Subject: Gameballs and Goats Ravens @ Steelers Mon Dec 06, 2021 9:46 am
Gameballs
Mike Tomlin - He took a ton of heat for last week's performance and rightfully so. He did what it took to get his team prepared to beat the top team in the AFC this week. He also gets a gameball for his post-game answer to a question of should TJ ever practice again given his performance in this game: "Yes, and there won't be music either!"
Defense - They gave up a bunch of 3rd and long conversions, but this unit contained Jackson and didn't allow the Ravens' RBs to run effectively. TJ Watt and Wormley were awesome. It was nice to see other D-linemen make plays that aren't named Heyward. I even thought Monrtavius Adams played strong during his first game with the team.
John Leglue - MoP pointed out in another thread that Leglue was a practice squad guy called up for this game. It's also important to note that he's a Tackle, not a Guard, and really isn't seen as a swing man who could play multiple positions. I took his playing Guard as need based. With all that in consideration, he just out-physicalled the guys across from him ... consistently. Play after play he was moving guys who are known as strong defensive linemen. Impressive!
O-line- This unit gave up 1 sack and 1 tackle for a loss. That's damned good playing against the Ravens. I thought Dan Moore played very well.
Dionte Johnson - I have been very critical of Johnson's play last year and early on this year. But he's obviously put in a lot of effort and it shows. He has the talent to be one of the top WRs in the NFL, he just needs to keep humble and work hard.
Goats
ILBs - Schoebert looked horrible in the 1st half of the game. He looked very slow in both run and pass support. Honestly, he looked like he had an illness. He had a bunch of tackles, but very few near the line of scrimmage. Bush had 2 total tackles, which is just poor when playing a team that's a run dominant team. 2 tackles?
3rd down defense - It makes the game tough to watch when consistent 3rd and longs are converted against the defense.
Canada - Sorry, but this offense looks bad and isn't getting better. Charlie Batch noted in last week's post-game show that an AFC coach (he wouldn't provide a name) mentioned to him that preparing for the Steelers offense is easy because it's so basic. At halftime, the Ravens owned the time of possession by 23 to 6 minutes, because of all the 3-and-outs. And starting the 3rd quarter with the ball was a waste because they went 3-and-out. What the hell did they discuss at halftime? For the 2nd week in a row, the offense didn't show any signs of life until the 4th quarter when Ben was calling the plays in the hurry-up offense. When the Steelers scored their go-ahead TD with just over 1 minute left in the game, CBS showed a replay of the booth and Canada gives a half-hearted fist-bump to the Steelers coach sitting next to him. It came across like he wasn't all that excited, which might be due to Ben calling those plays. And one more complaint: how do you put Derek Watt in during short yardage and have him as a wingback? I'm not saying he has to line up as a FB, but at least motion him into a wham block situation. D. Watt blocking on the edge on inside runs in short yardage? WTH????
Special Teams - Boswell had a 53 yard FG and Harvin had an unreal punt that went out of bounds on the 1 foot line. But Boz missed a PAT and had a kickoff go out of bounds, giving the Ravens the ball at the 40 for their final drive. Harvin had a few short punts that were painful. STs also allowed a 34 yard kick return. Not good when playing a dangerous rival.
Refs - How they allowed Johnson to get crushed in the 1s quarter on an obvious over-thrown pass, when he was out of bounds, and had let up on the play. It's not like that was a boom-boom play, there was more than ample time for the defender to pull up. The other call that I thought was gross negligence was the incomplete pass that the defender picked up off the ground, ran several yards, then Green somehow was called for a facemask while making a tackle. My issue here is that the refs never blew the whistle and that resulted in a penalty on a play that shouldn't have happened. When the defender was running down the field, I literally said to the t.v. "Blow the whistle refs before someone gets hurt. Blow the whistle! BLOW THE DAMNED WHISTLE!". They blew the whistle just as Green was throwing the guy to the ground.
The Ravens - Because we all hate them!
