Stevendinho
Put me in coach! CPep is done!
After reading all of these posts today (which trust me, took up WAY too much time) I have to question if anyone else has either A: played football or B: in fact watched the game last night (we were the folks in the white jerseys FYI).
Here's what I took out of it --
SECONDARY -- too many mistakes.
D-LINE -- non existant.
STEELERS O-LINE -- completely took Taylor out of the play.
OFFENSIVE PLAYCALLING -- We noticed early that the run was not going to set up the pass, so we should've done the exact opposite. After 2-3 passes, we should've ran. By the second half, we were at approximately a 70% pass ratio.
CULPEPPER -- This is what has been aggrivating me those most, especially all of you "fans" who have blinders on and probobly have never played quarterback.
Culpepper looked BAD. And I will give you a point by point reason why.
* Not sure if you know this, but it's called HAPPY FEET. Culpepper (while under a lot of pressure) was not setting himself before he threw. He danced around a lot in the pocket, which is fine, but rarely was mechanically sound to make good throws.
* He was afraid to run. He'd get flushed out and prefer to make a throw than scramble. If he's afraid of getting hurt GET HIM OFF THE FIELD!
* The coaching staff is afraid. Notice on shotgun plays and a lot of passing plays Ronnie Brown had to stay back to block. You do this because A: yes, there is a lot of pressure. But mainly because B: your QB can not avaid pressure easily and can not go through his progression fast enough to make well-informed plays.
* He did not go through his progressions. He's the kind of QB who falls in love with one player on one route. See next point for why this is a problem.
* He stared down receivers. You doubt this? See Troy Palomalu's interception and near interception when we were in the shadow of our own endzone. By not even bothering to go through his progression, CPep stared down Chambers and signaled to a GREAT safety, now let me emphasize TP's greatness, and should've gotten picked twice. The Joey Porter INT was the same thing.
* He was not in sync with his WR's. I bring your attention to the third and goal late in the first half. Great PAP called, Chambers had about 3 feet on his defender, yet CPep overthrew him by about 5 yards. There were also several times during the game when he underthrew wideouts. For someone who played in all four preseason games and made most of the practices and played with the first squad, this is not an acceptable mistake. That's something Joey would do because he has not practiced or played much with the first-stringers.
On the upside
Zach Thomas played well.
Our overall run defense was very effective (for the most part -- if someone rushes 30 times a game, they'll get to 100 yards)
Ronnie Brown made those "not in the box score" kind of plays last night. I think he did a great job blocking in passing and shotgun formations.
Now for all of you who are complaining about people just jumping on the team because they lost, let me say this.
* I was AGAINST the Culpepper trade. I believed, and still do, Harrington is a better fit for the system we run.
* I am NOT a Ronnie Brown supporter. While I was not in favor of the pick, I believe his performance last night was marred by poor playcalling.
So I'm not a fan? Whatever. I'm a realist. As a former player, I understand the game and I understand mistakes. Go ahead, pile on. These fans who think Culpepper is a god, I ask you this. Did you even watch last season? He got INJURED, he wasn't hurt while he was playing. There's a reason he threw so many picks WITHOUT Randy Moss.
Here's what I took out of it --
SECONDARY -- too many mistakes.
D-LINE -- non existant.
STEELERS O-LINE -- completely took Taylor out of the play.
OFFENSIVE PLAYCALLING -- We noticed early that the run was not going to set up the pass, so we should've done the exact opposite. After 2-3 passes, we should've ran. By the second half, we were at approximately a 70% pass ratio.
CULPEPPER -- This is what has been aggrivating me those most, especially all of you "fans" who have blinders on and probobly have never played quarterback.
Culpepper looked BAD. And I will give you a point by point reason why.
* Not sure if you know this, but it's called HAPPY FEET. Culpepper (while under a lot of pressure) was not setting himself before he threw. He danced around a lot in the pocket, which is fine, but rarely was mechanically sound to make good throws.
* He was afraid to run. He'd get flushed out and prefer to make a throw than scramble. If he's afraid of getting hurt GET HIM OFF THE FIELD!
* The coaching staff is afraid. Notice on shotgun plays and a lot of passing plays Ronnie Brown had to stay back to block. You do this because A: yes, there is a lot of pressure. But mainly because B: your QB can not avaid pressure easily and can not go through his progression fast enough to make well-informed plays.
* He did not go through his progressions. He's the kind of QB who falls in love with one player on one route. See next point for why this is a problem.
* He stared down receivers. You doubt this? See Troy Palomalu's interception and near interception when we were in the shadow of our own endzone. By not even bothering to go through his progression, CPep stared down Chambers and signaled to a GREAT safety, now let me emphasize TP's greatness, and should've gotten picked twice. The Joey Porter INT was the same thing.
* He was not in sync with his WR's. I bring your attention to the third and goal late in the first half. Great PAP called, Chambers had about 3 feet on his defender, yet CPep overthrew him by about 5 yards. There were also several times during the game when he underthrew wideouts. For someone who played in all four preseason games and made most of the practices and played with the first squad, this is not an acceptable mistake. That's something Joey would do because he has not practiced or played much with the first-stringers.
On the upside
Zach Thomas played well.
Our overall run defense was very effective (for the most part -- if someone rushes 30 times a game, they'll get to 100 yards)
Ronnie Brown made those "not in the box score" kind of plays last night. I think he did a great job blocking in passing and shotgun formations.
Now for all of you who are complaining about people just jumping on the team because they lost, let me say this.
* I was AGAINST the Culpepper trade. I believed, and still do, Harrington is a better fit for the system we run.
* I am NOT a Ronnie Brown supporter. While I was not in favor of the pick, I believe his performance last night was marred by poor playcalling.
So I'm not a fan? Whatever. I'm a realist. As a former player, I understand the game and I understand mistakes. Go ahead, pile on. These fans who think Culpepper is a god, I ask you this. Did you even watch last season? He got INJURED, he wasn't hurt while he was playing. There's a reason he threw so many picks WITHOUT Randy Moss.
