Super Wildcard Weekend Gamethread
- Thread starter Conigliaro's Potential
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Maybe I am just feeling masochistic this morning and want to get shouted down again, but is everyone still on the Tomlin is one of the best coaches in the league train?
He just lost to a team without a head coach and made some head-scratching in-game decisions.
I still believe he is a fine coach who will go as far as his team's talent will take him but not someone who will win if the other team is more talented.
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To be fair I had this take last week in the COVID thread and was told I was wrong.
I remember reading it - but didn't recognise that was you last week too. Was an interesting topic.
Went to bed at halftime. I can’t believe he punted on 4th and 1. Except I kind of can, which is an indictment on Tomlin.
They had all the momentum and even though the Steelers were still down two scores, Cleveland was reeling. That punt was an epic fail by Tomlin.
In the "Stats are for losers" department....
Score:
Cle 48
Pit 37
First Downs:
Cle 20
Pit 34
Total Yards:
Cle 390
Pit 553
Yards per play:
Cle 6.0
Pit 6.6
3rd/4th down efficiency:
Cle 6-14 - .429
Pit 8-15, 3-3 (11-18 total) - .611
Red Zone
Cle 3-5
Pit 4-4
TOP:
Cle 27:14
Pit 32:46
BUUUUUUUUUUT....
Turnovers:
Cle 0
Pit 5
Ouch.
Score:
Cle 48
Pit 37
First Downs:
Cle 20
Pit 34
Total Yards:
Cle 390
Pit 553
Yards per play:
Cle 6.0
Pit 6.6
3rd/4th down efficiency:
Cle 6-14 - .429
Pit 8-15, 3-3 (11-18 total) - .611
Red Zone
Cle 3-5
Pit 4-4
TOP:
Cle 27:14
Pit 32:46
BUUUUUUUUUUT....
Turnovers:
Cle 0
Pit 5
Ouch.
You were wrong.
It's probably not Tomlin's fault as a coach that the first play of the game handed Cleveland a TD and that Ben decided throwing passes to Cleveland was in his best interest.
John Harbaugh won his first playoff game in 6 years yesterday. He's considered a great coach, too. It's hard to win in the NFL. Look at the stats Baseballjones posted. Pittsburgh played better by every metric, except for the turnovers.
I’m pretty sure this game is the record for most turnovers by a winning team...and of course it’s against the Browns. Glad to see them on the other side of it this time. Tennesse won 24-10.
http://thecomeback.com/thisgivensunday/2016-articles/that-time-the-titans-beat-the-browns-despite-committing-seven-turnovers.html
I think this is more of a "the stats are misleading" moment than a "the final score was misleading" one. Cleveland absolutely dominated the first quarter of the game, not just on turnovers but down-to-down, and that's when the game was decided. That Pittsburgh put up some gaudy numbers throwing every down while down 3 or 4 scores doesn't move the needle for me, nor did it really ever putting them in shouting distance of actually winning the game.
While we are throwing out unusual box scores, this is still my favorite:
Total yards of offense:
Pittsburgh 422
Texans 47 (10!! yards passing)
1st downs:
Pittsburgh 24
Texans 3
Score:
Pittsburgh 6
Houston 24
https://www.espn.com/nfl/matchup?gameId=221208023
Total yards of offense:
Pittsburgh 422
Texans 47 (10!! yards passing)
1st downs:
Pittsburgh 24
Texans 3
Score:
Pittsburgh 6
Houston 24
https://www.espn.com/nfl/matchup?gameId=221208023
Wow, that's crazy. Houston's one offensive scoring drive went like this:
1st and 10 from Pit 20, James Allen run for -2 yards
2nd and 12 from Pit 22, James Allen run for -6 yards
3rd and 18 from Pit 28, James Allen run for 3 yards
4th and 15 from Pit 25, FG is good
So a 3 play, -5 yard drive was their only offense points of the day. Unbelievable.
1st and 10 from Pit 20, James Allen run for -2 yards
2nd and 12 from Pit 22, James Allen run for -6 yards
3rd and 18 from Pit 28, James Allen run for 3 yards
4th and 15 from Pit 25, FG is good
So a 3 play, -5 yard drive was their only offense points of the day. Unbelievable.
A head coaches most important job is to get his team ready to play. Yesterday in the first half of the game, the Steelers made a multitude of mental mistakes and bad plays. I don't know if it was the extra week off for many of the starters or something else, but only 1 team bothered to show up in the first half, and it was the team without the head coach on the sidelines.
Tomlin's players love him, but in the big playoff games over the years, his teams often come up short. I think he's a good coach, but if you had to win a big playoff game, Tomlin is not my choice.
It's more often than not that a run of the mill player gets burned by his own trashtalk though? Freddie Mitchell and Anthony Smith come to mind, both involving the Patriots of course.
I lurked onto The Steelers Fans message board last night expecting some delicious tears; but they were pretty sober and many had previously predicted that they were going to lose to Cleveland given their current form. The general take is that Tomlin is and has been an above average coach, but that the team needs a new person at the helm, which I think is fair. Tomlin can be recognized as a good coach while also admitting to the fact that Pittsburgh would benefit from bringing in someone else. They also are big on Ben needing to retire. Roethlisberger had a good statistical season (3,800 yards, 65% completion percentage, 33 TDs to 10 INTs) but I watched a lot of the Steelers over the last six weeks and he has looked really bad; going through stretches where he has been barely able to throw a decent completion.
Ben's cap hit for 2021 is over $40 MM. Even if he retires (or is cut before day 3 of the new league year), it's still $22.25 MM in dead money. Pittsburgh is kind of in trouble.
