OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: 2022 Handball season has arrived!

[LOGiK]

The title got me laughing.
Still wish they called it American rules rugby or something. Football was first, so calling nfl football, football when it's 95% hands is so weird. Then changing actual football to soccer is even more weird...... I don't plan on understanding that one.

Also... rugby has little to no pads... how are their injuries throughout the season? Comparable to the NFL or wat? I'm too lazy to look it up and I know there are people who follow other sports here.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Also... rugby has little to no pads... how are their injuries throughout the season? Comparable to the NFL or wat? I'm too lazy to look it up and I know there are people who follow other sports here.

I’m too lazy too but I think there’s way less head trauma in rugby.

All the pads and the hyper athleticism of athletes in the NFL— these guys are basically human weapons out there.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

The last time they played James caught the ball. This is a terrible pats team might look better with hoyer if Jones can’t play

Technically he didn't catch it.

Tomlin and co had 5 real time minutes to come up with a play. Yet they fiddle farted around watching the replay and scrambled to get the play off. And of course it was picked.

 

[LOGiK]

I’m too lazy too but I think there’s way less head trauma in rugby.

All the pads and the hyper athleticism of athletes in the NFL— these guys are basically human weapons out there.

Yeah... not getting into a big thing about it... I never understood the 'harder' pads. That goes BOTH ways... not just to deaden impact but also lead an impact. Soft leather seemed like the right choice back then... cushion and all... but you're right... those guys are weapons.
When I was in the military (pretty sure I told this before) and our kennel 'big guy' was 6`4 230 or so and he was huge compared to the rest of us... and in honduras they had a MWR (wellness tours) thing where NFL guys came to visit and talk with everyone and we did a canine demo for them... I still have the picture and laugh to this day.... the NFL guys stood next to us and their 'big guy' or pretty much the average guy haha.... towered over our big guy and we laughed and laughed.... the guy could squash him like a mosquito if he wanted too...

Not everyone really truly understands how enormous these guys are (not everyone... just people underestimate it.)
Not even mentioning the time I went to the strip club with another NFL lineman who was a friend of a friend, literally the guy barely fit through the door... just massive.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

You can still be bad a pass blocking and not give up a ton of sacks. Trubisky’s passing lanes were swallowed up by OL getting pushed backward almost every time. Making things worse is Canada’s god awful play designs and playcalling. We have possibly the only NFL OC who has yet to figure out how to scheme his guys open or draw WR routes so his guys aren’t draped the majority of the time.

Trubisky has odd mechanics but it’s not been a huge issue for him as far as accuracy. He’s a career 64% guy and that was playing in Chicago under Nagy with one decent WR - for comparison that’s better than Matt Stafford before moving to LA

Qb hits is usually a good barometer for how well an O-line does pass blocking, and they let up just 5 hits in 38 drop backs.

If guys were getting pushed back that frequently, the hits would have been a lot higher, or maybe there was some kind of odd statistical anomaly.

However, the stats seem to bear out what my eyes saw.

 

[Pengwins]

so Minkah should win Defensive player of the week right?

 

[Peat]

The title got me laughing.
Still wish they called it American rules rugby or something. Football was first, so calling nfl football, football when it's 95% hands is so weird. Then changing actual football to soccer is even more weird...... I don't plan on understanding that one.

Also... rugby has little to no pads... how are their injuries throughout the season? Comparable to the NFL or wat? I'm too lazy to look it up and I know there are people who follow other sports here.

I’m too lazy too but I think there’s way less head trauma in rugby.

All the pads and the hyper athleticism of athletes in the NFL— these guys are basically human weapons out there.

I don't have the stats to hand but right now, rugby union considers itself to have a serious injury problem. The rate of attrition is high and it's not that unusual for teams to have 25% of their personnel injured. I don't know if it's worse or better than the NFL, but safe it is not. The Union code developed as a way for ordinary very fit guys to burn off some steam, then the game went professional and all of a sudden what was safe when the biggest guy on the pitch might be 6'4" 225 lbs just isn't when the biggest guy might be 298 lbs and the 6'4" 225 lbs guys are fast and running at a lot of space. Like imagine getting to open field tackle Chase Claypool with 5 yards of run up, only he'll probably get to do that about 10 times a game. There's more huge men in the NFL and I wouldn't be surprised if there were more injuries but at the same time, it feels like there's a lot less collisions between people going full pelt.

I do think we're doing far better on head trauma though, and that's because contact with the head has been straight up illegal for pretty much ever, and since the game realised how bad head trauma was they've really cracked down, and I think it's now illegal to tackle above the shoulders and almost always a straight red card and suspension if you hit the head, or cause the head to strike the ground first violently, without a damn good excuse. And a red card pretty much guarantees losing the game in rugby.

