Steelers 2012 thoughts

[Trumpetbdw]

Honestly, how much fun will this game be?

Ryan Clark practicing today was huge. They need him back there this week. The switch to Will Allen over Ryan Mundy has done wonders for that secondary. He's played very well in the chances he's gotten. I expect that Ike Taylor, who is suddenly playing much better, will be given Hakeem Nicks. The biggest question is, how will Pittsburgh handle Victor Cruz? He and Martellus Bennett are the keys to the game. If Eli can find them to the tune of 200 combined yards and 2 TDs, the Giants will be in great shape. But if Pittsburgh can contain both, then they should be able to muster enough offense to pull away.

I don't see Ahmad Bradshaw having a big game this week. Pittsburgh has not been as dominant against the run this year, but I don't think this is the type of backfield that will give them significant issues.

Hopefully Dwyer will be fine come Sunday, but even without him, Ben is on such a role. Only 13 sacks through 7 games with a 14/3 TD/INT ratio, and completing over 66% of his passes, he still has a chance to explode even further and become a legit MVP candidate. Meanwhile Eli is only 12/8, and in his last 3 games is only 2/3 with a completion % under 58.

If this game comes down to the QBs, as it should, then I think the advantage belongs to Pittsburgh. Roethlisberger is playing as well as he's ever played, and is averaging nearly 318 YPG passing in his 4 road games this year, with a YPA near 7.7 and a rating around 98. The defense and running game have let them down in their 3 losses, but both are beginning to click.

Eli is struggling a bit, and the Giants offense has seemed to be a bit out of sync over the past 2 games. I do expect Eli to play well, but not quite well enough.

Pittsburgh wins 27-23

[mikesteelnation1]

Having Clark back is clutch. I don't like our odds with mundy and will Allen playing safety. Mundy sucks. Id prefer brown shifted to free safety and us play 100% cover 2 with the safeties. Allen and brown both do well with the ball in front of them.

I don't know if I agree with ike on nicks. You know lebeau is super headstrong in sticking to his guys. Ike is his guy. He always covers the other teams #1 exclusively, that would be Cruz. With that said, I think we see lots zone, and not much man. Between nicks, Cruz and Bennett that's lots of talent to account for..

I think we see ike and Lewis line up a lot in zone outside leverage positions. Funnel the receivers inside. Safeties in a cover 2 shell with Clark freelancing a bit on read/ recognition to help in the box. All that with timmons dropping a lot based on read/ recognition as to pass vs run and the strong side backer keeping outside contain and dropping into a zone to try and neutralize Bennett. (Strong side backer changing based on how they line up and motion Bennett. I think a lot of that will be static and change based on which de gets the best push)

We need to execute the zone scheme to confuse Eli, and get some of those picks he throws. Mix in some man/zone to jam Cruz and nicks at the line. Throw off the timing and short stuff. We have the two big corners to do so. We need to play a similar scheme to the one we bottled Brady up with last year. Mix in lots of nickel and dime too. Erase Cruz with the jam, and let the zone cover the back end in nickel and dime packages. No different than welker last year. Added bonus of nickel and dime, we see more Mcclendon.

All that said, its all tactical stuff. We need to stick to our strategy. Offense controls the ball. We drag out drives, we convert 3rd downs, and we run hard in key situations. If Dwyer continues his trend and gets those tough yards after contact, I guarantee we pop a long ball to Wallace or ab. Especially against this secondary. Run hard, set up the play action, and either a long pass off play action happens or a long run does.

If Ben gets the ball out quick, to a guy in space this junk secondary can't contain them. Stick to the playbook. Play dink and dunk. Possess the ball and score. That will set everything else up. The giants secondary have no hope vs Wallace, ab, and sanders, with heath added in. They can only hope to negate the talent difference with pressure from the front 4. Our quick rip scheme has taken that away, and the o line seems to finally all be speaking the same language when it comes to shifts and blitz pick ups.

Agreed the better qb wins. Still the steelers 31-24.

I'll also go out on a limb and forecast this game ab takes one to the house that isn't negated by a dumbass penalty.

[Trumpetbdw]

I'm wondering if there actually will be a negative impact by the Steelers having to travel on Sunday. I have a feeling there will be little to no impact.

