Ralonzo

I think you're talking about the first play of the second series of the second half, because I had the same thought watching live that it was Van Demark's error, but rewatching on the replay I'm pretty sure it wasn't his assignment, and the TE was supposed to pick up the guy. The coaches would know the actual assignments, we probably never will. Edit: Could have been the 8th play of that drive where Barkley drew an offside with a hard count. That play honestly should have been blown dead, and Van Demark maybe had a chance to "abate to the QB" but can't get too much on the guys case for missing an opponent with a running head start lol.

This is fair, but those reps were entirely at RT, and every one was exactly the same rush move against him, see the 2nd series of the 2nd half vs Colts here in the Buried Sweaties game breakdown (and one of those wasn't his assignment). I'm confident he can get coached up on that. The fact that we haven't noticed him at all on his LT reps is frankly impressive.

I guess the one "legit" way to float my own thread is to add some content, so... How bad was the DL? Let's have a brew or two tonight and find out. 1st series - 50-91-92-56 1st & 10) Handoff Najee. DaQuon stacks up two interior lineman where the run was designed and keeps Milano clean for a short gain. 2nd & 7) Quick throw left flat. Rousseau defeated the tackle to the inside, ball just came out fast. Floyd and Oliver were collapsing the pocket. 1st & 10) Handoff Najee to the same gap as the first snap with the same result. DaQuon is just not having it. 2nd & 7) Pickett bails a noisy but intact pocket and ducks inside Rousseau who went for upfield speed move. 3rd & 7) Pickett complete after stepping up as Rousseau & Oliver get taken upfield and DaQuon stoned with a double team. 1st series - 55-99-98-57 1st & 10) Handoff TD Steelers. Rut roh. 1st snap against the rotational guys goes the distance. That went right over Steeler guard #61 turning Poona Ford out, Settle got buried, Epenesa stymied. Uuuugly. 2nd series - 50-92-91-55 1st & 10) Seam throw TD Steelers. DaQuon and Oliver got handled although I think DaQuon got tripped by 61 which went uncalled. Boogie was actually closest to arriving. 3rd series - 50-92-91-56 1st & 10) Pass to left flat. Play action as OL down blocks right and Bills go with them. 2nd & 6) Pitch left gets rekt by Bills. Oliver was key on that play, recognized where the play was going, immediately disengaged from guard and was first to arrive, Rousseau mopping up. 3rd & 8) Bills middle blitz from Milano, ball came out just before the pocket collapsed (except for Floyd who got handled by LT) but the refs save the Steelers yet again. 3rd series - 50-91-92-55 1st & 10) Screen right. Oliver got through immediately but whether that was by design, dunno. 1st & 10) Deep shot inc. Bills sent a lot of guys and didn't really get close. 3rd series - 55-99-98-57 2nd & 10) That same handoff over LG. Ford & Settle wreck that hole, Basham grabs the RB trying to bounce right. 3rd & 9) Not a lot of pressure, Ford and Settle got no push. Dump off to RB and it's Basham hustling to make the stop. 4th series - 50-99-91-90 1st & 10) Handoff, Settle and Oliver both get penetration and cause a loss. 2nd & 11) Quick throw to TE. Oliver is getting upfield quick, forcing the ball to come out. 3rd & 5) Out route left for the 1st. Settle almost got there with a nice swim. 1st & 10) Sack & FF for Rousseau who the Steelers declined to block for reasons unknown. 2nd & 27) Oliver forces a Trubisky scramble. 3rd & 20) Oliver and Rousseau run a stunt which doesn't work, but Steelers don't convert. Wait, is there a flag? No, no flag. Whew. 5th series - 55-99-98-57 1st & 10) Middle dive, after AJE penetration forces it back inside. 2nd & 9) Bit of a delay safety blitz behind AJE, Trubisky makes the correct hot read and delivers an ok gain. 3rd & 4) AJE with a really wide set gives a big lane to throw a slant to convert the 1st. 1st & 10) Handoff over RT, Boogie takes on and stacks a double-team to keep Hamlin clean for the short gain. And another iffy flag. 1st & 10) Same play, same result. Boogie stuffs the double team. 2nd & 9) Trubisky under pressure forcing the early throw and inc. Looked like Dorian on the delay middle blitz forcing that. 3rd & 9) Lawson gets around the edge and flushes Trubisky. Settle draws a holding penalty. 3rd & 19) Bills show no pressure and indeed only rush 3, Boogie playing inside holds the zone. Completion is short. 6th series - 90-98-99-57 1st & 10) Another short field made shorter by ref mystery call. Lawson runs around RT this time and flushes QB the other way for a scramble. Lol Cam Lewis trying to blitz. 6th series - 55-99-98-90 2nd & 4) Lousy play action with Settle and Basham both arriving at QB as he turns, Trubisky flings it to area and prays for a flag and because it's Pittsburgh... Ford got buried. 1st & goal) Dive middle, Basham and Ford get penetration, Settle at least holds the line. 2nd & goal) Play action out to the flat inc. Basham running free again. 