Game Notes From Against the Ravens

[Riddle_Of_Steel]

Charlie Batch's Night

I can't really put into words what Charlie's night was. All I can do is smile and shake my head. Completing 10 - 11 passes for 110 yards in the fourth quarter are Roethlisberger-like stats and these numbers were put up by a seasoned veteran. He showed that he has heart and the ability to make this team believe, giving them more of a reason to win. Batch's night was simply remarkable. His emotions after the game shows he truly has passion and heart left for this team and will do whatever it takes for them to win, because they're like a family to him. Him getting teary eyed got me a little misty, too.

If this was Batch's final bow, it was a memorable one. Thanks for all you've done, Charlie. Steeler Nation loves you more than you could know.

^^^^THIS.

[Darkstorm05]

Originally Posted by StainlessStill

Did you see the middle of our offensive line completely FOLD on many occasions? They literally folded like a pancake in many instances. Dwyer broke many arm-tackles and simply doesn't go down after first contact.

Maybe I'm watching a different player.

I'm thinking you're watching a different player. 9 of Dwyer's runs either went for 1 yard, no gain, or negatives from -1 to -3. On 16 total rushes(Which has been pretty much his physical conditioning upper limit), that really isn't too impressive.

[StainlessStill]

Originally Posted by Darkstorm05

I'm thinking you're watching a different player. 9 of Dwyer's runs either went for 1 yard, no gain, or negatives from -1 to -3. On 16 total rushes(Which has been pretty much his physical conditioning upper limit), that really isn't too impressive.

You missed the part where most of those negatives were when Balty knew we were in running situations and the offensive line completed FOLDED inward. Sometimes Dwyer barely touched the ball and there were 3 Ravens in his face.

Don't exclude the fact that Dwyer made a helluva run with vision to the outside that tied the football game and when he did have room, was knocking guys over in one on one situations. Can't believe you are taking his overall numbers behind a makeshift o-line and excluding his touchdown run. That was hell of a lot impressive that deserves praise in a game where very few lanes were open.

[WVABE]

Some of the play calls drove me nuts, 3rd and 3 and Charlie throws it 40 yards down field.
To me it doesn't matter whether it was caught or not, do that crap on 1st or 2nd down,
3rd downs are for attempting to get a 1st down.
I'm all in favor of making the punter a lonely sob.

[Riddle_Of_Steel]

Originally Posted by Riddle_Of_Steel

Charlie Batch's Night

I can't really put into words what Charlie's night was. All I can do is smile and shake my head. Completing 10 - 11 passes for 110 yards in the fourth quarter are Roethlisberger-like stats and these numbers were put up by a seasoned veteran. He showed that he has heart and the ability to make this team believe, giving them more of a reason to win. Batch's night was simply remarkable. His emotions after the game shows he truly has passion and heart left for this team and will do whatever it takes for them to win, because they're like a family to him. Him getting teary eyed got me a little misty, too.

If this was Batch's final bow, it was a memorable one. Thanks for all you've done, Charlie. Steeler Nation loves you more than you could know.

^^^^THIS.

Charlie literally willed his team to a win last night. The emotions at the end of the game were even enough to get me sniffly.

If this was his last dance, I can't think of a better way to send Charlie off to pasture.

[Darkstorm05]

Originally Posted by StainlessStill

You missed the part where most of those negatives were when Balty knew we were in running situations and the offensive line completed FOLDED inward. Sometimes Dwyer barely touched the ball and there were 3 Ravens in his face.

Don't exclude the fact that Dwyer made a helluva run with vision to the outside that tied the football game and when he did have room, was knocking guys over in one on one situations. Can't believe you are taking his overall numbers behind a makeshift o-line and excluding his touchdown run. That was hell of a lot impressive that deserves praise in a game where very few lanes were open.

Why not? If someone points out that Mendenhall has had multiple 1000+ yard seasons, the Dwyer fans say that doesn't count because...well, just because. This forum is littered with posts saying Dwyer doesn't need blocking because he's all yards after contact. The very post I was quoting said all of his yards came after contact, so he "Wins", essentially. Yet now here we are, hearing that those other runs don't count, because he was taking contact. mendy was behind that line you say fell apart for his entire career, but everyone wants to discount his accomplishments. So which is it? Which runs count...only the ones where he makes positive yardage?

That's an entire 9 out of 16 total carries or over 50% of his body of work you'd like thrown out to try and prove he's awesome? if he were that great shouldn't he be able to show it without needing to chop apart his numbers to get rid of all the stuff his fans don't like?

