WC Round vs Ravens

[ATL96Steeler]

I started this thread twice before and got sidetracked.

Steelers get a chance to settle the regular season tie with their most competitive rival...the Ravens,

Both teams defend the home field in convincing style...Steelers won their last 4 and during the streak swept CIN to take the North and the 3rd seed...BAL had some good fortune in that SD lost to KC and they took care of CLE to claim the 6th seed.

Whose hurting...Bell is officially out which I think most Steeler fans are okay with that because he's far more valuable than one playoff game...in the interim Tate was signed and I think depending on how quickly he can pick up pass protection and the blocking scheme, he might see a good share of the work load with Harris.

Ike & Troy are both probable which means they will be on the field, but I would not be shocked to see some platooning or outright replacement for either player if they look a step slow....the Steeler DEF is not better w/o Troy, but you can make an argument that they don't drop off without him though.

Ravens...Ngata is back off his 4 game suspension, but Monroe @ OT is listed as out...on a slow sloppy field it might not matter much.

No secrets in this one imo...keep Ben upright and the Ravens back 4/5 cannot handle the Steelers WR/TE...I look for them to play some zone, and if so Heath could get a lot of targets tonight. The field condition is in Torrey's Smith's head already...he could be a less of a factor.

The Steelers have been playing the best ball the last half of the season and appear to be hitting on more cylinders than BAL...I like them to win a rather low scoring game 23-17 and move on to a redemption game in Colo.

What say you?

 

[MISKO]

im nervous playin against the gayvens .. theses games can always go either way

 

[Muddler]

Reasons for optimism:
Oline has been giving BB great protection, consequently BB has been playing really good, consistent football.
Defense has been coming on, particularly in the secondary. Heyward has been a beast on the dline.
I like the matchup of #92 against a Guard shifted to tackle. If Harrison has a big game so will we.
Ratbirds oline has been shuffled significantly due to injury at LT and their secondary is may be even worse than ours was early on.
Game is in the Burgh.

Reasons for pessimism:
Bell is OUT. He is the team MVP and has accounted for almost 40% of our offensive production in the second half of the season. We have no backup that inspires confidence there won't be a huge dropoff (especially in receiving yards out of the backfield). I like Harris but there's no denying the fact he is still untested. Dri Archer can't be the 3rd down back because he is worse than useless in pass pro. Tate doesn't even have a full week of practice under his belt. Someone is gonna really have to step up here.
Thuggs and Dumperville are real threats in the pass rush. BB will need time so that Bryant can function as a viable deep threat and open it up for AB, Heath and Wheaton.
Ngata is back and is probably the best DT/NT in the business.
Weather looks like it may affect the passing game -worse for us than the Rats.

Staying with the formula that has worked lately and picking against the MOS:
Thehatedratbirds 24
Steelers 20

 

[Cali Steel]

Looks to be wet and sloppy.
That will certainly slow down the game.
I think it will most likely be a lower scoring game, and not like Ben the gunslinger's last massacre of the Ravens.

 

[dare2be]

Whichever team comes out on top, I'm more worried about the injuries that will be inflicted going into the next round if we make it.

Right now, we look pretty one-dimensional with Bell out. And the D is swiss cheese early on.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Quick recap:

Sloppy & uninspired play all around. Can't believe they laid that big of an egg on their home field. Turnovers, penalties, 1-dimensional offense, porous O-line, and a swiss cheese defense. Battle was lost in the trenches on both sides of the ball. The only thing that made this a brutal loss was that it was to our biggest rival. This will be a tough one to swollow for a while.

O... O-line didn't hold up very well tonight, and Ben wasn't at his finest. Blame could go either way between those 2. Ben forced some awful throws under duress. Those INT's were killers. Gameplan left a lot to be desired without Bell. Their defense had an easy time shutting the run down so it forced Ben to throw often. Interesting choice going with Tate as the starter, even though neither he, Harris or Archer got anything going. Penalties took away what could have been game-changing points.

D... Bend but don't break was still the motto. Took a while to find some stability, which ended up breaking in the end. They had some clutch stops in the RZ but the offense couldn't extend drives, so I think overall this unit was exhausted by the 4th quarter. Having Polamalu out there exposed Mitchell again. The secondary was once again shown to be really bad. Sad ending to a promising last couple games for this unit.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

This team did what we originally predicted ATL! I like the direction that this team is headed.

