Two Reasons we lost IMO

rollins · Joined: 19 Dec 2010 Posts: 513

I have come to see two reasons why we lost this game to the Broncos.

The 1ST REASON being that the Broncos in Denver are a terrible matchup for our defense due to the fact that Clark can't play. As much as we get on him at times, games like this make us appreciate him because of what he allows Troy to do. D. Thomas is a tough matchup for any corner once he gets the ball in his hands because he is so big and strong. You need a quality safety deep when playing a receiver like that (Mundy is not that), so we have to play Troy back there where he cannot affect the game the way he normally does. ***Can we please either groom Golden to be the backup/heir apparent to Clark or get one in the offseason cuz Mundy and Allen are not cutting it. Tonight showed us how horrible they are.

The 2ND REASON being that we had horrible play calling in the redzone tonight which led to two 1st and Goals inside the 5 in which we ended up with only 3. Twice in that situation we did not give our running backs a chance to try and pound it in the endzone even with Dwyer running very well tonight.

Well thats just my two cents on tonight, what are your thoughts???

Steelers22 · Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Posts: 1324

I wasn't crazy about the play calling to begin the game but overall, I actually thought Haley did a really good job. In my opinion, the reasons we lost tonight were
1) Our pass rush was entirely non-existent. I know Peyton got the ball out of his hands quickly fairly often but when he didn't he had all day to throw. Foote had some pressures to begin the game but we didn't have anything afterwards. It should come as no surprise that Peyton picked as apart considering he had 5 years to throw the ball

2) Injuries...Not having Clark and Harrison really really hurt us this game. Not having Harrison really hurt our pass rush and not having Clark really limited Leabeaus options with his play-calling. Injuries to the offensive line certainly didn't help either. On a brighter note, it seemed as though Gilbert and Foster are going to be ok

PS
NFL needs to pay the refs and get them back to work. Apparently the ones working tonight were "the best of the best" in terms of the replacements. I feel bad for them because they've been put in a tough spot but they are really noticeable on a consistent basis which is the absolute last thing you want from a referee
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props to dawg24

BenMadeOfSteel · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 12:04 am Post subject:

My thoughts are that, you know, we lost . It's never good to see our team losing, but especially when it's week one and we've been waiting for the game for so long
But I think that there are three reasons why we lost this game tonight:

The first one is, I wasn't really paying attention to it, but I felt like Tracy Porter had a great game and matched up Mike Wallace's speed.

The second one, is the same as your first one. Clark is very important to this D, IMO.

Redzone offense.

It was kind of hard for me to watch the game, since my baby-sister was crying all the time, so I was not as into the game as I'd like to be.

And there were others, like the False Starts and, obviously the pick6 that Ben threw, etc

Sad

FourThreeMafia · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 40591 Location: East of Sixburgh

1) Agree about Clark. Not that he is even that great, but Mundy is awful.

2) I didnt have an issue with the playcalling in the redzone at all tonight. IMO, our team just isnt built to score in the redzone consistently. Our line isnt good enough to enforce our will, and we dont have any truly great redzone targets.

I hated Haley's calling early on, but I think he was trying a little too hard to set up the run.

We couldnt stop Manning tonight the last 40 minutes. We kept him off the field most of the game, but by the 4th quarter we couldnt sustain drives and thats what did us in IMO.
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rollins · Joined: 19 Dec 2010 Posts: 513

3rivers · Joined: 01 Jan 2011 Posts: 1695

Once again Manning eats our D alive to the tune of 129 rating. This is the reason we lost and it starts with lack of pressure and then the coverage.

If your D give the other qb a rating like that, then your team deserves to lose period. There were positives in the game, but right now the weakness on this team is pass D in a league dominated by passing.

at23steelers · Joined: 05 Mar 2011 Posts: 3721 Location: United States

rollins · Joined: 19 Dec 2010 Posts: 513

SMashMouthMike · Joined: 01 Dec 2005 Posts: 3828

it's not that simple. They adjusted and went hurry up.

Hard to apply pressure when the qb gets rid of the ball in less than 3 seconds.

Our tackling and coverage worsened as the game went on. Our nickle D could not get off the field for some reason.
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Thanks Lyasr 529

rollins · Joined: 19 Dec 2010 Posts: 513

rollins · Joined: 19 Dec 2010 Posts: 513

at23steelers · Joined: 05 Mar 2011 Posts: 3721 Location: United States

steelfan51 · Joined: 07 Aug 2009 Posts: 334 Location: Vacaville, CA

The reason we lost tonight is very simple. We played soft defense, and applied virtually no pressure other than on the first two drives. The play-calling was fine, in fact if Ben had put a little air under the ball, when he missed a wide-open Heath Miller in the EZ, we should have had 4 more points.

The fact of the matter is, on three separate occasions, our defense came on to the field with a lead to protect, and on every single one of those occasions, the defense couldn't get the job done. Maybe Clark being able to play makes a difference in this game, who could definitively say? IMO, however, Clark being there doesn't fix the problems we saw in this game.

With the way the defense played tonight, there is no way we will be able to make it to, much less, win the Super Bowl. Good quarterbacks will sit back and pick apart our zone just like Manning did tonight, if we can't get some pressure. You can blame it on the no-huddle if you want, but Peyton has been running that for years, so it's not like it was some big surprise that the Broncos utilized it tonight. This could be a very long year if someone on this defense doesn't step up, and become a full time stud.

at23steelers · Joined: 05 Mar 2011 Posts: 3721 Location: United States

Ward4HOF · Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 2714

My two reasons:

1) Our D just did not play as well as we've come to expect. Whether Clark or Harrison's absence had a big effect or not, it should not have made that much difference. TBH, it's hard to gauge a D going against a Peyton Manning that is on fire. The coming weeks will hopefully be brighter.

2) Ben's pick-6. Yeah, I know, REAL insightful on my part. But really, we had the ball w/ 3 minutes to score the winning TD. We didn't...Ben blew it. It happens. He's not perfect, though many of us would like him to be. He drives down the field and scores a TD, we potentially win. So it's not like we didn't make a game out of it. Ben just failed this time.
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Props to Jamison on the sweet sig!!!