Steelers vs. Browns (Week 1) GAMEDAY THREAD

Tie against Cleveland.. it's like getting kicked in the balls, but it only hit 1 nut instead of both of them.

We didnt even deserve the tie.

This is what happens when ..

1. Your starters don't get enough work in the preseason and your first regular season game is used to knock off the rust and start getting on the same page.

2. You build a lead and then take your foot off the pedal and lose focus and intensity.

3. Your coach can't get the players motivated enough to smack down weaker teams.

Poor coaching, poor play. Period. Team loss. Yes, I say loss because that's what a tie is to us.

Morale victory for the Brownies though. Nothing like providing them with a confidence boost that they can hang with us.

This game was almost as bad as that first game against Jacksonville last year. These guys need to stop acting like they're good, man up, and play like it. Other words this is just going to be another wasted season.

I guess AB was the only WR that played in the 4th quarter, I guess with Ben it doesn't matter if AB is single, doubled or tripled covered the ball was going to AB. It doesn't matter who the OC is when Ben gets locked on AB.

todays offense had no flow to it most of the game, like a short passing game working with the running game or a running game working with the short passing game to set up the down field throws.

Frustrated but not giving up.

Holding out your starters in pre-season is a double edged sword. Advantage: they are healthy when the season starts (many starters around the league lost for the season due to injury). Disadvantage: not in sync when the season starts.

Big Ben was not sharp today. In his defense, he wanted to play more in pre-season but was not allowed to (concussion protocol held him out of one, and played very little in game 3).
Conner looked really good. Made a big mistake with the fumble - but proved he could be the starting RB and make plays, both running and catching out of the backfield.

Defense played really well today. Best I've ever seen Dupree. D backs played, for the most part, very well. I thought the communication in the backfield was much better (remember that DB coach they brought in from the college ranks? His #1 goal was communication). I only saw about 1 time where there was miscommunication leaving someone wide open.

Turnovers killed us. Amazing we didn't lose this one. Still a good team with a lot of tools.

1. Browns really have a good defense, Myles Garrett will be a candidate for DPOY.

2. Our defense played pretty well. Considering the offense turned over the ball 6 times, allowing only 21 points in 70 minutes with 1 score coming from their own 1 and 1 from an AB-like Josh Gordon catch, they did a great job.

3. If one player deserves a gameball it's TJ Watt. He looked like an all-pro.

4. Once Joe Haden went down, our secondary was all of a sudden in trouble. Hope it's nothing serious.

5. Sean Davis played really well btw. He was unlucky to have called an INT back due to a penalty and that punt recovery which was apparently too close to change the call.

6. Hate to say it, but there's some truth in Jalen Ramsey's words. Ben is relying on AB way too much. Juju (and other WR's) can make plays too, you know.

7. Where was James Washington? Really disappointed they didn't use him.

8. James Conner played a heck of a game, really a shame that his fumble changed the game. He didn't deserve that.

9. Boswell always should have made that field goal. I hope that miss doesn't get into his head.

10. I also watched the Eagles Falcons game Thursday and the refs (and the league) are really killing the game with all their penalties and flags. It's becoming unwatchable. After every big play, return, sack or hit I'm always paying attention if there's no flag. I've noticed that I'm always counting to five now to be sure the play holds up. It's taking away the fun of the game.

Stella Nation wrote:

1. Browns really have a good defense, Myles Garrett will be a candidate for DPOY.

2. Our defense played pretty well. Considering the offense turned over the ball 6 times, allowing only 21 points in 70 minutes with 1 score coming from their own 1 and 1 from an AB-like Josh Gordon catch, they did a great job.

3. If one player deserves a gameball it's TJ Watt. He looked like an all-pro.

4. Once Joe Haden went down, our secondary was all of a sudden in trouble. Hope it's nothing serious.

5. Sean Davis played really well btw. He was unlucky to have called an INT back due to a penalty and that punt recovery which was apparently too close to change the call.

6. Hate to say it, but there's some truth in Jalen Ramsey's words. Ben is relying on AB way too much. Juju (and other WR's) can make plays too, you know.

