The Good Stuff: Week #9

by Billy52 on Nov 7, 2011 1:16 AM EST

In the wake of a gut-wrenching, last-minute 23-20 loss to the hated Ravens, some might say that there's nothing good to talk about this week. But this game was a typical, hard-fought matchup between two teams that know each other only too well. We went right down to the wire again with Baltimore, but this time we came up short.

The good news is that the Steelers played a solid game for the most part, especially when you consider that we had just defeated the Patriots last weekend. We certainly played well enough to beat the Ravens, but in the end, we let Joe Flacco and company off the hook. So I'm taking Mike Tomlin's advice and I'm not riding that emotional roller coaster this week.

1) Rashard Mendenhall: Mendy played a superb game whether it was with his clutch runs or solid blocking.

2) James Harrison: Deebo came back with a vengence, sacking Flacco three times and forcing a fumble. This dismal loss doesn't diminish the tremendous boost we'll get in the weeks to come by having #92 back in the lineup and back to form.

3) OL: Ben had time to throw and was scarcely hit despite facing a very tough Ravens pass rush.

4) Antonio Brown: Another huge effort by a budding NFL star. Every time we needed a big play, #84 was there.

5) Heath Miller: For the second week in a row, #83 had a solid game snatching clutch passes to move the sticks.

I wish I could also include Big Ben in this group of standouts. His TD pass to Mike Wallace late in the 4th quarter was vintage Ben and a thing of beauty to watch. I'd even go as far as to say that Ben probably is the only QB in the NFL who could make that throw on the run.

Overall, though, despite passing for 365 yards, Ben didn't move the sticks consistently or keep the clock running when the Steelers needed it most. He threw a terribly costly interception and, throughout the first half, Ben was unable to convert good field position into TDs instead of FGs. By no means was this one of Ben's better efforts.

And to those miffed by our D's performance during the Ravens' 92-yard game-winning drive, let's just say that I think it's absurd to dismiss all of the good things we did in this game simply because of the way the game ended. That was one weary Steeler defensive unit late in the 4th quarter and Flacco took advantage of the situation. So, was it really the D's fault that we lost? I'm not so sure. You might as easily blame the offense for not taking advantage of scoring opportunities or for failing to run down the clock late in the game.

But it seems pointless to worry about this very much or to try to point fingers. The effort by the Black and Gold clearly was there; we just happened to lose the game. Case closed and let's get ready for the Bengals--a team with a very good young QB and dangerous WRs. We can't honestly say that we should beat teams like Baltimore and New England with regularity, but let's take care of the teams on our schedule that we truly should beat. This starts with the Bengals before we enjoy a much-needed bye week.

GO STEELERS!!

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Comments

very hard to keep a level head after this one

i spent the last 10 minutes of the game begging someone to make a play, almost expecting it, but it never came. i worry about going into cincinatti after a tough loss like this. its going to be huge to get a division win going into the bye but theyre not to be underestimated. its extremely frustrating to see everyone on defense doing their part yet we still dont get the splash plays coming our way.

by steel.curtain.number2 on Nov 7, 2011 1:59 AM EST reply actions

Some things to look forward to:

We are 6-3, well within the playoff chase, we do not have a tough run after the bye, and frankly this team is starting to play better.

Deebo and Woodley. Haven’t had them together with Deebo healthy yet this year. Deebo gets a bye to work on his back and when Woodley comes back look out.

The Offense is getting good. The pass blocking is improving, and Brown is catching all those passes going his way now. We have seven games to fine tune and detail an offense that is starting to resemble a Ferrari.

The Defense has been short-manned all year, and that is changing. The young guys are showing they can handle the load, which means our depth is growing. I think we will be well off when we really need it.

But the biggest thing is we lost two games to a team that is built to beat us. We aren’t built to beat them anymore, we are built to run with the Pats and Packers, and while we’ve seen that our old style could pull out wins over those teams every once in a while, I think we are better poised to make noise in the playoffs this year than we were last year.

The only concern I have is turnovers, we aren’t getting any. One turnover was the difference in this game, and we nearly overcame it. We need to find a way to force some of our own.

by Phantaskippy on Nov 7, 2011 2:16 AM EST reply actions

agree with this

I also would add that though it looked like there would be a lot of teams crowding the wild-card race earlier in the season, at this juncture it doesn’t look quite so congested.

AFC North:
Ravens-most likely to win division
Bengals-still have to play the Ravens and Steelers twice and Houston, probably lose three of those five maybe even four finish season 10-6/0-7 they will be very dangerous next year
Steelers- Probably finish season at 11-5 get wild card
Browns- stank

AFC South:
Texans- take the division
Titans-pretenders that wont finish better than 10-6 and probably more likely 9-7 miss the playoffs
Jags- not this year
Colts- just pathetic this year

AFC East
Jets-I think they take the lead and win this division
Pats- that D is horrible, but I think they pull the second wild card with a 11-5 record, losing to the Jets and Iggles
Bills- I think their run is over for this year, they lose 3-4 more games and end the season 10-6/9-7 no wild card
Dolphins- are not good

AFC West
Chargers-probably win this division with a craptacular record like 9-7 or 10-6 at best, still better than the NFC west but that ain’t saying much
Raiders- melting down as we chat, lose four more 8-8
Broncos- Tebow led broncos aren’t winnin that division, probably lose at least 4 more 7-9/8-8
Chiefs- this team is bipolar and also not very good lose at least 4 more finish 8-8 at best

wild cards are not the preferred way to the playoffs, but I will take what we can at this point. Losing to the Ravens is always painful, but the season is not over by any means.

