Tag: stn

Is Steelers HC Mike Tomlin a favorite for coach of the year?

Mike Tomlin has done a masterful job of coaching this season.

The most polarizing figure in Pittsburgh sports might just be Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. It seems the media and fans display very little middle ground when it comes to the head coach in his 13th season with the Steelers. For many, Tomlin is the perfect fit for what it means to be a Steeler head coach and his consistency is what keeps fans and media endeared to him.

But on the other side, you have those who view the near-decade absence from a Super Bowl championship and a perceived lack of institutional control as his biggest flaws and the reason the Steelers need to move on from Tomlin.

However this season, it is hard to argue with the job Tomlin has done with this team. Few teams could absorb the loss of its best wide receiver and a franchise quarterback in the same offseason along with the litany of other injuries along with the starting lineup and rally a team to four straight wins and having a team once 1-4 in the playoff hunt.

If the Steelers continue on this path and can find their way to the playoffs after a start that mathematically was the longest of longshots, he will be a strong candidate for coach of the year. This would be a bitter pill for many of his critics to swallow but from an objective standpoint, you cannot undersell the coaching job Tomlin has done this season.

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Panthers coach Ron Rivera’s inconsistent use of analytics is confusing

Rivera needs to make a choice.

Ron Rivera decided to go for two.

If it had been successful, the Packers’ lead would have been cut to just six points, bringing Carolina that much closer to a thrilling comeback win. Panthers fans would be sharing Riverboat Ron memes and praising the genius and daring of their coach, who understands how the modern game works and isn’t afraid to use analytics to his advantage.

The two-point conversion attempt didn’t work out. So instead, Panthers fans are calling him foolish and worse. The thing is Rivera made the right call – at least if you believe in numbers. That time, anyway.

The result isn’t always going to be there. The process is what matters. The more times you make the correct decision, the more often you will reap the benefits.

That’s what makes Rivera’s inconsistent use of analytics so frustrating.

Rivera set the wrong tone for the game on the very first drive, when he decided to punt on 4th and 3 inside Packers territory. Given the way last week’s win over the Titans went, it was a baffling decision, made all the more confusing by Rivera’s post-game comments when he talked about the decision to go for two, per the Athletic.

“Yes, that was purely analytics, 100 percent. . . If you don’t get it there, you get an opportunity to go for two again. We feel pretty good about the play we had called the first time, and we felt good about having the second one up. It’s most certainly something where we went ahead and followed the analytics of it.”

“Following the analytics of it” is what winning teams do, but in the next breath Rivera changed course and talked about his gut feelings and game flow.

Last week, Rivera’s instincts told him to go for it on two separate fourth downs against the Titans. Or maybe it was the analytics. It’s hard to tell when there’s no clear method of operating. In any case, after that win, several players remarked on how much confidence Rivera’s aggressive decisions gave them.

What were they to think when Rivera punted away inside Green Bay’s territory to begin the game?

For all the talk about Kyle Allen’s poise and grit and leadership ability, not trusting him to get three yards there when the analytics say otherwise and Allen’s opening drive looked strong doesn’t inspire confidence and raises questions about Rivera’s own leadership.

The Panthers have an analytics department, which they announced without much fanfare in June. We must assume that Taylor Rajack and whoever else works in that department get paid real money to do their jobs. David Tepper can afford it, in any case. Since the franchise is paying for it, they might as well put it to use on the field.

Rivera needs to make a choice.

Either the analytics trump his gut feelings and the “situation” or they don’t. This mix and mash he’s got going on is only going to lead to confusion and more of those infamous missed opportunities.

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Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones offer hope for the future of New York football

Both Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones showed everyone how they can be the next franchise quarterbacks in New York.

The future shined a little brighter for the Jets and Giants on Sunday.

It’s hard to see positives amid such a disappointing season for the Jets and the Giants, but Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones both showed their abilities to play competitive games. Darnold displayed all of his athletic mobility without any of his signature turnovers to throw for 230 yards and two scores on his way to the win, while Jones found holes in the Jets defense to finish with 303 passing yards with four touchdowns. 

Neither the Jets nor the Giants fielded even a remotely good pass defense, so this game won’t paint a perfect picture of either Darnold’s or Jones’ potential. But there were enough bright spots from both quarterbacks to give New York fans a glimmer of hope once the rest of the roster is fixed.

Darnold needed to have a good game after a horrendous three-game stretch, and he finished with his first turnover-less game since Week 1. He was in much better command of the offense and looked every bit as good a quarterback as he could be.

One of the most intriguing aspects of Darnold’s game – and the one that’s gotten him into trouble with turnovers as well – is his ability to go off-script and find his receivers by extending plays with his legs outside the pocket. Recently, those plays have resulted in costly turnovers for the Jets. But against the Giants, Darnold played mistake-free and led three touchdown drives by making throws you only see from the best.