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Master_Of_Puppets
Posts : 2934 Join date : 2011-04-08
Subject: Re: Gameballs and Goats Ravens @ Steelers Mon Dec 06, 2021 2:30 pm
this would pretty much be my list as well. i would just like to add that on a few plays i observed the line being pushed backwards, all except leglue who stonewalled the guy in front of him.
Master_Of_Puppets
Posts : 2934 Join date : 2011-04-08
Subject: Re: Gameballs and Goats Ravens @ Steelers Mon Dec 06, 2021 5:23 pm
i have developed an unhealthy obsession and dislike towards devin Bush.
anyway here is more proof that Bush goes out of his way to avoid contact/tackling. watch where he is when the ball is caught and where he is when his teammates are trying to bring the guy down. he is running at probably less than half speed, and makes zero attempt to close the gap with the ball carrier , just the opposite. a guy with 4.43 speed doesnt need to take such wide angles to catch a fullback who is fighting off tacklers. also note the time difference between pic 1 and pic 3. 3 full seconds ? what was he ? 20 yards from the sideline ? 3+ seconds to close that distance ? the guy the steelers drafted was a sideline to sideline linebacker that played fast. this is not that guy.
Subject: Re: Gameballs and Goats Ravens @ Steelers Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:25 am
Master_Of_Puppets wrote:
i have developed an unhealthy obsession and dislike towards devin Bush.
anyway here is more proof that Bush goes out of his way to avoid contact/tackling. watch where he is when the ball is caught and where he is when his teammates are trying to bring the guy down. he is running at probably less than half speed, and makes zero attempt to close the gap with the ball carrier , just the opposite. a guy with 4.43 speed doesnt need to take such wide angles to catch a fullback who is fighting off tacklers. also note the time difference between pic 1 and pic 3. 3 full seconds ? what was he ? 20 yards from the sideline ? 3+ seconds to close that distance ? the guy the steelers drafted was a sideline to sideline linebacker that played fast. this is not that guy.
Yeah, I saw that play. Unfortunately, it wasn't even the worst example of Bush not making a play when he obviously could have. It's as though he's avoiding contact. The knee injury is one thing, but it's rare to see a linebacker not put a hit on a ball carrier when the opportunity is there. Schobert didn't play well in the first half of this game, but you can see him working hard to get to the ball carriers. Not so much for Bush. I really liked the Bush draft pick (not the cost of the pick) and thought Bush was on a good trajectory prior to his injury. I have no clue what's going on with him now. The big thing for me is that his coaches see what we are seeing, but there's no change. What do they know that we don't?
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SteelerFreak58
Posts : 2829 Join date : 2015-09-13 Location : Modesto CA
Subject: Re: Gameballs and Goats Ravens @ Steelers Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:53 am
kirklandrules wrote:
Master_Of_Puppets wrote:
i have developed an unhealthy obsession and dislike towards devin Bush.
anyway here is more proof that Bush goes out of his way to avoid contact/tackling. watch where he is when the ball is caught and where he is when his teammates are trying to bring the guy down. he is running at probably less than half speed, and makes zero attempt to close the gap with the ball carrier , just the opposite. a guy with 4.43 speed doesnt need to take such wide angles to catch a fullback who is fighting off tacklers. also note the time difference between pic 1 and pic 3. 3 full seconds ? what was he ? 20 yards from the sideline ? 3+ seconds to close that distance ? the guy the steelers drafted was a sideline to sideline linebacker that played fast. this is not that guy.
Yeah, I saw that play. Unfortunately, it wasn't even the worst example of Bush not making a play when he obviously could have. It's as though he's avoiding contact. The knee injury is one thing, but it's rare to see a linebacker not put a hit on a ball carrier when the opportunity is there. Schobert didn't play well in the first half of this game, but you can see him working hard to get to the ball carriers. Not so much for Bush. I really liked the Bush draft pick (not the cost of the pick) and thought Bush was on a good trajectory prior to his injury. I have no clue what's going on with him now. The big thing for me is that his coaches see what we are seeing, but there's no change. What do they know that we don't?