Victor Cruz is shifted around quite a bit, sometimes lining up outside, but often times playing out of the slot. Hakeem Nicks is more of their "traditional" #1 by lining up outside on a consistent basis. That's why I think Ike Taylor will be assigned to Nicks as opposed to Cruz. Cruz is more like an explosive Wes Welker. Had they been matched up with NE this year, I'd guess Taylor would have been assigned Brandon Lloyd instead of Wes Welker. Of course, none of that is anything more than an educated guess on my part.

[mikesteelnation1]

Why do these jackass spammers post 22 things all in Russian and think that was in any way, shape, or form a useful expenditure of their effort to do so?? No one here (I'm guessing) speaks Russian. I guess it boils down to, stupid is and stupid does.

As far as to your points trumpet, I find the travel a complete non issue. As a guy who sleeps in hotels more often than his own home, I can tell you with incredulity that I'm better off sleeping at home, than I am staying at a hotel. I sleep deeper, and get true stage 3 REM sleep at home. At a hotel, not even close.

That's a complete non story to me.

As far as the Cruz vs ike thing, ill say simply this. Lebeau has put ike 1 on 1 with the other teams best wr for as long as I remember, regardless of being lined up in the slot or in the x or z positions. Take away their best guy. Period.

Lots of times this year Cruz has exploited that mis match by dc's not making that call and putting the nickel corner on Cruz. As a result Cruz has made quite a few big plays as a result. I don't see lebeau making that mistake. He won't let our nickel and dime dbs face up with Cruz. Lewis can handle nicks. Just like he could Lloyd.

Also an educated guess, but knowing lebeau does what he does (and trusts HIS GUYS, which ike clearly is HIS GUY) until its an utter failure, a flaming ball of failure, ike draws the best receiver, and follows him for most of the game.

If that's not the call, then it screams the fact lebeau believes Lewis is the better cover corner, and ike is in decline.. .

[darvon]

Why do these jackass spammers post 22 things all in Russian and think that was in any way, shape, or form a useful expenditure of their effort to do so??

Matt Millen
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[Trumpetbdw]

I'm torn with whether or not to start a new thread or keep it here, so I'll just keep it here.

HUGE win today in the NYC. It's incredible to me how much better the defense looks over the past few weeks with the placement of Will Allen as TP's replacement instead of Ryan Mundy. The defense was the story of the game today, holding the Giants to under 200 total yards.

It's clear that the Giants sacrifice a lot by way of a run defense in an effort to get as many capable pass rushers on the field. The Steelers OL looked fantastic, as did Isaac Redman, but I think that was more a product of the Giants DL than anything.

Mike Adams had his worst game since taking over as a starter. Big Ben didn't have the time to allow anything to develop down field, and losing Antonio Brown early didn't help on that front either.

But down 20-10, the 4th quarter was about as efficient a quarter as a team can have. The big play by Wallace to start the quarter (2nd play, to be exact), who is so explosive when he actually holds onto the ball. Defense follows by forcing a 3 and out, followed by the large punt return by Sanders, which was then negated by Mike LesMiles "The Mad-Hatter" Tomlin. Then another 3 and out for the defense is followed by the go-ahead drive, one more 3 and out, and then the close-out drive.

Ben- 21/30 for 216 2/1 (plus the fumble)
Eli- 10/24 for 125 0/1

Redman- 26/147/1
Bradshaw- 15/48/0

The Giants averaged only 3.8 yards per play.

Couldn't be more pleased right now.

[edave]

But down 20-10, the 4th quarter was about as efficient a quarter as a team can have. The big play by Wallace to start the quarter (2nd play, to be exact), who is so explosive when he actually holds onto the ball. Defense follows by forcing a 3 and out, followed by the large punt return by Sanders, which was then negated by Mike LesMiles "The Mad-Hatter" Tomlin. Then another 3 and out for the defense is followed by the go-ahead drive, one more 3 and out, and then the close-out drive.

Fantastic performance in the second half (I missed most of the first half) even with Tomlin trying out his Mike McCarthy decoder ring.

Would you say that special teams was the difference in the last 30 minutes? I know the defense played well and Eli struggled mightily as a result but the field position was at least somewhat responsible.

[mikesteelnation1]

It was a huge win today. A win made more possible by two things. We won the line on both units, and the defense played like a steelers defense should.

