Steelers @ Colts

i thought this game was a big step in the right direction for fields. you dont learn a lot about a QB when he is just in a game manager roll. today was a bit of adversity and he responded well. he looked like a much more polished QB than he has been in the past. i'm not expecting perfection, but progression. Fields showed progression. i am inching closer to being a believer.

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

i thought this game was a big step in the right direction for fields. you dont learn a lot about a QB when he is just in a game manager roll. today was a bit of adversity and he responded well. he looked like a much more polished QB than he has been in the past. i'm not expecting perfection, but progression. Fields showed progression. i am inching closer to being a believer.

I thought last week was really telling as well. Last week our O could not run the ball - until he opened it up with his passing and running. He's what launched our running attack last week. That was big.

My only negative is, another snap issue. Is it Justin? Is it Zach? Remember we had this issue when Herbig was at center as well. So, whatever it is, Zach and Justin need to put their heads together and fix the communication issue. That 12 yard loss pretty much sealed the loss today.

Justin is doing so much right, though. I feel very good about him being our long-term solution at QB.

Great Randino wrote:

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

i thought this game was a big step in the right direction for fields. you dont learn a lot about a QB when he is just in a game manager roll. today was a bit of adversity and he responded well. he looked like a much more polished QB than he has been in the past. i'm not expecting perfection, but progression. Fields showed progression. i am inching closer to being a believer.

I thought last week was really telling as well.  Last week our O could not run the ball - until he opened it up with his passing and running.  He's what launched our running attack last week.  That was big.

My only negative is, another snap issue.  Is it Justin?  Is it Zach?  Remember we had this issue when Herbig was at center as well.  So, whatever it is, Zach and Justin need to put their heads together and fix the communication issue.  That 12 yard loss pretty much sealed the loss today.

Justin is doing so much right, though.  I feel very good about him being our long-term solution at QB.

here's the difference for me between last week and this week....last week was one game. a blind squirrel occasionally will find a nut. but this week was 2 in a row. 2 in a row is the beginning of a pattern. a pattern of consistent good play. thats what i need to see to become a believer. he didnt get the W, but his actions on the field were good enough for a potential W. plus he wasn't a major contributor to the L. sure he wasnt perfect, but his teammates didnt do a whole lot to help cover for his few mistakes like they often did with pickett. i'm ok with the occasional mistake. every QB that has thrown a pass has made them.
speaking of pickett, the first 2 games were not really any different than what we saw from pickett. so they didnt move the needle for me. arthur smith kept the preseason playbook for an extra 2 weeks, to allow fields to get up to speed. at the time we criticized the offense, but i get it now. they allowed fields to establish a comfort level and some confidence. he got his feet wet with minimum chance of drowning like he did in chicago.

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

Great Randino wrote:

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

i thought this game was a big step in the right direction for fields. you dont learn a lot about a QB when he is just in a game manager roll. today was a bit of adversity and he responded well. he looked like a much more polished QB than he has been in the past. i'm not expecting perfection, but progression. Fields showed progression. i am inching closer to being a believer.

I thought last week was really telling as well.  Last week our O could not run the ball - until he opened it up with his passing and running.  He's what launched our running attack last week.  That was big.

My only negative is, another snap issue.  Is it Justin?  Is it Zach?  Remember we had this issue when Herbig was at center as well.  So, whatever it is, Zach and Justin need to put their heads together and fix the communication issue.  That 12 yard loss pretty much sealed the loss today.

Justin is doing so much right, though.  I feel very good about him being our long-term solution at QB.

here's the difference for me between last week and this week....last week was one game. a blind squirrel occasionally will find a nut. but this week was 2 in a row. 2 in a row is the beginning of a pattern. a pattern of consistent good play. thats what i need to see to become a believer. he didnt get the W, but his actions on the field were good enough for a potential W. plus he wasn't a major contributor to the L. sure he wasnt perfect, but his teammates didnt do a whole lot to help cover for his few mistakes like they often did with pickett. i'm ok with the occasional mistake. every QB that has thrown a pass has made them.
speaking of pickett, the first 2 games were not really any different than what we saw from pickett. so they didnt move the needle for me. arthur smith kept the preseason playbook for an extra 2 weeks, to allow fields to get up to speed. at the time we criticized the offense, but i get it now. they allowed fields to establish a comfort level and some confidence. he got his feet wet with minimum chance of drowning like he did in chicago.  

Would like to see Arthur Smith develope this offense into the one he had when he was the OC with the Titans but with a better QB running it.

A really good run game offense that if defences over commit to stop it the QB can burn it down field.

