The Myron Cope Memorial Steelers March to the Super Bowl Thread

The Game Room
41

This is a pretty good assessment, although I think any 360 pounder will wear down if he gets too many snaps. In Detroit I’m guessing he was so critical to their defense that he played the vast majority of snaps and didn’t get rested properly and people saw what was legitimate fatigue and thought it was laziness.

That said, the run defense in the fourth was certainly a big problem, but the game was getting out of hand by that point and they’d already played 25+ minutes of Dallas possession by then. The defense up the middle in the first three quarters was impressive.

You’re right about Wimbley. He had a promising rookie year - 11 sacks and while he was struggling somewhat in other aspects of being a linebacker (he was a college DE), I figured that he could improve as time went on. He didn’t nearly enough and he’s a liability in containment responsibilities and certain types of coverage. If I were an opposing team I’d run many plays at him - screens to the left, counters to the left, all sorts of stuff that can exploit overpursuit. He worries me.

Peek yet again is hurt. He showed promise at the other OLB spot in limited action when he was healthy, but now we’re down to Old Man McGinest, a 7th round rookie from a d2 school, and a decent player from when the Texans ran a 3-4 that I haven’t seen much of yet.

I hope you’re right. Romeo runs a shitty camp and preseason. Every year I hear about how preseason is meaningless and not to worry because everyone is just running vanilla schemes but it’s nonsense. It doesn’t really matter who wins preseason games, but how your first team unit performs is significant, at least at the fundamentals. If they can’t tackle or block in the preseason, that’s a significant indicator.

So every year I see us start off looking like garbage just like we were in the preseason after hearing not to worry the whole time.

No one knows exactly what happened. After his injury years ago there was some mysterious bad blood between the team and Bentley. They’d avoid talking to each other for long periods of time and they’d say odd things. There are rumors that Bentley injured his knee in a basketball game before camp and that he faked receiving the injury on the first play of camp.

Anyway, 2 years later, he’s cleared by the doctors and he plays in training camp. 2 days into it, he doesn’t go to the practice, meets with the coach and said, and a few hours later he was cut after asking for it. The sides seem to conflict on the reason - Bentley thinks the team wasn’t going to give him a legitimate chance to start, the team said that Bentley was angry that they wouldn’t guarantee him a starting position and wanted to go elsewhere.

Not really sure what happened but it sucks - Fraley is the weak link on the offensive line by a decent margin.

42

All right. Division play starts in a few hours. The Steelers are going to make the Browns their bitch tonight. Hope that O-line’s up to the task, SenorBeef, or you’re in for a long evening and an even longer season.

43

I’m glad nothing came of that last drive before the half, because there was some real bullshit spotting of the ball going on.

I hate that weather is affecting the game too, because I think that’s the only thing keeping the Browns in it. I’m also pleasantly surprised with Parker. He’s getting good yards in 3 and 4 yard chunks in the middle, as well as bouncing it outside for big gains too. He’s already at 54 yards tonight.

44

Shaun Rogers better get a healthy fine for that cheap ass hit on Roethlisberger. He certainly should have gotten flagged. His nickname oughta be Big Pussy.

45

Is it just me, or does it seem like our corners ALWAYS give the receivers a 10-15 yard cushion? What the fuck?

46

Yeah, our pass defense hasn’t been stellar in the second half, but has produced when it had to. I’m still disappointed with the meager pass pressure we’re able to generate, but all the other components seem to be firing pretty well this year. Our kick coverage to this point has been awesome, which is a great surprise.

47

I gotta ask. It was 4th down and 4 yards on the 20 something yard line. Why did Pittsburgh go for the first down rather than kick the field goal or even just punt. I know there is always a risk of a blocked kick, but it seems to me that if you have faith in your kicker, wouldn’t you want the 7 point lead rather than a 4 point lead? I just don’t get it.

48

Boy, it looks like the Browns DO suck about as bad as they looked last week. The Bengals suck hard and it looks like the Ravens do too. Not much divisional competition this season.

49

A few years ago the D gave up a lot of big passing plays because the corners were pressing and there was only one deep safety. LeBeau started playing them off the receiver and keeping 3 guys deep all the time so the other team could take the short yardage and the pressure up front should force the QB into throwing into coverage, taking a sack or, at worst, getting the short yardage. This is why you never see Clark creeping towards the line the way Polamalu does, at least that’s my understanding of it. The key for the corners in this case is to keep the ball in front of them and be very sure tacklers.

