OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: Whats a Running Back? Does it make the Steel Steeler?

[OnMyOwn]

I will at least say, the first two defenses the Steelers have faced are two of the better ones in the league. My hope, since Canada won’t go anywhere until season’s end, is they start playing some softer ones and KP can get a little confidence.

I don’t know how big of an ask that is, however.

 

[The Old Master]

https://x.com/markkaboly/status/1704169538357473313?s=46

that could explain a lot.

 

[Josey Wales]

that could explain a lot.

People are surprised that Tomlin sticks his dick in the OC punchbowl?? Poor Little Rich kid Fart Rooney the 2nd Allows it to happen

 

[UnrealMachine]

One of the more difficult-to-watch Steeler wins that I can remember. Some points that maybe haven’t been hit on yet:

- zero TE involvement in this offense right now.
- seems to be a lot of confusion in zone coverage when Steelers only rush 3 or 4.
- my best guess is the Pickett’s confidence is shot right now and he’s worried about taking a hit. Just seems like he’s not reading the D quickly enough to make an informed decision, and his instincts are all off.
- never thought I’d say this, but I’m feeling quite desperate, can we add the “heave ‘n pray” as a legitimate play call? I’ll truly take anything to see a pass go 40-50 yards downfield. Am also willing to roll the dice on whether that pass is ultimately complete/incomplete/intercepted/DPI.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

People are surprised that Tomlin sticks his dick in the OC punchbowl?? Poor Little Rich kid Fart Rooney the 2nd Allows it to happen

I'm fully convinced Tomlin rubbed one out immediately after getting home

Safe, conservative, do not lose the game, play the field position battle, kick some field goals, keep it close, get some defensive plays, win it in the end.

 

[SomeDude]

I will at least say, the first two defenses the Steelers have faced are two of the better ones in the league. My hope, since Canada won’t go anywhere until season’s end, is they start playing some softer ones and KP can get a little confidence.

I don’t know how big of an ask that is, however.

It’s not even that the D has been covering so tight that it’s forcing him to make mistakes. He looks like he has the yips. He’s skipping balls and throwing 3 feet over or behind guys who are wide open. Not good, especially for a guy already older than most coming out of college.

 

[robopigeon]

KP likely has the ceiling of an average starter, but it's really hard to separate him from the offensive system right now. It's a system that requires the players to generate plays off their talent alone, which doesn't work against well coached and talented defenses. There's little to no pre-snap motion, no real pre-snap reads and adjustments, the run plays are obvious, and there's no inventiveness with routes (which doesn't help the receivers to get separation). Even the coaching for the o-line seems bad, there were a few times yesterday where an RB or TE seemed to miss their assignment on a chip or whatever (Warren in the fourth a notable example) which just makes it harder for KP.

I'm also curious what the progression chart is supposed to be on some of these plays. Often it seemed like Kenny's first read was a checkdown to Najee, which is insane. Is that really what's being coached?

Also, I wish we could see downfield on broadcasts. It's hard to know how bad he's reading / reacting when we can't often see the full route progression for the receivers.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

I'm down on KP bc the rudimentary things that he did "fine enough" with last year aren't repeating:

- Throwing the ball in the dirt on a wide open slant- that's one of the easiest throws in the QB book
- Throwing the ball to a doube-covered RB in the flat.
- Throwing flat footed
- Missing open receivers

I understand mistakes like getting baited on a zone blitz or perhaps not shifting the blocking scheme. Those are all "experience-based" mistakes that you have to live with a young QB.

But I'm getting Zach Wilson vibes here

Could be a young QB struggling agt two very good Ds.

Could be a regression.

We won’t know until the end of the season.

Either way, even if KP tears it up, where is this going anyway?

I’m no longer shutting my brain off and hoping Canada somehow turns into a good OC.

This is 37 games and getting 20 points is a massive struggle.

Say KP turns it around, again, I can’t see that being enough to overcome Canada’s incompetence when the playoffs come around.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

KP likely has the ceiling of an average starter, but it's really hard to separate him from the offensive system right now. It's a system that requires the players to generate plays off their talent alone, which doesn't work against well coached and talented defenses. There's little to no pre-snap motion, no real pre-snap reads and adjustments, the run plays are obvious, and there's no inventiveness with routes (which doesn't help the receivers to get separation). Even the coaching for the o-line seems bad, there were a few times yesterday where an RB or TE seemed to miss their assignment on a chip or whatever (Warren in the fourth a notable example) which just makes it harder for KP.

I'm also curious what the progression chart is supposed to be on some of these plays. Often it seemed like Kenny's first read was a checkdown to Najee, which is insane. Is that really what's being coached?

Also, I wish we could see downfield on broadcasts. It's hard to know how bad he's reading / reacting when we can't often see the full route progression for the receivers.

