The Steelers scored a lot of points...should it be a point of concern?

[BTTA]

I didn't get to see 3/4 of the game live and haven't watched it yet. But under the "you are what you are" theory, we just gave up a lot of points and yards. I haven't seen the degree of concern around here I'd expect. Is it because the offense exploded and we don't care as much at this point? The Steelers were somehow not representative of future opponents? Something else?

 

[letekro]

Played well on d in the first half. things fell apart a little bit in the second half, which coincided with some poor play by an injured Arrington and the loss of their 5th and 6th defensive starters of the year.

I think we can hold every team in the league under 24 pts, including Denver, with Talib, Arrington, Nink, and Gregory back healthy.

 

[BradyFTW!]

When you score a lot, you'll tend to give up more points too. I was worried that the Pats gave up 14 unanswered to start the second half. Arrington and Ryan both looked overmatched in their assignments yesterday, but that just speaks to the point that they're currently being asked to do too much with Talib out. We need Talib healthy, and need more depth at CB, specifically another physical, press corner who can play outside in the same way that Talib and Dennard do.

Other than Arrington/Ryan getting toasted, though, I didn't see any reason to be discouraged on D. I thought Gregory made some bad decisions in run support, and of course his injury is a concern, but for the most part I thought the Pats did their job pretty well. I continue to be frustrated by the fact that they give up huge gains on 3rd-and-long screens, and seeing Brandon Spikes line up in man coverage stresses me way the hell out, but I've just kind of accepted that these things happen sometimes.

 

[jmt57]

I didn't get to see 3/4 of the game live and haven't watched it yet. But under the "you are what you are" theory, we just gave up a lot of points and yards. I haven't seen the degree of concern around here I'd expect. Is it because the offense exploded and we don't care as much at this point? The Steelers were somehow not representative of future opponents? Something else?

While I understand that the 31 points at first glance looks to be concerning, in context of the ebb and flow of the game it is not that bad. It was not a perfect game obviously, and there were a few long plays that were a bit disconcerting. However, in terms of how the game played out the Steelers never once led in that game. One touchdown came on a short field after a turnover, and another came late in the 4th quarter after the Patriots were up by 17.

I take far more encouragement that after that score the Pats immediately came back with a TD, than I do concern over that Steeler touchdown and the total points allowed.

 

[Froob]

Too many injuries, Talib coming back will be huge. Arrington is a good slot corner but horrible outside corner (still wondering if anyone really would have given him more than 2m a year). Ninko better be okay, I'll have a heart attack if I see a thread titled Ninkovitch to IR. Way this season's going we'll probably see Talib on IR too...

 

[patsinthesnow]

We're t-3rd in sacks, 2nd in opposing comp pct, 3rd in opposing qbr, 8th in yards/attempt, and 7th in PPG. The passing defense is top notch with Talib, no reasons for concern. Even without Talib, it's average but not awful IMO.

 

[Kontradiction]

It would be more concerning if that happened with Talib, Ninkovich, and Gregory all in there and playing full games. The secondary had Harmon, Ryan, and Arrington on the outside all playing major reps and Carter in his second game back. In all, I'm a lot more worried about the run defense. The pass defense should be fine once Talib gets back.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

3rd and 30 really ticked me off royally, but that was not a deep pass, oddly enough, just running free and clear in open space. I'd like to learn what awful things happened there to get them 29.5 yards. They then converted on 4th and inches.

 

[hwc]

The Pats are playing with smoke and mirrors on defense. No way this can be pretty right now. I'm shocked they are playing as well as they are. Belichick should be coach of the year...

 

[Kontradiction]

3rd and 30 really ticked me off royally, but that was not a deep pass, oddly enough, just running free and clear in open space. I'd like to learn what awful things happened there to get them 29.5 yards. They then converted on 4th and inches.

No Mayo and our LB's being too slow to cover that ground. That's the reason why the screen has been killing us since Mayo went on IR.

 

[ausbacker]

No Mayo and our LB's being too slow to cover that ground. That's the reason why the screen has been killing us since Mayo went on IR.