7. Where was James Washington? Really disappointed they didn't use him.

8. James Conner played a heck of a game, really a shame that his fumble changed the game. He didn't deserve that.

9. Boswell always should have made that field goal. I hope that miss doesn't get into his head.

10. I also watched the Eagles Falcons game Thursday and the refs (and the league) are really killing the game with all their penalties and flags. It's becoming unwatchable. After every big play, return, sack or hit I'm always paying attention if there's no flag. I've noticed that I'm always counting to five now to be sure the play holds up. It's taking away the fun of the game.

Right on (many fronts but starting with penalties). How about the Steelers getting into the end zone on three consecutive plays because the first 2 got called back? In from the 2, then the 12, then the 22 which finally counted.

I do think its a combination of things. Many players aren't sharp yet - teams too. Philly was really ragged Thursday and was lucky to scrape up a win. But Refs are making too many picky calls and not letting them play. You're right - its killing the league.

Cleveland is very much improved (especially D). I think they will contend for a playoff spot this year. I also think that, the next time we play them, Mayfield will be starting (unless he's injured by then). Taylor is either going to be injured (runs the ball way too much) or just plain replaced. Hesitant to throw it downfield, not overly accurate either.

Your post is right on in so many areas. I'll just finish by saying yes - I agree with you.

nine vegetable wrote:

Stella Nation wrote:

1. Browns really have a good defense, Myles Garrett will be a candidate for DPOY.

2. Our defense played pretty well. Considering the offense turned over the ball 6 times, allowing only 21 points in 70 minutes with 1 score coming from their own 1 and 1 from an AB-like Josh Gordon catch, they did a great job.

3. If one player deserves a gameball it's TJ Watt. He looked like an all-pro.

4. Once Joe Haden went down, our secondary was all of a sudden in trouble. Hope it's nothing serious.

5. Sean Davis played really well btw. He was unlucky to have called an INT back due to a penalty and that punt recovery which was apparently too close to change the call.

6. Hate to say it, but there's some truth in Jalen Ramsey's words. Ben is relying on AB way too much. Juju (and other WR's) can make plays too, you know.

7. Where was James Washington? Really disappointed they didn't use him.

8. James Conner played a heck of a game, really a shame that his fumble changed the game. He didn't deserve that.

9. Boswell always should have made that field goal. I hope that miss doesn't get into his head.

10. I also watched the Eagles Falcons game Thursday and the refs (and the league) are really killing the game with all their penalties and flags. It's becoming unwatchable. After every big play, return, sack or hit I'm always paying attention if there's no flag. I've noticed that I'm always counting to five now to be sure the play holds up. It's taking away the fun of the game.

Right on (many fronts but starting with penalties).  How about the Steelers getting into the end zone on three consecutive plays because the first 2 got called back?  In from the 2, then the 12, then the 22 which finally counted.

I do think its a combination of things.  Many players aren't sharp yet - teams too.  Philly was really ragged Thursday and was lucky to scrape up a win.  But Refs are making too many picky calls and not letting them play.  You're right - its killing the league.

Cleveland is very much improved (especially D).  I think they will contend for a playoff spot this year.  I also think that, the next time we play them, Mayfield will be starting (unless he's injured by then).  Taylor is either going to be injured (runs the ball way too much) or just plain replaced.  Hesitant to throw it downfield, not overly accurate either.

Your post is right on in so many areas.  I'll just finish by saying yes - I agree with you.

Yeah, the first few weeks will be a bit misleading on which teams will be good at the end of the season. It's clear that a lot of the offenses are still rusty after limited minutes in the preseason. Eagles, Falcons and we were looking bad while they 're considered to be top 10 in the league.

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

Poor coaching, poor play. Period. Team loss. Yes, I say loss because that's what a tie is to us.

Morale victory for the Brownies though. Nothing like providing them with a confidence boost that they can hang with us.

This game was almost as bad as that first game against Jacksonville last year. These guys need to stop acting like they're good, man up, and play like it. Other words this is just going to be another wasted season.

Agree 100%. I am still seething over this and will all week long. Ridiculous to be 2 scores ahead with 7-8 minutes to play and get a tie. Hated seeing the players around Tomlin when the FG try missed...did they realize there were 9 seconds left and they were going to tie?

