Steelers at Patriots: Famous Last Words

[Stallworth16]

Ben revealed in an interview during the week the Steelers offensive mindset. He said the Patriots determine who top 2 threats are and they double them. Ben said they would guess who that would be and try to go to other weapons. The Steelers expected the Pats would double Vance and Juju. (And contain the RBs) Steelers planned to go to Switzer and Moncrief.

I hate to use this cliche but it applies. The Steelers are playing checkers and the Pats are playing chess. The Steelers ability to adjust the game plan on the fly and at halftime remains a weakness.

How much input does BR have in developing game plans? Maybe this is what AB was complaining about? Because that sounds like a bunch of horse shit.

Ben didn’t mention Juju and Vance in the interview. I am extrapolating that by the results. I don’t think Ben developed the gameplan, but I would hope he has some input. I have no respect for anything AB says anymore. The loss was a team responsibility, Coaches and players.

[SteelyourFace]

The Steelers ability to adjust the game plan on the fly and at halftime remains a weakness.

I see you have mastered the art of the understatement.

[Orangesteel]

So based on all of that, I am to believe that McDonald was perfectly covered for 56 minutes of game time? Really?

Is Fitchner an idiot, or an asshole? Or both?

[LakecrestSteeler]

When creating 2 or more Takeaways: 69-12
When creating 1 takeaway: 39-22-1
When creating zero takeaways: 17-33

turnovers/takeaways are ALWAYS a key factor in winning losing, I fully agree. that is a very curious stat you listed. is Tomlin an outlier in that regard? Does he have a greater than usual win/loss disparity depending on turnovers?? and I see the stat uses turnovers "created" and not turnover ratio. could it be that in games we didnt create turnovers we also coughed the ball up??

NE doesnt turn the ball over due to their maddening attention to detail. scheme guys open, hit them in stride, in space, protect the ball, and know how to get down.

good discussion.

Conversely, here is the Steelers under Tomlin record when turning it over:
2 or more TOs: 38-40-1 .487
1 turnover 50-20 .714
0 turnovers 37-7 .841

Last night could easily have been number 8 in that 38-8. Basically, I look at that and see: it doesn't matter whether the Steelers commit a turnover here and there, it matters far more whether they get takeaways.

Nice write up B2B...made me reflect.

If you want to solve the Takeaway problem, and the defensive woes overall, I give you the Dorsett play for 6!

Watch Mr. Dorsett at the line. He has a Steeler defender lined up against him. The ball is snapped and he runs completely untouched. He could have had airplane advertisement banners hanging from his ass, and nobody would have been able to lay a finger on the banners. All the way past Edmunds into the end zone? Blown coverage? Sure...easy answer.

It was not blown coverage. It was blown scheme, blown fundamental coaching, blown understanding of physics.

Allen should have checked and jammed Dorsett at the line, and disrupted the timing. Well he had different responsibility and had to get back to his lane you say. I say bullshit. Use the defender’s momentum during the jam to springboard you back to your lane. That is a classic example of why TB12 looks like HOF and Ben looks like chopped liver when they meet. The biggest culprit of dropped passes and missed deep balls is the PS WRs getting rubbed all over the field.

I don’t care if it is man or zone, the lack of physical contact with the opposing WRs is criminal.

[SteelyourFace]

When creating 2 or more Takeaways: 69-12
When creating 1 takeaway: 39-22-1
When creating zero takeaways: 17-33

turnovers/takeaways are ALWAYS a key factor in winning losing, I fully agree. that is a very curious stat you listed. is Tomlin an outlier in that regard? Does he have a greater than usual win/loss disparity depending on turnovers?? and I see the stat uses turnovers "created" and not turnover ratio. could it be that in games we didnt create turnovers we also coughed the ball up??

NE doesnt turn the ball over due to their maddening attention to detail. scheme guys open, hit them in stride, in space, protect the ball, and know how to get down.

good discussion.

