Scout's Eye with Matt Williamson: Worse than you thought (part 2)

A further deep dive into the Steelers offense.
#Pittsburgh #Steelers #HereWeGo #NFL
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[@jonfreeman5336]

Thank you Matt. Your analysis is pertinent, interesting almost scholarly and the best.

[@danielbarker2716]

😂

[@pyrog.c.c89]

It's the same offense in defense for the last 20 years.They never change anything.

[@deniskramar4243]

Good mourning from Hamburg Germany

[@jasonbodine6033]

Your misspelling is so appropriate, because we’re all in mourning over the death of this once great franchise.

[@berinmind]

All I know is Mason Rudolph seemed to get the most out of the receivers and Pittsburgh isn't any better without him.

[@raygu1818]

And Mason isn't any better without Pittsburgh. He definitely wouldn't have been any more than a bridge QB with no upside

[@berinmind]

@raygu1818 like what they already have ?. I mean you're not wrong but the team seemed to respond to him better.

[@jbruder02]

Can the obsession with Mason Rudolph end already? Holy hell

[@louv4437]

Steelers are doomed

[@Eric-wj8tn]

DOOOOOOOOOOMED!

[@Justin_Watson23]

Mr. Williamson has laid out all the stats in an unbelievably informative way since the end of the season, but people still come in these comments making excuses for Russ as if the originally Russ favoring Mr Williamson didn't just discredit their plethora of excuses or is somehow biased. It's crazy. I wanted Russ to play well, almost ordered his jersey sfter the second Cleveland game, but despite what the box score says, he was awful in about half of his starts. You don't light up 2 defenses w/2 other solid performances &, Still end up with a negative EPA in 12 starts without being awful down the stretch. Its disappointing, but holding onto an expensive old guy out of some emotional response, when this team isnt close to contention, makes 0 sense.

[@Cardel34]

Exactly. I never understood and still don’t understand everyone’s obsession with him.

[@joshfrye542]

@@Cardel34 I'd argue that it's more of a pushback against the people that try and push Fields as the next big thing. They both stink, and they need to tank next year for a QB in the 26 draft. Unfortunately we know that they will do the dumb thing and try to compete, win 9-10 games, and still be in QB purgatory.

[@josephdonovan9125]

​@@joshfrye542 💯% Agreed

[@infinity2z3r07]

like 3-4 times a game mahomes hits quick slant over the middle to cook a blitz that kind of offense died a long time ago here

[@artimus142]

Intermediate routes rely on game planning and scheme. Bombs are talent and matchup driven.

[@richardwize4460]

Time to temper our enthusiasm and expectations for this team for the foreseeable future.

[@DJJohnsonShoppingSherlock]

Doooomed we are!

[@javon478]

With the stats that you have been given out about the offense. You got to go offense on the first round

[@99baji99]

You have a young OL, 2 or 3 blocking TEs on every play, always throwing on 2nd and 3rd and long, and Pickens is hurt or a total head case. What the hell do you think is going to happen.

[@balayagesalon]

No OL has to hold off def.players for as long as Wilson and Fields holds the ball

[@joshfrye542]

@@balayagesalon No QB will succeed with 3 backup blocking TE's running routes, and Cordarrelle Patterson in the backfield.

[@charlesaskew8619]

@@balayagesalon they are taking the whole year. When Russell played he had 2.4 seconds

[@raymondnesbitt8751]

GP wants to just help his team win, he is good almost anywhere you line him up. You can utilize him in more than just deep passes, BUT that would make tomlin less predictable

[@Mr_Mike_Hood]

But he sure needs to improve his blocking on running plays.

[@alwaysteeler]

You’re right some of that was on the quarterback down the stretch, but we still need to be up off in salon and our defense line. If we do go outside and get a veteran receiver I’ll say we get tee Higgins all in all feel good about our receiving group Then they gonna be better this year with better quarterback play. Austin is going to be better and now we got Roman Wilson coming into the game

[@steelking22]

If a QB can hit Pickens in stride, every simple slant can turn in to a house call. A pass Russ never made all year and a pass they wouldn't let Fields throw. Look at Pickens when a real QB, Rudolph finally played.

[@scorpiofrancis1119]

They wouldn’t let him throw for a reason. 😂

[@joshfrye542]

Russ was literally throwing the slant route to Pickens at the end of the year and he dropped a few of them.

[@threezysworld8089]

GP needs to be fed the ball.

