Steelers turn to ageless Charlie Batch once again

Buddha Bus wrote:

bayz101 wrote:

As far as Charlie Batch goes....Just watch and see. He'll prove ALL the haters wrong.

Quoted for inaccuracy.

We fumbled it away three times before he made a mistake, and Wallace, apparently the greatest of all time, is to blame solely for one of Charlie's turnovers. Not to mention Wallace's biggest plays since Brown went down have been turnover's. Just waiting to hear what excuses will be presented for him this week.

bayz101 wrote:

Just waiting to hear what excuses will be presented for him this week. [/b]

Why bother? You already know everything. Fans have such hatred for Wallace that they don't even want to look at things objectively.
But don't take MY word for it. Let's see what a trusted source like Steelers Depot has to say:

Quote :

I was asked to take a closer look at the fourth quarter pass from Charlie Batch to Mike Wallace that was ultimately intercepted after being tipped up into the air by Wallace.

The play happened on 2nd down and 12 from the Browns 30 yard-line with 12:06 left in the game.

It was a quick slant to Wallace and Batch threw it behind his receiver. It would have been a tough catch by Wallace for sure, but one that likely should have been made nonetheless.

This one can get charged to both players in my opinion and the bounce was certainly unfortunate.

http://sulia.com/channel/pittsburgh-steelers-vs-cleveland-browns/f/b26de775-251d-49c4-87b5-a9c76531f890/

So here's the analysis: It would have been a TOUGH catch by Wallace for sure, but one that LIKELY should have been made nonetheless.

Fans are acting like Wallace dropped another easy pass. That's not the case at all. The ball was thrown behind him on a slant route, and he didn't have enough time to react to it. Bayz, you say that you played football ... have you ever had someone fire a ball behind you from 8 to 10 yards away? When you're running that pattern and expecting the ball to be out in front of you, it's difficult to track the ball, get your body turned around and catch it if it's behind you. It's not impossible, of course, but it's not easy. Should he have caught it? Like Depot says ... he LIKELY should have had it. But it was also a TOUGH catch to make, especially in traffic across the middle.

And now fans are slamming Wallace for not doing enough to break up the INT. Sheeeesh, I'm beginning to think he also might have killed Kennedy. Let's again look at the analysis from Depot:

Quote :

A few in the media are ripping Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace for his effort on the deep interception with just over 3 minutes left in the game against the Cleveland Browns. They state that Wallace should have done a better job of playing defender on the play.

I have included the animated gif of the play that shows just how under thrown the ball was and how quickly the two Browns defenders closed on the duck. Wallace, as you can see in the attached linked picture, had a hand on each of the defenders trying to defend as best as he could while falling backwards.

Was this a great game by Wallace? No, and it certainly wasn't a great game by the entire offense either. Batch missed Wallace deep several times in this game and threw behind him on another that resulted in another interception. Both of which can share the blame on.

Everyone is looking for a true scapegoat in this game outside of pointing to Batch or the 4 lost fumbles by the running backs. Wallace hasn't been great at times this year, but to point at this one play as a specific focal point in an argument that he did not give effort is foolish and irresponsible.

http://sulia.com/channel/pittsburgh-steelers/f/61acfb44-3cff-413f-b5d7-3a0a0c5f0f49/?source=twitter

If we're going to be nitpicking Wallace's mistakes, where's all the hatred for Chris Rainey?? Really, think about it ... everyone always talks glowingly about him. Ooooh, he's so electric. But let's look at what he's done this season on offense. He's touched the ball 35 times (21 runs, 14 receptions). He's fumbled 4 times. On average he's fumbled every eighth time he touched the ball on offense this season. So where's the criticism? Where's the hatred?

All I've done is tried to keep things in perspective and present other arguments to create discussion. If you'd rather have a thread with 3 posts saying "Wallace sucks" and no discussion beyond that, that's fine. I'll stop offering my opinion and everyone can get on with the hating. Have fun with it.

Maybe Rainey gets passed over because he's a rookie. But you're right Wally, people seem to be focused on a hate for Wallace right now. Maybe it's because of his hold out. As we all know, when you hold out you get the attention (good or bad), and in this case Wallace is getting a lot of negative attention.

stlrtruck wrote:

Maybe Rainey gets passed over because he's a rookie. But you're right Wally, people seem to be focused on a hate for Wallace right now. Maybe it's because of his hold out. As we all know, when you hold out you get the attention (good or bad), and in this case Wallace is getting a lot of negative attention.

