Concerns about the offense

I dont see how anyone can quibble with our depth on the o-line. The depth ahs been remarkable. In fact the worst performance of th o-line were the first scrimmage and game when the starting unit looked average. At no time have the backups looked anything but capable. I am encouraged by our depth on the line.

As far as Ramsey I am in a wait and see mode. The offense has looked by any strech of the imagination at least twice as good as last year. I think some people are forgetting just how bad the offense looked last year. It was completely incapable of doing anything. This year at the least the design seems much better. Ramsey has never been a bad QB. He has more TDs than interceptions for his career and has always been under serious pressure. I think given a decent chance and protection he is going to blossom. Just gie him some time guys.

One other thing I have noticed at both the games I was at...Our receivers are fast. Not like a little fast but like run fly patterns and they are open by 6 yards every time fast. Once they hit a couple fo these the offense is going to open up. This offense really has a chance to be good if they can keep Ramsey's confidence up and stay healthy.

Speaking of out patterns though, I think Ramsey to Cooley/Patten on intermediate outs is going to be HUGE this year. Ramsey DOES always throw with a lot of velocity that allows him to complete those. He seems to have pretty good accuracy with them too.

Concerns about our offense should be directed to the last five minutes of the first half on Friday. With 5:01 on the clock, with our #1 RB on the sidelines, with a seven point deficit, our offense did everything it was supposed to do. When that 10 play, 55 yard drive was over, the game was tied and Pittsburgh had 38 seconds on the clock. Our QB was 5/5, we never rushed for a loss, and Pittsburgh's first team defense was left apologizing to the coaches.

Jump balls are in the play book and all teams use them its a matter of putting the ball where the receiver has the advantage as Ramsey did with Cooley. In the Pit game we would have ran the ball alot more because we were so efficent in running but Gibbs wanted to see more of the passing game. I think we would have had another TD before the half if we would have run the ball more and then they would have stacked the line and our passing game would have been even better. If our Oline stays healthy and can keep playing the way they are our O will have alot of success this year. Last year we all talk about if we could only get the running game going and protect the QB our passing game would come along and from what I'm seeing thats what we are doing.If you think we should have concerns look at Roethisberger's stats. 30 attemps 14 completions 0 TD's 2 interceptions and a passer rating of 30. That would realy have me concerned.

Concerns about our offense should be directed to the last five minutes of the first half on Friday. With 5:01 on the clock, with our #1 RB on the sidelines, with a seven point deficit, our offense did everything it was supposed to do. When that 10 play, 55 yard drive was over, the game was tied and Pittsburgh had 38 seconds on the clock. Our QB was 5/5, we never rushed for a loss, and Pittsburgh's first team defense was left apologizing to the coaches.

That's exactly how I felt. The offense worked the way I've envisioned it working. More of the same, please.

I agree with the concern about Ramsey's deep throws, for this reason. Our wideouts are getting serious separation on those deep routes. Those should go for TDs. When a WR is 3-4 steps behind the D, you've got to hit it. We're are going to have lots of opportunities like that this year, if our running game looks like it did against Pitt. The play action on 1st-2nd down is going to be devastating. So Ramsey has to get that throw to work.

I agree with Matty that he's trying to adjust his deep ball and get more air under it--but it's time to get it to work! He more often overthrew the deep ball last year, if I recall correctly, so he's clearly got the arm, as we know. Let's just hope he finds the happy medium and starts hitting it. If he does, we're going to light it up.

The o-line looks great to me, and I'm not so worried about the depth issue, though our starters are obviously much stronger than the backups.

I don't think many will ever be happy. Is their something about finding something bad to say about the skins consistently in regards to Ramsey. The guy is performing much like your other quarterbacks in the league with an interception here and an interception there. Every interception that is thrown is considered a bad decision. Bad decisions are made by all the quarterbacks and the agressive defenses and blitzes create a problem for all quarterbacks when they are rushed. Ramsey can underthrow all day as long as he gives his receivers a chance to make a play on the long ball that we so desperarately missed last year. Many people would argue for a good quarterback those throws were great put where the reciever had a chance or only where the receiver could have gotten it. It would be ideal to hit receivers on the run, but it just does not happen that way all the time and never will. We will win a lot of games this year due to a greatly improved offense if we compare to last year and considering Gibbs still has plenty to show when the regular season opens. I feel good about our chances.

I agree that Ramsey is working on putting more air under his deep balls, so he is underthrowing a bit, but as we saw the WR's started adjusting better on Friday and coming back to the ball. They go over these plays every day in practice, so I'm sure that once Ramsey gets it down, they'll be right with him. Plus, a couple deep balls with only few or no YAC is better than no deep balls at all like last year!

On another note, I can't help but notice how our new receivers CATCH THE BALL! Practically anything close and they have it! Quite a nice change from "drop it like it's hot" Gardner, and "my toe hurts and now I jammed my finger" Coles! Thrash has always been very consistent too, not to mention Cooley.....VERY promising!!! :biggthump

I agree that Ramsey is working on putting more air under his deep balls, so he is underthrowing a bit, but as we saw the WR's started adjusting better on Friday and coming back to the ball. They go over these plays every day in practice, so I'm sure that once Ramsey gets it down, they'll be right with him. Plus, a couple deep balls with only few or no YAC is better than no deep balls at all like last year!

On another note, I can't help but notice how our new receivers CATCH THE BALL! Practically anything close and they have it! Quite a nice change from "drop it like it's hot" Gardner, and "my toe hurts and now I jammed my finger" Coles! Thrash has always been very consistent too, not to mention Cooley.....VERY promising!!! :biggthump

yeah, i'm a big fan of receivers that can catch... its a good quality to have, and something we should demand.

Don't get me wrong--I'm am not unhappy with Ramsey--he played a great game against Pitt and is going to lead us to lots of victories this year. All I'm saying is that he isn't hitting the deep ball yet (Moss did a fantastic job coming back to the ball on at least 2 plays), and when he does, he will really take us to the next level. The fly route is going to be there, and it needs to be hit properly--ie, hitting the WR in stride so they don't have to slow down. Given our speed, that's going to equal TDs, and it's going to put us over the 21 point mark on a regular basis. But it is not there yet, and it needs to be there soon! We'll be fine with passing like we saw against Pitt; but if PR hits the deep one right, we'll be a force.