Darnold didn’t back down from adversity and consistently poor pass blocking. He rebounded and didn’t change his game despite a month-stretch of mistake-ridden play.

Jones, meanwhile, went toe-to-toe with Darnold and matched him almost point-for-point most of the afternoon. He hit Darius Slayton on two second-quarter touchdowns to draw within one point and then found Golden Tate on back-to-back touchdown drives to take the lead. Jones continues to improve every week for the Giants and seemingly always finds ways to make the big play. Sunday’s loss was Jones’ second game with at least 300 passing yards and four total touchdowns.

Jones played well but also fumbled the ball three times – one of which resulted in Jamal Adams’ incredible strip-sack touchdown. He’s shown the ability to be the Giants’ franchise quarterback but, like all young quarterbacks, needs to hold onto the ball. Coincidentally, Darnold has the same problem for the Jets and has looked atrocious at times with inexcusable mistakes. Darnold corrected a lot of problems from the past three weeks to finish the game with a clean sheet – Jones just needs to do the same. 

Again, this isn’t a final judgment call on the abilities of Darnold and Jones. They bother played against very weak defenses. But even against bad teams, they performed well enough to give hope in a city that hasn’t seen much in recent years when it comes to competent quarterback play. Both quarterbacks obviously still have issues, primarily when it comes to holding onto the football. But this first duel between Darnold and Jones could signal a shift in New York football, one that could feature two long-term solutions at quarterback if each team learns from the mistakes of its past to build a solid roster around the two.

Sam Darnold thinks Jets still have a shot at playoffs

After defeating the Giants, 34-27, Sam Darnold was feeling good about where the Jets could end up by the end of the season.

After defeating the Giants, 34-27, Sam Darnold was feeling good about where the Jets could end up by the end of the season.

The Jets played one of their cleaner games of the season both offensively and defensively, but it was far from a complete performance. Some of the same issues that have doomed the Jets this season, such as offensive line play, penalties and cornerback coverage, were still a problem. But that didn’t stop Darnold from talking about the playoffs after the game.

“We need every win from now on,” Darnold told reporters. “We’ve still got a chance. I mean, if we got on a roll here and win out, we’ve got a chance at the playoffs. Guys in this locker room know this. We know that and we’re really excited to get back to work.”

It’s great that Darnold still has confidence in his team, but it’s hard to imagine Gang Green making a playoff run. The Jets are second to last in the AFC with eight teams in front of them for the final playoff spot. The Steelers hold that spot with a record of 5-4, so the Jets are three games back of them.

Looking at the Jets’ remaining schedule, there are only three opponents that they could be favored to beat: the Redskins, Bengals and Dolphins. Other than that, their schedule doesn’t give any reason for hope. The other four games are against the Raiders, Bills, Steelers and Ravens. All of those teams are either in the playoff hunt or are currently a playoff team.

The Jets also have a ton of work to do despite winning on Sunday. The offense didn’t have much life to it after the first two drives, while the offensive line couldn’t open up any holes for Le’Veon Bell. As for the defense, the cornerback situation is dreadful. They have nobody who can cover. Also, the inside linebackers are completely depleted thanks to injuries.

So while this win on Sunday was much needed for the Jets, there’s no reason to believe this team is going anywhere this season. What else is Darnold supposed to say, though?

Jamal Adams is Jets Wire’s Player of the Game vs. Giants

Jamal Adams was a man on a mission in the Jets’ second win of the season, a 34-27 victory over the Giants Sunday.

Jamal Adams was a man on a mission in the Jets’ second win of the season, a 34-27 victory over the Giants Sunday.

Adams was flying around the football field all day. He had nine total tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, one pass defense and a defensive score. For his performance, Adams is Jets Wire’s Player of the Game for Week 10 of the regular season.

The Pro Bowl safety said earlier in the week that this game had a little extra meaning to it given it was the battle of New York. But he was on a completely different level in this game. It seemed everywhere the football went, he was there, too.

One of those plays came on a strip-sack of Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. Adams was coming in hot on a blitz and obliterated Saquon Barkley before getting to Jones and ripping the ball out his hands to take it to the house for a touchdown. Right before that drive, Adams told Adam Gase that he was going to create a turnover on that drive, Turns out he was right.

You don’t see many safeties with Adams’ playing style. He’s brilliant around the line of scrimmage and is solid in pass coverage, too. Most safeties only have one of those qualities, but Adams is a one of a kind player.

It definitely felt like a weight was lifted off of Adams’ shoulder after the dispute he had with the front office over the last couple of weeks. Adams finally spoke to both Joe Douglas and Gase about his name being brought up in trade rumors and cleared the air with both parties. The noise finally calmed down around him and he went out and balled.