As I've said before, I understand the hate. Some of it is warranted. But when I feel it isn't, then I'm going to disagree. I don't care if people take jabs at Wallace, just as long as the jabs are thrown at the right Wallace.

bayz101 wrote:

As far as Charlie Batch goes....Just watch and see. He'll prove ALL the haters wrong.

Was it his fault or wasn't it? Only the nose knows.

Quote :

One of Charlie Batch’s greatest assets has been his accuracy.

Even though Batch finished with a completion percentage comparable to his career average (56.8 percent) Sunday against Cleveland, the 37-year-old was far from being accurate, and it could’ve been because of three things — an early defensive touchdown, fumbles and play calling.

Because of three first-half fumbles, Lawrence Timmons’ interception return and Todd Haley’s game plan of not asking a lot out of Batch early in the game, the veteran didn’t attempt his first pass until 24 real minutes after the opening kickoff, and that was a screen pass 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage to Jonathan Dwyer.

Batch’s next pass came 10 minutes after that and was off the mark to Heath Miller. On the ensuing play, Batch had his throw batted down.

The throw after that?

Try 20 more real minutes later — a pass 2 yards down the field. After a run and a short completion to Emmanuel Sanders, Batch’s next pass sailed over Miller’s head toward the near sideline, followed by a throw well over Mike Wallace’s head down the sidelines.

Through 78 real minutes — or at approximately 2:20 p.m. — Batch had attempted eight passes.

Batch finished with 199 yards on 20 of 34 passing, but he never was able to find his rhythm with his accuracy — especially to Wallace.

Batch threw behind Wallace, which led to an interception; threw underneath Wallace on a timing route to the sidelines; underthrew him on a sure touchdown deep down the middle; and underthrew him with three minutes left in the game, which led to Joe Haden’s interception.

At least nine of Batch’s 14 incompletions were because of inaccuracy.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

• Haley made a clear adjustment at halftime, and that was to get Batch some easy throws in order to allow him to regain his confidence. Haley called four consecutive screen passes to open the second half; two of them were nullified because of penalties. Batch completed a wide receiver screen to Wallace, a middle screen to Miller, a delayed screen to Chris Rainey and another middle screen to Miller. Every pass was at least 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

• There’s no debating that veteran safety Will Allen has played well in the absence of Troy Polamalu, but Sunday wasn’t one of those games. Allen dropped an easy interception down the field a minute into the game and was the main culprit in the Browns’ first touchdown — Jordan Cameron’s 5-yard catch on a third-and-goal early in the second quarter. Allen was playing press coverage on Jordan, who was in the slot to the left. Allen missed the jam and let Jordan get to his outside shoulder. Larry Foote’s responsibility was inside so that he was unable to get to Cameron coming from across the formation. Allen allowed all three passes thrown his way to be completed and missed three tackles.

• Recently signed Plaxico Burress had only 11 snaps against the Browns and no catches. The Steelers used him primarily on third downs. Burress took nine snaps from the X receiver position and one from the slot, with seven coming on third down. Burress played three consecutive plays at the end of the half and drew a pass interference penalty in the end zone that led to the Steelers’ only offensive touchdown. Burress was targeted twice but did not have a catch.

• Ryan Clark, Lawrence Timmons, Ike Taylor and Keenan Lewis continued to play at a Pro Bowl level, and Brett Keisel and James Harrison have quietly strung together a handful of strong games. But nobody played as well as Jason Worilds. Worilds played 58 snaps after LaMarr Woodley injured his ankle. Worilds showed that he is becoming a complete player; he had four solo tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits and a pass defense.


Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/3022880-85/batch-pass-screen-allen-minutes-wallace-burress-game-interception-miller#ixzz2DQovrz47
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Wallace108 wrote:

I don't care if people take jabs at Wallace, just as long as the jabs are thrown at the right Wallace.

OK, you suck, Wally.

Wallace108 wrote:

stlrtruck wrote:

Maybe Rainey gets passed over because he's a rookie. But you're right Wally, people seem to be focused on a hate for Wallace right now. Maybe it's because of his hold out. As we all know, when you hold out you get the attention (good or bad), and in this case Wallace is getting a lot of negative attention.

As I've said before, I understand the hate. Some of it is warranted. But when I feel it isn't, then I'm going to disagree. I don't care if people take jabs at Wallace, just as long as the jabs are thrown at the right Wallace.

which Wallace would that be?

Wallace is a good player i'm just busting his ball because of the holdout and i know its about make as much money as you can before you get football old. but i still think he's kinda playing soft until he signs the big contract.