Tag: collapse

Steelers Week 4 recap: What happened to the defense?

Usually a strong point for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the defense struggled throughout the contest, resulting in Pittsburgh’s first loss.

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense was the best in the league. They were number one in total scoring defense, total yardage, and second in rushing defense. However, this week against Indianapolis was a different story.

The Colts put up more points in the first quarter than any of the previous Steelers’ three opponents had. Pittsburgh was allowing an average of approximately 70 rushing yards per game, and Indianapolis broke that number with only two drives.

An injury to Alex Highsmith, and defensive line struggles in Week 3 could be responsible for the setback. However, it wasn’t just the edge rushers and defensive line, the secondary allowed Pittman to have 100 receiving yards by the end of the first half, and 113 yards total in the contest.  The offense was able to rebound towards the end of the game, the defense, however, gave up another 10 points in the second half.

Pittsburgh has a tough stretch of games coming up. However, the Steelers appear to have a small glimmer of hope for their Week 5 matchup, where their opponent, the Dallas Cowboys, may be without star player Micah Parsons.

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6 things that went wrong for Packers during fourth quarter collapse vs. Falcons

A lot of things went wrong as the Packers collapsed during the fourth quarter against the Falcons on Sunday. Here are the top six.

As is the case with most late-game collapses, a lot of different things had to go wrong for the Green Bay Packers to blow a 24-12 lead in the fourth quarter and lose to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

The offense fell apart. The defense couldn’t make a stop. The special teams gave away important yards. The complementary football that led the Packers to the doorstep of a 2-0 start evaporated during the final 15 minutes of football for the visitors at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

As a result, the Packers are 1-1 and heading home after a stingingly disappointing defeat.

Here are all the big things that combined to create the Packers’ collapse on Sunday:

Short-handed Packers suffer total, three-phased collapse in Atlanta

The Packers were awful on offense, defense and special teams while squandering a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter against the Falcons.

The Green Bay Packers didn’t have left tackle David Bakhtiari, running back Aaron Jones or receiver Christian Watson for Sunday’s showdown with the Atlanta Falcons, and left guard Elgton Jenkins left in the first half with a knee injury.

The short-handed Packers also led 24-12 entering the fourth quarter but then suffered through what can only be described as a total, three-phased collapse.

After the 25-24 defeat at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, coach Matt LaFleur referenced an inability to play complementary football as the primary reason behind the crushing defeat.

Upon further review, an inability to accomplish much of anything on offense, defense and special teams cost the Packers what could have been a 2-0 start to the 2023 season.

On offense, the Packers ran 10 plays and gained a total of 11 yards over three drives in the fourth quarter. The result of the three drives: punt (three-and-out), punt (three-and-out), turnover on downs (four plays). Jordan Love nearly threw a pick-six, was 0-for-6 passing and botched a quarterback sneak. A.J. Dillon rushed four times for only 11 yards and was stuffed on 3rd-and-1.

On defense, the Packers gave up three straight scoring drives, including a 75-yard touchdown drive after the Packers took a 24-12 lead and a 12-play, 66-yard drive resulting in the go-ahead field goal with 57 seconds left. The Falcons converted five times on third or fourth down. The Packers allowed passing plays of 45 yards (Mack Hollins), 29 yards (Bijan Robinson) and 24 yards (Drake London) and 56 total rushing yards over the three drives.

On special teams, the Packers had a 15-yard penalty (face mask, Jonathan Owens) covering a punt and gave up 16 yards on another punt return, squandering what could have been long fields for the Falcons.

Overall, the Falcons held the football for roughly 11 minutes of game time and out-gained the Packers 166-11 in the fourth quarter.

4th Q drives Result Score (started 24-12)
ATL 12 plays, 75 yards (TD) Packers 24, Falcons 19
GB 3 plays, 2 yards (PUNT) Packers 24, Falcons 19
ATL 8 plays, 44 yards (FG) Packers 24, Falcons 22
GB 3 plays, 5 yards (PUNT) Packers 24, Falcons 22
ATL 12 plays, 66 yards (FG) Falcons 25, Packers 24
GB 4 plays, 0 yards (DOWNS) Falcons 25, Packers 24

The final 15 minutes ruined what was an encouraging first 45. Love threw three touchdown passes, including a pair to rookie Jayden Reed and another to rookie Dontayvion Wicks, as the Packers took control of the game to open the second half. Despite not having four of their most important players on offense for most of the game, the Packers took a 7-3 lead in the first half, led 10-9 at half time and scored back-to-back touchdowns in the third quarter to open up a big advantage. The game script was playing out very much like Week 1. While the Packers sealed the deal in Chicago, the Falcons dominated the fourth quarter on Sunday.

Blame for the collapse can be assigned accordingly, but all three phases of LaFleur’s team played a role in blowing a 24-12 lead and losing 25-24 on Sunday in Atlanta.

