Steelers@Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread--London Edition

[yezzir]

AD during his press conference: " (Cassel) is more vocal."

Then he said something about that leading to more confidence/momentum. Don't have that exact quote.

[PacificNorseWest]

Sounds right. I mean, you could just tell that Cassel has much more command of an offense.

Ponder is too ho-hum and timid from the looks of it.

[The Breeze]

This defense really bothers me. They're pretty much make or break. They have playmakers that step up every now and then, but overall they have a crap ton of mediocrity in between that makes them look horrendous at times.

Considering what they rolled out there today...I was pleased with how they finished most plays. But your point is completely true.
We made 1 more big play on offense than they did and 1 more play on defense. The difference in the game and the last 2 games...we just came out on top today.

I thought Henderson played well today and Bishop. Bishop is a stud...he makes plays. Hodges also had a great tackle on special teams.

All in all, this defense is middle of the road. The better they play fundamentally the better off they'll be. But I don't see them shutting anyone out. Maybe a good goal for them would be to limit an opposing offense to under 400yds and work from there.

[mondry]

I'm actually not worried about the yardage, they're going to give up a ton. Every team knows they can exploit their TE's or attack Josh Robinson. The only thing they can really do is gamble and be aggressive, hoping to pick the right one to give help / blitz from. I'd say something like 50% of drives ending in field goals, 25% in turn overs, 25% in TD's. The TO's are there but they're giving up too many TD's compared to holding for FG's.

Sherels and Rhodes seem to be doing fine, but robinson is getting picked on so often that it's hard to say how good they are, he's just that big of a weakness. Maybe when Cook gets healthy we can move some guys around or at least that's my hope.

[The Breeze]

I'm actually not worried about the yardage, they're going to give up a ton. Every team knows they can exploit their TE's or attack Josh Robinson. The only thing they can really do is gamble and be aggressive, hoping to pick the right one to give help / blitz from. I'd say something like 50% of drives ending in field goals, 25% in turn overs, 25% iD's.

perhaps to some degree...but giving up yardage equates to TOP discrepancy and the dreaded 'defense being on the field' for too long. Today it was only 12+ minutes difference, nearly an entire qtr.

I wouldn't be ok with that being the norm. I think they need to figure out a way to get off the field with a bit more consistency.

I don't know if the talent can foot that bill, however.

Plus, it seems the offense is scoring more points via big play than long drive thus far....more play for the defense.

[vikeinmontana]

I don't know what game you were watching but our O-line looked pretty solid with Cassel back there. Crazy how you put a QB back there that can read a defense and make quick decisive throws can suddenly make your O-line look pretty darn good. The O-line looks bad with Ponder because he holds the ball too long for our offensive scheme. Cassel sacked just once (when he tried to run), and the fumble resulted in a first down. Good creative call Muskrat xD. And AD averaged 6.1 YPC. How was the O-line bad again?

The defense though? Yeah go ahead and rip them all you want. There's no defending them. QB's have thrown for 357, 292, 321, and now 383. That's 338 per game, a record shattering pace. Anyone still want to defend our cover 0 scheme? I forget, does the cover 2 mean leave the middle of the field wide open the entire game?

pass blocking looks fine and has for the most part all season. I've said as much. run blocking still has a long way to go. if I had a dollar for every time AD got smashed behind the line or a handoff was nearly intercepted i'd be loaded. I was watching the same game you were and the ironic thing is my post said how great it'd be to discuss this without a mention of ponder but alas...that was not meant to be.

our oline needs some work and that is not me apologizing for ponder, cassel, or anyone else who struggles on offense. it's just my take. we need to do a much better job opening lanes for the best back in the game because the better he runs the better our offense is. whether it's ponder, cassel, manning, brady, or ryan leaf.

[indianation65]

It's probably been mentioned some 5 pages previous, but the constant neck choke holds on Allen during the last Steelers' drive was making me crazy, no flags.

...wisdom

[yezzir]

It's probably been mentioned some 5 pages previous, but the constant neck choke holds on Allen during the last Steelers' drive was making me crazy, no flags.

...wisdom

It was was, and so was Robison getting held every other play, and being literally tackled 2 other times. Ridiculous.

[indianation65]

Appreciation friends...I watch at my parents' Cowboys house and do not stay online during games. I check into the forum hours later, but do not read all 35 + usual pages!

...wisdom

[tmscr]

there was just a different energy with the offense today. i don't think there's any arguing that. for those who ragged on musgrave/frazier and the conservative play calling, anyone notice a little more diversity with the calls today? cassel seems to bring a wider range of play calling possibilities. his strong arm was nice to see too. the accuracy will improve.

i have nothing against ponder. i think cassel benefitted greatly from better pass protection than ponder has had all year, and peterson was able to finally be peterson. plus, the pittsburgh D is certainly less formidable than it once was. it was an encouraging start for cassel, i'm just not sure who will be under center in carolina.

[The Breeze]

It was was, and so was Robison getting held every other play, and being literally tackled 2 other times. Ridiculous.

That one on Robison, on the last drive, was really bad IMO.

[King James]

there was just a different energy with the offense today. i don't think there's any arguing that. for those who ragged on musgrave/frazier and the conservative play calling, anyone notice a little more diversity with the calls today? cassel seems to bring a wider range of play calling possibilities. his strong arm was nice to see too. the accuracy will improve.

i have nothing against ponder. i think cassel benefitted greatly from better pass protection than ponder has had all year, and peterson was able to finally be peterson. plus, the pittsburgh D is certainly less formidable than it once was. it was an encouraging start for cassel, i'm just not sure who will be under center in carolina.

I was thinking about that too. With Ponder at helm, a lot of heat was directed at Bill Musgrave for being too predictable and conservative. Today, we basically saw the same plays, just better execution. The "terrible" o-line many people claim we have, gave Cassel all the time in the world to pick apart the Steelers today.

Cassel seems to be more synced with Musgrave's playbook than Ponder. This reminds me of Daren Bevell. Many people thought he was a crappy OC. But in reality we just didn't have a good QB to execute his system, with the exception of Favre. Now Bevell gets to light it up with Russell Wilson in Seattle. I think in the Vikings case, it may have been the players more so than coaches calling the wrong plays.

[LA Viking]

I think the offense/Cassel has been talked about to death, so I just want to touch on the defense...

On the one hand, I liked what I saw with the LB blitzes/extra pressure. On the other hand, how many yards did Brown have? He seemed to have his way with us. Couldn't we have slid some extra help over there? Except for Smith, our DBs range from bad to subpar. This game would have been an L if Pittsburgh had a run game...

[Funkytown]

Vikings 34-Steelers 24

Close.

[Funkytown]

EJ Henderson on WCCO after the game to talk Vikings

I am surprised no one took a chance on the guy...I think he can still be solid. It's a shame his career was cut short by injuries.

Speaking of former Vikings, I was sitting here watching the Falcons game and wondering about Ray Edwards. So, I googled him to see what he's been up to and I found these:





You guys probably hate these pictures, but I don't care. I HAD to share because I couldn't stop laughing. LOL. This guy is the KING OF THE SELFIE!!! He has a lot of sexy pictures online, even more naked than these.



Love it. We get it; you're sexy. Now get away from the toilet, and put some clothes on.