It wasn't even...

Steeler-in-west wrote:

This 'owning' is overblown. P-Words* don't own shit. They just won a game

Plus remember, they didn't actually "win" SB49 more than the Seahags "lost" it, with a play that will be enshrined as one of the worst calls ever, and one that will have earned my animosity of Seattle forever.

You all can blame coaches and want them replaced all you want, but for the life of me who replaces them?  The reason this team is always competing for championships and playoffs is because of continuity in the coaching staff.  Geez
The reason this game was lost was we lost the battle of the line of scrimmage.  The Pats** beat us up front on both sides of the ball, that and Bell going out early made it easier for them to take Antonio away.  Other than a couple of nice catches by James and Rogers (whos fumble really hurt) we had NOBODY step up to make the Pats** play honest with Brown.  Coates drop on a perfectly thrown ball on the first series told me everything I needed to now how this game would go, to win games against the Patriots** you need to be on pint offensively and make those plays when they are there. Hamilton dropping the ball in the endzone hurts aswell.
We have a young D, and they will get better, Ben is right, maybe this stage was a little much for our young guys...it certainly was for Ben in '04.  I am confident this team will learn from this and move forward.

Butler's defensive scheme in a nutshell: Give them a huge cushion and after they catch it do not tackle them. They'll get tired of all that running up and down the field. When our offense has the ball watch their defense. Yeah, that's what we should be doing. That and paying the refs off.

Here we go Atlanta,Here we go!

I got to start the grieving process in the 4th quarter. Steelers didn't show up and the Patriots* showed out.

It's a shame but it was a great season (all things considered)

Definitely disappointing to say the least (my 38-17 prediction was close ...but the asswhipping went in the wrong direction). As much as it looked like Brady and the Pats* owned the Steelers last night, the Steelers just laid an egg. I think Matt Moore would have beat this team last night and I'm not exaggerating here. The execution was just horrendous. Oh, I give credit to the Patriots* for winning, but the Steelers did nothing but sidestep to allow NE to walk into the Super Bowl.

The only fault I'm going to lay on the coaches is when Tomlin threw the challenge flag on the Brady fumble. It just wasn't that clear by replays that the call would be reversed. He's just very bad with his challenges and has done nothing to get better over the years.

Prior to the game, I posted that the defense should go to man press. The reality is, they haven't played man press all year. Hell, this game could have been worse if they went away from their strength. The Steelers had to be who they were to get to this game and do it better than they had before. Unfortunately, they played an incredibly bad game. No coaching or scheming is going to fix that. Cover 2 Man wouldn't stop an unknown WR from scoring the Pats* first TD. The Steelers were in Cover 2 Zone at the time. Hogan ran right into Golden's zone and Golden wasn't there. Hell, Brady even stared Hogan down before throwing that ball. Cover 2 Man wouldn't have stopped Hogan from running right past Mitchell on their 2nd TD (the flee flicker). I can guarantee that Butler and Lake can sit watching the game film and point out that every wide open reception should have had much better coverage.

Same thing applies to the offense. You can't scheme away Coats not extending his arms to catch a deep pass on the first drive of the game. A play that most likely would have caused the Patriots* to adjust back away from the box and open more running room for the Steelers RBs. You can't scheme away Hamilton dropping an easy TD pass on one play or Hamilton stepping out of bounds to negate another TD pass on another play. You can't scheme away Jesse James ducking his head down, which was a factor in not getting across the goalline ... if he keeps his head up he scores on that play.

Oh well, they went a lot further than most fans thought they would at the time they were in their mid-season losing slump. I'm very optimistic for the 2017 season. Can't wait to talk FA and the draft!

Honestly that Brady fumble, if the roles were reversed that would've been Patriots* ball all the way. The refs were so blatantly biased last night. Patrick Chung was getting away with highway robbery. Then that phantom personal foul on Shazier... I hate zebras.

SteelersYak wrote:

I got to start the grieving process in the 4th quarter. Steelers didn't show up and the Patriots** showed out.

It's a shame but it was a great season (all things considered)

I was WAY past the grieving process by the 4th QRT. I laughed my ass off when Boz missed that FG and then the settling for 3 once we had first and goal at the 1 yard line. This game was over the moment they hit the flea-flicker. I was in full blown acceptance mode WELL before the 4th.

