View topic - New Article: Stillers-Raiders Postgame Analysis and Grades

[Jeemie Profile]

DITTO:

and his in-game strategy continues to be stone-stupid,...Consider the 53-yard FG try, to the OPEN end of the stadium, in the 4Q.

Agreed- beyond moronic. That's on Tomlin, not Arians.

The 4 and 1 w/ QB-sneak???

It was 4th and a foot. Nothing wrong with this call in the slightest. If you can't get a foot on a QB sneak...

W/ 8 minutes left in regulation, the D had held OAK to 6 points,...and they still had to sweat out the game?!???

Redzone offense in 1st half: ridiculous.

This game should have been over at half-time.

no more words

-Rushmore

Yeah- I hate it when Arians scripts in that Ben red zone interception once a game.

[bdambro Profile]

Pathetic... I think we're another loss away from "Hard Knocks" coming to Pittsburgh next year...

We made Gradkowski look like Montana. Our "franchise" corner (Ike) needs to be benched for lack of effort. On Murphy's 75 yard catch/run he looked like Jeff Reed trying to run down a kick returner...

It's one thing to get beat... it's another thing to not give a shit.

[SojuMaster Profile]

The one thing that is common among all 4 games in this implosion that we are suffering is that we have not executed any no-huddle!! Arians must feel threatened that Big Ben can call a better game then him so he has ripped that authority from him. This is complete and utter crap if they are going to handcuff Big Ben from calling any plays. There is so much shit wrong with the team now it is not even funny; but this is one element that has disappeared. Give the play calling authority back to Big Ben and lets start scoring again.

[steelersteelman Profile]

I'm still not convinced that Dick is not the reason for the shitty Defense. I feel Arians and his clueless play calling puts the defense in a state of shock. Granted, in the fourth quarter losses this year the defense has giving up the points, but if you score more than 3 points and put these shitty teams away---its called getting a big lead---it changes the things you can do defensively. To be honest Arians sorry ass mind keeps every team we play in the game, both offensively and defensively. I hope that makes sense. I can say this about Dick's DBS. You all suck!!! I can understand getting beat once in awhile. that is going to happen in this game....but to get beat( IKE ) and then jog to the sideline and in a pussy way try and push the guy out of bounds.....PATHETIC!!!! GIVE THE ROONEYS YOUR YEARS PAY BACK!!! Hey IKE when you get burned repeatidly why don't you talk smack and do your little hand in front of the face smack crap then.....it makes me want to puke----we are now 6 and 6 and we have been torched all season and if we knock a shitty passed ball down we have to talk shit to the other team.... play the game....your expected to knock shitty passed balls down....get your ass back in the huddle and shut your mouth!!!! what would be really impressive is for you that gets millions a year to actually catch a ball....worst hands i have ever seen on a professional athlete.

[steeler_fanatic Profile]

Now we see what Tomlin is made of. It's been a long time since I've seen the Steelers as lacking in grit and intensity. It's on him to turn this around.

[Steelhope Profile]

yet another great article by Mill and all comments ring true. I agree with everyone here that Arians game plan in the first half was haughty and obstinate and resulted in shit until we woke up in the 2nd half. Let it be known that Still Mill is NOT enslaved to his own dogma as many would believe

I too watched the Cardianls game - but with more of an eye towards Whis and Grimm. The Rooneys told those two quality men to go pound salt and now that wisdom appears to be flawed. I think the Obamafication of Dan Rooney heralded our demise

We cannot draft our way into fixing the defensive secondary unless we are prepared to wait another 2 years for results. NFL CB & Safety is a FN hard transition from college. Remember Troys first year? This means that Stiillers will need to find someone GOOD in the FA

Can't you see your blaming EVERYTHING on Obama exposes your ignorance. The Rooneys' have always let the coach's run the team. The Rooney's political preference has zero to do with the way we are performing this season. Stop being such a fool (tool) PGH. It is nauseating. Take your politics to the Rant Page.

