Steelers Show Character in Loss; Give Hope for the Future
Jacksonville 31 - Pittsburgh 29
“There’s a tear in my beer cuz I’m cryin’ for ya dear…”
-Hank Williams Jr.
The Steelers season ends on an emotional roller coaster of a loss.
QUICK THOUGHTS
I’m going to abandon what I’ve been doing all season in my post-game analysis and leave you with some quick takes on the game. So, without further ado, here we go!
That first drive was fantastic!
If you had checked out Brainiac’s post earlier in the week, he called it beautifully. Run a no-huddle offense, catch the Jaguars off-guard and control the clock. Well they didn’t necessarily run no-huddle, but Ben passed short and ben passsed often and it worked! The Steelers had momentum and the home crowd rocking early
So Why Did Arians Change the Game Plan?
Since the first drive looked so good why did we revert to what everyone knew would not work? This I just don’t get. I’ve been a pretty positive supporter of Arians play calling this season, but this made no sense whatsoever. On the first drive the offense passed 8 times and ran 2 times. That’s a 4-1 ratio. On the next 5 drives, the calls were 10 passes and 8 runs. And oh, by the way, those runs gave the Steelers a whopping 10 yards! On all but one of those 5 drives Arians called a run on first down which set Ben up for 2nd and long.
Ben Looked Bad in the First Half, but…
I’m not going to make excuses for Ben’s interceptions. He forced one throw, and apparently just never saw the defender on the other two. But, hey, when you know you’re going to be sacked a lot, you’re going to want to get rid of the ball as quick as you can. Couple that with 2nd and long situations, and you’re just asking for trouble. And we got it!
The Defense Played with a lot of Emotion
They may have blown a couple plays, but overall this was the defense we did not see the past month. I was very proud of the fire these guys showed. They hit hard, they gang-tackled, they created turnovers. Good job boys!
So Long Bob Ligashesky
I can’t say it’s been fun, cuz it hasn’t! This should be the last time we see special teams coach Bob Ligashesky on a Steelers sideline. The kick coverage, once again, proved to be a kick in the head. Everyone else will probably beat this point home, so I’m going to move on. All I can say is, we better spend even more time on special teams in next year’s training camp.
I Watched Mike Webster Play and You, Sean Mahan, are no Mike Webster!
Did anyone else watch Jaguars defender blow right by Mahan and pressure Ben while he simply looked the other way? I counted three times on replays where I saw this. The worst part about it was while the defender shot the gap and got to the QB, Mahan looked around as if he were searching for direction from the heavenlies or something! We gotta get a center that will do the job. Anyone else hope that the Alan Faneca thing works out?
How About that Lamarr Woodley, huh?
I think Woodley proved to us he’s ready to start next season. For him to get 2 sacks when the Steelers defense hasn’t been getting any pressure lately speaks volumes to me. But what does this mean to Clark Haggans? Stay tuned for this one.
Trai Essex Looked Pretty Good, too!
For a third string lineman, Essex not only filled in admirably, but he may have proved he could compete for a starting role next season.
Why Didn’t Anyone See the 4th Down Draw Play Coming?
Before that 4th and 2 play where David Garrard gained 32 yards, I started yelling at the television (like all good Steelers fans do) that it was goin to be a draw play. Sure enough, it was and it apparently caught everyone by surprise. Why? The Jags run the ball much better than they throw it. They executed the play perfectly. Spread the defense out and run it up the middle.
By the way, Anthony Smith is not winning any brownie points with me. When Garrard made it that far down the field, why was Smith just standing there watching him run right at him without showing any signs of pursuit? He never came up to make the tackle! In fact he never even freakin’ moved until he was behind him! His ineptitude on tackling gave the Jags at least 10 more yards. Who knows? Scobee may have missed a 35 yarder, but he’s not missing what was in effect an extra point. Needless to say, I’m not a big Smith fan right now.
I’m Proud!
There are so many plays you could point to in this one and say, “If he would have done this or that, we would have won.” Any of Ben’s three picks, the defense blowing it inside of 2 minutes again, Ben’s QB “sneak” on 3rd and 5 late in the game, the kick return, Ike Taylor’s 15 yard personal foul, I could go on and on. But this game was not determined by any one play.
I was encouraged, however, that even when they dug themselves a huge hole, they never gave up. I’ve tried not to compare Tomlin to Cowher, but I’m not going to do it two weeks in a row. If Bill Cowher had coached this team, it would have been over when the Jags went up 28-10. This team is a reflection of its coach. Tomlin’s not a quitter and this team didn’t quit on him, either.
