Thoughts on the game
by BadMaafala on Dec 15, 2008 11:07 AM EST
Email
PrintI had a couple thoughts that I didn't see mentioned anywhere else.
- I have been one of the biggest and most longstanding critics of Bruce Arians in these parts, but he called an above average game this week. The offense came out with a plan and a purpose, being stopped only by poor execution. Of Ben's first 6 or 7 incompletions, 1 was a throw-away and the rest were drops or slight timing problems. On the Ray Lewis 3rd down sack, we had plenty of guys blocking, but Stapleton doubled Hartwig's guy and didn't pick up the blitzer. After running up the gut on 3rd and 1 for about 8 times in a row, Arians called PA bootleg, which I thought was a really good call, but Suggs sniffed it out, and Ben couldn't get the ball to Miller without fumbling. Even so, we didn't have a 3&out in the first half. The Ravens D was favoring the pass more than the run, so we ran. We picked up chunks of yardage at time and really had nice balance. We fought through some terrible field position and gave our defense a chance to succeed - which is what we need to do to win tough games. There was still the usual lull in offense in the 3rd quarter, but they put together 2 very fine drives in the 4th quarter to seal the win.
- Now James Harrison knows what it's like to be Aaron Smith. He had two 300lb linemen on him for most of the day, and he held up about as well as a 245 lb guy can, so not very well. However, missing the extra receiver really affected the Ravens passing game, as Clayton and Mason did almost nothing. Of all threats, our defense is most suceptible to RB's and TE's catching the ball, so to take one of those out is a big deal. Still, they pounded us fairly successfully in the running game, and I think LeBeau may prepare a lot more "fat" 4 man fronts if we see them in the playoffs, particularly if we get Keisel back. 6 OL's on 3 DL's hardly seems fair.
- I was a little disappointed that Woodley didn't get a sack, although he did have a pressure or two. Is the season wearing on him a bit? We need him to be a threat so teams won't benefit from doing what they did to Harrison.
- Did anyone notice that we had almost no injuries to speak of? Farrior sat out for like 5 plays with a stinger or something. 'tone got banged up - or he was faking it after making boneheaded play #7 - but finished the game obviously. When was the last time we got off this easy against Baltimore? I thought the game was a little less intense than usual on both sides.
- Speaking of Holmes, is it time to bench him? He's had a string of pretty bad weeks, and Sunday was awful. Knowing Tomlin, he's going to challenge him this week instead of benching him, which is one thing I really like about Tomlin. Still, I think I trust Washington more than Holmes right now.
- I'm not particularly worried about Joe Flacco being in our division for the forseeable future. He's probably exceeded expectations, but he has yet to really impress me. Everyone talks about his arm strength, which is impressive, but he threw a few of the most off-target deep balls I've seen. Until he gets that fixed, teams are going to gang up on shorter routes and he's going to have more 115 yard days.
- Well, we've clinched the division and a bye week. We play the Titans, probably without triple-team worthy Haynesworth, for the #1 seed. The Giants offense has looked awful for the past 2 weeks. We just went from having as good a shot as anyone to maybe having the best shot. Let's hope the team stays grounded and takes care of business to finish the season strong.
35 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Generally Agree
I could not fault BA much either. The plays that didn’t go well were lost on the field, not on the sideline. Woodley may be tired but he will have at least a week to rest, and maybe two (since Cleveland is pretty much a bye week) before the playoff push, which should help.
Tone hasn’t been playing great, but he came up big when we needed him. For this team, that should count more than anything. Our defense will keep us in every game, so we need clutch performers. Personally, I think Santonio is one of them.
by CarlWeathersMustache on Dec 15, 2008 12:09 PM EST reply actions
That last drive was sick.
13 yards to ward
13 yards to ward (again!)
incomplete to nate
incomplete to holmes
3rd and 10: 16 yards to nate
9 yards to nate
3 yard run by MM
24 yards to nate
10 yards to ward
spiked ball
Great call by arians to resident basketball player who can’t catch spaeth
Holmes for 4 yards
Both nate and holmes let ben down early in the drive. Both came back to make clutch plays. Those are big passes. Those are big plays. Could 3rd and 10 to nate have been any bigger?
I liked the call to Spaeth
Right at him, he needs to catch that ball. Put a giant target at the goalline to box out some defenders. Plus, he showed pretty good hands when Miller was out, so you can’t be scared of throwing to him. The big man blew his chance to be the hero, and Tone ended up with the glory.
by CarlWeathersMustache on Dec 15, 2008 2:28 PM EST up reply actions
i hope someone asks tomlin
wtf was up with the spike? was that Ben’s call or the bench? that was a horrible call that was completely unnecessary and could’ve really hurt us
Idk why everyone hates it
Firstly, we had a TD on the next play dropped by matt spaeth. So everyone needs to let it go.
