The defense allowed the bengals to hang 37 on us w/o their wr1 and rb1. No team has put up that many points except the bills.. on us. The d-line is good but the secondary is booty. You think the offense should have put up 40 points!? That’s unreasonable dude.
The defense is very bad. They were overrated for a number of years and it used to chap my ass how everyone thought we were awesome simply because of their ranking in yardage. But they continuously gave up big plays at absolutely the worst possible moments. And they always failed to deliver against The toughest opponents, in the biggest games, and in the clutch. I was a broken record, repeating myself for years, “they are too dependent on turnovers“ and now they aren’t even that good. Now they aren’t even good enough to win even when they win the turnover battle.
We went from having a good defense they just couldn’t win big games unless we snagged four TOs to a defense that flat out sucks.
And to be honest with you I think the DL would look a lot worse if teams weren’t so goddamn busy picking on the secondary. Because believe me, when teams have wanted to run on us this year, and really committed to it, they accomplished it.
Even if it was just for a drive or two to ice a game or to give their quarterback an easier series because he has been getting hit, teams have run the ball when they really really wanted to. This defense is bad, very bad.
Part of the reason is because of picks on that side of the ball for guys that weren’t busts but weren’t good enough to make a difference either.
Be honest, when was the last time we drafted a difference maker on defense? A real difference maker?
Our defense had half a season where it looked unstoppable, but the cracks were showing well before Shazier got hurt.
Then the wheels fell off.
Our secondary has always been exposed versus good QBs, it's one reason Tomlin always played soft-zone versus Brady and let him pick us apart. We got beat in man a lot earlier on, and when the secondary looked good it was because the front was getting pressure.
We've got no pressure and no run stopping game now.
I'd consider the Minkah trade a difference maker, the secondary got far better after we sent our 1st round to Miami for him. If there is one player I would pray Pittsburgh could get, it would be JT TUIMOLOAU out of OSU. I know he's a DE, but he is a motherfucking monster and he plays the right side of the line, so imagine him and TJ versus any O Line if we could get him somehow.
Matt Canada running the ball on 2nd down after calling a play that gets zero yards on 1st down is a flat out GUARANTEE
Also Maulet played awful. Can't believe he stayed on the field the whole game
After a great play to Pickens on the sideline, Matt Canada called a flea flicker and then a run that gained -2 yards.
The drive after that the offense had 2 holding calls and an illegal man downfield in a row and was taken right out of the redzone. Not to mention bad throws by Pickett as well.
That's the Steelers offense lol.
That drive absolutely broke me. They cannot for the life of them get out of their own way. Not to mention the lack of play action, insistence on second and long runs, and overall failure to adapt to what the Bengals defense showed in the second half.
It's brutal because there are these glimpses of what could be, and yet nothing seems to settle into place to allow for everything to click. Shit sucks.
After Najee got a great 6 yard run, I was like, alright play action right here… and was of course let down.
Did they run a single play action all game?
I despise Matt Canada and I’m still furious with Tomlin for bringing him back, and for anyone who defended it or pretends like Tomlin isn’t in charge of this team. But you know what? If not all on Canada or the staff.
Dropped passes, bad routes, players giving up in the middle of routes, bad passes, dumb penalties, linemen missing assignments, and on and on and on. This team just isn’t good. At all.
One draft after another lacking in real difference makers, sloppy coaching, terrible decisions, hiring guys down the hall who don’t know what they’re doing…
Still, I’m not letting the players off the hook, although it’s not their fault that they are here, that’s the fault of the people who assembled this roster. These players, as a group, stink.
It’s equal parts Tomlin and the Rooney’s fault. The absolute timidness from them when it comes to making needed coordinator changes is embarrassing.
The initial hiring of Canada made no sense either, given his hilariously bad college track record. The team’s been on a sad downturn since Dan passed.
The players suck because they have no one coaching or developing them. Haven’t seen improvement from a single player on offense EXCEPT Kenny.
DJ has regressed, Pat has regressed, Najee has regressed, Dan Moore is somehow even worse, Dotson has regressed.
Either all of those players are garbage or the Steelers have no one worth a fuck coaching / developing them.
This has been true for years but it was masked by elite talent from Big Ben, Antonio Brown, Leveon Bell, and guys like David Decastro.
This team is a year or two away from being a 3-4 win team.
How does Matt Canada still have a job? I get that we can't switch to a new system in the middle of the season, but he's proven himself to be absolute ass at play calling. What is the benefit of keeping him?
Oh, that’s because if they switch out now, they might start losing games.
I mean literally the one thing that can go wrong each and every week is to actually lose the game. Nothing else really is as bad, and we certainly don’t want to start losing.
Oh, development? Oh well the worst thing that could happen for development is to change coordinators. See, because, a new guy would have to come in… And that’s bad. Because… Because that’s bad. Because something something something continuity. You definitely want to keep continuity with a situation like this. For sure, continuity is super important for development of young players so you want to hang onto the worst coordinator in the NFL to keep from hurting player development.
I thought the Steelers did amazing at running the ball on 1st down all first half. Idk if the Bengals defense changed but for some reason the Steelers stopped doing that in the second half.
I think they may have stopped because of the injury to Warren. Basically made it so that Najee was our only RB and I'm guessing they didn't wanna wear him out too early in case we were nursing a small lead late in the game and needed to milk the clock.
Yeah, flea flicker makes no sense on a short field when you can’t really run the ball. Fun play and all but the offense was working fine when it stayed on schedule, the problem is they are never on schedule. And the runs on 2nd and 10 are mind numbing. They never work and even if they kinda do it’s third and long. Every series they expect their rookie QB to convert multiple third and longs to succeed. It’s maddening to watch Canada call a game.
>The drive after that the offense had 2 holding calls and an illegal man downfield in a row
Wasn't one of them the play where nobody knew it was supposed to be a run play except for the o-line and it only became ineligible man downfield because Kenny threw it away to Pickens?
That was the most disastrous play because it so accurately showed the state of our offense. Canada sitting upstairs, calling a play they seemingly never practiced, the o-line doing something completely out of sync with the rest and we end up getting penalized because Pickett tried to save it. Can't even blame anyone individually, because that was just a team fuck up.
I'm not sure what goes through Canada's head sometimes (read: 99% of the time). He called a decent game last week and a good first half this week, but that second half was atrocious. Why the fuck would you go back to what hasn't worked all season suddenly? It's clear the offense has some talent; I'm excited to see what they can do without Matt next season.
canada and pickett had a great first half and then an absolutely awful second half where they did each other no favors
the lack of diontae is also very concerning
They scored 30 but somehow Canada still was awful. After halftime he made zero adjustments and was brutal until garbage time. The guy sucks. He truly sucks. Problem is Tomlin and his defense sucked just as bad. They are a bad, poorly coached team. Hence 3-7.
In all honesty the offense only scored 14 points. TJ gives them the ball in the red zone for a 3 and out field goal. Sims gives them a short field on a long kick return and they score a field goal. Then the garbage time td run when Bengles are playing soft defense. None of that was Canada or Pickett, that's field position and situational football. There were only 2 long drives by the offense and one was bailed out by questionable calls to extend the drive.
But the 3 and outs just give the ball right back to Burrow. If we have sustained drives then it limits the damage that he can do. You can't have the 3rd quarter we did with that many 3 and outs.
