Postgame Thoughts

I have posted this as a fanpost as it doesn't fit the criteria for a ‘doom & gloom' thread. There are some keys to yesterday's game that resulted in a loss, despite winning many aspects of the game until the final few minutes.

Troy's dropped INT, even more so than Ike's tip-turn-Wayne-TD, was the biggest miss on the defensive side of the ball. If he held on he would've taken it back to the end zone and the Steelers would've been up by 17 at the half.

Ike's tips were heartbreaking, but in most cases those balls hit the ground. Both were lucky, lucky, lucky grabs by Wayne. 9 out of 10 times those are incompletions with credit granted to great defensive plays.

3 interceptions. The first pick, all on Ben. If he doesn't have the shoulder strength to thread the needle with a bullet, late in the half, with a 10 point lead, throw that ball into the stands. On the other hand, if he makes that toss and the Steelers march down the field for another score, the game's essentially over at the half ... it was a gamble, and we've all lost a gamble or two. The second pick, miscommunication and no timing ... basically, the problem is that these are the types of things established in practice, and Ben's been too sore to practice which knocks out the all-important chemistry portion of a QB/WR relationship. Third pick, doesn't count ... a hail mary will end up picked most of the time.

Follow-up on that: both of the drives that resulted in interceptions, I was sitting in front of the television (the Raiders game was blacked out, so I actually got to watch a Steelers game on local Oakland, CA television) speaking to my dog, my daughter, and my beer ... saying over & over again, "run the ball", "run the ball", "run the ball" (with an occasional adjective beginning with F preceding the word ball). I would imagine many of you had the same repetition going on. I understand the desire to let your franchise QB try and answer his critics, but those drives, more than any other drives in the game, should have relied on the run.

The opposite of the previous statement: we have all previously criticized Arians for calling three straight passing plays on the goal line, and he responded by calling three straight running plays on a day when the Steelers didn't establish a dominant running game. Capable and occasionally effective, but not even close to dominant. Variation, Mr. Arians, variation. Run, play-action, run ... or run, run, play-action ... or pass, run, play-action ... and so on. If we had, as mentioned, established dominance on the ground, pound it in and continue the dominance, but as that was not the case, the situation called for a variation of approaches in the search for one that works.

Guys who dress, don't get their numbers called all that often, but stepped onto the grass yesterday: I'm talking Spaeth and Baker. For some reason I usually view Spaeth as a guy who drops passes; he held on yesterday, but simply doesn't have the forward-lean and nose for the down marker that Heath has. He stepped up, but a few more yards after each grab would've been incredibly helpful. Dallas Baker cost the Steelers their final timeout by not holding onto a perfect pass. Left them in 3rd and 1 and a quick run to pick up the 1st, which required a timeout to kill the clock ... a timeout that would've been much more useful before the ‘hurry-up 5 seconds left to set and chuck it at the end zone'. With the aforementioned shoulder and timing hang-ups, the team really needed to stop and regroup before the final pass ... set a play and put all remaining focus into the last gasp of hope.

QB Controversy. So Ben doesn't have what it takes to toss a 65-yarder at the moment. Big deal. JaMarcus Russell has the strongest arm in the league but can't win a game to save his life. As I've grown older my eyes have begun getting much, much worse, so my bosses replaced my old computer monitor with a 19-inch HD digital flat-screen which makes my job much easier. It's up to Ben's coaches to put together a game plan that takes into account his current abilities. We've seen the small-ball dink & dunk game win a high percentage of games dating back to Walsh's time as an O-coordinator in Cincinnati (working with his QB at the time, Ken Anderson, who happens to be Ben's current QB coach). The roster is full of good-to-great receivers who will gladly play the possession & clock game, and there are tight ends who will grab those 6 or 7 yard tosses, and one who blocks as well as a lineman. I might as well let this lead into a new paragraph...

