Most Recent Podcast
This text will be replaced
SUPPORT STEELERFURY.COM
Steelerfury Post Game: Ravens
I guess you can say patience is a virtue, although I doubt any card carrying member of Steeler Nation is doing a very good job of exercising while they’re playoff lives hang in the balance and in the hands of something they cant control. Im not even going to get into the muddled playoff picture right now, if any outsider needs a proper breakdown, it’s a good time to join the site. Instead, Im just going to ease your mind by saying that basically all you need to do is worry about what we can control from this point forward and that’s laying the smack down on the J-Peezy led Miami Dolphins.
Steelers took care of business this weekend with their backs against the wall for a 2nd straight week. It wasn’t pretty, but effective and took the road less traveled in a Raven-Steeler matchup by making the least amount of mistakes to win the football game. And they did it by changing up gameplans on both sides of the ball. (more to come)
Mike Tomlin – B
Kudos to you Mike T. for keeping 53 chins up and connecting people with purpose down the stretch run. We’ve all see teams pack up and quit when theres a mountain to climb and you’ve done is call your battalion to attention and instead of playing TAPS for them, you locked and loaded and got ready for war. You sent a message to Willie Gay that his play is subpar, only to find out his backup wasn’t much better. I don’t know if anyone else saw it, but I saw the MT touch on defense this week by switching up coverages and the effect it had.
Bruce Arians – C+
I wasn’t overly impressed the game plan Bruce, although you appeared to be strapped for what was actually working. Willie Parker seemed to have the hotter hand and should’ve maybe gotten a few more carries, but nevertheless the run game just wasn’t working. The Ravens didn’t throw a ton of blitz packages at you nor did they stack the box. They sat back in basic cover 2 and even the LB’s played on their heels. That’s a recipe for 35 run plays and pound the rock, although the few times you did run the ball it was unsuccessful. In the passing game you went away from all the beautiful crossing patterns that worked so well against
Quarterback – B
17/33 – 259 yards – 1 TD – 1 INT – 75.2 QBR
Certainly not his best game of the year, although he did throw into the teeth of a pretty good defense. Tended to the hold the ball at times but luckily was able to escape the pocket and make plays. Im still on the fence if I fault him for the INT because I think it was interference on Foxworth. While his numbers don’t really reflect, Ben played winning football by extending drives and flipping the field for his struggling defense.
Running Back – C-
20/53 – 1 TD
A very forgettable effort from all backs in this game. Mendenhall put one on the turf, dropped a TD pass, and blew a blitz pickup when he had his come to jesus meeting against a 400 lb man in Haloti Ngata. Parker had a pair of nice bursts but failed to also pick up a blitz from UGA native Danelle Ellerbe while Mewelde Moore was basically a non-factor. I don’t give a shit about Mendenhall’s spin move, but he needs to quit waving the dam ball around in the process. That’s a real problem going forward. Its nice to see it stretched over the goal line b/c it looks like second effort, but when its waved while spinning out of would-be’s 3 yards deep in your own backfield it needs to stop, and now.
Wide Receiver – B+
13 catches – 220 yards – 1 TD
To sum it up, a pretty good effort. The WR’s continue to be a big extension of the run game with the smoke screens and their ability for RAC, including a blown coverage on a CB blitz where Holmes took one to the pylon. Mike Wallace bailed out the offense on more than one occasion including a 45 bomb to midfield while pinned deep that will force every Ravens fan to learn your name.
Tight End B-
3 catches – 35 yards
Heath Miller continues to be a decent outlet for Ben. Sure hands, always open underneath. Quality safety valve. The blocking of the TE’s wasn’t as poor as normal against the Ravens. They were blown up at times, but held the point more often than not.
Offensive(ly) Line – D+
No movement, no protection, no consistency. Once again public enemies #1 are Willie Colon and Justin Hartwig. The same week Willie Colon made, are you sitting down?, the ProFootballFocus.com AFC pro bowl squad as a starter. I think Antwan Barnes would tend to disagree. He made one nice block, and that was on the Mendenhall TD run. Max Starks had a decent day, he neither impresses or discourages each week, he just shows up and takes up space. Ramon Foster wasn’t the greatest of the 5 evils, but wore his rookie patch on his sleeve.
Dick LeBeau B
One of the better efforts I’ve seen in awhile with a game plan that had Mike Tomlin stamped all over it. Steeler Nation finally got to see their CB’s up in press coverage most of the day b/c Mike T. turned toward a lot more cover 2 principles in what I view is an attempt to hide his dismal safety play, and it almost worked. But what it did is what I’ve been preaching since the inception of this board. Its sacrifices principles in the run game allowing a guy like Ray Rice to put up 140 on the ground. Its keeps the extra defenders out of the box, it cuts the angles of the CB’s on perimeter runs, and forces more 1 gap play than normal on the front. I realize this game isn’t about moral victories, but I take it personal when they allow a 100 yard rusher, although winning is much more satisfying. With last years defense that include better DB play, better ILB play, and a healthy Aaron Smith, cover 2 concepts were executed much easier in run fits. The soft spot in cover 2 is running the ball until you run a defense out of it by bringing a safety up and that’s exactly what Cam Cameron tried to do by staying patient with the run game. But, cover 2 also erased the screen game and Ray Rice from the passing game forcing them to turn to WRs and TE’s to make plays. And Heap came up big taking Gay and Townsend to school on each pylon with Ryan Mundy being the only one to defend him.
Defensive Line C
These guys are running on empty with injuries, and Keisel got banged up as well. Anytime they give up that many rush yards it’s a fail, but as previously mentioned I saw concepts getting changed to aid the secondary. Its picking the lesser of the 2 evils in the run game vs the pass game. Nick Eason had a sack nullified while Sir Ziggy got the first notch on his belt with a sack and FR that should’ve been his firt career INT.
Linebacker B
Lamar Woodley is the only thing keeping this grade above failing this week with constant pressure, 2 sacks, and a pressure leading to an INT. He took over late in the game and continues his trends of late season heroics. James Harrison entered with a biceps injury that could’ve caused him to scrape off a QB sack early on. It did seem to have bothered him b/c late in the game he dropped in coverage as the Mike LB while Farrior blitzed the weak edge. As for ILB play goes, its getting bad. This week was terrible. While Farrior was constantly late to his hole and scraping off tackles, Timmons failed to seal the cutback lines while also not putting on a tackling clinic.
Secondary C-
The passing numbers don’t appear to be outrageous, but the Ravens completed just about every pass they had to. Todd Heap put on a clinic for Bill Gay and Shea Townsend while Tyrone Carter continues to be the slowest guy on the field and seemed to give up some PT late to Ryan Mundy. They didn’t really test Ike this week which allowed him to blitz a couple times and record a sack. I pray Troy Polamalu comes back this week.
Special Teams C+
Stefan Logan had maybe his best game as a pro by running hard and running through tackles showing proper ball security. He broke the Steeler single season record for return yardage by a single player. With all the scores the defense lets up, he’s had plenty of chances. Wasn’t overly impressed with the coverage units while they allowed a 230 lb RB from