They would have to admit they blew it on a 1st round draft pick. Coaches hate admitting they make mistakes at all let alone of that caliber.
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Master_Of_Puppets
Posts : 2934 Join date : 2011-04-08
Subject: Re: Gameballs and Goats Ravens @ Steelers Tue Dec 07, 2021 1:43 pm
kirklandrules wrote:
Master_Of_Puppets wrote:
i have developed an unhealthy obsession and dislike towards devin Bush.
anyway here is more proof that Bush goes out of his way to avoid contact/tackling. watch where he is when the ball is caught and where he is when his teammates are trying to bring the guy down. he is running at probably less than half speed, and makes zero attempt to close the gap with the ball carrier , just the opposite. a guy with 4.43 speed doesnt need to take such wide angles to catch a fullback who is fighting off tacklers. also note the time difference between pic 1 and pic 3. 3 full seconds ? what was he ? 20 yards from the sideline ? 3+ seconds to close that distance ? the guy the steelers drafted was a sideline to sideline linebacker that played fast. this is not that guy.
Yeah, I saw that play. Unfortunately, it wasn't even the worst example of Bush not making a play when he obviously could have. It's as though he's avoiding contact. The knee injury is one thing, but it's rare to see a linebacker not put a hit on a ball carrier when the opportunity is there. Schobert didn't play well in the first half of this game, but you can see him working hard to get to the ball carriers. Not so much for Bush. I really liked the Bush draft pick (not the cost of the pick) and thought Bush was on a good trajectory prior to his injury. I have no clue what's going on with him now. The big thing for me is that his coaches see what we are seeing, but there's no change. What do they know that we don't?
do you believe your lying eyes or Moats ? did Moats get a call from someone in the steelers telling him to stop critiquing the linebackers ? the stat line alone pokes holes in their bullshit. 2 tackles for an ILB ? i saw the same half assed shit as every other game. is it a TV camera trick making bush look bad ? are evil racist white men tryin to hold devin down ? slowing the camera speed down to make it look like bush is moving slower than he really is. putting the footage on a loop so it looks like he never gets off the blocks
tomlins big change was to bench peirre. peirre was awful last game admittedly. but over the course of the season bush has been far more useless and has contributed less to winning effort.
Master_Of_Puppets
Posts : 2934 Join date : 2011-04-08
Subject: Re: Gameballs and Goats Ravens @ Steelers Tue Dec 07, 2021 6:19 pm
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Master_Of_Puppets
Posts : 2934 Join date : 2011-04-08
Subject: Re: Gameballs and Goats Ravens @ Steelers Tue Dec 07, 2021 6:53 pm
Subject: Re: Gameballs and Goats Ravens @ Steelers Wed Dec 08, 2021 8:24 am
Master_Of_Puppets wrote:
kirklandrules wrote:
Master_Of_Puppets wrote:
i have developed an unhealthy obsession and dislike towards devin Bush.
anyway here is more proof that Bush goes out of his way to avoid contact/tackling. watch where he is when the ball is caught and where he is when his teammates are trying to bring the guy down. he is running at probably less than half speed, and makes zero attempt to close the gap with the ball carrier , just the opposite. a guy with 4.43 speed doesnt need to take such wide angles to catch a fullback who is fighting off tacklers. also note the time difference between pic 1 and pic 3. 3 full seconds ? what was he ? 20 yards from the sideline ? 3+ seconds to close that distance ? the guy the steelers drafted was a sideline to sideline linebacker that played fast. this is not that guy.
