GDT: The Pittsburgher Thread: The Steelers do even more Steeler-like things

[ColePens]

Continue. Frustrating. Anger. Laughing. Sadness.

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[Empoleon8771]

It's becoming more and more clear that the Steelers will be playing a team with a better record than them in the playoffs, regardless of whether they win the division. The Steelers are probably going to be the 5th or 6th best team in the playoffs this year, while losing to basically every legit playoff team they've played in the AFC.

 

[USMC607]

So what up with the footage of the LA center at the end twitching the ball before its snapped?

Also Haden looked like he was good on that snap.

Didn't Dallas get a penalty for that earlier in the season. Like illegal shift or some shit?

 

[LeafSteel]

Both Charger TD's were so incredibly flukey. Is the NFL Head of Officiating going to admit that the 1st TD was clearly a false start and should have been blown dead right at the snap?

Hmmmm.........

 

[USMC607]

Both Charger TD's were so incredibly flukey. Is the NFL Head of Officiating going to admit that the 1st TD was clearly a false start and should have been blown dead right at the snap?

Hmmmm.........

Doesnt matter if he does or not.

I actually hate when they admit mistakes because it's still not gonna put a W on the board for us.

It's kind of just like oops our bad sorry for this L we helped hand you. We will try to do better next time.

Then the next week some other poor teams gets f***ed with a bad or missed called.

 

[USMC607]

Besides us not showing up in the 2nd half, I dk how the league can fix the officiating.

It would be an unpopular opinion because it would slow the game down like baseball. But they should just make some more plays reviewable.

Not every play. But that false start was as bad a miss as I can remember and it happened literally pre snap so I dont uunderstand how every zebra missed it. Then the fact it wasnt reviewable makes it worse.

Then the block in the back non call that resulted in a TD when the steelers got called for a lesser offense earlier was unreviewable too.

I understand we gave up a 23-7 lead and were flat in the 2nd half. But...

Those 2 plays spotted them 14 points.

Then Haden intercepting the ball just to get absolutely destroyed by his own teammate that popped the ball right into Allen's hands spotted them another 7.

Then finally the LA center tweaking the ball at the end to draw our guys offsides when Dallas got penalized for that same thing earlier in the year was also not reviewable.

Inconsistency, missed calls, bad calls. To err is human. But my lord these guys get worse and worse every yr.

We have a hard enough time not beating ourselves in games. We dont need the refs helping.

 

[USMC607]

But besides the officiating this was a classic case of the past few yrs steelers teams.

Ben is becoming more and more inconsistent which I guess is to be expected with age. One drive he is joe Montana, the next he is Akili Smith.

But throwing it so much when that is the case is on Fitchner and Tomlin.

Continuing to have LBs cover Keenan Allen almost exclusively all game as he ate them up. That is on Butler (who I still think is an atrocious Dcoordinator) and Tomlin.

Also as much as we all presumed the worst about the ILB Bostic, William's, Fort have done well.

But the 2ndary outside of Haden... same old story. All these recent high draft picks sunk into it (Burns, Davis, Edmund's, Sutton) along with a top free agent signing (Burnett) and we are still trash.

 

[Andy99]

Steelers blow...games
They are maddening to watch...despite the refs egregious errors, this one is on the coaches despite Ben's INT in the first half, which was mindlessly dumb as usual...the Chargers made adjustments at halftime, Steelers did not and then it took them three drives on offense to adjust to the Chargers different coverage on AB and the D never adjusted to Allen being wide open from the slot all day...not just Allen but they could put 50-year-old Gates there and he was open too...someone from the Rooney's should have pulled a Mike McCarthy after the game but they are gutless when it comes to coaching decisions...

 

[Rossi Rat]

Last year, I was thrilled at the prospect of getting a big home re-match with the Jaguars in the playoffs.

As long as the Steelers don't choke away the division...which I'm not ruling that they could, though people should pump the brakes on Lamar Jackson a bit given the shoddy competition he's faced so far... they'll likely get a rematch with the Chargers, or the Chiefs maybe even.

And now I wouldn't be thrilled at that. I don't trust this team, and they're likely to finish no better than .500 at home.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Keenan Allen gashed them all night, you’d think they’d figure out it isnt very smart to put an LB on the dude.

 

[SouthGeorge]

Normally I'd be upset at the refs. I mean they did attribute for half of the Chargers points. Offsides 1st touchdown, multiple blocks in the back on the punt return, Haden wasn't offsides on missed field goal and held, and Burns wasn't offsides on the block.

I just don't care because Allen had the most targets with a LB on him since they started keeping track 3 years ago. 9 times. Their #1 WR. Nothing has changed. They will lose to the Patriots, Saints, and in the 1st or 2nd round because Butler is clueless. So last night doesn't even matter. This defensive scheme is trash. How f***ing hard is to to put Haden on Allen all game or at least Hilton if he's going to be in the slot. Most blitzing team and they got LBs on #1-2 WRs it's comical. At least put real corners on them and jam.

