Give Jeff Fisher, Kerry Collins and the Tennesee Titans Credit For Striking While The Iron Was Hot
by Michael Bean on Dec 21, 2008 8:35 PM EST
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PrintI am going to get to my many thoughts about the Steelers in this game, but I first wanted to write a few things about the game played by the Titans, and the coaching jobs done by Jeff Fisher and whoever the Titans offensive coordinator is.
TITANS TALK
* The Titans were definitely very prepared coming into this game. Their recipe for success in the first half was to dink and dunk the ball in the flats to Alge Crumpler and Justin McCarreins primarily. Crumpler in particular proved hard to bring down immediately. The Titans mustered nothing huge at all in the first half, but they certainly packed a punch with their efficiency. I really felt we could have taken control of this game early and often, even after the fumble. But the Titans 6 play, 45 yard drive following Roethlisberger's fumble was huge for them. We had all the early momentum in that game, having stopped the Titans on their first two series and gaining the early edge in the field position department. Then the fumble. Then they take it out near mid field before punting, and all of a sudden, we're pinned back at our own 3 yard line. Three uninspiring Bruce Arians calls later and they have the ball just outside of FG range.
* Even though we blew some opportunities in the first half, we were in plenty good shape to start the 2nd. I felt we were extremely fortunate that Jeff Fisher decided to punt the ball away on 4th and 1 inch. Literally 1 inch. With the way that game had been going, I think it was entirely appropriate for Tennessee to keep delivering blows to the Steelers defense. I'll get back to this later, but I really liked how our offense capitalized on that sequence of events.
* Unfortunately for us, Jeff Fisher and his coaching staff called an amazing game from there on out. I think they were well prepared and coached a good game for most of the game, but it was after we took the lead 14-10 on a Hines Ward TD that Fisher and his offensive coordinator really delivered. Collins went to TE Bo Scaife in the flat on two straight passes; then he hit Justin Gage for 21 yards on a free play on 3rd down (the Steelers jumped offsides). We then blew it when we gave up 19 yards on 3rd and 20 - something this defense just hasn't done all year. But as we've said before, it was bound to happen.
Anyway, Fisher rolled the dice on 4th and 1, calling a beautiful fake dive to the fullback then option flip quickly to Chris Johnson, who was all sorts of open. TD Titans. Fantastic play call in the running game. Something we simply don't get to see much of as Steelers fans. The ensuing series, Fisher rolled the dice again on 4th down and 3, this time from the Steelers 30. Another great play call by Fisher, who at that point could sense blood in the water. It's one thing for a coach to play fairly conservatively at certain moments in the game; but that same coach has to be able to sense opportunity when it's staring him in the face. Fisher did that in spades today and for the first time in 2008, our defense was beaten up by an opposing offense.
* Congratulations to Kerry Collins for a nearly perfect game today. He was better than just serviceable today, that's for sure. He was extremely decisive with his throws. And he still has a plenty big arm when need be. He played as well as he can quite frankly. The question is, could he and that group of WRs and TEs beat Pittsburgh's defense another way - which is what they'd have to do after LeBeau gets a sneak at this film and adjusts. We'll see if both teams even get there before we might find out.
For now, good work by Tennessee - the AFC's 2008 regular season champion. Has a nice ring to it, but there's bigger fish still to fry.
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I don't buy it.
I can’t congratulate Kerry Collins. This guy is absolute garbage and wouldn’t be on the rosters of most teams yet the Steelers let him look like god. I am still scratching my head on that one. I kept hearing about this defense and I simply didn’t see it. Ben was the only thing worse than the defense today though. Although I have only seen 4 Steelers games this year, 3 of them I did see were the Giants, Colts and today. Those were the 3 best teams we played all year and we lost all 3 of them. I am beginning to wonder if this team and Ben in particular is overrated and whether we can play with the big boys. I hope we don’t play a lot of starters next week but I do want to see them beat Cleveland in the worst way. As for the playoffs, They need to play smart and hopefully good things will happen.
by air force steeler on Dec 21, 2008 8:47 PM EST reply actions
lol
no disrespect man but you really need to catch yourself up on the season. we swept the Ravens, won on the road in Jacksonville, beat Dallas and Washington, beat NE on the road. And the NYG and Indy games were ours to lose.
