Week 14...Ravens 2.0***SNF***

[thedddd]

With that any win, good or bad, over the Ravens, Bengals or Browns is sweet.

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

Big Ben is the only QB with back to back 6 passing TD games AND 3 500+ yard passing games.

 

[Ojb81]

I want to personally attend practice this week to see what, exactly, coach lake is doing to "coach em up" to justify his paycheck. I don't give a shit that Haden is out, this secondary is abysmally atrocious

 

[Psych-Ward]

 

[ATL96Steeler]

39-38!!! Steelers.... For Shazier!

2017 AFC North Champions!!!

Okay...one goal down, the Steelers will play a home playoff game.

DEF...2 of 5...it was very difficult to watch certain plays in this game...the rust really showed on Spence at times and Moats most of the time. Davis...love ya, but you nearly single handedly gave them one TD on 15 yd penalties...then at the end of the game, Butler trusts them in man coverage and he's in great position to make a play on the ball...looks like he was trying to avoid contact and gave up a big catch...fortunate his toe was out. I thought Gay would be the weak link in the secondary coming into the season...Mitchell doesn't even look like starter material anymore. Fortunately Ben had a 500+ yd game to bail them out.

OFC...4.5 of 5...I think they had one RZ possession they kicked a FG...When you look at the targets, clearly there was a concerted effort to get more players involved and like I've always said...when you do that, the big guns will still get theirs...they did last night for sure. Just a great game plan, and execution...the Ravens did not expect that I'm sure. The only issue I had with the OFC late...after they got the 1st down in FG position on their last drive...I thought every play from that point forward should've been a run to force BAL to burn all their time outs and leave as little time possible...Haley/Ben tried two passes after the 1st down run play to Bell...it worked out, but BAL got the ball back with a TO and 42 sec...if they didn't have to burn that TO with the injury, there's a good chance they at least get off a game winning FG try.

ST...4 of 5...Another game winning FG in the 4Q.

Outlook...Week 15, I'm sure every one knows the New England Patriots come to town next week. The winner is likely the #1 seed, and loser the #2 seed.

 

[NorthCoastSteelersFan]

Using letter grades, I'd give the offense an A-. They got a bit sluggish in 3rd quarter, but otherwise, it was their best performance of the season.

But I'd give the defense a D-. Virtually no pressure on Flacco until the last couple of possessions. And the pass coverage was non-existent. Our boys won't make the SB, let alone win it, unless they address these problems.

Let's hope they make some changes before Plays in a Dress and his team come to town.

 

[Superbelt]

They have another week now to figure out what they are going to do with the Defense. But Spence cold off the street isn't the solution. I'm fine having him on the roster, but there is a reason he was available on the street. You just can't have the gameplan to be starting him going forward.

Maybe move Davis or Wilcox down to ILB? We need speed and coverage ability there. Vinny is the thumper. But what they are doing now just isn't working.

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

I know there's much room for improvement on D but we all need to take a deep breath and remember one starting ILB watched last Monday's game from his couch. I hope with a full week of practice Spence gets into better game shape and plays much better!!!

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

They have another week now to figure out what they are going to do with the Defense. But Spence cold off the street isn't the solution. I'm fine having him on the roster, but there is a reason he was available on the street. You just can't have the gameplan to be starting him going forward.

Maybe move Davis or Wilcox down to ILB? We need speed and coverage ability there. Vinny is the thumper. But what they are doing now just isn't working.

Dirty Reds shoulder injury left the Steelers between a rock and a hard place this week. Spence shares the blame for the bad D but Mitchel played an absolutely horribly bad game last night. I can't count his missed tackles and times he was out of position on just my fingers and toes may not be enough either.

 

[Superbelt]

Dirty Reds shoulder injury left the Steelers between a rock and a hard place this week. Spence shares the blame for the bad D but Mitchel played an absolutely horribly bad game last night. I can't count his missed tackles and times he was out of position on just my fingers and toes may not be enough either.

I can't blame Spence for anything. He is what he is. He's just taking their money and doing what they say the best he can.
Any issues/blame for his play rests with the coaches.

I would hope they started giving Wilcox some ILB reps last week and get him some game action in before the end of the regular season.

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

I can't blame Spence for anything. He is what he is. He's just taking their money and doing what they say the best he can.
Any issues/blame for his play rests with the coaches.

