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OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: 5 and 2 Justin who? Hand the Fields to Wilson

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Buddy Bizarre said:
I disagree here. They (Smith/MT) love VJ bc he's a good blocker and that is why he's getting all the snaps. The running game is taking precedence over anything else.

No one else in their right mind would pick VJ over Pickens, but because we love the stone age offense this is what we'll get.

Would love to be a fly on the wall to see if it's Smith or Tomlin who prefer VJ.
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I might buy this if VJ were actually a good blocker. I didn't notice against the Broncos, but he was terrible blocking against the Falcons.
 
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Andy99 said:
Only way the Steelers cover imo is if Herbert can’t play or is severely limited, which is why I’ve been waiting…
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It doesn’t matter if he plays or not. They don’t have any skill players at wr that scares you. There running stats are high because Dobbins has broken a few long runs this season he only has 1 rushing td in his career against us. Minshew had over 250 against them passing and it was 16-10 in the 4th
 
bigdaddyk88 said:
It doesn’t matter if he plays or not. They don’t have any skill players at wr that scares you. There running stats are high because Dobbins has broken a few long runs this season he only has 1 rushing td in his career against us. Minshew had over 250 against them passing and it was 16-10 in the 4th
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And we have one skilled player lol…difference is whether Fields can keep avoiding the negative plays like sacks and TOs this week…I’m guessing no
 
Night Shift said:
You do get up and study film with cool dude
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The charges hired greg roman to be there oc they are basically the ravens on offense and defense. They have a 300 pound fb. Herbert as 3 tds passes and as attempted just 5 more passes field ms
 
TooManyHumans said:
I might buy this if VJ were actually a good blocker. I didn't notice against the Broncos, but he was terrible blocking against the Falcons.
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Couple points to this:

1. This organization doesn't have a good track record of matching playing time with capability. Devin Bush is Exhibit 1A. Dude literally avoided contact yet he was taking 100% of the snaps even though he couldn't do his job

2. Related to the above, how else do you explain VJ taking snaps over Pickens? No person in their right mind would say VJ is more talented in any facet of the WR position. So it's either his blocking or he gets ice cream for the fellas after practice.

There is no other reasonable explanation other than his blocking. And I can't disagree with your statement that VJ is the WR God of Blocking. He's not Hines Ward or anything
 
Here's the snap reel of VJ's blocking vs the Falcons...

https://x.com/i/web/status/1833137495476777022

That said, BB's point that something is making them look at VJ over Pickens is correct.

But. That might be trying to make VJ work. That might also be an attempt to keep Pickens fresh, or even a minor disciplinary thing to encourage him to get on top of his details on blocking and route running. I don't know it's that they think VJ is an amazing blocker. But. Maybe they do think he's their best. Which is shambolic but there we go.

I would add that Smith has only ever put his WR1 out there for 80% of the snaps by and large, so Pickens isn't far below the Smith standard at 72%... but it's notably enough that some of this is probably them not being happy about some stuff from Pickens.

Which, given where the offence is right now, maybe seems a little stupid. Still, if this encourages Pickens to get more things right and pays off long term...
 
Buddy Bizarre said:
Couple points to this:

1. This organization doesn't have a good track record of matching playing time with capability. Devin Bush is Exhibit 1A. Dude literally avoided contact yet he was taking 100% of the snaps even though he couldn't do his job

2. Related to the above, how else do you explain VJ taking snaps over Pickens? No person in their right mind would say VJ is more talented in any facet of the WR position. So it's either his blocking or he gets ice cream for the fellas after practice.

There is no other reasonable explanation other than his blocking. And I can't disagree with your statement that VJ is the WR God of Blocking. He's not Hines Ward or anything
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I don't know why he is out there that much. I just know that it isn't because he is a great blocking WR. It might be that they think he is better at it than he is or at least better at it than the other guys we have. Other than Pickens the WR room sucks. We have to hope Wilson can add something positive but I am skeptical.
 
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Andy99 said:
Only way the Steelers cover imo is if Herbert can’t play or is severely limited, which is why I’ve been waiting…
Click to expand...

steelersdepot.com

Rapoport: Justin Herbert Was 'Extremely Limited' At Thursday's Practice

The Pittsburgh Steelers are scheduled to play quite a few good quarterbacks during the 2024 season. One of those is coming up this Sunday in Justin Herbert, but an ankle injury suffered in Week 2 has put his status in question. Ian Rapoport offered an update on Herbert during Friday morning’s...
steelersdepot.com steelersdepot.com
 
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Also I can't believe I'm saying this given all my biases but...

Passing is down

RB rushing is the same

https://x.com/i/web/status/1836454363520471333

The big clear vulnerability of NFL defences right now is QBs using their legs and you have maybe the single best guy in the NFL for this

Design Justin some runs. Get that boy moving.

If course, it's a hell of a lot easier to get Fields some runs if defences are backing off rather than bringing six man pressures to stop the run.



edit: Also re that Smith video on Boz -

The thing I really don't like is he sounds genuine about not knowing when the HC would send the kicker on. That seems pretty darn sloppy information sharing.
 
T1K said:
Smith was planning on punting until Tomlin said let Boz kick it for his 1st attempt in ATL. These two are perfect for each other (not in a good way)
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I had assumed they'd had Patterson run it on 3rd and six the preceding play because they'd already decided they were in field goal range. If Smith was really thinking "if I don't get first down here we don't get a scoring chance so lets have Patterson run the ball", that's incredible. So incredible I might actually mean the old fashioned literal sense of incredible as in I can't credit that as being real. Surely not... I hope. Wow.
 
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Peat said:
I had assumed they'd had Patterson run it on 3rd and six the preceding play because they'd already decided they were in field goal range. If Smith was really thinking "if I don't get first down here we don't get a scoring chance so lets have Patterson run the ball", that's incredible. So incredible I might actually mean the old fashioned literal sense of incredible as in I can't credit that as being real. Surely not... I hope. Wow.
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Ironically with offense down in the league across the board, maybe this is the year a great defense is what matters most. I highly doubt it, but that’s my copium take.
 
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T1K said:
Ironically with offense down in the league across the board, maybe this is the year a great defense is what matters most. I highly doubt it, but that’s my copium take.
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I've started thinking about that too. That maybe the Steelers are smartly getting ahead of a shift in the NFL, and that maybe Fields' limitations are about to matter less compared to everyone else. That the ease with which a high cover defence with a strong pass rush can shut down this current generation of QBs means the smart approach is to get the biggest rock and turn everything into a rock fight.

The obvious problem I see is that it only takes a few teams to mesh and come together to be able to do "your defence doesn't matter" in the playoffs for it to all come crashing down.

But... yeah. The copium might be right here.
 
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Andy99 said:
Only way the Steelers cover imo is if Herbert can’t play or is severely limited, which is why I’ve been waiting…
Click to expand...

Peat said:
steelersdepot.com

Rapoport: Justin Herbert Was 'Extremely Limited' At Thursday's Practice

The Pittsburgh Steelers are scheduled to play quite a few good quarterbacks during the 2024 season. One of those is coming up this Sunday in Justin Herbert, but an ankle injury suffered in Week 2 has put his status in question. Ian Rapoport offered an update on Herbert during Friday morning’s...
steelersdepot.com steelersdepot.com
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So not severely, then?
 
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i gotta say if the cleveland stats folks pushed the team to sell the farm for watson maybe nfl analytics arent there yet and being more in on them doesnt help
 
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