Blame Game

[frankw]

Just now, glenwo2 said:

Even when they tied them back up at 7-7?

I think the game was over once it was shown that the Defense couldn't stop anyone.  

I meant the second quarter and beyond. If anyone expected to only have to score 7 in the first and still have a chance to win they are nuts. No defense is good enough to sustain that pitiful level of offensive output for 4 quarters. We got all the way down to the what 2 yard line and couldn't get in the end zone and kicked a field goal like losers in our own house. Even a mediocre QB should have been able to score there. At home no less. Yes we do not have the best circumstances within our offense and we have areas we can improve in but the Steelers had Mitch Trubisky. Fug what a pitiful sad state of affairs we are in.

[OldhamA]

6 hours ago, Davidson Deac II said:

The offensive and defensive lines both got abused.  The defense gave up a 21 play drive in the third qtr because the Pitt oline did as it pleased.  We then had two red zone appearances in the 4th quarter, both of which resulted in fg's because the oline couldn't run block or pass protect.  That is what lost the game. 

Basically the inverse of what happened in Seattle the week prior.

The reason Wilks shouldn't get the HC job full time is because he has zero idea what to do to counter the Steelers. Any HC can win when their players are dominating the trenches.

[OldhamA]

6 minutes ago, glenwo2 said:

Even when they tied them back up at 7-7?

I think the game was over once it became 14-7 and was shown that the Defense couldn't stop anyone.  

Yeah that 9 minute drive where they actually gained about 110 yards (with penalties) was the back breaker. 

[frankw]

The fact were talking like scoring more than 14 points is so insurmountable shows how truly desperate we are for a real QB. I guess keep finding silver linings in the fact Darnold didn't turn the ball over despite the fact the coaching staff clearly didn't trust him enough to open things up more.

[Jon Snow]

We are just not a good team. That's the facts folks. We do not have enough quality starters let alone depth.  This team needs a complete overhaul from top to bottom.  The oline is adequate enough to go up against most teams but it isn't above reproach.  Everything else is FUBAR.

[frankw]

The oline was and is a problem but Mike Tomlin is a good enough football mind to know he isn't scared of Sam Darnold. They had no concern about Sam throwing the ball efficiently so that allowed them to tee off on our oline even more.

[mrcompletely11]

Just now, Jon Snow said:

We are just not a good team. That's the facts folks. We do not have enough quality starters let alone depth.  This team needs a complete overhaul from top to bottom.  The oline is adequate enough to go up against most teams but it isn't above reproach.  Everything else is FUBAR.

Ive said all year, qb aside, that we are 2 drafts away from having a top tier nfl roster.  

Our needs in now certain order:

Linebacker

edge

corner

safety

wr

te

and probably keeep sprinkling oline depth in there as well

[glenwo2]

11 minutes ago, frankw said:

The fact were talking like scoring more than 14 points is so insurmountable shows how truly desperate we are for a real QB. I guess keep finding silver linings in the fact Darnold didn't turn the ball over despite the fact the coaching staff clearly didn't trust him enough to open things up more.

We just don't have the QB to be able to "open things up more".

That's the bottom line.

Maybe Corral can be that QB but he needs to get an honest chance (that he never truly got...yet). 

Also we've said this before but the Panthers need to draft a QB EVERY draft going forward until they hit on one. 

[YourLastThought]

16 hours ago, frankw said:

People said the same stuff about Baker before he got truly exposed. Sam already has been exposed. Only Panthers fans are foolish enough to have forgotten it already. Every QB on this team currently can be removed and upgraded at some level. That's the simple facts. And until we do that none of the other factors you mentioned matter anyway. When we went down 7 I knew the game was over regardless. And let's be clear about it. The coaches know Sam would have turned the ball over eventually. They purposely held him back. Yet you want to celebrate because he didn't do anything terrible. How ridiculous.

At what point did I say I wanted to celebrate that Darnold didn't do anything awful? Yes he didn't take the game over and win it and yes he was treated very conservatively for fear that he might screw the game up but I can't put blame on him as the sole main reason we lost. First of all the O-line sucked to hell and back of I'm going to blame anyone. No running game could get going and plain out bad blocking was had by most on the line. Hell no, none of our QB's are starting material that I'm rolling solely with next year but hell no am I going to say "We lost against Pittsburgh because of Darnold". I'm not a Darnold apologist, not really even a fan, not a believer in him as the future or anything even close but I'm not going to sit here and say falsely that we lost because of him and exactly what he did out there. Yep, the coaches don't trust him to open that offense up I can tell but he sure as hell did not cost us the game. 

 

[YourLastThought]

15 hours ago, frankw said:

The oline was and is a problem but Mike Tomlin is a good enough football mind to know he isn't scared of Sam Darnold. They had no concern about Sam throwing the ball efficiently so that allowed them to tee off on our oline even more.

Well yeah I agree with you on almost everything. All I was trying to say is that Darnold did not lose us the game. With Darnold in there the coaches don't trust him enough to do much of anything but yesterday as his performance was based upon what the staff put in for him he did not lose the game for us or screw it up. Darnold isn't a starting QB or any kind of threat that's for sure but this loss is not on him this time. The fact is the QB situation has been so dismal yesterdays performance by Darnold was unfortunately considered decent by our standards and no, it was nothing special at all. We don't think any different at all. I just don't see how Darnold lost the game for us yesterday that's all. It's not like I want to crown him out franchise savior but I also don't want to blame yesterdays loss on him when it wasn't his fault for a change.