[Darkstorm05]

Originally Posted by WVABE

Some of the play calls drove me nuts, 3rd and 3 and Charlie throws it 40 yards down field.
To me it doesn't matter whether it was caught or not, do that crap on 1st or 2nd down,
3rd downs are for attempting to get a 1st down.
I'm all in favor of making the punter a lonely sob.

That Bomb on 3rd and short, and that silly trick play where we had a WR passing were big head scratchers. No need for either of those plays.

[StainlessStill]

Why not? If someone points out that Mendenhall has had multiple 1000+ yard seasons, the Dwyer fans say that doesn't count because...well, just because. This forum is littered with posts saying Dwyer doesn't need blocking because he's all yards after contact. The very post I was quoting said all of his yards came after contact, so he "Wins", essentially. Yet now here we are, hearing that those other runs don't count, because he was taking contact. mendy was behind that line you say fell apart for his entire career, but everyone wants to discount his accomplishments. So which is it? Which runs count...only the ones where he makes positive yardage?

That's an entire 9 out of 16 total carries or over 50% of his body of work you'd like thrown out to try and prove he's awesome? if he were that great shouldn't he be able to show it without needing to chop apart his numbers to get rid of all the stuff his fans don't like?

Listen, I seriously don't know what you're talking about in your first couple sentence's to this debate. That looks to be another argument in itself so I'm not even going to try and break it down.

Why are you bringing Mendenhall in the fold and where are you getting we don't appreciate his accomplishments? Again irrelevant to my point.

Since you want to include Mendenhall for whatever reason, was Dwyer's performance against the Ravens ground-breaking last night? No, but he did make a splash play that I've never seen Menenhall make against the Ravens and when he did have the opportunity on one on one circumstances, he welcomes the contact, unlike Mendenhall, who wants to turn his back.

There was LITTLE to NO lanes last night for Dwyer to run through but he did have a handful of one on one's where he didn't go down on first contact situations.

Also, his vision on that T.D run was virtually the difference in the game (arguably) because Ray Rice countered with a long TD run of his own. Dwyer didn't have the stats, but he made the runs he needed to make in key situations and I'll take that all day long.

[Darkstorm05]

Originally Posted by StainlessStill

Listen, I seriously don't know what you're talking about in your first couple sentence's to this debate. That looks to be another argument in itself so I'm not even going to try and break it down.

Why are you bringing Mendenhall in the fold and where are you getting we don't appreciate his accomplishments? Again irrelevant to my point.

Since you want to include Mendenhall for whatever reason, was Dwyer's performance against the Ravens ground-breaking last night? No, but he did make a splash play that I've never seen Menenhall make against the Ravens and when he did have the opportunity on one on one circumstances, he welcomes the contact, unlike Mendenhall, who wants to turn his back.

There was LITTLE to NO lanes last night for Dwyer to run through but he did have a handful of one on one's where he didn't go down on first contact situations.

Also, his vision on that T.D run was virtually the difference in the game (arguably) because Ray Rice countered with a long TD run of his own. Dwyer didn't have the stats, but he made the runs he needed to make in key situations and I'll take that all day long.

It comes from all the other Dwyer worshiping threads. Not worth digging up, but they're typically full of people saying Dwyer doesn't need blocking, Mendy's past 3 seasons are irrelevant, etc..

Anyway, to your points, I just don't agree with him coming up in critical situations, or him running anyone over. When we were desperate for a 1st down to seal away the Chiefs game, we came up a yard short on Dwyers run because he got blown up 1 on 1 by a cornerback. The last two games he has deliberately gone to the ground with zero contact and waited to be downed instead of trying to make a run. That doesn't show this desire to hit anyone his fans keep pointing to.

And again, none of his supporters want to explain how we're supposed to have a workhorse #1 back who can only take 17 or so carries a game before he's too worn out too keep going. Not to mention that we've now seen a few times that clogging the middle pretty much puts an end to his day. So, just not seeing him as a #1 guy. Sorry.

[StainlessStill]

Why are you labeling his fans "supporters"? You act like Dwyer fans have formed a cult, haha. Not sure what you have against the dude, he's just another guy with potential givin an opportunity.

NOBODY within this Steelers running core is the #1 guy just yet. It's no secret that Dwyer is the most consistent out of the bunch and we're willing to give him a shot for the role since he welcomes contact and had the ability to break for big runs, alas the go a-head touchdown against the vaunted Baltimore Ravens defense yesterday. Didn't see anyone else stepping up within our backs and the deactivation of Mendenhall with Dwyer getting the start tells you our coaching staff feels the same.

Got to remember now that EVERY SINGLE ONE of our running backs have been hurt this season, including Dwyer so it's going to take time for him to get going and get use to the workload. Besides, we need to COMMIT to somebody and Dwyer is the guy. Redman got it, Mendenhall got it, now it's Dwyer's turn.