LeBeau - try that maddening bend-but-don't break.....

[upstater1]

Steelers may have chosen that D because they had no faith in their offense. They didn't want the Donkeys holding onto the ball for longish possessions. Backfired. But Pitt's offense looked crappy too.

 

[Husse]

Didn't the Steelers have an issue with Polamalu doing too much freelancing? I wonder if that was the case here.

He's always like that, and he does his best work around the line of scrimmage. That said, he did bite on play action way too easy last night, but then again so did most of the Steelers.

I think one of the problems with not getting that much pressure on Tebow was that the Steelers were so cautious of the Broncos run-game that most of the front seven didn't come right of the line many times, but instead tried to clog the lanes and keep contain. The bit of extra time helped Tebow quite a bit imo.

 

[lillloyd]

The last play was a busted play on defense. Broncos gave a cover zero look but Ike Taylor was aligned outside, so he probably expected help on the inside from Mundy. Mundy got caught moving to the box before the play and had to try to backpedal to get in position. Thomas is a big target, got good position slanting on Taylor and it was an easy pass for Tebow.

Either Mundy or the LB was supposed to be inside coverage or Taylor had poor technique in cover 0. I think Mundy blew the coverage because Taylor is a pretty damn good corner.

Yup, NFLN caught this and showed it. Mundy (Clark's backup) went up to show blitz, but was extremely late and when Denver snapped the ball Mundy was still within a yard of the LOS. Taylor, playing an outside technique, was expecting outside help he never received.

We were burned by two things yesterday. One was the fact that Taylor had his worst game of the year. The other is that Lebeau's strategy was to sell out to stop the run, and make Tebow beat us with his arm.

And guess what--he did. He threw great deep ball after great deep ball, and played his best game of the year. Strategies aside, sometimes you just have to credit the other guys for outstanding play. Denver outplayed us, and it wasn't just schemes or injuries. They deserved to win.

lillloyd

 

[WhiZa]

He's always like that, and he does his best work around the line of scrimmage. That said, he did bite on play action way too easy last night, but then again so did most of the Steelers.

I think one of the problems with not getting that much pressure on Tebow was that the Steelers were so cautious of the Broncos run-game that most of the front seven didn't come right of the line many times, but instead tried to clog the lanes and keep contain. The bit of extra time helped Tebow quite a bit imo.

Tebow is very good at lulling teams to death. Steelers defense is old so that may be the case where they just fell asleep here

 

[Patspsycho]

The fact that they were getting burned deep repeatedly all day and they didn't adjust is just baffling. The fact that they didn't have a guy deep on the first play of overtime was just stupid. Did they really think Tebow wasn't going to take a shot there after beating them all day? I have faith that we wont do anything that stupid. The Steelers really missed Clark in this game, especially with Polamalu doing his usual guessing wrong and getting burned.

What makes you think they didn't adjust? They did adjust to a lot more man coverage in the 2nd half and held Denver to only 3 points in the 2nd half.

The only play that killed them was the first one in OT, and the defensive call on that was atrocious, IMO. My bet is that Denver saw Thomas in man to man single coverage and believed he could beat that, and while the single high safety (Pitts showed a cover 1) was aligned over on Thomas's side, he came down to sell the blitz (which was pretty idiotic, why send your only high safety to fake a blitz leaving the backfield way open?).

He tried to turn back but at that point it was too late. The way Denver executed that play, I'm sure they saw that same play earlier in the game and wanted to take advantage of it.

 

[moosekill]

Yup, NFLN caught this and showed it. Mundy (Clark's backup) went up to show blitz, but was extremely late and when Denver snapped the ball Mundy was still within a yard of the LOS. Taylor, playing an outside technique, was expecting outside help he never received.

We were burned by two things yesterday. One was the fact that Taylor had his worst game of the year. The other is that Lebeau's strategy was to sell out to stop the run, and make Tebow beat us with his arm.

And guess what--he did. He threw great deep ball after great deep ball, and played his best game of the year. Strategies aside, sometimes you just have to credit the other guys for outstanding play. Denver outplayed us, and it wasn't just schemes or injuries. They deserved to win.

lillloyd

He completed 9 passes in regulation. 9 passes... you make it sound like he was Payton Manning out there.

