Week 09 - 11/8 @ Cincinnati

[Finnegans Wake]

More:

*What was Farrior getting into?  He looked faster and more decisive than he has in years, hot in coverage and pressure.
*Speaking of "hot," can we please incorporate hot reads into our offense?
*The last FG was set up by Arians being lulled by Mendy's success.  I say stick with what's hot, but you still have to throw some variation in.  You knew, you just knew we wouldn't be able to literally run out the clock.  Arians is a fucktard.
*Also knew, with no doubt in my mind, that Skippy would miss that late long FG and give up field position.  Much as I'm a fan of the kill shot, I'd have punted there.  Skippy sucks, fuckin' worthless drunko.
*Where has 43 been with anticipating routes?  He was all over the field again, doing his thang, but there were times we needed a turnover and I was hoping to see him jump a route and take it to the house.
*Refs absolutely tried to hand that game away.  Atrocious calls late almost wiped away an entire half of legit football.
*One crazy assed game.  I think I saw just about everything but Kordell punting.  Showed off, in turns, the best and worst of all three phases of our game.  Schizo?  Indeed we are.  We won't be getting it easy coming home to take on the Patriots.  Cannot, CANNOT make stupid mistakes.

[kluisi61]

Like last week, this game has me uneasy, but not due to the quality level of the opponent.  On paper, Pittsburgh should smash these pussies.  Unfortunately, that kinda game almost never ends up playing out like you'd expect with this team.  As mentioned, all too often, these guys play down to "worse" teams.  Games that should be 24-3 at the half

Check.

end up 13-3 or 16-3 or some shit.  The opposition thinks they have a chance and hangs around...one timely turnover later and they're driving for the game tying FG or TD.

Check.

The Steelers O should be able to get on track in this one.  If Ben, BA and the offense can't get in sync here, it doesn't bode well for the remainder.  Cincy's defense is pretty porous and is about as soft as they're gonna face.  No reason #7 can't have a 295YD/2 or 3TD day against them.  However, as shitty as Cincy has been, they can put points on the board and Pittsburgh's defense is vulnerable to the pass.  Couple that with the injuries along the DL, their recent inability to get to the opposing QB (since the bye -- 3 weeks -- think they've only got 3 or 4 sacks) and this game has a high~ish scoring feel to it.  24-20...27-24...something like that.

Check and Check.

Key here is pressure on Carson Daly.  If their O-line gives him time, Pittsburgh will have issues.  Get to him early and get in a couple shots; make him have flashbacks.  Pittsburgh rolls if that happens.  I'm just not confident it will.  And frankly, how often do these intradivisional rivalry games turn into a blowout?  They're usually "unnecessarily close" as Mr. Wakeadamus mentioned.

Check.

Finally, as I mentioned in anudder thread, this is Pittsburgh's third road game in a row.  I really think there's something to be said for that fact.  Then, going into a hostile environment of a hated rival that just lost a game the week prior at home doesn't usually bode well for the visiting team, regardless of records.

Very.  Nervous.

Taking the (+6) points (was only +4.5 in my Handicapping Challenge league coupla days ago) to do my part in helping to secure a win.  Should be noted that I've been right more often than I've been wrong this season (66%~ish) tho.

At least you got the push.

How could you possibly get all of that right. Most doesn't even match up very well. You might want to play the lottery this week.

[Brinker]

Week 17 at the Browns...making it 3 away games vs. 5 home game.  I say we go 6-2 to end up 12-4.  Hold on, just have to put away my calculator...

[Preacherman0]

*The last FG was set up by Arians being lulled by Mendy's success.  I say stick with what's hot, but you still have to throw some variation in.  You knew, you just knew we wouldn't be able to literally run out the clock.  Arians is a fucktard.

Play action on SECOND down is the call here.

The one worthwhile observation by the commentators was that Mendy was calling for a sub before the third-down play.

[Finnegans Wake]

Week 17 at the Browns...making it 3 away games vs. 5 home game.  I say we go 6-2 to end up 12-4.  Hold on, just have to put away my calculator...

Yep, sorry, missed that.  Three road games, and the Browns are certainly no gimme.  Still favorable setup. 

[Big Virgil]

*The last FG was set up by Arians being lulled by Mendy's success.  I say stick with what's hot, but you still have to throw some variation in.  You knew, you just knew we wouldn't be able to literally run out the clock.  Arians is a fucktard.

Play action on SECOND down is the call here.

The one worthwhile observation by the commentators was that Mendy was calling for a sub before the third-down play.

Instead of keeping Miller in to block, how about some PAP, which keeps Mendy or MM in the backfield blocking?  Talk about a quicker play to get the ball to Wallace, that's it.

The semi-screen passes, or whatever they were workerd brilliantly.  I think there were 2 of them.  BA called it once last week vs NO on the very 1st play then never went back to it.

How about some kind of designed roll-out PAP?  Like Manning's "stretch play"?  Geezus - the options are endless.

Hopefully moving forward, Tomlin won't be content to settle for a fitty yd FG to seal it.

[Preacherman0]

How about some kind of designed roll-out PAP?  Like Manning's "stretch play"?  Geezus - the options are endless.

Well, they did it once--ONCE--and it worked great.  Mendy rammed it down to the 2 yard line.

In the grand tradition of Bruce Arians, we never used it again. 

RE:  Manning's stretch play rollout.  It's not even a full-blown rollout.  It's almost a half-roll where he changes the location of the pocket and slows down the pass rush, sets, and delivers one of those deep outs or long over-the-middle plays.  But Ben's too erratic to do something like THAT.

[Big Virgil]

That's what I mean, since Mendy was actually having some success, they could have really set the hook by running that stretch type PAP play.  They had the D sucking up to the line, biting on the run big time.  Would have been a perfect time for a pap.