OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: NFL Playoff Time! How will Tomlin "Tomlin" this up?

[UnderratedBrooks44]

They put Roth in a ****ty situation there, but he has to throw it away when he sees the coverage. He made a mistake, but I'm not going to beat him up about it.

They basically took the ball out of his hands in the second half like I feared, so whatever. They scored one TD in the second half, on a short field (25 yards).

Meanwhile the Pats scored 17.

It's just the same **** with Tomlin and he just can't help himself. Roth was on pace for almost 400 yards at halftime... and then take away JUJUs long run and he had like 30 yards passing in the second half.

Even Romo was saying the obvious, but Tomlin does what he does, I dunno.

Not a huge huge football fan where I remember stuff the Steelers have done from year to year, and I know Tomlin is bad with the clock and what not, but I think sometimes it's just two schools of thought as opposed to being right or wrong.

When there was a little over 9 minutes left and they started running a little excessively my friend started whining about the play calls. By the time they'd punted it away on that series (I think they might've even gotten into 2nd & 21 or something) they had eaten a minute and a half off of the clock taking it down from about 9:15 to about 7:45 and up by eight points. If you throw a pass or two there you might give them an extra minute or more, which could result in them getting an extra possession possibly.

Like I said I'm not a big enough fan to not defer to others on this stuff, just my two cents.

 

[Coastal Kev]

The play outside of the Ref screwjob that killed the Steelers was 2nd down. I'm not sure what happened there, but no one picked up the blitz of 55. Was it a missed assignment?? Bell was there, but went out for a pattern.

And Ben can't throw that to Heyward Bey. Ben is an all time QB, but he lacks football IQ. He escaped the rush, he should have thrown the ball out of the endzone and regrouped. The completion did nothing but hurt them.

 

[Ogrezilla]

The play outside of the Ref screwjob that killed the Steelers was 2nd down. I'm not sure what happened there, but no one picked up the blitz of 55. Was it a missed assignment?? Bell was there, but went out for a pattern.

1st and 20 draw. I was skeptical right there.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Not a huge huge football fan where I remember stuff the Steelers have done from year to year, and I know Tomlin is bad with the clock and what not, but I think sometimes it's just two schools of thought as opposed to being right or wrong.

When there was a little over 9 minutes left and they started running a little excessively my friend started whining about the play calls. By the time they'd punted it away on that series (I think they might've even gotten into 2nd & 21 or something) they had eaten a minute and a half off of the clock taking it down from about 9:15 to about 7:45 and up by eight points. If you throw a pass or two there you might give them an extra minute or more, which could result in them getting an extra possession possibly.

Like I said I'm not a big enough fan to not defer to others on this stuff, just my two cents.

Some of us know the game much better than others ya, but honestly when they were outscored 17-7 in the second half, you don’t have to be a student of the game to understand their strategy failed.

Their only scoring drive in the second half was 25 or so yards off the Brady int.

You have to keep being aggressive and scoring points agt NE. Romo kept emphasizing it as well, but Tomlin gonna Tomlin.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

So I had the Fan on in the truck on the way home and Cook and that other guy (Pony?) said Bryant was apparently fine and just standing on the sidelines.

Mind boggling.

Only reasonable excuse I can come up with why you have DHB (and his one catch on the season) on the field for the most important possession of your season, is because he's on the FG unit... so if they had to scramble he's out there already...

Bizarre, truly is.

 

[Shrimper]

I have no idea why they didn't double mark Gronkowski. He was ripped Sean Davis apart all night.

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

With the clock running, they only have time to set up for another play IF the call is made along with the 2nd down call, so they can line right up there and run it.

That's Haley's job. He has to call a second play for that exact scenario. It's crap coaching. You said you got that. You clearly don't.

.

So if I have something come across my desk at work that was handed to me from my boss and I think to myself "this doesn't make sense", is it my boss's fault if I still go ahead and execute it sloppily?
My boss may have given me some poor instructions or methods to complete the task, but I don't just throw my hands up and make a further mess of things and go "well my boss told me to do this"

And mind you, this scenario is with a future HOF QB with what, 14 seasons of pro experience? If it's my first day on the job (or Ben being a rookie), yea you can blame him or me for "just following orders". But in no way shape or form did Haley say "yup throw this ball into the middle of the field with one of our guys and 5 of their guys and hope for the best". I mean Haley is dumb, but no sane football coach or player is going to think the above is a good idea yet Ben inexplicably threw the pass and here we are.

