NFL Week 14 -- Serious People?

Thank you. Not at all joking ...

 

I haven't read the full story b/c it's paywalled, but Ty Dunne did a extensive deep dive into why the Bills have plateaued under McDermott. Apparently it all came out in his reporting.

 

I really thought the Patsies were going to hand it to them.

 

The Steelers did manage something no NFL team gad ever done before. No team with a record above .500 gad ever lost consecutive games to teams eight games under .500. That is a special level of failure.

 

They tried. The Steelers refused to accept the gift.

 

I will attempt a more serious answer, though being the first NFL team with a winning record to ever lose consecutive games at home to teams that are eight games under .500 is a hell of an indictment. It isn't just that they lost. It is the way they lost. They were incredibly sloppy in both games. They are taking illegal formation penalties for forgetting to cover the tackle. The line still can't pick up a blitz. They are getting caught out of position on defense on very simple plays. Tomlin made a lot of noise about the team redeeming itself last night. They only think they are redeeming is a plane ticket home at the end of the regular season. The Patriots can't protect their quarterback, but the Steelers got almost no pressure on Zappe. They had multiple interceptions go off their hands. Trubisky threw multiple passes to defenders, but only one was caught. A mediocre team would have blown the Steelers off the field last night. That is what happened Sunday against the Cardinals.

Tomlin seems to be losing some of his players, too. George Pickens and Diontae Johnson are showing their frustration with the offense every game. Johnson pouted on the field against the Bengals. Pickens often telegraphs runs by not even bothering to run downfield or block. The team seemed to be ready to revolt after the loss to the Browns. It seemed like they just wanted Canada gone, but it seems to be running deeper.

This is an ugly collapse and it isn't the first one under Tomlin. It is a wasted season in large part because Tomlin had his team playing not to lose. That is part of the biggest issue I have with Tomlin. He has never had to develop a quarterback because they had Roethlisberger when he got there and I'm not sure he can. He has done a terrible job with Pickett. They put him behind an offensive line that can't pass protect with a center who struggles with shotgun snaps. They kept Matt Canada as offensive coordinator, which was a huge mistake, one even he finally realized a few weeks ago. More importantly, they showed no confidence in Pickett, forcing him to focus so much on not making big mistakes that he often seems afraid to pull the trigger. They told Pickett they don't trust him and it seems like he believes he can't be trusted. He regressed this season and that is poor coaching.

Tomlin has been a hell of a coach. He might even be headed for the Hall of Fame, but yeah, it's time for him to move on.

 

Zappe looked competent, or at least better than Jones.

 

Somebody is trying to speed up his firing.

 

Jones has lost all confidence. He has the passing yips. Zappe is confident enough to make mistakes, so he correspondingly also has more successful plays. At least he did last night. Last Sunday not so much.

 

My buddy started betting in-game interception numbers, so I joined in last night and got Zappe at halftime at plus-odds to throw one pick in the second half. Score. I realize this is sick and the equivalent of betting for crapouts, but it's weirdly intoxicating.

 

Is there a big sample size of teams that even had an opportunity to do that?
I'm fascinated by the specificity of that stat. It's hard to get eight games below .500 in a 12/14/16/17 game season, and seems even harder to happen to have two of those teams in a row on somebody's schedule.