First and foremost, this looks like the defense should. We confused the hell out of Eli today, and looked good vs the run. Trumpet, you're correct the #1 reason is switching mundy out and playing will Allen. Allen and Clark have been lights out playing together. Without polamalu's freelancing its a predicate requirement for this defense to work that everyone execute their assignment. Mundy couldn't, Allen has. Add to that woodley looked great today. And in a surprising turn of events, hamp ate up double teams all game today. While Hampton looked better, ill still keep beating the Mcclendon drum. On one of the few snaps he played today he smoked a double team, got in Eli's face and forced that int.

I'll also note that lebeau knows Harrison isn't even remotely close to 100%. He dropped Harrison almost every play. James can't plant and pivot on that left knee like he needs to to bend the corner and get to the qb. He's also lost that first step explosion. He's still a better player than any other back up on the team. He's solid vs the run, and he knows the scheme, and does well dropping. Here's hoping he adds that fierce pass rush back in soon...

The game was a tale of two halves. I don't even want to discuss the first half. I'll just simply say this: the best team on the field won. The steelers dominated the giants today, a domination that doesn't belie the final score. The game wasn't even remotely close.

The giants powerhouse offense got neutered. Eli was uncomfortable and lost all day, sans one nice pass to nicks in the 3rd quarter. Under 200 yards total. Only 13 pts scored by the offense. Add to that everyone's 4th quarter darling got fed his socks in the 4th. Steelers outgained the giants 147yds to -9yds in the 4th.

The other huge factor today was our o line owned the point of attack. Before anyone wants to tout the 4 sacks, ill say this. Our tackles, especially Adams aren't the best pass blockers. They got beat on speed moves. One sack was after Ben should have thrown it. With that said, the giants sacrifice physicality for speed. The interior of our line is nasty. Adams is nasty run blocking. That's why our 3rd string back ran for 140+. It sure as hell wasn't his second gear.

Redman was a beast today, like Dwyer was the last 2 weeks. Both tough runners who fight for yards. Now that the line has figured each other out, they're doing what trumpet and I thought pre season. Just never thought I'd say foster was great. He was today. So many runs off right tackle for a gain. I can't wait to see decastro, but at this point he's on the shelf for me. Yes he's better than foster, but there's something to be said about the intrinsic nature of o line cohesion. At this point leave the line alone. Ben took 4 sacks, but I didn't fear for his life like last season, only one was super clean, but Ben moved a bit and negated the horror I saw coming. Tuck side tackled him..

Like you trumpet, I hope ab is ok. It's being reported as a high ankle, but looked more like a foot problem. Brown kept stretching his foot, touching his foot, etc.. NEVER grapped his leg like a high ankle. After the bouts pouncey and Ben have had I know what that looks like. Ab didn't act that way.. hopefully its not a lis-franc.

[mikesteelnation1]

Fantastic performance in the second half (I missed most of the first half) even with Tomlin trying out his Mike McCarthy decoder ring.

Would you say that special teams was the difference in the last 30 minutes? I know the defense played well and Eli struggled mightily as a result but the field position was at least somewhat responsible.

Special teams played a part, but the gain was negated with tomlin being a dummy and trying a fake fg. What the hell was he thinking??!!!! Like seriously!!!

4th and about a foot, your line is winning the battle, you have a qb who's bigger than most of the defensive players. That's a qb dive 100 times out of 100. Not a stupid fake fg, that wasn't executed or blocked well. Should have been a qb dive or a fg to tie, not that idiot call.. I'm just sayin..

The other field position advantages were based on the defenses play.. they double stoned the giants. The giants gained -9 yards in the 4th quarter. We even got penalized on one of the 4th quarter punts (not a surprise).

This game was won by the offense and defense. PERIOD. The defense stoned the giants. Then the offense imposed their will, scored, then the defense stoned the giants again, then we imposed our will and ran the clock out...

The catch and run by Wallace broke their back. Then the runs by redman killed their will.. with the d stoning them everytime they got the ball.

[Trumpetbdw]

To be fair, I thought the Giants looked out of sync. I'm sure the outside distractions had an impact on them. Not that any of them would make that excuse, but it's impossible to think their situation didn't result in some sort of negative impact. By the 4th quarter, they looked completely worn out.

As for special teams, David Wilson had some nice returns for the Giants as well. Between he, Rainey, and Sanders, I thought the special teams return units on both sides looked rather impressive.