POLL: NFL - Contender or Pretender?

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I still have to watch the game, that will be tonight, so, what happened? Do the Steelers won the game because the referees? Or they deserved to win?

 

Oops, so many games, so little sleep. There were so many non-calls on both sides that any single one does not really matter. There were plenty of times the Pittsburg receivers mauled the secondary of the Colts (and should have been called for offensive pass interference). The officials were allowing a significant amount of contact on both sides.

Like I said: when the call/non-call benefits the fan's team it's part of the game -- when the opposing team benefits it's poor officiating. We tend to overlook and downplay the calls that go our way.

Everyone who won deserved to win. The Colts and 'Da Bears deserved to lose. The great open field tackle by Big Ben alone make the Steelers game worth watching.

[ January 17, 2006, 19:44: Message edited by: T2Bruno ]

 

I think Instant Replay has made most Officials timid. Instead of making the right call, they either make no call at all, or most often, the call that can be reviewed and reversed. I remember when I first started watching football the players didn't dare to get into the face of the Officials, now every play they whine and plead for a flag...almost like watching the San Antonio Spurs

Now, without delay, I'll make my mostly wrong picks for championship weekend...

Seattle and Denver.

(now everyone can rush out and put their money on Carolina and Pittsburgh)

[edit]I just got a weird nauseated feeling at the thought of Denver and Seattle in the Super Bowl

 

@Sydax - no, at least not in my opinion. In fact the exciting ending was set up by a call that went against the Steelers. If Polamalu's interception was called correctly, it is unlikely that Indy would have had enough time left once they got the ball back to make a serious comback.

And yeah, there's something that just doesn't feel right about the distinct possibility of Seattle playing in the Superbowl. I obviously want the Steelers to win, but I can accept seeing the Broncos and Super Bowl Sunday - we're used to that. Not so with the Seahawks.

 

Hey, hey, hey. I've been a Seahawks fan for 20 years now -- IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME!

Besides, Holmgren is a somewhat familiar sight in the Superbowl.

 

Congratulations abound for the Steelers. They certainly deserved that win, and it really would've been unfair for the Colts to have won on that overturned interception.

There were tons of bad calls and no calls on both sides of the game. The interception, and the non-called "offsides" where Steelers jumped, Colts jumped to show the jump, and the officials didn't do anything but stand around with fingers in their asses, was a clear demonstration.

I believe that had the Colts been prepared mentally for the game, we would've seen a definite Colts win (although by a slimmer margin than earlier in the season). The team seemed to still be screwed up over Dungy's son's suicide. And their month without a meaningful game didn't help (coincidentally, they lost the Chargers game, their first loss, right after Dungy's son died and Dungy was absent).

The Colts' defense didn't stop the Steelers at all. I don't know if that was because of Dungy's playcalling or the players' lack of concentration. The offensive line protected Manning horribly, when in the past they've held back equally strong defenses. Manning and his receivers weren't on the same page the entire game, which is rather rare.

In the game that was played, the Steelers were the better team. Had Dungy's son not died, I believe the Colts would be in the Super Bowl in a few weeks. Ahh well, there's always next year.

*turns his eyes to the Steelers* And you Pittsburg people better win the damned Super Bowl, because you just beat the best team in the league. Although I fear the altitude of Denver's stadium might give the Broncos an easy win...

 

I thought that James Dungy died a few days after the Colts lost to the Chargers?

I actually think that the Chargers exposed a glaring weakness in the Colts which the Steelers later used to their advantage.

Manning has had trouble reading the blitz when he faces a 3 - 4 defense. It was exposed somewhat against Jacksonville and Cleveland, which the Colts were able to defeat due to a strong rushing game. The Chargers and the Steelers were able to shut down the Colts rush and then confuse Manning's reads for a passing game. In his post-game comments, Manning basically dumped on his O-line...but in reality he'd better spend the off season looking at a lot of film so this weakness won't be exploited next year.

I also think it was a huge error to rest players. Dungy already knew he had a bye week...he should have played all starters against Seattle and Arizona. They're pros and they're paid to play. Can't play to avoid injury.