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

Honestly that Brady fumble, if the roles were reversed that would've been Patriots**** ball all the way. The refs were so blatantly biased last night. Patrick Chung was getting away with highway robbery. Then that phantom personal foul on Shazier... I hate zebras.

Did the Pats*** get any flags thrown against them? Just when Nance and Simms were touting how no flags were thrown, Shazier gets hit with a 15 yard penalty against a 2ft wide receiver falling to the ground. James and Rogers were getting held all night and Harrison was getting gang raped all night. There was a play where James dove for a first down ball on 3rd down and the Pats** had a huge fist of jersey in his hand with the ref standing right there. That Eli Rogers incomplete pass over the middle with Ben under pressure saw a defender completely face guarding him with contact.

And that was a Brady fumble with a clear recovery by the Steelers. Even the refs said that after the play, but they let it stand anyhow.

But the STEALERS get all the calls...right?

StainlessStill wrote:

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

Honestly that Brady fumble, if the roles were reversed that would've been Patriots***** ball all the way. The refs were so blatantly biased last night. Patrick Chung was getting away with highway robbery. Then that phantom personal foul on Shazier... I hate zebras.

Did the Pats**** get any flags thrown against them? Just when Nance and Simms were touting how no flags were thrown, Shazier gets hit with a 15 yard penalty against a 2ft wide receiver falling to the ground. James and Rogers were getting held all night and Harrison was getting gang raped all night. There was a play where James dove for a first down ball on 3rd down and the Pats*** had a huge fist of jersey in his hand with the ref standing right there. That Eli Rogers incomplete pass over the middle with Ben under pressure saw a defender completely face guarding him with contact.

And that was a Brady fumble with a clear recovery by the Steelers. Even the refs said that after the play, but they let it stand anyhow.

But the STEALERS get all the calls...right?

Yeah funny how we're always accused of getting all the calls when the zebras were definitely against us last night. That was one of the most lopsided officiating jobs I've personally seen. Patrick Chung was grabbing and holding Cobi Hamilton not once, but twice. Sammie Coates was interfered with on the 3rd and 1 deep pass attempt, if you watch that play closely the corner knew he was beat so he brings his arm down and hacks Coates' right arm which kept him from catching the ball. At no point did the corner even look for the ball, he just straight up hacked Coates arm and got away with it. Then there was that phantom personal foul on Shazier that never should've been called, and I saw one blatant holding call where the left tackle dragged Harrison down from behind stopping what would've at least been a hit on Brady where no flag was thrown.

Officiating isn't why we lost, but it definitely contributed to it. At the end of the day we can't play as poorly as we did defensively and win games.

Just another ass thumping by the Patriots*. I really wanted to believe we had half a chance but that little bird in the back of my head said I should know better.
Kind of hard to win when you're playing 15 yards of the line. Yea man.

3 and 8 ..Steeler DB's are playing zone AND giving a 10 yard cushion...of course the Pats* get a 1st down on and 8 yard catch and run by Hogan...just a small example of how we were out coached all day

It's hard to take any positive out of this performance-wise. That being said, one thing I like to take out of a loss (especially to the cheats) is at some point the roles will be reversed as unlikely as that may feel right now. The losses build my appreciation for the wins. The Steelers have won more playoff games and Super Bowls than any other team. They will be back.

Really hoping Atlanta beats them in in the SB. The Steelers have a team that could be a lot better next year, and other than yesterday's performance it seemed like they were already getting close. Maybe we get them in the playoffs next year and deny marcia a chance for another shot.

Steeler-in-west wrote:

rellimie wrote:

Let's not forget that the Steelers aren't the only team the Patriots*** "own".  

This 'owning' is overblown. Patriots** don't own shit. They just won a game. This steeler team is a revamped team with a young defense that will only get better. They have nothing to do with the steeler teams from ten years ago. They'll be back.

If a quarterback accumulates a record of 19 TD passes and 0 interceptions against one team's defense......he owns that defense.

FrancoLambert wrote:

Steeler-in-west wrote:

rellimie wrote:

Let's not forget that the Steelers aren't the only team the Patriots**** "own".  

This 'owning' is overblown. Patriots*** don't own shit. They just won a game. This steeler team is a revamped team with a young defense that will only get better. They have nothing to do with the steeler teams from ten years ago. They'll be back.

