PatsWickedPissah

Yes, that does make sense. Ben is a horse to take down.
Brady senses the rush and moves well in the pocket but I admit I'd hate to see him take hit after vicious hit from a bad OL.

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Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck." RAH

PatsFanSince74

I don't know whether you folks got the game on the cable in Boston, but I watched the whole game here in NYC. My impression was that the Steelers were flat-out not ready to play while the Jests were hitting hard and giving them new looks on D. there wasn't a whole lot of life out of the Steelers and Tomlin looked like a deer in the headlights on the sideline. At one point in the first H Big Ben was laughing on the sidelines at a really inappropriate time (like, they were losing and he'd been sacked a few times already).

Bottom line, I think this is a big lesson for Tomlin. His guys weren't ready to play and the buck stops there IMO.

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It is what it is. It wasn't what it wasn't.

solman

You shouldn't have let the 7-2 record fool you.

The Steelers are an average team. Average teams lose to bad opponents.

The Steelers play only one above average team all year, the New England Patriots.

Seattle and Cleveland may appear to be quality opponents at 6-4, but those 6-4 records were earned against REALLY bad teams.

Triggerfish

I agree that The Steelers have just looked "flat" lately. No intensity on the field, or on the sideline. Seems like that has been a reoccuring problem with this team, and I hope the hell they snap out of this funk soon! It almost seemed like it started in the second half of the Baltimore game and has continued through the last two weeks. I think Tomlin is a decent coach who still has plenty to learn, but he definitely doesn't have the same motivating intensity as Cowher pre-superbowl years.

To be honest, I knew that game was over when it went to overtime. The Steelers just seem to lie down when the game goes OT. 3rd and 13 and you run a freakin draw play? C'mon! It's OT! At least TRY to get the 1st down! I think they need to work on their playcalling, as all season it seems to be too aggressive at times, and at other times, way too conservative.

Fixit

It looked to me like the Jets, knowing that Roethlisberger is great at shrugging off tackles and scrambling to keep plays alive, schemed to keep him in the pocket, where his deficiencies become pretty evident.

If kept in the pocket, he probably won't beat you, unless you really suck. Then again, the Jets really suck.

This might slow down all of the "Roethlisberger is a surefire Hall of Famer" talk for a week or two, at least.

Triggerfish

Actually, Ben is an efficient passer in the pocket. The problem is he rarely has a "pocket" to pass from this year, with the O-line not picking up the pass rush. I think Madden or one of the other idiot commentators said something about Ben being less efficient in the pocket a few weeks back, and now that's the token phrase out of everyone's mouth when talking about him. I watch every Steelers game, and I just can't see where he's coming from on that. Obviously a QB is going to be more comfortable throwing the ball when he has protection and isn't running for his life. I don't know...personally I think that's just a load of "sports talk" bunk.

Fixit

Efficient? Yes. Dangerous, as he definitely is on the run? No.

Triggerfish

My point is that I don't think he's any less "dangerous" when in the pocket. The only reason he could be considered "dangerous" is due to the fact that MOST QB's aren't as capable of making a play when flushed out of the pocket. If he's so "dangerous" running for his life, wouldn't it stand to reason he'd be even MORE deadly if given enough protection to make reads from the pocket? So, to say he's dangerous out of the pocket, but "sucks" when in the pocket, doesn't make much sense to me.

Fixit

It doesn't matter if it makes sense to you. Most of his big plays are a result of him shaking off a sack, running out of the pocket, and giving his receivers time to break away from the coverage. How many times has he done exactly that and thrown a lollipop to a STUNNINGLY WIDE OPEN receiver? How many times do you see him toss a horribly underthrown ball, only to see his receiver bail him out?

When kept in the pocket, he has to rely on his abilities to read defenses, find his open receivers, check down, and hit them. Those abilities are a tad unrefined.

His numbers look good, sure. But watching him is another matter. He can make plays, but he's nowhere close to playing at an elite QB level.

Triggerfish

I guess we're just looking at it from different angles. I agree that he has scrambled and bought time for his receivers to get open quite often this year, but it's not like he's PLANNING on it. It's a matter of necessity. If he had a decent O-line, he wouldn't have to scramble and make time for his receivers to get out of coverage. Instead, he'd be able to stand in the pocket and let them get open. I don't see how the argument can be made that he can't pass from the pocket, when a majority of the time, there IS no pocket! The fact that he doesn't complete as many passes from the pocket is a product of the bad O-line, not his inability to do it.