They did try a little. On the third possession (in overtime) they went for the deep pass on second and ten, which is very aggressive. On the second possesion, inside the two minute, it’s hard to fault giving the ball to the league’s leading rusher. The first drive was actually a successful drive yardage-wise, though they stalled once they got in Steeler territory. But it did eat up 4 of the 6 minutes remaining, which is an aggressive ball control tactic. And that drive included a couple completions over ten yards in the air.
I agree they didn’t succeed in going for the throat, but I don’t necessarily think it was for lack of trying.
I’m not saying they didn’t try; in fact I’m sort of arguing the opposite: they tried, and they had their shots, but they weren’t good enough to do it. I guess I just disagree with the premise that tonight’s game proved the Jets were on equal footing with the Steelers.
Oh, I get it. Yeah, you make a pretty good argument on that point. The only thing they have going for them is that they were good enough to put themselves in those positions in the first place, just not good enough to close the deal. We could go back and forth in the same argument about whether or not the Bills were good in the early nineties. In light of your point, I’m pleased to see I described the Jets as “good” and not “great”. We may have actually identified the difference between the two. Good teams put themselves in position to win. Great teams capitalize on it.
By the way, seeing your name reminded me of something. I think my “scramblers can’t win it all” theory is in jeopardy this season. I believe I set the cutoff at 300 yards rushing for a QB. Any more than that and you have built your team on the wrong paradigm. The main two reasons being that a) you aren’t willing to stand in there until the last possible second to make the clutch throw because you trust your feet more than your arm, and b) you end up too tired to make good decisions in the fourth quarter. (The “b)” reason was added after the Gaints-Falcons game this year, when I finally watched a full game of Michael Vick. It was apparent to me he was sucking wind after the first quarter.)
For some reason, I thought both the Steelers and Eagles (in addition to the Falcons and Vikings) had more than 300 yards scrambling, but apparently they do not. I cannot imagine the Falcons winning it all, although I’d give the Vikings an outside chance. So the theory isn’t in as much jeopardy as I thought.
Michael Vick isn’t a traditional scrambling quarterback. He’s more like a running back who can throw. He’s the fastest running and most evasive QB I’ve ever seen in my life. The normal rules don’t apply to this guy.
Damn…the Rams might want to start mixing in a little coverage on those punts. That’s like the third big return.
Well, the problem I’ve had from the beginning of the discussion (which if I recall correctly was originally related to McNabb), was that rushing yards are, without qualification, a positive statistic. A gain of 300 yards over the course of a season is a gain of 300 yards, by land or by air. That being the case, I think any relationship you try to define between rushing yards and losing is flawed from the beginning, because it’s very easy to come up with a list of possibilities that invalidate the relationship.
Take Culpepper. He ran for 406 yards this season. Your argument is, I think, that those 406 yards came at the expense of even more passing yards, on balance, and by extension more points. But what if it didn’t? What if those, what? 80-90 carries? actually “would” have turned into twenty sacks, five interceptions, and a bunch of incomplete passes if he hadn’t taken off downfield? It’s possible, right? And if it’s possible, the premise as you present it is flawed.
Also, I think the 300 yard cutoff is a bit reckless, and resubmit Steve Young, who topped that number six times, albeit not during the two Super Bowl years.
Why the hell is Bender (from Futurama) doing color commentary on this game? Or secondary color commentary, whatever we want to call that. God, is he stupid.
Did anyone else find it ridiculous that Martz was using all of his timeouts within the last two minutes even though he was down 30 points? What, did he think that the Rams could come back?
I won’t go so far as to say that it was classless, but it was certainly stupid. The Falcons fans were booing unmercifully, and rightfully so. I think the only ones that weren’t booing were the Fox executives who could squeeze in just a few more commercials.
It just didn’t make any sense. If it was to show that his team never quit and played hard all the way to the end is was a dismal failure. The game was long over, all that was left was to run out the clock.
Airman, you will never know how far I twisted my body to the right to make the Jets miss that last four second field goal. Didn’t even realize I was doing it.
OK, sober reflection time is over. It’s time to get back to the smack.
Can anyone doubt that this is a team of destiny after they won that debacle? Diego Maradona was a piker compared to the Hand of God we saw in that game. But you know what? After the thrashing that they gave the league this year it’s only natural to have a let-down every once in a while. I just hope that this was the only one. Two more wins and the trophy case gets just a bit more lustrous over at the Steelers front office.