I'm a big OSU fan so I watched a lot of Fields college games I'm no QB coach guru but I did stay in a Holiday Inn express, was Fields a prefict QB? no, yes, he had a bunch of talent around him but Fields for his age always seemed coachable even keel thinking mind never at his time at OSU that I thought this dudes goofy.

I see the same person who transfered to OSU who worked well OSU with the offensive coaching they staff got some great college offensive coaching mind at OSU. When Dick LeBeau OSU grad was the Steelers DC Steelers and Buckeyes had a working relation I imagine that still goes on and could be why both Wilson and Fields are in Pittsburgh Fields has the talent mind set to be a good NFL QB, get good offensive coaching around him and see if it works out.

Like MOP has pointed out he's built on a couple of games.

A OSU grad becoming the Steelers franchise QB would really rub some salt in the Browns fans wounds as they watch their Franchise QB Watson stink up games.

fields averaged a 60% completion percentage his first 3 years. that would have been fine for the 80's NFL, but for todays NFL, not so much. that 60% figure reflects the accuracy issues he had in chicago.
thus far in the burg, he has bumped that up to 69% over 4 games. what really stood out for me this game was the accuracy and ball placement on the intermediate and deep routes. dude was throwin darts right into their hands without making them break stride.
the million dollar question is, can he keep doing that for 17 games.

the worst thing to happen to the steelers against the colts was anthony richardson being injured.
richardson was a horribly inaccurate QB in college (54.7%) and that has carried over to the NFL. in 7 starts he has a 54% completion percentage. he came out and fired a few darts but the true richardson would have shown up eventually and gifted us an INT or two, and definitely missed a few of those 3rd down passes flacco made.

Rewatched the game TJ got blatantly held on 9 different occasions with no calls from the refs... many of those were on 3rd and longs...

One was on a TD pass from Flacco...

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

fields averaged a 60% completion percentage his first 3 years. that would have been fine for the 80's NFL, but for todays NFL, not so much. that 60% figure reflects the accuracy issues he had in chicago.
thus far in the burg, he has bumped that up to 69% over 4 games. what really stood out for me this game was the accuracy and ball placement on the intermediate and deep routes. dude was throwin darts right into their hands without making them break stride.
the million dollar question is, can he keep doing that for 17 games.

the worst thing to happen to the steelers against the colts was anthony richardson being injured.
richardson was a horribly inaccurate QB in college (54.7%) and that has carried over to the NFL. in 7 starts he has a 54% completion percentage. he came out and fired a few darts but the true richardson would have shown up eventually and gifted us an INT or two, and definitely missed a few of those 3rd down passes flacco made.

If I remember right was something about Fields machinics in college that was worked on with the Bears kinda tossed him in the fire.

SteelerFreak58 wrote:

Rewatched the game TJ got blatantly held on 9 different occasions with no calls from the refs... many of those were on 3rd and longs...

One was on a TD pass from Flacco...

I saw the replay of the Flacco TD and That Olineman was spooning TJ. That was a blatant non-call. Damn it man the refs keep getting worse. Like the FBI they don't see shit when it comes to TJ.

SteelerFreak58 wrote:

Rewatched the game TJ got blatantly held on 9 different occasions with no calls from the refs... many of those were on 3rd and longs...

One was on a TD pass from Flacco...

Its the only way to stop TJ.

When I said "TJ was quiet", I didn't mean that as a slight. He works his tail off and plays hard every play of every game. If he's "quiet", you know the opposing team has gameplanned to stop him. Basically though, he's nearly unstoppable (sometimes even against double coverage) unless you hold him. So yeah - he gets held every single play.

Also, to MoP's point - when Richardson got hurt I remember saying, "Uh Oh." He IS wildly inaccurate and I believe we'd have won had he stayed healthy.

EFF - I am also a buckeye fan. Both my parents graduated from OSU so I grew up following Ohio State. Fields was great. Loved him as a Buckeye (I feel the same way about CJ, love seeing him do so well except when he faces our Steelers). Justin was put in a terrible situation in Chicago. And someone here pointed out, he started to emerge, and then they let him go - and have loaded up for the new QB. The Bears could be really good (this year or possibly the next) IF they had traded that #1 pick for a bushel of high picks and committed to Justin.

My final take: A lot of QB's sink or swim based on the system they are in. Look at Darnold in Minnesota. All of a sudden, after years of struggling, he's a Star. We can get caught looking backwards with some of these guys and assume they will always be what they were. Justin looks really good. He's made mostly good decisions. He's shown pinpoint accuracy. He's made plays with his legs. He's carried the offense at times when the O wasn't moving. And - he's improving every week.

