Steelers Game Post Game Analysis (Part Deux)

[Bengals1181]

[i]A look at how the quarterbacks around the division fared in Week 16:[/i][color=#333333][font=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3] [/size][/font][/color]

[b][url="http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/14012/andy-dalton"]Andy Dalton[/url], [url="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/cin/cincinnati-bengals"]Cincinnati Bengals[/url][/b][color=#333333][font=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3] [/size][/font][/color]

[b]Stats[/b][color=#333333][font=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]: 24-for-41 (58.5 percent) for 278 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. [/size][/font][/color]

[b]Comment: [/b][color=#333333][font=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Dalton was far from his best at Pittsburgh and his interception to start the second half would've changed the momentum of the game if not for the Bengals defense. His best pass was perhaps his last one, when he hit [/size][/font][/color][url="http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/13983/aj-green"]A.J. Green[/url][color=#333333][font=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3] for 21 yards to set up the winning field goal. But, for most of the game, he misfired on third downs and failed to consistently beat the Steelers deep despite a stacked box. This marked the first time he threw multiple interceptions without having a touchdown pass. [/size][/font][/color]

[b]QBR[/b][color=#333333][font=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]: 38.3 (23rd among quarterbacks this week)[/size][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3] [/size][/font][/color]

[b]Grade[/b][color=#333333][font=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]: C[/size][/font][/color]

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/61976/afc-north-quarterback-report-card-22

[Bengals1181]

[color=#333333][font=Arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]
[url="https://twitter.com/GeoffHobsonCin"][b]Geoff Hobson[/b] ‏[size=3][s]@[/s][b]GeoffHobsonCin[/b][/size][/url][/background][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=Arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]
Elias says [url="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Bengals&src=hash"][s]#[/s][b]Bengals[/b][/url] DT Atkins had two sacks Sunday, not 2.5,, giving him 12.5 for season. Gilberry gets the other half.[/background][/font][/color]

[eva4ben-gal]

A little off topic but Geno's adjusted stats made me think of this. How is it that the Bengals have Burfict and Maualuga at 150+ tackles as I've seen listed in a few articles, but the NFL doesn't even have them in the top five of leading tacklers, which has a cutoff of 130 or so? How are the Bengals' own stats that different from the NFL's?

[Bengals1181]

[url="https://twitter.com/nfl"][s]@[/s][b]nfl[/b][/url][color=#333333][font=Arial, sans-serif][background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]: Thank Dalton for leading your team back to the playoffs by voting his performance as Moment of the Wk - [/background][/font][/color][url="http://t.co/H2MkKzIN"][size=1]http://[/size]on.nfl.com/NSN-W16[/url]

[ONYX]

Hindsight is always 20/20 but after watching the game again and seeing how the Steelers were loading up at the line of scrimmage, especially in the middle, I believe a naked bootleg wouldve been devestating to the Steelers on 3rd and 1.

[Bengals1181]

[quote name='sneaky' timestamp='1356549118' post='1199373']
Hindsight is always 20/20 but after watching the game again and seeing how the Steelers were loading up at the line of scrimmage, especially in the middle, I believe a naked bootleg wouldve been devestating to the Steelers on 3rd and 1.
[/quote]

I was thinking that on the 3rd and 1 where they threw deep to AJ.

I hate throwing deep on 3rd and short, and they've done it about 7 times this year.

[Jason]

[quote name='Bengals1181' timestamp='1356549278' post='1199374']
I was thinking that on the 3rd and 1 where they threw deep to AJ.

I hate throwing deep on 3rd and short, and they've done it about 7 times this year.
[/quote]

I don't mind it if it's on the + side of the field and they plan to go for it on 4th and 1.

[ONYX]

[quote name='Bengals1181' timestamp='1356549278' post='1199374']
I was thinking that on the 3rd and 1 where they threw deep to AJ.

I hate throwing deep on 3rd and short, and they've done it about 7 times this year.
[/quote]

Yep that is exactly the 3rd and 1 I was talking about.

[Bengals1181]

[quote name='Jason' timestamp='1356549385' post='1199376']
I don't mind it if it's on the + side of the field and they plan to go for it on 4th and 1.
[/quote]

well yea, if you know you're going to go for it on 4th, that's another story. Many of the times they don't though.

[Squirrlnutz]

[quote name='sneaky' timestamp='1356549118' post='1199373']
Hindsight is always 20/20 but after watching the game again and seeing how the Steelers were loading up at the line of scrimmage, especially in the middle, I believe a naked bootleg wouldve been devestating to the Steelers on 3rd and 1.
[/quote]

I don't even remember (save the reverse) a run off tackle. Everything was up the gut into the meat grinder, even with Troy standing in between LBs, didn't make any fucking sense to me. 10 year olds audible to a pitch or zone outside in Madden when the D crams the middle of the LOS with a fucking safety. What we were doing running it right at their teeth after failing the previous 9 attempts will never be clear to me.

[Bengals1181]

[quote name='Squirrlnutz' timestamp='1356549628' post='1199380']
I don't even remember (save the reverse) a run off tackle. Everything was up the gut into the meat grinder, even with Troy standing in between LBs, didn't make any fucking sense to me. 10 year olds audible to a pitch or zone outside in Madden when the D crams the middle of the LOS with a fucking safety. What we were doing running it right at their teeth after failing the previous 9 attempts will never be clear to me.
[/quote]

there was one pitch left to BJGE. Ended up being his longest run, 4 yds.

