Week 1 GC: Tennessee @ Pittsburgh

[Munboy]

How I rated the game (because I'm bored at work)

Steelers
Run Offense - F... There were virtually no holes for the RBs and the RBs made the wrong cuts when a rare hole did open up.

Pass Offense - B... Sure Ben threw for over 300 yards, but most of that came at the end of the halves. Moved it up and down the field, but punched it in only once.

Run Defense - A... Held one of the best 1-2 RB tandums to under 100 yards combined

Pass Defense - B... Could be graded even lower. Big holes left open over the middle between the 20s. Titans were able to exploit those, as well as a few out routes.

Special Teams - B+... Logan gave the Steelers pretty good field, but had a mental error when he failed to come up to catch the ball, letting it bounce another 20 yards back. Kick/punt coverage was excellent. Reed made his kicks.


Titans
Run Offense - B- ... "smash and dash" were averaging between 3-4 yards a carry, but the Titans seemed to have gave up on the run (see pass O below)

Pass Offense - B ...Much like the Steelers, the titans moved the ball well between the 20s, only to fail to punch it in. The success of passing caused them to give up on the run?

Run Defense - A ...Not sure how to score this? Is the Titan's run defense that good, or the Steelers run blocking that bad??

Pass Defense - B- ...For the most part did a good job shutting down the pass, especially outside the 20s, but couldn't handle the no huddle.

Special Teams - F ...Allowed a few kicks returned for good field position, no major returns, missed field goals, allowed a blocked kick. ST lost the game for the Titans.

Anybody see it differently?

[petedog9]

I agree Munboy..

My random observations:
Arians was very conservative in his play calling early on. Their running game is predictable by formation and slow developing. Every run seemed to involve a pulling gaurd which allowed penetration. They also bunched in all of the wrs on the running plays which makes no sense. FWP is not Brandon Jacobs. They never worked the edges with him and tried to get him in space.

Once Ben went to the lightning package (no huddle), they moved the ball at will. The fizzled inside the 20 because they went out of the no huddle and allowed Tennesse to sub in fresh bodies. Arians drives me nuts!! His pass plays early was horizontal, not vertical. tenn is too fast and disciplined for that.

Felt bad for Hines and the fumble. Guy was trying to make a play. The O-line did great late in pass protection. Ben on many plays, had all day to pump fake and check 4-5 options before making a throw.
Gritty win but could be costly if Troy is out for more then a few weeks..Guy was everywhere last night blowing up plays and that INT was insane..

[joejlitz]

Felt bad for Hines and the fumble...

Why? Dude's won Super Bowls. And wasn't he a Super Bowl MVP a few years ago? Don't get much better than that in the life of a football player. And the Steelers went on to win, so no harm no foul. He's a big boy and knows how to get past things like that and move on to the next game.

Troy P...that INT was insane..

Word.

[Munboy]

The O-line did great late in pass protection.

Have to disagree with you on this one. Late in the game, the Titans were only rushing 4, which the Steelers Oline was able to handle. When they rushed more than 4, Ben had Titans crawling all over him. It seems like the Titans were unprepared for the no huddle. They just sat back in coverage and rushed the front 4. That gave time for WRs to get open for Ben.

[mattb47]

The O-line did great late in pass protection.

Have to disagree with you on this one. Late in the game, the Titans were only rushing 4, which the Steelers Oline was able to handle. When they rushed more than 4, Ben had Titans crawling all over him. It seems like the Titans were unprepared for the no huddle. They just sat back in coverage and rushed the front 4. That gave time for WRs to get open for Ben.

In the past though we've had trouble containing defenders like that for as long as we held them off when we were passing later in the game...the Titans are a team that depends on them being able to have a defensive line that can produce a solid pass rush with a 4 man rush and we took that away from them late in the game which allowed us to storm down the field and score. It was more out of character for the Titans to be blitzing as heavy as they were early in the game than it was for them to be doing the 4-man rush and dropping into coverage late.

[Munboy]

The O-line did great late in pass protection.

Have to disagree with you on this one. Late in the game, the Titans were only rushing 4, which the Steelers Oline was able to handle. When they rushed more than 4, Ben had Titans crawling all over him. It seems like the Titans were unprepared for the no huddle. They just sat back in coverage and rushed the front 4. That gave time for WRs to get open for Ben.

In the past though we've had trouble containing defenders like that for as long as we held them off when we were passing later in the game...the Titans are a team that depends on them being able to have a defensive line that can produce a solid pass rush with a 4 man rush and we took that away from them late in the game which allowed us to storm down the field and score. It was more out of character for the Titans to be blitzing as heavy as they were early in the game than it was for them to be doing the 4-man rush and dropping into coverage late.

So it was a stagnant/predictable defensive rush that the Oline was able to protect against and the Oline wasn't able to adjust when more blitzers were brought? That was kind of my point. The 4 man rush, they did a good job, but was unable to adjust and fell apart when more rushers were brought. That's why I wasn't impressed with the line play late in the game....or all game, for that matter.

[Kelpshake]

Holmes got me 19 points...HECK YES!!!!!