Week 1 Post Game Thread

[Moose]

This was a hard game to watch. Thank God it was the 1st week. We were outplayed on offense and defense, and definitely out coached. They had our number and were ready at the kickoff.....game was over within in the first minute. After the first series I could tell what way this game was going to go. We will see them again in November at Heinz, and they know that. Interesting start. ugh

[tyesko]

Rather have this god aweful performance in september than in january...thats the only positive statement i have....

[55BaileyFan]

http://steelerfreakmov.blogspot.com/...baltimore.html

NO defense...I hope it was just the lack of an off season. The Offense SUCKS SO BAD. RUN THE DAMN BALL. We threw 15 times in the first half and only ran 9 times but still only had 60 yards passing to 53 yards rushing.

Please football GODS HELP US get back on track.

[Goldsteel86]

Wow, big money for Troy, a virtual no-show today, as a matter of fact torched for a touchdown by a TE, Woodley big contract, one sack late in the game, hmmmm we may want to re-think our defensive scheme, may not be the #1 defense in the league this year. Offensively, someone needs to tell Ben his honeymoon is over, Arians' play calling sucks once again, Sanders, Wallace and Miller the only Offensive highlights. I beleive next week will tell, lets hope just a bad week, if it looks like this next week we're in serious trouble, anyone else see a possible SB hangover?????

[ColoradoSteelerFan]

Well...it don't get much worse than that. SIX turnovers. I don't care what else you do in a game, turn the ball over on 6 possessions and you are gonna get destroyed.

What bothers me is the way the defense played. They were embarassed. This isn't supposed to happen to the mighty Steeler defense...the center of everything that is Steeler football. 3rd down conversions over +6 yards over and over. I'm trying hard to convince myself that this was just one game...just one horribly wrong game. But something about this feels like it means more. There is something about this that just feels like a turning point in Steelers history. Maybe the age of the defense has finally caught up. I know...I'm sounding like Chicken Little.

Maybe it was just one game. Gotta pray that this was just one game.

[GMU Steeler]

It's a shitty as hell loss and I sure as hell hope the team rebounds or else it's gonna be a long season. Ravens looked good on both sides of the ball so I will acknowledge that. However, it's week one and they won Round 1 last year too. No reason we can't get them when they come to our house in November. Hopefully by then things will be better. I am disappointed but not in panic mode. Just gotta look at this game and learn from mistakes. Can't blame anyone but ourselves.

[Chadmagic]

it isn't just 1 game! its a division game so it counts more come playoff time!
You have to win your division. How do you do that? Beat the teams in your division! We didn't so the best we can hope for is a split with them. If we both beat the Browns/Bengals in those games, then we have tied in out division. Then our playoff fate is up to other factors such as POINTS for/against, strength of schedule, and common opponents. I don't want my playoff hopes to rest on the shoulders of other teams!

Take control of your own destiny and beat your division rivals. I don't care if you lose all the other games. Beat your division and you are in the playoffs.

[JCPsteelers]

That was ugly.

Its just one game, not going to get overly concerned about it. Ravens were ready to play and we weren't.
We've gotten lit up in Balt before.

[CTFan]

I think you guys got ambushed today and I don't expect the next meeting to play out in such a lopsided fashion. However, the Ravens made major changes in the off season, all of which were done with the Steelers in mind. Your team, OTOH, kept a pat hand and gave out some huge contracts that will have long term consequences. In a way, it's understandable, you have to reward those guys who have done so much, but it's a meter that's going to keep running for a while.

As I see it, the Steelers had a horrible game, the Ravens had a great game, but now the genie is out of the bottle and you'll have a hard time getting it back in.

[tanda10506]

Originally Posted by JCPsteelers

That was ugly.

Its just one game, not going to get overly concerned about it. Ravens were ready to play and we weren't.
We've gotten lit up in Balt before.

Yes we have but that's not why so many our panicking, the problem is the way they beat us. Usually when we lose you can look back and see where bad decisions were made and where schemes failed to change even when they didn't work (screen passes, our D vs Brady which never changes), but none of that was why we lost. We lost cause we were outplayed, physically, you can't really change that. Our corners and LB's where a step behind everybody, at best. The D line is done, they didn't get much rush last year but at least they were excellent against the run, now they are nether.Polamalu was slow and non effective. The O line just flat sucks, you can't change that, they can practice and be sub par but that's at best, they just flat suck. What I'm getting at is the reason we lost isn't correctable. Now there were other reasons that contributed that we can change, I've never seen Ben play that pathetic. I've seen him play bad, but not like a rookie who doesn't even know who is where on the field or senses any pressure. It was horrible watching him this game, I almost felt bad for him he looked so stupid. Now he can pick it back up, it could have been a one game fluke, but he's played poorly in his last two big games (this game was somewhat big) and the questions are going to raise. It's time for him to either step up and be the Ben we saw in the later parts of the 2008 season, or he might go into a downward spiral. I'm not saying that's going to happen, I haven't seen enough this year. Our run looks good but we will continue to allow Arians to not use it and call stupid plays, it can be fixed, fire the piece of sh*t. You don't have that many fans calling for your head if your good or even average, he is horrible, and can contribute poorly enough to make them loose some games this year. WR's have to get open, where Brown and Sanders? Why was Wallace running short hooks and stopping 5-10 yards out? That can be changed but the receivers go to step up. Our passing defense has to play better, even if we are not getting pressure, that doesn't mean as a corner that you just give your guy a cushion every time, ridiculous. LeBeau can not simply keep acting like he's not figured out, I don't like to throw criticism his way, but damn, when teams all start playing one style against you and beating you every time then it's time to do something different, and the blitzes have to change. It all worries me but I think the things to really watch are the defenses performance (pressure and coverage) and Ben. Although to have a winning season all these issues need to be addressed somewhat, the improtant one's are those. If the defense actually is slower and they weren't just outplayed by a team that was ready for them, and/or Ben goes down the "average" road, it's an end of an era.