Secondly I agreed with the spike. You had a little over a minute left. One time out. You are down by a FG. If the unthinkable happens you NEED that Timeout to stop the clock and set up a FG.
I thought it made sense to stop the clock and collect your thoughtages before trying for the score.
And spaeths drop was upsetting and rather odd. He usually plays pretty well.
Completely agree. We had one time out, a 1st down, a minute left almost. I think that was Ben getting a bit too excited and making a bad decision, and I wouldn’t be surprised if afterward he thought about it and was like, “What was I thinking?”
It’s no fun harping on the negatives, but I hope that was just a goof on someone’s part.
Brandona
by PrimantisStillersNAt on Dec 15, 2008 2:40 PM EST up reply actions
yeah
I’m assuming that was on Ben, since the point of a spike is to save time and getting the call from the sidelines takes more time. I was screaming at the TV when he made his “spike” gesture. I was hoping it was a trick or something, but of course not. I wouldn’t have minded the sideline calling the final TO there to save the down. There was still time for 1 run and 2 passes, provided there was no sack or completions short of the goalline.
charity standing orders
On Post-Gazette
Bouchette says that Ben wanted to calm down the field and take his time. He said that since a field goal tied it he wasn’t as worried about loss of down. I suppose i get that, but would prefer to use our last time out for that.
by Chicago Steeler on Dec 15, 2008 2:08 PM EST up reply actions
yeah
I don’t see why we couldn’t call 2 plays in the huddle after a TO, in case the clock gets rolling.
charity standing orders
Instead of a spike
just huddle up and call a play. There was about 1:00 left at the end of the previous play and the ball is on the 4-yard line. Even if you huddle, you should be able to snap the ball on first down with about 30 seconds on the clock. That’s plenty of time to run three plays and, if necessary, kick a field goal. You’ve got the time out in your pocket if anything bad happens. The best part is, if you score, there isn’t much time on the clock for the Ravens to come back. As it was, we gave the Ravens 40 seconds, which would have been plenty of time if they needed only a FG instead of a TD.
BA held up his end this week
Personally here is the running call I loved. And I talked about this on my thread.
We ran the end around to Tiffin Thunder Nate 85. Great, got us 6 yards. Nice play.
Beauty of it was William Everette Parker had a nice run later on when they had the end around fake with the hand off. Obviously the End Around from before caused the D to hesitate and Parker ran it up the gut.
This to me was a good sign that BA realizes the run CAN be used. We ran it about as good as anyone would have guessed against this team.
Holmes had some dropsy today. But on the bright side we had our 2nd biggest punt return of the year.
Good to point out that call. Definitely good stuff by arians. Did I just say that?
Fumbled play on 3rd and 1, still a nice call.
Draws. WTF? We do this?
Screens to willie that he decided to catch once.
Passing on 1st down? Running on 2nd down? Jesus.
Yeah
I thought honestly BA must have had some great reeses puffs that morning or something to get his brain in gear. I was pleased.
I just had to note that little call, it didnt spring much yardage. But its the things like that that will force your opponent to respect your ability.
If he can just conjure up some more of this, he can stay around honestly.
That 3rd and one fumbleception was still a good call. Miller was open and ben just needed about another half second. Heck even with a mosh pit on him he almost got that off.
seriously
I’m frightened that if we win the SB, we won’t get a new OC next year. I remain cautiously optimistic that Arians has shown enough to get fired and that Tomlin can be proactive in making changes when things are going well. Fortunately, the statistics aren’t a superficial defense of him like they were last year: we’re 24th in yards and 21st in scoring despite our defense. Also we have no QB’s in the top 10 in rating, WR’s in the top 20 in yards, or RB’s in the top 25 in yards.
charity standing orders
Thats not all his fault
I dont defend BA a lot. Ever. But since you went stats….
Ben raped his passer rating in those couple games where he threw 8 picks in 3 games. He has been injured part of the year.
The Receivers have dropsy save for Ward. And since when is Ward ever topping the league in yardage?
RBs have been injured and have split time.
i would love to see a new OC next year regardless of this years outcome. But if he can show us that he has improved and changed his ways let him stay.
I don't care about stats
but people used stats to defend Arians last year, despite playing mediocre offense against one of the easiest schedules in Steelers history. I’m just saying now he has an ineffective offense with lousy stats, so what’s his defense?
charity standing orders
I am no fan
But still, our offense lost two pro-bowlers on the O-line and a full time experienced starter. How can that not affect your offense. Granted we certainly had problems even with all those guys in there last year – but still….
by SteelerBuddha on Dec 16, 2008 1:22 AM EST up reply actions
It's almost like Arians was saving his good calls
for an important game like this. A little rope-a-dope?
