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Sunday, December 09, 2012

Game Day thread

The teams have just finished warm ups and headed back to the locker room.

Ben Roethlisberger looked good again throwing the ball around, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Inactive for the Steelers are Leftwich, Taylor, Mendenhall, Woodley, Malecki, Woods and Adams.

For San Diego, Royal, Donald Butler, Jeromey Clary, Tyronne Green, Antonio Garay, Mike Harris and Lardarius Green are down.

There are no surprise lineup changes for the Steelers. Beachum starts at RT; Allen at CB; and Worilds at OLB.

For San Diego, Kevin Haslam and Reggie Wells will start at tackle for the Chargers in place of Harris and Clary, while Rex Hadnot will start for Green.
Demorrio Williams will start at LB in place of Butler.

16 comments:

Homegrown Misanthropist said...

wow, no way we can win a game at the playoffs.

Easley said...

In the words of Jim Mora... Playoffs?!?!?

Henry said...

The Pittsburgh Bed Poopers.

This game hasn't been embarassing. It's been an absolutely shameful performance.

Anonymous said...

I like Haley, but his gameplan was really bad. How much of it was dictated by the need to proctect BR, I don't know. But if they had to shrink the playbook because of it, then Tomlin should have elected to start Batch. The first series, I have a flashback to the SF game last year. I don't care what anyone says, a 75% or whatever BR is NOT better than a 100% Batch, esp one who had a couple games under his belt.

Henry said...

Defense was awful today. Anytime your defense forced zero TOs and gives up a first down or 2 on EVERY SINGLE DRIVE, you were below the line.

Front 7 should be ashamed of themselves for not getting any pressure on Rivers despite SD's patchwork practice squad Oline. Time to Bench Ziggy and Fat Casey. They suck.

Anonymous said...

I agree. 75% of Ben is not good enough. That said, field position is critical. So then, how many times has A. Brown fair caught the ball inside the 10? I did not see the game so can someone tell me if he should just let them go?

Jimbo

Anonymous said...

After today, I am convinced more than ever, that the Steelers play down to the level of their competition. You would think with a playoff birth opportunity, that motivation wouldn't be a problem. There's a certain amount of pride and competitiveness at all levels of play, from pee wee football to the NFL. It's the coach's job to inspire the troops, to bring out the best in them and put them in a position to win. Tomlin may have a good rapport with his players, but he's a horrible motivator. The Steelers have good players, but Tomlin can't get the players to do their best. The only saving grace today was that Baltimore and Cincinnati lost. With losses to Oak, Tenn, Cleve and SD, barely beating Phil and KC, the Steelers don't deserve to be in the playoffs. There's no fire in the belly of this beast.

Anonymous said...

why does Tomlin continue to get a pass? this team has lost to Oak Tenn Clev and now a SD team that had guys off the street playing OL. this guy likes to talk tough and kiss the ass of the veterans but cant have his team ready vs poor teams. Same as last yr. But we never hear a peep about this overrated coach.

Patrick said...

I watched the game at a bar and had no audio. What happened with the fumble that looked like a forward pass? Was it blatantly a backward pass? It seemed to me that it was forward but I didn't have a great view of it.

For all the Tomlin defenders, someone please explain why you don't go for 2 after the Wallace TD. If you want to say the game was over, blah blah, then ok, but the difference between 17 and 18 at the point in the game is of absolutely no consequence at that point in the game. But 16 is a world of difference. Its basic math and Tomlin fails at that.

Anonymous said...

Exactly. he has no clue when to go for 2. he's botched this on numerous occasions. Tomlin has been riding the coat tails of Ben and Lebeau. He constantly makes game management errors and doesn't have his team prepared vs poor teams. I guess he was still giddy over the Balt win.

kyle said...

I had to work so I was only checking scores. I heard about the 2-point conversion thing and I imagine it goes like this: What's more likely, converting three 2-point conversions or getting an extra possession via an onside kick or turnover?

I don't think anyone is going to the chart down 24. I wouldn't have a problem either way. You can go for 2 with the idea that your defense will hold or you will get onside kicks or you can try to score some touchdowns and worry about the field goal if you actually have a chance.