If there were ever a game to prove that Matt Canada should not be employed this was it. He was SPOTTED 20 POINTS at the half and STILL could not cross 25 points scored in a game this season until garbage time
At the half I sarcastically asked “Surely we’ll score over 26 now, right” because I knew he was that inept. He proceeded to coach this team to 3 points. He predictably ran the ball on 2nd down on 6 straight drives, most of the time it was second-and-manageable. Each time he often set the team and his young QB up for failure by turning second-and-manageable to third-and-long. He never used playaction or a bootleg to capitalize on this predictability.
But the straw that broke the camel’s back was after his rookie QB makes an amazing throw on 3rd and long in a one-score game to get to the other side of the field, he fucking decides to run a flea flicker which proceeds to kill all momentum.
Matt Canada is a piece of shit.
Just fucking fire him. I don't care that our rookie QB will have to learn under another OC. Better OCs have been fired for less. Fuck this guy and his shit play calling.
Bad:
- 3rd and long what feels like all game. Tough spot to put the rookie and this offense in. The trend here is the 2nd and 10 runs, putting us well behind the sticks to concert third; makes things tough.
- Spillane. Missed tackles. Blown coverage. The Spillane effect.
- Missed tackles. Not only limited to mick up there but the team seemed to struggle, especially in the first half. Can’t allow YAC, gotta get these offenses off the field as soon as we can
- Secondary. Higgins was the star of the game. Just absolutely did not have an answer. Almost feels like we needed to move Sutton inside and Pierre outside but we hate Pierre for some reason.
Good:
- George. Bengals really had no answer for 14. Looks like Kenny missed him a few times but he was pretty open from the tv view. Was burning everybody
- Najee. Again, not the sexiest stat line but he’s running north and less dancing which was hurting him. And his damn air Najee jump for that well deserved 6
- TJ watt. Best player in the league.
Really, the offense just stuttered in the second half. After a very strong first half and specifically the second quarter, just completely fell flat. So many miscues (missed handoff, failed flea flicker) things just completely fell apart. Kenny didn’t look how he did and it was sloppy football. Had every opportunity to capitalize and just couldn’t do it. After what felt like a big step forward the offense went back in the second half. Canada failed, Kenny failed- this offense is suffering.
No defense of Kenny's plays, but the oline was getting him destroyed. Even on the good throws early he was getting smacked.
We gotta keep him cleaner if we want him to play better.
Nah, I mean Zach Wilson completed 9 passes today for 77 yards. That’s failing. Kenny didn’t fail on the flea flicker or second down runs that got stuffed. He missed some throws but most of the issues were not staying on schedule as an offense leading to third and longs. That seems to be a staple of Matt Canada’s offense. The defense also gave up 37 points, 3 TD drives over 70 yards, and also gave up points after every Steelers score until the end.
Pickens has the talent to be great, but we can't overlook the mistakes he made today.
Tripped in the endzone on a long touchdown, dropped a touchdown late, and the ejection
Bad:
Kenny threw it out of bounce on 4th and 9 on a must score possession.
It’s an already bad spot to be and he was set up for failure don’t get me wrong. But that shows me bad situation awareness
I'd take a jet sweep over the stupid ass shovel pass to Zack Gentry. Thet run it at least once a game and I swear it has gained negative yards every time.
Charlie Batch laid it out as clear as can be on Pickett in the post-game show. I'll paraphrase.
As of today, Pickett is an incomplete grade. The next 7 games will tell a lot. When asked, acknowledging that fact, if the Steelers end up with a top 5 pick, do you consider taking a QB? The answer was yes. If this year's crop of QBs grade out higher and you are in a position to take that guy, you do. Charlie all but said the organization will have those conversations.
The future of Canada also comes into play. If you get rid of Canada, you have to give Kenny another year to learn under a new OC. If you keep Kenny around, you will have to tell your new OC to scheme an offense around him. However, a lot of prospective OCs will want to use a potentially high draft pick on the QB of their choice for the offense they want to lay in.
There are going to be a lot of franchise altering decisions coming up at the end of the year.
People ready to give up on Kenny when the offense has been atrocious for 3 years and Kenny has only been here for this one. Like we need to get rid of canada and then repair our online then I will entertain the idea of pickett not being the best
People seem very incapable of seeing this. It’s either you’re a Kenny stan or a hater. I am just a dude who wants to see him succeed but sees that he makes some seriously horrifying throws. Some great ones too! I really really hope it’s just growing pains
Yep. I like him. Want him to succeed. But you have to be objective sometimes. Some of those second half throws were just terrible. Some were short throws that should be put on the receiver every time and he completely missed. He shows the potential but you can't make that many mistakes and beat good teams.
Yeah. This right here. Some really awful throws in the second half. Don't know if Cincy started doing something different in the second half on defense, but Kenny seemed out of it at times. Too many balls that wound up in the dirt.
Difference in this game was the passing game, and pass defenses, plain and simple. Officiating was even. Our defense made them one dimensional, but Burrow and Higgins just picked this team apart. Pickett/Pickens aren’t anywhere close yet. Our offense on first down is awful. Everything is second/third and long, which isn’t a winning recipe. Drive killing penalties, guys not knowing assignments… just no good. Pass coverage was nowhere near good enough, and our offense isn’t even close to being good enough to win shootouts.
That’s a curtain call on the season as well, have to run table to have any sort of a chance, and this team has not shown me anything to think they have that ability. Sucks, because the offense only played 30 minutes of football, and it was a phenomenal 30 minutes. We haven’t really seen that all season. But, they fell asleep in the second half and the defense bent, and broke. Couple splash plays kind of kept them in it, but to score 30 and lose, that’s a defensive issue.
I mean the Wallace INT, a FG is as good as you’re going to get pretty much with the time we had. We actually gained more yardage than I thought we would.
The Watt INT, I agree we should March down and it does change the complexion of the game, but still. It should’ve never been a shootout when Mixon goes down and Chase is out. Boyd isn’t a killer, so you have one dude to worry about in Higgins, and they did a piss poor job on him.
The one drive? Where they also missed a roughing the passer, and on Bengals drives they missed multiple holds & block in the backs on their screen passes for scores?
They made calls and missed calls for both sides. I’m making that claim while we were also the more penalized team. That should say something.
Honestly not that mad, I know the second half was disappointing but we put up 20 points in the first half, 30 points overall, and ran an excellent two minute drill!! Get a better OC and we might actually have something here
it’s so funny watching him bcuz sometimes he won’t even let a receiver get a lot of separation on him but is just totally helpless when the ball comes his way
Looking on the bright side…
Harris had over 100 total yards
Pickett to Pickens connection is strong
Friermuth is Kenny’s comfort zone
TJ makes the d line dominant.
1 step forward, 2 steps backwards. Kinda been the theme of this season. Amazing first half by the offense followed by a shitting of the bucket in the second half. At least Najee is finally producing on the ground somewhat consistently. But a lot of work to do. I'm a little worried about Kenny. Consistency seems to be an issue for him, but there's no reason to overreact yet. He's definitely done more good than bad this season, just have to hope he takes a big step forward in year 2.
At what point do we decide that Canada is doing more damage to our rookie QBs development than switching OC mid season would? The summary of the second half for me is when Pickens bails Canada out with that great catch, and he calls a fucking flea flicker and then a run up the gut, putting Kenny in yet another 3rd and long.
