YAFT: wow, that was ugly

[JDub02]

[rant]

A win is a win, but that was quite ugly. Props to Jacksonville's O-line, Fred Taylor, and Leftwich .. they made the Steelers defense look like a bunch of high school kids.

Hopefully they'll get their act together and finish out the season strong going into the playoffs. I can't believe this is the same team that basically shut down Philly.


[/rant]

 

[murphy55d]

Last week, the D bailed Ben out. This week, Ben bailed out the defense. They had some serious tackling issues today.

 

[yobarman]

The Eagles and Steelers shall meet again... and the Eagles will emerge victorious.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Still no 100 yard rushers against the steelers since the one Bengals game before the bye...and only gave up a total of 100 yards for a total Jacksonville effort.

It wasn't the Steelers D that was suspect, they only gave up 16 points and stopped the Jags several times in the redzone for fieldgoal attempts. It was the Steelers rushing game. This is the first time since the bye that they don't have a 100 yard rusher. Granted the team effort totaled for 120 yards and averaged 4.8 yards a carry while the Jags averaged 2.9. The big difference was ball control, of which the Jags decided to score slowly instead of how the Steelers scored, all 3 of their scoring drives were rather swift, but as soon as they lose that rythm they struggled, of which even if the rythm is only 2.9 yards a carry as long as it is steady and you have the ball you are going to have relative success on offense.

I think the fact that Staley had just come back and they tried to mix in Bettis in between carries almost too much, hurt their running game. It also proved that even if their running game isn't clicking like it has been, they can win through the air guided by Ben. I don't think today's performance was drastically different of his style but it showed that if a team shuts them down in the run they'll just burn you with the pass...

 

[murphy55d]

bunny, they had real problems wrapping up guys today. it was a definite issue.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

The made several stupid mistakes and the Jags simply did not. The Steelers would make a stand but an incredibly stupid penalty would keep the drive alive, things like that. Yes, there was the missed tackle that resulted in the Jags only TD, and a few missed stops that keep Jags drives alive, but for the most part the D did their job. Granted you have to give them credit for the fact that this has been the longest they've been on the field in a LONG time. The Jags played the role of the Steelers in terms of TOP, keeping hte Steeler D on the field for nearly 35 minutes - usually its the OTHER teams' D that is on hte field for that much time if not longer. So their D is on the field a full 10 minutes longer than they are used to, 35 compared to 25 and it sounds like you are suggesting it was mostly a D issue?

If anything the D stepped up and proved it could play if it was kept on the field and made some stupid mistakes. More time on the field = more tired D and more mistake prone. If you ask me it was an all around team effort. After the Jags first TD the Steelers D didn't give up another TD and their O scored enough to win. Ben stepped up and directed the offense through the air when they needed it most. If anything I'd blame the close game on the lack of their run dominating OFFENSE. Props the Jags coaching staff for knowing how to play the Steelers and stick to it - Taylor only averaged 2.8 yards per carry (there was a point in the game when he was 20 rushes for 28 yards, a measly 1.9 a carry) but they controlled the ball and the clock, for some reason the Steelers got away from their grinding run game that is the key to controlling hte clock. Heck, Staley averaged 3 yards a carry, and Bettis averaged close to 6, it seems they easily could have done so but they did not, perhaps it had a lot to do with this being Staley's first game and he just wasn't 100%, perhaps it had a lot to do with them trying to mix in Bettis too much and throwing their own offense off beat just enough, I dunno.

Luckily Ben didn't have as much of an "off" game as he had in the some of the past few games.