I'm not saying Ben wasn't close to being cooked, but he was nowhere as close to as bad as this offense made him look. It's the same offense that people were laughing that Ben was getting the ball out and had his lowest YPA ever.
It was no wonder that the offense looked beyond capable when he ran the 2 min drill

It's almost like this offensive concept isn't QB friendly...weird

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Rare to see someone on the National scene criticizing Tomlin

 

[Josey Wales]

Rare to see someone on the National scene criticizing Tomlin

Cowherd rips Steelers all the time & he is a windbag

 

[Colonel Mustard]

I feel down about this. After the end stretch last year and the additions and then preseason i was sure the offense would be at leasr a little better than what they have shown. I am sure some might be because of the quality of defenses they have played but it is just depressing.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Rare to see someone on the National scene criticizing Tomlin

i just saw the O had -7 yards last night in the 4th and Tomlin has ppl so spun he will make them believe that is normal.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

My thinking is this, KP deserves quite a bit of the criticism he has been getting. But they have no running game, they can’t pass block, they can’t run block. He is not getting much help. If this is going to be the running game all season it’s going to be a long season. KP isn’t good enough to try and win games by himself on offense
Matt Canada is a liability which does not help things.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

https://x.com/danorlovsky7/status/1704149917654990878?s=20

 

[JTG]

This also needs to change. I’m not sure what more Wallace has to do to feel a little pressure. He was responsible for the big CMC run last week, the big run this week, dropped a gimme pick, and gave up a few big completions.

I’m not sure how many snaps Adams had, but Benton should be playing over him. I’d start playing Fehoko as well with his run stuffing ability.

And if the line is going to suck, might as well suck with Broderick Jones getting snaps.

Benton should be a starter. He's a total game wrecker. With how much our defense has been on the field, Herbig should be getting 3x the amount of snaps he is. He's capable.

I'm pretty happy with Seumalo. Every time I key on him he's at least got someone bottled up. But this O line has been trash for a while now.

https://x.com/baldynfl/status/1704116615384605052?s=46&t=2ahnHGvlLrIk7Xgznb0I5w

My feeling on the above play is that Mason Cole actually should be helping Seumalo with a double team. Daniels stepping back and funneling his guy up field works if Cole goes left. I don't know how this was drawn up but this feels like coaching more than anything.

We moved up to take a tackle and instead they're trotting out backup quality crap. That's step 1.

A good oline can make a crap QB and crap RB look semi competent.

On the D side we watched Wallace get torched and our second effectively first round pick at CB looks brilliant in the little he gets in there. PLAY HIM! That's step 2.

I don't think you can fix OC and QB and OL coach at this point but at least start your talented players.

Moore and Cole have been huge weak spots. The middle of our line is getting absolutely destroyed. The exception I take to how this team is built is you have a power back behind a finesse line. We need 4 more Seumalo's with Najee running behind them for this to work. The league is going small, and we should be going big. I'd be playing Herbig and Jones right now. Get Washington out there as a 6th guy. Get the beef in there and let's establish the run game.

I'm so tired of the "redshirt" year mentality. Every other team can get rookies to come in and impact immediately. We never do that and we need to.

Cowherd rips Steelers all the time & he is a windbag

Cowherd is actually a huge Steelers fan. He's basically doing what any yinzer would do right now.

 

[JTG]

I don't even know what direction you go in right now. With how this is going, we need someone at every single position aside from OLB.

 

[Josey Wales]

Benton should be a starter. He's a total game wrecker. With how much our defense has been on the field, Herbig should be getting 3x the amount of snaps he is. He's capable.



Moore and Cole have been huge weak spots. The middle of our line is getting absolutely destroyed. The exception I take to how this team is built is you have a power back behind a finesse line. We need 4 more Seumalo's with Najee running behind them for this to work. The league is going small, and we should be going big. I'd be playing Herbig and Jones right now. Get Washington out there as a 6th guy. Get the beef in there and let's establish the run game.

I'm so tired of the "redshirt" year mentality. Every other team can get rookies to come in and impact immediately. We never do that and we need to.


Cowherd is actually a huge Steelers fan. He's basically doing what any yinzer would do right now.

yeah But rips them pretty frequently & I don't disagree with his assessment at all

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

I don't even know what direction you go in right now. With how this is going, we need someone at every single position aside from OLB.

You go in the “get nine wins” and go undefeated in every press conference direction.

 

[JTG]

You go in the “get nine wins” and go undefeated in every press conference direction.

We may be watching the wheels fall off at this point. I have no idea what helps this because it's not just one thing.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

We may be watching the wheels fall off at this point. I have no idea what helps this because it's not just one thing.

Good coaching solves a lot of issues but well…

 

[OnMyOwn]

You need to improve just one facet of the game to have a ripple effect. If the offense could sustain drives you’d have a fresh TJ and company who, in theory, could do more damage and give up fewer points. The corners would run less routes, d line less snaps, etc.

We got 9 first downs on Monday…9. That’s the issue that needs addressed for that ripple effect to even start.

I wanna shout out one person I overlooked, though. Harvin had a fantastic day punting. Absolutely awesome to see from him.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

The offense will look better against vegas and Houston and Bmore because they aren’t top 5 defenses they don’t have good pass rushers

 

[JTG]

I think step number 1 right now is getting some semblance of a run game.

 

[xlm34]

Yeah the Oline definitely needs to improve.