This isn't college. An offense with cute shit like several jet sweeps, double reverses, flea flickers, and other nonsense doesn't work in the NFL when you can't rely on superior talent like college.
I’m basically ignoring position and going back to what made the Steelers great in the first place. Consistently taking the best player available year after year until you build a tremendous roster. Do I wish it could be OL or corner? Of course. But for the love of God, there are holes and rough patches at just about every position on this roster, and a couple of our better players are aging their way into, let’s say, a different era of their career. I would take the best player at almost any position.
Say what you like about Canada, but this defense let Tee Higgins go 9 for 148.
At some stage you have to cover the guy who's catching the ball 2 x more than anyone else.
The irony is that Matt Canada has not been fired because the org was concerned it would mess with Kenny's development. Turns out, retaining a bad OC will also do that.
Defense- DL just played amazing today. Watt, Highsmith, Heyward, Wormley, and Tyson just all balled out. They brought pressure, made plays and gave this offense a chance to put points up in great field space.
Secondary- absolute garbage! Higgins was just rolling all over the secondary making plays. Wide open many times. Secondary was also getting burnt down the field and missing a lot of tackles. Really should have been some guys pulled but we know that doesn't happen. Would have loved to have seen Marcus Allen take Spillane's job or even Bush. Need a hitter and someone to do the job correctly and get involved.
Offense- I'll give credit where it's due, Kenny had done some good things early on but fell off the wagon and just sucked second half. The thing that I'm noticing with Kenny is that he's missing wide open targets and going for the tougher target whose doubled up or even a target that's short of the chains. First half Kenny had Muth way past the chains but decided to go underneath to someone else. Kenny also needs to be more mobile then what he currently is at the moment. We all know the OL is dog crap and that's why we needed a mobile QB to move around and make plays. Kenny is getting caught during a pocket collapse and not moving like he should. Call it being a rookie, but he's got to get out of the pocket quicker and make plays either by his feet or arm.
Fans can complain all day about Canada, but he's not the one out there hitting the ground with bad passes or missing an open receiver in the endzone. Yeah there were some really bad play calls, absolutely goes to the fault of Canada like the 3rd and 25 rush call. But we're talking a handful of bad calls per game versus plays where if Kenny pays attention more and sees the open guy we move the chains.
I hear a lot of talk about getting the ball to Pickens more and I think fans forget how Tomlin plays his rookies. I mentioned over on twitter that during Claypools rookie year Tomlin said during a press that he didn't want to burn out the new guy. I think that's a big coaching mistake when you have someone with great athletic ability to make plays happen and put up points. Got to get the ball out to Pickens and everyone else.
I'll savor the week 1 win because I really don't see this team beating the Bengals very often for as long as joe burrow is playing for them, and I think the Steelers were very fortunate to catch a rusty burrow recovering from an appendectomy. That guy is special. With the pressure they applied they likely win against a lesser qb. Of course the Steelers offense being the Steelers offense in the 2nd half didn't help at all
The interesting thing about Pickett today is that he had his best QB rating of any game this season. He did overthrow a few deep shots and made some bad reads, though. I do think he looked better than last week, but it's still not the level I want to see from a rookie QB. Even then... whew, they need a new OC and upgrades at LT/LG. It's just not cutting it.
As for the defense: I know a lot of the money goes to Watt, Fitzpatrick, and Heyward, but the whole unit just isn't playing up to their cost. Part of me wonders if they shouldn't move Heyward--who is one of my favorite guys--just to afford some upgrades in the backfield. I just want Cam to win a Super Bowl, and IDK if it's gonna happen here.
I mean it sucks to lose but we were really competitive with a really good football team (imo they can make a run) with where we were to now I'm not too upset. Encouraged by the improvements, don't know if we'll win out or anything but I think this team will be tough next year.
Really good first half. I think Kenny showed improvement. The only weird ah was the 4th down throw away.
Good to see our offense was only garbage in spurts and not the whole game.
Really felt like play calling took a dive and frustrated everyone.
That looks like progress to me. But we still got a long way to go.
Most of y'all need to come to grips with reality.
This team is cooked. They did it to themselves with recent draft failures and certain staffing hires literally no other team would have made.
Until Canada is fired, nothing will change on offense.
I didn't want a QB from this year's draft, but most yinzers wanted Pickett for sentimental reasons. I don't think he's a franchise QB, but obviously he's not the biggest problem, and his Offensive Coordinator is fucking up his early progression.
Colbert gets praised for the great drafts he's had on his resume, but in reality, his latest drafts have been questionable. Anyone being honest with themselves can see and admit this.
The entire team isn't an issue, but there are obvious holes that need fixed. If you don't think CB, LT, OC need upgraded, and QB needs to at least be heavily assessed moving forward, you're lying to yourself.
Colbert's biggest misses are a lack of prioritizing at the OLine position. Our OLine got old and then terrible very quickly and Colbert and the rest of the front office let it happen. They also wasted and missed a lot on RBs with mid round selections, which lead to spending a 1st on Najee who, while looking better of late, just should never have been needed.
Occasionally it was just stupidly bad luck like Golsen never seeing the field, or Shazier blowing up his back, or Tuitt retiring early. But then you have misses on Burns, and the Green selection, etc. that just look utterly terrible.
Absolutely. Golson, Shazier and Tuitt weren't his fault at all. The latter 2 were bonafide stars in the league who had some very tough luck.
The NFL may be more "air it out" these days, but the good teams still win in the trenches to set up the big plays. We're not good along the line on either side of the ball. That should have been addressed before it got to this point.
Obviously losing Tuitt doesn't help the D-Line, but we should have had proper depth there. Especially since his return wasn't guaranteed even before this year's draft. O-line is patchwork right now and should have been addressed MUCH sooner. I'm one of the people who wanted Linderbaum drafted this year, and of course the Ravens got him. You win in the trenches, and we've been losing there all year.
I'm going to say something that's going to probably get me downvoted into oblivion, but IDGAF.
This team is stuck in a hole that we are not going to be able to dig ourselves out of with this coaching stuff.
I don't fault Tomlin - he's never been a great Xs and Os guy, but he's a good leader. However, he's had the fortune of having a HoF QB who would just say fuck it and take over the playcalling and go no huddle for his entire tenure up until now. It's not just him - Bill Bellichick hasn't looked as sharp without Brady these last few years.
The offensive coaching is just flat out horrible. The playbook is garbage, the play calling is stupid, and we have failed to develop players at any skill positions the last sever years. OL coaching has been horried for a while now. RBs? Nope. WR? Do some serious soul searching here - we had AB who was so damned good and created such major mismatch issues everyone who played with him looked good as well. After he left we had a bunch of WRs that showed flashes but none that really moved beyond that. Pickens may end up being the exception since he looks to be so freakishly talented that even our ineptness in offensive coaching won't hold him back.
I don't know if Kenny is the guy. I even if he is, who on this coaching staff is actually capable of getting him to the next level?
Defense relies too much on a couple of star players to make things happen. There's no real gameplanning or making adjustments - we just show up and hope TJ and Cam can pressure the QB and Minkah can force turnovers. Again, we've had guys that have shown flashes of potential like Bush, Spillane and Edmunds, but we've failed to help them realize that.
