Game Balls and Goats (Steelers vs. Raiders)

Game Balls

Big Ben: He played a hell of a game. It was probably the most complete game I've seen him play in a long time. There's nothing more we can ask of our quarterback.

Heath Miller: Is it even possible for him to have a breakout season with everything he's already done? Yes, it is. Steelers Nation knows how great he is, but I'm not sure the rest of the football world does. They're going to find out this season what we already know. Miller is a beast.

Wallace and Brown: They both did what we need them to do. They both fumbled fighting for extra yards, but I don't mind that. I loved what our top receivers did today. They made plays.

Suisham: I'm going to continue giving him a game ball until he misses. Although I'm deducting a point for his kickoffs. He needs to kick the ball out of the endzone.

Haley: Great game plan. He kept Ben from getting killed, and the offense put 31 points on the board. That should be way more than enough points for a Steelers victory.

Goats

Defense: I'm not even going to single anyone out. The entire defense sucked. The coaching sucked. The line sucked. The linebackers sucked. The secondary sucked. Other than that, everything was fine.

GAME BALLS:

To all Wally mentioned. I love the fact that Heath is getting more and more playing time. That can only be good for us as a team.

GOATS:

To our defense who quite frankly sucked canal water!

The game ball definitely goes to Ben for a stellar game. An honorable mention goes to Heath, he played great as well.

The Goat definitely goes to the entire defense for another horrible performance. Barely any pressure on Palmer through out majority of the game and not being able to stop their offense once again for majority of the game and especially when the defense was needed the most.

Here's how bad the defense sucked ...

With the score tied late in the fourth, Tomlin decided to go for it on fourth down on their own 35. He had NO confidence in the defense. Before today, if you would have told me that the Steelers would go for it in that situation, I would have said you're nuts. No way in hell would Tomlin go for it in that situation. But he did, and I don't blame him, even if they wouldn't have gotten it.

GAME BALLS: Big Ben, Miller (of course), AB (even with the fumble -- he recovered it)

GOATS: DEFENSE! If they continue to play this way, I will have to agree with Sapp (UGH - did I just say that?) Although at least Woodley got a sack tonight. What the hell is wrong with the rest of them? Hope Harrison and Troy make a difference when they get back.

IMO, it was the defense and our own penalties that killed us tonight.

I'm sick over this loss.

bet its LeBeau's last year the players that made the three four defense great are done I can now see Butler and Tomlin building the future four three defense

o-lines are not afriad of the zone blitz any more they just wait for the blitz to come to them and pick it up and the QB picks a part the zone behind the blitz.

the Steelers already have four three defensive players on the team and imho the four three defense is a better defense against pass happy offenses.

yea the defense really sucked this is not the Steelers I know. That whole unit was a goat in my book.

Game Balls:

Ben
Wallace
Brown
Miller
Haley

Goats:

The entire defense and defensive coaching staff

Adding some goats:

1) Referees! How many questionable calls went against us?! Even the commentators were against us! That call on 4th down against Keisel was just plain bad! Didn't they clearly see the illegal shift by Oakland?!

2) Special Teams! Butler kicking that ball off the side of his foot. Not being able to boot the kickoffs deep in the endzone. Poor coverage giving them good field position as well as penalties taking away a TD by Brown.

I can't say the entire defense played poorly, more on the way they didn't change it. Foote played well. Clark was all over. Woodley got some pressure. Cortez Allen and Ike Taylor made some decent plays as well. Ryan Mundy and Keenan Lewis were piss-poor and our D-Line was nearly non-existant.



Ben played unbelievably well in spite of having to go over 10 yards for a first down on almost every set of downs (penalties mainly).

The major glaring error of it all was definitely the penalties. They were completely pivotal in the game. I cannot help to believe that the real Refs would never have called all of those or it may have been more even. I wonder how many of those refs are really from the Bay Area.

Wallace108 wrote:

Here's how bad the defense sucked ...