I like the Colts and was rooting for them to run the table if for no other reason than to shut up the '72 Dolphins (I don't like the idea of celebrating someone elses defeat...you celebrate when you win). I like Manning...but I'm no longer sure they really were the best team in the league...best teams show up for every game.

Also, Peyton is in danger of gaining a damaging rep...the "best" quarterback who could never win the big one.

I'm rooting for Denver for two reasons...I've always been a Jake Plummer fan...and...if I pull for Denver it almost gurantees a Steeler win for Aldeth.

 

I also thought that Dungy's son died a few days after the Chargers game. I mean, if he died right before that game, I imagine I would have read hundreds of articles of "would the Colts have lost if Dungy was there to coach them?" and I don't remember reading anything like that, so I have to assume James' death was sometime afterwards.

I also think the initial blue print for stopping the Colts wasn't what the Chargers did this year but what the Patriots have done the past two years. Still, certain things that T2B points out are certainly correct - it helps to play a 3-4 defense, because it's easier to disguise blitzes, and it's essential to have safeties that can blitz as well. One of the reasons that the Patriots were not able to do that when they played the Colts this year was injuries. Bruschi was not yet at full game speed, and they were completely decimated at safety with injuries. They couldn't use their blue print because they didn't have the players to implement it.

 

Manning will have to wrestle that rep from Marino -- he still has a long ways to go there.

I think Manning actually was correct in his whining (although he never should have said it). One of the best offensive lines in football just did not seem to come to the game. There were so many missed blocks it was just pathetic. Even when Manning was obviously pointing out where the blitz was coming from, the offensive line was unable to adjust. The blitzes were not hard to see -- the Steelers defense was really pretty obvious.

The Colts offensive line was unable to adequately break away and set-up good screens -- that's just poor playing. The 3-4 should have been picked apart by Manning, but his offensive line allowed three rushers to pressure him.

That said, Manning was clearly not on his game either. A lot of poorly thrown passes even when he wasn't pressured. Big Ben showed poise in the pocket -- Peyton collapsed, just as his brother did.

I think Plummer does better in pressure situations. The same defense is not going to rattle him as much. I don't think the Steelers will be able to pressure him enough with a three man front.

 

Hmm. After going back to doublecheck the dates, you're correct - Dungy's son died just before the Seattle game, rather than the Chargers game. My bad ^^;

And I agree - the starters should've played all of the games despite having no "meaningful" advantages to continue playing for. At the time I thought maybe they wanted to keep some aces in their sleeves by keeping them out of the Seattle game, in case that matchup came out as the Super Bowl lineup; but still, it would've been better in my opinion to play them.

Weakness against the 3-4 defense, huh? I don't think they're really as weak against it as that last game would imply. However, it certainly is the form of defense they have the most problems with. With Dungy's prowess as a defensive coach, I think he'd better do some real thinking on how to stop it this off-season.

I stand by the following three statements, though: [1] the Colts played a bad game due in part to lack of preparation, and in part to the cloud still hanging over the team from Dungy's son's death; [2] had the Colts come into the game fully ready mentally, we would've seen a Colts victory, albeit by a smaller margin than in their first meeting with the Steelers; and [3] the Steelers had better go to the Super Bowl and win it, or I'll be pissed.

 

@bruno
It's not so much the fact that they disguised the blitzers, but they often blitzed nobody, and when they did blitz, it was everyone. We rushed him with 3 ppl a whopping 19 times...couldnt tell ya where I saw that stat but I remember it.

Also we disguised the blitzes better than it seemed at times. 2 times Polamalu got to him by faking like he was going back to cover...which he commonly did...and then turning around and bullrushing through. many of the linebackers did this as well and we used it to our advantage. On one of Porters sacks the inside linebacker played that move and took a step towards the outside lineman and froze him...Porter bowled him over and got the sack.

 

To further what LoS was saying, it isn't just the number of people Pittsburgh rushed, it's also where they are coming from. The Colts had almost 60 plays in the game, and so LoS number of 19 represents about 1/3 of the total plays. For the vast majority of plays, the Steelers rushed either 4 or 5 people. That in itself is not a very big number, as all offensive lines consist of 5 people. Also, many blocking schemes feature a tight end and/or a back, so on every pass play, the quarterback is being defended by at least 5 and as many as 7 blockers.