I hope you do another yearly review! I enjoyed the last one that you posted for 2013. I almost posted one tonight but remembered that you did it last season so I didn't want to step on your toes

I've already got some things I want to talk about so I'll be looking forward to it!

 

[SJ20]

It's a really tough game to lose. Even without Bell, I was expecting a Steelers win. We would have been done next week anyways. This was likely a battle of two teams going nowhere. Very upset with how the Steelers played. A bit embarrassing. This was I believe the Steelers first ever loss to a divisional opponent in their history.

What really stinks is the fact that the Ravens aren't that great. I still think the Steelers are better. Play-calling again was awful. It was field goal fest 2015 early on. We need to get into the endzone and put the pressure on the opponent. Ben and Antonio put up great numbers but you would of never known it under the game was just about over.


Cornerback. Please. For the love of God. Please. Draft a good one early on. PLEASE! Winning this game would have satisfied me to a degree but losing it makes me wonder what this season exactly means to me. Need a few days to think about this game and season.

 

[Southieinnc]

Quick recap:

Sloppy & uninspired play all around. Can't believe they laid that big of an egg on their home field. Turnovers, penalties, 1-dimensional offense, porous O-line, and a swiss cheese defense. Battle was lost in the trenches on both sides of the ball. The only thing that made this a brutal loss was that it was to our biggest rival. This will be a tough one to swollow for a while.

O... O-line didn't hold up very well tonight, and Ben wasn't at his finest. Blame could go either way between those 2. Ben forced some awful throws under duress. Those INT's were killers. Gameplan left a lot to be desired without Bell. Their defense had an easy time shutting the run down so it forced Ben to throw often. Interesting choice going with Tate as the starter, even though neither he, Harris or Archer got anything going. Penalties took away what could have been game-changing points.

D... Bend but don't break was still the motto. Took a while to find some stability, which ended up breaking in the end. They had some clutch stops in the RZ but the offense couldn't extend drives, so I think overall this unit was exhausted by the 4th quarter. Having Polamalu out there exposed Mitchell again. The secondary was once again shown to be really bad. Sad ending to a promising last couple games for this unit.

Seemed like you were tired on both sides of the ball. I think you got behind and pored on the heat, only to fade. I think the catch between the legs about sums it up....
Could have been a lot different with Bell in.....

 

[ATL96Steeler]

We can't use Bell as an excuse imo...down 23-15...8:10 mark of the 4Q...the turning point for BAL was getting that pick...pass just a tad high but Tate still should've caught that ball imo.

The Ravens score after that changed the entire game...made it 2 pos gm with under 8 mins. to go more or less allowed BAL to tee off on Ben.

Generally speaking...the Steeler OFC was stymied in the RZ...they kicked 3 FGs in the 1st half...at least 2 of those possessions needed to be TDs instead of FGs.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

The offense just couldn't get much going… They were gift wrapped a few good field positions & penalties to extend drives, but still couldn't capitalize… They were fortunate to have a few of those FG's, so the ending score could have looked worse. Losing like that leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

But I agree, the winner of this game wasn't going to amount to much this postseason. Both teams were fairly weak links in comparison to NE or DEN. IMO almost all of the AFC wild-card teams are pretty weak. PIT looked deceptively good, but they flatlined when it mattered. It was tough to watch, but I'm proud of how far they came this season. For a team in transition they did better than most expected them to do. Winning the AFCN was a big accomplishment! After 2011 we knew the team was going to need an overhaul. A few missed drafts caused a lot of old guys to hang around, but I think we are finally starting to see the fruits of their (Colbert & Co) labor.

The loss yesterday should serve as good experience for the young crop of players. I know many don't want to think that far ahead right now, but this team is going to be nasty next season. They only have a few key players that are FA's this year, and all will likely be resigned. Worilds will probably come cheaper than we originally expected, unless his head inflated at some point. But with the small amount of FA's, that means they can concentrate on shoring up weaknesses instead of drafting BPA. We'll get into all that mocking & predicting in the offseason!