 

[Rossi Rat]

I can't imagine what the reaction will be like if they lose next week.

I've held back on freaking out about missing the playoffs - but a L next week and yeah, freak out will be warranted.

Are they on a mission to go 0-4 against the AFC West?

...or will they wake the **** up? Because who cares if New England is the following week (which many believe they looked ahead to last year) - you've lost 2 straight games you blew leads in and should've won, and the margin for error is getting thin.

 

[Shockmaster]

I think we'd all be hard-pressed to figure out why Butler is DC besides a pinky-promise made years ago.

 

[Joejosh999]

Near as I can figure both the Steelers and the refs were pretty bad.
Refs missed who knows how many, obviously.

Steelers stopped what they were doing well on O. And inexplicably had no adjustment second half to get someone other than a LB on Allen from the slot.
But....
EVEN IF the Steelers play as bad as they did, AND the refs were simply ...I dunno...., competent?...well, that likely removes 2 TDs from the board, via the obvious offsides for the first TD, and in the second half, the obvious block in the back on the TD punt return. 14 points.

That’s even WITH the Steelers being as bad as they were. I’m merely imagining the game with competent, don’t-get-yourself-fired type reffing.
It’s roughly 30-19 or some-such, Steelers win.

With the refs being as horrible as they were BUT the Steelers being somewhat competent, even never minding Ben’s bad INT, if he hits Hunter wide open for the TD, and Sean Davis isn’t a fookin moron, that’s ANOTHER 2 TDs the Steelers way....and again it’s an easy W.

Dare we rush in where angels fear to tread and imagine BOTH the refs not sucking AND the Steelers not sucking, you could arguably have FOUR Touchdowns flip the Steeler’s way. The refs actually call false starts and blocking in the back (that’s 2 TDs), Ben doesn’t suck donkey b-lls and hits a wide open receiver, and Sean Davis pulls his head out of his arse and doesn’t wreck Haden who just pulled in an INT. That’s TWO MORE.

We’re literally talking, I dunno, 37-19 or something?

I mean that’s if Steelers and Refs could play at a professionally competent level.

This game was astonishingly bad at SO many levels.

 

[Joejosh999]

And yes, all that stuff on the Steeler’s side from execution to coaching/scheming? BB laughing his cheating arse off.

 

[cookthebooks]

is the working theory that butler is dc because tomlin really handles everything and no one else would put up with that?

 

[Joejosh999]

is the working theory that butler is dc because tomlin really handles everything and no one else would put up with that?

No idea, but does it matter? The scheme they put up allowed the Chargers best receiver to match up to our LBs frequently, including on the critical lastbdrive 3rd down.
Putting poor Bostwick in there w game on the line was coaching malpractice. Ridiculous.

 

[Joejosh999]

Would sure be nice if the famously fab Pgh Media would ask how Tomlin /Butler put the game on Bostwick there.
But I dream.

 

[KIRK]

Keenan Allen gashed them all night, you’d think they’d figure out it isnt very smart to put an LB on the dude.

You'd have thought that they'd have figured out it isn't very smart long before last night.

 

[Joejosh999]

Actually peeps, since we’re talking about all this....what would be the best adjustment to manage Allen being moved to the slot. Do we just say F-It and perhaps have Haden shadow him? I listen to local media decry LBs in covg. Kaboly was on DVE early and said the game ended when poor Bostwick was tossed out to cover Allen on the late 3rd down conversion....
What is the alternative? What would Belichek do?

 

[KIRK]

So meanwhile, here's a brief synopsis on the Steelers playoff hopes:

Option 1: Win the division

The Steelers games are at Oakland, New England, at New Orleans, Cincy

The Ravens games are at KC, Tampa, at Chargers, Cleveland

I can't imagine that the Ravens will go anything worse than 2-2. Can't see them winning at KC. Can't see them losing the home games. The Chargers SHOULD win, but by 2nd to last game, the Chargers probably already will be locked into the WC1 spot (#5 in the conference), meaning they won't have as much to play for.

Anyway, IF the Steelers manage NOT to finish up worse than the Ravens, then you'll see a rematch of last night's game on wildcard weekend.

Option 2: Grab the WC2 spot (matchup likely at Houston on wildcard weekend)

The worry here is Denver, which is a game and a half back (the Colts also are 6-6 but with Houston and Dallas and a cold game at Tennessee, I think they're done; the 6-6 Titans have an easier run, but don't trust them either).

Anyway, Denver is a game and a half behind the Steelers, meaning IF the Ravens win the division, Denver needs to make up 2 games in the final 4. Bad news for the Steelers in this scenario is that the Broncos finish at SF, Cleveland, at Oakland, and then at the Chargers in what 100% will be meaningless to the Chargers. Pretty sure the Broncos go at worst 3-1.

