lillloyd
Third String But Playing on Special Teams
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2010
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I'm making the rounds on different forums after my Steelers were bounced from the playoffs last night ....Just wanted to say good luck the rest of the way.
Also wanted to share some final thoughts on last night's game, and how it might relate to your upcoming tilt with the Ravens:
The #1 takeaway from the game last night IMHO is just how good--and deep--Baltimore's front 7 is. Their defensive tackle rotation is monstrous, not just with Ngata (who was back and routinely walking Pouncey back into the pocket), but Brandon Williams, who has become a hell of a player in his own right, and simply abused DeCastro most of the night. Factor in that Timmy Jernigan didn't even play (and I expect he could be back for the Patriots game), and you realize just how beastly the interior of their DL can be. On the outside, everyone knows about Suggs and Dumervil, but they're deep there as well -- McPhee had 8 sacks this year and is an explosive guy in his own right. It's just a very talented, physical and deep group.
I don't know the Pats' OL that well, but the reality is most OLs will struggle to consistently contain Baltimore's front 7. As troubling as Suggs and Dumervil are as bookend pass rushers, I'd argue that it's the pressure up the middle --from Ngata, Williams and potentially Jernigan--that is most problematic, as pressure up the middle messes with a QB's head and footwork. If the Pats' OL can't hold up, Brady's going to have to really stand in there and deliver even while taking shots and having guys at his feet for 60 minutes.
As great and as tough as Brady is, I think this may lead to a lower offensive output than you're expecting; I would probably bet against you running away with this game by hanging a 40-burger (or even 30 for that matter) on BALT. Yes, the Ravens are vulnerable on the back end with all of their injured CBs...but no matter how great the QB and coach, if the OL is being blown back and the QB is constantly harassed, it's tough to consistently take advantage of that mismatch. Pitt has an explosive passing game and ostensibly a major advantage on BALT's DBs... but when the OL gets manhandled it doesn't matter.
One last note on the other side of the ball -- Joe Flacco gets a ton of homer-ish flak on our boards for being a lucky, heave-ho-and-wait-for-PI kind of QB. And to be fair there's a small bit of truth to this -- Flacco tends to make one or two questionable decisions a game (we dropped our INT chances last night, but I'd expect Browner and Revis to hang on to theirs . But the reality is, Flacco is a very good playoff QB -- he throws the best deep ball in the game (which means a lot of those PI's are deserved, since the ball is placed so well) and has been pretty unflappable in the playoffs. He has seven (!!!) road playoff wins since '08, which I believe is already an all-time record. I don't think he gets the credit he probably deserves.
That all said, I think you guys will still advance, for a couple of reasons:
Good luck the rest of the way, talk to you next year when Pitt goes to Foxoboro.
lillloyd
Also wanted to share some final thoughts on last night's game, and how it might relate to your upcoming tilt with the Ravens:
- Pitt just got beat, pure and simple. This would have been true regardless of whether Bell played or not, as this game was lost in the trenches.
- Pitt's young OL is vastly improved over previous years, and features a couple of Pro Bowl-caliber players in DeCastro and Pouncey....But in this game, they were absolutely steamrolled by the Ravens' front 7, and this was the deciding factor. It wasn't just all the sacks per se--it was how the pressure got into the head of Roethlisberger, who had to know from the opening snap that his line was struggling badly. Ben was never comfortable, and he consistently missed on throws he usually makes.
- Pitt also failed to get to Flacco with their pass rush, despite all the injuries to the Raven's OL. Very disappointing given the home game..but ultimately an accurate reflection of how we really don't have reliable edge rushers any more.
The #1 takeaway from the game last night IMHO is just how good--and deep--Baltimore's front 7 is. Their defensive tackle rotation is monstrous, not just with Ngata (who was back and routinely walking Pouncey back into the pocket), but Brandon Williams, who has become a hell of a player in his own right, and simply abused DeCastro most of the night. Factor in that Timmy Jernigan didn't even play (and I expect he could be back for the Patriots game), and you realize just how beastly the interior of their DL can be. On the outside, everyone knows about Suggs and Dumervil, but they're deep there as well -- McPhee had 8 sacks this year and is an explosive guy in his own right. It's just a very talented, physical and deep group.
I don't know the Pats' OL that well, but the reality is most OLs will struggle to consistently contain Baltimore's front 7. As troubling as Suggs and Dumervil are as bookend pass rushers, I'd argue that it's the pressure up the middle --from Ngata, Williams and potentially Jernigan--that is most problematic, as pressure up the middle messes with a QB's head and footwork. If the Pats' OL can't hold up, Brady's going to have to really stand in there and deliver even while taking shots and having guys at his feet for 60 minutes.
As great and as tough as Brady is, I think this may lead to a lower offensive output than you're expecting; I would probably bet against you running away with this game by hanging a 40-burger (or even 30 for that matter) on BALT. Yes, the Ravens are vulnerable on the back end with all of their injured CBs...but no matter how great the QB and coach, if the OL is being blown back and the QB is constantly harassed, it's tough to consistently take advantage of that mismatch. Pitt has an explosive passing game and ostensibly a major advantage on BALT's DBs... but when the OL gets manhandled it doesn't matter.
One last note on the other side of the ball -- Joe Flacco gets a ton of homer-ish flak on our boards for being a lucky, heave-ho-and-wait-for-PI kind of QB. And to be fair there's a small bit of truth to this -- Flacco tends to make one or two questionable decisions a game (we dropped our INT chances last night, but I'd expect Browner and Revis to hang on to theirs . But the reality is, Flacco is a very good playoff QB -- he throws the best deep ball in the game (which means a lot of those PI's are deserved, since the ball is placed so well) and has been pretty unflappable in the playoffs. He has seven (!!!) road playoff wins since '08, which I believe is already an all-time record. I don't think he gets the credit he probably deserves.
That all said, I think you guys will still advance, for a couple of reasons:
- You have an elite 'pressure release valve' in Gronk -- if you complete just a few hot reads to your TE, you might slow their rush down. (We also have an elite 'pressure release' in Bell, and that was one area where we definitely missed him last night).
- I fully expect your defense to get home on pressure in ways we could not. Although it's not always safe to assume backups are worse than the starters ahead of them -- in this case, the Ravens' LT, Eugene Monroe, was really struggling prior to his injury, so I don't know that the dropoff to James Hurst is as dramatic as one might expect -- but the reality is that the Ravens are missing BOTH their starting tackles. If a 37 year-old James Harrison can give their LT fits, I fully expect your guys to do the same...with the benefit of vastly superior coverage on the back end.
Good luck the rest of the way, talk to you next year when Pitt goes to Foxoboro.
lillloyd