I have complained about our play calling for a while but watching the saints really shows the difference between good OC and bad ones. Perfect stat: sproules had 15 catches yesterday. Mendenhall had 18 ALL YEAR. Redman also had 18
Why? If one of the best QB of all time has a checkdown available every play why don't we? BA and BEN love the deep ball. But having a RB start in the backfield and release for check down moves the chains and prevents sacks and helps you score points.
So simple and most teams do it. Drives me crazy

Can we now put redman in as our goal line back? PLEASE!
It does not take an expert to see that mendy runs too tall and doesn't Break tackles. Redman runs stronger. Can move the pile and fall forward. It is so obvious I can't figure out why Tomlin doesn't put his foot down

A new-ish rule in the league is that if a defender jumps into neutral zone, and o lineman jumps, the penalty is on the defense. So you see around the league that linemen are coached that as soon as defender jumps, you jump and - presto- 5 yards on defense. Yesterday Ben got cardinals to jump into neutral zone TWICE on same play. We didn't snap it, and no offensive lineman moved, so no penalty, and no first down. Hell, on an earlier play, Peterson was all the way in the backfield and could have gotten back without a penalty. If we were a smarter team, we would do these little things to help us win games.
Just sayin

We know Arians and Ben are too in love with the deep ball. Here is more proof

Roethlisberger's average pass attempt came more than 17 yards past the line of scrimmage. Next highest among starters was Rex Grossman, at less than 13. Roethlisberger had five attempts that traveled at least 40 yards downfield, although he completed just one, Mike Wallace's weekly 40-yard catch.

I know the team stunk it up, but David Johnson is a terrible blocker and a worse fullback. I guess Arians does not realize that you can just plug anybody into FB. It is actually a position that requires some vision, and skill.
When will we draft a TE again? Or a FB? Maybe Saunders is the answer. Can anyone imagine if Johnson had to play tackle? Think Arians would have given him help?

I reluctantly rewatched the game and observed something surprising. Flacco had 17 completions. 3 were thrown more than 10 yards down field (before the YAC) and 2 were thrown between 5-10 yards, and an amazing 12 were 5 yards or less. He literally dinked and dunked us to death. Most guys were wide open, and got serious yards after the catch. I am not sure what conclusion to draw, but it explains the lack of pressure on Flacco. I guess give them credit for a nice game plan.

Not sure how curtis brown is inactive, but cortez allen isn't? Allen played part of one preseason game. Interesting.