AFCN Hate Guide

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Real ones know

 

[Cincyfan78]

This sums up a lot of teams in many sports...but, to this point, I think more so other teams have underperformed more so than I think Pitt is good enough. I'd still say the course here is to try and grow as much as you can, and look towards next year and beyond.

I'd rather, personally, just miss the playoffs and suck, get better draft picks, play younger guys, get them geared towards a better future than try and "slip" into the playoffs, when the likelihood of that still happening is very, very small.

Baseball is going to be more and more like this - due to the expanded playoffs - you can win 84 games now and maybe slide in...but for a team like the Reds - stay the course, suck, make the trades, build the farm, and be ready go give it a shot in '24. I'm already chalking up '23 as another lost year. In '24 they are free from Votto and Moustaka's albatross deals - and with the recent trades, have re-stocked the farm system, and have some good young arms. With those contracts gone, they will have the payroll flexibility to extend those worthy of extension, and sign a few F/A that can fill in the gaps to compete....anyway...went off the rails on that one, but I think you get the gist of my angle...

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

This sums up a lot of teams in many sports...but, to this point, I think more so other teams have underperformed more so than I think Pitt is good enough. I'd still say the course here is to try and grow as much as you can, and look towards next year and beyond.

I'd rather, personally, just miss the playoffs and suck, get better draft picks, play younger guys, get them geared towards a better future than try and "slip" into the playoffs, when the likelihood of that still happening is very, very small.

Baseball is going to be more and more like this - due to the expanded playoffs - you can win 84 games now and maybe slide in...but for a team like the Reds - stay the course, suck, make the trades, build the farm, and be ready go give it a shot in '24. I'm already chalking up '23 as another lost year. In '24 they are free from Votto and Moustaka's albatross deals - and with the recent trades, have re-stocked the farm system, and have some good young arms. With those contracts gone, they will have the payroll flexibility to extend those worthy of extension, and sign a few F/A that can fill in the gaps to compete....anyway...went off the rails on that one, but I think you get the gist of my angle...

Agreed. I'm never going to be the type to say "let's tank". But I'm not opposed to having a top end draft pick so long as they don't reach. And I like watching their young talent continue to grow together. Najee is sort of underperforming, but I still like his talent. He keeps trying to go off-script and isn't trusting his assignments. Can't really fault him because the majority of the time his run blocking in front of him is garbage.

The OL is performing ok and I think remains the position that needs the most upgrades. They could use a solid anchor at C, and upgrades at LG, and maybe even LT. Though priority #1 is getting an Offensive Coordinator. No idea who that is at the moment, but the Steelers have been garbage at playcalling since Todd Haley got tossed out. And I didn't think Haley was anything great either. Don't really care who they hire so long as they don't stick with Canada. He is actually worse than Randy Fichtner was, and that is really sayin somethin.

 

[cincygrad]

This reminds me of what is happening with the NY Giants. They are a true feel-good story right now - Well coached, winning big games, etc. But I think they're on borrowed time. They won in week 1 because the Titans have Fat Randy as a kicker. They won last week because Lamar had some late game brain cramps. Now they are going to be forced to roll with Danny Dimes - A QB that is running a serviceable run-based offense, but probably isn't good enough to carry a championship level offense. Sooner or later teams will catch up to them and they'll need to upgrade talent but they might not have as much flexibility after this early success.

As unlucky as the Bengals were with the Burrow injury, they likely win 2 or 3 more games that season if he stays healthy and they play themselves out of taking JaMarr Chase. Pair that pick with the Burrow draft that also netted them Higgins and Wilson and you have your young nucleus of talent.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Agreed. I'm never going to be the type to say "let's tank". But I'm not opposed to having a top end draft pick so long as they don't reach. And I like watching their young talent continue to grow together. Najee is sort of underperforming, but I still like his talent. He keeps trying to go off-script and isn't trusting his assignments. Can't really fault him because the majority of the time his run blocking in front of him is garbage.

The OL is performing ok and I think remains the position that needs the most upgrades. They could use a solid anchor at C, and upgrades at LG, and maybe even LT. Though priority #1 is getting an Offensive Coordinator. No idea who that is at the moment, but the Steelers have been garbage at playcalling since Todd Haley got tossed out. And I didn't think Haley was anything great either. Don't really care who they hire so long as they don't stick with Canada. He is actually worse than Randy Fichtner was, and that is really sayin somethin.

Most Bengals fan feel the same way about Taylor calling the plays....how it has taken 5 games to realize that this team is better with RPO/Burrow shotgun plays is just inexcusable. Last year, they were able to take a lot of teams by surprise. Now that everything is on film - they can't adapt.

I think Taylor is a solid HC. I think he's a terrible offensive play caller and lacks imagination and is often too slow to adapt to changes defenses throw at him. There isn't a reason why this offense with Burrow, Chase, Mixon, Boyd, and Higgins struggle as much as they do. The OL hasn't been great, but it has been good enough. Taylor was also the OC when coaching at the University of Cincinnati, and he wasn't all that great then, either. I'm not sure what he's done, in his mind, that makes him think he's Any Reid. They really need to considering bringing in someone to at least help scheme some plays that move guys around and take advantage of what defenses are doing. Chase has struggled with Cloud/Cover 2 because they've done nothing to help him. Maybe moving him around, using the slot, releasing him from the backfield - all these different looks that other teams do to help their players seem so foreign to Taylor...Chase busted out this weekend because he's Chase and made some tough catches, and turned 2 missed tackles into a 60 yard TD - it was a simple dig route that he turned into a huge play. Would be nice if the coaching staff worked as hard to create better space and separation plays for him to be able to do things like that more often rather than just continually relying on him to make super-human plays...

