View topic - Stillers.com & Readers miss the obvious....again

[MDSteelersFan Profile]

No it wasn't 'turtling'.

No it wasn't Reed missing two FGs - though the second attempt was a verifiable POS.

No it wasn't McFadden allowing Houshimamillionyearsold to torch him for the game winner.

The goat(s) of the game. Kemo-Spaeth-Fox. Three candy-assed, stupid penalties inside our own five yard line is what cost the Steelers this game. Worst case without these penalties is Sepulveda booting his punt from his own goal line with about a minute left in the game (remember the clock stopped on both those false starts). Worst case is Flacco has 60+ yds to go with under a minute instead of <40 to go with 1:45.

Frankly, Mendy was doing the job under tough circumstances. If he wasn't forced to line up 4 yards deep in his own endzone three times because of the lame-ass game gift-wrapping by Kemo and Spaeth, I'm betting he would have pulled out a first down and the game would have ended with Charlie taking a knee.

[hatethebrowns Profile]

we should have took the safety at the end there it would have given the ratbirds at least 50 60 yards to get into field goal range without anytime outs and it would have given our d a chance to make a game ending pick or a sack but the when you have bruce calling the shots thats what you get

not time to panic yet seeings its only 4 games in but if the coaches/players play like this we can just go ahead and start playing for draft picks

[stilltrap Profile]

No it wasn't 'turtling'.

No it wasn't Reed missing two FGs - though the second attempt was a verifiable POS.

No it wasn't McFadden allowing Houshimamillionyearsold to torch him for the game winner.

The goat(s) of the game. Kemo-Spaeth-Fox. Three candy-assed, stupid penalties inside our own five yard line is what cost the Steelers this game. Worst case without these penalties is Sepulveda booting his punt from his own goal line with about a minute left in the game (remember the clock stopped on both those false starts). Worst case is Flacco has 60+ yds to go with under a minute instead of <40 to go with 1:45.

Frankly, Mendy was doing the job under tough circumstances. If he wasn't forced to line up 4 yards deep in his own endzone three times because of the lame-ass game gift-wrapping by Kemo and Spaeth, I'm betting he would have pulled out a first down and the game would have ended with Charlie taking a knee.

MD - get off those bad drugs. Step into reality. If, as you say, Sepulveda were punting from his goal line, it would mean we were on the 15-yardline, which would mean that we made a first down, and the clock would have been run out.


TURTLING THE OFFENSE, or as Momlin and Wannshidt would love to call it, THE PREVENT OFFENSE, is what lost the game.
They call it the Prevent Offense because it prevents you from winning a football game.

[specialteamsplease Profile]

troys hair should have been in the endzone on that play where mcfadden got burnt.. (he always gets burnt unless he gets a hand on the line).. it would have mind f'd flacco a lot more and he prob would have broken it up if if were thrown anywhere near him.. spaeth is the worst player in the nfl .. everyone loves roeth again and thats awesome .. timmons shakes the tv screen every time he tackles .. the dline must stay healthy .. reed got wrecked all week before the game... (the field already looks like a mess tho) ... nice to see antwaan come on more ... redman blocks hard every single time he is out on the field.. his best block pick up of the day was on a play where batch was actually sacked (oline screw up)

[IronCity__Man Profile]

No it wasn't 'turtling'.

No it wasn't Reed missing two FGs - though the second attempt was a verifiable POS.

No it wasn't McFadden allowing Houshimamillionyearsold to torch him for the game winner.

The goat(s) of the game. Kemo-Spaeth-Fox. Three candy-assed, stupid penalties inside our own five yard line is what cost the Steelers this game. Worst case without these penalties is Sepulveda booting his punt from his own goal line with about a minute left in the game (remember the clock stopped on both those false starts). Worst case is Flacco has 60+ yds to go with under a minute instead of <40 to go with 1:45.

Frankly, Mendy was doing the job under tough circumstances. If he wasn't forced to line up 4 yards deep in his own endzone three times because of the lame-ass game gift-wrapping by Kemo and Spaeth, I'm betting he would have pulled out a first down and the game would have ended with Charlie taking a knee.