Glad he's a Steeler.

One more thing: Suck it, Browns.

A little funny to help with a loss,  

effyou515 wrote:

A little funny to help with a loss,  

Poor Sarah Jessica Parker!

has anyone been impressed with our 13 million dollar ILB ? i have seen him get swallowed up by blockers
way to often. i'm not seeing his vaunted athleticism. perhaps his critics were right that he owed his success to roquan smith.

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

has anyone been impressed with our 13 million dollar ILB ? i have seen him get swallowed up by blockers  
way to often. i'm not seeing his vaunted athleticism. perhaps his critics were right that he owed his success to roquan smith.

I take a peek at the Ravens board occasionally and they have now a topic where they're laughing with Queen and how we overpay him.
However, some part of the conversation was interesting: "Queen is a fine Robin, but he ain’t no Batman." Then someone replied "And our Batman ain't been Batman without him. If we're being honest." So it seems both Queen and Smith need each other to be good. And PFF seems to confirm that, Smith has a 50.3 rating and Queen a whopping 41.1

The difference is that we can get out of Queen's contract after this season (it will create a dead cap of 7.7M), while the Ravens can't with 15M fully guarenteed for 2025 and even cutting him after 2025 will hit them with a 17.4M dead cap.

Who's laughing now Ravens?

Stella Nation wrote:

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

has anyone been impressed with our 13 million dollar ILB ? i have seen him get swallowed up by blockers  
way to often. i'm not seeing his vaunted athleticism. perhaps his critics were right that he owed his success to roquan smith.

I take a peek at the Ravens board occasionally and they have now a topic where they're laughing with Queen and how we overpay him.
However, some part of the conversation was interesting: "Queen is a fine Robin, but he ain’t no Batman." Then someone replied "And our Batman ain't been Batman without him. If we're being honest." So it seems both Queen and Smith need each other to be good. And PFF seems to confirm that, Smith has a 50.3 rating and Queen a whopping 41.1

The difference is that we can get out of Queen's contract after this season (it will create a dead cap of 7.7M), while the Ravens can't with 15M fully guarenteed for 2025 and even cutting him after 2025 will hit them with a 17.4M dead cap.

Who's laughing now Ravens?

i dont know if i can agree. roquan made his bones and earned his reputation BEFORE he went to the ravens. thus the huge contract he got to play there.
as far as this year goes Roquan is tied for 15th in tackles and queen is tied for 106th.

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

Stella Nation wrote:

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

has anyone been impressed with our 13 million dollar ILB ? i have seen him get swallowed up by blockers  
way to often. i'm not seeing his vaunted athleticism. perhaps his critics were right that he owed his success to roquan smith.

I take a peek at the Ravens board occasionally and they have now a topic where they're laughing with Queen and how we overpay him.
However, some part of the conversation was interesting: "Queen is a fine Robin, but he ain’t no Batman." Then someone replied "And our Batman ain't been Batman without him. If we're being honest." So it seems both Queen and Smith need each other to be good. And PFF seems to confirm that, Smith has a 50.3 rating and Queen a whopping 41.1

The difference is that we can get out of Queen's contract after this season (it will create a dead cap of 7.7M), while the Ravens can't with 15M fully guarenteed for 2025 and even cutting him after 2025 will hit them with a 17.4M dead cap.

Who's laughing now Ravens?

i dont know if i can agree. roquan made his bones and earned his reputation BEFORE he went to the ravens. thus the huge contract he got to play there.
as far as this year goes Roquan is tied for 15th in tackles and queen is tied for 106th.

It's true that Smith was always a good player and better than Queen, otherwise the Ravens would have given that contract to Queen. But when I lurked at the Ravens board it stood out to me that he wasn't at the same level as last season according to their fans and his PFF rating seems to reflect that. Be careful with tackle numbers as I've seen some poor linebackers with huge tackle numbers. Some played for us and we know how bad they were. Joe Schobert comes to mind, he even let the league in tackles one year and the year before we traded for him he had 141 tackles, yet we only needed a 6th round pick to get him.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SchoJo00.htmhttps://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SchoJo00.htm

Stella Nation wrote:

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

Stella Nation wrote:

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

has anyone been impressed with our 13 million dollar ILB ? i have seen him get swallowed up by blockers  
way to often. i'm not seeing his vaunted athleticism. perhaps his critics were right that he owed his success to roquan smith.

