OK, I've watched and re-watched the final play of Sunday's 11-10 win and read and re-read the official explanation of the play and no, the play still doesn't make any sense the way it was called.
That was a touchdown scored by Troy Polamalu at the end of that game.
The final score should have been 18-10.
That won't help anybody who bet on the Steelers. The final score is the final score and that's why gambling is, well, gambling.
© Willie Parker explained he wasn't in the game on fourth-and-goal in the first quarter because the coaching staff didn't want him running any short-yardage plays with a sore shoulder.
That makes sense. But why didn't the coaching staff go to Gary Russell in that situation instead of Mewelde Moore.
Moore has proven that for all the good things he can do, short-yardage running is not one of them.
Parker said after the game that he'll be lobbying for short-yardage runs. But you can bet Russell will be in that mix as well.
© I didn't see any weakness in Ben Roethlisberger's arm, particularly on that ball he zipped in to Hines Ward on third down on the final drive.
He put that ball in the only spot Ward could catch the ball and also threaded it between two defenders. That was a big-time throw.
© If there's a defensive player in the league playing better than James Harrison, I don't know who he is.
© Now you can see why the Steelers went with Mitch Berger instead of Paul Ernster at punter.
Don't be surprised if the team makes another change there soon.
© Why do opponents continue to try to cut block LaMarr Woodley?
Haven't they seen enough of him leaping over players and getting to the quarterback anyway to see that it doesn't work?
© There may not have ever been a game in the NFL in which a team has had 410 yards of offense, no turnovers and failed to score - before Sunday, that is.
13 comments:
5 up and 5 down...
Up
1. Hines Ward, absolutely huge game.
2. Ben, good to see him hopefully start to turn things around.
3. Troy- had one of the plays of the year so far IMO
4.Harrison, the man, no, the monster had another big time game
5. Spaeth, filled in well i thought
Down
1. Penalties, talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Tomlin needs to address this.
2. Punting, wow was that disgusting. 31 yard avg?
3. Kick returns, looked like we had high schoolers out there. Completely lost. Sp. Teams in general need an overhaul
4. 51 yard fg, why? why? Poor field, worse conditions. Not the best of ideas.
5. Mewelde Moore on short yardage plays, once again, why? He is the smallest guy on our offense.
I'm not trying to take away from a big win, but something just isn't right with this team. There is a 100 yard receiver, 300 yard QB, and a 125 yard rusher, and theres no TD's? I know a lot of that is explained by the goal line stand and penalities, but thats still just not good football. I think the blame once again goes on Tomlin and staff. Stats don't tell the entire story, but thats a lot of production wasted.
Otherwise, as mentioned, there was a lot of great performances out there and it was a good win. One peculiar thing to me is the O line which seems to be lost one minute and dominate on another, especially on running plays. I'm starting to think their problems are less about talent and more about the mental aspects and these 5 guys not having gelled yet. Unfortunately, this will go on next season too with a lot of change coming into the line.
They didn't want Parker running short-yardage with his shoulder. That's why Moore was out there. We'll see more Russell now.
Penalties were a big reason for the lack of TDs. 130 yards in penalties will negate a lot of yards, even 410.
Look at the special teams as a whole, not just the return game. Their coverage units are dynamite.
Russell has an opportunity to be a very good return man. I'll give them something of a pass in this game because of the wind conditions.
Reed was making them from 50 in warm-ups. That's why he went for the field goal.
Dale, I didn't see any new injuries yesterday...were there any? With a short week, any chance we get McFadden or Miller back?
Dale,
Do you feel there was a good reason for the disparity in penalties between the Chargers & Steelers? Was it 12 or 13 to 1? That PI call on Taylor in the 1st quarter was horrible. Holds on Ward & McHugh looked legit via replay, but I have trouble believing the officiating came out even close to even. Thoughts??
The officiating was very one sided. Just ask our D-line or Harrison if there was any holding going on by the Chargers. Right down to the last play of the game when the refs blew that call... At least they admitted it I guess... Big deal.
There was contact between Taylor and the receiver on the PI and the ball was in the air. It could have been a holding penalty on Taylor, but since the ball was in the air, it was a PI.
It could have been argued that the ball was uncatchable, but we'll never know since Taylor impeded the receiver's progress.
As for McFadden and Miller, I'd bet they return for New England.
The contact on the Taylor PI call is irrelevant. Taylor has a right to that spot on the field and the receiver ran in to him.
You'll see that called more often than not. The scales are tipped against the DBs. Most difficult position in sports to play. All of the rules are against you.
LOL We can thank a one Bill Polian for all these silly PI calls. Ruins the game if you ask me. Anyway, I do have concerns about the offense. Over 400 yards of offense and only 11 points? Not to complain about a win, but we better do better than that to get by in the playoffs. JMO
I know the calls were lopsided in this one against the Steelers, but all the complaining about the refs needs to stop. There is going to be games where the calls favor the Steelers, and I'm sure we can all think of a few, and we're not going to talk about those.
I'm as a diehard of a Steelers fan as anyone, and I don't like some of the calls made, especially in regards to QB hits, but you're never going to have a perfect game called and it goes both ways. This one is just fresh. If you think the refs were against the Steelers on this game, then be happy the team overcame them and won. Frankly, I think the Steelers played a very undisciplined game and hopefully some of these calls make them think a bit harder in the future. Every player on the offense could use some thinking right now.
Dale,
Is the improved pass defense more a function of this year's awesome pass rush (Harrison and Woodley playing like animals) or is the secondary just playing that much better than in the past few years?
A little of both. The defensive backs know they don't have to cover as long because the QBs are trying to get rid of it quickly. The defensive front trusts the DBs to knock down any of that quick stuff.
It's also a very sure-tackling group.
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