Alex Kozora Profile picture
Jan 19 11 tweets 4 min read
Depressing to do this again but a collection of Steelers' offensive plays Sunday night that were plain broken. Nothing to do with scheme or concept. Just fundamental breakdowns that ruined plays. Happened far too often this year.

Sad thread incoming... #Steelers
Second snap of the game. Feels like Harris ran the wrong way. Roethlisberger turns expecting Harris to run to his left (defense's right). Has to switch ball to left hand to get exchange off.

MIKE 'backer unblocked, Harris forced to bounce. Goes nowhere.
Next drive. Zone run left side. Miscommunication between Hassenauer (C) and Leglue (LG). Who is staying on the 1st level block, who is climbing to LB. Both come off and climb. DT left unblocked and Harris has no crease.

Run dead in the water.
3rd down. Ben changes play. Freiermuth doesn't get correct signal and runs wrong route. Just gets locked up on the CB. Roethlisberger wants him on the out. Incomplete, punt.
Another third down. Roethlisberger wants Johnson vertical. Throws into double coverage (safety shallow but don't get the throw here) and Johnson breaks off his route. Doesn't think ball is coming to him. Incomplete, #18 throws up his hands.
Confusion between Turner and Hassenauer over the protection. Turner expecting Hassenauer to slide to him. Hassenauer slides away. 1T runs in free to sack Ben.

Turner/Hassenauer stare at each other.
Remember that weird-looking handoff to Najee? This is what happened. RPO. Ben wants JuJu to run the slant but JuJu settles on a curl. So Roethlisberger tries to hand the ball back to Harris, who isn't expecting it.

Ben motions to JuJu to run the slant post-play.
Last one I'll show. Simple mesh concept. Confusion between JuJu and Washington. Feels like both thought the other would set the mesh and they would run under.

Narrowly avoid colliding with each other and Ben's pass is almost picked.
Had a similar thread after the Bengals blowout loss. Number of mental/assignment mistakes were off the charts this year, both sides of the ball. Lot of youth, lot of guys stepping up into prominent roles. But so many plays were wasted by unfundamental football.
Talent, scheme, nothing else matters when you can't carry about basic assignments. I'd guess a solid 10% of the offense's plays this year were ruined by unforced errors. That's not acceptable in a training camp practice, let alone a game.

Frustrating.
I generally put those assignment/mental mistakes on coaching. But it's playoffs and most of the guys I'm showing here played a lot of ball by this point. Largely, they've been taught these things.

JuJu bit of an exception with all the time missed. But still painful to watch.

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More from @Alex_Kozora

Jan 17
Steelers big underdogs tonight. Rightfully so. But last Sunday proved anything can happen. Keys to Pittsburgh pulling off one of the biggest upsets in playoff history. #Steelers
Turnovers and red zone play two team stats that will define this game. Steelers -3 in the first meeting, Chiefs had 17 points off it. Can't give Mahomes extra possessions/short fields. Think Steelers gotta be at least +2 and not turn it over.
Defense must get RZ stops. Keep score down. Steelers have basically won all their games this season by winning red zone defense, keeping games close in first half. Dug 23-0 hole in 1st half in Week 16. Give offense time to get going.
Read 12 tweets
Dec 22, 2021
A short thread on watching a Steelers' offense that made me very, very sad Sunday. In a word: dysfunctional. Couple of clips. #Steelers
The Ben chest pass. Half the offense doesn't fire off the ball in time. Snap may have been early. Harris gets too wide so Roethlisberger tries to chest-pass it. "Luckily" ruled incomplete.

Fun fact. Canada had the balls to call this again in the 2nd half. It lost five yards.
Gap run turns into a mosh pit. Turner can't get around, the middle is just a mess and there's no lane for Najee Harris. Dead on the snap.
Read 10 tweets
Dec 19, 2021
Steelers gotta win three of their last four games to have a shot to make the playoffs. Kansas City on the docket next week so...Tennessee feels like a must-win. Here's what to watch for today. #Steelers
Titans' offense. No Derrick Henry but they still have the same identity. More committed to the run than any other team. Thunder/lightning attempt with Foreman/Hilliard. Can't let Foreman get YAC with his power, pushing piles forward.
Starting FB is out today but they have a backup. They'll run same concepts out of 1 and 2 back (IZ/gap). Vikings fooled Pittsburgh last week with RB misdirection and not following path of FB. Maybe Titans try same thing.
Read 10 tweets
Dec 19, 2021
Curious comment from Mike Tomlin in his weekly Sunday interview with Bob Labriola.

Acknowledges Steelers needed NFL ready center. Says Kendrick Green was that guy despite leaving school early and primarily playing guard at Illinois. Doesn't add up. #Steelers
Green wasn't the "Day One ready" pick. He was the opposite, the upside pick. The tools and traits but needed experience and had to refine his technique.

While he did spend four years at Illinois as Tomlin said, he wasn't a senior. And began college as a DT. He was/is raw.
When Tomlin says "as opposed to who was an underclassman with upside who may be less of a finished product," he's literally describing Kendrick Green. To a T.
Read 4 tweets
Dec 14, 2020
Big game tonight. Pittsburgh loses, going to be hard to be the #1 seed. Some things to watch for tonight between the Steelers and Bills...
Josh Allen has had a monster, breakout season. Every stat has shot up. Completion percentage most notably. Under 60% last year, now almost 70%. Use him in a lot of ways

- Vertical shots
- Rollouts
- Designed runs
- Scrambles (DBs have to plaster)
- Watch the sneak!
Allen is their leader in rushing TDs with six. All have come inside the five yard line. Sneaks and draws.

Devin Singletary taking better care of the ball this year. Zack Moss a big back finding his footing now that he's healthy. Get gap, zone runs. Alert sprint draw on 3rd down.
Read 11 tweets
Nov 22, 2020
Some things to watch for in todays Steelers/Jaguars game. Records are two different ends of the spectrum (9-0 vs 1-8) but these games always find a way to be close...
Starting with Jags' offense. Tomlin touched on issue of lack of familiarity with QB Jake Luton. Third career start. Had issues with Driskel off the bench vs DEN, Gilbert vs DAL. So focused on run, forget about pass game. Luton has live arm + speed at WR.
Chark, Conley, Cole all have ability to get vertical. Chark & Conley ran 4.34/4.35 coming out. Cole big-play guy too including STs (91 yard PR TD last week vs GB). All three averaging over 12 YPC. Use playaction for vert pass game. PIT can't keep blowing coverages like they have.
Read 9 tweets

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