Steelers @ Chargers Game Day Thread / Discussion (Wk11)

[Hadl2Alworth]

The words "nauseating' and "exasperating" come to mind if I'm trying the describe the experience of watching the Chargers squander the lead-- and then actually fall behind-- in the 4th quarter.

It was waaaaay too familiar a scenario. It was Kevin Gilbride and Mike McCoy and Al Saunders and Dan Henning and Norv Turner all over again.


Herb had several well thrown lasers that were just plain dropped-- Jared Cook and Donald Parham come to mind immediately. The game never gets close in the fourth qtr if those passes are caught.

I liked Josh Palmer's composure on the play when Herb was being sacked, and he flicked the ball several feet to him.

Nauseating would be my descriptor of choice. The good thing is time has a way of softening things. Today I'm just glad we got the win. I'm hoping our future wins won't be so challenging. Especially after a 17-point lead!

[Formula 21]

I thought they did a great job on Najee. Also, the 4th and 5 PI against TC on the goal line seemed questionable to me in real time. They had the goal line stand earlier in the game and the. Marched 98 yards. That’s complimentary football. Defense was ok especially considering g what they were working with on the DL.

the blocked punt completely changed the complexion of the game. We were strolling in the park until then. Once that happened it was like Jack the Ripper came out from behind a tree. The play to MW was an assassin’s bullet. Took all the fight out of the Steelers and we finished em off. Don’t forget they had over 2 minutes on the clock when they took the field. Plenty of time to move. But the d smothered them

The blocked punt was the Chargers being Chargers. That’s who we are.

[Hadl2Alworth]

this was probably discussed last night, but it sounded like Al Michaels is a chargers fan?? i never knew that.

He sounded like one. The thing I disagreed with him on was that games like last night's were entertaining. Frustrating is more like it.

[Xenos]

Are you related to Chaincrusher?

His opposite twin. Chaincrusher loves Herbert.

[chargeroo]

What I don't like is giving up 27 points in the forth quarter.

I think the defense played very well. In the fourth quarter, they had a punt block and a tipped pass interception gift them 14 points. Then we missed on making the first down from our own 35 and gave them another short field.

I feel better about our defense after this game. I think they are "getting it".

I fell bad for Larry Roundtree, he made a great run, his longest of the year, and was called back for a ticky-tacky holding call. Maybe it'll help him with his confidence even though it didn't count.

[Xenos]

The only thing that this game proves - as if it needed proof - is that this is *still* a 9-10 win team. Nothing's changed. But in order to get to that 10-win mark, the Chargers are going to have to sweep either the Raiders or Broncos (I doubt they sweep the Chiefs). Let's assume they sweep the Raiders and split with the Broncos. That gives them 8 wins. Then it's just a matter of taking care of business against the Giants and Texans, over whom they will almost certainly be favored, and there's your 10. So I think it's gonna come down to that last game of the year against the Raiders.

The 9-10 thing was what most thought when entering the season. We just overachieved at the beginning of the year so expectations were higher. We still haven’t played a full game outside of maybe the Raiders game. Last night was our best chance and we nearly blew it.

[Xenos]

or maybe we should
the game is changing and JH is the prototype
Staley said last night that a qbs job is to move the chains by ANY means necessary, I don't think tbat was just coach speak.
what was most exciting to me about JHs runs were the conservative slides they almost all ended with.
just accept it, he is a future MVP and on his way to genuinely be the best player in the league.

I like conservative slides. Less chance of injuries.

[Xenos]

He sounded like one. The thing I disagreed with him on was that games like last night's were entertaining. Frustrating is more like it.

It’s entertaining if you’re not a Charger fan.

[jamrock]

I like conservative slides. Less chance of injuries.

That was just smart. He got what was there and slid. On the 36 yard run he could have gone out of bounds after 20 but didn’t. A smart inside move to get down inside the 10. The runs were drive extenders and ultimately game changers

[ghost]

I'm sorry but this is a level-headed player who done lost his damn mind. He punched two Chargers. He should have been ejected immediately.

[Guest]

Refs in the Cowboys chiefs game missed a total facemask on the Cowboys but called the Chiefs guy for a 15 yarder for arguing about the missed call - the facemask took the Chiefs guy helmet off

They did not call the facemask at first, but then regrouped after they saw the replay and improperly decided to call the penalty after the fact to make it an offsetting foul situation.

[Guest]

I meant at the end when the Steelers blew the coverage on disappearing Mike. And previous to that, going for it on 4th down with a dud play which was a bad decision. The blocked punt was special teams mistake. The bounce pass was Herberts mistake. He threw it helmet level?

The decision to go for it on 4th down and 1 was correct. The play call was terrible.

Also, PIT's defense did not make a mistake on the Williams play. Because we throw short outs so frequently, several times during the game, the Steelers attempted to trap the short out route to get a turnover. Herbert saw that it was happening during the game and told Williams to be ready for the ball on that play when they went to run it again.

There was zero luck involved in Herbert predicting what the Steelers would and making the perfect adjustment to it.

The helmet play was a fluke. Heyward had leaped on the play and was 2+ feet higher than usual just to make contact with the ball. That is not on Herbert. That is on the OL player if it is on anyone.

And more importantly, the Steelers could not have had a more friendly bounce off of the helmet. The ball just happened to bounce a mile in the air into an area where no Chargers were present and where no Chargers got a good read on the ball. Every bit of that was pure horrible luck.