6th series - 57-99-98-90 3rd & goal) Fade pattern incomplete, they're gonna have to... aw, nevermind it's another flag. Ridiculous. But that one's a penalty. 1st & goal) Dive LG, Lawson and Settle move the LOS back, loss of 1. 2nd & goal) Refs giving yards, 1st downs, and now time too. Handoff, whole line stands up the OL. Except Ford who gets moved into the EZ by the guard. Loss of 2 though. 3rd & goal) Shotgun, and the patented McD timeout to allow the Steeler O time to figure out what the want to do. And another TD because of it. But that's another rant. Epenesa was ROARING around the edge and just barely didn't get there. 7th series - 55-94-98-57 1st & 10) Short field, recurring theme. Handoff but both Basham and Epenesa defeat their block, Basham gets there first for the TFL. 2nd & 11) Ford got loose in the middle, forces a quick throw, refs bail it out again with a PI. 1st & 10) That same run over LG, Basham crashes down from the other end and with Dorian smush the RB. Ford draws a penalty on the OL. 1st & 20) They try running at Basham for the 4th or 5th time and get nothing for the 4th or 5th time. He's having a night. 2nd & 20) Rudolph rolls left, AJE stays home and probably affects the throw that Neal bats down. 3rd & 20) Looks like a containment rush, allow the short throw and force 4th down. 8th series - 49-93-61-96 1st & 10) Check down right. Ray and Dale were closest. 1st & 10) Counter handoff, Ray gets buried, Vickers makes the play. 2nd & 11) Middle throw to TE. Interior DL got handled. 3rd & 5) Klein delay blitz, Cline goes upfield, Rudolph goes right between him and Dale. 1st & 10) Handoff middle, Looked like some sort of stunt where Ray crashed down to make the stop. 8th series - 49-61-94-59 2nd & 7) Jet sweep left goes right past Jonathan who's frozen. 8th series - 96-93-94-59 3rd & 3) Jonathan finally shows the chop and bend move to get the edge around the T for the sack, though Vickers had already walked the G to the QB. 9th series - 96-61-93-49 1st & 10) Handoff middle is all clogged, RB loses trying to bounce to the sideline. 9th series - 96-94-93-49 2nd & 14) Handoff right. Cline just misses in the backfield as RB cuts inside. Ray flies in from his end on the stop and gets dinged. 9th series - 96-94-93-59 3rd & 7) Bad snap, QB puts it on the ground. T forgets to block Jonathan who separates QB from picking it up, and Cline eventually gets the recovery. 10th series - 96-94-93-59 1st & 10) Handoff over RG punches through. Wish I could see who is in with their PIP interview, I assume Broughton. 2nd & 2) Handoff over LG, Vickers pushes through the double-team to force the RB into LB/S. 3rd & 1) Handoff middle, Steelers move 93 and 94 just enough to make it. 1st & 10) Quick out right, nothing to note there when the ball is out in 2 seconds. 2nd & 4) Handoff LG, that was stopped up pretty good by the interior guys. 3rd & 3) Little crosser, Vickers got held big time or would have gotten home. Thanks again zebras for keeping it "fair." 1st & 10) Draw to the middle, 93 and 94 got moved 3-4 yards downfield. 2nd & 6) Same thing, this time they don't get moved. 3rd & 4) Quick out should have been a pick-6. 11th series - 96-94-93-59 1st & 10) Pitch wide left, Jonathan and Broughton get in on it. 2nd & 9) Handoff middle, Broughton & Vickers gobble that up. 3rd & 9) Dropback, scramble forced by Broughton mainly, QB doesn't seeing Cline coming by the scenic route from behind for the sack. 12th series - who cares 1st & 10 etc) Victory formation. Overall: - I don't think they're featuring Boogie for a trade, he's earning it. My biggest positive surprise on review this week. - Settle was also much better this week than last. - Oliver doesn't always make something happen but he's usually in the area. - Rousseau gets 3 or 4 instant wins a game and that usually results in big plays (the 17 yard sack and forced fumble). - In scrub time, Vickers was better than I thought and Cline was kinda lucky. - Get f'ed refs, over-officious jerks. Tea leaves: - Poona Ford hasn't really shown me many reasons to have him on the 53. - Floyd didn't factor in on anything this game. They just ran him wide. - Epenesa is special like every fifth play, and is just... a liiiitle slow... the other 4. - Jonathan isn't flashing as many reps as I recall from last year.

Agrees with what I saw. Yep, you caught that exactly right IMO.

I knew he was a hanger-on the P/S last year but hardly knew a thing about him. What I know about him is 2 weeks of game film and that's what is telling me this guy might be the future after Morse.

Ateman is a hands catcher. Shavers has had several good hands catches and at least one hands drop.

"WARRIOR" dude got lumped.

Boettger and Quessenberry match up for pass pro. Van Demark and Alec Anderson not being on the list implies their pass pro grade was > 77.6 according to the sort. This also matches up to the eye test. Edwards as well, who was this weeks McGovern for being non-descript while just winning rep after rep. Torrence is an outlier for sure, and definitely looked better than that to me. Maybe he gets dinged by PFF for turning his feet like a duck.

