Hall of Fame Game rewatch details

[gimmesix]

These are only from the first possession, when we were on defense:

The opening kickoff only went a couple of feet deep into the end zone, but Niswander got good hang time on it, which is why I believe the Pittsburgh returner chose to down it.

Starting DL was RDE (5-tech) Urban, NT (1-tech) Watkins, LDE (3-tech) Gallimore and LEO/DPR Basham (presumably in place of Gregory/Lawrence). LVE, Jaylon and Parsons were the three true linebackers, with Smith in the middle.

Watkins got a decent push one-on-one against the center on Pitt's first offensive play, but it was a quick setup and throw. The Steelers' receiver settled into the zone between Parsons and Joseph for a 7-yard completion. They ran a receiver at Parsons to draw him toward the sideline and a receiver at Jaylon to keep him locked in the middle. It seemed like Joseph kind of played it soft as he was the only one who would have been able to make a play on the ball.

On second-and-3, we replaced Urban with Armstrong (not sure why we'd do that) and played a nickel front. LVE and Jaylon were the linebackers. Gallimore got pushed out of the hole by the guard and a tight end coming out of the backfield blocked Basham to the outside. The right tackle released and shoved Jaylon back 2 or 3 yards. The center released and got on LVE, who fought off the block enough to get in on the tackle with SS/LB Kearse. The Steelers back and line carried the pile to get about 8 yards on the run.

Same front on first-and-10 with Parsons and Neal as the linebackers, and essentially on both of these plays Kearse lined up like a third linebacker. Five-step drop and Armstrong came around the LT to get a hit on the quarterback as he dropped it off to the back. Parsons tried to pick his way through on the blitz and was taken down at the QB's feet. Basham also hit the QB after Armstrong. Clear dumpoff to Najee Harris with Neal coming up to make a good open-field tackle after a 3-yard gain.

On second-and-7, we essentially ran a 5-man front (3-4 with both OLBs on the line) with Parsons at RE and LVE as the only true linebacker. Urban, Watkins and Gallimore were the interior and Basham was the other DE/OLB. Kearse lined up next to LVE again like a dime LB. Pittsburgh ran a jet sweep, which completely fooled all of our linemen, but Parsons played contain well enough to force the receiver to have to bank around him a little. LVE pursued down the line to keep the play wide and Kearse held his ground well enough against a TE to get the receiver out of bounds after a 2-yard gain.

Back to the nickel front on third-and-5 with Parsons and Kearse as the LBs. Fairly quick throw on an out to Claypool, who beat Brown one-on-one for about 11 yards. Very little pressure as we tried to stunt both ends (Basham and Armstrong) and Pittsburgh picked it up.

On first-and-10, the Steelers stacked their blockers and we countered by bringing both Jaylon and Parsons up on the line on the left side with Basham at right end. Parsons shot past a very weak block by the TE (It appeared that he thought Parsons since he was on the edge of the six-man "front" had outside contain, when Jaylon actually did, so the TE took an outside blocking position and Parsons went inside of him). It was either another jet sweep or a fake one, but the receiver knocked the ball out of the QB's hand and Parsons was in great position to get on it for the recovery.

That's all I have time for tonight as I need to get some sleep. I just thought maybe some of you would enjoy reading what I saw. We weren't really stopping the Steelers until the unforced error, but we probably also weren't expecting them to run jet sweeps in the opening preseason game.

If enough of you find this interesting, I'll try to do some more much later today.

 

[JoeKing]

Who cares? I didn't watch the game for a progress report from the perspective of an amateur eye. Only the coaching staff cares about such and they don't want it from an amateur eye. You've wasted your time on an audience that doesn't exist. Don't do this again!


j/k Thanks for posting.

 

[bigE79]

These are only from the first possession, when we were on defense:

The opening kickoff only went a couple of feet deep into the end zone, but Niswander got good hang time on it, which is why I believe the Pittsburgh returner chose to down it.

Starting DL was RDE (5-tech) Urban, NT (1-tech) Watkins, LDE (3-tech) Gallimore and LEO/DPR Basham (presumably in place of Gregory/Lawrence). LVE, Jaylon and Parsons were the three true linebackers, with Smith in the middle.

Watkins got a decent push one-on-one against the center on Pitt's first offensive play, but it was a quick setup and throw. The Steelers' receiver settled into the zone between Parsons and Joseph for a 7-yard completion. They ran a receiver at Parsons to draw him toward the sideline and a receiver at Jaylon to keep him locked in the middle. It seemed like Joseph kind of played it soft as he was the only one who would have been able to make a play on the ball.