This is not a binary result. Just bc Haley screwed up doesn't absolve Ben from going all Brett Favre

 

[mynameisnick4]

I have no idea why they didn't double mark Gronkowski. He was ripped Sean Davis apart all night.

Yeah, he literally tossed him to the side like a child on that two point conversion. This team's coaching and preparation are a bigger reason why they lost this game than the no-catch ruling, AGAIN.

 

[ziggyjoe212]

The positive outcome from last night is I think we played the Pats as well as anyone could, especially without 3 star players (AB, Shazier, Haden). We legit out played them for 3 quarters. Unfortunately no one could stop Gronk in the 2nd half. The drop by Davis, stupid TD ruling, and stupid Ben throw all could have changed the outcome of the entire game and everyone would be praising the Steelers. It stings but....oh well. gotta move on.

 

[DanielPlainview]

If they play again they need to have Harrison jack Gronk at the line every play. Every play.

 

[EvGeno]

I’ve decided it is ok the Steelers lost, because now they’re more likely to keep their foot on the gas in the second half if they meet the Pats again in the playoffs. ( I know, I know, it’s been how many games and the Steelers haven’t learned that lesson yet, but if they’d have pulled out the win yesterday, they’d be even more likely to stay with the “prevent” game plan.)

 

[Andy99]

I’ve decided it is ok the Steelers lost, because now they’re more likely to keep their foot on the gas in the second half if they meet the Pats again in the playoffs. ( I know, I know, it’s been how many games and the Steelers haven’t learned that lesson yet, but if they’d have pulled out the win yesterday, they’d be even more likely to stay with the “prevent” game plan.)

We'll see. I can easily see them not being focused for the dreadful Houston Texans, losing there on the road and, consequently, losing the second seed bye to JAX. Watch....

 

[Jaded-Fan]

 

[Al Smith]

Jags have a sneaky tough game next week in SF but yeah I could see Steelers losing to Houston

 

[Coastal Kev]

Still waiting on a picture of video that shows ball hitting ground without Jame's right hand underneath.

I love how the media and league put the focus on the rule when there wasn't any conclusive evidence to change the call based on available video. Ball moved but you can't tell if it ever touch the ground..

I live in an obtuse world

 

[Al Smith]

There’s no difference. Like James he had possession when he was “down” with the ball in the end zone and subsequently (arguably) lost possession. NFL can offer post hoc rationalizations till the cows come home and it won’t fix the inconsistent application of a stupid rule. On to Houston

 

[Joejosh999]

I still would like to understand what exactly James would have had to do in order to be deemed a "runner" and no longer in the process of "going to ground" after a reception.
It would seem that the whole reception process took a crazy long time.....
Here is the best I can find Rule 8 Sec 1 defining "going to ground" which could be interpreted as the moment James' knee touched the turf?

 

[mynameisnick4]

If that catch happens on the 50 and he is extending for a first down, is it an incomplete pass or fumble (had he fully let it go)?

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

So if I have something come across my desk at work that was handed to me from my boss and I think to myself "this doesn't make sense", is it my boss's fault if I still go ahead and execute it sloppily?
My boss may have given me some poor instructions or methods to complete the task, but I don't just throw my hands up and make a further mess of things and go "well my boss told me to do this"

And mind you, this scenario is with a future HOF QB with what, 14 seasons of pro experience? If it's my first day on the job (or Ben being a rookie), yea you can blame him or me for "just following orders". But in no way shape or form did Haley say "yup throw this ball into the middle of the field with one of our guys and 5 of their guys and hope for the best". I mean Haley is dumb, but no sane football coach or player is going to think the above is a good idea yet Ben inexplicably threw the pass and here we are.

This is not a binary result. Just bc Haley screwed up doesn't absolve Ben from going all Brett Favre

Yeah the play call wasn't an issue (not saying it was a great call but...). Its Ben's job not to throw it away if its not there. The worst case scenario SHOULD have been throwing it out of the back of the end zone. But he tried to force it.

 

[edog37]

From yesterday's game....