 

[ATL96Steeler]

The offense just couldn't get much going… They were gift wrapped a few good field positions & penalties to extend drives, but still couldn't capitalize… They were fortunate to have a few of those FG's, so the ending score could have looked worse. Losing like that leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

But I agree, the winner of this game wasn't going to amount to much this postseason. Both teams were fairly weak links in comparison to NE or DEN. IMO almost all of the AFC wild-card teams are pretty weak. PIT looked deceptively good, but they flatlined when it mattered. It was tough to watch, but I'm proud of how far they came this season. For a team in transition they did better than most expected them to do. Winning the AFCN was a big accomplishment! After 2011 we knew the team was going to need an overhaul. A few missed drafts caused a lot of old guys to hang around, but I think we are finally starting to see the fruits of their (Colbert & Co) labor.

The loss yesterday should serve as good experience for the young crop of players. I know many don't want to think that far ahead right now, but this team is going to be nasty next season. They only have a few key players that are FA's this year, and all will likely be resigned. Worilds will probably come cheaper than we originally expected, unless his head inflated at some point. But with the small amount of FA's, that means they can concentrate on shoring up weaknesses instead of drafting BPA. We'll get into all that mocking & predicting in the offseason!

Well said per norm Face.

The OFC...maybe Bell makes a difference...maybe he doesn't...hard to say, but I can't accept him missing the game as an excuse. I really felt that Haley was going to have infuse some stuff that the Ravens had not seen in the RZ largely because they are hard to run against...I thought we might see Moore and Spaeth be bigger factors as an element of surprise.

The DEF...they're not a championship caliber group for certain...they made strides though and a couple of the young guys were able to play significant mins...I think the jury is still out on JJ and a legit OLB in this DEF, but I like his early season progress...Tuitt is a keeper and even though he's not the prototypical body type for a NT, I like what McCullers brought to the table...Shazier had a disappointing finish, but he's a keeper as well.

Offseason/FA....I'm already in that mode!! Agree 100% on Worilds...he will get some midrange offers because the league has some many 3-4 teams now, but far below what Justin Houston will command...I'm resigning myself to the fact that the Steelers will be a pressure by committee type DEF with 4 or 5 guys capable of getting 6 to 8 sacks a year and I'm okay with it actually...I will say...you were right about Harris...the kid can play and imo is suitable to be Bell's backup.

Draft.....I've watched more CFB this season...still don't consdier myself "knowledgeable" but there are some players that I hope Colbert & staff can land...picking in the upper to mid 20s, this will be a year where they're not really trying to plug a starter in from the draft. CB, S, OLB have to be high on the list.

 

[Cali Steel]

The Ravens secondary wasn't as horrible as most had predicted.
Seems however that Pitt didn't even seem to test them as much as all the announcers had expected.
Seemed we still tried to get our running game in gear even without Bell.
Just wasn't working.

I need more alcohol............

 

[ATL96Steeler]

The Ravens secondary wasn't as horrible as most had predicted.
Seems however that Pitt didn't even seem to test them as much as all the announcers had expected.
Seemed we still tried to get our running game in gear even without Bell.
Just wasn't working.

I need more alcohol............

They did play better than expected, but Ben missed some open WRs, plus the Raven front 7 outplayed the Steeler OL imo....you and me both.

 

[SJ20]

I think Bell catches the pass that Thuggs intercepted and we win if he had played. But I still believe the Steelers should have won this game even without him.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Well said per norm Face.

The OFC...maybe Bell makes a difference...maybe he doesn't...hard to say, but I can't accept him missing the game as an excuse. I really felt that Haley was going to have infuse some stuff that the Ravens had not seen in the RZ largely because they are hard to run against...I thought we might see Moore and Spaeth be bigger factors as an element of surprise.

The DEF...they're not a championship caliber group for certain...they made strides though and a couple of the young guys were able to play significant mins...I think the jury is still out on JJ and a legit OLB in this DEF, but I like his early season progress...Tuitt is a keeper and even though he's not the prototypical body type for a NT, I like what McCullers brought to the table...Shazier had a disappointing finish, but he's a keeper as well.

Offseason/FA....I'm already in that mode!! Agree 100% on Worilds...he will get some midrange offers because the league has some many 3-4 teams now, but far below what Justin Houston will command...I'm resigning myself to the fact that the Steelers will be a pressure by committee type DEF with 4 or 5 guys capable of getting 6 to 8 sacks a year and I'm okay with it actually...I will say...you were right about Harris...the kid can play and imo is suitable to be Bell's backup.

