NFL Week 4 Running Thread: Didn't some QB wear No. 4?

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/08274/916247-66.stm

The Steelers picked up a Deuce to address their suddenly depleted group of running backs. They re-signed Najeh Davenport. Ladies of Pittsburgh, keep your closets locked.

 

Jags don't need a new look. They do need to replace the white jerseys' black numerals with the original teal numerals. And who are the Oilers?

Bills have the ugliest uniforms in the league right now, home and road. They need to go back to the Super Bowl-era kit.

Creamsicle Bucs jerseys are gone forever.

Chargers needs to flush the dark-blue jerseys and go with powder-blue full time.

 

Tomlin doesn't know he's coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers; third-and-1 and he goes with an empty backfield? Brilliant. That's how finesse teams do it; finesse gets you nowhere. For all the adjustments his teams make at halftime, you'd think he and his coaches use that time to get a sandwich and a cup of coffee.

 

That helps.

 

You do know they won the game right?
3-1, sitting atop the division.
Not to mention they injuries to the running back. So they went shotgun on third and short one time. One. time.
Yeah, I was surprised, but Arians is the offensive coordinator not Tomlin.

The guy is not in is over his head. He's doing OK, all things considered.

 

This may sound blasphemous coming from a Steelers fan, but I couldn't care less about Tomlin coaching the team to play "Steelers football." If going empty set on every play is what gets it done, do that. You have to adapt to the team you have, and this team has a crappy offensive line and a beat up group of running backs.

I was far more frustrated by the attempt to pound it in with Mwelde Moore on third-and-goal from just inside the two on the fourth-quarter drive that they ended up settling for a field goal. They were down to their smallish third-down back, missing their right guard, and they still tried to run inside the tackle box, where Ray Lewis can make the play.

Think back to the 1995 Steelers. That team took a while to find its running game and had a defense that struggled at times to overcome the loss of Rod Woodson. They couldn't just play ball control and lean on the defense. They also had an outstanding group of wide receivers and a line that did a better job in pass protection than it did opening holes for the run. So they adapted and went to a lot of three and four-receiver sets, which was good enough to get to the Super Bowl.

Not that I think this team is a Super Bowl contender, but they are not going to win pounding away at people offensively. They just aren't built that way.

Tomlin does some things during games that leave you scratching your head, but so did Bill Cowher. Tomlin definitely has some time-management issues and he deserves most of the blame for that team getting badly outcoached by the Eagles in Week 3, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he's over his head.

 

A career No. 2 back, Davenport brings a load.

 

You're going to see more of that with the injuries to Parker, Mendenhall and Davis. Remember when the Steelers made it to Super Bowl XXX against the Cowboys? That team struggled to run the football between Erric Pegram (813 yards, 3.8 average) and Bam Morris (559 yards, 3.8 average) much of the season.

So what did they do? They went to a shotgun spread, which included Slash at wideout, with Neil O'Donnell calling the shots. And it nearly won them a Super Bowl. Cowher did what he needed to do then, just like Tomlin's going to do what he needs to do now. Team identity comes second to winning games. You cannot be so stingy about doing things one way, or you will lose when dealing with adversity.

EDIT -- Looks like outofplace beat me to it.

 

Is anyone else having trouble getting into the P-G's sports stories?
I can't get into any of the stories.

The Steelers shotgun spread that year gave berth to the 5-wide spread. A football innovation that had not been used before.

 

True, but you gave O'Donnell the credit he deserves for getting them there, which I just couldn't bring myself to do given how badly he played in the AFC Championship game and the Super Bowl.

That team really was fun to watch. With all those receivers and the protection they gave O'Donnell, they would just kill opponents by converting one third-and-long after another.

 

After the Eagles blitzed the Steelers on what seemed to be 90 percent of their defensive calls in the first half, was there any discernible change in strategy by Tomlin in the second half: draw plays, screens, rollouts . . . anything that might ease the pressure on his QB? No. His QB stood back there and ran for his life time after time after time. The most surprising thing about that second half was that Roethlisberger didn't leave the field in two pieces.

What did he show in the first half Monday night that indicated that his team might have worked on better pass protection for more than 10 minutes during the week? Nothing that I saw.

They won the game last night only because his team got a break with a QB making his third career start. He's overmatched.

 

They also won because Ben made plays -- the touchdown to Santonio Holmes, the long pass to Hines Ward and the third-down pass before the game-winning field goal all good examples. Flacco's not the only reason the Ravens lost last night.