1) The rule was correctly applied, but it is a stupid rule to begin with. Knee down, plain broken is all that matters. That rule needs to be adjusted so this lunacy ends.
2) Davis needs to make the INT. The game ends if he catches that ball.
3) Tomlin panicked, there is no other way to describe it. He had no faith in his team going to an OT scenario which is ridiculous. But then again, he's a mediocre coach so I'm not surprised. Hailey is a utter moron of an OC. He got conservative when he should have been aggressive & vice versa.
4) Ben wanted to spike the ball, but it's utterly baffling why he would throw into triple coverage. All he had to do was throw it away & still get the FG.
5) Even if we would have pulled it off, does anyone really believe we would beat New England twice in a season? They are in our heads much like the Pens are in the Caps heads. Eli Rogers tweet was foolish to the extreme. Plus, the two Super Bowls we did win, we did not play New England in the playoffs. Even if we get the #2 seed, we would be playing Jacksonville. I would have wanted Jacksonville to play New England because they can knock out the Patsies. That road is nearly impossible. Of course, the way we played the Jags the first go around, I'm not sure we could even beat them.
6) Does anyone else think what a horrific drop off in defensive talent we currently have vs the Super Bowl teams? Cam Heyward could play on those teams, but that's about all. Shazier maybe, but his injury history makes the point moot.

 

[Joejosh999]

None of this makes sense - after a nearly 5-min delay, did they REALLY have only ONE play called, as opposed to two, or even, a couple iterations of two plays. Maybe for Play 2 if they're at the 1-dy line vs back at the 10?
Can we imagine BB and Brady NOT having a precise set of options laid out when that TD was over turned?

So when they didn't get out of bounds (and WHY is DHB on the field and not MB?) they actually didn't have a play ready, so Ben decided to spike?

Then Tomlin screams to call a play?

That's HS level coaching incompetence.

 

[Brandinho]

6) Does anyone else think what a horrific drop off in defensive talent we currently have vs the Super Bowl teams? Cam Heyward could play on those teams, but that's about all. Shazier maybe, but his injury history makes the point moot.

What? We have a more talented defense than New England. Heyward and Shazier comfortably start for every single team in the league. Haden, Williams and Tuitt would get into most as well. You're way off base on this one.

 

[Joejosh999]

Apparently The Fan said that Eli said only he and Ben knew of the fake-spike call ("Ben gave me a signal") ....so now I wonder if they really planned Fake-Spike all along and just called one play, then had Ben yelling "Clock" hoping to fool everybody.

THAT would be even stupider.

They should have a couple of play-sets called already when they went out for 2nd down. Best would be MB on the field and go for the EZ on both.

But did they really think they could pull of Fake Spike all along?

 

[Brandinho]

Apparently The Fan said that Eli said only he and Ben knew of the fake-spike call ("Ben gave me a signal") ....so now I wonder if they really planned Fake-Spike all along and just called one play, then had Ben yelling "Clock" hoping to fool everybody.

THAT would be even stupider.

They should have a couple of play-sets called already when they went out for 2nd down. Best would be MB on the field and go for the EZ on both.

But did they really think they could pull of Fake Spike all along?

Yeah, if you're going to throw the ball in that situation, the most logical play is a fade to Martavis. Throwing over the middle into traffic is just completely asinine.

 

[Joejosh999]

The whole thing is a goat-f-CK.
Ben's remarks ("spike it and get yourself one more play") seem to indicate he might actually have thought it was 2nd down, not 3rd. That's nuts.

The Dan Marino Fake Spike did indeed have only Marino and his receiver knowing what was going to happen.

.... So I just wonder if Haley was dumb enough to think he could pull that off. Versus f-Ckin Belichek. Call 1 play, then have Ben look like he wanted a spike, and have only Eli know to run a (idiotic slant into heavy covg ) route.

As dumb as that is - and it does sound like Haley's I'm So Smart BS - Other options seem to be :

After a 4-5 minute break to get ready -
They really did NOT have two plays ready to go, nor everyone on the same page.
They thought DHB was a better option than MB.
BEn might have actually NOT known what down it was.
They let him decide what to do, and when he wanted a spike, Tomlin screamed an overrule into Ben's mic when it was too late to call anything anyway.

I really don't know what the truth is but this is epic incompetence all the way round. Plus Ben tossing coaches under the bus with far more alacrity than he threw the last pass.