Now, all that said. Ben has had some setbacks this year. I might remind people that it wasnt until 2006 really that Manning learned how to take what was given to him and be patient 100% of the time. Ben is still much younger than Peyton when that development happened.
Also, when you play 4 straight really physical tough games in 5 weeks – including against our rival last week on the road in a HUGE game – there’s this thing called a letdown that often happens in sports. We are not dominant enough to survive that gauntlet of games, then travel to Tennesee and beat a team that had a very well coached game, which was part of the point of my post.
Anyway, you don’t know what’s going on so until you get caught up, it’s not that helpful for you to blatantly disagree with anything really.
by Michael Bean on Dec 21, 2008 8:54 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
The Good and The Bad
Good: Tone made some plays today. Great TD catch. I’m still not sold on him as a #1 WR though.
Troy is a fighter. The guy was the only one on the defense going all out at the end. Maybe that’s not a good thing after all…
This game didn’t mean much to our guys. Emotionally you could just tell they weren’t all there today. That is to be expected after the last stretch of insanity.
I didn’t think Arians made any really boneheaded calls for a change.
Now, the Bad: Ryan Clark left his jock in Pittsburgh. Easily his worst game as a Steeler. AND he managed to hurt himself. Complete disaster from 25.
Lebeau had no answer for the Tennessee…passing game? Weird.
92 ain’t right. After he hurt his hip, he definitely lost a step. I think he went to the needle in the locker room and was playing on a numb leg. I hope he can get close to 100% for Indy or we will have a very short playoff “run”. Yeah he is that important.
Someone should have told Ben; Christmas ain’t til NEXT week. He sure was generous with the football today.
we wont be playing Indy
we will be playing the winner of the #3 and #6 seeds most likely. Indy (#5 seed guaranteed) will San Diego or Denver (#4). Unless Baltimore (#6) beats the #3, Miami or NE.
by Michael Bean on Dec 21, 2008 8:59 PM EST up reply actions
Are you sure?
You have to assume the Ravens will be whatever poser the AFC East puts into the playoffs. They’ll be the 6th seed. So doesn’t that mean Ravens v. Titans in round 2? Then we play the winner of Indy v. San Diego/Denver. And I think it should be expected that Indy will win that one. Which gives us our rematch against Indy. Let me know if I’m missing something……
by SteelerInVirginia on Dec 21, 2008 9:42 PM EST up reply actions
We will be playing Indy
Baltimore will beat the 3 seed. And Indy is almost a lock to beat Denver.
The Ugly
The tackling or lack thereof on the INT for TD, Yes, the game was essentially over at that point but stil. It looked like only three players were even trying to make a tackle. MM, Starks, and one other earlier in the return (didn’t catch the number). Talk about giving up. I expect more from this bunch.
Tennessee is sneaky good
They don’t have Peyton Manning or Ray Lewis. They don’t have the defensive splash of the Ravens or all the recent publicity of the Steelers. They aren’t led by Bill Belilegend. Their quarterback doesn’t have the name of Brett Favre or even Phillip Rivers. Their quarterback has no name at all. The receivers aren’t Marvin Harrison or Randy Moss. Most casual NFL fans have no idea what city they play in.
All they do is play football, and do it with great precision. They block and tackle. They scheme and execute. They don’t care about city names or city lights or marquis names or nicknames. They just play football. Jeff Fisher isn’t the dean of NFL coaches for nothing.
