The Greatness of Tomlin!

[bbbooger]

Who here would like to enter in to a discussion of Tomlin's Greatness...?

[bbbooger]

Well... No lost challenges tonight, so he's at least got that goin' for him!

[Rollers]

here's all you need to know about Tomlin from his own mouth. We weren't "varsity" whatever the hell that means. Chewing it seems a new one to me though. He's getting better at making up this stuff

“We busted it,” Tomlin said of the coverage on Dorsett’s 2nd score. “We own it. We chew it. It sucks. We can’t have that and be varsity. We have that and be competitive. But we had it tonight. And so, I said what I said. We were not ready for primetime.”

[sandfan]

I've never been in favor of the coach cliche hire. His field goal decision took whatever balls the team had last night and clipped them. I guess he did not want to get shut out in an opener because 3 points there made no sense to me.

Moncreif either is hurt or a very bad signing. He looked like a jag with hands of stone. I think I'd run with the younger wide outs and sit Moncrief and Switzer.

Tomlin, never had a losing season, was again out coached and did not have the team ready for battle. Belicheat did and Brady was Brady. Nothing has changed. Nothing will as long as Tomlin is the coach. The standard is the standard and it seems Rooney is satisfied with 9-7 rather than challenging for a title.

I fear it may be a long winter in the Burgh.

[Krunch]

I did not see the game, so am relying on others to help me understand things.

Was this another uninspired, poorly prepared team?  Did the players look flat and were they
being out-hustled by their opponent?  Did the players fight and scrap to the whistle like you would hope a team focused on a ring would play? Did the Steelers have an apparent game plan, and were obvious adjustments made to try to correct things?

If yes, then I am really disappointed.  I thought that this season finally, the players themselves could band together and play their A-Game, "In spite of management."

If the answer(s) are what I think they probably are, then I fully expect Tomlin to be extended this week for another five-years by the Rooney's.  For after all, he is all about bringing home those highly sought after, "Participation Trophies" that the owners so highly crave.

[Chucktownsteeler]

No one can defend him now. We are saddled with this inept piece of sh!t for at least 3 more years. I turned the game off mid-way 3rd quarter and spent time with the family. He is indefensible . It the same old song and dance with this guy. Cutting Spencer and Rogers and keeping Switzer. Once a strong stable of WR has been reduce to rubble. In a blow-out he keeps Watt, JJSS, and Ben in the game. 2 of the 3 left injured. 

WTF was the FG for, so he be shut-out. The announcer even said "that makes no-sense, it's still a 3 passion score". 

How many times do we have to see Edelman in a crossing pattern game of catch until we make adjustments. Another blown coverage by the safeties. The RBs were garbage last night, JaySam looks slower than Issac Redman and Betty White combined.

This is the problem when management allows the "buddy system". The Memphis trio of Tomlin, Fitchner, and Butler should be shown the door, but they won't.

[mcmillenandwife]

The Steelers looked like they were still in the preseason. 

Defensively, I'm surprisingly encouraged by some of what I saw. There seemed to be a scheme in place specifically for the Patriots. The execution was terrible at times, as I would expect with several very young players at key positions, especially against Tom Brady. But you could see adjustments being made (or at least attempted) and young players were learning. They were learning the hard way, but I do believe progress was made on defense. 

Kam Kelly had an awful night at safety in terms of big plays given up... but he also made a few nice plays. The dude can hit. And there were times when he managed to be in the right place at the right time. But he clearly got confused numerous times and was badly out of position, resulting in multiple Patriots TDs. 

TJ Watt was a focus for Belichick. They took him out of the game with constant double teams for the most part, and no else one really stepped up with all the other LB's constantly chasing receivers all over the field. Unfortunately, our speedy young LB's still weren't speedy enough to cover backs and slot receivers and often seemed confused about exactly where they should go. Those slight moments of hesitance really proved costly as the game wore on. 

Speaking of which, Mark Baron was victimized badly, repeatedly with quick throws. Bud DuPree got a sack, but  was invisible for most of the night. Not knocking him... it was that kind of night.  

Devin Bush played like a talented rookie. The Patriots victimized him repeatedly with pick routes (why are those not illegal in Foxboro?), but he held his own and adjusted as the game went on. 

Joe Haden? M'eh. Mike Hilton? Rough night. Terrell Edmunds? Mostly solid, but like Kam Kelly, he frequently seemed to be a step behind what was happening in front of him. 

Offensively... what a cluster f#@$.

• Donte Moncrief = Dwight Stone without the speed. 10 targets, 3 catches for 7 yards, 4-5 flat-out DROPS. Get your shit together, dude. Any chance we might have had in this game slipped repeatedly through your greasy fingers. 
  