Amateur caddie suffers medical emergency, receives CPR on course at 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am during Friday’s round

The situation happened on the 11th fairway at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

A scary situation unfolded on Friday during the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

A caddie for one of the amateurs playing alongside pros Beau Hossler and Max McGreevy collapsed on the 11th hole of Pebble Beach Golf Links, according to Paolo Uggetti of ESPN.

Geoff Couch and Lukas Nelson are the amateurs playing with Hossler and McGreevy.

Uggetti reported that the caddie was receiving CPR while being taken to an ambulance. He also chronicled that PGA Tour rules officials were encouraging Hossler and McGreevy to resume play, but neither Hossler nor McGreevy were comfortable doing so.

Uggetti also reported that PGA Tour officials offered to let the players step aside so other groups could play through, but McGreevy told Uggetti that he couldn’t see his group resuming Friday.

The PGA Tour released a statement Friday afternoon about the incident.

Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis reported Hossler and McGreevy would take a break and then return to the 11th hole once all groups had played through and they resume their second rounds. Lewis also said the group received a phone call stating the caddie would be OK.

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Kevin Stefanski addresses Browns’ ‘frustrating’ loss

“Frustrating” only scratched the surface of how the Browns’ latest collapse felt.

In a game where it seemed that the Cleveland Browns held all the cards, they managed to squander every opportunity they had close out what looked to be an easy win. Not only did they lose to the ghost of Joe Flacco and a New York Jets squad that has won six games in the last two seasons, but they managed to lose spectacularly in front of a packed house in the home opener.

For those who missed Sunday’s unforgettable collapse, rest assured that the total implosion of the Browns’ defense in the final minutes was, in a word, astounding. They allowed the Jets to march directly into the end zone with less than thirty seconds left in the game for a go-ahead score that was nothing short of jaw-dropping to watch in real-time.

All this after an onside kick recovery by New York gave the Jets new life as the game, which seemed well in hand at the time, drew to a close. This wasn’t an ordinary failure, even by the Browns’ standards.

Whether Kevin Stefanski is aware of how sick Cleveland fans are of these meltdowns is unknown, but he did his best to address this latest disaster as plainly as he could. Speaking to reporters shortly after the loss, he did not mince words.

“We win as a team; we lose as a team,” Stefanski explained. “We lost. We got beat. Did not play a 60-minute game. It is really frustrating – frustrating to me, to our players in the locker room and I am sure to our fans. It is not how we play. It is we have to finish and do the things that allow you to win games, and we didn’t do that. Everybody is going to want to point fingers and say, ‘Whose fault was this?’

“Put it on everybody. It is all of us, me, coaches and players. It is everybody. What we can’t do is let this linger because we have a game Thursday night against a division opponent right back here. We have to real quickly move on from this one, and that was my message to the team. It is frustrating.”

After an awesome win in Week 1, the stunning fiasco against New York was unexpected. Stefanski will have a short week to get his team back on track after Sunday’s embarrassment of a game. To hear him tell it, he and his squad have quite a bit of work to do if they intend to actually compete against the division rival Steelers on Thursday.

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ESPN makes notable mistake with Notre Dame history

It was awful but it wasn’t record setting awful…if that makes you feel any better.

I was largely a fan of ESPN’s coverage of the Fiesta Bowl and am a big fan of Dan Orlovsky’s work.  I again thought he largely shined during the game despite the result not being the way anyone visiting Fighting Irish Wire likely wanted it to.

During the game we were told that Notre Dame had never lost a game in which they led by 21 or more points at any point.

(Editor’s note – a graphic stated “Since 2004” but the announcers did not acknowledge it)

That perhaps made for more dramatic theatre but the problem with it was that it simply wasn’t true.

Notre Dame has actually blown 24 point leads before.  Most recently in happened in 1991 with the Irish collapsing at home against Tennessee after leading 31-7 before halftime.

The more famous of the happenings however was in 1974 when USC, led by Anthony Davis, overcame a 24-0 deficit to torch the Irish 55-24.

Related:

Notre Dame blows Fiesta Bowl lead – 5 Instant Takeaways

College football world reacts to Notre Dame’s Fiesta Bowl collapse

Five plays that loomed largest in Notre Dame’s Fiesta Bowl loss

Five Stars: Best and worst from Notre Dame’s Fiesta Bowl blunder

Notre Dame blows 21 point lead in Fiesta Bowl: 5 takeaways

Would you rather get blown out or blow a massive lead?

Everything was fine and dandy for Notre Dame with two minutes to go in the first half of the 2022 Fiesta Bowl.  They led Oklahoma State 28-7, Jack Coan was doing seemingly whatever he wanted, and the Irish appeared headed towards an easy victory to put an end to their drought in winning a major bowl game that dates back to January of 1994.

And then Oklahoma State answered quickly with a touchdown before halftime while the Irish chose to run out the clock despite having all three timeouts.

A third quarter that was entirely dominated by Oklahoma State gave the Cowboys a 31-28 lead that they wouldn’t look back from and what we’re left with is Notre Dame’s biggest collapse in program history.

Here are five takeaways from a brutal defeat on New Year’s Day 2022.