When watching games, I generally only have three or four things that I think are relevant enough to mention and I know that sometimes those overlap with what colleagues have written, or members have posted. My list is longer this week, containing at least nine bullet points that I’d like to bring up and discuss. So, in no particular order, here are a bunch of things that caught my attention vs the Steelers.
John Madden famously said that “If you have two QBs, you have none.” Well, what if you have five
LBs in a system that only uses two? If Davis-Gaither, Carlies, Ajiake, Boettcher, and Allen are all finding their way on the field, just answer me why? Sure, they are all basically new to the system, but are you trying to get the right guy for each situation? I’ll be honest, I was in favor of moving on from Franklin. I did sort of think we would retain Pratt to have a veteran presence. In short, it is a bad unit, that lacks the instincts of good NFL LBs.
The LB woes lead right into the next observation/gripe in that you can’t win if you do not tackle. Old timers will tell you the basics of the game are blocking and tackling and it holds water. The tone was set on Warren’s (theirs) 80 yard reception. A missed tackle by Boettcher and no interest in taking on Metcalf, let alone the ball carrier in the secondary, saw him nearly untouched. Bad angles, arm grabs and trying to bump someone down is just too common of an occurrence. In my humble opinion, tackling is nearly 100% effort, and it looks we are gave about 50%.
If blocking and tackling are the basics, I thought we pass blocked well, but what is wrong with the run blocking? JT is obviously a great RB, so why hasn’t he gained 100 yards in game, since London last year? There has been some mention made of playing from under center more, but those attempts did not go well either on Sunday. I am going to speak the blasphemous, by saying that JT’s “patience” that he is famous for, sometimes needs to be changed to hitting the hole that has the best chance of being there, and hitting it quickly.
My note of the pass blocking being sufficient, brings to light another concern. We had a cleaner pocket, but still many passes were from retreat mode, rather than stepping into the throw. I know it is necessary sometimes and you can’t be a great QB if you do not have that backfoot throw in your arsenal. Still, you are going to complete far more of the ones that you set, then drive to your target. If you don’t have the confidence to do that, maybe you should sit until you do. I’m not suggesting a QB controversy, but more asking DJ to take a look in the mirror and ask himself if he is ready.
I haven’t seen snap counts, but I think we were heavy in TE usage most of the game. We did manage to get it to Mo twice and Ogletree once, but if you are going to have them out there, they need to be targeted more, otherwise just bring Tenuta in. You are running a lot of short routes anyway, so make defenses be aware of their existence. They have proven capable of making the catch when thrown to. If they simply have to be there in order to have any protection at all, then you have a different problem.
The D wasn’t good and I will point to a lack of confidence in Lou that I have written about in the past, and agree with Andrew Aziz’ call for his removal as DC. I will just ask you this, are you confident that you will make a team punt when you back them up with a hold on first down? You should be able to stop a team from gaining 20 yards in three downs. Hell, the game is about stopping them from gaining 10. I have little to no confidence that even when our opponent is well behind the sticks, that we can make them give up possession. We’ve picked off one pass and recovered one fumble over five games.
My last three concerns are Shane related. If you are consistently settling for FGs, then your play calling is not aggressive enough. Not necessarily going for it instead of taking the points, but not putting receivers past the sticks on 3rd down. I thought he displayed a sort of killer instincts at the beginning of last year, but that appears to have been the exception, rather than an improved philosophy. There is no aggression in his play calling and he is too happy trying to call plays that keep them in FG range, rather than extending drives.
Speaking of aggression, Burkes needs to be on the field far more often. He has shown the ability to get behind a CB. If he beats a couple of them, the Safety has to honor it. I want to see if he has that ability to go up and get it. He’s got some strength and vertical jump, so he needs the same kind of targets that Pierce got as a rookie. Remember, he got 12 starts and 78 targets as a rookie and even though we thought he ran a ton of empty fly routes, he did stretch the field.
My last Shane rant goes to our last gasp yesterday. Down two scores with just over six minutes in the game, you get a decent gain on first down and you huddle? Jones has been in the league and under center for long enough to run this requirement for anyone who plays the position. Shane needed to relinquish control at that point and needs to do it for some series during the game as well. We all saw Rivers command an offense and a team of strangers, with a tryout and two practices. He did this with no mobility and limited arm strength. Shane needs to give Jones the same freedom.
You might ask why I appear to be giving Ballard a pass. My thought is that he has made his bed and nothing he does for the remainder of this year, will affect his job. If the coaches that he chose can’t get enough out of the players he chose, he will be looking for work. It does bring to my mind a thought, which my wife says is dangerous, but if player development is as difficult as it appears to be, maybe you need to use all of your draft picks on established players? The biggest benefit of a rookie is his control and contract. Why not trade your unknown for a known commodity?
I read a nice piece on The Feed, from Natural Born Buddha called “Some Thoughts”. I found it hard to disagree with much of what he shared and even though we overlap a little, there are some different views on similar observations. Give it a read, I think you will enjoy it.