But hey, there will be six left in the AFC crapshoot and the Steelers will be one of the six. They are not as bad as today’s game might indicate, nor are they as superior as the previous five games might indicate. They are right there with all the others, and as fans, that is all we can ask. My goal each year is to take my daughter to a home playoff game. That means that every game in the regular season has life. For the second year in a row, the Steelers will host that home playoff game, something no other AFC team might be able to say.
Of course, I want more, and we shall see. But today’s game is not going to dampen my Christmas. In fact, if Tennessee loses it’s first playoff game, this game will have meant nothing and we may even host the big encilada anyhow.
Thoughtful discussion with a sense of history
I'll look for you on the tube.
I have a “feeling” that exactly what’s going to happen like in ’97 I believe.
Letdown
I’ll go with Blitzburgh on the letdown, I just didn’t see the crispness that I saw even when we we were going to to toe with Dallas and Baltimore. Its not as if one can complain about the D this year, its the best I can remember.
I am concerned about Ben, but not as concerned as if we don’t get some consistent production out of the run game. I think that is a big part of the reason that Ben has had the yips. Mewelde has come up big this year but now Willie needs to round it out.
I’m not an apologist, because we stank it up today; but, we can overcome this, the 90’s and 2000’s version of this team do poorly when we have all the headlines, rankings, home field, etc. A little adversity is good when you consider how well we did against the ’08 schedule strength.
by SteelCurtain4Life on Dec 21, 2008 9:41 PM EST reply actions
The Steelers blew it against the Titans and need to stop blowing games!!!
Why do the Steelers keep making the same dumb mistakes by putting the game in Ben’s hands and keeping starting Willie Parker when Mewelede Moore has obviously shown he gives the Steelers a much better chance of establishing a running game, which they desperately are in need of? When is the Steeler organization going to figure out that Ben Roethlisberger is not Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, although sometimes I think Ben thinks he is? Every game the Steelers have lost during the 2008 season can be traced to two consistent factors: a) the Steelers not being able to establish the run, and consequently, b) putting the game in Ben’s hands, which ultimately leads to multiple turnovers. I like Ben and Willie, but the fact of the matter is, they are both seriously jeopardizing the Steelers’ change of having a legitimate shot at even winning a playoff game, much less going to the Super Bowl this year, which would be a shame, given the awesome defense they have. There is absolutely no excuse to have a defense like the Steelers have and the way that defense has consistently played this year, and lose the way they did to the Tennessee Titans this past Sunday, 21 December 2008. By the way, if by some miracle they do win their playoff game at home this year after their bye week, they will most likely face the Titans again in Tennessee, or whoever beat the Titans, which is still no comfort, seeing that playing at home has been no advantage for the Steelers this year either. The defense let me down somewhat during the game against the Titans, but in their defense (no pun intended), they were probably tired after having to bail out Ben, Willie, the offense line and the rest of the offense for the majority of the season.
The Titans are a great team, and if the Steelers has lost a much closer game because they (offense primarily) played better, I would not be so disgusted, but after watching the way they played and the way they lost, I’m totally disgusted and have zero confidence at this point that they will even win a playoff game as the Number Two Seed in the 2008-2009 AFC Playoffs this year.
