NFL Playoff Thread

Pittsburgh blitzed Tebow 10 times. He had four completions for 40 yards on those plays. I'm guessing NE blitzes a few more times than that.

 

It's a possibility. Big Ben turns 30 in March, but that might as well be 35. There's a lot of miles on that body. His career trajectory is bound to trend downward soon.

 

Whatever, Herb. Losing players during a game changes things. And honestly, none of those Patriots teams had a player like a healthy Woodley to lose. Never said the Steelers had great depth. Blowing it up sure seems to me to be a discussion of the starting lineup. And that lineup was missing quite a bit.

 

Inky, I have to figure the Pats' defensive priority will be reducing the 252 yards rushing they gave up in the regular season game. Blitzing may or may not be part of that.

 

Tough to question LeBeau, but the results of the scheme the Steelers employed sure didn't work. They gave Tebow way too much time.

 

You are right about that.

 

I could see the injuries mounting, but before he injured that ankle, Roethlisberger was having the best season of his career. Unless he loses significant time to injury, I don't think he is going to be the problem next year.

 

It was a problem the entire second half of the season. Harrison had a couple of dominant games, but mostly the pass rush disappeared with Woodley's injury.

 

The Super Bowl loser always has a rough time of it the following year for whatever reason. Steelers won the most games of any runner-up since the 2000 Titans. Assuming their injured players were just injured and not old-and-injured (it doesn't look like age is a huge factor just yet in most of the cases), they'll be back just fine in 2012.

 

Best part of Tebow's game might be that he makes good decisions and reads.

The fact that a great defensive team like The Steelers could not stop the zone read shows how good Tebow is as a runner.

One part of the story that seems to be underwritten is the one about the guys calling plays for The Broncos.

They are calling plays to Tebow's strengths and putting defenses in position to have to make a choice - whether to defend run or pass. Pick your poison.

The Jets defended the pass and Tebow beat them by running. Steelers choose run and Tebow beat them with a pass.

 

Some of that is age, especially in the cases of Starks, Hampton and Kiesel

 

True. I always give that organization credit for having a well-considered replacement plan, though. Maybe they don't in this case and they will struggle as a result, but I think they'll survive alright as long as Big Ben is out there.