“You see, I know something you don’t.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m not really left-handed.”
Yeah, sometimes heads comes up 10 times in a row… In fact, I think we’ve won like 8 of the last 10 coin tosses.
I’d love to think he was saving his good game plans like Whis did in 2005, but he didn’t pull one out in the playoffs last year, and he’s done nothing in 2 years to make me think he’s capable of putting together 4 solid quarters or 3 solid games of playcalling. Also, we don’t need to surprise anyone in the playoffs. There’s no 2005 Colts or 2007 Pats this year. We need to play smart and steady on offense and continue dominating on defense. If Arians pulled out good drives when our defense got a turnover occasionally, I’d have more faith, but we never gets points off turnovers.
charity standing orders
Can't convert on 3rd and short.
Can’t score off of turnovers. If we could add those two ingredients to our defensive flambe’ it would be a feast!
by BallsofSteel on Dec 15, 2008 5:53 PM EST up reply actions
Good amount of spreading the ball around
Miller, Spaeth, Washington, Ward, Parker, McUge, Holmes.
Spaeth needed to catch his and I prefer Moore get the dump off instead of Parker, but still good variety and on important plays. Part of it was you could see Ben knew the play so well and had a good idea of the D that he wasn’t following his receiver with his eyes all game. He did a lot of good disguising to keep the D guessing. I think his snap timing needs to improve now and that will be even more effective. Earlier this year he was really telegraphing a lot of plays and it was killing them.
by BallsofSteel on Dec 15, 2008 5:58 PM EST up reply actions
Solid game offensively
We chalked up 300+ on the Ravens. Granted, we didnt get it in the EZ as much, but I felt we had more variety and balance to the game plan. Even WITH 40 passes, it felt like we kept things interesting enough.
Again, I am no BA defender, far from it. But if he is capable of getting the offense together at the right time then I am a happy clam.
Good Post Bad 45
1) Totally agree that BA may have had a plan Sunday but that doesn’t excuse the last 30 Sundays. Also remember all those using 7’s stats last year to defend him when we all know that much of Ben’s success was after BA’s play broke down and Ben scrambled and made a play. His injury this year has curtailed the scrambling until recently when the games got bigger.
2) Spaeth played ok in Heath’s absence but I have no real trust in him. His hands are inconsistent and his YAC is horrid. The TE should be a tough guy and I’m not sure about 89s heart. He dropped a winning TD yesterday after an ill advised spike (I saw what Ben said in the PG about gathering thoughts and still don’t agree with spike) setting the stage for needing replay to get the TD in 3 downs.
3) Woodley had several good pressures and was in Flacco’s grill on the Gay INT perhaps causing JF to throw early and deny a miracle.
4) Holmes was lousy for about 59 minutes but shouldn’t be benched. Nate is not the answer as he dropped a bunch too. While 85 has come up HUGE in the last two 4th quarter drives Tone is a better player.
5) Starks made a HUGE tackle on Reed. If he isn’t hustling and tackle Ed, only Benny may have been able to bring him down. (see Indy) Starks has also played admirably at LT…again further cementing my belief that BA and Z are nincompoops with no judge of talent.
6) Here’s hoping the Steelers win in Tampa and BA gets his dream job as HC of the Cleveland Browns. They deserve each other.
When You Run The Ball Good Things Happen
Bingo on the Flacco critique. He misses on a lot of long balls. He over threw at leat 3 and shorted 2 very open receivers sunday. against the skins our lone passing td almost didn’t happen because the wide open receiver had to wait for the deep ball and snatch it form a defeners hands. he is slow to react still. a little concerned with his play the last 2 games.
Just lack of experience
OBVIOUSLY he has the arm strength and the gun to make the tough throws. Plus he has Ben-like wheels.
But he just simply doesnt have the poise to throw into the pressure or the know how to handle a heavy blitz just yet.
Granted, LeBeau makes most QBs look bad, but its tougher when a rookie you are. Joe did about as well as anyone could have asked though. Its not like he was playing Oakland. It was the #1 defense after all.
Lots of credit should go to the Ravens O-Line Coordinator and OC. They set up a brilliant line scheme to completely block Harrison and Woodley for the most part. Although, when WWF moves are legal, its easy to block.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
"Thoughtful discussion with a sense of history."
Art Rooney Jr.
"Level-headed thinking." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
SBNation.com Recent Stories
In Association With
Shutdown Corner - NFL - Yahoo! Sports
- Ahmad Bradshaw says Cowboys won’t win with Tony Romo at QB
- Cruz: Manningham’s Super catch wasn’t drawn up that way
- Whitney Houston performed the greatest national anthem in sports history (video)
- Justin Tuck visits New York City cop who survived gunshot wound to head
- The Giants won the ‘Brain Bowl,’ too
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