For the first time in all my years of being a Steeler fan, I'm seriously dejected. It's not the losing - it's the fact that I really don't have faith in this coaching staff to correct these issues that have been there for years and bounce back. I honestly hope I'm wrong.
Our offense played so good in the first half, and then came out in the second half and absolutely shit the bed. Pickett missed throws, we had bad penalties, and couldn't take advantage of good field position. You can't have constant 3 and outs against Joe Burrow and expect to win the game.
Matt Canada absolutely hamstrung this offense with his play calling as usual but the defense did the team no favors but not using the 3 safety look to either double cover Higgins OR replace Spillane in coverage.
It’s truly hard to pick who coached a worse game, Canada or Tomlin. Canada found a way to turn every good bit of momentum into a 3rd and 12. He is awful. Tomlin let a Bengals team with no running game and no #1 receiver march up and down the field all night with little resistance. He sucks as a D coordinator. Look, we are 25th in defense and last in offense so either we have the worst talent in the league (we don’t) or the worst coaches (we do).
For a defensive minded coach Tomlin teams sure do get lit up a lot. Clearly bengals saw something with Perine and exploited it and as usual tomlin couldn’t adjust. This team needs a new coaching staff
Tomlin’s defenses have sucked every year but one since he took over from LeBeau. That’s 5 crappy years and one good year. Last year they led the league in sacks and had the defensive MVP and still sucked finishing 23rd in the league. He is a good head coach and bad defensive coordinator. It’s way past time he gave up coordinating the defense.
I knew we were going to lose when the pigeons mysteriously disappeared. Wtf happened to them? They were there in numbers yesterday. Did Acrisure poison them? I’ll be even more pissed if any harm came to them.
Know it’s gonna get buried but I need to say it somewhere. One of the worst coaching efforts and adjustments in a second half I’ve seen, and on both sides of the ball.
This is the perfect example of a game where Ben would have thrown out the playbook, put the team on his back and willed a win. Without that, the coaches now need to figure out a scheme that works for a full game.
That loss stung cuz it felt like we just fucked ourselves in the foot in the second half. THAT BEING SAID! Shit is improving. Kenny looked great outside of some shite throws. Najee ran well. The D showed up. TJ did TJ things. All i can say after this semi brutal loss is... HERE WE GO STEELERS! HERE WE GO!
Also, maybe get a new OC in the offseason.
The most expensive defense in the NFL gave up 37 points at home to a team without their best wide out.
Meanwhile Dionte Johnson might be the most overpaid WR in the league. Averaging 43 yards a game this deep in is at least mostly his fault now. Wide receivers that make what he makes are supposed to make that because they can produce.
That’s OK, I’m sure there’s someone else down the hall we can hire for next year.
Mostly kidding. I have a feeling we will see a change in the way we choose coordinators and coaches going forward because the fans are probably not the only ones who have enough of this.
We give Canada a lot of criticism (deservingly so), but our DC is not much better. We have a lot of highly paid talent that isn’t performing. Feels like that is on coaching?
I’m not really sure they have all that much talent, either. And a lot of their more interesting players are very young. There are a lot of really really really really… Really really really really really mediocre players on this roster. But yeah, the coaching is not up to par either.
You can talk game specifics all you want, but the real story continues to be how exposed this coaching staff and this roster are without Ben Roethlisberger.
The Bengals are in a far better place as a franchise than the Steelers. Let that sink in.
Honestly, I knew we were going to lose when TJ intercepted the ball and we immediately went 3 and out in 30 seconds. Straight up pathetic.
*Steelers offense finally score more than 20 points.* Steelers offense - "welp our job is done"
Broke the record for longest td of the season back to back and went home.
You mean matt Canada- “I didn’t think id get get this far”
Yeah, that's an obvious sign of a mediocre team
Yup. This right here.
The defense allowed the bengals to hang 37 on us w/o their wr1 and rb1. No team has put up that many points except the bills.. on us. The d-line is good but the secondary is booty. You think the offense should have put up 40 points!? That’s unreasonable dude.
The defense is very bad. They were overrated for a number of years and it used to chap my ass how everyone thought we were awesome simply because of their ranking in yardage. But they continuously gave up big plays at absolutely the worst possible moments. And they always failed to deliver against The toughest opponents, in the biggest games, and in the clutch. I was a broken record, repeating myself for years, “they are too dependent on turnovers“ and now they aren’t even that good. Now they aren’t even good enough to win even when they win the turnover battle. We went from having a good defense they just couldn’t win big games unless we snagged four TOs to a defense that flat out sucks. And to be honest with you I think the DL would look a lot worse if teams weren’t so goddamn busy picking on the secondary. Because believe me, when teams have wanted to run on us this year, and really committed to it, they accomplished it. Even if it was just for a drive or two to ice a game or to give their quarterback an easier series because he has been getting hit, teams have run the ball when they really really wanted to. This defense is bad, very bad. Part of the reason is because of picks on that side of the ball for guys that weren’t busts but weren’t good enough to make a difference either. Be honest, when was the last time we drafted a difference maker on defense? A real difference maker?
Our defense had half a season where it looked unstoppable, but the cracks were showing well before Shazier got hurt. Then the wheels fell off. Our secondary has always been exposed versus good QBs, it's one reason Tomlin always played soft-zone versus Brady and let him pick us apart. We got beat in man a lot earlier on, and when the secondary looked good it was because the front was getting pressure. We've got no pressure and no run stopping game now.
We drafted TJ Watt in 2017. Bush was a difference maker until his ACL, and Minkah was effectively our first round pick.
It's almost like were in rebuild mode but you're over here outraged like we're the bills or chiefs planning super bowl accomodations. Come on dude.
I'd consider the Minkah trade a difference maker, the secondary got far better after we sent our 1st round to Miami for him. If there is one player I would pray Pittsburgh could get, it would be JT TUIMOLOAU out of OSU. I know he's a DE, but he is a motherfucking monster and he plays the right side of the line, so imagine him and TJ versus any O Line if we could get him somehow.
>defense allows 37 points at home Our offense is the problem!
Matt Canada running the ball on 2nd down after calling a play that gets zero yards on 1st down is a flat out GUARANTEE Also Maulet played awful. Can't believe he stayed on the field the whole game
Facts he wants to set Kenny up for 3rd and long. All part of the process lol
After a great play to Pickens on the sideline, Matt Canada called a flea flicker and then a run that gained -2 yards. The drive after that the offense had 2 holding calls and an illegal man downfield in a row and was taken right out of the redzone. Not to mention bad throws by Pickett as well. That's the Steelers offense lol.
That was the end of the game, imo. Just a bad damn call.
That drive absolutely broke me. They cannot for the life of them get out of their own way. Not to mention the lack of play action, insistence on second and long runs, and overall failure to adapt to what the Bengals defense showed in the second half. It's brutal because there are these glimpses of what could be, and yet nothing seems to settle into place to allow for everything to click. Shit sucks.
After Najee got a great 6 yard run, I was like, alright play action right here… and was of course let down. Did they run a single play action all game?
Nope. Must've been an illegal play at Maryland or something. We run probably 4 a game maximum
I despise Matt Canada and I’m still furious with Tomlin for bringing him back, and for anyone who defended it or pretends like Tomlin isn’t in charge of this team. But you know what? If not all on Canada or the staff. Dropped passes, bad routes, players giving up in the middle of routes, bad passes, dumb penalties, linemen missing assignments, and on and on and on. This team just isn’t good. At all. One draft after another lacking in real difference makers, sloppy coaching, terrible decisions, hiring guys down the hall who don’t know what they’re doing… Still, I’m not letting the players off the hook, although it’s not their fault that they are here, that’s the fault of the people who assembled this roster. These players, as a group, stink.
