One that I can think of. If, somehow, they can fall on it just as it reaches 10 yards, the clock wouldn’t run, and they would have one final play (maybe more, depending on penalties).
Has to be in the endzone, thus that peculiar rolling kick.
Called it last month.
So that’s that. Jacksonville owned Pittsburgh this year.
I can’t say I’m happy about it, but if Pittsburgh must lose I’m glad it’s to them. I hope they keep their run going, even though it’s a tall order when you have to play the refs, too. Like yesterday’s game, and the 16 before that.
Regardless of the outcome, the games today were incredible to watch. I enjoyed the last one immensely. Maybe the Vikings can make it a home game. One could hope.
Todd Haley is gone. He just has to be. How do you not call something as simple as a QB sneak on 4th and inches not once but twice? His contract is up and Ben absolutely hates him. Goodbye, HaleyBall, nobody ever did less with more than Todd Fucking Haley.
Last thing: Ben intimated he was coming back next year. If he does that will definitely be his last, as it’s the last year of his contract. Pittsburgh’s window is open, if only just, for one more year. They probably ought to figure out how to get a replacement QB, because with Landry Fucking Jones they’ll go 4-12.
Anyway, that’s it. I really thought this would be their year. I always think that, but this time they had all the tools. But it wasn’t to be. Now to spend the next six months getting over it.
If Haley leaves, Big Ben will be happy until the regular season. He will start to look very old, very fast. Todd Haley is probably a real blowhard (or jagoff as you’unz say), but the guy can coach offense.
That sucked but the Steelers deserved to lose. The close score at the end did not reflect how badly they were outplayed that whole game.
I don’t think Ben will retire and make that trainwreck the last game of his career. I’m not one of the fans who constantly criticizes Haley, but those 4th down plays (even the ones that worked) were atrocious calls.
Tomlin’s onside kick call and the clock management in the final drive were pitiful. Kick the FG with 30 seconds left so that if you recover an onside kick you have time to tie the game. Letting clock run down to 4 seconds does you nothing.
And Haley is gone. First line on the questionnaire for candidate OC’s: do you know what a quarterback sneak is?
Correct answer: “It’s something you audible out of in favor of a deep pass”.
That’s surprising - I never figured you could score 42 points on the #1 AFC defense and lose your job, especially when your QB drops the ball during a sack and gives up a TD. I’d guess there’s a lot going on behind the scenes, but I don’t follow the Steelers nearly enough to know what it may be.
2nd. 3rd. 7th. 3rd. The offensive rankings for the Steelers over the last 4 years under Haley. You and I have discussed this before, but I still don’t get the hatred for a guy who has that kind of success. Then I remember “Oh yeah. They’re Steelers fans.”
Yeah, I really don’t get the Haley haterade. I suspect a lot of Haley’s detractors just don’t like his personality, and I suspect that’s what got under Big Ben’s skin. If there’s one knock I’ve read/heard over the years about Haley, it’s that he can be a bit obsessive and controlling, which can limit the flexibility in some situations. But his offenses have put up points.
I don’t like his personality either. From the stuff I’ve read, Haley seems like an ass, and during his tenure with the Chiefs there were a lot of bizarre personality stories about him. He strikes me as kinda an ass. But there are a shit ton of coaches who are asses, who don’t get fired when they have that kind of success.
And I don’t think it’s just a matter of “getting under” Ben’s skin. They really disliked each other. The Steelers backed their whiny asshole QB rather than their OC, so Haley was fired. Not based on performance, but based on the whims and passive aggressive “I might retire” bullshit of their QB. Such is life for the Steelers.
You have to rape harder than the other guy to get ahead in this league.
Dude.
Anyway, I’ve met Haley, and found him unpleasant. I don’t know if he was like that just that one time, but most stories indicate he’s generally not likable. If the NFL were a bakery counter, that would be a valid part of employee evaluation. But he was a winning coach. In the end, if you can’t fix your relationship with your star quarterback, that has a negative effect on performance, so that aspect of things should weigh too, but he was a winning coach.
This weekend I will be rooting for the “Deebo-AK” toting #92, but against his team, which means I’m rooting for Derek Bortles and the Steelers-mocking jaguars. Confusing times.
With pretty much the best RB in the league and inarguably the best WR. I need a boulder of salt.
Brown wasn’t Brown until he played under Haley. His ypc went up 2 ypc. His yards per game went up 20 yards per game. His catch percentage went up about 5%. Remember, Haley turned Marty Booker into a thing in Chicago, helped Keyshawn Johnson make the Pro Bowl, and developed the Cardinal’s offense (culminating in a Super Bowl trip)j before joining the Steelers. This isn’t a guy who just so happen to luck into great talent, he’s had successes offensively before, and he helped develop Brown and Bell into what they are today.
This firing wasn’t about him not doing his job well enough. It was about a prickly QB forcing the franchises’ hand.
AB’s ypc went up 2 this season from the 2016 season. It was around what it mostly always was every season until then. That 20 yards more per game likewise was from 2016 to this year only. In fact, this year’s was right in line with 2014’s and 2015’s. 2016’s season overall was his worst statistically since 2012.
The Cardinals’ SB push was Haley’s responsibility? Really? With Kurt Warner, Fitz, and Anquan Boldin? Eeyeahrite. He did just so happen to luck into great talent.
And Haley was a WR coach, not even close to playcalling responsibility, with Booker and Keyshawn.
How many currently-employed OC’s would give their left nut to have Bell and Brown on their team? I’ll go out on a limb and say 31 (the 32nd not needing to, since he already has them).
These conversations make me seriously question what makes a decent NFL coach. In a results oriented business, where coaches have FAR more influence than say, in the MLB (other than dressing like a 15 year old), a coach like Haley gets fired. This is a LeBron/Rothlisberger influence thing. It has to be. How else do you explain it? Yes, the fans hated this guy, but the Stealers have been a top rated offense under Haley for A LONG TIME.
Do you Stealers fans realize that under Tomlin, you’ve NEVER had a losing season? 8-8 is your worst record, and in the meantime, you’ve won a Superbowl, placed runner up in another, won six division titles and made the playoffs NINE times?
I think Hamlet is right. I understand having high expectations and all but damn…you’ve crucified the wrong guy. Plus, we have no way of knowing whether those fourth down calls were all on Haley (one of which resulted in a long TD pass, BTW). Was the stupid onside attempt Haley’s call or Tomlin’s? Who knows?
I think that Stealer fans are spoiled by success and their main obstacle to even MORE success has been the Patriots, whom happen to have the best QB to EVER play the game. So you’re second fiddle to that. Be happy. You could root for my team and marinate in Marvin’s mediocre mayhem for multiple seasons.
No we could not. Browns, maybe - there’s a certain admirable integrity in the dogpound’s loyalty to a team entirely undeserving of it. But the Bungles? Just no. Even after the move to London, still no.