• James Washington: Nice grab on the deep ball, but... was there any particular reason why you inexplicably ran out of bounds instead of into the end zone? That pass should've been 6.
  
• Ryan Switzer: 6 catches... but for only 29 yards. Has anyone explained the concept of "yards after catch" to you? That said, I don't want to be too hard on Switzer... he caught the ball every time he was targeted. But the throws were all 2 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, so...
  
• Vance McDonald: Did you play? I see you caught 2 passes for 40 yards according to the stat sheet, but... I have no memory of you even being on the field. 
  
• JuJu - You are a bonafide bad ass. Belichick set out to take you away and no one around you stepped up, but you still managed 6 for 78. I know some were in garbage time, but you did your job. 
  
• Did our running backs suit up last night? 
  
• Ben... rough night. Gonna take some time to develop chemistry with this group of receivers. Don't get hurt in the meantime. 
  

Coach Tomlin. Seriously, a 19-yard FG from the 1-yard line when you're down 20-0? WTF? Other than that, I don't have much negative to say about Tomlin. I don't have anything positive to say, either. But this was mostly about a lot of young players not executing in an early-season game against Tom Brady. The Pats have our number, especially in Foxboro. This loss wasn't a surprise, and a 33-3 final score doesn't hurt us any more than if it had been 33-30 (other than our pride). 

Okay, I'm over it. Let's get ready for the Seahawks.

[Chucktownsteeler]

Washington - I agree, WTF? Unless I couldn't see the angle it looked like 6, not sure why he ran out of bounds. Same with Connor, ran out-of-bounds, could have had 2 or 3 more yards. Lower that shoulder, young man! At least he didn't fumble. Still not a big fan of this guy.

Looks like keeping Switzer over Rogers and Spencer may prove to be a huge mistake. Huge. Switzer has heart and solid hands but not much more.

Anyone other than me notice Brady and coaches look over plays, tablets and stencils to see how can they get better.
Ben and coaches watch the game with a dead stare on their face. This is a huge problem, always has been.

[Rollers]

The Steelers looked like they were still in the preseason. 

Defensively, I'm surprisingly encouraged by some of what I saw. There seemed to be a scheme in place specifically for the Patriots. The execution was terrible at times, as I would expect with several very young players at key positions, especially against Tom Brady. But you could see adjustments being made (or at least attempted) and young players were learning. They were learning the hard way, but I do believe progress was made on defense. 

Kam Kelly had an awful night at safety in terms of big plays given up... but he also made a few nice plays. The dude can hit. And there were times when he managed to be in the right place at the right time. But he clearly got confused numerous times and was badly out of position, resulting in multiple Patriots TDs. 

TJ Watt was a focus for Belichick. They took him out of the game with constant double teams for the most part, and no else one really stepped up with all the other LB's constantly chasing receivers all over the field. Unfortunately, our speedy young LB's still weren't speedy enough to cover backs and slot receivers and often seemed confused about exactly where they should go. Those slight moments of hesitance really proved costly as the game wore on. 

Speaking of which, Mark Baron was victimized badly, repeatedly with quick throws. Bud DuPree got a sack, but  was invisible for most of the night. Not knocking him... it was that kind of night.  

Devin Bush played like a talented rookie. The Patriots victimized him repeatedly with pick routes (why are those not illegal in Foxboro?), but he held his own and adjusted as the game went on. 

Joe Haden? M'eh. Mike Hilton? Rough night. Terrell Edmunds? Mostly solid, but like Kam Kelly, he frequently seemed to be a step behind what was happening in front of him. 

Offensively... what a cluster f#@$.

• Donte Moncrief = Dwight Stone without the speed. 10 targets, 3 catches for 7 yards, 4-5 flat-out DROPS. Get your shit together, dude. Any chance we might have had in this game slipped repeatedly through your greasy fingers. 
  
• James Washington: Nice grab on the deep ball, but... was there any particular reason why you inexplicably ran out of bounds instead of into the end zone? That pass should've been 6.
  
• Ryan Switzer: 6 catches... but for only 29 yards. Has anyone explained the concept of "yards after catch" to you? That said, I don't want to be too hard on Switzer... he caught the ball every time he was targeted. But the throws were all 2 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, so...
  
• Vance McDonald: Did you play? I see you caught 2 passes for 40 yards according to the stat sheet, but... I have no memory of you even being on the field. 
  
• JuJu - You are a bonafide bad ass. Belichick set out to take you away and no one around you stepped up, but you still managed 6 for 78. I know some were in garbage time, but you did your job. 
  
• Did our running backs suit up last night? 
  
• Ben... rough night. Gonna take some time to develop chemistry with this group of receivers. Don't get hurt in the meantime. 
  

