The Links - Week 3

Lots of good links after the drubbing we took this week.

Power Rankings here, here, and here,

Dj Gallo has a nice laugh at the offensive line’s expense.

ESPN’s Jeffri Chadiha asks the same questions we are asking:
The Eagles attacked with such alarming efficiency you wonder why the Steelers didn't change their strategy. They didn't try to keep the Eagles off-balance with screens or draw plays. Pittsburgh's reluctance to stick with the run was just as stunning.

CNNSI’s Don Banks had this to say:
See Roethlisberger drop back. See Roethlisberger under pressure. See Roethlisberger go down. Or hurriedly dump the ball off. Or run for his life. Or get hit even after he managed to buy enough time to find a receiver. Big Ben's going to be known as Big Bruise on Monday. Count on it. That's the very personal price he paid during the course of Philadelphia's 15-6 defeat of the previously unbeaten Steelers.


Lots of hating on Bruce Arians, Mike Tomlin, and Larry Zeirlein:
From BTSC:
For now though, I think it's safe to say that Arians just got embarassed by Jim Johnson today.

I have no idea exactly how offensive line coaches teach their craft, but at this point, I think it's clear that Larry Zeirlein has to go.

Great minds think alike. Check out the picture. Remind you of this post.

Steeler Fury is breaking up with Bruce Arians. Read all the dirty laundry:
Dear Bruce, I'm sorry to say that I will be ending our relationship…It's not me, it's you… I will take down my Bruce Arians Fat Head this evening.

Ron Cook notes the coaches need to take some heat

The decision to go for it on 4th down was idiotic. More reason to doubt Tomlin.

Positive Comments Sections
Here are some positive thoughts from BTSC.
Allow me to conclude by saying that at least we are moving forward confident that we have a superb defense to keep us in games when our offense sputters, like today. With no defense, you rarely have a shot to make a run in the playoffs, let alone even make the playoffs. And unless you're one of the elite Colts offenses of year's past, our the 2007 Patriots, you're going to encounter dry spells on offense. It happens, even to very good teams. But without that consistent defense, the odds of stringing together winning streaks and competing against the better teams in the league, go way down.

Ron Cook says the Steelers are still the class of the AFC North. (That’s not saying much)

Troy’s awesome interception

Stats
I’m not the only one asking for more throws to the running back. The Steelers are last in the league. From the analysis done over at PGH:

Here is the info in another format from “most receptions by a RB” to “least receptions by a RB”. See any good offenses on the top of this list?
Saints 35
Eagles 23
Chargers 21
Tampa 20
Jags 20
Rams 18
Buffalo 18
Vikings 17
Detroit 17
Chicago 17
Jets 16
Miami 15
Pats 14
KC 14
Houston 13
Giants 13
Falcons 12
Browns 12
Arizona 12
Dallas 11
Colts 10
Seattle 9
Redskins 9
Oakland 9
Titans 8
Carolina 8
Baltimore 8
Packers 4
Denver 4
STEELERS 2

JJ Cooper at Fanhouse assigns sacks. Surprisingly, Kendall Simmons was not credited with any sacks allowed, but he did make this comment:
"I'm going to bite my tongue. All I'm going to say is they were bringing more people than we could handle. We can block five or six. But when they bring six or seven or eight people, there's nothing we can do." – Kendall Simmons

Unfortunately, the chart below proves Kendall’s comments had as much truth as presidential commercials. 7 of the sacks came on plays where the Eagles brought 5 or fewer people. The line just broke down.

NUMBER OF RUSHERS
Rushers -----No. of times ------Sacks
3--------------- 4------------------- 1
4 --------------19------------------- 2
5--------------- 6------------------- 4
6---------------11-------------------2
7--------------- 4------------------- 0

From Steeler Fury:
By game, the Steelers are on pace to give up 69 sacks this season. However, they're giving up a sack every 5.5 pass attempts. If that continues and Ben's number of attempts increases to match last years' total, the Steelers are on pace to allow 82 sacks.

From Mondesi's house

Mike Tomlin's career road record in stadiums not located in Ohio... 1-6.

"I have stumbled upon a trend in Steelers football that not many people are taking notice of. It seems that the Steelers are a much worse team when kicking off at 4PM on the road, dating back to last season. In fact, I was so aware of this anomaly, that I selected the Eagles in my suicide pool this week. Allow me to substantiate my claim with statistical evidence.

The Steelers played 8 road games, and 4 of them were a 4PM kickoff (Arizona, Denver, NY Jets, and New England).The Steelers lost all 4 of these games. Arizona is a team we likely beat at home, Denver was mediocre last year, and the Jets were horrible. Now, take the Patriots game for what it is worth. Nobody beat the Pats last season until the super bowl (thank you Giants!), so perhaps that game doesn't count. Yesterday we get pounded and manhandled by an Eagles defense that had exactly ZERO sacks coming into the game. Eli Roth thought it was excessively violent. I have no conclusion here, I am just saying that perhaps we should be wary of the next 4PM kickoff road game. It happens to be New England who got throttled at home by the Fish."

The Steelers were 2-for-13 on third down.

From TMQ:
Stats of the Week No. 2: Pittsburgh, which last week beat Cleveland for the 10th straight time, this week lost in Philadelphia for the eighth straight time.


If you have any links that you would like to be included, e-mail Josh at joshua.gelfand@gmail.com.