After this game, It makes me proud to say I’m Steelers a fan. They may not have played like a champion for 60 minutes. They may not have looked great in all phases of the game. But they fought hard and showed a lot of courage. It gives me hope for the future. And I’m already looking forward to next year.
GO STEELERS!
Update: “John Balls of Steel” corrected me on Anthony Smith’s poor tackle attempt of David Garrard. It was, indeed, Tyrone Carter. My bad. Thanks for the input, John!
January 6th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Arins Cost them the game , Tomlins needs to think hard is he to keep Arins he did not make good decisions do you think tom brady would havr ran on 2nd or 3rd down, hell NO!, Bruce you fucked the steelers worst then Bens 3 picks
January 6th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Arins got to go, there are better ones out there looking for work.
Tomilin, need to move quick on this one.
January 6th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
First off, it was Ty Carter that wiffed on the Gerrard draw play. Bruce Arians call on the 3 & 6 was, hands down, the worst call I have ever seen in the 30 yrs. that I have watched football. This is the Play-offs!!! they (Jags) had a time-out and the two minute warning, why, on Gods green earth would you not try for the 1st down? Everybody that has watched the Steelers at all this year, knows that you have noone that can cover a punt to save their life and all they needed was a fieldgoal to win!!!! Tomlin and Arians blew that, and should admit it instead of blaming it on a lack of execution. The big question I have, why change anything thats working? The first drive was picture perfect!!! Arians needs to go!!
January 6th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
It’s gratifying to say that the Steelers overachieved in comparison to national expectations, but they broke our hearts because of it. We started to believe that this team was going to do BIG things, ignoring the reality that there were some big holes from day 1.
I too am encouraged by the way the team performed. I don’t like mistakes on the field, but those are going to happen. What burns me more than anything is mistakes made on the sideline. I really didn’t mind the 2pt converstion attempts. That’s playing to win. I don’t think that was a designed QB run on the 12yd retry, but there might’ve been a better play call. The 2pt try after the lead-taking TD was academic, though Ben should thrown the ball directly to Nate instead of throwing the fade.
What bothered me was the change of game plan by Arians that put the offense in 2nd and long situations. More importantly, I HATED the playcalling on the 2nd to last drive. Getting 5 yards on 1st down up the middle was a blessing. That gift should’ve been followed by a play-action pass on 2nd with a back as a safety valve. The QB draw had little chance to work, though Ben should’ve continued to the sideline instead of cutting back in. Regardless, the play-not-to-lose play calling really sucked and put the defense in a bad postion.
I don’t fault the coverage team on that last punt. They only gave up a 12yd return. The problem is that the Steelers should’ve been punting from far further down the field if at all. Asking the defense to protect both the run and the pass on 3rd down (since that Jag drive was definitely 4-down “territory”) is a lot to ask when the offense only needs 2 yards. Yeah, Ty Carter looked goofy on the tackle “attempt,” but again, the defense never should’ve been put in the position of defending a 4-down drive starting at midfield.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
With all that said above, I hope the coaches learn some lessons. Mahan might be a good backup but he’s not a starter and has, at times, made Faneca look bad. On a few of those pressures, Faneca can be seen trying to come back to his right to at least chip a man that Mahan never looked at while Mahan is backpedaling and hitting no one. Maybe someone never got their responsibilities straight.
I still think they need to find a way to re-sign Faneca, and that’s probably in his best interests, too.
Is Ligashesky the problem on special teams? I don’t know, but he certainly wasn’t the solution. Maybe Chidi would help.
Is Anderson the right man to coach Big Ben? It’s hard to say he isn’t since this was Ben’s best season, but at the same time Ben has missed a LOT of open men, often missing easier throws than the one he attempted. Sometimes, he held the ball and took a sack trying to wait for that harder attempt instead of taking the easier completion for positive yardage. Sometimes, like last night, he could’ve had a TD. He needs to be coached out of that
The defense is aging. Getting Aaron Smith back will help a lot, but the LBs need attention. It’s time for McFadden to get a good look at corner. If Clark doesn’t make it back, Maybe Deshea needs to go to free safety. Of course, there’s always the draft…
…and this team needs to take a good look at free agency.
January 6th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Yes we can blame them for the play calling. We had to try to run the ball though, and i dont blame them for that. Imagine sandiego without L.T. most teams wouldnt have done as well offensively as we did. We had a qb that broke records this year and arians deserves credit for that. I like the 5 receiver sets, but we didnt have 5 good receivers. I like that we passed to the tight end finally this year. Lets face it we havent replaced Hartings, randel el or Bettis. I think when kreider went down for the season that hurt our chances of bringing in the fullback and pounding it with davenport. Carey Davis cant block like Kreider. So other than that Arians has been better than Wisenhunt. Once you lose your runing game teams can tee off on your qb, just lik the jags did last night. Play action doesnt work and your options are limited. What would everyone say if ben wouldve trhown a pick on 3rd and six and the jags won after that? They wouldve said we shouldve ran it and left it up to our defense. I persoanlly wanted them to throw on that play but in the back of my mind i was worried about turning it over. We had a good season, won the division, we will be back. We have 18 million avail. under the cap. We should consider asking Faneca to switch to center and pay him big money. He could play about 6 more years. It hurts today but I dont think without a running game we would beat newengland or indy.
