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Brian Batko's Steelers chat: 11.15.21
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Brian Batko
11:01
Hi there. THis chat needs no introduction after that game. Fire away
Steeler in Virginia
11:02
Watching from the stadium, we didn't get too many replays of the running into the kicker, roughing the passer or the holding that negated Minkah's INT. Were they good calls in your opinion?
Brian Batko
11:03
The first two were bad. The Bush one I’m not sure because I was frantically typing up my instant analysis about how there were two game-changing turnovers in the blink of an eye. Haven’t gone back and looked at that call yet.
Justin
11:04
Brian, I am not one of those Rudolph haters and certainly was hoping he would succeed yesterday.  However, once again he he did not show anything special.  Now that Colbert and company have got a number of looks at him as a starter they must realize he is not our QB of the future, right?  RIGHT?!
Brian Batko
11:05
Yeah I think so. It’s really hard to ignore after yesterday. I was of the opinion that maybe you just turn things over to him to start 2022, find out what you have once and for all, good or bad, but I just can’t advocate for that approach anymore.
JB
11:06
it seemed to me we should have had Spillane on the field more. Bush can’t get off blocks and can’t tackle. This is concerning for a high pick middle linebacker. i think Spillane shoud have been on field more yesterday. I’m not saying that’s always the case but yesterday with lions running it down our throat he should have been. Your thoughts?
Brian Batko
11:07
Let’s not so quickly and easily forget how bad the defense overall and Spillane specifically played in the wild card game, another one where there was little resistance stopping the run. But yeah, with how bad Bush was playing yesterday, I wouldn’t have blamed the coaches if they just sat him down.
Cheese&Crackers
11:09
Have you ever seen an uglier game — any sport, any level -than yesterday’s fiasco?
Brian Batko
11:09
Probably. I covered high schools for a year or two. But NFL games shouldn't be as bad as high school games.
Eddie
11:10
Hi Brian, so Ray gave the coaching staff an 'F' grade, do you agree?  How can coaching be blamed for missed tacking, slippery ball conditions, injuries to Ben,Chase,TJ, Joe, and others, and overthrown passes from a backup?
Brian Batko
11:13
I'm not an overly "blame the coach" guy. But in that particular game, there are so many macro and mico things you can point to for that F. In the grand scheme, if you become the first team to not beat a winless opponent, that's horrible. Then there was questionable play-calling, questionable in-game decision-making, and even the Bush thing mentioned above - sure, you can't tackle for them, but you can bench someone if he isn't getting the job done. Maybe he should have.
Jason
11:15
Lost in the awful fumble to end the game is the absurdity of that play call to begin with. Why bother with a two yard pass that brings in all sorts of risk. Is a 54 yard field goal really all that much easier than 56? That should have been a 10 yard attempted pass or thrown out of bounds if nothing there. By throwing short of the sticks you also bring in the possibility of being stopped short and not having time to bring the field goal unit in or stop the clock. Dumb coaching.
Brian Batko
11:17
Yeah, that's a fair point. But in that weather, I can see why Tomlin thought the 2 yards, or whatever more Freiermuth could've fought for, might have mattered. And the call itself really didn't incur much risk in a normal dimension. Obviously, we were living in an alternate timeline by the end of that game, and the coaches should've considered that bizarro world. But the idea was for a quick-hitter, Freiermuth to quickly get out of bounds. Had they kicked with 15 seconds left and Boswell comes up just short, the coaches are getting crushed for having more time to work with, right?
Shane in Colrain, Ma
11:19
Has anyone talked about the Walk-off Safety That Might Have Been in OT when Goff was 'sacked' while having one foot in the endzone? They spotted the ball on the 2 yard line. A smart play would have been to bump him into the endzone and then wrap him up - for the win.
Brian Batko
11:20
No, I think the Pitt-Miami game from a few weeks ago had everyone exhausted from that discourse. Maybe it didn't make the rounds up in Colrain, but should-it-or-shouldn't-it-have-been-a-safety discussion was pretty popular around here for a while. And for the record, I think it was pretty clear the ball was out of the end zone on Cam Heyward's sack.
Retire21
11:22
Ray Ray looks more like a legit WR and maybe it's time to have someone else handle kicks given injuries?
Brian Batko
11:24
Um...no. I actually chose Ray-Ray McCloud for the "trending up" section of yesterday's instant analysis, and a reader called me on the carpet for it. But hey, as I said, and like you said, he was better than expected in that role. I'd pretty much completely written him off as a pass-catcher. He ain't exactly the next Jarvis Landry or anything, but he was fine. Not good enough that I'm ready to absolve him of his primary responsibility. But maybe someone else should get a crack at that because of how bad he's been at it lately. Steven Sims on Line 1?
Javi
11:25
Hello Bats. Cant say we didnt see this coming. How does Muth not know he HAS to get out of bounds at the end there? Coaching?