But, in any case, I really doubt the pads makes the NFL much safer or less painful. It always makes me laugh that gridiron developed because rugby was considered too dangerous...

 

[TotesTorts]

Not necessarily. Hits can indicate no one is open, bad pass blocking, or a QB waiting too long. I plan on rewatching the game in all-22 at some point this week and I'll pay extra attention to what Trubisky was doing or seeing but I suspect we'll see a mixture of bad design, bad blocking, and a handful of bad decisions.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Not necessarily. Hits can indicate no one is open, bad pass blocking, or a QB waiting too long. I plan on rewatching the game in all-22 at some point this week and I'll pay extra attention to what Trubisky was doing or seeing but I suspect we'll see a mixture of bad design, bad blocking, and a handful of bad decisions.

Right, but if the QB isn't getting hit often, which MT wasn't, it means something was going right on the o-line, and based on what I saw it was the O-line not being turnstiles. And keep in mind, MT wasn't exactly taking 3 step drops and firing the ball off either to help the line, so all in all they did a decent job IMHO.

There is always room for improvement, especially with this line, but they were not even one of the top 5 reasons why the passing game was ass yesterday.

 

[LOGiK]

I don't have the stats to hand but right now, rugby union considers itself to have a serious injury problem. The rate of attrition is high and it's not that unusual for teams to have 25% of their personnel injured. I don't know if it's worse or better than the NFL, but safe it is not. The Union code developed as a way for ordinary very fit guys to burn off some steam, then the game went professional and all of a sudden what was safe when the biggest guy on the pitch might be 6'4" 225 lbs just isn't when the biggest guy might be 298 lbs and the 6'4" 225 lbs guys are fast and running at a lot of space. Like imagine getting to open field tackle Chase Claypool with 5 yards of run up, only he'll probably get to do that about 10 times a game. There's more huge men in the NFL and I wouldn't be surprised if there were more injuries but at the same time, it feels like there's a lot less collisions between people going full pelt.

I do think we're doing far better on head trauma though, and that's because contact with the head has been straight up illegal for pretty much ever, and since the game realised how bad head trauma was they've really cracked down, and I think it's now illegal to tackle above the shoulders and almost always a straight red card and suspension if you hit the head, or cause the head to strike the ground first violently, without a damn good excuse. And a red card pretty much guarantees losing the game in rugby.

But, in any case, I really doubt the pads makes the NFL much safer or less painful. It always makes me laugh that gridiron developed because rugby was considered too dangerous...

True true true with the full on sprint impact.... humans are not jersey walls.
Yeah ... I mean... hard to narrow it down to a pinpoint conclusion.
-yeah, we as kids used to burn off our energy playing tackle football.... never did anyone get truly messed up... more actual 'tackling' than impact hits kinda deal going on there too and all.

Yeah the turning professional aspect of it (as in the recruiting of the biggest most gigantic humans you can find and then turning them into spectacles of fitness) really changed things quite rapidly.

 

[TotesTorts]

Right, but if the QB isn't getting hit often, which MT wasn't, it means something was going right on the o-line, and based on what I saw it was the O-line not being turnstiles. And keep in mind, MT wasn't exactly taking 3 step drops and firing the ball off either to help the line, so all in all they did a decent job IMHO.

There is always room for improvement, especially with this line, but they were not even one of the top 5 reasons why the passing game was ass yesterday.

Trubisky did throw a fair amount of quick passes, IIRC.

Yeah, I'm going to continue to disagree about the OL. They did not create nor hold a pocket much at all. I can think of maybe only a handful of time Mitch was actually able to step up into a pass.

 

[Andy99]

Qb hits is usually a good barometer for how well an O-line does pass blocking, and they let up just 5 hits in 38 drop backs.

If guys were getting pushed back that frequently, the hits would have been a lot higher, or maybe there was some kind of odd statistical anomaly.

However, the stats seem to bear out what my eyes saw.

Yep, the line had zero to do w Trubisky’s suckitude

 

[xlm34]

Would be huge news if true. I think they can survive the Patriots, Jets, and Browns without Watt.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Would be huge news if true. I think they can survive the Patriots, Jets, and Browns without Watt.

Yeah no way they survive October without him. If he is back after the bye and we are 5/3 I will be happy.
Allen and Lamar have the rules on how we attack them we blitz from the right to force them left and hit them every time

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Trubisky did throw a fair amount of quick passes, IIRC.

Yeah, I'm going to continue to disagree about the OL. They did not create nor hold a pocket much at all. I can think of maybe only a handful of time Mitch was actually able to step up into a pass.