Now that I’ve vented because I’m really pissed off at the Steelers for losing the way they did to the Titans, if Coach Tomlin, Mr. Dan Rooney, or anyone in the Steelers organization will actually listen to someone who has been a Steeler fan since he was a child in 1975, and now I’m 43 years old, and I’m not even from Pittsburgh, I have some specific, constructive recommendations for some CHANGES THE STEELERS NEED TO MAKE RIGHT NOW and GOING FORWARD INTO THE FUTURE:
1. START and KEEP PLAY STEELER FOOTBALL and STOP THE FOOLISHNESS THAT KEEPS CAUSING THE STEELERS TO LOSE FOOTBALL GAMES. You have one part of the equation down, which is PLAYING GREAT DEFENSE. THE PART THAT IS MISSING IS ESTABLISHING THE RUN and STOP LETTING BEN ACT LIKE HE IS PEYTON MANNING, TOM BRADY, OR EVEN TERRY BRADSHAW, BECAUSE HE IS NOT, AND IF HE KEEPS HANGING ONTO THE BALL TOO LONG AND DOESN’T LEARN HOW TO GET RID OF THE BALL, I.E. THE ART OF THE QUICK RELEASE, WITHOUT THROWING STUPID INTERCEPTIONS, HE NEVER WILL BE. Ben holds onto the ball way too long, and even though the offense line could peform much better (which is why I’m still dumbfounded that the Steelers drafted Rashard Mendenhall, a running back, and Limas Sweed, a wide receiver, neither or whom has done jack squat to help the team this year, instead of drafting an offense lineman in the first or second round this year) Ben doesn’t help by holding onto the ball too long. I’ve heard the analysts say, “well, that’s just the way he plays”. Well, THE WAY BEN PLAYS CAUSES THE STEELERS TO LOSE, AND THEY WOULD PROBABLY HAVE LOST MANY MORE GAMES IF IT WERE NOT FOR THE DEFENSE BAILING HIM OUT EVERY WEEK, WHICH OBVIOUSLY CAUGHT UP WITH THEM THIS WEEK AGAINST THE TITANS.
2. SIT WILLIE PARKER DOWN AND START MEWELDE MOORE AT RUNNING BACK. I’m a big Willie Parker fan, but after watching him for three games now, it is obvious he is ineffective, either because his knee is still bad, or he is just having an off-year. Willie needs to let his ego take a back seat to what is best for the team, and what is best for the team is to re-establish the run, and Mewelde Moore has shown he is best capable of helping the Steelers establish a running game. Let Willie Parker come off the bench to give Mewelde Moore a rest if you absolutely want to give Willie some playing time, which I think you should. I also think you need to use either Gary Russell or Cary Davis more on short yardage situations, i.e. 2 yards or less.
3. STOP BEING SO PREDICTABLE IN THE OFFENSIVE PLAY CALLING. When Ken Wisenhunt was the Offensive Coordinator, the Steelers ran trick plays that kept opposing defenses guessing. Now it seems like with Bruce Arians and Ben running the offense, they run the same sorry plays over and over again, somehow expecting different results. Something needs to change, either Arians’ play calling or letting Ben call audibles at the line of scrimmage, whatever is causing their sorry offensive performance.
4. MIKE TOMLIN NEEDS TO START ACTING LIKE A HEAD COACH WHO IS IN CHARGE OF HIS TEAM, GET IN SOME PEOPLE’S FACES AND HOLD PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE. As an African American, I honor Mr. Rooney for giving Tomlin a chance, but I also believe any head coach, black, white or other, needs to perform, especially when he has such as talented team to work with as Tomlin does. Tomlin to me seems soft. I see players on both sides not making plays, committing stupid penalties, or celebrating when they haven’t done anything worth celebrating about, and Tomlin seems like he is afraid to get in their face. He needs to take lessons from Bill Cowher on how to hold his players accountable, specifically Ben Roethlisberger his quarterback and that offensive line, to either play better, or bench them. I realize Coach Tomline probably has his own style and is not Bill Cowher, and that is fine, but all Coach Tomlin’s talk about how physical he expects his team to play needs to somehow be translated to actual performance, again primarily on the offensive side of the ball, although I’ve seen the defense have lapses too, which to me indicates a lack of leadership on defense. Joey Porter had a big mouth, was frankly somewhat of a distraction at times, and I can’t say I was that sad to see him go, especially given how much better the defense has played since he left, but Joe Porter also provided leadership on defense, and if there is one glaring shortfall I see on the Steelers, it is LACK OF LEADERSHIP. I’ve yet to see anyone on the defense step up since Joey departed. I see the same problem with the offense since Jerome Bettis retired, i.e. lack of leadership. The natural leader of the offense should be Ben, but I just don’t see it, not just because of his play, but because of his “soft” attitude and lackadaisical attitude toward winning. If Ben wants to be like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, maybe he can start with showing that he is the clear leader of that offense, meaning, hold himself accountable and stop making the team lose games, and motivating the rest of the offense to play better.