I would hope they started giving Wilcox some ILB reps last week and get him some game action in before the end of the regular season.

Maybe they need to go to a 3-3-5 base package with Vince as the MLB and Wilcox/Golden as the extra safety???

 

[Superbelt]

Maybe they need to go to a 3-3-5 base package with Vince as the MLB and Wilcox/Golden as the extra safety???

That's basically just big nickel package. But usually that package is where Vince comes off the field and Spence plays MLB. I don't know if Vinny can do that job himself. I think that leaves us wide open to a Vince-on-TE mismatch.

Golden gets a lot of Safety play time as it is with Mitchell's constant issues (And I'd rather see Golden starting at FS anyway). Wilcox is the guy who isn't getting any playing time, and could benefit from the position switch.

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

That's basically just big nickel package. But usually that package is where Vince comes off the field and Spence plays MLB. I don't know if Vinny can do that job himself. I think that leaves us wide open to a Vince-on-TE mismatch.

Golden gets a lot of Safety play time as it is with Mitchell's constant issues (And I'd rather see Golden starting at FS anyway). Wilcox is the guy who isn't getting any playing time, and could benefit from the position switch.

But not on 1st or 2nd downs. On obvious passing downs. Vince would get replaced by a 6th DB. I know it's like playing nickel and dime all the time but IMO gotta give NE a look they haven't seen from the Steelers before. Thye know all too well how to pick apart the current D schemes.

 

[Superbelt]

Yep. If they don't play bump man against Brady, they deserve to lose.

Any significant zone is just asking for a loss.

Look at how the Ravens play them. That's what works. You stick to your man, and you get handsy in the first 5 yards. You cannot let them get in a rhythm, you cannot let them off the line and into their route. Brady is 3-4 Zone cancer.

Can't 'do what we do'. It doesn't work. If the Steelers play zone, and 5-10 yards off the ball, they deserve to lose, again.

 

[Bridgeburner]

Yep. If they don't play bump man against Brady, they deserve to lose.

Any significant zone is just asking for a loss.

Look at how the Ravens play them. That's what works. You stick to your man, and you get handsy in the first 5 yards. You cannot let them get in a rhythm, you cannot let them off the line and into their route. Brady is 3-4 Zone cancer.

Can't 'do what we do'. It doesn't work. If the Steelers play zone, and 5-10 yards off the ball, they deserve to lose, again.

Word homie.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Using letter grades, I'd give the offense an A-. They got a bit sluggish in 3rd quarter, but otherwise, it was their best performance of the season.

But I'd give the defense a D-. Virtually no pressure on Flacco until the last couple of possessions. And the pass coverage was non-existent. Our boys won't make the SB, let alone win it, unless they address these problems.

Let's hope they make some changes before Plays in a Dress and his team come to town.

I agree the pass DEF looked particularly bad, but they haven't looked that bad vs the pass all yr so I'm not going say that performance is representative of how they will play this week.

One thing we do know is NE will show them some of the same OFC type looks to see if they have figured anything out.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Yep. If they don't play bump man against Brady, they deserve to lose.

Any significant zone is just asking for a loss.

Look at how the Ravens play them. That's what works. You stick to your man, and you get handsy in the first 5 yards. You cannot let them get in a rhythm, you cannot let them off the line and into their route. Brady is 3-4 Zone cancer.

Can't 'do what we do'. It doesn't work. If the Steelers play zone, and 5-10 yards off the ball, they deserve to lose, again.

NE will have their pick plays in full force if they are running man all day...I expect Butler to mix it up, but definitely man up at times.

 

[NorthCoastSteelersFan]

I don't have the technical expertise on the game that some of you have, but here's how I see it.

If we pay zone consistently, to guard against long passes, Brady will pick us apart with short to medium range ones. Six yards here, eight yards there, and before you know it, they're in the red zone. At the very least, we need to mix it up...some zone, and some man, preferably without showing an obvious pattern.

Best way to beat the Pats that I've seen is to hit their receivers...hard...within the first 5 yards from the line of scrimmage, to delay them in running their routes, and give the pass rush time to get to Brady. If they can pressure him, hurry him, and maybe knock him on his ass once in a while, his composure and his rhythm CAN be disrupted.