Pittsburgh & Cassel - 30/11/08

[Halifax_Pats_Fan]

For me, I appreciate what Cassel has done to this point and predict/hope for success going forward.

However I think his true test will be this week which make me so excited to see how he will do. I think when or if Cassel pasts this test and performs well this week then I will feel more comfortable putting him in the top 15-20% of QB's in the NFL.

For me, and I know there are mixed sentiments about this, this game will tell me a lot about Cassel's progression. He has not faced a LeBeau D yet. Do well in this game and we got ourselves a very solid QB....

 

[Kontradiction]

We CAN win this game. We had Indy going into overtime and they would not have been able to stop us had we gotten the ball. Heck, if Gaffney catches that pass (a pass he usually catches), we don't even go to overtime. Keep this in mind when you get nervous before the Pats play a team that's supposed to be in the upper crust of the NFL.

 

[Captn]

i dont think hes up to the challenge, but we shall see....

Who Big Ben?

 

[PatsFan2]

For me, I appreciate what Cassel has done to this point and predict/hope for success going forward.

However I think his true test will be this week which make me so excited to see how he will do. I think when or if Cassel pasts this test and performs well this week then I will feel more comfortable putting him in the top 15-20% of QB's in the NFL.

For me, and I know there are mixed sentiments about this, this game will tell me a lot about Cassel's progression. He has not faced a LeBeau D yet. Do well in this game and we got ourselves a very solid QB....

I had that same thought but this game against a **** LeBeau D shouldn't be an indictment of Cassel now or in the Future. In all our Four Losses Cassel is not responsible for any of them as stange as that might sound. We know they brought him along slowly at the begining and he missed Moss and our TE's quite a few times. But when you take our Four Losses into consderation Cassel cannot be Blamed for any of them.

Week 3 Miami = Defense got steam rolled by Wild Cat.:yeeha:

Week 6 San Diego = Defense never put a Finger on Philip Rivers embarrassing.

Week 9 Indianapolis = Thank you Jabar Gaffney for that drop and David Thomas threw his best illegal block of the year well after whistle.:disagreement: *I blame Gaffney* no *I blame Thomas*:disagreement:

Week 13 Jets = Bumbling stumbling fumbling Ben Watson, Gaffney with another drop and Defense who gave up 3rd and 15 in OT.

Now that's our Four Losses and the Patriots Offense *not Matt Cassel* coupled with our Defense lost two of those winnable Games. The other two our Defense didn't have a prayer. The question now is Matt Cassel due for a bad one? He hasn't really had a bad game yet and based on his play he quickly going into Tim Brady's consistent territory. Is Matt Cassel due for a bad game? If we lose i am not going to indict him for it...after all Matty Ice like Tom cool is Super-human.

 

[Mack Herron]

Cassel will be fine. The defense is the worry. If Hobbs gives up another big play and we cannot defend the pass, we will lose. If we can get off hte field on thrid down, we will win.

 

[Gwedd]

Having watched the Steelers games this year, besides our own, I am not worried about New England's chances of winning. I believe they will beat Pittsburgh.

Now, having said that, I respect the Steelers and their abilities. They, too, have the potential to come into Gillette and beat the Patriots, but I don't think that's going to happen. It's not that Pittsburgh doesn't have talent, they do. It's that every game is a sine wave with them, a rollercoaster of good plays backed by bad plays, missed tackles, lost opportunities, and Big Ben trying ti imitate Favre with "why the heck did he throw that" passes.

 

[Kontradiction]

Having watched the Steelers games this year, besides our own, I am not worried about New England's chances of winning. I believe they will beat Pittsburgh.

Now, having said that, I respect the Steelers and their abilities. They, too, have the potential to come into Gillette and beat the Patriots, but I don't think that's going to happen. It's not that Pittsburgh doesn't have talent, they do. It's that every game is a sine wave with them, a rollercoaster of good plays backed by bad plays, missed tackles, lost opportunities, and Big Ben trying ti imitate Favre with "why the heck did he throw that" passes.

I hope he's not doing a good impression of Favre whom SHREDDED our defense a couple of weeks ago.

 

[chrisfx811]

The Steelers D is solid. How often Cassel capitalizes on redzone opportunities is a big question. I don't see Pitt giving Randy the opportunities that Miami did.

