Steelers @ Chargers Pregame Discussion (wk 11)

[CivilBolt]

This is a huge factor. The defense on the field. And those dropped passes affect more than your ability to score - -sometimes it just moves the chains to flip field position and take clock so the opposing defense has to play three more downs.

The D needs to do the same with dropped passes. It would have been nice if James came down with the EZ INT.

[CivilBolt]

These are total team losses, not just on the O. How about the D force a few 3 and outs and put the O in good field position? How about the ST stop trying to return kicks out from the end zone and putting the O inside the 20? And yes, the O needs to perform better.

Yup football is the ultimate team game. You win and lose as a team.

[chargeroo]

Guyton and Williams can both get deep - look at their stats from last year. We lost one fast WR but the two we still have should be sufficient. Quit crying over spilled milk! We should be having Guyton run deep routes all game long, even if we have no intention of throwing to him. Deep routes keep a CB and Safety busy, opening things up for those underneath routes.

After watching them lose three of the last four, I have low expectations. The Steelers are always a team with a tough defense. They drafted a really strong RB and we have a weak defense against the run. I fear we are about to watch the end of our hopes for a playoff team go down the tubes. I hope I'm wrong and this team reverts back to the early season form, I'm tired of saying "wait till next year".

[Velo]

I don’t think Lombardi decided that Herbert shouldn’t go deep anymore. A lot of things have changed since last season including teams taking away the deep ball and Herbert’s ability to throw deep under pressure.

Last year Herbert had the worst O line in the league. He still was able to throw deep. Unless you think this year's O line is worse than last year's, I'm not buying the excuse that defenses are taking away the deep ball. The difference between this year and last is that Herbert had two 4.3 guys who could get behind defenses and he had a coordinator who knew how to scheme for Herbert to have time to throw deep. This year that coordinator and the fastest WR on the team are gone. Having Herbert take a deep drop in order to buy time to throw deep down field negates pressure and buys time for Herbert to throw. He has the arm to be able to take a deep drop and still throw deep down field. The problem is, you have to have receivers who can get open deep. That's not KA, and that is only MW when there is blown coverage, or you want to throw a 50/50 ball and hope he's the one who comes down with it. Guyton has that speed, and I honestly don't know why they don't use him in that role more often. It seems to be what he's best suited for. Having two WRs with rare speed greatly enhances the ability to get a deep man open. I suspect TBilly didn't wasn't going to fit into the Lomardi offense, which is very complex and designed for a shorter passing game, because he was having trouble with the complexity. The deep ball wasn't going to be a big part of the Lombardi offense, so TBilly was expendable. That is my guess. And as it turns out, the offense is maybe too complex for Herbert to figure out so soon, and it probably doesn't fit Herbert anyway, because it doesn't use his best skill - his cannon arm and ability to throw deep with accuracy. So now they are going to scramble to find a way to open up the deep passing game for Herbert with his best deep target last season now on the Raiders.

[Boltgang74]

Agree 100%^^^^^

[FoutsFan]

Second in the league with dropped passes....Dallas, NE, and Miinasota could have all been wins.

Herbert needs to recognize man or man/zone hybrid when under pressure, and start pulling a Josh Allen on these clowns more often.

Herbert is young, durable, athletic....use it. Rollouts, bootlegs, QB draws sprinkled in....dont let the defense pin their ears back.

Season and a half into his career, looking good mostly...but time to let the kid put the team on his shoulders, see what we have, whether we make the playoffs or not...

Im not down on the coaching staff about strategy...but coaches AND ESPECIALLY players on execution is an issue. If we were even AVERAGE in tackling and catching passes, we got 2 or 3 more wins.

We drop this Steelers game, it wont be the end...but it will be time to start swinging for the fences with Herbert...put the team on his shoulders and temper the kid for the future...training wheels off, and let the kid go for broke...either we turn it around, or we see what we are missing going forward. Hell, Id rather die swinging a sword than limping into the playoffs behind a shield anyway.

Lombardi saw how effective the roll outs and moving the pocket was with the first drive of the second half against the Vikes. He quickly threw out those plays and went back to the bunch 3 yard out plays that have been so ineffective this season.

[Bolt4Knob]

Lombardi saw how effective the roll outs and moving the pocket was with the first drive of the second half against the Vikes. He quickly threw out those plays and went back to the bunch 3 yard out plays that have been so ineffective this season.

That drive worked so well to start the second half - why did he even change the plays. Just keep re-running those same plays until you get stopped. Made no sense.

[FoutsFan]

That drive worked so well to start the second half - why did he even change the plays. Just keep re-running those same plays until you get stopped. Made no sense.

Its like Lombardi is working against the Chargers not for them sometimes.

[21&500]

These are total team losses, not just on the O. How about the D force a few 3 and outs and put the O in good field position? How about the ST stop trying to return kicks out from the end zone and putting the O inside the 20? And yes, the O needs to perform better.

I put the minni loss more on the O than D because of how the physical start to the game effects the later part of the game...

D for 6 plays then minni punts (good job)
O for 3 plays then punt (shit job)
D 3 plays then fumble! (Great job!)
O 6 plays (just2 first downs in 3:13 mins) better but still bad, already putting defense in bad condition physically.
D 10 plays in 6 minutes giving up a FG. Bad job by D, granted, but we're playing with fire with the lack of first downs by our O. The D still managed to hold to a FG.
O with another 6 play drive in just 2:44 minutes for 3 first downs! At least they got a FG.
defense with an 11 play drive, so yes blame them, but they are getting their ass kicked from a fresh Minnesota offense.
the the O has a 1 play interception, defense, go back out there for 21 plays around just 6 offensive plays.
D plays 6 more snaps before the O finally helps with a nice 8 play drive for a TD.
If this drive comes sooner, it's a tremendous help for the defense.

This is just the Minnesota game but generally our games follow a similar pattern iirc
offense needs earlier success, in a time where offenses are favored by rules and when we have a talent like Herbo.

[Xenos]

I don’t buy it for either reason.

Well right now the current “facts” are showing that that’s the case.

[Xenos]

That drive worked so well to start the second half - why did he even change the plays. Just keep re-running those same plays until you get stopped. Made no sense.

Because they did get stopped. Therefore they had to change it up.

[21&500]

Its like Lombardi is working against the Chargers not for them sometimes.

https://www.thepowderblues.com/forum/forum/los-angeles-chargers-forum-nfl-forum-padres-forum/the-los-angeles-chargers-forum/1268486-poll-does-lombardi-s-playcalling-stink?p=1268740#post1268740