Minus the fumble, and looking for a positive, I thought it was a very good game for Conner...135 rushing and 57 receiving.

Sit your starters like a puss for 3 1/2 straight games and you get a loss to the browns. Once again Tomlin plays to the level of his competition. When will the Rooney's wise up?? Tired of the same old story year after year. Ben needs at least 2 full pre-season games to play like an NFL QB at this point.

Ben wasn’t ready to play, too many inopportune penalties, Conner needs to learn to protect the ball. Wondering if Bell was helping in pass protection maybe Ben doesn’t get blind sided. I hope the coaches will fix that.

On the plus side, Conner looked good running, just as good as Bell. And this is TJ Watt’s season

All in all a disappointmentment. It’s embarrassing enough to barely scrape by the browns but a tie??? Same old Tomlin not having the focused and prepared. It’s going to be a long season.

Slop... slop... and more slop...tie to the Browns... lol wtf...

Imo,,, the defense not prefect did well enough for a win, Ben's part of the offense didn't look all that good.

I have no doubt this team is going to be strong. What worries me though is this game could come back and bite us in the ass at the end of the season.

Steeler-in-west wrote:

Ben wasn’t ready to play, too many inopportune penalties, Conner needs to learn to protect the ball. Wondering if Bell was helping in pass protection maybe Ben doesn’t get blind sided. I hope the coaches will fix that.

On the plus side, Conner looked good running, just as good as Bell. And this is TJ Watt’s season

All in all a disappointmentment. It’s embarrassing enough to barely scrape by the browns but a tie??? Same old Tomlin not having the focused and prepared. It’s going to be a long season.

Yeah, kind of lost in everything is the game Watt had. I'm so glad we have him....4 sacks in one game against a running QB

Wallace108 wrote:

I have no doubt this team is going to be strong. What worries me though is this game could come back and bite us in the ass at the end of the season.

you're right Wally. Here's the thing. We're usually talking about games biting us in the ass around late October. Not after the first game. IMO if they're going to not play their starters in the preseason they might as well go to an 18 game schedule and eliminate preseason altogether.

I said the defense might have to win this one and they played good enough to do that but when you screw up 6 TIMES in a game you have won YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO WIN!

I couldn't get the game here because I'm in Bengal territory (they tuned into our game for 3 seconds only to announce because of  "contractual issues" they couldn't show the overtime) so I can only speculate but here goes:

1) I feel bad for Connor. He played like a man on fire until he fumbled.

2) Sounded to me like the officials are ruining the game like Stella said.

3) 4 INTs. How many were Ben's fault. 1 is too many.

4) Just when we could squeak one out Boswell misses.

To me listening to the late 3rd and all through the 4th it seemed to be a textbook meltdown.

5) It seemed like every time I turned around Burns was doing something really stupid.

Why are we throwing short passes to AB when it's 3rd and long? To me this sounded like a Haley called game with a shitload of rust on it.

6) In this era if you turn the ball over that many times you have no chance of a win.

7) Will Tomlin ever learn that you NEVER let up on ANY team you have a lead on? NEVER, EVER!!!

8) I wondered what they were doing signing Switzer. I don't now. He's for sure an upgrade.

Did TJ have 3 sacks? I heard his name a lot.

After 1 it's official. After coaching changes, free agent pickups, and a pretty good draft. WE STILL PLAY DOWN TO A TEAM WE SHOULD BEAT!

What scares me is I was numb after the game. That's the first sign of someone learning to accept things as they are. Now my prediction of 13-3 looks like a pipe dream.

The KC game is on here next week and I don't even know how to feel about that right now. I'm like 40% excited to see our home opener and 60% wondering if we can even bounce back. I guess what I'm saying is I'm loosing confidence in the coaching staff as well as the players to stay focused. Any team. Any team can kick your ass if you spot them enough points and basically "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory"!

nine vegetable wrote:

Tie.  Like kissing your ugly sister.

Fixed it for you, especially since it was the Browns we tied

A few points from the local media.