Yeah, I saw that play. Unfortunately, it wasn't even the worst example of Bush not making a play when he obviously could have. It's as though he's avoiding contact. The knee injury is one thing, but it's rare to see a linebacker not put a hit on a ball carrier when the opportunity is there. Schobert didn't play well in the first half of this game, but you can see him working hard to get to the ball carriers. Not so much for Bush. I really liked the Bush draft pick (not the cost of the pick) and thought Bush was on a good trajectory prior to his injury. I have no clue what's going on with him now. The big thing for me is that his coaches see what we are seeing, but there's no change. What do they know that we don't?
do you believe your lying eyes or Moats ? did Moats get a call from someone in the steelers telling him to stop critiquing the linebackers ? the stat line alone pokes holes in their bullshit. 2 tackles for an ILB ? i saw the same half assed shit as every other game. is it a TV camera trick making bush look bad ? are evil racist white men tryin to hold devin down ? slowing the camera speed down to make it look like bush is moving slower than he really is. putting the footage on a loop so it looks like he never gets off the blocks
tomlins big change was to bench peirre. peirre was awful last game admittedly. but over the course of the season bush has been far more useless and has contributed less to winning effort.
Can't wait to see Moat's film review of Bush later this week .. on the edge of my seat
Subject: Re: Gameballs and Goats Ravens @ Steelers Wed Dec 08, 2021 9:18 am
Master_Of_Puppets wrote:
The very first play in this clip shows a perfect example of the issue with Bush. You will see him move over to cover his gap, which is right where the RB wants to run. Then he stops. Ultimately, the RB is tackled in that same gap by a pursuing Heyward. Why does Bush stop? If he just runs 100 miles per hour through that gap he's got a great play for a loss. But he just stops. This has happened time and again. Honestly, I have to imagine it's a confidence issue that comes from thinking he can't get through that gap quick enough to make the play ... but hell, he doesn't have to be fast on this particular play.
There's an old saying for what linebackers are supposed to do on the football field: See ball, kill ball. This is a position that demands aggression.
Contrast the first play from the above video with the play at 2:41 of the below video from his college days (the play at 1:30 is another example of his aggression). Almost identical plays. In college he attacks the RB and makes a tackle for a loss. Sunday, he stopped and didn't make a very easy play. One thing to consider in contrasting his play in college to his play this year, the attitude is missing. You can see he knows he's a killer while he was in college. Now he's playing like he's afraid of making a mistake.
Final note: I did notice he improved his gap coverage in Sunday's game. He had several plays that he did not over or under-pursue the ball carrier and ensured the ball carrier couldn't cut into the gap he was responsible for. Although his stats were poor (2 tackles), he at least covered his gaps much better. Progress I suppose
Master_Of_Puppets
Posts : 2934 Join date : 2011-04-08
Subject: Re: Gameballs and Goats Ravens @ Steelers Wed Dec 08, 2021 4:50 pm
kirklandrules wrote:
Final note: I did notice he improved his gap coverage in Sunday's game. He had several plays that he did not over or under-pursue the ball carrier and ensured the ball carrier couldn't cut into the gap he was responsible for. Although his stats were poor (2 tackles), he at least covered his gaps much better. Progress I suppose
yeah i believe moats touched on that. so how is doing half the job a good job ? he did get himself in to good position to make tackles but inexplicably chose not to partake of the actual tackle. i have gone back and rewatched some of devins college games. he did at times show a propensity of getting hung up on blocks at times, but no where near the level he does now. to my untrained eye it looks like an obvious lack of effort and desire. i just dont see him putting up much of an effort to shed blocks and get involved in plays. it looks like two heavy weight tired boxers leaning on each other in the ring to catch a breather and avoid being hit.
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Subject: Re: Gameballs and Goats Ravens @ Steelers
this would pretty much be my list as well. 
he did get himself in to good position to make tackles but inexplicably chose not to partake of the actual tackle. i have gone back and rewatched some of devins college games. he did at times show a propensity of getting hung up on blocks at times, but no where near the level he does now. to my untrained eye it looks like an obvious lack of effort and desire. i just dont see him putting up much of an effort to shed blocks and get involved in plays. it looks like two heavy weight tired boxers leaning on each other in the ring to catch a breather and avoid being hit.