Also by the time the second half rolled around Cleveland was down two starting lineman and I believe they lost another in the 4th (not sure if they were able to return).
He posted a Newtonian 84 passer rating over his final 7 games, with 15 touchdowns and 10 picks. For the entire year, his A/YA and Y/A dropped by over a yard from his career averages.
I think he's cooked and hit the proverbial cliff at some point this season. Not sure if it's feasible for Pittsburgh, but I think it's time they move on.
Coach Cowher, COME ON DOWN!
For their sake, I really hope that's not the plan. They seemed to fall apart due to poor QB play and turnover/injuries of their entire LB corps. As a Pats fan, sounds familiar...
That's because they changed their offense from a running and downfield throwing one to a "get rid of it and throw it 5 yards downfield on nearly every play" offense. I don't understand why they did it other than maybe to protect him, but that's what they did. I mean, Juju went from averaging 13.7 yards per reception for the first three years of his career, down to just 8.6 this year. Dionte Johnson saw a decline too - from 11.5 ypc to 10.5 this year. Not as big a decline, but a decline still.
It's just how Pittsburgh decided to attack. Interesting that their offense finally got going when they actually decided to throw the ball downfield. Some really good targets in Johnson, Claypool, Juju, and even Ebron. The throw-it-five-yards-every-time offense was a pretty bad plan for them.
They can’t run the ball and are justifiably terrified of Roethlisberger breaking.
From:
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/heres-why-lamar-jackson-didnt-shake-hands-with-titans-players-after-ravens-playoff-victory/
"Lamar Jackson wasn't in a hurry to exchange pleasantries after leading the Baltimore Ravens to their first playoff win in six years -- and the first playoff victory since he became the Ravens starting quarterback. Jackson ran off the field and to the locker room once the clock expired in Baltimore's 20-13 win over the Tennessee Titans, a victory Jackson was largely responsible for.
Jackson didn't even bother to shake hands with his opponents, still upset over Titans players stepping on the Ravens logo from the regular season victory back in November. The Ravens returned the favor this time, which is something Jackson didn't partake in -- but his teammates made sure Tennessee received the message.
"I feel it was just disrespect to see what went on before the game the last time we played those guys, and they were standing on our logo and seeing them get into it with our [head] coach," Jackson said to reporters after the game. "That was just disrespectful, because we treat all of our opponents with respect. It wasn't no reason for us to shake hands and stuff like that. We'll be the bigger guy, so we just walked off the field. I feel like we were being the bigger guys.""
- - -
So not shaking hands, and his teammates dancing on Tennessee's logo is "being the bigger men"? That's "treating all of our opponents with respect"?
I know I'm old and words these days mean things that they didn't in my day, but how is what Baltimore did "respecting" Tennessee? Isn't it more "you did this to us so we'll do this to you in return"?
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/heres-why-lamar-jackson-didnt-shake-hands-with-titans-players-after-ravens-playoff-victory/
"Lamar Jackson wasn't in a hurry to exchange pleasantries after leading the Baltimore Ravens to their first playoff win in six years -- and the first playoff victory since he became the Ravens starting quarterback. Jackson ran off the field and to the locker room once the clock expired in Baltimore's 20-13 win over the Tennessee Titans, a victory Jackson was largely responsible for.
Jackson didn't even bother to shake hands with his opponents, still upset over Titans players stepping on the Ravens logo from the regular season victory back in November. The Ravens returned the favor this time, which is something Jackson didn't partake in -- but his teammates made sure Tennessee received the message.
"I feel it was just disrespect to see what went on before the game the last time we played those guys, and they were standing on our logo and seeing them get into it with our [head] coach," Jackson said to reporters after the game. "That was just disrespectful, because we treat all of our opponents with respect. It wasn't no reason for us to shake hands and stuff like that. We'll be the bigger guy, so we just walked off the field. I feel like we were being the bigger guys.""
- - -
So not shaking hands, and his teammates dancing on Tennessee's logo is "being the bigger men"? That's "treating all of our opponents with respect"?
I know I'm old and words these days mean things that they didn't in my day, but how is what Baltimore did "respecting" Tennessee? Isn't it more "you did this to us so we'll do this to you in return"?
The best part is the fake outrage at teams dancing on "your" logo. Why is this a thing?
Really, who gives a flying fuck, other than to Jordan the situation and create anger out of thin air just to have something to be mad about?
Hey, we will play a game where we're trying to bash our brains in, and that's cool, but seriously DO NOT dance on my logo. That's my logo. That's my life. Basically, it's my family.
Really, who gives a flying fuck, other than to Jordan the situation and create anger out of thin air just to have something to be mad about?
Hey, we will play a game where we're trying to bash our brains in, and that's cool, but seriously DO NOT dance on my logo. That's my logo. That's my life. Basically, it's my family.
Giants, Jets, and (currently) Washington have a major advantage in the logo dance wars because they only have the NFL logo at midfield, not their team logo. That's 4-D chess right there.
A bit more seriously, yeah, I have no idea why dancing on the logo is somehow seen as verboten. To my mind it's basically a way of touting that you were victorious on the road, similar to making the "shhh" sign to an opposing team's fans or mocking an opposing team's touchdown dances or whatever, which players do all the time. Unwritten rules in sports are confusing.
It's all so silly. There are grown men. You really care if Juju dances like an idiot at midfield?
Why give anyone that power over you?
We can discuss your safe word in one of those Central Park rowboats, I’ll meet you on 76th and 5th. We might have to jump the fence, I’ll bring the bolt cutters and my pba card just in case.I ain't your bro, buddy.
A logo that will constantly have 300 pound linemen tearing it up for most of the game.