the win over the Ravens this year he was given the ball for 24 carries and 107 yards. Seems like similar effectiveness, but more touches resulted in a 100 yard game and a win.
I don’t know who is calling the plays but my confidence in Ben is about 50/50. When he throws a pass you feel it could be a TD or a pick. In the 4th they take a cold DHB (who can’t catch) off the bench and have him run deep in the EZ, double covered mind you and still force the ball to him. There is just too much pull it out of you’re ass play on this team...and they bench Washington.
They went back to the failed losing formula that created the 1-2-1 start in September and not the formula that won them six straight games. Fichtner caught Todd Haley disease, and it has cost the Steelers the 2nd seed. Fichtner better pull his head out of his ass soon or this team will be out of the playoffs entirely.
Two winnable games against two highly beatable teams, and Fichtner decides to get cute.
Lack of a deep threat compressing the field on 3rd downs is a real problem. It is why they can bracket AB, help on JUJU and still have someone draped all over Mcdonald
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It’s about roles, not physical attributes. You’re not running go routes with AB all day to draw safeties out of the middle of the field. Right now all of the Steelers best recieving options do their best work between the hashes. They need a guy who can threaten defenses vertically along the boundary.
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