Critical Observations Of Why We Lost

[jimjim5]

Today I am extremely upset over this loss because I never felt that we were dominated. However, the stats will appear this way. I just do not feel we where prepared.

My observation during the game:

OFFENSE

Why was Rice not used? This team has been great moving the ball when using Rice. McGahee has appearred very long in the tooth ALL season. He has been slow and his lateral vision for cutbacks has been poor all season. When he could not get yards, Rice should have been the immediate option. Not the third option in the fourth quarter.

Where were the intermediate passes to set up the run - and the Blitz hot route dump offs? This was just totally absent from the gameplan or gameplan adjustments. Heap - where was he? He would have been perfect to spring these intermediate passes.

Why were there no plays with O'Neal as the lead blocker?

Why did we totally abandon the run early in the first half when only down 6 points?

Why wait to do everything that I said above (except use Rice) til' the fourth quarter?

Why not coach Joe Flacco in the last series before the interception to not throw on 3 and 15 if in is not there? We could have punted, down only 2 points with 3:43 something left to see if the defense could get the ball back. Even if they scored 3 points, we would only be down 5 for a last drive. Unfortunately, I called that 3 and 15 interception

Also, why so many deep balls on 2 and XX yards. Why not try a short, quick pass to take up pressure on Flacco and attempt to gain half of the yards for #rd down to be an attainable distance????????? I do not see Flacco at fault on any interception (or as least no more at fault than the Offensive coaches). Why change our formula?????

My wife said that this does even look like team she has been watching all year. Its "like someone replaced our new coaches with the regime from last year."

Why go away from what got us this far???????????? Even if McClain was ineffective, I did see him run once? I know we was a decoy, but as a decoy he could have been used much better in situations.

One huge acknowledgement- McGahee was a beast in pass protection. And yes, Rice did get blown up on one play in pass protection. However, one play does not make a game so Rice deserved more burn.


DEFENSE -

First of all, let me say all of the guys were SOLDIERS today. The Rush D was amazing, I just feel that Rex put the Defense in bad situation all day when it came to pass protection.

the Blitzes were very ill timed. Blitz with with 3 players so there are NO DB's to account for the middle of the field??? Why not drop back into a nickel? That second and 24 blitz was just inexcusable. I can understand a #rd down blitz when there is pressure on the quarterback to get a first down, but second and 24???

Not accounting for the middle of the field. The defense was most successful when they dropped back into zone and forced Ben to find and open man. The defense was only porous during stupid blitzes. This has been the case in EVERY Steelers game this year, and prolly last year to.


SPECIAL TEAMS-

Poor planning - why was Figurs back in kickoffs. I do not think I even need to elaborate on this point, but I will. I evidence of this poor plan was him being replaced in the second half by Rice. (So Rice is now a Special Team weapon and not a Offensive weapon??? Go Figure.

Why the short kickoffs. Help me understand this one??

I will stop here. Now, I know you guys will probably dismiss my post as a rant, but please watch a replay of the game if you cannot see that at least 75% of these "observations" are just. I think the emotion of the game can cloud the way one sees the ebb and flow of the game. I just do not think that the Steelers are that much better than us. For the Ravens to not win as least one of those games this year make no sense. -- Our defense is sick. Our CB position was very deep this year, even our perennial goats were good all Year (Ivy, Rolle). Offense is tough and they click when they need to.

I truly feel these game have been lost not by the players, but the coaching gameplan.

Game 1, (Prevent the Win Defense)

Game 2 (not attempting on the 1 yard line, and the non-attempt to move the ball will 2:00 minutes left in regulation for the Field goal and win)

Game 3 (totally going away from our bread and butter - the Run, and Short Pass with the occasional deep ball for the knock out.) -----At the minimum we could have at least tried on a couple of series.

Why say you??

[uclkyle]

Actually, I pretty much agree with much of your analysis....with one exception. You guys were dominated all night. Only points you got were off of a HORRIBLE PI call and the other was off another short field from a shanked punt. Look at the stats....that was pretty dominating.