 

[cincygrad]

Damn, Old Bay is cold....

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Damn, Old Bay is cold....

“Hello 911… id like to report a murder”

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[Cincyfan78]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

So Ben Roethlisberger really took this Matt Canada offense with an even worse OL to the playoffs last year?

Let that sink in

 

[Cincyfan78]

FWIW - I didn't think he played all that poorly - the INT's are concerning, but the offense moved the ball.

I see the complaints about the lack of vertical passing from some guys like Claypool - but so many defenses are playing a variation of the Cover 2/Cloud coverage that force teams to take the check-downs to move the ball over 9-10-11 play drives. I think trying to force this would do more harm than good...the bigger issue is that teams don't fear the running game at all, and are going to force a very young QB to try and quickly read/diagnose a defense that is dropping 6-7-8 guys into coverage. Either the run game has got to start going or the offense is going to have to be OK with just taking what the defense gives them.

For contrast - that is exactly what Burrow has done the past 2 weeks. When you look at yesterday's game specifically...they won the TOP battle by over 6 minutes despite throwing 42 passes. Burrow targeted the middle level of the defense (10-19 yards) a whopping 39% of his attempts. His previous high this year was 24%.

 

[cincygrad]

Are we sure Najee Harris is any good?

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

FWIW - I didn't think he played all that poorly - the INT's are concerning, but the offense moved the ball.

I see the complaints about the lack of vertical passing from some guys like Claypool - but so many defenses are playing a variation of the Cover 2/Cloud coverage that force teams to take the check-downs to move the ball over 9-10-11 play drives. I think trying to force this would do more harm than good...the bigger issue is that teams don't fear the running game at all, and are going to force a very young QB to try and quickly read/diagnose a defense that is dropping 6-7-8 guys into coverage. Either the run game has got to start going or the offense is going to have to be OK with just taking what the defense gives them.

For contrast - that is exactly what Burrow has done the past 2 weeks. When you look at yesterday's game specifically...they won the TOP battle by over 6 minutes despite throwing 42 passes. Burrow targeted the middle level of the defense (10-19 yards) a whopping 39% of his attempts. His previous high this year was 24%.

Pickett... If you listen to the announcers & coaches that have watched hundred of QBs, they all gush over Pickett. He's always calm, unrattled int he face of constant pressure, he sees the field & works progressions well, and he isn't afraid to stand tall to chin music & deliver a strike. It was far from a polished game for Pickett, but the kid shows plenty of promise that he can be the guy. And this was only his 2nd start. There will almost always be growing pains with rookie QBs, so we have to take the lumps. I can live with the INTs. Especially with a rookie QB going OFF-SCRIPT in the 4th quarter and trying to make a play. The 1st INT was a bad read & ill-advised throw. The 2nd, and game-ender, was an anticipatory throw where he thought the WR was going to cut back towards the pylon and he didn't, instead going deeper into the EZ. That sounds more like a receiver that didn't know the playcall and/or the WR/QB weren't on the same page. That sort of chemistry will grow with more starts. And for the record... The offense moved at its best when Kenny went no-huddle and called his own plays.

Passing game... Pretty ironic hearing those comments coming from Chase, who repeatedly fails to capitalize on anything further than 15yds. 1 good game last week and suddenly he thinks he's a top 3 WR again. lol. The vertical passing game only works if you take those deep shots, even if they fail. This was something that Ben got heavily criticized for in his twilight, where everyone thought his arm was shot. It really wasn't. The accuracy was more of a concern. The receivers rarely created separation to make those go-routes easy throws. Part of me thinks Ben threw those shots out of reach anyway just to keep the defenses honest and prevent them from hunkering down 12-15yds & in where the majority of Canada's offense is schemed. Trubisky & Kenny aren't taking those shots and the DBs aren't afraid of it. And also as you mentioned, they don't fear the run game either. Mix all that with very predictable playcalling, and its a recipe for disaster. Makes sense why they are dead last in PPG, and almost every statistical category on offense. Possession downs are atrocious.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Are we sure Najee Harris is any good?

Mixed bag. Shows flashes but tends to overthink & often times makes puzzling decisions. His inability to beat 1 defender on possession downs is disturbing. Most of the schemed plays he just has to beat 1 guy and he rarely does.

He's not living up to the draft pedigree this year. Looked a lot better behind a crappier OL last year for some odd reason. People claim its health (footplate for most this season), but I'm not so sure. The run blocking has been piss poor, so theres that

 

[Wamu]

That's just mean, but funny.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

That's just mean, but funny.

If I didn't force myself to laugh about this offense then I'd cry.

 

[Wamu]

If I didn't force myself to laugh about this offense then I'd cry.

SteelersNation is in very unfamiliar territory they haven't been in in decades this season, mediocrity.