Week 16: The Good, the Bad and Ugly Comment/Vent/Rant Steeler version

[kakatakoi]

Call the loss of this game however you see it...

We scored field goals when we needed touchdowns...maybe

We scored a touchdown too fast near the end...that's grasping at straws

The defense let us down...In the 4th qtr we gave up 21 points, so yes the defensive Scheme let us down but in the other qtrs the defense got 2 turnovers

The real issue we can't get past...We beat ourselves in a winnable game due to Repeated coaching errors on zone coverage and failed to Adjust!  

What's worse, we did the same thing in the game vs Philly, Dallas, New England and even Cincinnati (we survived Philly and Cinci in the 4th qtr BTW)

When you see a paid professional or anyone for that matter continue to repeat the same process anticipating different results over and over with the same outcome, it's not the bad habits or tendencies of the players it's the stubbornness and unwillingness to admit you're making a mistake and not correcting it. In short, the players didn't lose the game for us, the coaches lost the game for us in particular...Dean Pees. I won't watch next season if he's still the D coord, I literally can't take anymore meltdowns based on his ineffective Zone coverages that we can Not execute. Stubborness and Myopia  

[-Truth-]

Offensively, one of the biggest themes of the heartbreaking loss was missed opportunities within the opponent's 30 yard line. We were seemingly inches away from multiple scores. Arguably the most lingering was the one to Darren Waller. It comes with partial credit to Sean Davis for the punch out, but it was the closest to coming to fruition with Waller having the ball in the breadbasket with both feet inbounds. The most underrated miscue could very well be the holding penalty by Jeremy Zuttah given how avoidable it was (Link). It's a B-gap run with a pulling center and Ryan Shazier is down on a single knee before Zuttah even makes contact. Oddly enough, Zuttah hooks Shazier, harshly, instead of walling him off, negating a run that would've preceded a 1st and goal and setting us back 24 yards. The first throw near the end zone to Dennis Pitta was about as about as tight as it could've been considering that both safeties were over the top and Shazier was closely trailing Pitta. The catch would've been a very difficult one; the one gripe that I felt could be made on behalf of Pitta was that he kept his right arm on Shazier's shoulder before attempting a one-handed catch. The second one looked like a drop in real time, but it may have been more of a miscommunication going off the tape (Link). The ball was thrown well behind Pitta, but it looks like Joe Flacco may have expected him to settle down in-between Bud Depree and Shazier instead of continuing his route and stuck it instead of leading him considering that Shazier had already turned towards the direction of the pass. The attempt to Breshad Perriman early in the game was interesting due to the response that it drew. The announcers were critical of the throw, but the game thread was somewhat mixed on who to appropriate the blame to, which was puzzling if not disconcerting. You have trips left, with Steve Smith Sr. running a drag route, Kamar Aiken running a square-in, and Perriman running a flag route (Link). The cut itself is rounded, but he flips his hips at about the 10 yard line and draws separation from the single-high safety, Mike Mitchell. Artie Burns bites on Aiken's square-in, and Perriman runs toward the pylon with the window of the opening being on his outside shoulder roughly between the 4 yard line and the goal line. Instead, it's thrown on his inside shoulder 4 yards past the goal line, and Perriman has to readjust and sprint laterally before having to turn in the opposite direction and leap off of just his back foot to attempt an improbable reception on its own. Even worse, the trajectory allows Mitchell to close and he bats the ball either right just before it touches Perriman's hand (Link). This was classified by a few fans as a drop. I know that the definition of a drop can be a bit subjective, and he had an ugly one later in the game that he fortunately redeemed on the following play. Though in this case, it implied that he was expected to protect that ball from being batted from between his outstretched arms on a diving attempt before it's even secured in both of his mitts, with the argument that an NFL receiver can/should come down with those, etc. A few went as far as labeling it as a perfect throw. Obviously our point of views are going to be different as fans and human beings in general, but it was one of those peculiar situations that you come across here and there that you would think is rather straight forward until it's not.

Edited December 30, 2016 by -Truth-

[jazz1988]

On 12/27/2016 at 10:02 AM, BmoreBird22 said:

People like to say Jimmy shouldn't make a huge impact on the defense, but when you take him out, you're putting Weddle and Webb in a two high instead of a single high with Webb. Weddle is no longer covering tight ends. Now you're forced to put Orr into coverage more frequently. 

It's a huge trickle effect. Weddle has largely still been effective even without Jimmy, so this truly was just one bad game, but Orr has had his worst games with no Jimmy.

 

 I think Zach Orr has played quite well this season and his coverage ability has been up and down but it was better than I expected. Honestly I'm disappointed that Dean Pees didn't use the dime package with Anthony Levine playing inside linebacker more. If it was obvious that forcing Orr  into coverage more frequently was a problem then  it wasn't like Pees didn't have  the option to put more speed on the field by taking Orr off the field on obvious passing downs and putting in Levine or even Elam.  

[BmoreBird22]

10 hours ago, jazz1988 said:

 

 I think Zach Orr has played quite well this season and his coverage ability has been up and down but it was better than I expected. Honestly I'm disappointed that Dean Pees didn't use the dime package with Anthony Levine playing inside linebacker more. If it was obvious that forcing Orr  into coverage more frequently was a problem then  it wasn't like Pees didn't have  the option to put more speed on the field by taking Orr off the field on obvious passing downs and putting in Levine or even Elam.  

He does get subbed out in nickel packages, it seems, but the issue comes from when they don't go three wide and you play a base defense, but they still pass it. That forces Orr into coverage. 

I think this season has been way more up than down, but I also think it's been a tad overrated by some around here. However, getting a full offseason in after being the starter and getting to see 16 games of film to improve upon should be huge for him.