With the score tied late in the fourth, Tomlin decided to go for it on fourth down on their own 35. He had NO confidence in the defense. Before today, if you would have told me that the Steelers would go for it in that situation, I would have said you're nuts. No way in hell would Tomlin go for it in that situation. But he did, and I don't blame him, even if they wouldn't have gotten it.

That was, by far, one of the ballsiest things I've ever seen him do. And I was urging him to do it from my computer chair. I totally agree with you, never would I have encouraged that in the past...hell, even ROOTED for it...but Tomlin, and every other person on the face of the planet, knew the defense couldn't stop them. Shame that had to be one of the few offensive drives where the didn't do much.

This game should have been a blow out. Easily. I was expecting some problems because of a west coast game, but never did I think the D would give up that many points. Never.

I know having Troy and Harrison out hurts a bit, but in terms of run blocking and pass rushing, we are seriously missing Farrior and Smith. I don't think this defense really has a strong leader anymore.

As for game balls and goats...It's gotta be Ben and Heath with the game balls. I don't even know who to pick on specifically for the defense...that kind of suckage takes a whole effort.

SteelCityMom wrote:

Wallace108 wrote:

Here's how bad the defense sucked ...

With the score tied late in the fourth, Tomlin decided to go for it on fourth down on their own 35. He had NO confidence in the defense. Before today, if you would have told me that the Steelers would go for it in that situation, I would have said you're nuts. No way in hell would Tomlin go for it in that situation. But he did, and I don't blame him, even if they wouldn't have gotten it.

That was, by far, one of the ballsiest things I've ever seen him do. And I was urging him to do it from my computer chair. I totally agree with you, never would I have encouraged that in the past...hell, even ROOTED for it...but Tomlin, and every other person on the face of the planet, knew the defense couldn't stop them. Shame that had to be one of the few offensive drives where the didn't do much.

This game should have been a blow out. Easily. I was expecting some problems because of a west coast game, but never did I think the D would give up that many points. Never.

I know having Troy and Harrison out hurts a bit, but in terms of run blocking and pass rushing, we are seriously missing Farrior and Smith. I don't think this defense really has a strong leader anymore.

As for game balls and goats...It's gotta be Ben and Heath with the game balls. I don't even know who to pick on specifically for the defense...that kind of suckage takes a whole effort.

I've urged Tomlin to go for it on similar plays like that now for three years. Every time it's just an offsides draw attempt. Funny enough that only works AGAINST us, and even funnier that Kiesel fell for it.

I won't blame the refs, this game never should have been this close.

Matter of fact I like the fact that these refs have let the players play football and have missed some calls. It makes me think that this is old school football. The obvious gets calls, some get missed, and if you want to win - play football!

GAMEBALL: Roethlisberger

GOAT: Defense and Defensive coaching staff

Quote :

we are seriously missing Farrior and Smith. I don't think this defense really has a strong leader anymore.

Couldn't agree with you more.

Having Farrior on the field would do nothing but hurt our run and pass defense. Doesn't matter how good of a leader you are if you're struggling on the field. Same goes for Smith, and hopefully, the same will go for Casey Hampton before the end of the year.

It's time to bring in the guys we've drafted over the past five years. Plenty of leadership on the defensive side of the ball. Look no further than Ryan Clark.

Bayz, I have to respectfully disagree. It isn't always about pure talent. Heart, passion, and leadership are a big part of the game.

Gingerchip wrote:

Bayz, I have to respectfully disagree. It isn't always about pure talent. Heart, passion, and leadership are a big part of the game.

A big part, yes, but it doesn't outweigh the importance of execution. Nothing is more important than execution, and both Smith and Farrior have lacked that all of last year. Farrior led the team in tackles last year, and nearly forty percent of those tackles came from him chasing down and tackling the receiver who burned him for twenty yards.