[@ljj734]

Well Im trying to get this maybe y'all could help me here. I'm noticing this with media in general and the national media. Where they are comparing Russ last 5 games played to Justin's first 6 games played.and my question is why exactly is that how it's bein assessed.and I thought about it if we compare Justin first six games to Russ first six games.russ numbers kill Justin and Justin had a preseason where Russ didn't and came in cold turkey.but for some reason the media would rather count when Russ didn't have George Pickens til the 3rd game and even then George wasn't George vs chiefs.not the gp we had seen all season.also what's not brought up is our defense was #2 in the league those first 6 games w Justin vs okay teams.and Justin had the offense ranked 27th in the league.but during Russ last 5 games our defense was giving up 28 points a game and our rushing yards were the lowest it was all year.why does this matter? because although our oline seem to b getting crushed, by the analytics they was doin well.not great but okay.so the oline did ok in pass protection but bad in run blocking meaning when Russ threw the ball we were one dimensional.and what does Arthur call well or why was Arthur hired to run the ball.arthur doesn't call pass plays well we said that all year.the half motions they ran nobody fell for.thats Arthur's design.so if u down points u can't run and the wide receiver s are limited what kind of numbers do u expect? The salary cap is spent on defense. We have 2 rookies on the o line was supposed to be 3 rookies so there's a learning curve let's b realistic here those lines they faced were best in the league.if it was open Russ would throw it and if Russ had issues throwing vs the top teams in the league what u think they would of done to fields.who only avg more than 10 points on the raiders and colts.raiders colts are not Philly,chiefs, Bengals,ravens.justin just not beating those teams respectfully.and Russ beat Bengals and ravens once this year.also playing those teams in 11 days on sun sat Wednesday that was the toughest stretch in the NFL.russ pretty much had van Jefferson,Calvin Austin and pat but najee.. disappeared.we know the weapons those teams had cmon matt those numbers reflect an outcome Russ could not control we saw him earlier in the year make plays happen.he went from thinking he had 2.3 secs in beginning of his run to the oline gettn beat in 2 secs so bein his first time in the system that's an adjustment.lastly he took a team in Steelers that was already constructed before he got there to playoffs with no preseason.cheifs built around mahomes,ravens built around Lamar,Philly built around Jalen s strength s.russ had to convince Arthur and we heard what that was like I love this team but were they built around russ u know that answer.the most Arthur gonna get out Justin vs a great team is 1 passing td 1 rushing td Justin can't operate in shotgun

[@ra3von]

Great analysis seemed like Steelers could only access part of their playbook because of the injuries and the catch up they had to do.running game wasn’t keeping them on the field and made the pass predictable in play calling if I could see that defenses were seeing that scrambling only would help so much

[@ljj734]

​@@ra3von just some observations

[@raymondrak961]

It seems the Steelers were using run, run, pass where other teams saw the pattern. No creativity and a qb whose strengths did not make up for his weaknesses.

[@steelking22]

The Steelers will not replace Najee Harris' reliability and production with Warren and a rookie. Letting him walk is going to be a mistake.

[@greghoke779]

If you want the same offense, then you’re right. If you want a dynamic, quicker offense, then Najee needs to go.

[@had0629]

Rather draft a guy who can go to the house. Najee is too slow

[@pamelabell5132]

Did you not see the defense in his face? Did you not see that guys were not open. The Steelers did nothing to fix that the whole year.

[@Justin_Watson23]

Ive watched those God forsaken all-22s over & over again bc I have that kind of time on my hands. This is just straight up not true. The OL was better than you think, Methuselah had a bottom 5 time to throw, & Fields's EPA & sack rate were just better. I know people have this odd attachment to Russ bc of 2-3 good-great games, but there are much better, far more affordable options. Mr. Williamson & I both provided hard statistics. It's not 2019 anymore & everyone knew his game wouldn't age well or he wouldn't be looking for team ,#4.

[@mths7]

You obviously didn’t watch the all-22 footage because there definitely were plays left on the table

[@dylandonovan6883]

The Najee hate is diabolical to me

[@jerryyeager1307]

I just think they should have had a better wide receiver room a year ago. That alone could have changed the way Pickens was thinking. They need or will need a younger QB. Though I watched some of the rookies you ask us to do, I still believe Free agency choices or trades will matter. I would keep Pickens, and have competition if not, trade him and grab a much better receiver. Thank you Matt love the show

[@djsir901]

What is wrong with yall? Cherry picking stats from ONLY the worst games as if Russ's 1st six games never happened. BTW didn't Pickens miss 3 of those 5 games? And your answer is to turn to a guy that is WORSE at passing than Wilson? Fields had Pickens the whole time a still never had the passing game that Russ did.