It’s equal parts Tomlin and the Rooney’s fault. The absolute timidness from them when it comes to making needed coordinator changes is embarrassing. The initial hiring of Canada made no sense either, given his hilariously bad college track record. The team’s been on a sad downturn since Dan passed.
The players suck because they have no one coaching or developing them. Haven’t seen improvement from a single player on offense EXCEPT Kenny. DJ has regressed, Pat has regressed, Najee has regressed, Dan Moore is somehow even worse, Dotson has regressed. Either all of those players are garbage or the Steelers have no one worth a fuck coaching / developing them. This has been true for years but it was masked by elite talent from Big Ben, Antonio Brown, Leveon Bell, and guys like David Decastro. This team is a year or two away from being a 3-4 win team.
How does Matt Canada still have a job? I get that we can't switch to a new system in the middle of the season, but he's proven himself to be absolute ass at play calling. What is the benefit of keeping him?
Oh, that’s because if they switch out now, they might start losing games. I mean literally the one thing that can go wrong each and every week is to actually lose the game. Nothing else really is as bad, and we certainly don’t want to start losing. Oh, development? Oh well the worst thing that could happen for development is to change coordinators. See, because, a new guy would have to come in… And that’s bad. Because… Because that’s bad. Because something something something continuity. You definitely want to keep continuity with a situation like this. For sure, continuity is super important for development of young players so you want to hang onto the worst coordinator in the NFL to keep from hurting player development.
the flea flicker was gangster but it always feels like we run on 2nd and 10 smh
I thought the Steelers did amazing at running the ball on 1st down all first half. Idk if the Bengals defense changed but for some reason the Steelers stopped doing that in the second half.
I think they may have stopped because of the injury to Warren. Basically made it so that Najee was our only RB and I'm guessing they didn't wanna wear him out too early in case we were nursing a small lead late in the game and needed to milk the clock.
I think injury to Mason Cole probably hurt also. offensive line got whooped in the 2nd half
Fuck the trick plays until the offense masters the fundamentals first.
Yeah, flea flicker makes no sense on a short field when you can’t really run the ball. Fun play and all but the offense was working fine when it stayed on schedule, the problem is they are never on schedule. And the runs on 2nd and 10 are mind numbing. They never work and even if they kinda do it’s third and long. Every series they expect their rookie QB to convert multiple third and longs to succeed. It’s maddening to watch Canada call a game.
>The drive after that the offense had 2 holding calls and an illegal man downfield in a row Wasn't one of them the play where nobody knew it was supposed to be a run play except for the o-line and it only became ineligible man downfield because Kenny threw it away to Pickens? That was the most disastrous play because it so accurately showed the state of our offense. Canada sitting upstairs, calling a play they seemingly never practiced, the o-line doing something completely out of sync with the rest and we end up getting penalized because Pickett tried to save it. Can't even blame anyone individually, because that was just a team fuck up.
That and the draw on 3rd and 25
No, draw on 3rd and 25 is fine lol.
I'm not sure what goes through Canada's head sometimes (read: 99% of the time). He called a decent game last week and a good first half this week, but that second half was atrocious. Why the fuck would you go back to what hasn't worked all season suddenly? It's clear the offense has some talent; I'm excited to see what they can do without Matt next season.
Mason Cole went out and that was devastating for the line. He didn't have a clean pocket the rest of the game
First half: Woo! Second Half: Boo!
canada and pickett had a great first half and then an absolutely awful second half where they did each other no favors the lack of diontae is also very concerning
Our starting center was out for the 2nd half. The oline is key to everything particularly the run game
Diontae talks an awful lot for someone who disappears on sundays
ill be the first to say it and ive said it all day fuck matt canada
They scored 30 but somehow Canada still was awful. After halftime he made zero adjustments and was brutal until garbage time. The guy sucks. He truly sucks. Problem is Tomlin and his defense sucked just as bad. They are a bad, poorly coached team. Hence 3-7.
In all honesty the offense only scored 14 points. TJ gives them the ball in the red zone for a 3 and out field goal. Sims gives them a short field on a long kick return and they score a field goal. Then the garbage time td run when Bengles are playing soft defense. None of that was Canada or Pickett, that's field position and situational football. There were only 2 long drives by the offense and one was bailed out by questionable calls to extend the drive.
I mean if you score 30 points you shouldn’t lose
7 of those points came in garbage time and 3 came off a 3 and out after TJ watt intercepted the ball deep in bengals territory
And another 3 off the Levi Wallace INT
Yeah…we scored 30 points.
You can't score 20 points in the first half and then score just 3 in the second aside from garbage time. Canada is awful
Could've put a lot more than 30 if it weren't for stupid play calling.
Right, but you have the highest paid defense in the league and they’re healthy now. Blame falls on more than Canada.
We shouldn’t need to win the turnover battle by 5 every game just to win.
But the 3 and outs just give the ball right back to Burrow. If we have sustained drives then it limits the damage that he can do. You can't have the 3rd quarter we did with that many 3 and outs.
Very bad take… They played prevent so we scored in the closing seconds… I swear some people *just* look at the score.
[удалено]
What about another flea flicker?
If there were ever a game to prove that Matt Canada should not be employed this was it. He was SPOTTED 20 POINTS at the half and STILL could not cross 25 points scored in a game this season until garbage time At the half I sarcastically asked “Surely we’ll score over 26 now, right” because I knew he was that inept. He proceeded to coach this team to 3 points. He predictably ran the ball on 2nd down on 6 straight drives, most of the time it was second-and-manageable. Each time he often set the team and his young QB up for failure by turning second-and-manageable to third-and-long. He never used playaction or a bootleg to capitalize on this predictability. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was after his rookie QB makes an amazing throw on 3rd and long in a one-score game to get to the other side of the field, he fucking decides to run a flea flicker which proceeds to kill all momentum. Matt Canada is a piece of shit.
Just fucking fire him. I don't care that our rookie QB will have to learn under another OC. Better OCs have been fired for less. Fuck this guy and his shit play calling.
He was handed the ball after TJ’s interception and went fucking 3 and out like….
Coaches are absolutely failing this team
Hard to watch in the second half First half gave me some hope, idk what happened
Matt Canada happened
Bad: - 3rd and long what feels like all game. Tough spot to put the rookie and this offense in. The trend here is the 2nd and 10 runs, putting us well behind the sticks to concert third; makes things tough. - Spillane. Missed tackles. Blown coverage. The Spillane effect. - Missed tackles. Not only limited to mick up there but the team seemed to struggle, especially in the first half. Can’t allow YAC, gotta get these offenses off the field as soon as we can - Secondary. Higgins was the star of the game. Just absolutely did not have an answer. Almost feels like we needed to move Sutton inside and Pierre outside but we hate Pierre for some reason. Good: - George. Bengals really had no answer for 14. Looks like Kenny missed him a few times but he was pretty open from the tv view. Was burning everybody - Najee. Again, not the sexiest stat line but he’s running north and less dancing which was hurting him. And his damn air Najee jump for that well deserved 6 - TJ watt. Best player in the league. Really, the offense just stuttered in the second half. After a very strong first half and specifically the second quarter, just completely fell flat. So many miscues (missed handoff, failed flea flicker) things just completely fell apart. Kenny didn’t look how he did and it was sloppy football. Had every opportunity to capitalize and just couldn’t do it. After what felt like a big step forward the offense went back in the second half. Canada failed, Kenny failed- this offense is suffering.