If anyone has a legit reason to talk smack right now, it’s a faithful Steeler’s fan.
The only game that will now bring me joy is either the Steeler’s taking it all, or the Vikes losing to Atlanta again in OT on a field goal.
(I’m hedging my bets on these playoffs)
My theory is that scrambling, or more specifically having confidence in your legs, stunts your growth as a passer. The 300 yards cutoff is less than 20 yards of scrambling per game, and yet in all the Superbowls ever played, only the 49ers scrambled for 300+ yards and won, and they needed two hall of fame QBs to pull that off. I see a pattern there.
Let me ask you this: McNabb rushed for an average* of 511 yards per season before this year started. This season he only rushed for an average* of 235 yards. By your logic, that’s almost 300 yards the Eagles missed out on. But I contend that all the rushing hinders the passing game. It’s no coincidence that this season was also his best passing effort by far.
Whereas in his previous seasons he averaged* 2983 passing yards per season, this season he passed for an average* of 4133. (He still has yet to officially break the 4000 yard barrier, but he’s a good enough passer now to be able to do it.) So while the Eagles may indeed be missing out on 300 yards of offense, they gained 700 yards of extra production due to proper emphasis on QB duties.
Now granted, TO was brought in, who caught for 1200 yards this season, and the departed Thrash was only good for about 600 yards per season, so it’s not difficult to pinpoint exactly where those 700 extra yards came from. But that only serves to further my point. If scrambling is so good, why didn’t he scramble this season? The answer is because he didn’t need to.
You don’t scramble unless you have to. Why? Because not only is scrambling a symptom of a problem, but it causes other problems as well. The problems it causes for a QB are more injuries, stunted development, and getting tired in the fourth quarter. Passers carrying the ball makes about as much sense as running backs throwing the ball. Sure, it can help as a gimmick every now and again, but that’s about it.
Averages adjusted for games missed. I calculated the actual average per game, and then multiplied by sixteen to get a normalized season average. The guy misses a lot of games, which is one of the many problems with QBs scrambling.
I wouldn’t worry too much. The Steelers didn’t look much better when they played the Jets in the regular season, either. If I were you, I’d just look at it as one of those matchups where the opponent always seems to play you tough, for whatever reason. There’s a bunch of those type matchups in the league. At least you don’t have to worry about the Jets next year. Not in the regualr season, anyway. And hey, the Patriots didn’t exactly light it up during their winning streak, either. At the end of the day, all that matters is the W. The Steelers earned and deserve the win. Period.
I do not pray for the outcome of football games; I do not cry after football games. I came very close to doing both with this one and I was hoping I was within range of Heinz Field so that the rather British English I was trying to apply to Brien’s kicks would work. Apparently it did.
I feel sorry for Brien – while I’ve no doubt local fans will give him asylum, this might be a good time to look into travelling abroad. Between the two missed field goals, I noticed him rubbing his stomach like it hurt. I think the pressure may have gotten to him. On the other hand, that gentleman I’ve been seeing pointed out that, if Reid had missed, things would have been just as bad. As it is, I wouldn’t have been surprised to find Reid was carried home from the game on the shoulders of the fans!
There’s just one thing. My brother, a Steelers fan who lives in the heart of Patriots territory was watching the game at the airport waiting for a flight to England. Maybe I should call him and tell him how it turned out!
Special teams - the Rams Achilles Heel.
Before the season, I wanted Martz gone for last year’s playoff fiasco. Now I want Mike Stock - the special teams coach - gone and Martz scolded severely. You can have all the offense in the world but you have to cover on kickoffs/punts, dammit. And what was with all the dropped passes? Gaaaaaaaaaah.
Oh well. They had a good season and have been to the Bowl before. Now to concentrate on Reverse the Curse II - Cubs in 2005.
This comment is probably going to seem a little out of place considering all the serious analysis of the game going on, but what the hell was up with the announcer who kept calling Jeff Reed ‘Josh’?
Do they not have a little computer screen in front of them that lists the correct names of the players?
He called Jeff Reed ‘Josh’ about three times right before the last kick of the game, and then after breaking for commercial and coming back, he finally got it right.