50

Well… for years I’ve had the feeling that those are the most dangerous situations for the Steelers (desperate opponent, the need to defend for the medium-to-large-pass). And on that first pass I had the feeling “here we go again…” Color me surprised: All of a sudden, McFadden (?) (replacement for Townsend) plays the down closer to the receiver, after having been burned one, maybe two plays earlier. And now I see: the Steelers are actually adapting, not playing the same situation, over and over again. (The same applies to the 3-and-1, 4-and-1 plays, where instead of sending the runner into the pile-up he played to his strengths, allowing him to run outside).

Tomlin is showing his presence. And he truly seems to be a better coach than Cowher.

51

Yeah, that was beyond egregious. That was so blatantly obvious that the referees should ashamed of calling a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty on Woodley earlier.

Boy was that an ugly game. The Steelers came through when they needed to, the Browns did not. I suppose you can say that about any game, but in this one with the score what it was it is definitely appropriate.

How about those Steelers special teams? What the hell was that all about? That was simply pathetic. They couldn’t field punts, they almost lost that kickoff, you name it. Those guys are going to be running until they puke next practice, I can guarantee it.

So, how 'bout that monster number Jamal Lewis laid up there? What did he average, 2 yards a carry? Top notch blocking right there, I’ll tell you. Willie got around 5 yards a carry. So much for stinking up the joint without Faneca (whose team lost today, by the way).

So the Steelers are 2-0, already in command of the division, maybe even the conference. How can you beat that?

52

Hey, that sounds like a Tim Lewis-coached defense! Am I right?

That guy was a friggin’ albatross.

53

Probably, it was the year we all watched third down peering through our fingers with one eye. I agree with DiggitCamara, Tomlin seems to be a better coach than Cowher so far and I liked Cowher a lot. The more I pay attention to the D, the more impressed I am with LeBeau as well, he’s 71 though, probably his last year but he’s done some great things there.

I have to admit I was worried about the offensive line and the loss of Faneca coming into the season but Chris Kemoeatu has won me over - I love this guy, he gets on his block and pushes them way downfield. He was one on one with Rogers a few times and did really well, nice move by the coaches moving him into the line-up.

54

Couple things:

  1. risk of blocked kick/return was major factor
  2. the run on the 4th used up more time than another play would.
  3. i think if you had 4pts, its kind of the same as 7pts in that the browns wwere going to have to score a TD either way. 7pts would have been nicer, true…

Hey, the game was over pretty much either way.

Where’s the Beef?

55

Wow, Romeo Crennel is just a terrible, terrible head coach.

Why is he still employed?

56

Classy teams don’t kick a FG there. This was a big debate on the boards last season with the Patriots. Many complained about the Patriots running up the score by going for it on fourth down, when in reality kicking a meaningless FG is the classless move.

Only up by four is a little iffy, but when you combine the gale force winds, Cleveland’s offense (in name only) and Pittsburgh’s defense, it may as well have been forty.

If that wasn’t the reason, maybe they were worried about the long snap getting carried off course by the wind leading to a Browns special teams TD.

EDIT: Or they were worried about a kickoff return. Failing to convert on fourth gives Cleveland a known starting position. Kicking off after a FG, who knows where they would have started. Even without a big return, again with the wind the kickoff could have sailed out of bounds, giving them the ball on the 40.

57

Your other points are well-taken, but this one is not. I don’t remember how many seconds it used up, but Parker was essentially stuffed very quickly, and the clock stopped on the turnover on downs.

The presumably safest play would have been the run that they ran, but a conservative pass play would have been my choice, even though it increases the risk a bit. As long as Ben is extremely careful with the ball, it would have had a greater likelihood of getting the first down and ending the game.

On the other hand, the game was essentially over anyway, given Cleveland’s offense. Too bad they couldn’t have pass blocked their way down the field.

58

Are you serious? Nobody in their right mind would call it running up the score if a team kicks a field goal while up by less than two scores.

I think the smartest play there would have been a pooch punt. Takes the most time off the clock, and gives the other team worse field position than the run up the middle they called. I don’t believe that a punt block was any more likely than Willie Parker coughing it up (not that he’s known as a fumbler).

59

In this situation, sure. But if you’re kneeling out the clock and then kick a FG as time expires, it’s running up the score even if you’re only ahead by 1 point.

EDIT: I expect an organization like the Steelers holds themselves to a higher standard. Whether anyone would call something running up the score and whether they’d feel good about doing something are two different things, I’d imagine.

60

They weren’t kneeling out the clock; they were running as much time off as possible. I agree that if they got it down to -10 seconds and then kicked a field goal, as I love to do in Madden, it would be a dick move. That wasn’t the case here, though.