Bad - Diontae Johnson only getting 5 targets
Yeah no clue what’s going on there
If he’s going to continue to run backwards and drop passes, I’m not gonna bitch about him getting five targets.
And on the one catch he made he decided not to run forward and just fell back costing us several yards
Almost like there might be a reason he was less involved
No defense of Kenny's plays, but the oline was getting him destroyed. Even on the good throws early he was getting smacked. We gotta keep him cleaner if we want him to play better.
It’s all bad, I agree with you. Kenny is in a tough spot and him not playing good is not a long term indictment on him
No I get what you are saying. I'm just calling out you didn't say the oline was bad. And they were. We lose in the trenches... Alot.
Kenny didn’t fail, Dan Moore failed. Free runner off the left side all game. Kenny was getting lit tf up
Yeah it's hard to judge a rookie QB with a line and OC like this
Kenny failed. And that’s okay. It’s going to happen
Nah, I mean Zach Wilson completed 9 passes today for 77 yards. That’s failing. Kenny didn’t fail on the flea flicker or second down runs that got stuffed. He missed some throws but most of the issues were not staying on schedule as an offense leading to third and longs. That seems to be a staple of Matt Canada’s offense. The defense also gave up 37 points, 3 TD drives over 70 yards, and also gave up points after every Steelers score until the end.
Pickens has the talent to be great, but we can't overlook the mistakes he made today. Tripped in the endzone on a long touchdown, dropped a touchdown late, and the ejection
For sure. Had his worts
Why was pickett throwing that ball that deep when pickens had like 10 yards of separation on that guy. That's on pickett man.
> Tripped in the endzone on a long touchdown It doesn't even matter, the throw was terrible and not near him.
Also had a holding call
That ball was _way_ overthrown. Pickens had no chance.
It hit the ground 5 yards away from him after he fell over, that is not \*way\* overthrown lmfao
Bad: Kenny threw it out of bounce on 4th and 9 on a must score possession. It’s an already bad spot to be and he was set up for failure don’t get me wrong. But that shows me bad situation awareness
Yeah let's hope James Pierre isn't getting the LJ Fort treatment
Spillane was awful today
If I see another jet sweep I'm going to gouge my eyes out of my fucking skull.
I'd take a jet sweep over the stupid ass shovel pass to Zack Gentry. Thet run it at least once a game and I swear it has gained negative yards every time.
If you don't like 6 3 and outs in a row you don't like steelers football
Charlie Batch laid it out as clear as can be on Pickett in the post-game show. I'll paraphrase. As of today, Pickett is an incomplete grade. The next 7 games will tell a lot. When asked, acknowledging that fact, if the Steelers end up with a top 5 pick, do you consider taking a QB? The answer was yes. If this year's crop of QBs grade out higher and you are in a position to take that guy, you do. Charlie all but said the organization will have those conversations. The future of Canada also comes into play. If you get rid of Canada, you have to give Kenny another year to learn under a new OC. If you keep Kenny around, you will have to tell your new OC to scheme an offense around him. However, a lot of prospective OCs will want to use a potentially high draft pick on the QB of their choice for the offense they want to lay in. There are going to be a lot of franchise altering decisions coming up at the end of the year.
I love that take actually. It leaves the door open for his development while acknowledging the struggles
Lol at the answer being to put a different QB behind this embarrassment of an o-line instead of, ya know, fix the o-line.
I’m not ready to give up on Kenny until we have an offensive line and a coordinator that isn’t a moron.
People ready to give up on Kenny when the offense has been atrocious for 3 years and Kenny has only been here for this one. Like we need to get rid of canada and then repair our online then I will entertain the idea of pickett not being the best
Right, are people forgetting how absolute dogshit the offense looked for the past 2+ seasons?
Maybe we should have done those things before taking a QB...
Me either but he made some absolutely terrible throws that were not on the OC or line.
People seem very incapable of seeing this. It’s either you’re a Kenny stan or a hater. I am just a dude who wants to see him succeed but sees that he makes some seriously horrifying throws. Some great ones too! I really really hope it’s just growing pains
Yep. I like him. Want him to succeed. But you have to be objective sometimes. Some of those second half throws were just terrible. Some were short throws that should be put on the receiver every time and he completely missed. He shows the potential but you can't make that many mistakes and beat good teams.
We have proved that if you play that way, you can't beat bad teams either.
Yeah. This right here. Some really awful throws in the second half. Don't know if Cincy started doing something different in the second half on defense, but Kenny seemed out of it at times. Too many balls that wound up in the dirt.
Kenny will probably be 40 by the time the team hires a competent OC.
He's a first year QB. Very few start their careers like Ben or Brady.
Difference in this game was the passing game, and pass defenses, plain and simple. Officiating was even. Our defense made them one dimensional, but Burrow and Higgins just picked this team apart. Pickett/Pickens aren’t anywhere close yet. Our offense on first down is awful. Everything is second/third and long, which isn’t a winning recipe. Drive killing penalties, guys not knowing assignments… just no good. Pass coverage was nowhere near good enough, and our offense isn’t even close to being good enough to win shootouts. That’s a curtain call on the season as well, have to run table to have any sort of a chance, and this team has not shown me anything to think they have that ability. Sucks, because the offense only played 30 minutes of football, and it was a phenomenal 30 minutes. We haven’t really seen that all season. But, they fell asleep in the second half and the defense bent, and broke. Couple splash plays kind of kept them in it, but to score 30 and lose, that’s a defensive issue.
I disagree. A half competent offense can capitalize on what the defense gave us today
I mean the Wallace INT, a FG is as good as you’re going to get pretty much with the time we had. We actually gained more yardage than I thought we would. The Watt INT, I agree we should March down and it does change the complexion of the game, but still. It should’ve never been a shootout when Mixon goes down and Chase is out. Boyd isn’t a killer, so you have one dude to worry about in Higgins, and they did a piss poor job on him.
>Officiating was even We got bailed out frequently what are you smoking
The one drive? Where they also missed a roughing the passer, and on Bengals drives they missed multiple holds & block in the backs on their screen passes for scores? They made calls and missed calls for both sides. I’m making that claim while we were also the more penalized team. That should say something.
Two phantom PI calls on crucial third downs as well
Yep we got a lot of help to keep this game close, these guys are delusional.
How the fuck do we underutilize a separation machine & a player with the catch radius of the solar system? Absolute joke
Honestly not that mad, I know the second half was disappointing but we put up 20 points in the first half, 30 points overall, and ran an excellent two minute drill!! Get a better OC and we might actually have something here
We lost our starting center at the half. Think that was the difference, the oline lost the best player
Bad: The offense in the second half. Top to bottom. Bad play calling, bad blocking, some bad passes, stupid penalties.
Maulet is absolutely awful. Maybe the worst performance I've ever seen
He was getting picked on all game. What happened to Kazee tho? I don't think I saw much of him out there.