Brian Batko
11:25
Hello Javi. Ah, I don't put that on coaching. I'm sure he knew. He's a smart player. We didn't talk to him postgame - yet another example of the stuff you lose with no open locker room - but I have to assume that was just instinct kicking in, and he tried to fight for every inch.
dlbeggs
11:26
Brian, what on earth was Canada thinking with the game plan. 50 passes?? Really? It's a mud fest and he calls 50 pass plays. No wonder Najee was upset and yelling at the sideline as Gerry pointed out. I blame the loss on the coaches first and then on Dionte Johnson for situational football. Muth also for that matter. It's OT go down to play another play and win the game.
Brian Batko
11:27
Yeah, we won't talk to Canada until Thursday, but Tomlin said postgame the plan did not change when it flipped from Ben to Mason. He's either telling the truth and giving folks every reason to question said plan, or just trying to have Rudolph's back and avoid implying "he's not very good." But maybe he did that anyway, in a sense. Najee chalked up his gesturing to the "competitive side" of him, which is totally fair. He's human. I applaud him for not running away from that question.
Yates
11:28
Brian-  What to make about Joe Scho saying twice during his short presser that practice needs to be approached more seriously?
Brian Batko
11:29
Eh, not much. At least not to me. Also, I went back and listened, he did not say "more seriously," which would suggest they're dogging it out there Wednesday-Friday. He just said they have to take tackling and penalties seriously, which, uh, yeah, just kind of a throwaway comment that you make when you don't play well. This would be a real mountain-molehill situation if it keeps getting amplified and overanalyzed.
Buster
11:30
Is the tv coverage of the game on in the press box? If not you’re lucky. Myers and Johnston were just as bad as the game they were covering.
Brian Batko
11:31
Video yes, audio no. But I listen to the game on my phone, and yeah, no bueno. I hate to over-criticize broadcasters, kind of like officials, but Myers called Lions kicker "Santos" instead of Santoso and Steelers returner "McDonald" instead of McCloud. And that was just the opening kickoff. Literally.
FC
11:33
WOW...1st and goal and we throw three times with Harris in the backfield....not  a question, just a statement...we have to have the dumbest coaches in the league!!
Brian Batko
11:36
Well, no. That's just hyperbole. But that was a dumb sequence. The postgame explanation was that the first-down play was RPO, and Rudolph's pre-snap read was that the Lions stacked the box, but how about you just say screw it and run the ball regardless? Should've been an RP, as in run play. And second down sprint rollout right was just DOA. Third down is on Rudolph, had Ray-Ray McCloud wide open and skipped it.
Guest
11:37
Brian, The first drive was beautiful.Everyone on the same page, it was great. Then came the remaining 56 minutes and not even Shakespear could count the ways they let this one get away. What a mess. What a team effort.
Brian Batko
11:39
Did you know the works of Shakespeare might have been written by a guy whose family crest was a lion literally shaking a spear?
Joseph
11:40
What happened to Devin Bush? The middle linebackers seem to be the weak spot on Defense
Brian Batko
11:42
Yeah, they just cannot find the right fit there. It's truly mind-boggling, and in a sense tragic, how much of a struggling it's been since Ryan Shazier's injury.
Gregg from Shaler
11:42
HI Brian. Enjoyed the Cook piece on James Conner's "resurgence" in Arizona, but it got me thinking. Is it truly a resurgence or have we been so badly mismanaging the running game that we are abandoning talent when the problem is our line/scheme?
Brian Batko
11:44
You know, I've been wondering that myself. I haven't watched every carry or even every game of the Cardinals this year. Not enough hours in the day. But the runs I have seen, Conner looks fast enough, though not necessarily elusive or powerful. He's basically running through blocked-up holes, right? I think the Steelers found a better RB and Conner found a better situation for RBs.
Greg
11:45
Hi Brian.  I just don’t understand what Mike Tomlin was thinking about when he hired Matt Canada.  It was Tomlin who had the final say.  Our offense is an embarrassment to the NFL.  It’s a joke….a college rinky dink offense that is so easy to defend and and abysmal to watch.  What do the Steeler owner and front office think when they watch? Can’t they see the same things that you and I see?  Do they even care?  This team is headed straight to the bottom under this current coaching regime
Brian Batko
11:47
They probably think some of the same things fans and media do when they watch. They do care. And I'm not ready to bail on the Canada hire just yet. Let's be real, his QB situation has been average or below-average so far. Honestly, I'd like to see what he could do with a QB who's not Roethlisberger or Rudolph. I could be wrong. Just haven't seen enough that I think the guy should be canned.
Huck
11:48
why is it that so often the Steelers play like crap to low level teams?  AKA Lions, the Browns and Bengals in past years, the Jets...etc etc etc
Brian Batko
11:50
I'm sure Bills fans, Ravens fans, Titans fans and Bucs fans have all asked something similar over the last couple months. Not saying it's not an issue, but have you paid attention to the NFL lately?
Jud
11:50
Silver lining... Only a half game behind the Ravens.
Brian Batko
11:51
And a half-game ahead for a wild card!
Pete
11:52
Hi Brian. Do you think they will draft Pickett if he is available or will they make another Dan Marino mistake?
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