People don't ever seem to realize that doing what's right is no guarantee against misfortune.
- William McFee

by stillergorillar on Nov 7, 2011 9:02 AM EST up reply actions

Bengals fan here,

Good game, it was fun to watch. Got hosed a little by the refs, but overall pretty solid. Defense hasn’t lost a step, thats for sure. Looking forward to a close game Sunday. Of the Steelers 6 wins, 4 have came against the Colts 0-9, Seahawks 2-6, Jags 2-6, Cards 2-6. That is a record of 6 – 27. Signature win is against the Titans (who we beat) and the Pats at 5-3. We beat the Bills who are 5-3 also. Both teams are pretty evenly matched. Just dont know how Dalton will do against the Pits 3-4. Will be interesting. Good luck.

by redrifle14 on Nov 7, 2011 2:30 AM EST reply actions

strength of schedule is an incredibly unreliable stat if you ask me

teams of all percieved talent levels are knocking off good teams every week. you certainly can’t say that a team is better than another based on the teams theyve beaten. we’ll just have to see who wins when the teams go head to head

by hasay on Nov 7, 2011 6:56 AM EST up reply actions

You can’t really count the losses we gave those teams. So it’s against opponents witha record of 6-22. Still awful, but you can only play the teams on your schedule.

"It’s easy to lie with statistics, but it’s easier to lie without them." -Fred Mosteller
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by John Stephens on Nov 7, 2011 9:31 AM EST up reply actions

and the ravens lost to 2 of those teams, and barely beat a third.

Any given sunday

by mtsnot on Nov 7, 2011 9:51 AM EST up reply actions

Nice post Billy

I’m not as down on Ben as everyone else is. I blame the screen on BA as much as I do Ben. It’s his play design and it’s not designed very well. If you watched their screens you saw that Smith was about 4 yards behind the LoS, whereas we try to throw it right to the WR on the LoS. It always looks dangerous and ugly. I effing hate screens.

"It’s easy to lie with statistics, but it’s easier to lie without them." -Fred Mosteller
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by John Stephens on Nov 7, 2011 9:32 AM EST reply actions

Those screens have been killing other teams and make them pay for playing off Wallace.

It’s a rare great play by a LB that hurts you, 90% of the time those plays are working, although his naked screen with no protection is a terrible play.

by Phantaskippy on Nov 7, 2011 9:54 AM EST up reply actions

That’s the second time we’ve thrown a pick on a screen. The great play was made because the play was predictable and not well executed.

"It’s easy to lie with statistics, but it’s easier to lie without them." -Fred Mosteller
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by John Stephens on Nov 7, 2011 10:08 AM EST up reply actions

If it was that predictable, we’d have a lot fewer yards and a lot more interceptions from them.

by Phantaskippy on Nov 7, 2011 7:52 PM EST up reply actions

can you point me to times when that play has "worked" please?

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by FrankWyt on Nov 8, 2011 3:08 AM EST up reply actions

I’d love to know how many yards we have on screens. I’d bet it’s a lot lower than you think. I can only remember one successful one to Brown and one to Wallace this year.

"It’s easy to lie with statistics, but it’s easier to lie without them." -Fred Mosteller
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by John Stephens on Nov 8, 2011 7:59 AM EST up reply actions

what's your definition of "working"

i’ve seen it get more than 5 yards twice since last season

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by FrankWyt on Nov 8, 2011 3:08 AM EST up reply actions

Agree with what each of you says.

It all comes down to fundamentals and execution. You can’t run effective screens unless you make a commitment to having this as a key part of your offensive playbook. Clearly, the Steelers haven’t done that because BA focuses on the big plays and we’ve relied primarily on Ben’s big-play ability since drafting him. But there’s no good reason why the Steelers can’t run screen plays as well as any other NFL team; we just need to make the commitment. But it’s pretty tough to implement this in mid-season with any success.

The thing that worries me is the large number of batted passes that Ben continues to have. Ben’s a pretty tall QB and this shouldn’t keep happening. In a nutshell, I think Ben has always needed better coaching in order to develop to his full potential. But it seems the Steelers have always been content to rely mainly on Ben’s natural ability, without offering very much in the way of guidance. So in many ways, Ben is still playing like a first- or second-year QB. This might hurt him later in his career when he has more trouble escaping the pressure.

by Billy52 on Nov 7, 2011 12:38 PM EST up reply actions

I thought

they were in no-huddle when Ben threw the pick. In which case it’s his call. And IIRC he was getting too clever and spent all his time looking to the left. He probably didn’t see Suggs until the ball left his hand.

"If you're not getting better, I don't care what business you're in, you're a dead man. I try to look critically at the mistakes that I make and try to learn from them, like our team does." - Mike Tomlin

by Rebecca Rollett on Nov 7, 2011 10:40 PM EST up reply actions

they were

indeed in the no huddle

People don't ever seem to realize that doing what's right is no guarantee against misfortune.
- William McFee

by stillergorillar on Nov 7, 2011 11:54 PM EST up reply actions

Sure, it’s his call, but Ben doesn’t design the plays.

"It’s easy to lie with statistics, but it’s easier to lie without them." -Fred Mosteller
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by John Stephens on Nov 8, 2011 8:00 AM EST up reply actions

point taken

by Rebecca Rollett on Nov 8, 2011 8:27 AM EST up reply actions

Anybody see Chris Carter out there last night?

I ask this honestly, because I did not. Seemed to me like Jason Worilds played every defensive snap when we were in our base defense.

I counted multiple times Carter got overpowered on his pass rushes last week, and more or less got flushed out of the play. I’m wondering if maybe he’s been relegated purely to special teams.

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Those who can't... post on message boards using a screen name boasting the name of those who can.

by Craig Sager's Wardrobe on Nov 7, 2011 2:31 PM EST reply actions