Even after reading your post your point is not obvious. Was Kemo-Spaeth-or Fox out there on that last series when the Ravens scored? Did Kemo-Spaeth-or Fox take 6 points off the board by missing kicks? What about the entire offensive line that didn't block a single Raven on our last three run plays - why are they added to your list?

[Steel Holiday Profile]

we should have took the safety at the end there it would have given the ratbirds at least 50 60 yards to get into field goal range without anytime outs and it would have given our d a chance to make a game ending pick or a sack but the when you have bruce calling the shots thats what you get

not time to panic yet seeings its only 4 games in but if the coaches/players play like this we can just go ahead and start playing for draft picks

The safety angle is something I considered also. Make them go farther, and change their plan from TD to FG. With Cundiff kicking into the north end of the field that would have been the strategic play. It also would have been a bit spineless. The vaunted defense was all there yesterday. Troy was not injured. Harrison did not forget his shoulder pads. Smith was not at Sunday worship. Wood was not out to lunch. Ike did not have a 12pm tee time. The defense was there and could have stopped Flake-o, but didn't. The suppose to be immovable Stiller defense was pushed aside. As a fan that is the way I'd want the team to go down in defeat if it has to happen. I'm not trying to watch the offense with a 3rd string QB attempt to move the ball against Baltimore.

If strategy was the play, how about run the ball on 3rd down to end the 3rd quarter, and then kick into the opposite end of the field to start the 4th quarter The team must have been sticking to some kind of code which states intelligent and high percentage football only matters if you don't kick enough ass to come out on top in the first place. Pittsburgh only desires a W if the other team is carried off the field in body bags. It may not be the most strategically sound game plan, but tactically I can't think of another philosophy I support more.

[MDSteelersFan Profile]

No it wasn't 'turtling'.

No it wasn't Reed missing two FGs - though the second attempt was a verifiable POS.

No it wasn't McFadden allowing Houshimamillionyearsold to torch him for the game winner.

The goat(s) of the game. Kemo-Spaeth-Fox. Three candy-assed, stupid penalties inside our own five yard line is what cost the Steelers this game. Worst case without these penalties is Sepulveda booting his punt from his own goal line with about a minute left in the game (remember the clock stopped on both those false starts). Worst case is Flacco has 60+ yds to go with under a minute instead of <40 to go with 1:45.

Frankly, Mendy was doing the job under tough circumstances. If he wasn't forced to line up 4 yards deep in his own endzone three times because of the lame-ass game gift-wrapping by Kemo and Spaeth, I'm betting he would have pulled out a first down and the game would have ended with Charlie taking a knee.

Even after reading your post your point is not obvious. Was Kemo-Spaeth-or Fox out there on that last series when the Ravens scored? Did Kemo-Spaeth-or Fox take 6 points off the board by missing kicks? What about the entire offensive line that didn't block a single Raven on our last three run plays - why are they added to your list?

Man the "Grizzled Vets" around here are thick. Let me spell it out for you.

Drive begins at the PGH 3 yard line. Two Mendy runs of 3.5 yards are negated by two stupid false start penalties, one each by Spaeth and Kemo. Without the penalties it is 3rd and 3 at the ten. Chances are Mendy does the job, gets the first down from there and the game ends with Batch taking a knee. But if he fails and leaves us with, say, a fourth and two from the eleven then Sepulveda is punting from about four yards deep (OK, not the goal line, but please stilltrap's comment is ridiculous). There are also about forty seconds on the clock when the ball is snapped, not 1:15 (assuming we gave the Ravens 20 seconds for each penalty clock stoppage.)

I'll even give Fox a pass, since without the pressure of the short punt formation, he likely does not need to pull the holding.

So instead of a 39-yard field with almost a minute, Flacco has a 60-yard field (maybe more, no reason Sepulveda doesn't kick a bigger one without the short formation) and only about 15 seconds to pull a miracle.