On the flip side, Big Ben is prone to making mistakes, but our D is not prone to forcing qb's into mistakes this year. Poor QB pressure, coupled with a soft secondary and a weakened LB corps could make the Steelers O look good.

NE has to get some turnovers, and special teams play has to be on point.

As bad as our team has been hit by injuries this year, this game is one they need to come out of without making that list longer.

 

[Steel74]

Having watched the Steelers games this year, besides our own, I am not worried about New England's chances of winning. I believe they will beat Pittsburgh.

Now, having said that, I respect the Steelers and their abilities. They, too, have the potential to come into Gillette and beat the Patriots, but I don't think that's going to happen. It's not that Pittsburgh doesn't have talent, they do. It's that every game is a sine wave with them, a rollercoaster of good plays backed by bad plays, missed tackles, lost opportunities, and Big Ben trying ti imitate Favre with "why the heck did he throw that" passes.

You've summed up our play in a nutshell. If Cassell can complete 60 percent of his passes, you will win.

 

[Steel74]

The Steelers D is solid. How often Cassel capitalizes on redzone opportunities is a big question. I don't see Pitt giving Randy the opportunities that Miami did.

On the flip side, Big Ben is prone to making mistakes, but our D is not prone to forcing qb's into mistakes this year. Poor QB pressure, coupled with a soft secondary and a weakened LB corps could make the Steelers O look good.

NE has to get some turnovers, and special teams play has to be on point.

As bad as our team has been hit by injuries this year, this game is one they need to come out of without making that list longer.

Our offense is as consistent and functional as an episode of "Celebrity Rehab." The Pats can beat us with field goals.

 

[chrisfx811]

Well, even going back to last season, the Pat's defense has made some JAG QB's look like potential HOFers, so Big Ben could revisit 2005 if they don't play well.

 

[JSn]

Our offense is as consistent and functional as an episode of "Celebrity Rehab." The Pats can beat us with field goals.

LOL - Come on now, you gotta root for your boys. I've only seen one Pitts game, but they looked pretty good. I'm worried about the goodness of your D and the badness of ours. If we can score one more point than them, I'll be happy.

I would not, however, be sad to see a blowout win by the Pats.

 

[Leave No Doubt]

Our offense is as consistent and functional as an episode of "Celebrity Rehab." The Pats can beat us with field goals.

LOL

When Ben had all that facial surgery after his bike accident I remember reading about his type of injuries and the "side effects" from having those steel plates implanted in his face. One of the problems cited was ongoing severe headaches in cold weather and off-and-on vision problems as a result of his injuries. Supposedly these issues can plague someone for life. I wonder if he experiences any of that?

Steelers D is damn good though and they've inflicted their share of bad injuries on us.

 

[Steel74]

LOL - Come on now, you gotta root for your boys. I've only seen one Pitts game, but they looked pretty good. I'm worried about the goodness of your D and the badness of ours. If we can score one more point than them, I'll be happy.

I would not, however, be sad to see a blowout win by the Pats.

Oh, I root. I'm born and raised Pittsburgh Steelers football. We don't go to church in western PA, we watch the Steelers.

Having said that, I'm a football fan, not a cheerleader, so I have to call it like I see it. That's why a lot of other Pittsburgh fans don't like me, and why I'm welcome on numerous enemy fan boards: I don't talk sh*t, I talk football.

Last year, when the Kool-Aid drinkers were talking about how we were going to cream New England and Anthony Smith was going bomb all over Brady, I said, Really? The Patriots look pretty scary, and our offense is disorganized. Our QB is reckless, our coordinator's a f*cking idiot, our O-line gives up more sacks than a potato factory and our secondary -- with the notable exception of Polamalu -- just plain sucks. And Anthony Smith is one of the stupidest football players I've ever seen, in any team's uniform. Lo and behold, the Steelers got their doors blown off.

This year, there's been small improvement in those categories, and NE's defense isn't what it was last year. But Pittsburgh's offense is still woefully inconsistent. The play-calling is still spastic, like it's being called by a Commodore 64 and a ******ed person, the O-line still gives up too many sacks, and Ben just isn't comfortable in the offense they have him in.

The most troubling development, however, is that Cassell is clearly getting a feel for Josh McDaniels' scheme. The Steelers D really is outstanding, with considerable give in pass coverage, but if the Steelers D can't get off the field and Pittsburgh has to match points with New England, it could be a long friggin game ...