[ONYX]

[quote name='Squirrlnutz' timestamp='1356549628' post='1199380']
I don't even remember (save the reverse) a run off tackle. Everything was up the gut into the meat grinder, even with Troy standing in between LBs, didn't make any fucking sense to me. 10 year olds audible to a pitch or zone outside in Madden when the D crams the middle of the LOS with a fucking safety. What we were doing running it right at their teeth after failing the previous 9 attempts will never be clear to me.
[/quote]

Agreed. I'll go one step further and I'm pretty sure I'll catch heat for saying this...remember before the start of the season, pundits were discussing if Dalton would have a sophmore slump? Well, I don't believe he's had one but I sure as hell think Jay Gruden has. I'm seeing less creativity and making adjustments in play calling this year as opposed to last year.

[eva4ben-gal]

[quote name='sneaky' timestamp='1356550023' post='1199383']


Agreed. I'll go one step further and I'm pretty sure I'll catch heat for saying this...remember before the start of the season, pundits were discussing if Dalton would have a sophmore slump? Well, I don't believe he's had one but I sure as hell think Jay Gruden has. I'm seeing less creativity and making adjustments in play calling this year as opposed to last year.
[/quote]
I think things haven't turned out quite like Gruden expected personnel-wise so I don't know that it's fair to say he's not being as creative when we've had injuries to Sanu, Hawkins and Scott, the guys with the speed and/or versatility to make those trick plays work. Not to mention Binns not working out as the WR2 probably meant he had to focus on more vanilla coaching points to make sure the base offense was set. I'm sure Gruden has a few things he'll have Hawkins working on for the playoff game.

[Jamie_B]

[quote name='ONYX' timestamp='1356550023' post='1199383']
Agreed. I'll go one step further and I'm pretty sure I'll catch heat for saying this...remember before the start of the season, pundits were discussing if Dalton would have a sophmore slump? Well, I don't believe he's had one but I sure as hell think Jay Gruden has. I'm seeing less creativity and making adjustments in play calling this year as opposed to last year.
[/quote]


Agreed. Whether that's due to loss in personel or just the slump in general is debateable, because he was doing pretty well imo early on, but lately he just seems to be losing the chess battle with the Dcoords. Adjustments and overall scheming seems to fall flat imo. Jay needs to work on it.

[|BlackJesus|]

[center][img]http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/382799_10151320296043416_1378563067_n.jpg[/img][/center]
[center][color=#FFCC00][size=8][b]P W N E D[/b][/size][/color][/center]
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[JBandJoeyV]

I'd agree that his play calling struggles at times, but being an oC isn't just play calling and he has gotten a lot of improvement out of guys including dalton, green, Andre, boling, bjge, etc.

What's frustrating is there are games or quarters where he looks like a genius and is calling creative plays and then sometimes where I just think wtf was that call.

Still think he is a good OC and want him to be ours for the next couple years.

[Bengals1181]

[color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, sans-serif][size=3]
[color=#FF0000][size=1][b]Worst Offensive Sub[/b][/size][/color][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, sans-serif][size=3]
[size=2][b]David DeCastro, G, Pittsburgh Steelers[/b][/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, sans-serif][size=3]
[url="https://www.profootballfocus.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Nextman-wk16-decastro.png"][img]https://www.profootballfocus.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Nextman-wk16-decastro-150x150.png[/img][/url]Steeler fans considered it good timing that rookie David DeCastro finally returned from a preseason knee injury just as guard [b]Willie Colon[/b] landed on the injured reserve list. However, in the biggest game of Pittsburgh’s season, their first-round pick came up awfully small. DeCastro ended the Steelers’ first drive when he gave up a third-down sack to [b]Geno Atkins[/b]. There’s no shame in being bested by the best defensive tackle in the league, but the rookie then surrendered pressures to [b]Rey Maualuga[/b], [b]Carlos Dunlap[/b], [b]Vontaze Burfict[/b], and [b]Domata Peko[/b]. DeCastro’s 86.7 [url="https://www.profootballfocus.com/about/pff-signature-stats/#PassBlockingEfficiency"]Pass Blocking Efficiency[/url] was a league-low for guards last week, and he was equally overmatched in the ground game. Time and again he simply whiffed on defenders, and his [color=#FF0000][b]-1.9[/b][/color] run block grade helps explain why Pittsburgh running backs gained just 34 yards on 14 rushes to the right side.[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, sans-serif][size=3]
https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/12/27/next-man-up-week-16/[/size][/font][/color]

[Bengals1181]

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[b]Big Ben's big blunder[/b]

Sometimes you see a play and you wonder what the heck the quarterback was thinking. That's what I did when I saw [url="http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/players/playerpage/493043/ben-roethlisberger"]Ben Roethlisberger[/url] throw a pick-six into the stomach of [url="http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/teams/page/CIN/cincinnati-bengals"]Bengals[/url]cornerback [url="http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/players/playerpage/412010/leon-hall"]Leon Hall[/url] last week. Watching it on tape, it's even more mind-boggling. How can a player with Roethlisberger's pedigree make that throw? He said he never saw Hall, but it's hard to believe that.

Here's a look. Tight end [url="http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/players/playerpage/416861/heath-miller"]Heath Miller[/url] (yellow circle) lined up on the right side in the slot and then motioned to his left and back to the right before settling in the right slot. Hall went with him when he motioned, a clear indicator he was in man coverage on Miller. Roethlisberger has to know that. Miller ran an option route against Hall, driving to the inside when he should have probably optioned to the outside. Hall jumped inside of Miller, as you can see by the second picture, and took it to the end zone for a touchdown. It was a nice play by Hall, but a horrible read by Roethlisberger.

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http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/pete-prisco/21460435/petes-pics-griffin-shows-more-poise-in-the-pocket[/size][/font][/color]