5. FOR THE LONG TERM, MR. ROONEY AND WHOEVER ELSE MAKES FINANCIAL DECISIONS FOR THE STEELER ORGANIZATION NEEDS TO STOP BEING SO CHEAP, STINGY, MISERLY, WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL IT, AND INVEST IN A DECENT TURF FIELD AND A RETRACTIBLE ROOF. THE STEELERS HAVE NOT SHOWN THAT BAD WEATHER CONSISTENTLY FAVORS THEM, BUT THEY HAVE SHOWN THAT THEY HAVE TEAM SPEED, WHICH COULD BE ENHANCED BY PLAYING IN BETTER FIELD AND ENVIRONMENT PLAYING CONDITIONS. By having a retractable roof, they can always open the roof if they want to use the weather to their advantage.
4. FURTHERMORE, MR. ROONEY AND WHOEVER ELSE MAKES FINANCIAL DECISIONS FOR THE STEELER ORGANIZATION NEEDS TO STOP BEING SO CHEAP AND INVEST IN AT LEAST A COUPLE OF QUALITY FREE AGENT MARQUIS PLAYERS. It’s debatable to me whether they should have kept Alan Faneca, but if they knew they were going to let him go, they should have invested in a high quality offense lineman, and I’m sorry, no offense to Mr. Justin Hartwig, but I don’t see him making a difference when it comes to the offense line.
I respect Mr. Rooney’s principle that he wants to keep ticket prices low and try to get other owners to do the same, but it seems obvious to me that Mr. Rooney, as respected as he seems to be within the NFL community, is not going to get people like Jerry Jones and others who are willing to do whatever it takes to win to change their practices, which in essence, is going to keep the Steelers from attracting and keeping talented players, and their lack of ability to keep quality players is what I believe keeps them from being consistent title contenders every year. Furthermore, I think Steeler fans would not mind paying a small premium for them to win, especially in a city that quite frankly has no other sports teams to look forward to other than the Steelers. The ticket prices are already astronomical anyway, so what is a few more dollars if that is what it takes to build a longstanding winning team? Again, I’m not from Pittsburgh, but I know people who grew up there and know enough about Pittsburgh to know that the economy there is bad like it is in more industrial cities, although I also believe they’ve found alternatives to the steel mill industry, specifically the high technology industry, to help grow the local economy.
I’m sorry for being so long winded, but I am really very upset and disappointed in what I saw today in how the Steelers played against the Titans, and while I understand they are going to lose sometimes, there is no reason why they should lose in the pitiful way they did today against the Titans. Furthermore, in looking at their other three losses against the Eagles, Colts and Giants this past 2008 season, I keep seeing a familiar pattern, i.e. the defense does its part, but lack of a running game and reliance on Ben to consistently make big plays in the passing game, causes the Steelers to lose, and quite frankly, there is just no excuse for it, especially when they can do something about it.
Perhaps I’ll feel a little better if the Steelers can at least beat Cleveland next week in the final regular season game in Pittsburgh and show they have a will to win going into the playoffs, but I’m afraid they will just “cop out” and rest players instead of being more concerned about winning and having momentum going into their bye week. They should play all the starters at least for a full half or until they can establish a 21 point lead on the Browns, whichever comes first. I definitely think it is a good idea to let the second team and even the third team, unless the Steelers are losing, get some playing time.
I realize I’m just one fan, but hopefully this letter will motivate other members of the Steelers to speak out, and I feel confident I’m not the only one in Steeler nation who feels the way I do as I have expressed in this letter.
Go Steelers!