Gouraige? He got beat on a speed-to-power move one rep and tackled his guy but no call. Other than that he was fine.

I disagree with C-1's categorization of Torrence getting his hands on the blitzer #55 at ~11:00 as a rep "loss". He flung that guy like a soggy trash bag. He didn't even need proper tech to properly wreck.

12 accepted. In a half. I was thinking Willie Totten might come out for the 2nd half.

Quessenberry needs service.

Van Demark played all LT snaps from the time Dawkins exited the game. Doyle going down meant the guy behind him on the depth chart - Quessenberry - replaced him. And he was bad until Gouraige replaced him on the final drive, and wasn't nearly as bad. Beane has to be looking to upgrade tackle #4. Shell would have been fine. Doyle would been ok. Quessenberry is a potential disaster. I'm fine rolling the dice on a younger guy on the ascent, or a cutdown casualty or street FA who can perform better than Q right now.

Would love to have both Bates and Anderson in 2024 if, as we surmise, Morse moves on from the Bills or vice versa. One starts and one is interior primary backup. The question is how to get from here to there with both.

You also notice that Murray is downhill while the backer is still turning around to chase. That was Brown pulling from RT into the LG gap to spring the run. Ugly, but mission accomplished, Murray goes for 10+ and the first down.

That's awful. The 4 or 5 plays he got this preseason, he was ok. The problem is playing on a line with Boettger means there's potential for chaos on any snap.

Should follow up on this a little. I liked Mims more this game than last, where there was maybe 2 runs where he got what I felt were more yards than a JAG would. Evans has been better at that. I don't think he's showed near as well as Blackshear last year who was cut anyway in favor of Moss. Cook, Murray and likely Harris will be the 3, Evans could be a P/S candidate. Jonathan was a guy who had a great preseason last year, got cut and his film got him signed to the Bears' active roster. He doesn't look as fast or bendy so far this year and he's not holding up against the run at all. He might be a cut-and-resign-till-Von-is-off-PUP candidate at best. I was hoping he'd have upside but looks closer to maxing out than I thought in '22.

Sure hope so. Chicago comes to mind, lol. But what I'm seeing is, Anderson is out-performing Bates at Bates' former role - primary backup to the 3 interior positions, and a guy who can get you out of a game at tackle. Bates went from that, to starter, but with McGovern signed and Torrence ascending, he needs to outperform Anderson and Edwards and he just isn't.

If I didn't make it obvious in other threads: Trending up: Alec Anderson - C/G - Not sure when the light went on for him, but he was very good last week and better this week. Didn't see him lose a rep, and was THE key block in maybe a half dozen snaps. And he has some attitude, casually pitching opponents to the turf. Seems to have superior balance and core strength, much like Teller. His emergence might make Bates the surprise cut this year? If Anderson continues his trajectory like this you could be looking at your post-Morse starter for 10 years. Trending down: Ike Boettger G / David Quessenberry T - Boettger landed on his face just before Doyle wrecked himself trying to block the guy that went by Ike. Quessenberry's mark made multiple plays - i.e. the Barkley fumble. Quessenberry was bad last year and is a shell of that this year. Boettger was Just A Guy at a time when the Bills interior situation made that a vast improvement, and he's also a shell of the player he was before the Achilles. If I get to watching the defensive snaps for analysis, I'll follow on. I will say Hamlin looked like he was in molasses trying to get to the runner at the sideline on one play where Neal flew past him and made the play. Also Dorian looks small standing next to Hamlin lol.

I'm questioning what you expect them to do when Allen runs past both them, and the guys they're blocking. Block them in the back? Tackle them? Why are you so singularly focused on this one down which almost certainly never plays out that way in the regular season with Allen changing his mind and sprinting first to the sideline and then back to the middle of the field? Legitimately, what are you expecting there in the middle of a completely broken play?

Van Demark is a cinch IMO but he's much better at LT than RT. Doyle was supposed to be the insurance at RT, but that's gone. Quessenberry can't be an option here, he's losing reps badly against rookies and crumb bums. The guy I'm really really high on after two games now is college T Anderson. He's been spectacular in run and pass pro sets, at both C and G, getting to the second level, and physically demolishing guys. Let's not do the Teller thing again and keep the marginally serviceable vets over the kid with big upside. I wonder if Chicago wants Bates' contract? I mean, they wrote it... "Deleveraged" means, 4 OL are blocking their opponent in <--- that direction, i.e. <--Steeler-Lineman-Allen-. Allen runs past the pocket so that now it's <--Allen-Steeler-Lineman-. Tough to block that assignment, and yes the lineman ease down because as far as they're concerned the play has gone past them, their job is done. Dawkins was a try-hard there because he got posterized by Highsmith.

1) Pittsburgh didn't run basic defense - they played to their bullyball identity. 2) Most of the Bills errors were between the helmet holes.

Well, there's the rub. Watching play-by-play, it wasn't as bad as it's being made out to be. That should be in the synopsis. And there were guys who outperformed expectation - Anderson most notably, but also Van Demark and Broeker.