Steelers vs Browns Game Balls / Goats

Since the thread hasn't been made yet

Game Ball: AB. Seriously everyone else on offense looked sad with the exception of Ben and AB. The skill positions need to step it up big time, because AB being the only threat on O killed us against the Patriots*** last year.

Goat: Almost everyone on offense not named AB or Roethlisberger, James gets a pass for 2 clutch EZ catches. However, if Le'Veon wants his big contract, he better start playing like he deserves it. Martavis still looks rusty as hell. JJSS hasn't had his named called at all, unless it was on a holding penalty, and Eli Rogers I'd expect to get more action being his 2nd year as a fulltime starter.

We were fortunate to get a win today, playing as sloppy as we did. Way too many penalties kept the Browns in the game.

Defense racked up a lot of sacks, but it seemed like all except 1 or 2 were coverage sacks. Time will tell if the upgraded secondary is a difference maker or it was against a 1st time rookie QB. However, I will say that the Browns rookie QB did play with a lot of confidence and poise for his first start. I think this kid will be a problem in the future, and the Browns won't be a walk in the park for very long. They always were decent on defense, but if they can find an offense, look out.

game ball, Chickillo blocked punt. when was the last time the Steelers blocked a punt?

goat, Safeties 30 yards deep Ben still trying to throw the deep ball Browns stopping the run. play action crossing patterns until they stop it.

game ball, AB wearing them out on the short passes, McDonald dropped a catch, James some good catches and looked good in the passing game . T J Watt starting out in beast mode Dupree get healthy and back on the field.  

game ball Steelers pass rush.


a lot to clean up.

a win is a win

goat, you know the young Browns were really up for this home game against the Steelers and played a really good game will see how the season goes for them. Kinzer (which I thought Steelers should of drafted) took the hits but stayed in the game and hit a lot of good passes.

Let's start from the beginning. The PI call on Davis was pure BS. I thought you either had to put your hands on a WR or run through him. He didn't do either. The delay call on Ben looked to me like 1 second on the time clock.

McDonald showed why he was criticized for drops. Shazier's late hit was just a bad call. More about that in a minute.

What's with Bryant on that screen dancing in place. Here's a clue dude: the goal line is straight ahead.
I thought Ben was not surveying the field a lot of the time. The sideline pass to JJ was telegraphed. So was the INT he threw. I couldn't watch live and it sounded like he had a bad day but after watching the replay he had a good game.

The late hit on TJ was legit IMO. Kizer was down let it go. No need to do what he did. He redeemed himself with the INT. Great catch.

Here is what I wish the league would do about the defenseless receiver call. Look for intent and how the receiver is positioned when hit. If they do that the call on Gay never happens. It almost didn't because they waited like 30 seconds to throw the flag and the call on Wilcox and Shazier probably doesn't happen either.

I watched the Brown's RT/RG come out of their stance,back peddle 2 steps before the snap and no flag. Was this agreed to before the game? C'mon man.

Here is what I take away from this game: Our entire O-line (especially AV) needs to step up. Ben needs to take what the defense gives him. In yesterdays game the middle was open all day. Bell needs to get in game shape now. He proved that he should have been in camp. McDonald needs to catch the damn ball. Bryant needs to shake the rust.

I thought the D played pretty good. Some missed tackles. Gay should have a pick 6 but that was a strong throw by Kizer. Still Gay needs to come down with it.

I think Cleveland is a WR and star RB away from being a playoff contender. They are definitely on the right track. Kizer looks like the real deal and it's time to treat these guys like they can whip our asses. If we don't they probably will next time. Actually given our habit of playing down we should go into every damn game this year with the under dog mentality.

Hey its a win. Ugly yeah. 3 game balls to AB, TJ, and Ben.

Davis made contact before the football had reached the receiver. That is textbook pass interference and the correct call.

effyou515 wrote:

game ball, Chickillo blocked punt. when was the last time the Steelers blocked a punt?

chickillo #56 did not block the punt. dirty red #44 did.

El-Gonzo Jackson wrote:

Davis made contact before the football had reached the receiver.  That is textbook pass interference and the correct call.

OK. What about the other stuff I said? Agree? Disagree?

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

effyou515 wrote:

game ball, Chickillo blocked punt. when was the last time the Steelers blocked a punt?

chickillo #56 did not block the punt.  dirty red #44 did.

that's right chickillo recovered in the EZ.

solardave wrote:

Here is what I wish the league would do about the defenseless receiver call. Look for intent and how the receiver is positioned when hit. If they do that the call on Gay never happens. It almost didn't because they waited like 30 seconds to throw the flag and the call on Wilcox and Shazier probably doesn't happen either.

They were all illegal hits. You can't go to the head like Gay and Wilcox did at the moment when the receiver is trying to make the catch. That will always be a flag for hitting a defenseless player (rule 1.2).

http://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/nfl-video-rulebook/defenseless-player/

As for the 30 seconds it took them to throw the flag, there's a replay where you can see that a sideline ref is immediately reaching for his flag, but it got stuck in his pocket so that explains the 30 seconds.

You can argue that Shazier is already in his motion when Kizer is sliding to give himself up, but he doesn't do anything to avoid him and he even hits him full with the helmet. That's always unnecessary roughness. If Burfict would do that, he would get a 3 game ban.

Stella Nation wrote:

They were all illegal hits. You can't go to the head like Gay and Wilcox did at the moment when the receiver is trying to make the catch. That will always be a flag for hitting a defenseless player (rule 1.2).

http://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/nfl-video-rulebook/defenseless-player/

As for the 30 seconds it took them to throw the flag, there's a replay where you can see that a sideline ref is immediately reaching for his flag, but it got stuck in his pocket so that explains the 30 seconds.

