Lack of a vertical passing game

[KJ3]

Originally Posted by Mike

How could we possibly have a vertical passing game when Matt was getting killed? Think about that. .

2 ways i can think of:

keep in leach, bruener, dreessen, for like a max-protect pocket

or

run trick plays. the steelers d was so blood thirsty by about the 3rd quarter that they probably would've bitten on a reverse or flea flicker or the brady-to-moss-to-brady-to-what'shisface type of play.

it seemed we had no counter, that what we were doing was just going to have to work or not.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by KJ3

2 ways i can think of:

keep in leach, bruener, dreessen, for like a max-protect pocket

or

run trick plays. the steelers d was so blood thirsty by about the 3rd quarter that they probably would've bitten on a reverse or flea flicker or the brady-to-moss-to-brady-to-what'shisface type of play.

it seemed we had no counter, that what we were doing was just going to have to work or not.

Yeah sure - a 2 man route would work. They would have 4 to cover 2. next.

Trickery. We could not gain a yard, they were in the backfield on every snap. They sniffed out screens. yeah, a reverse or flea flicker would have worked, except Pitt would have been in the backfield to take the ball from whatever texan had it. Any other great ideas?

[NBT]

We are a young team, and it is all about momentum, Since the stupid zebras took away an early first down we made and they took away, the MO went to Pgh. From there it was all downhill, as they got ahead they blitzed every hole. Not only could we not pass, we couldn't run. To reiterate, to beat Pgh. you have to come out and control the LOS. We didn't. Simple

[Mike]

I almost agree with that entire post. Except I am tired of the BS that we are a young team. We got whipped.

To quote Jim Mora "We could not run the ball, we could not stop the run, we could not pass the ball, we could not stop the pass." "We played like diddly pooh." throw in "Playoffs... Playoffs? I hope we win a game."

[NBT]

We had 3 new Olinemen, Pgh had 3 new Olinemen, the difference, Willie Parker ran for 138 yds. I think Slaton had 43 yds to lead the Texans. The difference was in the defenses. Pgh just over and through us, we couldn't do squat against them. Simply embarrassed.

[jppaul]

Originally Posted by Mike

Yeah sure - a 2 man route would work. They would have 4 to cover 2. next.

Trickery. We could not gain a yard, they were in the backfield on every snap. They sniffed out screens. yeah, a reverse or flea flicker would have worked, except Pitt would have been in the backfield to take the ball from whatever texan had it. Any other great ideas?

1) There were plays on which Schaub had time. The way to punish pressure defenses, is to go over the top. One deep pass would have backed the defense off some, by not doing so you are doing exactly what the defense wanted you to do. Thus you would be letting the defense dictate your gameplan. It is difficult to win in such a situation.

2) Nothing else we did was effective so why not take the chance? What the hell the twelve bubble screens the offense ran netted crap, yet you would have them continue to beat thier heads against the wall as they did...

Do I have tour logic on this right: continue to do the same thing even though it hasn't worked; we didn't try the vertical passing game because it might not work; it is a terrible idea to try something different because it might not work...

3) Ignoring that though, the steelers were blitzing 5 or 6 on every down, which means that if they were blitzing 6 that leaves 5 in coverage. If you leave 2 in that leaves three running routes which means that somewhere on the field there is a person in man coverage, or the zone is soft.

There is time to get up the field, even if AJ and Walter cleared out downfield there is still 15 or 20 yard gains to be had, eventually that would force the D to crunch down on thier deep coverage, leaving space open over the top.

[KJ3]

Originally Posted by Mike

Yeah sure - a 2 man route would work. They would have 4 to cover 2. next.

Trickery. We could not gain a yard, they were in the backfield on every snap. They sniffed out screens. yeah, a reverse or flea flicker would have worked, except Pitt would have been in the backfield to take the ball from whatever texan had it. Any other great ideas?

maybe it's just me counting, but 7 on the line + 1 qb is 8 = 3 routes being run. since andre was slicing them up by himself, i think we could've tried it. or maybe we could've seen how far ahman could get it on another screen pass? yea why not, there was nothing they could do. no one had any ideas as to how to slow down the rush. oh wait, i had 2 pretty solid ideas that they didn't try...where are yours? i can't seem to find them in this thread...oh well, at least your neg-ing on the posts which have something to contribute.

the point of misdirection is to take advantage of over-aggressive defenses.

[Mike]

I was trying to be like you and replying to every post on the board.

What you are proposing might work on Madden but after the first drive in the third quarter, the game was over. Matt's head was not right. You could not pull him to start a QB controversy or shake his confidence. The receivers struggled getting open all game. At that time, they were trying to get to the bus without getting anyone killed.

I'm done thinking about that game and arguing. Goodbye.

[jppaul]

Originally Posted by Mike

I was trying to be like you and replying to every post on the board.

What you are proposing might work on Madden but after the first drive in the third quarter, the game was over. Matt's head was not right. You could not pull him to start a QB controversy or shake his confidence. The receivers struggled getting open all game. At that time, they were trying to get to the bus without getting anyone killed.

I'm done thinking about that game and arguing. Goodbye.

Thats one way to end an informed discussion...

[KJ3]

Originally Posted by Mike

I was trying to be like you and replying to every post on the board.

i do what i can.

What you are proposing might work on Madden but after the first drive in the third quarter, the game was over. Matt's head was not right. You could not pull him to start a QB controversy or shake his confidence. The receivers struggled getting open all game. At that time, they were trying to get to the bus without getting anyone killed.

I'm done thinking about that game and arguing. Goodbye.

the game was over after the triple-zeros hit in the 4th, there are no white-flag rules. furthermore, if we were just trying to get out with no deaths and keeping schaub's confidence intact, keeping in 2 extra blockers is a perfect idea.

i don't know what exactly you're arguing. you asked for ideas and got 'em.