it's the coaching

by steely mcballs on Nov 23, 2009 9:15 AM EST

Now, I'm not here to get anywhere near the idea of losing coach Tomlin, but man, look at these stats:

Turnovers: 3
Penalties: 8 for 85 yds
Chiefs points from run backs, turnovers: 17

At this point I can't put the blame anywhere else but on the coaches. When a team has this many costly penalties and mental errors, it's indicative of them not being mentally ready, and that's the coaches' job. It becomes like a virus. Case in point: our defense dominated most of the game, but after watching the other two squads basically screw the pooch all day long, it's no wonder they collapsed at the end of the game. Last week we had a run back and some bad penalties, especially in the red zone; this week it's a sad repeat. BB has now had 2 interceptions in the red zone in the last 2 weeks, after not having thrown any red zone INTs since 2007.

And don't give me the big numbers put up by the offense. Too many mistakes, period. Too many good drives resulting in zero points. This team is listless and there need to be drastic actions taken (Special Teams coach? Buh-bye. O-line coach? Ass chewing time). There is going to be serious acrimony in the Steelers house from the defensive side if they basically demolish the opponent all day just to see that opponent still with a chance to win in the 4th quarter. There's no way we should have the top defense in the league (because we do as it stands now) and HAVE LOST THE 2 GAMES THAT ACTUALLY GOT US THERE.

Tomlin needs to light a fire under these guys asses, probably most importantly the coaches, or this season is toast. One other complaint - I don't know what Reed's range is, but seriously - you're on the road, your defense is clearly fading at the end of the game - why not attempt the 55 yard FG? Or just go for it on 4th and 5? That punt did more to say 'no confidence' than just about any call I've seen all year. Besides, Sepulveda wasn't actually doing well to place the ball inside the 20 all day.

Rant over.

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Sorry Steely!

I didn’t look at all the posts before writing mine, which should have been posted here. I agree with you. See: This One’s On The Coach.

by WyoFan on Nov 23, 2009 2:22 PM EST reply actions

no worries

all losses suck.
some are just a product of the other team wanting it more or having better talent.
some are just embarrassing – like this one.

so i was in the mood for a rant, don’t think i checked very much to see if anyone else had written about this, either.

by steely mcballs on Nov 24, 2009 8:56 AM EST up reply actions

It seems like three losses

this year were a function of players not knowing there assignments or not staying with them. Is that the coach or players slacking on preparation or what?

That being said, I remain optimistic because these loses are correctable and not because we lack talent. We are not being dominated or outplayed for the most part in these losses.

by DMSF on Nov 23, 2009 4:29 PM EST reply actions

If we win out we end up at 12-4 like last year...

IF the mostly mental errors get corrected, that is entirely possible. IF they do not, then expect to see more of this bullshit.

by SteelersFnRule on Nov 23, 2009 5:02 PM EST reply actions

right...

but that’s kind of my point. all of our losses have basically resulted from mental errors…special teams breakdowns…turnovers…bad play calling…penalties.

those are bad tendencies. and what we’re seeing is a defense that, although extremely stout, has a knack for losing its intensity late in close games; probably because they get to sit there for 3 quarters and watch special teams and the offense squander every opportunity they’re given to shut the door.

to me, these are bad omens. teams playing the steelers and watching the film will know that all they have to do is keep it close. right now we’re seeing an inability to overcome adversity from this team…if you lose one or two that you should have won, OK, that happens – it happened last year (IND and NYG). but we’ve already lost 4 of those this year. that’s 40% of our games so far. at that rate we could expect to lose at least 1 more like this (a game we should have won). and we can only hope that happens against baltimore, green bay or miami (our remaining tough matchups), and not oakland or, god forbid, cleveland (games we can’t afford to lose).

basically, 1 more loss and maybe we still have hope for the playoffs, 2 losses we can forget it. then our only hope is to back into the playoffs because of a cincinnati collapse

by steely mcballs on Nov 24, 2009 9:20 AM EST up reply actions

Jeff Reed for 55 yards?

He cannot kick one in the end zone during the kickoffs. Forget the 55 yard FG.

by Han on Nov 23, 2009 5:15 PM EST reply actions

well yea that was my question - what's his range

maybe you just run a play there, of course knowing batch had a broken wrist (which we didn’t know then) makes a difference in that discussion.

by steely mcballs on Nov 24, 2009 8:54 AM EST up reply actions

if troy can comeback and be healthy we will be right where we expected in the end, if not were going to keep struggling…its strange to say this one player can change a whole team but troy is our backbone we win n lose with him

by steelerholic on Nov 23, 2009 5:59 PM EST reply actions