I was listening to the post game show while driving back to Pittsburgh. Charlie Batch made 2 very good points from yesterday's game:

[1] The Steelers still don't have a reliable 3rd receiver. AB gets double teamed, and JuJu can be taken out of the game 1 on 1. McDonald should have been that guy, but he is broken. Bell could have also been that guy. Hunter is not a reliable 3rd option, and Washington is injured too.
[2] Charlie Batch didn't blame the coaching, but he did blame "veteran leadership" on the team. He did acknowledge that when players don't perform, the coaching staff will suffer the consequences.

On the sports report on today's WDVE morning show, Conner wasn't blamed for the loss, but it was acknowledged that his fumble started the downturn. In summary, for all the good he did, it was taken away by one play. There was also some discussion of why the veteran Ridley wasn't brought in at that point.

stlrtruck wrote:

nine vegetable wrote:

Tie.  Like kissing your ugly sister.

Fixed it for you, especially since it was the Browns we tied

Thank you?

couple comments....

I know some of the talk is that Tomlin 'let up'. I don't really buy into that. We turned the ball over multiple times in a row. I don't think you can attribute that to the coach letting up.

Offensive gameplan would've looked really good if we hadn't had 6 turnovers. We moved the ball, probably would've scored about 35 points and breezed to a win.

Ben is old enough and experienced enough to take better care of the football - regardless of how much he played in the pre-season. Disappointing.

I hate how much the national press is intimating that we would've won if Bell were playing. They are so far off the marks its not even funny. We would likely have gotten the same Bell we got last opener - 10 carries 32 yards. Instead, we get a young guy that balled out and kicked tail most of the game. If anything, Conner gave us an opportunity to win, rather than costing us.

nine vegetable wrote:

couple comments....

I know some of the talk is that Tomlin 'let up'.  I don't really buy into that.  We turned the ball over multiple times in a row.  I don't think you can attribute that to the coach letting up.

Offensive gameplan would've looked really good if we hadn't had 6 turnovers.  We moved the ball, probably would've scored about 35 points and breezed to a win.

Ben is old enough and experienced enough to take better care of the football - regardless of how much he played in the pre-season.  Disappointing.

I hate how much the national press is intimating that we would've won if Bell were playing.  They are so far off the marks its not even funny.  We would likely have gotten the same Bell we got last opener - 10 carries 32 yards.  Instead, we get a young guy that balled out and kicked tail most of the game.  If anything, Conner gave us an opportunity to win, rather than costing us.

I don't think we let up too early. We were running the ball in the 4th, as the end zone was at our back. Conner just put the ball on the carpet at the worst possible time.

As for Ben, I think he needs to play in preseason. They all do. Tomlin himself says, we don't live in our fears. Except, we did. We're so afraid of someone getting hurt in a meaningless preseason game, we're trading it for sloppy play in the season. That part is on Tomlin. I can remember when we would play the 1st string for 1-2 series in the first preseason game, 1 quarter in the second, a half in the third, and 1-2 series in the fourth. Did we even get a quarter of football with the starters in the preseason games?

Bell doesn't fumble on that play. Bell has over 1,200 touches with the Steelers, and only 6 fumbles. Bell probably would have been putrid due to holding out, but that is another story. I wonder why they didn't go with Ridley a bit more in this game? Conner didn't cost us the game, but the downward trend started with that fumble. If you couldn't tell, I am not fully on the Conner train yet. I need to see more games.

Ben is natually impatient and greedy when it comes to moving the offense down the field with the passing game and it showed Sunday. sometimes it works and sometime it doesn't.

hope Ben wasn't trying to use his playing ability to show Dodds and Rudolph how to run a high powered NFL offense in a NFL game Sunday hope Fichtner is using Ben's play in Sunday's game as lessons to things a QB can not do running an offense in the NFL.

to tell the truth in the 4th quarter in the back of my thoughts I was thinking wonder what Dodds or Rudolph could do because by that time Tyrod Taylor was out playing Ben.