If a quarterback accumulates a record of 19 TD passes and 0 interceptions against one team's defense......he owns that defense.

We'll never beat the Patriots* as long as brady is playing for them. hurts to say it but it's the truth, and nothing has led me to believe otherwise

Fire Arians wrote:

FrancoLambert wrote:

Steeler-in-west wrote:

rellimie wrote:

Let's not forget that the Steelers aren't the only team the Patriots***** "own".  

This 'owning' is overblown. Patriots**** don't own shit. They just won a game. This steeler team is a revamped team with a young defense that will only get better. They have nothing to do with the steeler teams from ten years ago. They'll be back.

If a quarterback accumulates a record of 19 TD passes and 0 interceptions against one team's defense......he owns that defense.

We'll never beat the Patriots** as long as brady is playing for them. hurts to say it but it's the truth, and nothing has led me to believe otherwise

As others have posted they did in 2011 at Heinz by going to man coverage - why that was not tried yesterday I have no idea

This video link (could not embed) has Warren Sapp of all people describing why that worked

http://www.nfl.com/m/share?p=%2Fvideos%2Fnfl-network-total-access%2F09000d5d823a8fb0%2FSteelers-defense-steps-up

Atlanta Dan wrote:

Fire Arians wrote:

FrancoLambert wrote:

Steeler-in-west wrote:

rellimie wrote:

Let's not forget that the Steelers aren't the only team the Patriots****** "own".  

This 'owning' is overblown. Patriots***** don't own shit. They just won a game. This steeler team is a revamped team with a young defense that will only get better. They have nothing to do with the steeler teams from ten years ago. They'll be back.

If a quarterback accumulates a record of 19 TD passes and 0 interceptions against one team's defense......he owns that defense.

We'll never beat the Patriots*** as long as brady is playing for them. hurts to say it but it's the truth, and nothing has led me to believe otherwise

As others have posted they did in 2011 at Heinz by going to man coverage - why that was not tried yesterday I have no idea

This video link (could not embed) has Warren Sapp of all people describing why that worked

http://www.nfl.com/m/share?p=%2Fvideos%2Fnfl-network-total-access%2F09000d5d823a8fb0%2FSteelers-defense-steps-up

Nice find Dan. I too am surprised and thought they might mix in a little "Cover-2, Man Under" coverage. They could have played man to man underneath, while still employing 2 safety help over the top. When they didn't switch, I thought they must have not practiced it at all during the week, but could have easily done it.

The Steelers could have even ran a Cover 2 look in Dime defense with Dangerfield and Mitchell deep and use Cockrell, Burns, Gay, Davis man to man underneath on WR's-TE. They had the talent to do it.

They're still making excuses that they just didn't execute well enough yesterday, and didn't "tackle the catch". Give me a break. Zone doesn't work against the Patriots**, how many times do we have to get our asses kicked up and down the field by Tom Brady before we finally figure that out? I love football, but I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable about the game as guys like Gonzo, and even I, and other fans were all saying leading up to this game that we were going to need to play man coverage and disrupt their timing.

Defense better change next season, we should be able to play zone, and man. If we can't play both schemes then we have serious issues.

All I know is that next time we play the Patriots*, we better play better than that, and we better be able to make adjustments. It was like torture last night watching that defense get ripped to shreds while Phil Simms and all of the CBS Sports people literally slobbered on themselves over the Patriots*. Nothing like getting your ass handed to you, having to listen to the announcers Patriot bias, and then having our noses rubbed in Tom Brady's stats against our defense like a cat that peed in the carpet.

So Chris Hogan the no name WR that whooped our ass says they knew what the Steelers were going to offer up on D.... seems like everybody was on the same page the ass whipping will continue no matter what if things don't change.

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2017/01/wr-chris-hogan-says-Patriots*-knew-steelers-defense-play-lot-zone/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SteelersDepotBlog+%28Steelers+Depot%29

SteelerFreak58 wrote:

So Chris Hogan the no name WR that whooped our ass says they knew what the Steelers were going to offer up on D.... seems like everybody was on the same page the ass whipping will continue no matter what if things don't change.

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2017/01/wr-chris-hogan-says-Patriots**-knew-steelers-defense-play-lot-zone/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SteelersDepotBlog+%28Steelers+Depot%29

Also from that Article....