January 6th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
I didn’t even see Anthony Smith last night.
January 6th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
rick where can i find out the teams payroll and how much they are under the cap for next year.
I agree with alot of the colums wrote last night but I sat thru it in the stands and it didn’t look good when it was 28-10. they came back cause of turnovers and the players have too much pride.
I agree they need to address some issues in the off season
1. o-line. can mahan play where big red will leave behind.
2. the linebackers situation is getting a little older and teams are finding ways to block potsy and foote. but what does look very promising is lamar woodley, can’t wait to see him paired with j.harrison next year.
3. running back. need a back up to w parker. some-one like tj duckett would be great but we need to re-sign d kreider in order to fully utilize them correctly.
4. a safety opposite of troy p.
I have alot of respect for coach tomlin cause he had them playing at a higher level then anyone of us fans expected. next yr should be awesome!
January 6th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Eric,
Check this site out for salary cap info:
http://www.steelersalarycap.com/years/2008.htm
It’s a couple months old, but it will give you a pretty good idea where the Steelers are salary-wise.
January 6th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Did Anthony Smith change his number to 23 and grow dreads and missed huge tackles on the Jags first offensive touchdown and the gamebreaker? Or did the negative press about Anthony Smith, after an admittedly stupid guarantee, make a “thinking man” misjudge player performance on the field? Another man who thought about football said, “Judging a football player doesn’t have anything to do with the accidents of appearance.” A thinking man named Chuck Noll.
Smith had a bad game against the Patriots. A lot of pass defenders had bad games against the Patriots, making the team one of the most potent passing offenses of all times. Tyrone Carter had a bad game against the Patriots.
The next week, Anthony Smith had one of the few positive defensive plays against the Jags with his pick. Of course, all the focus was on his blown coverage on the Northcutt TD. There was a similar pass to Northcutt last night, but Ike wasn’t jogging this time and Carter wasn’t even near the play, like Smith was.
Anthony Smith had a good year. But for the second year in a row, the Steelers coach looks for a scapegoat in the secondary. For the second year in a row, benching that player didn’t help anything. I believe Anthony Smith could have made those tackles Carter missed - Smith is a solid tackler, there’s no question about that.
Ryan Clark will be back next year at free safety, and Anthony Smith is more than competent as a back-up. Safety is not a need at all.
January 6th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Whoa there folks! Swami made an update & corrected his musings on Anthony Smith. Chill out! Sheesh!
January 6th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Wow! I guess I really made a lot of enemies with my thoughts on Anthony Smith. Sorry everyone. I guess I got a bit turned around with Anthony Smith being introduced in the starting lineup at the beginning of the game on NBC. I thought Ty Carter was playing, but when I saw that I guess I never got it out of my head that he wasn’t playing. Call it a momentary lapse of reason, too much alcohol, not enough sleep, whatever you want. My apologies to Smith, his family and all of his dear friends who have apparently been reading this blog and furiously commenting.
January 6th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
There are reasons people make those types of mistakes - they are looking to blame a certain player. I’ve been in the stands and heard fans blame Santonio drops on Nate. I thought a “thinking man’s guide” would be a place to get away from the media and past perception-induced illusions and actually talk about the game. I guess I was wrong.
January 6th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
I have a solution to al this chit,first things first if your going to keep faneca put him at center and the samowan guy at lg,that will shore up the middle.Go after d hall he wants out of atl.Bring fitzgerald back to the burgh,put deshea at free safety,haynes worth anyone(him casey and arron will make the best dline in the nfl).WE HAVE 18MIL UNDER THE CAP SO IT SHOULDN’T BE A PROBLEM.DRAFT OT IN FIRST ROUND.Get rid of haggans put woodley in his place,put harrison in footes place with simmmons on the olb spot,the reason i say harrison in the middle cause he’s strong enough to take on the blocks plus his pass rush skills are better than footes.get rid of stc and oc, bring bobby april back and maybe camron for OC.
January 9th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
[…] to his strengths What cgolden mentions about the play calling in the wild card game concurrs with Swami’s postgame analysis. The running on first downs did more to hurt the Steelers offense in the first half than help it. […]