Ben needs to stop forcing the damn ball to AB so much. I get they have a great chemistry but you cannot tell me that when there are three DBs out there covering AB that there isn't someone else open with the weapons we have a receiver. The first interception Ben threw was just mind bogglingly stupid. Triple coverage, the defenders were just standing there daring Ben to throw the ball so they could pick it off and Ben obliged them. Stupid, never should've happened. Ben is far too experienced to be making stupid rookie mistakes like that. Go through your reads and take what the defense gives you, if someone isn't open throw the damn ball away. Denzel Ward had to be pinching himself saying "I can't believe he actually threw that".

Some of the blame goes on the players, some goes on the coaches. Tomlin needs to keep these guys out of social media, and he needs to put a stop to the stuff that should be kept in-house. It was painfully obvious they had a big fat distraction going on prior to this game and I do think it effected them. Tomlin's lack of discipline for things like is ridiculous at this point. Tomlin needs to start being a disciplinarian instead of acting like these guys cool older brother. He also needs to make better decisions in games.

This was as embarrassing as the home loss to the Jags last year in the regular season.

nine vegetable wrote:

I know some of the talk is that Tomlin 'let up'.  I don't really buy into that.  We turned the ball over multiple times in a row.  I don't think you can attribute that to the coach letting up.

jak341 wrote:

I don't think we let up too early. We were running the ball in the 4th, as the end zone was at our back. Conner just put the ball on the carpet at the worst possible time.  

I have to respectfully disagree guys. Early in the 4th, there was a series when I looked over at my son and said, "Well, here we go ... they're playing to not lose instead of playing to win. If the Browns score on this drive, it's a one possession game." ... The Browns didn't score on that drive, but then Conner fumbled shortly after and we still ended up with the one possession game.

The Trib's Tim Benz sums it up better than I can ...

Tim Benz: Where it all went wrong for Steelers in tie with Browns

Once the fourth quarter began, the die was cast for an epic collapse. And a lot of it was the result of their play-calling.

Sure. The weather was terrible. Ben Roethlisberger was worse. James Conner had been running the ball well.

But the Steelers turtled to start the fourth quarter. That’s too early. Yes, even up 14 points against Cleveland. I mean, they’ve watched their own defense play, right?

Consider how the Steelers’ drive chart went in the final quarter. After starting with a fresh first-and-10 to begin the frame, the Steelers picked up a first down and tried a pass on the next first down. Following an incompletion on that try, they ran Conner on second-and-10 and third-and-10 for a total of 4 yards and then punted instead of trying a 51-yard field goal.

I don’t fault the decision to eschew the field goal. I fault the decision to avoid a slightly more aggressive path to get closer.

When the Steelers got the ball back on their own 14, Conner ran once more. Marcus Gilbert committed a penalty. The next two plays were run calls, too. Conner netted just 3 yards on them. Another punt occurred after Roethlisberger tried a short pass to Antonio Brown.

Very conservative.

That was the punt that resulted in the ball, um, “not striking” Nick Chubb’s helmet with 8:52 left.

After Cleveland received that break, the Browns got the ball back down to the Pittsburgh 18-yard line before their drive was stopped on downs.

The gift was returned to sender though when Conner fumbled on the first snap after the Steelers regained possession. Cleveland instantly turned that into a touchdown to pull within 21-14.

Perhaps sensing they had pulled back too much, the Steelers finally took to the air again, throwing twice after the kick. The first was a positive gain, 17 yards to JuJu Smith-Schuster. But the second backfired when Roethlisberger was strip-sacked on first-and-10.

The Browns couldn’t convert, yet field position switched. Now — spooked by a fifth Roethlisberger turnover — the Steelers went back into a shell and stayed on the ground for five of six snaps. The last of those snaps came on a third-and-9 before a seventh Jordan Berry punt.

The Browns scored two plays later, and the lead was gone.

Read more: https://triblive.com/sports/columnists/timbenz/breakfastwithbenz/14068124-74/tim-benz-where-it-all-went-wrong-for-steelers-in-tie-with
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The Browns were stacking the box, and the Steelers were running it up the middle. A lot. That's a fine strategy up 14 late in the 4th, but they started doing it early in the fourth when a lot could still happen. And as we saw, a lot did happen. From my perspective, they started the 4th quarter with the mindset that the game was over.