[kurtostill Profile]

I hear a lot of justified criticism here. I thought I might change tack and propose some solutions to our beloved Stillers’ woes.
Offense:
1. Fire Bunghole Arians – okay, not going to happen this year. Maybe next year. We can hope, right. The Stillers really need someone calling the shots that has an ounce of creativity and can adapt to a team that blitzes everyone, including the punter, the ball boy, cheerleaders, and a few trainers.
2. Change up running plays. Almost every run is straight up the gut or just off tackle. When Ds are stacking the box, like they often do against the Stillers, this obviously doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter whether it’s FWP or Mendy running the ball (for those of you who wrote off FWP by the way, I say again that the problems with the running game are not his fault). The only way it seems RBs get any yards in this system is to bounce outside. Sweeps, misdirection plays, pitches etc would probably be highly effective if called from time to time. Another factor is the delay runs where Ben runs 6 to 8 yards backwardto hand off to an RB that is standing stone still? WTF Bunghole? Remember the San Diego game where Mendy was already running and Ben just took a step or two and handed off? It worked so of course, Bunghole Arians now avoids it like the plague.
3. Develop a quick, short passing game. The Stillers have 2 excellent receiving tight ends. Miller will have big games from time to time and then Bunghole forgets about him for weeks on end. Spaeth is basically ignored and used like a lineman. Ridiculous! If you have weapons, use them! Along those lines, pass to Moore! He is a proven, savvy veteran that has a nose for the 1st down marker. Again though, the Bunghole all but ignores him for months. If the Stillers don’t develop a short passing game, Ben will receive blows to the head more often than he can say I love Bruce Arians. He’ll also have a very short career.
4. Use the bunch formation and other formations designed to get receivers open quickly. It seems to be effective so again Bunghole ignores it. There is no reason why it should take 3 ½ minutes for a receiver to get open. Nobody is being fooled by the long bombs either. They only work when you’ve established a running game and short yardage passing game.
5. Play action pass? I guess it just works too well and it’s too predictable.
6. Develop a short yardage game. I dread every 3rd and short. Can someone explain to me again why we got rid of Redman? Sorry, I forgot about Bunghole Arian’s, “if it works, we better fix it right away” philosophy. It’s too complex, you wouldn’t understand. Only a PhD in existential philosophy can grasp Bunghole’s rationale. Cutting Gary Russell, I think also a mistake.
Defense:
1. Bench players who are not performing. Farrior comes to mind. At the very least, don’t play a slow-ass 30 year old, who only gets slower as the game progresses, every play of the game. This is especially true in obvious passing situations like 3rd or 4th and long. Other players that merit consideration for at least temporary replacement: Hampton, Gay, Woodley, Taylor, Clark – I could go on but you get the idea.
2. Play CBs 4-5 yards instead of 10-12 yards off the line of scrimmage, especially in passing situations like 3rd and 8. C’mon Dick! Per NFL rules, CBs are allowed to press and jam WRs within 5 yards to disrupt their routes.
3. Coach DBs to catch the damn ball! Have the wide receivers coach work with DBs so they can intercept balls that hit them on the hands! Also, coach DBs to look for the ball. I for one and growing very weary of Ike Taylor (although he’s not the only one) having staring contests with opposing WRs as the ball floats safely and gently into their hands.
4. Change up our blitz packages. Offenses have adjusted to Dick’s “intricately complex” blitzes. If Harrison is being held on every blitz from the outside and refs aren’t calling it, fine. Try something else; send him up the middle, whatever. For god’s sake, try something different! This D rarely gets meaningful pressure on opposing QBs and makes scrubs like Gradkowski look like Dan Marino. They’re just from the same city; they’re not in the same league.
5. Get rid of “prevent defense” as the base defensive package. The only thing it’s preventing is the Stillers from winning.
Special Teams:
1. Fire Ligashesky. Special teams continues to be a weak spot after years of neglect. Again, maybe next year.
2. Play starters. If we are giving up touchdowns with weak players, replace them with starting players that can tackle and find the damn ball.
Coaching:
1. Focus on fundamentals. Enough of the fancy, complicated schemes and other BS. This team needs to return to the basics: tackling, blocking, catching - execution.
2. Get the team motivated to play lousy teams. Beat the Chargers, Broncos and Vikings then lose to the Chefs and Gay-ders! What the hell? No NFL team can be taken lightly! There is far too much parity in this league now. And any team can be dangerous no matter how much they’re struggling. Players need to be motivated by the HC for every single game.
3. Pull the players together and put a muzzle on some. I love Hines Ward but that crap about Ben should never have been uttered no matter how much he was baited by the interviewer. Again, the HC needs to rein this shit in and ensure that it doesn’t happen to begin with.
There you have it. I’ll stop ranting.