I know he's undersized but it was one of the reasons I wanted the Patriots to investigate Jo-Lonn Dunbar after the Rams released him (before subsequently re-signing him). I thought he would be a nice addition to the LB group for that very reason.

 

[Whitt25]

3rd and 30 really ticked me off royally, but that was not a deep pass, oddly enough, just running free and clear in open space. I'd like to learn what awful things happened there to get them 29.5 yards. They then converted on 4th and inches.

I was just about to post this. That play pissed me off. When he was running free for all them yards, I was thinkin, "Where the **** is everyone?" lol. I was concerned about Steelers puttin up 31 points, too. I mean, if Steelers can do that, what will Panthers (if it's one of their more consistent days) and Broncos do?

 

[Claremonster]

I didn't get to see 3/4 of the game live and haven't watched it yet. But under the "you are what you are" theory, we just gave up a lot of points and yards. I haven't seen the degree of concern around here I'd expect. Is it because the offense exploded and we don't care as much at this point? The Steelers were somehow not representative of future opponents? Something else?

Arrington again...

 

[lillloyd]

We've *really struggled to score this year. So I was kind of surprised that we were able to move the ball like we did. In most games when we've fallen behind early, the opposing Ds have just buried us with pressure against our woeful OL. Down 14-0, I figured the same thing would happen when playing AT New England, and was genuinely surprised when it didn't.

But you guys had injuries, and the game itself became a shootout of sorts. Sort of a tough game to evaluate.

 

[Bella*chick]

I thought we looked OK in the first half, more or less, but everything fell apart in the third quarter and there were a lot of additional injuries. Without injuries, yeah, it's a concern. WITH the injuries, I just wanted them to scrape out a win and they were able to do a lot better than that, so yeah. Satisfied here.

 

[Kontradiction]

I thought we looked OK in the first half, more or less, but everything fell apart in the third quarter and there were a lot of additional injuries. Without injuries, yeah, it's a concern. WITH the injuries, I just wanted them to scrape out a win and they were able to do a lot better than that, so yeah. Satisfied here.

My attitude in the game thread was: "Just get the W and get the hell into the bye".

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

Steelers had 14 drives, which is a little higher than usual. One was a kneel down, one play drive at the end of the first half, and one was a desperation drive against a prevent defense at the end of the game after the game was no longer in any doubt.

So, 31 points in 12 real drives, and 440 yards (taking away the yards gained on the final drive; you can't count the yardage if you don't count the drive). That's more than 2.5 points per real drive and nearly 37 yards per real drive. Those numbers are pretty high for a home game -- and they're very high when you consider the Steelers had only scored 17.9 points per game coming into this one. 6.6 yards per play is high too.

It's not a recipe for long-term success -- it's especially interesting that the Patriots were ok at third and fourth down conversions, holding the Steelers to 6-15 on third and fourth down conversions (again taking out that last drive). That means the Steelers were getting very big chunks on first and second down.

Like everyone else, I chalk it up largely to injuries -- especially Talib. The team did well enough to win, and I think that's the real story of the game. Trying to make too much out of 31 points misses the correct story, IMHO. The one nugget from the box score, though, that's a bit of a concern, is how well the Steelers spread the passing game around. Four receivers with better than 65 yards and five with better than 43 yards, and that's despite the fact that the Patriots were getting decent pressure. That's a bit of a concern.

 

[Bella*chick]

My attitude in the game thread was: "Just get the W and get the hell into the bye".

I believe I "liked" that post because it was EXACTLY how I felt.

 

[lurker1965]

Yes. Sort of.

The problem is injuries. If we magically get Wilfork, Kelly, Mayo, and Talib back, all is fixed.

Soap helps. Talib - assuming he is Talib at 100% when he comes back - helps.

 

[Jackson 2]

Of course. This is New England. We can never enjoy a win completely without a "yeah, but". If the score had been 55-0, it would have been, "Yeah, but we should have scored 56..."