Sincerely,
Roger S. Grayson
I feel your pain but
tomorrow will be another day. You’ll see. Don’t lose faith.
I think this team is what it is
Running game? The Steelers have no real running game. That’s what it will be for the rest of 2008.
I don’t think the O line is all that bad anymore. I think the problem on offense lies in the fact that BB wants to go to the big deep play so often. It’s my opinion that the O is running best when it runs a little, adds in a bunch of dink and dunk plays, then goes for the big play here and there. I believe that BB really needs to get rid of the ball in 2 seconds or so for short passes to open up all other aspects of the game. The O line certainly gives him 2 – 2.5 seconds no doubt about it.
As for the D. It’s a hiccup. they’ll be back and angry.
I said it before in another post…..this team just went on a run beating many very good teams. They’ll be playing more very good teams in the playoffs and there is every reason to think that if they play well, they will have a sixth Lombardi on Feb 1st.
To me that is Ben's only real problem
He seems to always be swinging for the fences. Too many times he throws the deep ball when he probably should have thrown underneath. Oh well, I like the Steelers chances with Ben as QB and I just have to take the good with the bad with him.
Reply to Ragnar
Hi Ragnor,
I agree, I think the offensive line has improved, although I think it is far cry from what it was in 2005-06 when they won Super Bowl XV. I also agree the Steelers do need to balance the run and pass, but that is exactly the problem in my opinion; there is no balance. They give up on the run way too easily, but then again, then haven’t been able to show they can run, even against sorry defenses like the Bengals. That needs to change, and it needs to change NOW.
I also totally agree that Big Ben (BB) holds onto the ball WAY TOO LONG, which is why I put the blame for all the sacks, turnovers and losses almost 100% on BB. He has shown he can play better. He is the clearly the franchise player, and the Steelers have allowed several great players to walk away just so that they could pay BB more. As the saying goes “to whom much is given, much is required”.
My last point, yes, they beat a lot of good teams this year, and I commend them for that, but they could have done a lot better, including having a chance to beat the Tennessee Titans and be the #1 Seed, if they just stop doing the same stupid things that have caused them to lose games or nearly lose games. A wise man once said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I would say the same definition applies to stupidity, and that is what I am accusing the Steelers of right now.
Completely agree
We’ve played well of late against strong teams. At least we’ve gotten the bad game out of our system before the playoffs….
check my latest post
steelers opponents records last 9 games – 83-49.
Titans opponents records last 9 games – 52-80.
They were fresher. We were beat up. That explains the defense to me. Even so, we were moving the ball all over them. Turnovers gave them lots of cheap points.
by Michael Bean on Dec 22, 2008 12:49 AM EST up reply actions
It's not the fact that we lost...
… it’s the WAY that we lost. Losing a close game to good opponents is one thing. Beating ourselves up with fumbles, penalties, and interceptions is another. We played inconsistently. We played like a team with great players who haven’t practiced all year. We played like it was week 1.
I had us pegged to go 2-2 over these past four games. But I didn’t think we’d lose for the same reasons we struggled at the start of the season.
Hats off to you guys
I know you guys are doing the same thing we do after a tough loss but you have a hell of a football team. I wouldnt be surprised at all if we meet again provided no more stupid miscues on either of our teams behalves.
Thanks Oden
I really hope these teams cross paths again as well. Once we are fresh you might just see what the Steel Curtain of domination is all about. Today you saw a wet blanket of piss.
by SteelerDomination on Dec 22, 2008 2:38 AM EST reply actions
And RogerG
let me just go ahead and poor some water on that fire because you sound a little unreasonable. In your perfect world the Steelers would be undefeated and crush everyone we see. This is the NFL my man. This team just endured the most insane stretch of games of any team in the NFL this year and it showed. They were far from sharp and looked tired. As far as Ben not being this and not being that…take your chances with any other QB in the league not named Brady or Manning and tell me how that pans out. The man has a Super Bowl, been to a pro bowl and won a shit load of games by 25 years of age. As many dumb ass mistakes as he makes, he is still our QB. The same one who has 5 game winning drives this year, and oh something like 25-30 in his career. Not a leader? Ok man, when he gets us another ring your not allowed to cheer.