All of the other bad plays, missed kicks, etc. you mention are moot (or as I'm sure you've spelt and pronounced it your whole life "mute"). The goat of the game is the guy who takes a sure victory and turns it into a gift win for the other team. Clearly the flaccid helmet award (that's a dig at your limp member by the way) goes to Kemo and Spaeth.

[IronCity__Man Profile]

you still don't cut it. Nice try however. They were both dead ball fouls - no more time would come off the clock. Surely we lost a little yardage - 5 yards total for two penalties. But if all other plays as you mention are moot then why all of a sudden are these two dead ball, 5 yrd total plays the key to the loss? Five yards was as much as Mendy gained on three carries so we still would have had 4th and 5. Heck, keep Fox in your goat list if you are going to try and employ your logic. Sure those plays were important - but wasn't Mcfadden letting a guy jog past him and wide open into the endzone just a little bit of game costing play. Maybe just a little. Following your logic, if Mcfadden intercepts the ball he didn't just save the game. Rather it was some play that must have happened two or three series earlier.

[SteelTank Profile]

MD - do you remember the Titan game? After kicking their ass the entire game, the suddenly flacid defense and continued flacid offense almost threw this game away.

That's what happened Sunday against the Ravens. It was the cowardice of the play calling. period. This also includes playing McFadden 12 yards off the line of scrimmage in some sort of prevent D that allowed yet another easily completed pass.

It's the scheme/play calling - not the talent.

[Pump-N-Iron Profile]

It's the scheme/play calling - not the talent.

[smheart78 Profile]

Man the "Grizzled Vets" around here are thick. Let me spell it out for you.

I'm down with his point. I think it's mostly a matter of circumstance than any set of particular plays. The Steelers are last in the league in first downs, giving a large amount of time over to the opponents offense. At some point, any team will figure out the defensive gameplan of LeBeau given this much time. Offense helps the defense and Speath should be better at this point.

[stillcello Profile]

It's so much fun to try and rank the severity of the blunders from Sunday, ain't it?! Here is my take.... if I miss any, don't tell me as I don't care ; )

Reed missed FGs -
Well the longer one is tough cuz it's Heinz field... you can talk about the quality of the kick all you want, but 49 or 50 is in a slightly different category when it comes to how harshly you judge. Reed said he played for the wind a bit too much on the 49 yarder and it didn't blow, etc.....The 45 yarder is one that Reed has historically made a great deal of the time and that is disappointing.... so he should be blamed pretty harshly for not coming up clutch on that one.

Penalties -
Happen all the time... and bad timing... yes the holding calls are a killer and some blame should be put on those guys

Play Calling -
Of course Batching being in there had something to do with them calling a running play on 3rd down deep in their EZ....Yes, I was disappointed as I think I would have gambled to see if Batch could win the game right there.... even if the worst happens and the Ravens get a pick or a pick 6, you still might have a chance to get the ball back and drive and win with a TD. However, I don't think this was the worst calls in the world.

A note about the late game softee defense critique:... usually when the steelers win with defense they win with either Troy making a huge INT, or with Harrision or Woodley with a sack or strip sack, etc....some big play from a handful of guys.... when those things don't happen, you have what we saw on those final drives on Sunday... I don't blame the coaches as much as some for this strategy.... we don't have the best corners in the world, etc..... however I also don't think McFadds needs to line up 10-15 yards off of *any* WR on the Ravens squad either!!!

McFadden -
This, for me, was the biggest error of the game. You have a seasoned DB who's been in super bowls...and with the opposition needing a TD to win with the clock winding down, etc. You know that Troy is blitzing so you have to be extra careful with less or no safety help. In that situation, to totally bite on an out pattern from the 'less then speedy' Housh is just inexcusable.... it was such a mental lapse on many levels in my opinion. McFadds is charged by LeBeau to 'keep things in front of him' and on the one drive where he really needed to do it, he made a game-losing error. You have Timmons and Try blitzing, and it got picked up, so fine, you give up a 15 yard out to Housh and still have some more plays to try and keep them out of the end zone.... just a huge crushing mistake