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The Fans Want Answers, so Ask Ed

By Ed Bouchette
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 8 years ago

Good morning,

We turn directly to your question and smoldering vents this morning in Ask Ed. Chat today at 1:30 at www.post-gazette.com/chat

--- YOU: Do you think that ko return in ot saved Archer? When do they have to make room for Bryant? Or did I miss that? If so, who got cut?

ED: I’m not sure who they will cut. They do not have to make a move until 4 p.m. Monday to make room for Martavis Bryant on the roster. However, if that one kickoff return means anything, then the bar of expectations must be mighty low. Dri Archer returned the kickoff 31 yards, from the goalline to the 31 to start overtime. It was the longest kickoff return of his young career.

--- YOU: There were plenty of FA kickers available when the Steelers gave up a 6th rounder for Scobee, the guy they now have dropped. (I'll bet Boswell was one of them.) They also could have had Scobee for free, had they waited a day or two--since eh was going to be cut--before panicking (over the wrong guy, ultimately).

Somewhere this needs to be toted on the Colbert/Tomlin performance evaluations board.

ED: Other teams were looking for kickers at the time and they believed someone else would have picked up Scobee. I do not recall anyone criticizing the trade because most believed Scobee was a good kicker. The real question might be, did the Steelers give up on him too soon? But either way, it turned disastrous all the way around -- lost draft pick, lost cap room (and real money) and now lost kicker.

--- YOU: Ed, I'm guessing you might be the one to answer my question. I Googled it to no avail. Why is Michael Vick now being called Mike Vick??

ED: Because that is what he prefers.

--- YOU: Although Stephon Tuitt has been impressive with a lot of sacks early, does he have a problem with pad level on some running plays? Wasn't he stood up and pushed back a lot on Ravens' running plays? Or is he coached to do that if it looks like a stretch play?

ED: You may be on to something. While Pro Football Focus gives Tuitt an excellent 5.1 rating for his pass rush, they mark him down to minus 2.6 against the run. He has a plus 3.3 overall rating. However, against Baltimore, they did not give him very good ratings at all – minus 2.6 overall, with a minus 1.3 against the run and a minus 1 on his pass rush.

--- YOU: Hey man, don't be afraid to criticize Mike Tomlin. I am sure he is a nice guy, but 2 games this season he made horrible decisions and was simply outcoached in key parts of the game. Belichick schooled him and Harbaugh simply outfoxed him. Sure the kicker is ridiculous but he simply isn't a high level NFL coach.

ED: I leave the criticizing up to the columnists, Twitter and emails. However, please do not tell me that John Harbaugh outcoached Mike Tomlin. Did he do it on that fake field goal or the one where he had Joe Flacco unsuccessfully sneak on fourth and one rather than run one of his big backs in there?

--- YOU: The Steelers nose tackle play has been lame, period, actually worse than lame..

McLendon hasn't been a producer in years and Thomas even is less. McCullers can't get on/stay on the field because of injuries or lack of experience or some other reason.

ED: What makes you believe their nose tackle play has been poor? Since it is the only objective view we can go by, I will turn to Pro Football Focus again, where they have Steve McLendon at a plus 1.5 this season, including a plus 3.5 vs. the run. It would be higher except he gets a minus 1.6 for penalties.

--- YOU: It appears that every writer from all around the country are ripping Tomlin--except the local writers--musn't upset the coach--he might not approve!!!!!----He signed the QB and the kicker who failed ---the Ravens are not a good team and will be lucky to make it to .500--yet Tomlin messed it up with his bad selections and signings!

ED: I fail to see where Mike Tomlin blew that game. I also do not remember many ripping the deal when they traded for Josh Scobee. It’s easy to not like that trade today. For a backup quarterback who had just 2 days to prepare, I thought Mike Vick did a decent job. Maybe the local writers have more common sense than others and are not knee-jerk reactionaries.

--- YOU: The play call to pass to AB on 4th and 1, reminded me of Pete Carroll's call to pass rather that give the ball to Marshawn Lynch. We should have given the ball to Bell. In fact, we had the ball with 4 minutes to go in the 4th. All we needed to do was get a 1st down and run the clock out. We should have given the ball to Bell.

ED: Apples and oranges. It was not fourth down in the Super Bowl, it was second down, so the Seahawks had more than one chance to score if that ball is not intercepted. Why do you assume that Le’Veon Bell would have picked up that one yard? The call was not a bad one because if Vick throws any kind of reasonably accurate pass, Antonio Brown would have been able to catch it for the first down. Instead, it was way too high. Yes, all they needed to do was get a first down to run the clock out, but Baltimore did have a defense out there to try to prevent that, and did.

--- YOU: My question revolves around playcalling - particularly the 3d and 5 pass to Coates - when you have Brown, Bell and Heath Miller on the team, why are you calling a play to a rookie instead of getting the ball to one of the other proven guys? That wasn't the time to try to break someone in - it was just one of the many times they swung and missed in efforts to put the game away.

ED: Rookie Sammie Coates was on the field because Markus Wheaton was off with an injury. Maybe those other guys were all covered.

--- YOU: That was a pretty tough loss to take. And I'm sure I'm in the minority on this, but am I out of line for thinking that was actually some pretty solid coaching on the Steelers last night? Cases in point:

- Special teams preparation on the stopped fake field goal. That was outstanding.

- The Steelers put themselves in position to win based on field goals. Maybe it's fair to say Scobee should have missed 1. But even playing those probabilities, with 2 opportunities, he should have been able to convert. The coaches put the team in position to succeed.

- Antonio Brown, one of the most sure-handed receivers in football, let a TD pass go through his hands. Good play call; poor execution.

- On the 4th down that gave the Ravens the ball in OT, the play call was great. The coverage was right, Brown was open, and it should have been a high-percentage short-distance pass to an open receiver with great hands. Of course they didn't convert, but the way the play developed up to the pass showed it wasn't a bad play call.

- Sacks galore one season removed from sack misery

- And, with one TD drive excepted, a great defensive effort by a team dealing with some injuries (Shazier, McCullers) and major DB questions heading into the season, playing against a (debatably) good QB.

Am I crazy?

ED: Others (see above) might think so because you just refuse to blame the coaches for that loss, not the players.