So, add it all up, and here's the result:

1. IF the Steelers go 4-0, they win the division.

2. If the Steelers go 3-1, they control their playoff destiny (#4 or #6, depending upon Baltimore winning out).

3. If the Steelers go 2-2, absent a major choke in an easy game from Baltimore or Denver, I'd think it's pretty likely they need the Chargers to beat Baltimore in a relatively meaningless game for them OR Denver in a totally meaningless game for them in order for the Steelers to make the playoffs.

4. Anything worse than 2-2, and WC2 is zero chance . . . the Steelers are done unless Baltimore chokes right along with them.

I said last night that I thought the odds favor the Steelers making the playoffs. Now? I think they go 2-2 and will need help from the Chargers OR a choke from Baltimore or Denver.

What a ******* waste.

 

[TimmyD]

Actually peeps, since we’re talking about all this....what would be the best adjustment to manage Allen being moved to the slot. Do we just say F-It and perhaps have Haden shadow him? I listen to local media decry LBs in covg. Kaboly was on DVE early and said the game ended when poor Bostwick was tossed out to cover Allen on the late 3rd down conversion....
What is the alternative? What would Belichek do?

Belichick would have had Gilmore cover him on that 3rd down play and then had McCourtey on the rest of the night so that athletically the matchup isn’t so one sided. Rivers even came out and directly said they just like to zone up and let the matchups fall where they fall and he said that they made zero adjustments from the first half to the second half

 

[TimmyD]

So meanwhile, here's a brief synopsis on the Steelers playoff hopes:

Option 1: Win the division

The Steelers games are at Oakland, New England, at New Orleans, Cincy

The Ravens games are at KC, Tampa, at Chargers, Cleveland

I can't imagine that the Ravens will go anything worse than 2-2. Can't see them winning at KC. Can't see them losing the home games. The Chargers SHOULD win, but by 2nd to last game, the Chargers probably already will be locked into the WC1 spot (#5 in the conference), meaning they won't have as much to play for.

Anyway, IF the Steelers manage NOT to finish up worse than the Ravens, then you'll see a rematch of last night's game on wildcard weekend.

Option 2: Grab the WC2 spot (matchup likely at Houston on wildcard weekend)

The worry here is Denver, which is a game and a half back (the Colts also are 6-6 but with Houston and Dallas and a cold game at Tennessee, I think they're done; the 6-6 Titans have an easier run, but don't trust them either).

Anyway, Denver is a game and a half behind the Steelers, meaning IF the Ravens win the division, Denver needs to make up 2 games in the final 4. Bad news for the Steelers in this scenario is that the Broncos finish at SF, Cleveland, at Oakland, and then at the Chargers in what 100% will be meaningless to the Chargers. Pretty sure the Broncos go at worst 3-1.

So, add it all up, and here's the result:

1. IF the Steelers go 4-0, they win the division.

2. If the Steelers go 3-1, they control their playoff destiny (#4 or #6, depending upon Baltimore winning out).

3. If the Steelers go 2-2, absent a major choke in an easy game from Baltimore or Denver, I'd think it's pretty likely they need the Chargers to beat Baltimore in a relatively meaningless game for them OR Denver in a totally meaningless game for them in order for the Steelers to make the playoffs.

4. Anything worse than 2-2, and WC2 is zero chance . . . the Steelers are done unless Baltimore chokes right along with them.

I said last night that I thought the odds favor the Steelers making the playoffs. Now? I think they go 2-2 and will need help from the Chargers OR a choke from Baltimore or Denver.

What a ******* waste.

I’m also interested to know how you would feel about a potential wild card rematch if the Steelers do end up winning the division?

 

[KIRK]

I’m also interested to know how you would feel about a potential wild card rematch if the Steelers do end up winning the division?

Well, two things your Chargers have going for you are (a) presumably Gordon would play and (b) Tomlin/Butler are ******* idiots who continue to fail to see the lack of wisdom in scheming LB's to cover WR's or in regularly dropping 7 or 8 guys who can't play zone to save their lives into coverage.

On the other hand, January weather could play a factor.

And, more than that, the Steelers offense is just so schizo that there's no way to know which one will show and for how much of the game.

 

[TimmyD]

Well, two things your Chargers have going for you are (a) presumably Gordon would play and (b) Tomlin/Butler are ******* idiots who continue to fail to see the lack of wisdom in scheming LB's to cover WR's or in regularly dropping 7 or 8 guys who can't play zone to save their lives into coverage.

On the other hand, January weather could play a factor.

And, more than that, the Steelers offense is just so schizo that there's no way to know which one will show and for how much of the game.

I mean after last night they couldn’t possibly employ that same defensive scheme if they meet again