On the bright side, Steelers just set another record–shortest field goal missed in the NFL this year–23 yards.
Deserved. Kicking a field goal from inside the 5 when you’re down by 17 at the end of the third quarter is shitty.
That’s true, I guess. What a damn letdown.
The Steelers are killing me in my pick-em pool this year. I never know which team is going to show up.
Now I know things are plum loco in the NFL: the Browns have sole possession of first place. Unreal.
Please, for things to be plum loco you’d also need the Raiders to be up on the Broncos. Oh wait, guess plum loco is here…
I hate being right…
I saw a stat that the Steelers are 8-10 vs. teams that having losings records when the Steelers play them.
And every team in the division is two or more games over .500.
OK, so now that I can type on something bigger than an iPhone, I have to say that today’s game was ridiculous, and yet it was everything we’ve come to expect from the Steelers. 3 great games of offense, everything was clicking, and today turned back into HaleyBall. The dink-and-dunk stuff does not work. Why doesn’t he understand that? He keeps trying to make it work, and it never does.
Of course, even that can be overcome, but not when the ball is turned over 4 times. The first interception I can understand, those things happen. But the 2 Antonio Brown fumbles were unconscionable, and the second pick made no sense whatsoever.
Let’s be blunt: the Steelers shit the bed. It’s inexplicable that they can be so good and then lay an egg like this. And this one was damaging to their playoff chances. With the way the division is they have to win 4 more just to have a chance, especially with 2 games against the Bengals and one against the Saints (fortunately at Heinz) still pending.
I just don’t get it. I never will, I guess.
I don’t watch many Steelers games, but this comment makes me curious. Was someone else calling plays during those 3 great games of offense? Do they have Haley locked in a box for a bit, then he escapes, calls bad plays, but then they capture him again, and the team can then go on and succeed offensively?
With Haley as OC, the Steelers have the 7th ranked scoring offense, the 3rd ranked yardage offense, and the 4th ranked passing yardage offense. Is the offense so unbelievably amazing that they succeed so much despite Haley, and with any other OC, they’d be #1? Why is Haley seemingly always to blame when things go wrong, yet I don’t recall a single post praising him when things go right?
In those three games the Steelers opened up the field by going deep, across the field, down the sideline, all the things that make the run and the short screen passes effective. Today, like every other game where the offense was ineffective, it was quick outs straight down the line, bubble screens, and ridiculous sweeps on the goal line that get stuffed with alarming regularity. When you have a guy like Blount out there you don’t call a sweep. You smash them in the face. Nope, sweep. 9-yard loss. Great call, especially when down 17 points and it’s getting late. If you’re going to try that put Bell in. Not that it works then, either. It’s like Haley is allergic to touchdowns.
Why should Haley get credit for the things he should be doing anyway, taking advantage of the strengths of his team? If it makes you feel better, he called 3 great games. Then it turned back into bubble screen Heaven today. Everybody knows it doesn’t work. It’s been shown for 3 seasons now that it doesn’t work. But because of those three games when he did everything he was supposed to do he should be forgiven for all the rest, including today? The best play all day was Ben making something out of nothing. Ironically, it’s Ben’s ability to do that that makes Haley look good.
Haley was hired because he convinced management that he could move the ball and keep Ben from getting killed. 2 consecutive 8-8 seasons with Ben leading or nearly leading the league in sacks belies that.
That’s why we think Haley is a bum, and that’s why he doesn’t (and shouldn’t) get much/any credit.
The Josh Gordonless Cleveland Browns are in first place in the AFC North.
Next week they are no longer Josh Gordonless.
Any chance there is actual data to support these conclusions, or is this based on you watching the games? Because, given the stats, I find it tough to believe that it’s Haley’s playcalling that varies so much game to game as say the play of the O Line, Rothlisberger, or the receivers. I just have a hard time believing, absent some actual data, that a guy with 7 years experience as OC wouldn’t catch onto what works and what doesn’t as well as you do and then continue to go with what doesn’t work. YMMV, of course.
My favorite stat today: In the Tomlin era, the Steelers are 1-8 vs teams with a .200 or lower winning percentage.
Unconfirmed stat but I saw this on another message board. All teams in the AFCN are 2 games above .500. Last time this happened was in 1935.
This is also little known but the team that’s leading that historically great juggernaut division? Cleveland Browns.
That would be a neat trick considering that a) the AFC North has only existed since 2002, b) The AFC itself has only been around since 1970, and c) the Steelers were the only division team that existed in 1935. I wonder how they rationalize that stat.
It has happened before, just not in a long time. The world is all kinds of upside-down right now. Enjoy it while it lasts.
The last time any division in the NFL had all teams 2 games above .500 was in 1935, the western division.
Chilly weather is here, time to get that running game back in gear. I know next to nothing about this year’s Titans. They have…let’s see, Nate Washington…that’s all I have. Steelers are without Shazier and Polamalu again. That sucks but if they can get a win here they head into the bye week in pretty good shape and will have those guys plus Ike Taylor and maybe Jarvis Jones returning. Also, first start for Dan McCullers! He ain’t quick but bloody hell he’s strong. He should be quite a load in the middle.
Last week’s big stat was that Tomlin is 1-8 against teams .200 or below. So, being a person who likes to manipulate statistics to make himself feel better, I think the Steelers have a lock on this game because the Titans aren’t bad enough to lose to. They are 2-7, which is a .222 winning percentage.
Sounds like a Steelers lock to me. Pittsburgh by 2 touchdowns.