During his post-game press conference, head coach Mike Tomlin was reminded about the Steelers game against the Patriots* during the 2011 regular season in which his defense used a lot of press-man coverage to stifle Brady and the Patriots* offensive passing attack. He was then asked if there was any thought of doing something similar to that Sunday night.

“Obviously, you know, you weigh those options in preparation. We stand by what we did in the game, we just didn’t do it well enough,” Tomlin said.

No, no you didn’t, Mike.

Tomlin and rest of the Steelers defensive coaches will now have an entire offseason to think about how they should have defended the Patriots* offense Sunday night in Foxborough. We’ll see if they learned their lesson during the 2017 regular season as the Steelers are scheduled to play the Patriots* at Heinz Field. Hopefully we see some man-coverage in that game.

Brady, by the way, has now completed 185 of his 258 total pass attempts for 2,273 yards and 21 touchdowns against the Steelers while Tomlin has been the head coach. He has zero interceptions in those seven games.

It simply boggles my mother fucking mind...

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

They're still making excuses that they just didn't execute well enough yesterday, and didn't "tackle the catch". Give me a break. Zone doesn't work against the Patriots***, how many times do we have to get our asses kicked up and down the field by Tom Brady before we finally figure that out? I love football, but I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable about the game as guys like Gonzo, and even I, and other fans were all saying leading up to this game that we were going to need to play man coverage and disrupt their timing.

Defense better change next season, we should be able to play zone, and man. If we can't play both schemes then we have serious issues.

All I know is that next time we play the Patriots**, we better play better than that, and we better be able to make adjustments. It was like torture last night watching that defense get ripped to shreds while Phil Simms and all of the CBS Sports people literally slobbered on themselves over the Patriots**. Nothing like getting your ass handed to you, having to listen to the announcers Patriot bias, and then having our noses rubbed in Tom Brady's stats against our defense like a cat that peed in the carpet.

Excellent post

First, I am not going to make excuses about the officiating, because there were way more factors to the game than that. Yes, there were a lot of bad calls, but we all saw horrible coaching and execution by the players on both sides of the ball. On defense, why zone and not man? Yes, I know... Then on offense, when we are at the 1/2 yard line, why would we go into a tight formation to run it twice in a row? Why not spread it out with a Williams split next to Ben and make them guess whether it is a draw or pass? Then when we were moving the ball and it's 3rd and 1, why the fuck would we go for the deep one? Then there is the dropped passes... I almost feel like the coaches strategy was the complete opposite of what they were suppose to do. Oh yeah, why the fuck was there so many blown coverages in the secondary? I guess I was delusional thinking we actually had a shot at beating New England this year.

With all that being said, I felt our Steelers responded well after the mid-season slump. I have to give Tomlin credit for responding to the criticism by showing he could pull the team together and make a run at it. Unfortunately, there was just a better coached team called the Patriots* who got in our way.

In the meantime,    to those ______!

No surprise a writer from the Boston Globe is going to gloat, but this is a good takedown of the defensive game plan

Steelers’ defensive game plan was atrocious

Let’s start with the most head-scratching decision — the usage of Bud Dupree and James Harrison. They are your two best pass rushers, and the Texans showed you in the divisional round with Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus that the Patriots* are susceptible to inside pressure.

Yet the Steelers didn’t bring either player up the middle on a twist or inside blitz. In fact, you didn’t use either player nearly enough as a pass rusher. On Brady’s 44 real drop-backs (excluding a clock spike), Harrison and Dupree each dropped into coverage 15 times. Not only were you not attacking Brady with your best rushers, but neither player is exactly proficient in pass coverage or playing in space....

And the Steelers acted like they’ve never seen a flea-flicker before. In fact, veteran safety Mike Mitchell said the Steelers hadn’t seen it on film from the Patriots* — which is incredible, because the Patriots* ran a flea-flicker against the Ravens on Dec. 12, two weeks before the Ravens faced the Steelers....

Let’s call this what it was — arguably the worst defensive performance against the Patriots* all season.

Link to full article

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/Patriots*/2017/01/23/steelers-defensive-game-plan-was-atrocious/GulDTMutIGoxfnZ6gMsUcJ/story.html

FWIW the article also includes video to illustrate the text, something that many sportswriters are now incorporating into their articles but which apparently is beyond the capability of the Post-Gazette writers

Coaching failure > player execution failure......without a doubt.

The coaching staff deserves more criticism than the players.