It's time to get some young blood on defense, and it's steadily been getting worse since late 2009. Farrior is 38, Smith is 36. It was time to hang them up, and that's exactly what happened.

It's not like they're not in the locker room after games anyway. In fact, i'm hearing word that Farrior traveled to Cali this weekend.

Gingerchip wrote:

Bayz, I have to respectfully disagree. It isn't always about pure talent. Heart, passion, and leadership are a big part of the game.

I'll agree up to a point Ginger. Bayz has a point. But it doesn't matter how much heart, passion, and leadership a person brings to the table, the body eventually can not respond the same manner in which it did in previous years.

I'm a prime example of that. I've been training for an amateur MMA fight. In the last 4 months my body has taken a freakin' beating and while it has responded better in the last 4 weeks, I spent 2 months limited to not only training but to anything I wanted to do because my body didn't respond to the activity like it did 10 years ago. Take this back to the players, their body goes through a more rigorous training session year in and year out. Their bodies break down quicker than mine does. Eventually, and probably more so for them, the body just can't handle doing what it's been doing for the last 10 years - especially when the new players in the league are faster and stronger than what they've faced before.

Yeah, I agree with you guys. Hines' time had passed, too (omg -- I didn't just say that!!!). What my point is......is that it is still a transition, and change affects everyone that is involved (environment) -- (good or bad). To have lost a passionate leader such as Farrior, is going to have some affect.

Sorry - I am minoring in Psychology -- I can't help myself sometimes

And i'm sure it is.

When the Steelers blitzed the QB, they almost ALWAYS pressured him, and Carson being Carson, he threw a dud.

Here's the problem: We rarely blitzed, and when we did, we didn't bring enough men to do get to Carson. We brought the Blitz back for the last drive, got to the QB, and as soon as we got back to the zone defense, Carson started picking us apart just like he had all game.

A healthy, strong Harrison added into the mix will certainly help. When Woodley and Harrison get hot, they get into the opposing QB's head and become NIGHTMARES.

Can't wait until the defense is all on the field, and I pray they stay healthy long enough for Harrison and Woodley to get warmed up.

To be honest Ginger, it doesn't have to be that way. I think as a Steelers fan I can remember the difference in our teams when we had leaders step aside (their choice or the FO's) and new leaders stepped up and when they didn't. The 70's is a great example of that. When I think of the 70's Steelers defense, I think of Lambert being a leader of the that squad, but in honesty he wasn't - Joe Greene was (and there are many players who would acknowledge that now). After Joe Greene moved on, who was there to take over for him? No one that I recall and the Steelers suffered for it (see the 80's) and while our defense was still one of the best, Greene's leadership on and off the field was missed.

Move Forward to the Cowher era when leadership was abundant on the defense and lacked on the offense. Our offense barely moved the ball but our defense was punishing people for our offense lacking. Defensively there were leaders behind leaders behind leaders. When one fell, another one intently positioned himself in that role and accepted it with honor. Now the Steelers once again find themselves in a need of leadership on the defensive side of the ball. Who will it be? Troy? He's the silent killer. Clark? He's the hitter and while he can be an emotional lift from time to time, he's not a solid leader for this core of players. Woodley? Seems like the obvious choice but he's not stepping up to take it. IMO, the leader has to not only accept the role, but he's got to take it.

And if you notice offensively, Big Ben has become the leader of the offense and it shows. While me may not score 30 points a game, the offense is coming together - minus the injuries.

You're right on Truck. Yes, It doesn't have to be that way...........and good analysis on the leadership. Foote seems to be willing to fill the role. Woodley would be my first guess, and he may evolve into that Farrior-type leader in the future. Ben has filled the offensive role quite nicely -- this guy has grown in the last few years. Kudos to him.

I have to add that you mentioning the 70s teams made me nostalgic. (in honor of the Chief)

One has to wonder if there will ever be a team with soooooo much talent on one squad ever again. And I just don't mean the Steelers, I mean in the whole NFL