He’s clearly the leader of this defense and there’s no way to envision him not on it. His play on Sunday continued to show why he is in the elite category at his position.

The morning after a Chiefs Week 10 loss

Grab your morning cup of coffee as we recap and react to the Chiefs’ Week 10 loss to the Titans.

Grab a cup of coffee and join us as we start off dissecting the fourth loss of the season on Monday.

Every morning following a Kansas City Chiefs win or loss, a few of our writers here at Chiefs Wire will provide their post-game thoughts and quips. It’ll let you know how we’re all feeling about the Chiefs after covering them on gameday. Gather around and be sure to share your thoughts on the Chiefs with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Charles Goldman

Twitter: @goldmctNFL

This has to be one of the most frustrating Chiefs’ teams in recent memory. One week the defense is playing solid mistake-free football, the next week the special teams are the saviors of the game, another week the offense looks unstoppable. For whatever reason, they can’t seem to have all three of these things happen at the same time. It’s a full-on failure to play complementary football and it’s sapping the life out of this team and the fanbase.

I don’t know if Kansas City got caught looking ahead to the showdown in Mexico City for Week 11, but they fumbled away a golden opportunity against the Titans. They let a winnable game slip out of their grasp and now it leaves little room for error down the stretch. The Raiders are closing in on them and they still must travel to Foxboro and play the Patriots.

Look at the strength of win and strength of schedule for the Chiefs and you can tell this is still a really good football team. They just need to get out of their own way and rally together to find some consistent success throughout all phases.

Mitch Carney

Twitter: @MitchMitchcar11

The Chiefs just can’t get a break. Patrick Mahomes returns and has a fantastic game throwing three touchdowns for over 400 yards, but due to bad special teams performance and some poor run defense, he just wasn’t able to get the job done. It’s crazy to think that he did everything right including getting the Chiefs into field goal range to tie the game, but a blocked kick would end it.

I still believe that the Chiefs are a good team and have a good chance to win the Super Bowl, but they need to fix the sloppy play. I personally can’t wait until the bye week, so that the Chiefs can finally get everyone healthy and just prepare for the final stretch before the playoffs.

Max Ramsey

Twitter: @The_Wild_Chief

Patrick Mahomes came back from his injury this week, but unfortunately so did the early season issues that plagued the Chiefs. The defense was burned on the run on several occasions, but the biggest issue with the team in this game was the special team’s units. You can bring up the offense being unable to finish drives, you can bring up the explosive plays allowed by the defense, but the special teams for the Chiefs had some sloppy returns and two late botched field goal attempts late.

It’s going to be tough to come away from this game with any positives, but clearly, the concerns people had about Mahomes coming back early were proved to be unnecessary as Mahomes did some work on the field in this game. This was a game they should have won, however, and it will be hard for the team to get over this week. All we can do is hope that they move on and fix the issues in time for the Chargers game.

Nicolas Roesch
Twitter: @Nicolas_Roesch

This was pretty much the definition of an inexcusable loss. I’ve been consistent in saying that the Chiefs just need to get healthy to get back to being a Super Bowl contender, but I’m less sure of that now. I would have expected the Chiefs to win this game with Matt Moore at quarterback.

To squander this game away despite having Patrick Mahomes back, who looked very healthy, throwing for 446 yards and three touchdowns, is embarrassing. The team is openly admitting its effort isn’t what it should be. The Chiefs are playing horrible special teams despite supposedly having a great ST coordinator. Oh, and then a head coach who consistently retraces his mistakes since the first year on the job.

The Chiefs will bounce back from this. I believe they’ll win the AFC West and perhaps win a playoff game. What reason do we have, however, to believe that this season is going to end any differently than every other season under Andy Reid? Blowing double-digit leads and losing close games due to sloppy, undisciplined football is getting really old.

Vinciane Ngomsi

Twitter: @VincianeNgomsi

Well, that was a disappointing performance by the Chiefs. After dominating nearly the entire game, they absolutely collapsed in the final minutes and now add another loss on the season. I wish I could say it’s quite shocking, but it’s reminiscent of the Chiefs of seasons past. With all due respect to Andy Reid, he’s got to be much better at clock management. Calling a timeout before a two-point conversion to essentially hand the Tennessee Titans a win is perhaps the most creative avenue he has used to bottle a game.

At this point, it’s unclear where the Chiefs go from here. Not sure if it’s a roster concern or a managerial issue, but this isn’t the kind of team ready to battle New England in a few weeks. This isn’t even a team that could win a Wild Card game in the playoffs.

With so many healthy components, it confuses me how they don’t all mesh together. It’s even more frustrating because Kansas City was supposed to build off of last year, but it seems like they’re just regressing further and further.

