Steelers crushed by Patriots
I hate writing about Steelers losses. I really do. But write I must. So here goes.
&^%^%$#@ William Gay!!!
$#@%^&*&^%$ lack of defensive adjustments!!!
&^%^$@$% lack of offensive adjustments!!!!
%^&*#@%&%# offensive line. At least TRY to block somebody!
@$%^&*#%@ Big Ben! Get rid of the ball already!!! Grrrrrr!!!!!!
@#$&*#^@ William Gay!!!! Oh wait. Did I say that already?
William Gay gets burned again.
I have to give the Patriots credit. They are good at putting together a game plan that will exploit their opponent’s weaknesses. And that’s just what they did last night.
The Patriots figured out a long time ago that it’s almost impossible to run on the Steelers. So they don’t even try. They just throw the ball on practically every down.
This wasn’t the first time that they’ve used that strategy on the Steelers. Which is why it is even more frustrating to see it work yet again.
I love Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. He’s a defensive genius. But he got out-coached last night. He seemed to stubbornly refuse to make any adjustments to compensate for the fact that Tom Brady seemed content to pass the ball all night. LeBeau could have gone to their nickel or dime packages, which would have brought in more defensive backs. But he didn’t.
So instead, Tom Brady completed 30 of 43 passes for 350 yards and 3 touchdowns. Moreover, the Steelers didn’t sack him once. Not once! In fact, on most plays it looked like he had 5 minutes to stand in the pocket and find his receiver. When he left the game, his shirt was just as clean as it had been when he came out of the locker room at the beginning of the game.
Since the Steelers weren’t getting any pressure on Brady anyway, I don’t understand why they didn’t bring in more defenders for pass coverage. But they didn’t.
On the offensive side of the ball, Ben Roethlisberger threw for 387 yards and 3 touchdowns. So why does it seem like he had an absolutely terrible game? Ben was sacked 5 times, and pressured at least 40 times. He was running for his life on every play. Or at least it seemed that way.
And was it my imagination, or was William Gay the defender on every single touchdown pass that Tom Brady threw? It was like Brady had done his homework and knew that Gay was the weak link in the Steelers’ defense.
And I’m not even going to mention Jeff Reed. Oh wait, I guess I just did. Grrrrrrr!!!! How did he miss a 26 yard field goal? He should be able to make that kick in his sleep. Reed has only made 68% of his field goal attempts this season. That’s not good.
Reed misses a 26 yard FG.
The Patriots game is behind us now. And frankly, I want to forget about it as quickly as I possibly can.
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GAY IS A #@$%^t& BUM. WE WILL GET NOWHERE WITH HIM..STEP YOUR GAME UP,OR GET OFF THE FEILD!!!!!!!!!
1OUR O-LINE STINKS. COME ON COACH TOMLIN. GET YOUR TEAM TOGETHER.
2I did like most of the article! I did not like Gay being the weak link who needs to b fired! Last. Week he was a hero! Labeau also answers/communicates w/ tomlin! Therefore, Tomlin could have said “don’t even play the run,go for the QB..but he didnt–or I’m blind! O needs more pass on 1st down! Ben must,must have more more designed timing patterns! Go 6burh!
3Steelers HAVE to get a CB in the first round next year. Ike is the only one worth mentioning.
4Now let’s be fair to LeBeau. Given the sorry state of our secondary, it’s entirely possible that the starting LB’s can cover better than our backup CB’s.
I will say, however, that our zone was way too soft. That only works if we can get to the QB quickly…and we couldn’t.
And, dare I say it….Gay actually had good position on the 1st TD. It required a perfect throw and catch to complete it. Having defended him on that play, I must admit that he just #@&% sucks! On one of the later plays he got burnt on (there were so many) he bites on play action. ARE YOU SERIOUS!!! In the latter stages of a very pass happy game, you are going to bite on play action!
And Don, you missed something at the begginning of the article:
%^&*#@%&%# wide receivers. At least TRY to catch the #@% ball!
As an addenda to Dan’s draft comment, I wouldn’t be too quick.
1) Our D-Line is STILL old
2) Our O-Line still sucks (well Essex sucks, Starks is average, and Colon may or may not be back)
So, while I wouldn’t mind getting an elite CB prospect, I don’t think it will necesarily need to be in the first round.
Now, I’m going to completely forget this game ever happened. I can either hope they will bounce back (like the Pats just did) or obsess and worry about how they suck. Since obsessing and worrying isn’t going to help me or the Steelers, I am going with hope…it’s the only thing left after last night.
5Agree on the %^&*#@%&%# wide receivers.
6How many times do we have to play these clowns before 1. someone puts together some kind of defensive game plan for the 5-8 yd dink dunk offense and 2. someone puts together an offensive game plan that gets the ball out of Ben’s hands in the first, oh, 5 seconds.
The Pats have used passes 75% of the time in the previous 2 or 3 games… and we still started with run defense? Why didn’t they concentrate on pass defense until the Pats showed some run? ( I know, just rewording the article)
I will defend the sorry O-line a little tho … they are without most of their starters right now; however, the O-line has been a weakness for quite some time even with Ben’s scrambling.
Sympathies to Hines for the mild concussion the ended his awesome streak of Games with a Catch, Thumbs up for his desire to get back on the field. He was soreley missed.
7Okay, now that I’m a little more calm, let me respond to a few of your comments.
@David – The offensive line has some major injuries. So we have to be patient with them. But knowing that the O-line is hurting, why didn’t Arians call more quick strike passing plays and running plays to get the ball out of Ben’s hand faster? In other words, why didn’t he use the Patriots’ strategy?
@Doug – Definitely more timing plays for Ben.
@Dan – Steelers fans have been praying for a CB in the draft for years. And the Steelers did get them a few. But not a top tier 1st rounder.
@John – You’re right. After I published the article I realized that I had forgotten to mention all of the dropped balls by the wide receivers. Also, you may be right about our linebackers being better in coverage than our backup CB’s. But if that’s true, then that’s just sad.
@Steve – Exactly! This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen this strategy from Bellichick. When are we going to adjust and try to stop the short passing game??????
Okay, now that I’ve gotten that off of my chest, I feel a little better. Hopefully, the Steelers will absolutely crush the Raiders and get this bad taste out of all of our mouths.
8First thing, why were we not blizzing almost every down???? give a good quarterback time and you will loose. period!!! give brady time and you will be crushed… William gay had problems last year as cornor back.. hint hint… oh and if i didn’t mention, you have to prove you can pass to run!!! let me say that again, you have to prove you can pass to run.. I agree, the pats exploited our weeknesses and are game plain sucked….
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