[SuggsNotDrugs]

stop, you're going to make me cry

its all true, the coaching staff is what let us down here. the offensive plan was miserable!!!!!! the defense did what it had to do, and on special teams the short kicks and STONE penalty cost us. But the real problem was the offense. We were scoring 30+ points mid-season because of our diversity on offense. Tonight we clammed up and played just ugly offense. IT cost us big

[Moderator 2]

The unknown in all this is how injured McClain was and pretty much everyone else. 2 guys went down on ST and that secondary was decimated.

[SizzleFoShizzle]

I totally agree. They looked nothing like the team that I had watched all year. I knew the offense had to switch it up a lil and try something new in this game but they took it way too far and obviously it didnt work. They should have stuck to what got them here. And i was blown away by the short kicks..Koch has pinned teams inside the 5 all year. why not tonight?

[jimjim5]

Even the announcers trashed our first half gameplan. I wonder if this will be addressed?

[Moderator 2]

The ball is like a brick in the cold, I've heard Stover comment on it.

[jimjim5]

[quote name='Moderator 2' post='140055' date='Jan 19 2009, 02:54 AM']The ball is like a brick in the cold, I've heard Stover comment on it.[/quote]


I agree!! But let's not forget that Pittsburgh performed well with kickoffs and field goals in the weather conditions.

[playaslk]

[quote name='jimjim5' post='140091' date='Jan 19 2009, 04:28 AM']I agree!! But let's not forget that Pittsburgh performed well with kickoffs and field goals in the weather conditions.[/quote]

Field goals yes, kickoffs not so much. A few of them ended up around 10-20 yard line. Mitch Berger (punter) was a D+ (except for the tackle he made on the return which turned into a TD a few plays later)

[hitman124]

Where the hell was Ed Reed most of the night? With Hines Ward off most of the game I thought if we can ever beat these guys its now, and we very well may have, if that moron(I thought there were two of them) didnt get that penalty at took us back to our own 15 in the last 6 minutes, that killed us.

[jimjim5]

Reed was a non-factor because he was protecting the deep ball pass. There was no LB help in the middle to let Reed be aggressive.

[baadbobby]

You know what? I just got back from the gates of hell; Heinz Field. And as much as I hate that yellow team, we got beat fair and square. We were outplayed. Stop trying to bust this apart by blaming what we did wrong. How about for once we take some licks. How about we had a really nice, long run, and that team we all love to hate was the better team on January 18th.

As far as the fans at HF; I can write a whole mini-series on that...and I will later, but I'm going to go to bed, get up and go to work, and be proud to be a Ravens fan. We have a great team, and you can sit here and MM QB all day, but at some point, you will need to get over the fact that we were beat fair and square this time.

[JUICE tm]

missed tackles, missed tackles, and more missed tackles. 2 weeks in a row MISSED FLIPPING TACKLES.

[jimjim5]

one more big question mark.... on the 3rd and 1 play. Why was O 'Neal not used to block for McGahee? Then on the 4th and 1 play, what was up with the empty backfield Quarterback Sneak? Do you not think Pittsburgh knew what play what going to be called?? I would say yes. If the backfield was not empty Flacco could have gotten a push from the Tailback to assist in getting the first down.

[funky141]

OFFENSE

Why was Rice not used? This team has been great moving the ball when using Rice. McGahee has appearred very long in the tooth ALL season. He has been slow and his lateral vision for cutbacks has been poor all season. When he could not get yards, Rice should have been the immediate option. Not the third option in the fourth quarter.
[b]disagree, Mcgahee was running the ball well and had key blitz pick ups all game. Rice can't pick up the blitz yet because he is too small[/b]

Where were the intermediate passes to set up the run - and the Blitz hot route dump offs? This was just totally absent from the gameplan or gameplan adjustments. Heap - where was he? He would have been perfect to spring these intermediate passes.[b]agree here, the dump offs would have been a plus[/b]

Why were there no plays with O'Neal as the lead blocker?[b]dont know[/b]

Why did we totally abandon the run early in the first half when only down 6 points?[b]really don't think they did[/b]

Why wait to do everything that I said above (except use Rice) til' the fourth quarter?[b]see above McGahee is better than Rice[/b]

