Week 16 - Dec. 21 @ Tennessee

[DCSteelers]

I looked at some of the line play closely later on last night.  Inconsistent is the best word.

A few times they looked good, other times not.  Kemo didn't have one of his better games.  Colon had a brutal game.  He was pushed back into Ben's face from the edge rush constantly.  One of the sacks was on Stapleton as well.

They started with the double teams on the four man rush with Hartings helping out Stapleton mostly, and that allowed Kemo to get driven back by Jones.

No need to blitz if the 4 man rush is getting to Ben!

My thought... use the unbalanced line approach as Baltimore did to us.  I like it.  Have Essex report as tackle eligible replacing McHugh or Spaeth on certain looks.  This will allow for double teams on the two interior D linemen (assuming we play a 43 team in the divisional round).  And of course, against Vanden Bosch, and Haynesworth if we play the Titans.

If Colon is able to push the outer rushes so Ben can step up, he should have extra time.  Even if they send a blitz, it can be picked up better, and they can even leave FWP or MM into  pick up the extra defender.

I think that would allow the underneath stuff to be open, and a good day for Miller, or Hines to sit down in the zone. 

The other thing I noticed was TN had 8 men in the box on obvious run plays, with the safety sneaking up.  No chance for FWP to get a yard  with their team speed.  This is why I think the play call was vanilla.  You'd think that in that circumstance they's throw a quick slant to Holmes as he is 1-1???

[bamf16]

#1 Cochran show on KDKA last night, one of the guys said it was Hoke who got the unsportsmanlike penalty.

[Big Virgil]

When watching the game, I thought the BJ was looking at Aaron Smith, looking at his number, to report him to the Ref.

[Preacherman0]

Colon had a brutal game.  He was pushed back into Ben's face from the edge rush constantly.  One of the sacks was on Stapleton as well.

This is one of my problems with "empty" sets.  If the Dline knows it's a pass, they get at least an extra step towards the QB before the play really even starts.

Seriously though, to me, the problem with the run game is that it's just so goddamned predictable.  I mean, crazy predictable.

I don't care how good the Titans Dline is or how bad our oline is.  When you have 3, 4, 5 guys in the backfield by the time the ball is snapped, everyone knows what's coming and the oline/rbacks don't stand a chance.  We can criticize the line and FWP all day long, but if the defense knows the play and where it's going, it's generally pretty tough to make positive yards.