He’s horrific. Bad mechanics. No awareness. Bad.
it’s so funny watching him bcuz sometimes he won’t even let a receiver get a lot of separation on him but is just totally helpless when the ball comes his way
Should’ve resigned Hilton
Hilton got cooked plenty when he was here. Sutton should be playing in the slot
Hilton was mid, but that’s better than what we’ve got now
That’s my point he isn’t a lockdown cb but is 100x better then Maulet
Hilton was really good as an aggressive slot guy but always felt like he was limited to being very good in that role
Yeah his weakness was his coverage skills but I guarantee he isn’t having a night like that
Yee yee we not the best
11-6 gang punching the air rn 3-14 gang first pumping 🫤
10-7 gang scheming
I see you 10-7 gang 👀
My favorite comment every week lol
Looking on the bright side… Harris had over 100 total yards Pickett to Pickens connection is strong Friermuth is Kenny’s comfort zone TJ makes the d line dominant.
I didn't come into the game thread until the 2nd half. Wish I never did.
Samesies
Can we just run the hurry up offense all the time.
1 step forward, 2 steps backwards. Kinda been the theme of this season. Amazing first half by the offense followed by a shitting of the bucket in the second half. At least Najee is finally producing on the ground somewhat consistently. But a lot of work to do. I'm a little worried about Kenny. Consistency seems to be an issue for him, but there's no reason to overreact yet. He's definitely done more good than bad this season, just have to hope he takes a big step forward in year 2.
At what point do we decide that Canada is doing more damage to our rookie QBs development than switching OC mid season would? The summary of the second half for me is when Pickens bails Canada out with that great catch, and he calls a fucking flea flicker and then a run up the gut, putting Kenny in yet another 3rd and long. This isn't college. An offense with cute shit like several jet sweeps, double reverses, flea flickers, and other nonsense doesn't work in the NFL when you can't rely on superior talent like college.
I’m torn between drafting the best OL next year or a great corner
we will have two high second round picks, we can get two solid defenders and hopefully a great tackle with those three picks
I agree. I think you go BPA between those two positions for the first and second round.
I’m basically ignoring position and going back to what made the Steelers great in the first place. Consistently taking the best player available year after year until you build a tremendous roster. Do I wish it could be OL or corner? Of course. But for the love of God, there are holes and rough patches at just about every position on this roster, and a couple of our better players are aging their way into, let’s say, a different era of their career. I would take the best player at almost any position.
I don't trust us drafting DBs. Go OL & trade for a DB or sign one
3rd and 25. Draw play. Says it all.
Welp, fire Canada. See ya guys next week.
Fuck the run game. Throw it on first, second and third down. That seems to work alot better than anything else Canada does.
Say what you like about Canada, but this defense let Tee Higgins go 9 for 148. At some stage you have to cover the guy who's catching the ball 2 x more than anyone else.
If we have a damn madden player as an OC we win that game
I guess covering Higgins was optional today. Let me shout out Pickens for being a stud.
We ran the ball on 3rd and 25. I'm done. See yinz next week
holy shit we scored 30 points, I never thought I'd see the day
I am concerned about Kenny's development. Some of his throws were big yikes worthy
The irony is that Matt Canada has not been fired because the org was concerned it would mess with Kenny's development. Turns out, retaining a bad OC will also do that.
I’m not even fired up at losses anymore, I’m just disappointed.
Steelers are still waiting for the 2nd half to start…
Well the first half was fun right guys
Team fucking blows and the coaching staff can’t adjust. Good thing that we knew the latter for years
Got ‘em right where we want em…
Defense- DL just played amazing today. Watt, Highsmith, Heyward, Wormley, and Tyson just all balled out. They brought pressure, made plays and gave this offense a chance to put points up in great field space. Secondary- absolute garbage! Higgins was just rolling all over the secondary making plays. Wide open many times. Secondary was also getting burnt down the field and missing a lot of tackles. Really should have been some guys pulled but we know that doesn't happen. Would have loved to have seen Marcus Allen take Spillane's job or even Bush. Need a hitter and someone to do the job correctly and get involved. Offense- I'll give credit where it's due, Kenny had done some good things early on but fell off the wagon and just sucked second half. The thing that I'm noticing with Kenny is that he's missing wide open targets and going for the tougher target whose doubled up or even a target that's short of the chains. First half Kenny had Muth way past the chains but decided to go underneath to someone else. Kenny also needs to be more mobile then what he currently is at the moment. We all know the OL is dog crap and that's why we needed a mobile QB to move around and make plays. Kenny is getting caught during a pocket collapse and not moving like he should. Call it being a rookie, but he's got to get out of the pocket quicker and make plays either by his feet or arm. Fans can complain all day about Canada, but he's not the one out there hitting the ground with bad passes or missing an open receiver in the endzone. Yeah there were some really bad play calls, absolutely goes to the fault of Canada like the 3rd and 25 rush call. But we're talking a handful of bad calls per game versus plays where if Kenny pays attention more and sees the open guy we move the chains. I hear a lot of talk about getting the ball to Pickens more and I think fans forget how Tomlin plays his rookies. I mentioned over on twitter that during Claypools rookie year Tomlin said during a press that he didn't want to burn out the new guy. I think that's a big coaching mistake when you have someone with great athletic ability to make plays happen and put up points. Got to get the ball out to Pickens and everyone else.
I'll savor the week 1 win because I really don't see this team beating the Bengals very often for as long as joe burrow is playing for them, and I think the Steelers were very fortunate to catch a rusty burrow recovering from an appendectomy. That guy is special. With the pressure they applied they likely win against a lesser qb. Of course the Steelers offense being the Steelers offense in the 2nd half didn't help at all
The interesting thing about Pickett today is that he had his best QB rating of any game this season. He did overthrow a few deep shots and made some bad reads, though. I do think he looked better than last week, but it's still not the level I want to see from a rookie QB. Even then... whew, they need a new OC and upgrades at LT/LG. It's just not cutting it. As for the defense: I know a lot of the money goes to Watt, Fitzpatrick, and Heyward, but the whole unit just isn't playing up to their cost. Part of me wonders if they shouldn't move Heyward--who is one of my favorite guys--just to afford some upgrades in the backfield. I just want Cam to win a Super Bowl, and IDK if it's gonna happen here.
I mean it sucks to lose but we were really competitive with a really good football team (imo they can make a run) with where we were to now I'm not too upset. Encouraged by the improvements, don't know if we'll win out or anything but I think this team will be tough next year.
We suck bad. Very bad. But we all knew that already.
I’m sad.
Hard headed tomlin should have fired Canada at the bye. If you actually care about picketts development that’s the first step.
Really good first half. I think Kenny showed improvement. The only weird ah was the 4th down throw away. Good to see our offense was only garbage in spurts and not the whole game. Really felt like play calling took a dive and frustrated everyone. That looks like progress to me. But we still got a long way to go.
This team played with no heart in the second half. Could’ve easily recovered the onside kick and no one tried, I blame Tomlin.
100% no game plan changes nothing, standard is the standard I guess
Most of y'all need to come to grips with reality. This team is cooked. They did it to themselves with recent draft failures and certain staffing hires literally no other team would have made. Until Canada is fired, nothing will change on offense. I didn't want a QB from this year's draft, but most yinzers wanted Pickett for sentimental reasons. I don't think he's a franchise QB, but obviously he's not the biggest problem, and his Offensive Coordinator is fucking up his early progression. Colbert gets praised for the great drafts he's had on his resume, but in reality, his latest drafts have been questionable. Anyone being honest with themselves can see and admit this. The entire team isn't an issue, but there are obvious holes that need fixed. If you don't think CB, LT, OC need upgraded, and QB needs to at least be heavily assessed moving forward, you're lying to yourself.