Regardless of what Tomlin would have done about that, I don't really care. The problem seemed to be that the offense couldn't get going until it was too late and the defense couldn't get stops. I'd say those things are to blame and not so much the chart or cheerleading.

Patrick said...

I'm not saying those aren't the problems. But the point is that down by 17 or 18 v. down by 16 is completely lost on Tomlin. The thought never crossed his mind. You don't need a chart for that.

You need to re-calculate your made up "non-playoff lose" statistic again.

kyle said...

Down by 16 does not matter when you aren't getting stops. It does matter if you don't get one and now you need a touchdown instead of a field goal.

As far as the "made up stat," you were the one making up excuses to the numbers. Also, remember you said it was valid (then you decided to change your criteria, which is what you always do when facts contradict your "feeling"). No need to be a dick.

Patrick said...

I said it was a fair argument and then asked you if you noticed whether many of those teams were 7-9, 8-8, or even better.

I suppose that is "changing the criteria"

kyle said...

For the sake of myself and everyone else who reads this blog I am not going to hijack another comment thread with a back and forth with you. This will be the last thing I'll say on it here. Have all the last words you like after.

The internet makes me seem like a homer. I am decidedly not a homer. If people came on this blog after a loss (or even a win) and had legitimate gripes I wouldn't have a problem. I would be one of them. But when people come on here and bash someone wildly, or say a judgment call was "clearly" the wrong decision, or blame coaches or players for ridiculous things, I feel like I should try to get the discussion moved to facts.

16 points is two touchdowns and two 2-point conversions, obviously. 17 points is two touchdowns and a field goal. 18 points is three touchdowns. When your defense is not stopping the other team and you have been stopped on short yardage at least twice in the game there is no reason to risk having to score an extra touchdown. Unless you feel you can do it. Like I said, I wouldn't have cared either way. Please, don't pretend nobody would be criticizing Tomlin for going for 2 and not getting it if they were down that much.

And it is not a professional football coach's job to "motivate" his players. That is a high school coach's or college coach's job. If you have players on your NFL team who need motivated, you have the wrong players on your team. The problem today, from what I can tell after the fact, was game plan. I think that would be a more than fair criticism.

After the Cleveland game I didn't think they were the worst team in the league. After the second Baltimore game I didn't think they were a "dangerous playoff team." I decide how successful a season was at the end of the season. I get why Dale tries to establish a running narrative for a season, it's his job, but why do fans do it?

Christ, look at all this nonsense I wrote. I'm sorry, everyone. I promise I'm done for a while.

kyle said...

For the sake of myself and everyone else who reads this blog I am not going to hijack another comment thread with a back and forth with you. This will be the last thing I'll say on it here. Have all the last words you like after.

The internet makes me seem like a homer. I am decidedly not a homer. If people came on this blog after a loss (or even a win) and had legitimate gripes I wouldn't have a problem. I would be one of them. But when people come on here and bash someone wildly, or say a judgment call was "clearly" the wrong decision, or blame coaches or players for ridiculous things, I feel like I should try to get the discussion moved to facts.

16 points is two touchdowns and two 2-point conversions, obviously. 17 points is two touchdowns and a field goal. 18 points is three touchdowns. When your defense is not stopping the other team and you have been stopped on short yardage at least twice in the game there is no reason to risk having to score an extra touchdown. Unless you feel you can do it. Like I said, I wouldn't have cared either way. Please, don't pretend nobody would be criticizing Tomlin for going for 2 and not getting it if they were down that much.

And it is not a professional football coach's job to "motivate" his players. That is a high school coach's or college coach's job. If you have players on your NFL team who need motivated, you have the wrong players on your team. The problem today, from what I can tell after the fact, was game plan. I think that would be a more than fair criticism.

After the Cleveland game I didn't think they were the worst team in the league. After the second Baltimore game I didn't think they were a "dangerous playoff team." I decide how successful a season was at the end of the season. I get why Dale tries to establish a running narrative for a season, it's his job, but why do fans do it?

Christ, look at all this nonsense I wrote. I'm sorry, everyone. I promise I'm done for a while.