[@joshfrye542]

This obsession with Fields needs to be studied. The guy is a backup QB, but the local media act like he's the next Lamar being held back by all of the flaws of the Steelers coaches and schemes. Funny they don't give Russ that excuse.

[@jaash5]

And what's wrong with this obsession that Russ is actually good??? He stinks and is declining and getting old. A lottery ticket with Fields is better than a zero chance with Russ, that's the difference, not that people think Fields is amazing

[@joshfrye542]

@jaash5 There is no lottery ticket with Fields. He is a 1st rd bust on the backup QB career trajectory. If you want a real lottery ticket, you go get somebody like Stafford and hope he has some magic left in him.

[@balayagesalon]

Mike Tomlin let Rudolph walk because he was starstruck over Wilson .oh and let Pickett go too .not saying i was in love with Pickett but the man has NO CLUE ABOUT OFFENSE

[@robertfletcher2641]

O line and d line is where a team starts.... Bill parcells philosophy

[@nathanserrano4726]

We ran the ball every 1st and 2nd down with Harris who would average 1 yard!!! Wilson would throw on a 3rd & 8 most of the time at !! He was in a shi**y situation! And when we ran with Warren he’s average 5 yards per carry and Wilson would cook!!

[@ELowe-v6y]

They haven't used the middle of the field since Canada left i thought that was all supposed to change. They didn't used their matchups with D washington enough once in a blue. Williams idk why they didn't use him more because he was productive when thrown to. Austin made some tough catches also for a smaller slot guy. This offense needs to open up already. Enough with this run control crap already

[@artimus142]

What was Arty Smith without Henry? What was he with?

[@rizzomatt]

Henry did not do too much before Arthur Smith.

[@Steelers4Life47]

@@rizzomatthe was still developing

[@artimus142]

@ Henry had a 1500 and 2k season after Arty left. Arty needed Henry to look like a genius.

[@rizzomatt]

@@Steelers4Life47 What about Ryan Tannehill? He was discarded as washed up by the Dolphins.

[@rizzomatt]

@@artimus142 what about Ryan Tannehill? Arthur Smith did a pretty good job with him.

[@balayagesalon]

They need Pickens..he was great with Rudolph because HELLO a qb that can throw to him

[@anthonyherrmann860]

Is there any chance you can get a high second round pick for Pickens

[@craigwilliams3721]

Send him to the Raida's. Carroll will know how to manage him and make him a top 5 receiver in the league. Tomlin is an enabler, that's it. He wants to be everybody's buddy. It's business son, not personal. Conform, or bounce.

[@yourneighbor6957]

If they do trade GP , they absolutely better get high end picks or player in return. It better not be anything like the AB trade that was awful.

[@eric_day84]

I think it's safe to say that Pitt got the better end of that AB deal considering what happened with him and the Raiders. The Steelers spent the third rounder on Dionte and who knows how good that actually could have been if he didn't turn into a drama queen too. One of Pittsburgh's main issues has been getting rid of a drama queen WR only to replace him with another one. Whether it was AB, Martavis Bryant, Claypool, Dionte and now Pickens. They never actually solved the problem, they continue to keep the problem ongoing. All those players' stints have overlapped as well, which isn't great for the locker room. Bryant and Pickens both had massive character issues in college and that's why they both fell in their respective draft classes. Pittsburgh needs to improve their evaluation process. Hines Ward wasn't uber-talented, but he was solid in every phase of his game, which is what made him great and he was a leader on the team and had the respect of his teammates. It doesn't matter how talented of a player you are, if you continue to be problematic to your team that costs you yards and points, all that talent is for not.

[@yourneighbor6957]

@eric_day84 they got a 3rd round diva your words, for a hof level player that went on to win super bowl as a contributor, and they never actually solved the problem of replacing Brown also your words . What did they win???

[@eric_day84]

@@yourneighbor6957 Super Bowl? If it wasn't for Brady getting him to Tampa his career would have been over. Tampa would have probably won that ring without him. The whole outcome in Tampa just proves my point, he was a cancer to the locker room and that's why he hasn't been in the league since. That's besides the point though, the trade was between the Raiders and the Steelers, Tampa had nothing to do with it. Don't you think that the Raiders would have loved to have those picks back instead of having to deal with AB? Yeah, I think they would. Raiders lost draft picks and we got rid of a problematic WR, I mean, c'mon, you have to say the Steelers won that one, especially since AB barely done anything afterwards except get drug along for an easy ring, only to give up on that team and ruin his career.