[kurtostill Profile]

I too watched the Cardianls game - but with more of an eye towards Whis and Grimm. The Rooneys told those two quality men to go pound salt and now that wisdom appears to be flawed. I think the Obamafication of Dan Rooney heralded our demise

You are kidding, right. If I recall, "Obamification" won the Stillers the Super Bowl last year and Whis and Grimm walked home with their tails between their legs. Every team and every coach has rough stretches. I'll take Tomlin over either Whis or Grimm any day.
Head Coach is only one factor of a team. The HC, although extremely important, can't walk on the field and win a game no matter how good he is. That job comes down to the players and coordinators calling the plays. These have been our weaknesses all year: poor play-calling and poor execution. Tomlin’s biggest mistake has been keeping coordinators that aren’t performing effectively.
I’ve have also heard the argument that this is Cowher’s team and Tomlin adopted it. To some extent, this is true and in other ways not. But what’s Tomlin supposed to do? Fire great players and start anew? That would be idiotic. And if you want to get down to it, the Cardinals team was essentially built by Denny Green in much the same way.
Has Tomlin made mistakes, of course. He also won a Super Bowl as the youngest head coach ever in his 2nd year as HC. Not bad if you ask me. And I can think of a lot of "great" head coaches that have never acheived that level of success.
The fact is that this team is only a few tackles, missed interceptions and blown plays away from being a playoff contender this year. Then you’d be singing a much different tune.

[Jeemie Profile]

yet another great article by Mill and all comments ring true. I agree with everyone here that Arians game plan in the first half was haughty and obstinate and resulted in shit until we woke up in the 2nd half. Let it be known that Still Mill is NOT enslaved to his own dogma as many would believe

I too watched the Cardianls game - but with more of an eye towards Whis and Grimm. The Rooneys told those two quality men to go pound salt and now that wisdom appears to be flawed. I think the Obamafication of Dan Rooney heralded our demise

We cannot draft our way into fixing the defensive secondary unless we are prepared to wait another 2 years for results. NFL CB & Safety is a FN hard transition from college. Remember Troys first year? This means that Stiillers will need to find someone GOOD in the FA

Can't you see your blaming EVERYTHING on Obama exposes your ignorance. The Rooneys' have always let the coach's run the team. The Rooney's political preference has zero to do with the way we are performing this season. Stop being such a fool (tool) PGH. It is nauseating. Take your politics to the Rant Page.

Actually, it's the old "Rooney hired Tomlin solely because he was black" posts.

I missed seeing those threads! How quaint!

And anyone that thinks Russ "I know when to call timeout and when to throw a challenge flag" Grimm was qualified to be a head coach is utterly deluded.

Timmay- I didn't realize you had taken on a new userid!!!

Notice that when Whiz brought Grimm to Arizona after Tomlin beat him out, he didn't promote Grimm to OC. Nope- made him...wait for it...offensive line coach.

And even after Todd Haley left, did Grimm get promoted to OC?

Nope- he gets to be "running game coordinator".

LOL!!!!

[Bukk U Profile]

What ever happened to the 2nd pick Kraig Urbik? How can this guy not get on the field once this year? Another second pick bust? What about Charlie Weis for the O coordinator? Is he an acceptable upgrade for our current pile-o-shit or do we need to set out sights higher?

[kurtostill Profile]

What ever happened to the 2nd pick Kraig Urbik? How can this guy not get on the field once this year? Another second pick bust? What about Charlie Weis for the O coordinator? Is he an acceptable upgrade for our current pile-o-shit or do we need to set out sights higher?

Who knows? Apparently Urbik had a lousy camp. It’s the Stiller philosophy to not play rookies or even give them a chance - Wallace is a notable exception. Sometimes it frustrates the hell out of me. The only way a rookie can learn to play the game of football in the NFL is to play the game of football in the NFL. Also, our veteran line is so good that there’s no reason to try out a rookie, oh wait.
Charlie Weis is kind of a d-bag if you ask me, just another in the long line of Belichick’s shithead disciples. Boorish, classless, jag-offs, every last one of them. However, would he be an upgrade from Bunghole Arians? Hell yes. He did win 3 SBs with the Patsies and I think he definitely knows how to exploit defensive weaknesses. Even though he’s a choad, I can’t argue with his success as an OC. And at this point, I wouldn’t care if Genghis Khan was the Stiller’s OC if he could get the job done.