The cold hard fact is that in our last five losses, playoffs included, one piece of stat stands out pretty large. In each of those loss, our primary running back had 10 or less carries
There is a chicken/egg component to this also. In at least a few of those games we fell behind enough to take the run out of play.
I really, just really, don't understand why, with all the intelligence that there is on this team or running this team, they have this infatuation with going empty or with the draw.
I think its shaky logic to question the philosophy of the best offense in the league based on its least spectacular days. It works more than anyone else's so why would change be better?
I don't know whose brilliant idea it was to design the game plan with the idea of giving Faulk the majority of the snaps.
That was confusing to me too.
Don't get me wrong- I think highly of Faulk, but he is NOT a 3 down back. Even in his best season, he was and still is and always will be a 3rd down specialist. I have a feeling that whoever came up with this idea (be it BB, or BOB, or Brady's influence in the game design) it's also the same person who has this stubborn self-destructive desire to cling to the empty or draw formation.
Again empty backfield and draw plays have been very successful for us.
The Patriots are primarily a pass offense, and they are one of the best pass offense in the NFL, but they do NOT win without their run game. When we have won is when the number of run attempts is near to or equal to the number of pass attempts. That has been a very consistent fact.
I disagree. The final numbers may sometimes look like balance but that is typically after throwing to get a big lead and running to wind down the game.
Last night, of the four excellent rushers
We have 4 EXCELLENT rushers?
we had, one was inactive, two had ZERO attempts (Woodhead, Ridley) and one had only five carries (BJGE). That is downright terrible, and is the reason I stopped watching the game near the end of the 2nd quarter.
You stopped watching the game and are commenting on how it was coached? Really?
Some of our best offensive production comes from the play-action, and that comes out of the run game. So even if our run game is meager, or produces little results, it still provides threat in the form of the play action.
As it was- we were never serious about it last night- we did NOT game plan for running hard at the Steelers,
Would you expect us to gameplan to do what we havent done well vs them in the past and not do what we have killed them with?
because all the run plays that were called were basic plays with no advanced whams, kickouts, or 2nd level designs. Also if some of you want to blame BJGE, I would say, why then, didn't BOB swap in Ridley? The bottom line, again, was that we were never serious about running, and that is very aggravating considering the Steelers are #15 in run-stopping.
There is no question that the Steelers are a better defense vs the run than vs the pass.
That being said, let's look at the other issues that are brought:
MYTH: BB sucks at drafting.
FACT: He has drafted a pro-bowler every single year he has been here. That is as good as it gets.
It seems that you are not grabbing the pitchforks and torches that most fams feel are necessary after losing to one of if not the best teams in the conference (best last year, best record this year) on the road. Come on, we must crouch in shame and lynch every member of the organization for the embarassment they forced us fans to endure by the debacle of a road to loss to a great team.
MYTH: The defense sucks.
FACT: THE YPG (Yards Per Game) and PPG (Points per game) we are allowing is in fact going down. It has been going down steadily, so we are getting better steadily, not worse.
Agreed before yesterday. Yesterday and Buffalo were examples of a defense that was dominated by the other team and really couldn't stop them. The other 5 games were either good defense or defense impacted by playing safe with a big lead.
MYTH: The players suck
FACT: We are in a new system, the 4-3, not the 3-4 and there are huge philosophical and systematic differences, even in the secondary where you have one less linebacker. It does take some time to become comfortable, and the lack of an off-season doesn't help.
MYTH: The secondary sucks
FACT: We have had NO consistency back there, and I don't mean any individual player- I mean having four or five secondaries playing together consistently, developing chemistry, effective communication skills, and knowing how to play off each other. It is unfair to crucify Molden when he's simply been thrown into the fire. There simply has been too much shuffling back there for the DBs to be blamed.
They played like crap yesterday (and/or the Steelers played great but thats not an allowable thought today) but those things happen. Less here than on every other team, but still they happen.
The defense needs time to jell. There's no getting around that. That's not what I'm mad at. What I'm mad at are the things we can control, such as the game-plan design.
The level of defense we played yesterday will mean nothing in January. The quality of the players will. I think the point you are making, and that I agree with is that the quality of the players suggests time will lead to improvement.
There's just no getting around the fact that no matter how good our pass offense is, we just do NOT win without the run game, period.
As the immortal Bill Walsh said: "You can't get to the superbowl until you're capable of winning in more than one way."
We weren't beating the Steelers on the ground though. We have used the running game very successfully this year, I just don't think the Steelers are the team you ground and pound on.