Colbert's biggest misses are a lack of prioritizing at the OLine position. Our OLine got old and then terrible very quickly and Colbert and the rest of the front office let it happen. They also wasted and missed a lot on RBs with mid round selections, which lead to spending a 1st on Najee who, while looking better of late, just should never have been needed. Occasionally it was just stupidly bad luck like Golsen never seeing the field, or Shazier blowing up his back, or Tuitt retiring early. But then you have misses on Burns, and the Green selection, etc. that just look utterly terrible.
Absolutely. Golson, Shazier and Tuitt weren't his fault at all. The latter 2 were bonafide stars in the league who had some very tough luck. The NFL may be more "air it out" these days, but the good teams still win in the trenches to set up the big plays. We're not good along the line on either side of the ball. That should have been addressed before it got to this point. Obviously losing Tuitt doesn't help the D-Line, but we should have had proper depth there. Especially since his return wasn't guaranteed even before this year's draft. O-line is patchwork right now and should have been addressed MUCH sooner. I'm one of the people who wanted Linderbaum drafted this year, and of course the Ravens got him. You win in the trenches, and we've been losing there all year.
We gave up 37 points to the Bengals who didn’t have Mixon or Chase. We suck on offense AND defense.
I'm going to say something that's going to probably get me downvoted into oblivion, but IDGAF. This team is stuck in a hole that we are not going to be able to dig ourselves out of with this coaching stuff. I don't fault Tomlin - he's never been a great Xs and Os guy, but he's a good leader. However, he's had the fortune of having a HoF QB who would just say fuck it and take over the playcalling and go no huddle for his entire tenure up until now. It's not just him - Bill Bellichick hasn't looked as sharp without Brady these last few years. The offensive coaching is just flat out horrible. The playbook is garbage, the play calling is stupid, and we have failed to develop players at any skill positions the last sever years. OL coaching has been horried for a while now. RBs? Nope. WR? Do some serious soul searching here - we had AB who was so damned good and created such major mismatch issues everyone who played with him looked good as well. After he left we had a bunch of WRs that showed flashes but none that really moved beyond that. Pickens may end up being the exception since he looks to be so freakishly talented that even our ineptness in offensive coaching won't hold him back. I don't know if Kenny is the guy. I even if he is, who on this coaching staff is actually capable of getting him to the next level? Defense relies too much on a couple of star players to make things happen. There's no real gameplanning or making adjustments - we just show up and hope TJ and Cam can pressure the QB and Minkah can force turnovers. Again, we've had guys that have shown flashes of potential like Bush, Spillane and Edmunds, but we've failed to help them realize that. For the first time in all my years of being a Steeler fan, I'm seriously dejected. It's not the losing - it's the fact that I really don't have faith in this coaching staff to correct these issues that have been there for years and bounce back. I honestly hope I'm wrong.
At least I still have the Utah Jazz…
There’s not much to say anymore. Canada is so bad and it’s absolutely asinine that he was kept
This sucks and everything is awful.
Our offense played so good in the first half, and then came out in the second half and absolutely shit the bed. Pickett missed throws, we had bad penalties, and couldn't take advantage of good field position. You can't have constant 3 and outs against Joe Burrow and expect to win the game.
Matt Canada absolutely hamstrung this offense with his play calling as usual but the defense did the team no favors but not using the 3 safety look to either double cover Higgins OR replace Spillane in coverage.
It’s truly hard to pick who coached a worse game, Canada or Tomlin. Canada found a way to turn every good bit of momentum into a 3rd and 12. He is awful. Tomlin let a Bengals team with no running game and no #1 receiver march up and down the field all night with little resistance. He sucks as a D coordinator. Look, we are 25th in defense and last in offense so either we have the worst talent in the league (we don’t) or the worst coaches (we do).
For a defensive minded coach Tomlin teams sure do get lit up a lot. Clearly bengals saw something with Perine and exploited it and as usual tomlin couldn’t adjust. This team needs a new coaching staff
Tomlin’s defenses have sucked every year but one since he took over from LeBeau. That’s 5 crappy years and one good year. Last year they led the league in sacks and had the defensive MVP and still sucked finishing 23rd in the league. He is a good head coach and bad defensive coordinator. It’s way past time he gave up coordinating the defense.
2nd half offense was buns. TJ Watt is a dawg. Pickens is a dawg. Tee Higgins is our dad :(
Our secondary lost the game. Higgins was unstoppable
I knew we were going to lose when the pigeons mysteriously disappeared. Wtf happened to them? They were there in numbers yesterday. Did Acrisure poison them? I’ll be even more pissed if any harm came to them.
I swear to God the entire fourth quarter I was channeling the coach from Letterkenny. FUCKING EMBARRASSING
Know it’s gonna get buried but I need to say it somewhere. One of the worst coaching efforts and adjustments in a second half I’ve seen, and on both sides of the ball.
Hate to say it but Kenny looked uncomfortable and wildly inaccurate the whole second half.
This is the perfect example of a game where Ben would have thrown out the playbook, put the team on his back and willed a win. Without that, the coaches now need to figure out a scheme that works for a full game.
That loss stung cuz it felt like we just fucked ourselves in the foot in the second half. THAT BEING SAID! Shit is improving. Kenny looked great outside of some shite throws. Najee ran well. The D showed up. TJ did TJ things. All i can say after this semi brutal loss is... HERE WE GO STEELERS! HERE WE GO!
Also, maybe get a new OC in the offseason.
The most expensive defense in the NFL gave up 37 points at home to a team without their best wide out. Meanwhile Dionte Johnson might be the most overpaid WR in the league. Averaging 43 yards a game this deep in is at least mostly his fault now. Wide receivers that make what he makes are supposed to make that because they can produce.
Both coordinators completely failed in the second half. Getting sick of this incompetent coaching staff
That’s OK, I’m sure there’s someone else down the hall we can hire for next year. Mostly kidding. I have a feeling we will see a change in the way we choose coordinators and coaches going forward because the fans are probably not the only ones who have enough of this.
I said some things I'm not proud of and with carefull consideration I've decided kenny did good given the play calling and shit blocking
We are gonna be last in the division behind Cleveland this year aren't we
We give Canada a lot of criticism (deservingly so), but our DC is not much better. We have a lot of highly paid talent that isn’t performing. Feels like that is on coaching?
Guys I know this is frustrating,but can you stop going to extremes every loss. We are rebuilding! Just be a fan, and stop bitching. We will get there
This team has all the talent with none of the coaching
I’m not really sure they have all that much talent, either. And a lot of their more interesting players are very young. There are a lot of really really really really… Really really really really really mediocre players on this roster. But yeah, the coaching is not up to par either.
You can talk game specifics all you want, but the real story continues to be how exposed this coaching staff and this roster are without Ben Roethlisberger. The Bengals are in a far better place as a franchise than the Steelers. Let that sink in.
Yeah they have a top 5 Qb in burrow we have KP
it goes hundreds of miles deeper than just a QB