Ya we might as well agree to disagree.

If you expect a better performance out of this ragtag group than only 5 hits on 38 att and one sack, your expectations for what they are aren't too realistic.

They are going to have many disastrous outings this season that will make you yearn for yesterday's performance.

I'm being realistic about who they are... a bottom 25 group.

 

[Empoleon8771]

If Watt has to miss a month, this is the month you want him to miss. The Patriots may be missing Jones next week, the Jets suck and the Browns will still be starting Brissett.

 

[LOGiK]

Just finished the steelers game... wat the hell was that!
wild stuff

 

[Empoleon8771]

On Trubisky, he sucked in regulation yesterday but made up for it with his performance in OT. If he can throw like 200 yards a game, avoid turning the ball over and help the team score a decent amount of points, that's all they really need from him. Or rather, that's about as reasonable of expectations as anyone can have for him IMO.

The bigger issue with this team is that their run game sucks. It's going to be difficult winning games when the reasonable expectations out of your QB are "just don't turn it over and throw for a touchdown or two", but your starting running back can only run for 3 yard gains. I'm coming around to the idea that Harris just isn't very good honestly, which makes using a 1st rounder on him sting even more.

 

[TotesTorts]

Ya we might as well agree to disagree.

If you expect a better performance out of this ragtag group than only 5 hits on 38 att and one sack, your expectations for what they are aren't too realistic.

They are going to have many disastrous outings this season that will make you yearn for yesterday's performance.

I'm being realistic about who they are... a bottom 25 group.

I don't think this is a realistic take at all. The talent at the skill positions should allow this team to move the ball significantly better than they did yesterday, whether the OL is a bottom 25 group or not.

Why are you clinging to those stats when we've already established they don't really tell the story?

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Steelers offense looks like it has in recent memory
Trubisky's statline looked very similar to a Bears-era Trubisky statline
OL does nothing in the run game

These things are whast we thought they were?

The problem is that each of them impacts the other. In the end, though, it's the job of coaching to put them in the best possible position to succeed. I don't see that.

I don't really know that much about Matt Canada but what I;ve watched of his offenses is he fancies himself one of these uber-creative types, without the results to back it up. I have this same line of questioning for the rest of the offensive coaches - it seems that, yes, some of the players are not good, but are the coaches teaching them things to do that are going to help them be as good as they can be?

 

[Al Smith]

Burrow also just threw four interceptions. He's been fantastic so far but there's no guarantee he doesn't flame out after all.

Also is the aim to win the next game, or to see how quickly this org can win its next super bowl?

Burrow's also had appendicitis, hasn't practiced much, and suffered the after effects of surgery. Those issues will go away. I'd say his Oline - of course they won't face a lot of TJ Watts the rest of the year - and now Tee Higgins being out are his biggest issues. The imposter Michael Thomas they had in there was a big drop down from Higgins.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

I don't think this is a realistic take at all. The talent at the skill positions should allow this team to move the ball significantly better than they did yesterday, whether the OL is a bottom 25 group or not.

Why are you clinging to those stats when we've already established they don't really tell the story?

The O-line gave him time to throw the ball, my eyes saw a guy with enough time, and the stats show he wasn’t being knocked down often.

He wasn’t harassed and his pocket wasn’t being collapsed every time MT was throwing the ball like you claim.

This is starting to smell like excuse making for MT making some dumb decisions and throwing inaccurate most of the game.

Maybe a guy who has always struggled with progressions and accuracy along with a scheme that has been comical for 19 games might just be more of the culprit why they couldn’t throw the ball, than the o-line?

 

[Peat]

So Trubisky had the lowest rate of accurate plus throws, whatever that is, right?

I dunno. I thought I saw the OL stick Trubisky in trouble a bunch, particularly in the 2nd half, and if they don't show on the stats that's on Trubisky moving well. That last field goal drive in regular time, iirc, felt like it should have been a TD and needed to be a TD and probably is if Trubisky isn't running for his life on all three throws on the last down.

But I also saw Trubisky miss a bunch of throws. That one where Pickens was flying downfield. Claypool made a fantastic catch on an awful throw. Can't blame the OL for some of them at all.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Stats Of The Weird: Steelers Vs Bengals

The NFL season is back. And so are our weekly Pittsburgh Steelers’ stats of the weird. Gotta be honest though – it’ll be tough to top everything that happened in Cincinnati yesterday. But I’ll do my best. It’s an extra jam-packed episode of weird. – Believe it or not, this is now the fourth Week...

steelersdepot.com

 

[The Old Master]

We've been seeing this since Todd Haley.

just for reference, how many points was Haley's o putting up?