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NFL Europe Rookie
I live in Scotland and I sat up all night and watched the game live. Got two hours sleep before I came to work. Just telling you this in case my comments appear a bit fuzzy.
1. O - Line appeared to pass block quite well but run blocking was not good.
We also appeared to be in max protect a lot therefore there seemed to be few receivers open.
2. Ronnie Brown ran hard and did a good job making some guys miss but the blocking from the O-Line, fullback and receivers was poor. He also seemed to dance sometimes, although that must be expected when you have three or four black/gold jerseys staring you in the face when you get the hand off.
3. Culpepper did a decent job of reading the defense and avoiding the rush whilst we were still attempting to run the ball. When the Steelers realised we had abandoned the run they just started teeing of on the QB and thats when his accuracy and judgement became suspect at best.
4. Secondary were giving far too much of a cushion all night and this meant unless the blitz worked, which it did only maybe 3-5 times, then Batch had targets sitting in the zone with no DB's within 2-3 yards. Result - easy 3rd down conversions.
5. Defensive playcalling - we seemed to blitz on all third downs, probably didn't but it just seemed that way. Didn't work.
6. Offensive playcalling - very mixed bag. I read on here someone saying that once we got the lead we went into Wanny mode and played not to lose. Not true - DC was throwing from his end zone on 3rd 10, Wanny would have handed off, punted and put the game in the hands of a tired defense. We may have won if we HAD gotten more conservative. Biggest issues were abandoning the run and the call on 3rd and 2 at the Steelers 40 which may have iced the game. A very bad call. Trying to outrun probably the fastest D in the NFL against the run is not a good idea.
We definetly abandoned the run far too soon. In the 3rd quarter we seemed to get a little bit going but then we just gave up. And we had the lead. On the drive we started in our own 10 and got to the 40 I think we only ran twice, and one of them was the 3rd and 2 referred to above. Even then when we got it back, down by 4 with 3 mins to play we could have called a couple of runs just to keep them off balance. Instead we just launched it an the rest is history.
Summary - Plenty to build on. A disappointing loss due to the manner on which we blew up in the last 5 mins however the score was not reflective of the game. We had the the lead on the Superbowl champs in their own house with six mins to go. I think with a few games under our belts the holes will begin to open up and the running game will get going, the secondary should get more cohesive and hopefull the playcalling will get better.
A lot to be disappointed at, but a whole lot more to look forward to.
SUPPORT YOUR TEAM.
1. O - Line appeared to pass block quite well but run blocking was not good.
We also appeared to be in max protect a lot therefore there seemed to be few receivers open.
2. Ronnie Brown ran hard and did a good job making some guys miss but the blocking from the O-Line, fullback and receivers was poor. He also seemed to dance sometimes, although that must be expected when you have three or four black/gold jerseys staring you in the face when you get the hand off.
3. Culpepper did a decent job of reading the defense and avoiding the rush whilst we were still attempting to run the ball. When the Steelers realised we had abandoned the run they just started teeing of on the QB and thats when his accuracy and judgement became suspect at best.
4. Secondary were giving far too much of a cushion all night and this meant unless the blitz worked, which it did only maybe 3-5 times, then Batch had targets sitting in the zone with no DB's within 2-3 yards. Result - easy 3rd down conversions.
5. Defensive playcalling - we seemed to blitz on all third downs, probably didn't but it just seemed that way. Didn't work.
6. Offensive playcalling - very mixed bag. I read on here someone saying that once we got the lead we went into Wanny mode and played not to lose. Not true - DC was throwing from his end zone on 3rd 10, Wanny would have handed off, punted and put the game in the hands of a tired defense. We may have won if we HAD gotten more conservative. Biggest issues were abandoning the run and the call on 3rd and 2 at the Steelers 40 which may have iced the game. A very bad call. Trying to outrun probably the fastest D in the NFL against the run is not a good idea.
We definetly abandoned the run far too soon. In the 3rd quarter we seemed to get a little bit going but then we just gave up. And we had the lead. On the drive we started in our own 10 and got to the 40 I think we only ran twice, and one of them was the 3rd and 2 referred to above. Even then when we got it back, down by 4 with 3 mins to play we could have called a couple of runs just to keep them off balance. Instead we just launched it an the rest is history.
Summary - Plenty to build on. A disappointing loss due to the manner on which we blew up in the last 5 mins however the score was not reflective of the game. We had the the lead on the Superbowl champs in their own house with six mins to go. I think with a few games under our belts the holes will begin to open up and the running game will get going, the secondary should get more cohesive and hopefull the playcalling will get better.
A lot to be disappointed at, but a whole lot more to look forward to.
SUPPORT YOUR TEAM.