[@yourneighbor6957]

@eric_day84 no dude the outcome the raiders got isnt a win for Pittsburgh it didn't contribute anything to them they let a top tier player go for nothing and on top of it had a golden opportunity to replace Brown and picked avg at best player. Bust in Bush , pretty sure that whole draft class is gone. They removed a cancer? And added another one with way less talent . Idk where the wins at .

[@countof3everybodyOD]

Pickens is my Doncic. Is he goes, ✌🏼

[@jimchop8235]

Ok. Since Matt never tells anyone what other great stuff he does.,( I’ve been an avid supporter of the guy since he started this podcast, and think he’s the best Steeler guy there is) .. he does another podcast called the peacock and Williamson podcast, and he does a show with dale lolley called the drive. Cmon Matt you gotta promote yourself better bro. lol

[@BigKahuna-es9so]

I really want to hear from Jerry Douchebag, Mike Pro-shit-a or Bob Labia-areola.

[@JamesCampbell-f8b]

It would’ve helped if Russ didn’t throw a moon ball on every 3rd and 1

[@FarmHouseGFA]

Wilson held the ball too long, every time, even on his check down passes he held it to the point where they couldn’t do anything by the time the RB got the ball. DUDE WAS A-- the whole season

[@FarmHouseGFA]

Most disappointing thing, all season long we the fans yearned for Jaylen Warren and Fields, throw the ball too long Darnell, and yet Tomlin stuck with the same old, same old, on offense and defense. It’s so hard to want to root for this team after years of this. Tomlin needs to be fired.

[@i.alexjohn]

whats worse Tomlin’s gun shy offensive scheme or dk talking about it ad nauseam ?

[@thatshim4724]

So are we keeping Russ?

[@beatease5992]

I think they will keep Russ, and wont match whatever team offers Fields a contract

[@BrisketBBQ]

@@beatease5992 Both Fields and Wilson are no longer under contract when FA starts.

[@beatease5992]

@@BrisketBBQ I know that, I must have to clarify what I meant, I should've said they'll re-sign Russ l

[@johnbruce4003]

Yet Russ gave them the best QB play they’ve had in years. He did it with collectively, the worst WR room the Steelers have had since the O’Donnell days. OL was well below average, running game too. (Yes, I’m including ONE TD Warren) Russ was fine in the playoff game, defense got whooped like a piñata.

[@buildbigwithben]

Dayuuum...Like a piñata lol 😆 😂 🤣

[@pamelabell5132]

@@johnbruce4003 Absolutely!

[@coldmillreport1677]

Dude O’Donnell had Charles Johnson and Ernie mills and Andre Hastings and maybe even a young thigpen…….that Steelers offense made 5 wide a staple set across the nfl……..don’t hate on that early 90’s receiver room lol

[@Bi9Clapper]

Yeah against some of the literal worst teams in the NFL (Jets, Giants, etc). Also the yards were better with Wilson but the TDs nosedived compared to Fields. Ill take TDs vs yards anyday

[@bat300-]

Huhhhhh Russ was horrible in the 1st half & got a lot of those stats in garbage time trying to come back! & Then there's a chance to get back in the game at the start of the 4th quarter & we end up punting!

[@scorpiofrancis1119]

I remember a quote from Arthur Smith, to the effect of saying one of QBs lived in an Avatar. He clearly had personal opinions of one of his QBs, you can’t have a working relationship like that. One of those 2 will be gone this offseason, it’s looking like the QB

[@SuperSteeler98]

Let Russ go and trade GP. Sign Tee Highings and draft a wr. Keep Justin Fields and let him play. Let's take a step back so we can move forward in a couple years

[@buildbigwithben]

Kills me how many writers & fans point out how bad russ is but never consider the other factors that caused this team to fail...if 2 sacks occurred it's never because guys weren't open...it's never because the ol didn't block well...every sack is on russ...every missed receiver was russ's lack of vision...every completed pass was just a lucky moon ball...every 1 yd run by the backs was because russ wasn't an offensive threat...every time the defense got cooked in the 2nd half of the season it was cause russ couldn't cook offensively...to many blind russ haters...smh...look in the mirror steelers and not just at russ... the whole team wasn't good enough and you know this.

[@vanillasky1271]

Here we go with the excuses...