 

[Steel74]

LOL

When Ben had all that facial surgery after his bike accident I remember reading about his type of injuries and the "side effects" from having those steel plates implanted in his face. One of the problems cited was ongoing severe headaches in cold weather and off-and-on vision problems as a result of his injuries. Supposedly these issues can plague someone for life. I wonder if he experiences any of that?

Steelers D is damn good though and they've inflicted their share of bad injuries on us.

I don't know about the after-effects of Ben's accident riding the rice rocket. There's been considerable speculation throughout Steeler Nation, but nothing definitive has come out.

What we do know is Ben's throwing shoulder is still hurt, and Tomlin hasn't benched him for a game or two while it heals, as he should. The accuracy and the velocity of his throws are clearly affected by his bad shoulder.

The Steelers D is one of the best I've seen under LeBeau. They deserve the Medal of Freedom or the Navy Cross or whatever for service above and beyond. The Steelers are 8-3; they'd be 3-8 were it not for the defense's heroics.

But you can't win consistently in the NFL with that kind of imbalance, where one squad is charging ahead, taking the enemy pillbox, and the other squad is still standing around on the beach, fumbling with their maps.

 

[JSn]

Having said that, I'm a football fan, not a cheerleader, so I have to call it like I see it. That's why a lot of other Pittsburgh fans don't like me, and why I'm welcome on numerous enemy fan boards: I don't talk sh*t, I talk football.

Without question, you'll be popular here, then.

So let me ask you this: how would YOU game-plan against the Steelers? We're expecting to see a spread attack. Our Blitz pick-up and Cassel's footwork + sudden feel for pressure makes this the logical choice, at least until the Steelers show they can shut it down.

Defensively, I think our front three are going to have to attack like maniacs and hopefully we'll see some sacks. Hanging back to help the secondary is feeling like a waste of talent. We're pretty good at shutting the run down, like your guys, so I think this will very much be an air-ball contest, not unlike last night's Saints/Packers game. It may come down to the best decision-making at QB. And from what your saying, that could bode well for us.

 

[mesoslo]

The steelers, do they play more man coverage than zone coverage? With a physical defense Iam guessing they will play more man coverage. Cassel was able to run the ball well against the jets due to the jets playing man coverage and leaving big gaps open.

 

[billdog3484]

I think we are going to score points. I was thinking, we are probalby going to need Cassel to hit a WR deep splitting their cover 2 a few times, like we did last year on that chump Smith

 

[Ring 6]

We CAN win this game. We had Indy going into overtime and they would not have been able to stop us had we gotten the ball. Heck, if Gaffney catches that pass (a pass he usually catches), we don't even go to overtime. Keep this in mind when you get nervous before the Pats play a team that's supposed to be in the upper crust of the NFL.

No, we WILL win this game.
We are a better team than Pittsburgh. We are playing better. We consistently beat them more often than they beat us.

One of the weaknesses in the Steeler D and scheme is defending our spread offense. We found the issue in 2002 and have exploited it ever since. Cassel has shown over the last 2 weeks he can effectively run that scheme.

 

[Ring 6]

Well, even going back to last season, the Pat's defense has made some JAG QB's look like potential HOFers, so Big Ben could revisit 2005 if they don't play well.

Right, that 25-5 record of ours going back to last year doesn't make up for the fact that jag QBs get some stats against us while we are beating them. We should be ashamed.

If you haven't figured this out yet, please start paying attention.
ONE OF THE TENANTS OF BBS DEFENSIVE PHILOSOPHY IS TAKING AWAY WHAT A TEAM DOES BEST. BY DEFINITION 'JAG' QBS WILL NOT BE FOCUSED ON BECAUSE WE WANT THE BALL IN THEIR HANDS. THEY WILL PUT UP BETTER STATS AGAINST US, BECAUSE WE WANT THE GAME TO REVOLVE AROUND THEM. AND ULTIMATELY THEY CAN NEVER SUSTAIN IT FOR 4 QUARTERS TO BEAT US.
Or would you like to remind me of the last JAG QB that beat the Patriots?
I think we have to go back to 06?05?

Hmmm, maybe you should change your definition of what a HOFer looks like, because the last time I looked LOSING wasnt a big plus.