As far as your request for front office to go out and make a splash in free agency, that makes no sense. What you want us to be like the Cowboys? Or the Redskins? Look where they are at. We draft well, slowly build our players up, then watch them tear it up for discount prices. That is why we have a competitive team almost every year. I call that brilliant. Yeah this team has flaws, but not as many as about 95% of the rest of the league.
It gets old when people jump on and off the band wagon with every game. Drop your expectations down to realistic.
by SteelerDomination on Dec 22, 2008 2:55 AM EST reply actions
lol
we should be more like the jets and browns – BIG players in free agency! Yawn.
by Michael Bean on Dec 22, 2008 3:09 AM EST up reply actions
We should have traded for Favre
That guy knows how to win! LOL
Man, no matter how many times you guys are corrected you’re still gonna keep repeating this lie, just b/c it has a negative stigma associated with it. The Browns aren’t big players in Free Agency, they signed exactly one this off season: Stalworth.
Nonetheless, I’ve enjoyed following the Steelers this year after our season went kaputz. Hell o’ a football organization you got there.
And they acquired
Sean Rogers through a trade.
sorry kwoog
Glad you’re still around :) I rescind my statement about FA.
by Michael Bean on Dec 22, 2008 4:41 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah, I lurk occasionally still. Hey man, I know it looks like we’re another one of those idiot FA spenders, b/c of Bentley and Baxter and the confusion around Williams/Rogers… but it’s just not so… We find new and innovative ways to suck, thank you very much. We don’t need to copy other teams’ ways!
I still hate the Steelers with every fiber of my being, but it really is impossible not to respect that Sports Organization, top to bottom.
Thx Kwoog
In my opinion I still think Bentley was a good move, just pure heart breaking bad luck with how it played out.
by SteelBuckeye on Dec 22, 2008 10:13 PM EST up reply actions
Credit
Agree with the credit to Coach Fisher – he has always been one of the top guys out there IMO, and always cringe a little (alot this damn week) when we play them. Our problem on offense from my perspective can be summed up by looking at the effectiveness of the Titan’s game plan – play smart, balanced football (plenty of short/long passing mixed in with varied running styles – then when you have your opponents down grind them to drain the clock and the defensive willpower. There’s your blueprint right there.
It’s easy to point at Ben as the weak link today, but the play calls once again seemed to doom the running game into oblivion (that draw play needs to be swept from the playbook). Too much reliance on a downfield passing attack, and not enough dedication to the running game. I thought we had some good runs in there, but it seemed that every good one was immediately followed up with a no-yardage or loss of yardage run play straight into the line. Where they too predictable, or just poorly executed? Both maybe. Every time there is some adversity in the running game it seems to get tossed out the window. That approach is never going to get the deal done.
For those out there calling for Ben’s head – again – he’s a damn good QB (who holds on too long) who has and will continue to drive our team to victories. Give that investment the line he deserves, a balanced game plan, and a more effective running attack and you’ll all be quiet as he keeps racking up the W’s. I don’t believe that Arians is the OC to give Ben the gameplan that will showcase his capabilities and rein in his less desirable tendencies – not to mention produce an effective running game.
I do agree wholeheartedly that three pump-fakes is ridiculous though – ever heard of the boy who cried wolf? Oh well.
I have an insane hope that perhaps there was some strategy in there to hold back a little on defense in order to save some suprises for the playoffs, but I’m thinking that is probably just what I say – insane. Defense got worn down and hate to say it – out coached.
No credit to the Titans that were stomping on the Towel (fake or not). Classless. Can’t wait for payback.
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