Why not coach Joe Flacco in the last series before the interception to not throw on 3 and 15 if in is not there? We could have punted, down only 2 points with 3:43 something left to see if the defense could get the ball back. Even if they scored 3 points, we would only be down 5 for a last drive. Unfortunately, I called that 3 and 15 interception
[b]hind site is 20/20. how about not committing 15 yard penalty in the 4th[/b]
Also, why so many deep balls on 2 and XX yards. Why not try a short, quick pass to take up pressure on Flacco and attempt to gain half of the yards for #rd down to be an attainable distance????????? I do not see Flacco at fault on any interception (or as least no more at fault than the Offensive coaches). Why change our formula?????
[b]this is dumb or where your football knowledge fails you. He was looking for that shot route but Ravens WR were not getting open and when the rush finally got to Flacco, he had to scrabble out of the pocket and when you do that the WR are taught to take off thus forcing Flacco to pass deep[/b]
My wife said that this does even look like team she has been watching all year. Its "like someone replaced our new coaches with the regime from last year."
[b]happens when you play good teams, they take away what you do best[/b]

One huge acknowledgement- McGahee was a beast in pass protection. And yes, Rice did get blown up on one play in pass protection. However, one play does not make a game so Rice deserved more burn.[b]yes it does, when one play can cause a sack, fumble, TD[/b]
DEFENSE -

First of all, let me say all of the guys were SOLDIERS today. The Rush D was amazing, I just feel that Rex put the Defense in bad situation all day when it came to pass protection.[b]where was the pass rush, Ben had all day to pass sometimes[/b]

the Blitzes were very ill timed. Blitz with with 3 players so there are NO DB's to account for the middle of the field??? Why not drop back into a nickel? That second and 24 blitz was just inexcusable. I can understand a #rd down blitz when there is pressure on the quarterback to get a first down, but second and 24???
[b]had to blitz no pressure on Ben[/b]

SPECIAL TEAMS-

Poor planning - why was Figurs back in kickoffs. I do not think I even need to elaborate on this point, but I will. I evidence of this poor plan was him being replaced in the second half by Rice. (So Rice is now a Special Team weapon and not a Offensive weapon??? Go Figure.[b]he didn't have to block[/b]

Why the short kickoffs. Help me understand this one??[b]good question[/b]

I will stop here. Now, I know you guys will probably dismiss my post as a rant, but please watch a replay of the game if you cannot see that at least 75% of these "observations" are just. I think the emotion of the game can cloud the way one sees the ebb and flow of the game. I just do not think that the Steelers are that much better than us. For the Ravens to not win as least one of those games this year make no sense. -- Our defense is sick. Our CB position was very deep this year, even our perennial goats were good all Year (Ivy, Rolle). Offense is tough and they click when they need to.
[b]I think you need to rewatch the tapes. Defense was good but not great this game, no pass rush and only one turnover. Offense was terrible, if not for the 2 pass interference calls the Ravens would have scored zero points.[/b]
I truly feel these game have been lost not by the players, but the coaching gameplan. [b]agree and disagree because you can only do what you have [/b]

[12th man]

Your comment is so true it seemed to me the first half i was saying the whole time why aren't we trying to run the ball more to many long balls ,no short balls. It seemed like bad play calling.

[12th man]

People always complain of ne respect for the Ravens, I have said this myself many of time.The other teams don't respect us, nfl, espn, announcers don't pick us. Well this game is why we did just what was expected of us and chocked.I know I'm being hard but it's the truth we had a great season but Joe is just a rookie and sundays game it was so evident 3 pick!!! Can't win a playoff game with those kinda thing happening.Play calling was just terrible what happen to the run, run, run than some short passes instead of long balls all day.It's just frustrating we have played better than this and it seemed when it counted the most we go alway from what got us here.So no respect for the Ravens again until we play consistant on both sides of the ball.

[ravensfan160]

[quote name='jimjim5' post='140019' date='Jan 19 2009, 02:40 AM']Where were the intermediate passes to set up the run - and the Blitz hot route dump offs? This was just totally absent from the gameplan or gameplan adjustments. Heap - where was he? He would have been perfect to spring these intermediate passes.[/quote]

That to me is the biggest thing that stood out. I was one of the people hoping they would open up the passing game and although it appears the Steelers were ready for that I'm glad we gave it a shot. But it never looked like we gave Joe anyone to dump the ball off to when nobody was open down the field. He got solid pass protection but the Steelers played great zone coverage down the field and with nobody to dump it off to Joe only had two options...force it downfield or take a sack.