Conversely, here is the Steelers under Tomlin record when turning it over:
2 or more TOs: 38-40-1 .487
1 turnover 50-20 .714
0 turnovers 37-7 .841

Last night could easily have been number 8 in that 38-8. Basically, I look at that and see: it doesn't matter whether the Steelers commit a turnover here and there, it matters far more whether they get takeaways.

thanks for that. Now, I wonder whether how much overlap there is between games with 2+ turnovers AND zero takeaways.

to me, manufacturing turnovers is mostly about an aggressive, attacking style defense. we have always been more "bend, don't break and make them settle for FGs." to me, when the Steelers talk about getting turnovers, I think they think "let's not drop the ones that hit us in the hands." and that is a good thought, but the JUGGS machine ain't gonna help create more turnovers. maybe they will catch a few that hit em in the hands.

[Legacy User]

The snap counts tell the story of this game.

Switzer, Dionte Johnson, and Holton got too many for my liking and Conner, Washington, Rosie and Vance didn't get enough. Switzer is completely useless if he's not going to break tackles. I'm glad he's sure handed, but he isn't dynamic enough. Dionte Johnson will be fine, but he shouldn't be getting a lot of burn against Belichick this early in the season.

On the defensive side, Tyson Alualu played more snaps than Hargrave. WTF??? Chick was in the game wayy too much for my liking as well. If you're going to go to New England, you've got to play to win the game.

Tomlin and co. outcoached Bill last year and they rested on their laurels. You have to make them play our game. We still have a dominant O-Line and a big ass running back. Throw Rosie Nix and Zach Banner out there, drive it down their throat, and let Brady get five possessions all game to outplay our defense.

I hope to see a back to the drawing board approach next week. Pretty clear this team isn't equipped right now to play from behind.

[jeemie]

I’ll also add that was a terrible way to tribute the late coach Drake. I was excited to see whether the loss of their coach would inspire the WR corps. It didn’t. At all. Washington voluntarily running out of bounds is a fucking embarrassment and without knowing much about coach Drake, I’m pretty sure he didn’t coach guys to run out of bounds like that. Damn shame.

Maybe it's the way they're coached?

AB himself did that on a couple of occasions the last couple seasons.

[jeemie]

I thought I saw a different intensity in preseason that meant this year would be different.

I thought maybe Art II was not happy the Pats had matched the Steelers' 6 titles...in less time.

Then I saw Ben Roethlisberger play maybe a millisecond again in preseason and got no snaps with guys like Washington who need to be successful for us to make up for the loss of Brown.

I don't care if Ben thinks he's only got so many throws left- this wasn't the year to treat the first part of the year like extended preseason again. We have a tough schedule, especially early...a lot of AFC teams are good...we can't get in a hole again.

I guess I was wrong. I guess they don't care...and they will continue to do things their way, regardless of how often it has failed.

Worst part is...if we could grab that Lombardi this year...we'd be back ahead 7-6...and we'd have exactly as many Lombardis (3) over the past decade and a half as the Patriots do.

But I guess maybe Art II and Ben are happy with being the bronze medalist.

[bradshaw2ben]

thanks for that. Now, I wonder whether how much overlap there is between games with 2+ turnovers AND zero takeaways.

Under Tomlin... when turning it over 2+ times and having zero takeaways, Steelers are 1-21, with the lone win being

11-26-2017 GB Ben threw 4 TDs and he and AB combined on an incredible final drive


Conversely, Steelers turn it over once and take it away zero, they're 10-9.

It would appear there's at least a little correlation between the second Steelers turnover being a tipping point and the first Steelers takeaway being a tipping point.

If they have 1 or fewer turnovers and get only one takeaway, Steelers under Tomlin are 28-11.

[Donnie Brasco]

Frankly, the last words reference was for my own sake... couldn't bring myself to write it without some dark humor.

I like the history stuff, keep it rolling man