On second-and-3, we replaced Urban with Armstrong (not sure why we'd do that) and played a nickel front. LVE and Jaylon were the linebackers. Gallimore got pushed out of the hole by the guard and a tight end coming out of the backfield blocked Basham to the outside. The right tackle released and shoved Jaylon back 2 or 3 yards. The center released and got on LVE, who fought off the block enough to get in on the tackle with SS/LB Kearse. The Steelers back and line carried the pile to get about 8 yards on the run.

Same front on first-and-10 with Parsons and Neal as the linebackers, and essentially on both of these plays Kearse lined up like a third linebacker. Five-step drop and Armstrong came around the LT to get a hit on the quarterback as he dropped it off to the back. Parsons tried to pick his way through on the blitz and was taken down at the QB's feet. Basham also hit the QB after Armstrong. Clear dumpoff to Najee Harris with Neal coming up to make a good open-field tackle after a 3-yard gain.

On second-and-7, we essentially ran a 5-man front (3-4 with both OLBs on the line) with Parsons at RE and LVE as the only true linebacker. Urban, Watkins and Gallimore were the interior and Basham was the other DE/OLB. Kearse lined up next to LVE again like a dime LB. Pittsburgh ran a jet sweep, which completely fooled all of our linemen, but Parsons played contain well enough to force the receiver to have to bank around him a little. LVE pursued down the line to keep the play wide and Kearse held his ground well enough against a TE to get the receiver out of bounds after a 2-yard gain.

Back to the nickel front on third-and-5 with Parsons and Kearse as the LBs. Fairly quick throw on an out to Claypool, who beat Brown one-on-one for about 11 yards. Very little pressure as we tried to stunt both ends (Basham and Armstrong) and Pittsburgh picked it up.

On first-and-10, the Steelers stacked their blockers and we countered by bringing both Jaylon and Parsons up on the line on the left side with Basham at right end. Parsons shot past a very weak block by the TE (It appeared that he thought Parsons since he was on the edge of the six-man "front" had outside contain, when Jaylon actually did, so the TE took an outside blocking position and Parsons went inside of him). It was either another jet sweep or a fake one, but the receiver knocked the ball out of the QB's hand and Parsons was in great position to get on it for the recovery.

That's all I have time for tonight as I need to get some sleep. I just thought maybe some of you would enjoy reading what I saw. We weren't really stopping the Steelers until the unforced error, but we probably also weren't expecting them to run jet sweeps in the opening preseason game.

If enough of you find this interesting, I'll try to do some more much later today.

Keep it coming brother,much appreciated.

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

Who cares? I didn't watch the game for a progress report from the perspective of an amateur eye. Only the coaching staff cares about such and they don't want it from an amateur eye. You've wasted your time on an audience that doesn't exist. Don't do this again!


j/k Thanks for posting.

 

[charron]

Thank you for the breakdown

 

[NotForLong]

Who cares? I didn't watch the game for a progress report from the perspective of an amateur eye. Only the coaching staff cares about such and they don't want it from an amateur eye. You've wasted your time on an audience that doesn't exist. Don't do this again!


j/k Thanks for posting.

Hater

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

I remember a guy did this on another forum. He took a lot of heat. Deservedly so. He took constructive criticism or disagreement pretty poorly.

I haven't read through every word, but just from scanning, you seem to have a better knowledge base on terminology and scheme. So I think you'll do well educating others on the more nuanced aspects.

Take any objection or criticism with a grain of salt. I dig it.

 

[gimmesix]

I remember a guy did this on another forum. He took a lot of heat. Deservedly so. He took constructive criticism or disagreement pretty poorly.

I haven't read through every word, but just from scanning, you seem to have a better knowledge base on terminology and scheme. So I think you'll do well educating others on the more nuanced aspects.

Take any objection or criticism with a grain of salt. I dig it.

Well, I try not to give too much opinion and just put down what I observe. It usually works better when you can keep it objective instead of letting biases show. For instance, looking at the fumble recovery, it's pretty clear based on how we played that that Jaylon Smith had outside contain. If not, then Parsons going inside the tight end would have been wrong because it left us with no one on the outside if the tight end blocked down. You can also see Jaylon take a stutter-step to the outside while Parsons didn't make any move toward the sideline. Because of the fumble, though, Jaylon followed Parsons in chasing the ball. That's all observable.

I actually liked the design of that play defensively because it seemed to confuse the tight end, who stepped out toward the sideline to block Parsons when Parsons was going inside of him. It seemed pretty clear that he expected Parsons to have outside contain instead of Jaylon because of alignment. Either that or it was very poorly designed offensive blocking.

 

[JoeKing]

Hater