Draft.....I've watched more CFB this season...still don't consdier myself "knowledgeable" but there are some players that I hope Colbert & staff can land...picking in the upper to mid 20s, this will be a year where they're not really trying to plug a starter in from the draft. CB, S, OLB have to be high on the list.

O... Anyone claiming that Bell's absence was the reason they lost is very uninformed or flat out didn't watch the game. Sure it would have helped if he was there, but this team lost as a whole. Haley's gameplan faltered when the offensive line couldn't get the job done. The run game couldn't get going, and there was too much pressure on Ben on passing downs. Hate to say it, but Pouncey ultimately lost the battle against Ngata. And there was consistent pressure off the edges meaning both Beachum & Gilbert struggled.

D... I'm excited to see how this group grows from their late season success. I think another offseason will do wonders for JJ. The young group of talent is going to mesh well together IMO. They started to build around their key players in LT & Heyward with the younger guys Shazier & Tuitt. They have great pieces, but they need to start growing. I love what McCullers brings to the table, and yea he definitely isn't your prototypical 3-4 NT, but the kid has shown he can dominate the point of attack. I'd like to see them finally get their heads out of their asses and use Shamarko. I think within the next few weeks we are going to see Polamalu &/or Keisel retire. Hats off to those guys for giving everything they had left this season. Steelers legends in my book.

Offseason... I'd like to see them add a studly OLB to bolster competition & ignite a pass rush, regardless of what happens with Worilds. I will always believe that drafting a CB in the 1st round is risky business. Just plainly due to the fact that 1st Rd CBs don't have a high success rate. The secondary will probably be the focus of the draft, regardless of when/where they take players. They may wait until the 2nd/3rd before firing off a few picks. A safety in the draft will be considered... Poly probably retires & both Will Allen & Golden are FA's. Mitchell didn't do enough to warrant confidence, but from what I remember about the transition from Hope to Clark back '06 (i think it was ), that wasn't a smooth transition either. Clark struggled to find his niche in the defense, but he did bring the hard nosed hitting that Hope once brought. We've already seen that in Mitchell, so maybe another year of growth within the system will do him wonders. I'd like to see them also look seriously at O-lineman. With Foster on his last year of his contract I would draft a stud OT and move Beachum inside to fill Foster's spot. Or simply take a stud OG if he's there... Obviously will have to go BPA when they feel confident.

Lookin forward to offseason discussions already!

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

Hope all are having a great start to the New Year (Steelers' playoff loss withstanding)!!!

I haven't been on much the last part of December due to my Kindle dying, getting a replacement tablet a day before leaving for a family trip/vacation to FL and NC for Christmass, and the trip/vacation itself. Hopefully in the New Year I'll be online more.

On to my thoughts. I'll try not to repeat anything that has already been said since I agree with what everyone has said so far.

The Steelers should refuse any requests to interview Mike Munchak for any oppenings. The OL hasn't looked this good since....maybe '06. I know they were average against the Ravens' DL/LBs but a lot of teams look bad against the Ravens DL/LBs so I won't hold that against them too much.

Ike being inactive despite practiciing all week makes me wonder if his time with the Steelers/in the NFL is over. Add in his struggles to cover AJ Green in the first Bengals games and you have to think that he may retire or be cut in the offseason.

I know he was on IR most of the season but JJ being so fooled and losing outside contain on a running play near the end of the game against the Ravens makes we worry that he's not developing the way a first rounder should. He looked like he was taking some major steps forward before he got hurt but he's not a rookie anymore and should not lose outside contain so easily. If JJ's development has stalled will this cause the Steelers to try to bring back Debo next year, if he wants to play and doesn't retire again.

That's all I have for now. Wish the offseason wasn't starting so soon but what can ya do!

 

[element1286]

The offense just seemed off, don't know if it was the playcalling, Ben, the line, the absence of Bell or everything, but there were too many times where you knew they were lined up in a bad play based on what the Ravens were showing.

The Suggs interception being the best example, IMO. Overload to the defensive right side pre snap, with all rushers standing, they need to throw at that blitz or a quick throw to the opposite side, the screen pass was no good enough of an outlet.

Also, Heath is not the same player, they need to start grooming his replacement. Move Heath into the blocking role, and get a pass catcher. He used to be 'sure handed' not anymore.