 

[Triggerfish]

The Steelers obviously tried to put the game on Tebows arm rather than his and the Broncos RB legs. They sold out on the run because they thought their rush would get there fast enough for the DBs to not lose the coverage and Tebows mechanics would be too slow.

The Broncos did some nice things on the Offensive side of the ball to switch up from what they had been doing previously. And Polumalu bit on most of the shallow routes just to see the receiver turn downfield and run right past him. Broncos had a good gameplan and executed it well. The Steelers didn't seem ready for the passes Tebow threw.

Tebow didn't have a great game throwing, but he did enough to win it. But really, who could miss with most of his completions being to receivers who were wide open? Broncos won the game-planinning handily.

EXACTLY what he said.

 

[Triggerfish]

Steelers may have chosen that D because they had no faith in their offense. They didn't want the Donkeys holding onto the ball for longish possessions. Backfired. But Pitt's offense looked crappy too.

The offense wasn't terrible actually. Denver does have a pretty solid DEFENSE. I don't think lack of trust in their offense had anything to do with their gameplan. They watched tape and decided they weren't going to respect Tebow's passing game. Honestly, his prior perfomances didn't really show much to warrant it. However, at halftime, when your DBs have been burnt multiple times, adjustments should have been made. They did make some....just not enough and too little too late. The biggest mistake was on that OT play. Just idiotic. And they payed for it dearly.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Hey we're the 31st ranked defense, give them some credit

How are the locals in Pittsburgh this morning?

Less than thrilled.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

When your QB either scores almost instantaneously, or goes three and out even faster (like Brady's offense tends to do), than you have your defense on the field a lot.

Say WHAT?

We have fewer three-and-outs than almost anyone in the NFL, as measured by being 3rd in fewest punts per play, 4th in fewest punts per offensive score, 2nd in first downs per play, 2nd in first downs per game, etc. Ther are not more abundant and likely not any "faster".

Granted we are 26th in time of possesion per score, but that speaks to a high denominator (lots of scores) on few wasted posessions.

stats are fom this site: NFL Football Stats - NFL Team Punts per Offensive Score on TeamRankings.com

 

[lillloyd]

He completed 9 passes in regulation. 9 passes... you make it sound like he was Payton Manning out there.

Well he completed ten passes...for 316 yards. That's pretty efficient, no? It's not like he was throwing dumpoffs and 5 yard square-ins.

Look, I'm not saying he's the second coming of Peyton Manning or anything, but can you deny he threw some fantastic deep balls yesterday? He hit receivers in stride, deep. A couple of throws were near-perfect, deep to well-covered receivers.

I realize Tebow's sort of a polarizing figure, all I'm saying is that for yesterday's game at least, he played extremely well...give credit where credit is due.

 

[letekro]

And how did Denver manage to get those two guys out of the game so early? By doing what Denver has done for decades: Go for the legs and knees of the opposing player and try and injure him. Any wonder how Andre Carter got injured so quickly when we played them? Remember when a cheap shot from a Denver Defensive player broke Brian Cox's leg?

They've been called out for it time after time. The league, however, has never done anything about it, but Shannahan started coaching his players to play dirty on the line, and it's been handed down ever since.

Again, Andre Carter got hurt without being touched, just like Rodney when he tore his quadriceps. Do you have any evidence to suggest that the Pittsburgh players were hurt by cheap shots, because I didn't hear them complaining? Your only "evidence" seems to be that players and coaches that have been gone for 10 years or more used to have a reputation for dirty play.

 

[AzPatsFan]

So................the "32nd" ranked defense can go into Denver and adjust for the final three quarters but............... the "elite" 1st ranked defense can't?

Where are our resident idiots to explain this?

Perspective anyone?

The Steelers Defense is predicated on a smothering Defense which allows no rushing and a low rate of intermediate and short pass completions. That leads to opponents 3 and out situations.

That Defensive philosophy, along with a ball control Offense that eats clock to eliminate one or two of the opponent's possessions, is their recipe for winning. Always has been as long as Cower and Le Beau were first there.

Pitt is getting old and slow. Plus it was a really banged up team this Playoff year. The list of players who went into that game dinged was long, and it was not just Rothlesberger. They got no pass rush, with a dinged Woodley and a newly returned and rusty Harrison, and without their NT and DE couldn't stop the run either, without overcomitting to doing so.