And one last point that I've been saying all year, where the heck was Todd Heap? I don't think I will ever understand why he was so overlooked this season.

[i82much]

It's really not about the playcalling. First two plays from scrimmage were on-target passes that were just dropped. It's about execution and more importantly the fact that [b]the Steelers are one hell of a football team[/b].

Flacco will come along, and we'll get 'em next year, or maybe the year after. It takes time. He did great with what he was asked to do but he's not at the point where he can lead a team from behind against the best D in the league yet. There are probably at least 20 other NFL QB's who couldn't have done any better.

Anyway looks like I'm a Kurt Warner fan until next year. Go Cards!

[R.Stinchcomb#78]

I think we played well, I blame he loss on the 4th & 1 try in the 1st half, had we kicked a FG, we would not have been behind in the 4th qtr and had to throw the ball, we could have just run the ball and eaten-up the clock

[ReedPick6]

[quote name='jimjim5' post='140019' date='Jan 19 2009, 02:40 AM']One huge acknowledgement- McGahee was a beast in pass protection. And yes, Rice did get blown up on one play in pass protection. However, one play does not make a game so Rice deserved more burn.[/quote]


McGahee left everything out on the field. He played a heck of a game. There were a few times where he did too much stutter stepping when he should have hit the hole at full speed.

His pass protection was on point though!

[Shawn`]

[quote name='jimjim5' post='140019' date='Jan 19 2009, 01:40 AM']My wife said that this does even look like team she has been watching all year. [b]Its "like someone replaced our new coaches with the regime from last year."[/b][/quote]

[ReedPick6]

very true. we didn't look like the same team as we were all season on offense.

[BlackNGold]

[quote name='ReedPick6' post='140432' date='Jan 19 2009, 10:44 AM']McGahee left everything out on the field. He played a heck of a game. There were a few times where he did too much stutter stepping when he should have hit the hole at full speed.

His pass protection was on point though![/quote]

So true... McGahee's blocks on the blitzes were phenomenal, he kept Flacco alive in the pocket. That was a terrible thing to watch him be carted off and not finish the game... I wish him the best of luck in his recovery.

From a Steelers point of view, I just think that Pittsburgh played better plan and simple. You had a bruised and battered team, not only from the Tennessee game... but from not having a bye since week 2 or w/e it was that screwed you guys schedule up. Our teams are so similar, we dont have tremendous offenses but have the most un******ablewith Ds there are, I think Flacco made mistakes where Ben didnt (nothing against Flacco for doing what he did in his rookie season). Once Flacco gets some years under his belt your Ravens will be some serious contenders.

[BigDawg]

[quote name='jimjim5' post='140054' date='Jan 19 2009, 02:54 AM']Even the announcers trashed our first half gameplan. I wonder if this will be addressed?[/quote]
simms and nance were clearly rooting for the Ravens. I turned the dagone sound down so I didn't have to break my TV. I thought they were both going to give Ray Lewis an AIR START at halftime

[TSizzle00]

We had 3rd and 4th String CBs in that says it all!!!!!

[BaltimoreQcFans]

Stop talking about who's to blame for that loss and start looking of what we have done all season long. We have rookies both at Qb position than Head coach, we still beat two great team in the playoff (Titans and Dolphins) with a multiple of injurys.

My expectation for this seasons were very low but this year Baltimore allow me to see what I didn't saw from them since a long time.... A REAL TEAM.

[Ed_Reed20]

This was one of the games where the team just lost. A lot of things contributed to the loss but nothing really stuck out. The turnovers were costly but when the best receiver on the team is a 35-year-old with a separated shoulder, it's tough to complete passes.

I do agree that Rice should have been used more. McGahee ran well but I would have given Rice at least 10 touches last night. He was fresh and ready to go but the coaches underutilized him.

[steelball]

Honestly, guy, this game wasn't even close. Without penalties the Ravens Offense doesn't even get a whiff of the endzone.

Bright spots of the day - Mcgahee pass blocking and shutting down the Steelers run. Thats about it.

[bossman419]

Not trying to be mean but, Im not in the mood to talk to any steeler fans right now. I dont even understand why the steeler fans are still here. Go suck the life out of the cardinals forums.