I take a peek at the Ravens board occasionally and they have now a topic where they're laughing with Queen and how we overpay him.
However, some part of the conversation was interesting: "Queen is a fine Robin, but he ain’t no Batman." Then someone replied "And our Batman ain't been Batman without him. If we're being honest." So it seems both Queen and Smith need each other to be good. And PFF seems to confirm that, Smith has a 50.3 rating and Queen a whopping 41.1

The difference is that we can get out of Queen's contract after this season (it will create a dead cap of 7.7M), while the Ravens can't with 15M fully guarenteed for 2025 and even cutting him after 2025 will hit them with a 17.4M dead cap.

Who's laughing now Ravens?

i dont know if i can agree. roquan made his bones and earned his reputation BEFORE he went to the ravens. thus the huge contract he got to play there.
as far as this year goes Roquan is tied for 15th in tackles and queen is tied for 106th.

It's true that Smith was always a good player and better than Queen, otherwise the Ravens would have given that contract to Queen. But when I lurked at the Ravens board it stood out to me that he wasn't at the same level as last season according to their fans and his PFF rating seems to reflect that. Be careful with tackle numbers as I've seen some poor linebackers with huge tackle numbers. Some played for us and we know how bad they were. Joe Schobert comes to mind, he even let the league in tackles one year and the year before we traded for him he had 141 tackles, yet we only needed a 6th round pick to get him.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SchoJo00.htmhttps://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SchoJo00.htm

i hear ya. robert spillane sits at #3
i havent watched a ratbirds game this year so i'll defer to their shitty fans. i have watched Queen and to me he aint passing my eye test. i mean he hasnt looked any better than any other linebacker they have plugged in the last few years. between the missed tackles and not getting off blocks, so far he is closer to devin bush than ryan shazier.
i dont know if the ravens have made changes to their Dline, but if they have that would be a better explanation to smiths drop off than who lines up beside him.

I agree about Queen. Holcomb last year was far better, let's hope he can come back one day as he's still on our roster. And if not, maybe Payton Wilson can fill his shoes.

If you guys are familiar with Bill Polian (many of you probably are) - amazing GM, built Indy and kept them competitive for many years. He's on Sirius satellite radio station that I listen to. I LOVE listening to Bill. Great guy and very wise.

Anyway, my point is this: He said, "The most important free agents you sign, are your own. Because you know your guys."

This came to mind with the discussion about Queen. Sometimes you have no choice but to go out and get someone. And you swing and hope not to miss. But sometimes you miss.

Does he still have play? I think he does. But perhaps he's not as good as we hoped he would be.

Great Randino wrote:

If you guys are familiar with Bill Polian (many of you probably are) - amazing GM, built Indy and kept them competitive for many years.  He's on Sirius satellite radio station that I listen to.  I LOVE listening to Bill.  Great guy and very wise.  

Anyway, my point is this:  He said, "The most important free agents you sign, are your own.  Because you know your guys."  

This came to mind with the discussion about Queen.  Sometimes you have no choice but to go out and get someone.  And you swing and hope not to miss.  But sometimes you miss.

Does he still have play?  I think he does.  But perhaps he's not as good as we hoped he would be.

When I saw they signed him my first thought was what's wrong with him"?

Then I thought maybe this could be like the Farrior signing way back. The truth is he is a lot closer to Devin Bush than Ryan Shazier.
I still think he will fit better in the long run than Bush but not by much.

Rush Queen, Watt and Highsmith/Herbig every play the 3 down linemen take up the o-linemen and let these 3 athletic LBs find the QB or RB and ball everyone else play bend don't break.. Imo that be hard to beat.

solardave wrote:

Great Randino wrote:

If you guys are familiar with Bill Polian (many of you probably are) - amazing GM, built Indy and kept them competitive for many years.  He's on Sirius satellite radio station that I listen to.  I LOVE listening to Bill.  Great guy and very wise.  

Anyway, my point is this:  He said, "The most important free agents you sign, are your own.  Because you know your guys."  

This came to mind with the discussion about Queen.  Sometimes you have no choice but to go out and get someone.  And you swing and hope not to miss.  But sometimes you miss.

Does he still have play?  I think he does.  But perhaps he's not as good as we hoped he would be.

When I saw they signed him my first thought was what's wrong with him"?

Then I thought maybe this could be like the Farrior signing way back. The truth is he is a lot closer to Devin Bush than Ryan Shazier.
I still think he will fit better in the long run than Bush but not by much.

one of the theories on what elevated queens play, was taking the dot off his helmet. not everybody is cut out for the pressure of a leadership roll.