Danilo Di Julio

Twitter: @ThunderDan88

In what should have been a hard-fought well-earned road victory for the Kansas City Chiefs, this writer found himself having to take some time as he walked away from Nissan Stadium to breathe and reflect. Why? Because our beloved Chiefs found a way to waste a 446 yard 3 touchdown effort by the reigning MVP. They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Two major missed calls greatly affected the outcome of this game. First, on a long Derrick Henry touchdown run, Charvarius Ward was held for about 15 yards rushing down the field or very likely would have tripped up the large back. A holding call on that play changes things quite a bit. Then, near the end of the game, the Chiefs defense allowed Tannehill to drive the Titans down the field and score quickly, adding a two-point conversion to take a three-point lead. Within a few plays, Mahomes had KC in field-goal range but a Titans player jumped offsides and blocked the kick. There was a flag, people came out on the field. Ultimately, the officials explained nothing and they announced, Titans Win over the PA.

The fatal error by the Chiefs was calling a pass on third-and-2 in the red zone. You have to run the ball and get the first down. Some offensive linemen were knicked up but hey, next man up. If you get the first down there you can continue to bleed the clock and get out of the stadium with the win. It’s not rocket science, it’s football. And sometimes, I think the offensive geniuses of the league overthink things.

Check out the best photos from Steelers vs Rams

Here’s our gallery of the best pics from Sunday’s big win.

It might not have always been pretty but the Pittsburgh Steelers found a way to get past the Los Angeles Rams and improve to 5-4. If you love defensive football, this game was for you. But if you missed the game we’ve got you covered. Sort of. Here are 70+ photos from Sunday’s big win.

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JuJu Smith-Schuster on his matchup with Jalen Ramsey: ‘He said so many cuss words I’d never heard of’

JuJu Smith-Schuster comments on Jalen Ramsey’s colorful trash talk.

One of the marquee matchups of Sunday’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Rams was between wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and cornerback Jalen Ramsey. Smith-Schuster finished with three receptions for 44 receiving yards and was able to have a little fun at the expense of Ramsey and his colorful language.

“He said so many cuss words I’ve never heard of before,” Smith-Schuster said, referencing Ramsey’s propensity for trash talk. But Smith-Schuster did give Ramsey props for being very good while noting he was double-teamed a great deal.

In going back and re-watching much of the game it seems Ramsey followed Smith-Schuster in coverage in mainly man scenarios but not always in zone. Ramsey was also called for two defensive pass interference penalties while covering Smith-Schuster on Sunday. Smith-Schuster also noted Ramsey is more locked into a system in Los Angeles compared to his time in Jacksonville, almost implying this was a negative for Ramsey.

Honestly, the best part of Smith-Schuster’s post-game interview is it was clear Ramsey and all his reputation didn’t get in his head. From a statistical standpoint, things haven’t gone according to plan for Smith-Schuster but he remains the ultimate team player.

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Mike Tomlin on the future of his team: ‘We’re not a big picture team’

Don’t expect to ever get Mike Tomlin to talk about the future or the big picture with the Steelers.

The Pittsburgh Steelers won their fourth straight game on Sunday and find themselves in the thick of the playoff hunt after beating the Los Angeles Rams. But don’t talk to head coach Mike Tomlin about that. Tomlin was his usual all-business self in the postgame press conference almost to a fault.

One reporter asked Tomlin what he was the proudest of as the team has come back from1-4 to win four in a row. Tomlin indicated all he’s proud of is that the team won on Sunday and that they are not a big-picture team.

Tomlin has taken his usual stoic approach to speaking to the media to a whole new level this season. If you didn’t listen to his words and only his tone you’d have a hard time distinguishing between wins and losses.

Pittsburgh has no time to sit back and enjoy this win. After three home games the Steelers must now hit the road and head to Cleveland and take on the Browns on Thursday night.

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Steelers HC Mike Tomlin takes heat for play call that cost team a safety

The Steelers have allowed a safety in two straight games.

For the second week in a row, the Pittsburgh Steelers gave up a safety. Last week against the Indianapolis Colts the blame for the safety fell squarely on the shoulders of quarterback Mason Rudolph. But this week against the Los Angeles Rams, it really felt like the play call was wrong in that situation.

And as we all know, when it comes to offensive playcalling, it is offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner who bears the brunt of the hate from fans. But head coach Mike Tomlin, in his postgame press conference, make it clear this call was on him, not on Fichtner.

As unfortunate as the outcome was, it’s hard to get too down about the call regardless of who it was. The Steelers continue to scramble to try to manufacture offense, especially in the passing game. I have to believe if James Conner had been in the lineup, this scenario goes very differently.

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