[@buildbigwithben]

@@vanillasky1271 right, excuses for everyone except Tomlin and Wilson.

[@joshfrye542]

@@vanillasky1271 Russ didn't give up three straight easy non-competitive 95 yard TD drives against the Ravens in the playoffs. He also didn't drop the first pass of the game or fail to fall forward an inch for a 1st down. Even in the regular season Ravens game they lost people are excusing the defense. Just because Russ fumbled on the 4 yard line doesn't mean the defense has to allow the Ravens to march down the field for an easy 96 yard TD drive. You can't even use the tired excuse because in all of these cases the offense held the ball for a decent chunk of time.

[@AustinPowerz817]

Russ is done. Stop defending it

[@joshfrye542]

@@AustinPowerz817 He'll start more games in the next 2 years than Fields will the rest of his career.

[@Yosef82-n5t]

Pittsburgh will NEVER be a power in the NFL as long as Tomlin is the coach. NEVER!

[@davidmuse5118]

Rusty Wilson stinks

[@beatease5992]

Very creative 😃

[@pplebite8844]

Fields had no issues throwing up the middle...but you need recievers to throw to.

[@joshfrye542]

Fields has issues throwing the ball anywhere. Defenses confuse him very easily and once they start containing his runs he struggles to move the ball and his teams barely score around 17 points.

[@jaash5]

​@@joshfrye542and so does Russ, Russ has never been great at reading defenses and throwing over the middle. He made his arm on the degs when he could scramble and get away, he can no longer do that so half his game is gone. I get it that Fields may not be great, but? Wilson is poor and only going down, his ceiling at this point is much lower that Fields and frankly now his floor is probably the same as Fields. There is zero reason to bring him back outside of a Tomlin Cam Sutton level of favoritism

[@joshfrye542]

@jaash5 The situation favors Russ in every circumstance except age. For instance, why would any half decent WR choose to sign here with Fields as QB? Once you look beyond the hypotherical "potential" of Fields you realize that he's an abysmal QB that can't handle basic defensive schemes. If he would have remained starter we would have lost another 2 or 3 games, the fans would have ran him out of town with boos, and we would have watched the Bengals actually put up a fight against the Ravens in the playoffs.

[@antskaljurand3091]

Mason Rudolf>Russ Wilson

[@samgallup8260]

Wilson sucks - that’s exactly what I thought.

[@craigwilliams3721]

It aint all Wilsons fault. Come on man, do better. He's only 1 guy on the field out of 11. He don't block or tackle. Yeah, he's gonna throw the ball away. I wonder why? I assume he has a sense of self preservation. Of course they took a lot of sacks. That O line is horrendous. How the heck did Seumolo make the Pro Bowl? Oh, yeah, injuries. How many drops? How many mis-run routes? Is he allowed to change the play at the line when he sees something wrong? Does the opposing defense know what's coming cuz the Steelers' O is so predictable? Did he have the worst left tackle in the league? Did they use Warren appropriately? Is there any adjustments by the OC during the game? Halftime? At all? You could put Tom Brady on that team and they'd still suck. Get a clue, get a glove and get in the game. Pickens is a POS. Bye, Felicia. No, he's not a good player. What're you watching? Good players are supposed to make their teammates better. Fryermuth had a game ending drop that could've led to them hosting a playoff game. No excuse. He's concussion prone. Man, are you lost. Keep what going? Playing bad teams and squeaking by? Losses to the Browns and Cowboys. 'Nuff said.

[@marcuswashington461]

All those #'s validates what all Steeler fans saw the last 5 games..inability to sustain drives and have consisitent offense effects the whole team!! Defense was exposed and lack of creativity by both coordinators is why we are all so disappointed and not very optimistic about the future!!!

[@tony.bickert]

He’s old, slow and afraid in the pocket. And he’d better be gone.

[@thankfullycraig6954]

Until Art is gone, Tomlin is here Until Tomlin is gone, they will suck

[@Sad2B]

Nothing will matter as long as Tomlin is the coach. The entire staff should be fired.

[@jacobmeleciox8707]

Hey Matt I'm a big fan of yours but why can't you ever do positive stats? They're there somewhere

[@jimpeppyp4946]

Wilson was good when he was younger, even though he’s a short quarterback, but now that he is old and can’t roll out like he used to plus he can’t see over the line scrimmage , defense took care of that and short order ! Time to retire

[@RonPence-t6j]

All the more reason that the Steelers will bring back Russell Wilson, instead of fields and ruin another season for us