So they gambled that Tebow could not complete a lot of long passes deep and lost the gamble.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

The Steelers Defense is predicated on a smothering Defense which allows no rushing and a low rate of intermediate and short pass completions. That leads to opponents 3 and out situations.

That Defensive philosophy, along with a ball control Offense that eats clock to eliminate one or two of the opponent's possessions, is their recipe for winning. Always has been as long as Cower and Le Beau were first there.

Pitt is getting old and slow. Plus it was a really banged up team this Playoff year. The list of players who went into that game dinged was long, and it was not just Rothlesberger. They got no pass rush, with a dinged Woodley and a newly returned and rusty Harrison, and without their NT and DE couldn't stop the run either, without overcomitting to doing so.

So they gambled that Tebow could not complete a lot of long passes deep and lost the gamble.

The Steelers are not a ball control offense. The preference is for big plays from their "explosive, talented" receivers. The fact that they took the checkdowns in our game this year had our defense off guard.

Likewise, playing tight man coverage against us was a suprise but a disaster against Baltimore the next week. There is no Ike Taylor Island. Likewise, Harrison was clueless, maybe the inability to cheap shot throws him off his game. He was suspended for one game, there was no rust.

 

[PatsDeb]

Well he completed ten passes...for 316 yards. That's pretty efficient, no? It's not like he was throwing dumpoffs and 5 yard square-ins.

Look, I'm not saying he's the second coming of Peyton Manning or anything, but can you deny he threw some fantastic deep balls yesterday? He hit receivers in stride, deep. A couple of throws were near-perfect, deep to well-covered receivers.

I realize Tebow's sort of a polarizing figure, all I'm saying is that for yesterday's game at least, he played extremely well...give credit where credit is due.

He did play well yesterday and made some really nice throws. You have to wonder why they they haven't let him play like that before. He still misses on a lot of throws, too, though, and that's where the Pats have to force him to go, I think. Short and mid-range. He's still too inaccurate.

 

[Dessalines]

I note that Rothlisberger's immobility in the first half was a major factor in Denver's getting out in front. I note further that in the second half Rothlisberger was suddenly very mobile. I've seen some commentary saying Benji was being sneaky. I don't think so, I think they shot him full of pain killers, throwing caution to the winds where his health is concerned in order to try their best to get the win. It almost worked but what would have been the final cost? We will never know.

 

[sly24]

The fact that they were getting burned deep repeatedly all day and they didn't adjust is just baffling. The fact that they didn't have a guy deep on the first play of overtime was just stupid. Did they really think Tebow wasn't going to take a shot there after beating them all day? I have faith that we wont do anything that stupid. The Steelers really missed Clark in this game, especially with Polamalu doing his usual guessing wrong and getting burned.

They really did miss Clark. I think Polamalu is overrated. He is good against the run but he is just horrible in coverage. I agree with you he guesses wrong half the time and I'm glad he doesn't play for us, it wouldn't be good for my health..

 

[Ochmed Jones]

I think that Lebeau made a massive mistake with the first play of overtime. Why was he trying to trick Tebow (master of the dumbed down offense) on the first play of overtime?

Lebeau brings Mundy up to the LOS which tells a regular NFL QB, it is man coverage.

When a regular NFL QB sees zero coverage, he either audibles, or changes the protection scheme while calling the color for the hot read.

Once a regular NFL QB does either of those two options, the DB pulls back from the LOS and squats on the hot read.

Lebeau's huge mistake was that Tebow never called a color for the hot read or audibled, I doubt Tebow knows how to do either. The result was that Mundy stayed at the LOS too long waiting for an adjustment from Tebow that was never coming. He was late getting back and the slant worked perfectly.

I put the primary shame of that play on Lebeau with a secondary nod to Mundy for not realizing sooner that Tebow was not biting on the fake.

 

[Kontradiction]

As a Gator fan (and someone that has watched Tebow for years longer than most people here), it's not the BBDB that the Steelers SHOULD have played. Instead, it's two gap discipline. Tebow struggled with it in his college career. Just ask Nick Saban. He's also struggled with it in his pro career. Just ask Bill Belichick and RAC.

 

[TriplecHamp]

I would agree but its not like our DB's don't give up big plays regardless and it isn't like all week analysts were saying that the way to beat Tebow was to play man against his receivers and make him make the tight throw.