So just looking at the numbers, it certainly seems like Manning should have had adequate protection. The problem is that on every play, any of the 3 lineman, the 4 linebackers or the strong safety can rush the quarterback. So you're right in saying 4 or 5 rushers isn't a lot, but the problem is you don't know which 4 or 5 are coming. In their base 3-4 defense it's typically the three down lineman and one or two others that I listed above.

The Steelers are also unusual in how they play their nickel defense. The nickel defense gets its name because you have a fifth defense back (as opposed to 4 in the base defense). So it's the whole nickel=5 thing. When most teams go to a nickel defense, they remove one linebacker and replace him with a defensive back. The Steelers are very unusual in that they remove a defensive lineman and replace him with a defensive back. It's essentially a 2-4 defense at that point. That means you only know for sure two of the four or five possible rushers. The other thing that Pittsburgh did was to rush a lot of people from one side. For example, they would rush five, but four of the five would all rush the same side of the line, usually the side that would eliminate the running back or the tight end as a potential blocker. The result was that even though Indianapolis had more blockers than Pittsburgh had rushers, they were not in the proper position to block effectively. There's a problem if one side of your line can block a maximum of three people, and four rushers come from that side.

 

Steelers also have small, agile fast linebackers...similar to the Patriots and Chargers.

Of course, when talking about NFL..."small" is relative.

 

well some of our LB's are small..Farrior, Foote, Haggans....Porter and Harrison on the other hand....Harrison is a monster lol

 

Steelers vs Seahawks Superbowl. Anyone surprised?

 

Nope. I knew the Steelers would get it since the start of the playoffs. And the Seahawks just don't matter.

 

I agree, on the Steelers anyway. I knew they were going to the big one once the first quarter of the Steelers @ Indy game was over.

Seahawks? Who gives a damn. The NFC's a joke, and I feel they've been such ever since the Dallas dynasty fell apart.

 

Oh man, I gotta call on that. I went back and checked the four pages of responses on this thread, and I didn't see you once predict that Pittsburgh was going to the Super Bowl. The fact is, that pretty much nobody (myself included) expected Pittsburgh to defeat Indianapolis. There were many people (myself included again) that thought it was possible, but there is a ton of difference between thinking it is possible for a team to win and expecting a team to win.

But enough of that. For now, it's PARTY TIME!!!

My beloved Steelers are going to the Super Bowl for the first time in 10 years. As I have stated my prediction for the Steelers for each round in the playoffs up to this point, I will say that I expect them to beat Seattle. (For the record, I expected them to beat Cincinnati, I didn't expect them to beat Indy, and I expected them to beat Denver.)

Not only are the Steelers the first #6 seed to ever make the Super Bowl, but they are also the first team to make the Super Bowl by defeating the top three seeds in the conference. They are also playing the #1 seed from the NFC (Seattle) so it can be said that the Steelers will have to beat all of the league's top teams in order to win the Super Bowl. (Not to be down on the other NFC teams, but IMHO Seattle is the only NFC team that deserves to be mentioned as "among the best in the league".

The other shocking thing is that Pittsburgh was a #6 seed, while Seattle was a #1 seed, and yet Pittsburgh is being installed as the early 4-point favorite to win the Super Bowl. It goes to show that a lot of people still think that the AFC is the superior conference.

 

Aldeth it may have nothing at all to do with thinking AFC is the superior conferernce, although it is right now.

We have dominated everyone we have played for the past 7 weeks, not just on offense or just on defense but in every aspect of the game. We were rated as underdogs for every playoff game, except maybe Cincinatti. We were expected to lose to Indy, and Denver, although I expected us to win both. We did and now I have one more expectation....for Bettis to walk away from the game with one for the thumb.

 

I've always been amused by fans who say 'we' when talking (writing) about a professional team. Did you play for them? Do you work for the organization? Perhaps you own stock?

People are just on the 'happy for the Steelers' rollercoaster. The four point is just necessary to even the number of bets.

Seahawks are the better team.