NFL Week 10: A bunch of games will be played

Check that: Great call!

 

Gonna be funny watching the Bengals line up for a 54-yard FG st the buzzer after listening to Gtuden and McDonough deliver the postmortem.

 

Or not.

 

It is incredible how, if there is a "go for it" scenario (ie go for it on fourth down, instead of punt; go for a touchdown, instead of a fg), the network announcers, to my ears, ALWAYS want to play it safe. Simms, Aikman, John Lynch, Gruden last night.

Jesus, what a risk-averse bunch. Even when the aggressive play has positive EV.

 

Cam Heyward is out for the season.

 

And what little chance that team had of making a run comes to an end. I doubt the Steelers even make the playoffs without Heyward. That defense was bad enough before losing its best player. That is a huge hit to the run defense and takes away the team's best pass rusher.

 

I'm starting to question the coaching and philosophy.
The Dalllas loss is on the players.
The Ravens loss... That's on the coaches and that stupid fucking conservative game plan.

I almost fell out of my chair reading Tomlin's quotes yesterday; justifying going for 2, because that's aggressive and that's how the team plays? REALLY???

 

My understanding was the conservative game plan was put in as a one-time thing to protect Roethlisberger in his return from knee surgery because he wasn't 100 percent. The problem was that the game plan did not fit the opponent. The Steelers' best shot against the Ravens was to attack the secondary.

The coaches deserve some blame for the Dallas loss, too. The two-point conversion attempts were a mistake. It worked for a while last season, but opponents adjusted. That wasn't the time to get cute. The reverse was another example. The Steelers had mismatches in the passing game. The last thing they needed to do was give away a drive with some cutesy bullshit.

I mentioned this on the other thread, but Tomlin is talking about the team being undisciplined. Isn't that on the coaches? This isn't a new problem, either. This has been an issue with Tomlin's teams for a while. The lack of discipline needed to avoid penalties. The lack of discipline needed to avoid playing down to the level of shitty competition. The lack of discipline needed to keep big plays against the defense from becoming splash plays (to use Tomlin's term. For example, Bryant's touchdown was simply great player abusing a rookie cornerback, but an 83-yard touchdown on a screen is players getting out of position and taking lousy angles to the ball.

Tomlin is a decent coach, but there is plenty to dislike about the job he has done the last four or five seasons.

 

And now you are double dipping on two threads about Tomlin. What is wrong with you?

 

I saw a post that was on topic and responded with a post that was on topic. You are whining about posts that are on topic. What is wrong with you?

 

Heyward is a loss, but that defense - with or without him - isn't going to win games.
If the Steelers can't outscore teams, they won't win. Period.

 

I understand the thinking, but the defense has to at least give them a chance and they have been absolutely horrible against the run without Heyward.
The problems do seem to run deeper. You have Heyward talking about players quitting in one game earlier this season and saying that some players don't even know their assignments. Go back and watch the video from Sunday. How many times did you see Timmons or others gesturing wildly, trying to get everybody in place at the snap. It did look like they were confused. This has happened far too often since they sent LeBeau packing and made Butler the defensive coordinator. I know Haley draws a lot of criticism in Pittsburgh, but I'm guessing Butler would be the one to go if they make changes to the coaching staff this offseason.