Coach Tomlin. Seriously, a 19-yard FG from the 1-yard line when you're down 20-0? WTF? Other than that, I don't have much negative to say about Tomlin. I don't have anything positive to say, either. But this was mostly about a lot of young players not executing in an early-season game against Tom Brady. The Pats have our number, especially in Foxboro. This loss wasn't a surprise, and a 33-3 final score doesn't hurt us any more than if it had been 33-30 (other than our pride). 

Okay, I'm over it. Let's get ready for the Seahawks.

man i wish i shared your optimism.  Seahawks will beat us at home

[RaynorShyne]

Tim wrote a nice analysis - see above

"Offensively... what a cluster f#@$." 

Okay, I'm over it. Let's get ready for the Seahawks.

Tim:  Your take on defense was spot on - there were sparks of optimism; Edmunds and Bush did ok, but flashed much more future potential.  I know he has believers, but I don't understand how Matakevich hold a roster spot.

I wanted to run out onto the field 1/2 way through the 2nd qtr and ask Ben if he's met his receivers yet.  A QB and his WR are supposed to have chemistry.  We had the opposite of that.   The WR's dropped more balls than a fluffer on a porn set.

[i][u]Donte Moncrief should have been released today[/u][/i].  Outright.  Dwight (hands of) Stone played 8 seasons and had some good catches.  HE NEVER DROPPED SIX IN A GAME.  10 targets.  3 receptions.  7 yards.  6 drops.  W. T. F.  Midway through the 3rd quarter I'm asking myself if Limus Sweed is available.....

Bring Tevin Jones up from the practice squad and give him a chance.   Of course - that would be a touchdown move.   We settle for field goals.  

While you were justified in praising Juju (future is looking bright here) - you were rough on Conner.  While 10 for 21 is horrible, he did have 4 for 44 through the air.  The Pats had 7 in the box ALL NIGHT LONG and we continued to dink and dunk.   Conner never had a chance.   

Washington running out of bounds confuses the hell out of me.  It's like his dive last year.  That should have been 6.


The FG call was not just bad coaching - 

It was gutless.   

Okay, I'm over it too. Let's get ready for the Seahawks.

[mcmillenandwife]

The WR's dropped more balls than a fluffer on a porn set.

[i][u]Donte Moncrief should have been released today[/u][/i].  Outright.  Dwight (hands of) Stone played 8 seasons and had some good catches.  HE NEVER DROPPED SIX IN A GAME.  10 targets.  3 receptions.  7 yards.  6 drops.  W. T. F.  Midway through the 3rd quarter I'm asking myself if Limus Sweed is available.....

Yeah, a performance that awful does not warrant a second chance. It's hard to even wrap your brain around that many drops in one game by an NFL receiver. Not sure what the record is, but... he's gotta be close. 

While you were justified in praising Juju (future is looking bright here) - you were rough on Conner.  While 10 for 21 is horrible, he did have 4 for 44 through the air.  The Pats had 7 in the box ALL NIGHT LONG and we continued to dink and dunk.   Conner never had a chance.   

Just to clarify, I wasn't taking a swipe at Conner; I was taking a swipe at our inability to run. Next to Ben and JuJu, he's the best guy we've got out there. We should've found a way to use him more. 

Washington running out of bounds confuses the hell out of me.  It's like his dive last year.  That should have been 6.

Yep. Bizarre. 

Okay, I'm over it too. Let's get ready for the Seahawks.

Not feeling good at all about the Seahawks game, but at least it's at home. Being completely honest, my gut tells me we're headed for an 0-2 start. But you just never know.

[Chucktownsteeler]

Last rant, before moving on:

Yes, I now Noll's teams lost and Cowher's team's had losing records, but I don't think I've ever seen a more flat, listless, heartless, confused, gutless Steeler team than last night. Rant over

With that being said let's move on the Seattle.

[Krunch]

Last rant, before moving on:

Yes, I now Noll's teams lost and Cowher's team's had losing records, but I don't think I've ever seen a more flat, listless, heartless, confused, gutless Steeler team than last night. Rant over

With that being said let's move on the Seattle.

COACHING.  Period.

[bbbooger]

Last rant, before moving on:

Yes, I now Noll's teams lost and Cowher's team's had losing records, but I don't think I've ever seen a more flat, listless, heartless, confused, gutless Steeler team than last night. Rant over

With that being said let's move on the Seattle.

COACHING.  Period.

Yup!  I said, in a thread during last year's epic melt-down, that I see no chance for meaningful improvement as long as the current regime is in place.  I'm gonna double-down on that and raise with: I actually expect further decline as long as this group is running the show.

[Chucktownsteeler]

Maybe a 2-14 season is at hand.

[mcmillenandwife]

Maybe a 2-14 season is at hand.

2-14? No, not with Ben under center. Impossible. 

I believe at the very least, Tomlin will maintain his "no losing season" status and get to 8-8.