Spen

I don't like NFL Redzone. I much prefer the drama and suspense of an actual game instead of what I also think is a 'glorified highlights program'. They act as if the only good part of an NFL game happens within the 20 yard lines and I don't agree. To me its treating football similar to the way ESPN and others began covering baseball by primarily just showing homeruns during highlights. I guess if I was a gambler or super serious about fantasy sports I may be more interested in it. I'm sorry you are losing an actual game for it.

Sadly, I see things the same way and have the same worries.

Every QB benefits from YAC is true but when a QB overlooks (or doesnt even look for) open receivers and instead just dumps the ball to his RB who picks up big gains the numbers can be misleading. Ray Rice's great year receiving last year disguised the lack of improvement in Joe's games IMO. If Rice wasn't so successful receiving the ball and Joe had to look for open targets, I don't think it would have been pretty. Honestly if Rice wasn't so good last year I wonder if Bulger would have been brought in to "mentor" Joe resulting in Joe watching for a while. If so that may have hurt the team long term (maybe not) but I have to be honest and say that for just this one season with these offensive weapons; I think the team could go farther with Bulger.

Merely used as an example of he could become great or another Dilfer. Its really too soon to tell. He is better than Dilfer is now, but if he doesnt improve in the next couple of years, and I dont think he has much since being a rookie, he will be nothing more than an average QB IMO. Its really too soon to tell.

Traitor!

We just disagree. Allowing an unblocked safety to run free at the QB's blindside to strip the ball isn't a fluke in my book.

I wouldn't worry about fans running Joe out of town or being too critical. Overwhelmingly from what I read and hear is most people blaming anyone but Joe for the teams troubles.

I'm not pinning it all on him. I just said it looked like a statue of liberty play. Theres plenty of blame to go around both on the field and on the sideline. All more reasons, not less, to not be very confident. If it was a tipped pass that got returned, fluke play - OK it happens. This was a failure by the team, a bad play, not a fluke.

I think they will win. If they don't I think the playoffs are a long shot.

How is an all pro safety who lines up unblocked at this line of scrimmage and allowed to go to the QB untouched forcing a fumble a fluke? And is it a fluke if its happened before? It was like Dumbo Joe was handing him the ball in a statue of Liberty play.

Maybe some do. My trepidation about Flacco is that is see very little improvement from Flacco since his rookie season primarily in seeing the field and reading defenses. If its true about him not being allowed to audible I assume Cam and the coaches worry about those aspects too. As far as how good he will be, its tough to say at this point. He could be very good or might be a Dilfer.

Did I think we would? I never know what to expect from this team. Do I think we should have put the game out of reach long before the end? Absolutely. We really sucked Sunday night. I don't see any silver lining or confidence builder there.

Scoring 10 at home, losing with that effort in arguably the biggest game of the season doesn't exactly have my confidence level on the rise. Have at it though.

I think we will make the playoffs but I dont think we have any easy games. Why would anyone think we can beat Cincy? They confuse Joe. So that's a loss. I think we beat Cleveland and Houston and lose the other two.

That was a great play and it pleased me a lot. I am not sure he could have done that 6 weeks ago. I still think reading the field and defense is a weakness for him and think he relies on dumping the ball off the his RB far too much. But he is improving. Reading a defense and changing the play at the line? I dont think he can at this point. I really do think those things are why we have such a simple and conservative offense, in order to hide Joe's weaknesses. But I agree, open it up and see what happens. Hopefully he learns from mistakes and we and he are better for it sometime next year.

I know nothing about him. Love the HRs and RBIs but the average really scares me.

He did have Tomlinson in his prime too, who was great. I thought of that after I posted it.

I dont know why everyone is so certain that a change at OC would improve things. Cam had pretty good success as an OC in SD. Did he suddenly forget how to do the job? Or did he suck there too but the talent was high enough to overcome it? Is his game plan different and conservative because of certain weaknesses on this team? Is his game plan different because of Harbaugh? If so replacing him might not help. I'd like to be optimistic enough to think that if we replaced him then the offense and Joe would automatically be better. A lot of people, including me, thought the same thing with Cavanaugh, Fassell, Billick etc too. Color me silly if you want, but I do think the on field talent is more important the the offensive coordinator so if the offense isn't getting it done on the field then at least some of the, if not most, is on the players.

The Steelers did a good job covering Rice as an outlet for Joe, or making him stay in to block. If Joe doesn't have him as an outlet it usually doesn't end well.

I think there is plenty of blame to go around. I see an OC who abandons the run far too soon and who goes into a shell. I see a QB who has made only small steps in improvement since his rookie year. He continues to make fundamental mistakes by not stepping into his passes, throwing off his back foot, and forcing the ball where he has no business trying to force it. Plus while he has gotten a bit better I still dont think he reads the defense well and doesnt know when to audible. I think to a degree the vanilla safe offense is to protect Joe. If let loose, I for one, dont think it would be pretty right now. Having said that, letting him loose is exactly what they should do at this point. Lower our expectations for this season and probably next and let him make his mistakes. Probably, hopefully, he would work through them and be better for it. They are not real contenders this year anyhow, I think thats obvious at this point.

The first pass of the game was pretty stupid too. Throwing to Heap who had three Steelers around him. Yeah that's the way you want to start the most important game of the season. Luckily it didn't hurt us, just Heap.

I too find it hard to disagree with anything he said. Instead of Boldin they should have traded for some defensive depth. It would have helped this team more.

yeah I do.