You can argue that Shazier is already in his motion when Kizer is sliding to give himself up, but he doesn't do anything to avoid him and he even hits him full with the helmet. That's always unnecessary roughness. If Burfict would do that, he would get a 3 game ban.

I agree with this post 100%. It's like some of the Steelers defenders have no idea the NFL is cracking-down on hits to the head. Duh. I am pleasantly surprised it was not Mike Mitchell this week. It seems as though he might finally be learning his lesson. Wilcox probably took a few years off his own life with his hit. He got KTFO. Refs didn't keep the Browns in this game. The Steelers stupidity/lack of preparation did.

My game ball goes to Jesse James. Brown and Watt deserve it too, but Jesse stood out for me.
Goat is Bell for not being ready to play.

They were all illegal hits. You can't go to the head like Gay and Wilcox did at the moment when the receiver is trying to make the catch. That will always be a flag for hitting a defenseless player (rule 1.2).

http://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/nfl-video-rulebook/defenseless-player/

Imo, if gay would of come in playing the ball instead of making a monster hit he could have an INT as the receiver bobbled ball as he tried to make the catch.

one reason Gay has lost a step all his focus was getting there.

now a days its stripping the ball from the receiver not a big hit on the receiver.

I don't disagree that the illegal hits were the right calls based on the rules, but I think refs should be able to use some discretion. If you look at the Wilcox hit for example, yes it was a helmet to helmet hit. But if you look at the hit in slow motion, Wilcox was aiming for Coleman's chest to dislodge the ball. Coleman tucked his body and lowered his head. If he hadn't done that, it would have been a legal hit. I'm all for player safety, but I don't agree with penalizing players for things that are beyond their control.

In watching the replay, I also notice that Coleman shoved off. Should have been a flag.

Wallace108 wrote:

I don't disagree that the illegal hits were the right calls based on the rules, but I think refs should be able to use some discretion. If you look at the Wilcox hit for example, yes it was a helmet to helmet hit. But if you look at the hit in slow motion, Wilcox was aiming for Coleman's chest to dislodge the ball. Coleman tucked his body and lowered his head. If he hadn't done that, it would have been a legal hit. I'm all for player safety, but I don't agree with penalizing players for things that are beyond their control.

In watching the replay, I also notice that Coleman shoved off. Should have been a flag.

I agree with this. While the hits were illegal under the letter of the law, there needs to be discretion for the officials. With how fast this game is played, it's ridiculous how easily these guys can get penalized. I don't believe Gay or Wilcox were going for the head. They were both attempting to separate the receiver from the football. There was no ill intent behind either of those hits. Both receivers dipped their head down which seems to be a natural reaction when you know you're about to get hit. Problem with the whole thing is that we're expecting defenders to have to account for a receiver dipping their head while they're running full speed to try and make a tackle/hit. That's where discretion needs to come into play. The official can/should have discretion to say whether or not it was egregious or intentional and flag or not flag the defender accordingly.

The way it sits they're basically taking physicality out of the game and increasing the lower body injuries because they're forcing defenders to go low to avoid these kinds of penalties. I'm all for player safety, but it's tackle football and unintentional hits to the head are always going to be part of this game unless they go to flags or two-hand-touch. They will never eliminate concussions completely, it's impossible. Yes, concussions suck, but they're part of the game. I had concussions when I played back in high school. That was my choice, I decided to play a game where I knew I could get hit hard, or blocked and get injured. These guys make the choice to play college ball, and the choice to enter into the NFL. They know what the game entails. They get compensated pretty handsomely for it considering a lot of them get paid enough that they could retire comfortably for the rest of their lives, even the guys making league minimum get paid quite well.

All of that being said, I think our guys know now that they've got to go lower with the hits, and wrap up. It's too small of a window anymore to lay these big hits. Sucks because you're essentially making it easier for the receiver to catch the football and make a play, but that's the modern day NFL and that's why we see passing offenses dominating the game nowadays with the running game no longer being the focal point.

they are hurting the product with the penalization of these hits. I agree with the above also, football is a violent sport, that's why people watch it. They need to tone down on the referee policing and let the players play. They should concentrate on developing a better helmet for the players and emphasize teaching better tackling techniques.

Also, If the helmet was made less lethal somehow guys would be less likely to turn themselves into kamikaze missiles.

A lot of you are saying what I said about illegal hits. Let's take running into the kicker versus roughing the kicker. One is 5 yards the other 15. Right? It is based on intent or like Wally said "is it egregious".

But I believe the officials are sending this message. No matter what if a defender comes in contact with the head of a WR/QB/ Kitten crossing the field they are gonna throw the flag within 30 seconds. And about that "flag got stuck in my pocket for 30 seconds" I'm not buying that. Even Tomlin said he saw the officials looking at the jumbo-tron.

Personally I'm not a fan of trying to separate the ball by hitting the guy without wrapping him up. I love seeing someone put their helmet on the ball to jar it loose. Or punch it loose from behind.

The game has gotten softer. I guess now if they want to brake up a pass they'll have to swat at the ball as they're going by or brake someone's leg by going low.

Gameballs:
O-line
AB
Special Teams
The Outlaw - stepped up

Goats:
Secondary - lack of tackling
Bell - lack of effort
Ben looked rusty

just start training our db's to go low and start blowing out peoples knees like james harrison did to eric decker a few years back.

till they make that illegal then we'll basically have to play flag football