The Pittsbugher Thread: 5-4 And Ice Follies in the Netherworld

[KIRK]

1. @ColePens wasn't too busy at work to close the old thread but was too busy to start a new one. No wonder he's Public Enemy #1 of The Woke Mob.

2. That play action pass for a safety yesterday . . . apparently that was Tomlin's playcall (saw it reported that he said it was his call). So, apologies for calling Fichtner a total moron yesterday. He's a 90% moron and Tomlin . . . Tomlin completes the moron in him.

3. On the one hand, the Steelers fate is in their hands. It boils down to beating Buffalo and finishing 5-2, something that in general seems very doable. On the other hand, as @Mr Jiggyfly reminded me yesterday:

EDIT: @ColePens, @Scandale du Jour, @BHD . . . would one of you please move this to the sticky thread section? Sorry . . .

Click to read more...

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

Don't get me wrong, I really hate Tomlin but I get his thinking with the play action:
a) He knows the Rams are gonna send the house, so they're banking on buying time with PA
b) Rudolph has been pretty good at play action
c) Great opportunity to flip the field- high likelihood of getting zero coverage

I'm more irritated with Rudolph who has the pocket sense of Kent Graham at the moment. He has zero internal clock or awareness of the rush. That's 2 consecutive safeties on his resume

My only complaint with Tomlin yesterday was
1) Playing turtle ball and settling for a FG vs a TD
2) Yukking it up on the sideline when the game isn't even over yet

 

[DanielPlainview]

You don’t run play action backed up on your own goal line. You just don’t do it

 

[Pengwins]

How about the 1 time they should have been conservative and run the clock out before halftime they throw incomplete passes and nearly let the Rams score

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

You don’t run play action backed up on your own goal line. You just don’t do it

Plenty of teams do it with success. For the reasons I outlined above.

It's not like he ordered Jordan Berry to throw the freakin ball and he got sacked or threw a INT.

Like I said...I'm in the anti-Tomlin camp all day and every day. He should have been canned eons ago
But I'm not going to skewer him on that. Because the same people will rip him for being super conservative on his own goalline...can't have it both ways

 

[DanielPlainview]

You don’t run play action backed up on your own goalline. You just don’t do it.

 

[ImporterExporter]

You don’t run play action backed up on your own goal line. You just don’t do it

We agree completely on that. Especially with Aaron f***ing Donald coming at your young QB.

I don't mind calling pass plays backed up deep but you simply cannot run a play action there. Either they're going to drop 7 or 8 and play action won't matter or they're going to blitz and your QB is most likely getting murdered....which is what happened.

 

[SouthGeorge]

They refuse to run PA all game. Matter of fact they run the ball well twice then come out in shotgun with no threat of run. Makes 0 sense. But will run PA inside their 5. This is the stupid stuff Tomin does. With that said he does deserve props for turning this around. Although his questionable decisions almost cost them the last two games.

 

[ImporterExporter]

They refuse to run PA all game. Matter of fact they run the ball well twice then come out in shotgun with no threat of run. Makes 0 sense. But will run PA inside their 5. This is the stupid stuff Tomin does. With that said he does deserve props for turning this around. Although his questionable decisions almost cost them the last two games.

Agree completely. Obviously Tomlin deserves some credit for the winning streak. He's the damn HC, but his clock management, wasting timeouts on pointless challenges and ridiculous calls like the PA you mentioned are reasons to pump the breaks on him deserving the overwhelming majority of praise for this turnaround.

Minkah is the biggest portion of the pie.

 

[OnMyOwn]

This guy.

 

[SouthGeorge]

Agree completely. Obviously Tomlin deserves some credit for the winning streak. He's the damn HC, but his clock management, wasting timeouts on pointless challenges and ridiculous calls like the PA you mentioned are reasons to pump the breaks on him deserving the overwhelming majority of praise for this turnaround.

Minkah is the biggest portion of the pie.

I think he deserves a lot of praise because I think almost every coach in the league losses that locker room going 1-4. That's one of his strengths. But then he almost blew two games with horrible decisions. I don't know, I guess you take the good with the bad. There's only one Belichick.

 

[DanielPlainview]

It’s really telling that the offense hasn’t improved at all all season while the defense took off once Fitz arrived; it’s talent, not coaching that is driving this team.

 

[SouthGeorge]

I don't think it's fair to that defense to say Fitz is the only one. D-line is getting lots of pressure. Bush has been huge. Nelson, Haden, Sutton, and Hilton have been lockdown. Then it's nice finally having a FS in the right position more times than not.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Everything is running through Fitz in a way we haven’t seen since Troy. He solidified the secondary, allowing the pass rush more time to get to the QB and more blitzing options. In contrast, the run defense started the year poorly and hasn’t improved at all (I know Tuitt is hurt but it wasn’t improving even while he was there). For whatever reason, the Rams weren’t impressed by Gurley getting 6 yards per carry last night.

Kitchens is a Tomlin-level moron, so I expect him to try and throw a bunch instead of going heavy with Chubb and Hunt. This game might be the sloppiest game the NFL sees all year even by Thursday night standards. Two poorly-coached squads on a short week. Yeesh.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

I’m still very convinced that Tomlin ain’t the guy to get them over the hump in terms of a SB... but I am impressed with his overall handling of the past month+ or so. A lot of teams roll over in the situation the Steelers were in. Playoffs, no playoffs, he deserves credit.

 

[KIRK]

You don’t run play action backed up on your own goal line. You just don’t do it

Especially when (a) they don't respect your running game because it's dog**** and (b) your worried about your line's ability to block Aaron Donald 2 on 1 (where you already know they're sending the house but aren't in max protect).

