Roethlisberger is the No. 3 and is dressed.
Batch, Keenan Lewis, Polamalu, Urbik, Kemoeatu, Sunny Harris and Nick Eason are down for the Steelers.
Eason's a surprise. I guess they're sure Kirschke can make it through a whole game.
Antwan Barnes and Suggs the only notables for the Ravens.
Urbik is active, Hills is down.
ReplyDeleteEason a healthy scratch? Or did he pull something in warmups? I don't get that.
ReplyDeleteEason a healthy scratch because Travis Kirschke is active.
ReplyDeleteOh, ok then. When you say it like that, well, it still doesn't sound smart. They're rolling with 5 DL against a team that wants to pound the ball? And Kirschke is about as reliable as Batch. They can't count on him for 30+ snaps. Seems they are so bent on stopping the blood letting on kick returns that they're sacrificing the run D thru attrition. Better jump out to a big early lead.
ReplyDeleteHood and Hoke can play DE. No worries.
ReplyDelete(#22) W. Gay sucks at pass coverage. Can we please find someone better for pass coverage.
ReplyDeleteso everyone knows where I stand after the game. That series to end the half is on TOMLIN. That was absurd.
ReplyDeleteRyan Clark is sure showing why he didn't get a contract extension offer.
ReplyDeleteNow we can see how bad BA's offense really is. Somehow Balt manages to get Flacco through game after game despite his penchant for staring down receivers, yet BA can't nurse Dixon through even one half. I hope this is a wake up call for Tomlin to see just how poor his offensive coaches are as well as the danger of building an offense around the scrambling ablity of the qb.
I love Lamaar Woodley but that Karate kick after the sack was ridiculous. Not to mention the fact that he could blow a knee out with that silliness.
ReplyDeletecompletely agree with anonymous above me. Don't pull a Gramatica.
ReplyDeleteClosing seconds of the thrid quater and the Ravens are 3rd and 12 and (#22) william Gay can't make the tackle to get this defence off of the field.
ReplyDeleteI loved Woodley's kick. SACK! KICK! BYYAAAAHHHH!!!!
ReplyDeleteWell this game just about sums up BA's offense, ridiculous, that's what his play calling has been all year long. 3.3 Avg. Yds. per carry for Mendenhall yet he passes three straight on a row to end regulation, he's just an idiot, let's get rid of him. When you look at the players this offense has and their play making ability it just doesn't make any sense. I agree on anonymous above, the play calling to end the half was a complete aberration, loosing by 7 and yet they decide it is not that bad, give me a break.
ReplyDeleteHonestly does anyone believes we can make it through 3 games playing away during the playoffs? I don't.
You're blaming Arians for this one? What about the defense that allowed 393 yards and yet another late drive for a score to tie it?
ReplyDeleteI thought Arians called a pretty good game for the kid.
And Urbik was not active. Hills was.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Dale, but BA's play-calling and game planning leave a lot to be desired. He has allowed himself to become so enamored with BR's ability to run around and make something out of nothing, I don't think he knows how to call a real game anymore. As others have pointed out, it looks as if the plays just come out of a random play generator. The offense is neither fish nor fowl and from the player comments I've read, they don't care for having no identity.
ReplyDeleteThe reason Baltimore is able to get yards is because they are a run first team and the run sets up the pass. It's the same way with a west coast passing game, the pass sets up the few run handoffs the qb makes. The Steeler offense can't do either.
But here's the clincher from last night's game. Pgh gets the ball first in OT. They move the ball toward midfield with mostly runs.
They run on first down and get 4 yards and now are faced with 2nd and 6. What play gets called? A homerun attempt down the sidelines.
I'm guessing BA once again "got greedy" seeing a banged up Balt secondary and couldn't resist calling a long pass when a short passing and run game might well have gotten the team into winning FG range.
IMHO, EVERY single coach on the offensive side of the ball needs to be released and replaced after this season. Look at Wallace, 15 games into the season and he has no idea where he is in relation to the sideline. Where is the coaching to correct that? The OL still gets "confused" by stunts and twists. AND they have to meet at Hartwig's house to figure things out. That is on the coach.
Just one correction, Wallace knew where he was, the pass was thrown high and out of bounds. He did good to even catch the damn thing.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, not a great pass, but the receiver needs to know where he is so he can adjust to try and keep his feet in bounds. Right now, Wallace does not have good technique with his feet along the sideline. He's shown this on other catches this year, too, not being able to stay in bounds. The way Wallace is being used is on deep, fly patterns down the sideline. It's important that he knows where he is. I'm not trying to knock the kid, just making a point about him not getting better at this aspect of receiving which speaks to the larger issue of coaching.
ReplyDeletei'm no fan of arians, but i don't think this game was that bad for him. the 2 knocks are the play you pointed out on 2nd and 6 and also the lack of more designed runs for dixon. roll him out more, give him half the field to read and decide if he wants to run with it.
ReplyDeletethe biggest disappointment to me from this game is the inability to find a way to win, again. the defense HAS to stop them on 4th and 5. the DB's played very poorly against an average group of receivers.
i thought lebeua's decision to play man on that 4th down play was bad. first, they were beating our DB's all night long. second, the ravens throw 65-70% of the time to their RB's and a zone provides better coverage for backs out of the backfield. by playing man, we played to their strength in that situation and let them isolate rice on a LB.
injuries, ben has an off night, the defense gets soft, coaching mistakes, turnovers, special teams...it just seems like if it's not one thing it's something else. things just aren't coming together this year, that's all.