Game Planning: As said, the Steelers don't have a hyper-dominant run game, and Ben's shoulder can't handle the field-length bombs, and so the offensive coaching staff has got to take context into account when mapping out these games. If Ben's shoulder is going to ache terribly in the second half, it's imperative that Pgh. controls the clock and the ball early. Not just the first drive or two, but that for the majority of the first half the Steelers are able to successfully monopolize time of possession, wear out the opposing defense, and put points on the board, and it appears as though the only way to accomplish this at present is with the so-called dink & dunk game.

A quick, related side-note: I'm fairly certain that most of the people on this board calling for Ben to sit on the bench and for Byron to get under center are no older than 22, and have been paying attention to the minutiae of professional football maybe as early as the end of the Neil O'Donnell era, but more likely since the implosion that was the Kordell Stewart experiment. Except for Beerman, who I believe isn't close to old enough to drink, or at the very best is a subpar thinker living somewhere outside of Butler, probably under some power lines, but clearly nowhere near a book, or a newspaper, or any decent example of composition. Is Ben's play currently worth $100 million ... well, I have a pretty difficult time imagining anything that's worth $100 million, to be perfectly honest ... I'll probably have a financial debate with myself as to whether or not I can afford to cough up the $6 to grab a burrito for lunch, or if I should save the money and eat what I have in my office. The answer of course is no; his play is a bit off. The answer to that, of course, I've already addressed as a responsibility of the coaches to plan around and accommodate. When I look at Arians' game planning and management, in relation to Ben's health and abilities, I see numerous incongruities.

Tomlin has the same record as Cowher did at this point in his career. The only difference that I see between Tomlin and Cowher's approaches is that Tomlin has put a little too much trust in his offensive staff. I've read reports that he's beginning to take back a bit of control over that aspect, but regardless he ought to make sure that all game plans are built around an injured QB who will be very sore by the end of the game and a 3rd-string running back. Playing those two does not concede the game, but it does require a different game plan than earlier in the season.

Understand as well that Indianapolis is playing every game with their season on the line. They have no chance of winning their division, and are now playing for a wildcard spot. This was not a game that was a given win for Pgh. in the least, and if you honestly thought we'd be undefeated at this point, well I would submit that perhaps you pay a little too much attention to an over-hyped media and the highlight reel marketing tools of the NFL brand. Give Indianapolis credit for making the plays they needed to in order to win the game. Yes, Ben made some uber-costly mistakes, but it's not all on him. That's another element of $100 million ... part of that paycheck is to step up and shoulder the blame for losses. Pgh. dropped 3 interceptions; the Colts caught 3 interceptions. That statistic alone is enough to tell me who most likely won the game. If you look at Indy's wins this year, I think you'll see that they've benefited from well-timed interceptions: ends of halves / ends of games. They've never been a blitz-happy defense, but one that prefers to apply pressure with its front four, and drops into a seldom-penetrable secondary.

This loss makes the division a bit trickier for the Black & Gold, but we do hold the win over Baltimore. Next week it's San Diego, and they're in a similar situation as Indianapolis. A record not where most thought it would be and some big injuries among some big names. I think we win it. Baltimore has NY & Philly coming up; Cleveland has Buffalo next, and the Bills are in must-win mode. Now is not the time for alarms ... 6 - 3 is not too bad at this point in the game, and ultimately I think we'll have to wait until week 12 is over before we have a decent forecast as to how the postseason might shape up. That's of course assuming the Steelers don't lose every game between now and then.

During preseason many of us were predicting a 10 -6 record, and most seemed pleased with that prediction. I think right now it'll end up being either 11 - 5 or 10 - 6 and I think they take the division. (I think Baltimore goes 9 - 7 and Cleveland goes 5 - 11, at best 6 - 10). I also say start Ben again against San Diego, and let him rest the following week, starting Byron against Cincinnati. And run the fucking ball against San Diego. If there's a lead with a few minutes left and you have the best defense in the league, run the fucking ball.

Sorry for the length of this one; I got started and just couldn't stop.