 

[KIRK]

Everything is running through Fitz in a way we haven’t seen since Troy. He solidified the secondary, allowing the pass rush more time to get to the QB and more blitzing options. In contrast, the run defense started the year poorly and hasn’t improved at all (I know Tuitt is hurt but it wasn’t improving even while he was there). For whatever reason, the Rams weren’t impressed by Gurley getting 6 yards per carry last night.

Kitchens is a Tomlin-level moron, so I expect him to try and throw a bunch instead of going heavy with Chubb and Hunt. This game might be the sloppiest game the NFL sees all year even by Thursday night standards. Two poorly-coached squads on a short week. Yeesh.

Kitchens is a moron, but I actually expect him to feed the Steelers a heavy dose of Chubb and Hunt.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Kitchens is a moron, but I actually expect him to feed the Steelers a heavy dose of Chubb and Hunt.

Kitchens suffers from the same need to prove how clever he is that Tomlin does. So, I'd be surprised if he did

 

[KIRK]

Kitchens suffers from the same need to prove how clever he is that Tomlin does. So, I'd be surprised if he did

Yeah, but this could be a you know that I know that you know situation. So, maybe Kitchens will run because he thinks Tomlin will expect pass since every normal person would expect run.

Kitchens versus Tomlin truly is the irresistible moronic force versus the immovable moronic object.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

1. @ColePens wasn't too busy at work to close the old thread but was too busy to start a new one. No wonder he's Public Enemy #1 of The Woke Mob.

2. That play action pass for a safety yesterday . . . apparently that was Tomlin's playcall (saw it reported that he said it was his call). So, apologies for calling Fichtner a total moron yesterday. He's a 90% moron and Tomlin . . . Tomlin completes the moron in him.

3. On the one hand, the Steelers fate is in their hands. It boils down to beating Buffalo and finishing 5-2, something that in general seems very doable. On the other hand, as @Mr Jiggyfly reminded me yesterday:

EDIT: @ColePens, @Scandale du Jour, @BHD . . . would one of you please move this to the sticky thread section? Sorry . . .

I’d sure like to see Tomlin not be Tomlin, but he’s Tomlin and Tomlin gonna Tomlin.

Who the f*** calls a slow developing PA in the shadow of his own end zone, when the Rams are sitting there laughing at your ability to run the ball?

Probably the same guy that calls a staggered run out of the shotgun on 3rd and inches.

 

[KIRK]

I’d sure like to see Tomlin not be Tomlin, but he’s Tomlin and Tomlin gonna Tomlin.

Who the **** calls a slow developing PA in the shadow of his own end zone, when the Rams are sitting there laughing at your ability to run the ball?

Probably the same guy that calls a staggered run out of the shotgun on 3rd and 1.

I have no idea if Tomlin called the latter, but I read that he admitted to that play action call.

That said, Tomlin versus Kitchens COULD be the matchup where Tomlin is NOT the biggest idiot on the sidelines. MAYBE.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Don't get me wrong, I really hate Tomlin but I get his thinking with the play action:
a) He knows the Rams are gonna send the house, so they're banking on buying time with PA
b) Rudolph has been pretty good at play action
c) Great opportunity to flip the field- high likelihood of getting zero coverage

I'm more irritated with Rudolph who has the pocket sense of Kent Graham at the moment. He has zero internal clock or awareness of the rush. That's 2 consecutive safeties on his resume

My only complaint with Tomlin yesterday was
1) Playing turtle ball and settling for a FG vs a TD
2) Yukking it up on the sideline when the game isn't even over yet

There is zero legit reasons to put this on the QB... I don’t get why people are still blaming MR. He carried out his fake, turned around and had the best DL of this generation right in his grill.

Was he supposed develop super powers and throw him off?

If he throws the ball away, which he would need those super powers to even have pulled it off without fumbling, it’s IG and still a safety or gets picked off.

 

[KIRK]

There is zero legit reasons to put this on the QB... I don’t get why people are still blaming MR. He carried out his fake, turned around and had the best DL of this generation right in his grill.

Was he supposed develop super powers and throw him off?

If he throws the ball away, which he would need those super powers to even have pulled it off without fumbling, it’s IG and still a safety or gets picked off.

Agree 100%, and I said the same thing right after he took the sack. There was NO time to get a throw away off clean. Does he fumble? Maybe not. But, he definitely gets popped as he's throwing, and the ball quite possibly ends up in the field of play where it could be picked. Taking the safety was the least bad option for Rudolph.

Look, are there some throws he could be making right now? Yeah. That comes with learning what is and what isn't considered 'open' in the NFL. BUT, he's got NO running game (even BR had Bettis/Staley and one of the league's best run blocking OL's). His receivers haven't been the most reliable when it comes to getting separation. The coaches often have the training wheels on.

And, with all of those factors, he's making some plays and isn't making the type of brutal mistakes you see from young QB's.

I don't know what more people can REASONABLY expect.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Agree 100%, and I said the same thing right after he took the sack. There was NO time to get a throw away off clean. Does he fumble? Maybe not. But, he definitely gets popped as he's throwing, and the ball quite possibly ends up in the field of play where it could be picked. Taking the safety was the least bad option for Rudolph.

Look, are there some throws he could be making right now? Yeah. That comes with learning what is and what isn't considered 'open' in the NFL. BUT, he's got NO running game (even BR had Bettis/Staley and one of the league's best run blocking OL's). His receivers haven't been the most reliable when it comes to getting separation. The coaches often have the training wheels on.

And, with all of those factors, he's making some plays and isn't making the type of brutal mistakes you see from young QB's.

I don't know what more people can REASONABLY expect.

It is not reasonable to expect reasonable expectations on this board.

 

[KIRK]

It is not reasonable to expect reasonable expectations on this board.

Well yes, I know THAT. I was just talking hypothetically with @Mr Jiggyfly.