Rough Rants has been posted by Guest at Stillers.com.

Exactly...throwing the ball with 2:00 to go was asinine, especially a deep ball. I could MAYBE excuse them for trying to throw SHORT to pick up the FD and salt the game away. MAYBE.

very good read.... and I totally agree about the whole the ball on third down with 2:00 left ... its rediculas that ben threw it as far as he did when all u needed to do was try and run and keep the clock moving ... glad it went the way it did but horrible play call and decision .....

Yes a deep ball was pretty oncalled for, but no way we run the ball on 3rd down. If we run the ball for no gain, the Ravens have a minute and a half to drive down the field. Gradkowski did it in less than 50 seconds...twice.

You know what pisses me off about Ben? It's the fact that he ALWAYS looks for the big play when it's 3rd & manageable. My gawd, how many friggin times have you seen Brady hit Welker for a 8 yd gain when its 3rd & 7? We're always trying to pick up 25 when all we need to do is move the sticks. If they don't flag Walker on that play, Ben is the goat, plain & simple.

It wasn't 3rd and manageable. It was 3rd and 11.

You're the only one here who got this right. The key was moving the sticks. If we pass incomplete and punt, we deserve to lose if the defense cannot stop a long drive with under 2 to play and zero timeouts. But we should always take the shot to make the game-winning first down, and not even worry if the defense can prevent that drive, instead of merely making the defensive stand a certainty with less time on the clock. (The Rats would have been in nearly the exact same situation as the Steelers were the previous week.)

We were lucky to get the flag- How many times is that infraction *not* called? Especially at that part of the game?

I don't know if it's the actual play Arians called or something Ben thought he saw....... But sometimes, Ben has "Brent Favre disease", in which his eyes become bigger than what a critical play calls for.

The only time a 25 yard pass should be thrown in that type of situation is if there isn't a defender within ten yards of the intended receiver.

[quote]You know what pisses me off about Ben? It's the fact that he ALWAYS looks for the big play when it's 3rd & manageable. My gawd, how many friggin times have you seen Brady hit Welker for a 8 yd gain when its 3rd & 7? We're always trying to pick up 25 when all we need to do is move the sticks. If they don't flag Walker on that play, Ben is the goat, plain & simple.[/quote

My sentiments expressed here many times! We're in the same hymnal on the same page.

This is why Brady is in PB. He is in perfect scheme for his skills. He is a slimmer Ben Roth who cannot move either. Beats defenses BY MOVING THE CHAINS ALL DAY with QUICK HITTING PLAYS TO Welker (10 catches/game) and Faulk's killer draw plays. Then kills them with Moss - 4 catches/gm, 3 for TD's while they are looking for Welker and Faulk.

Hell, Ben has to wait for the guys to run up the exit ramps for those 50-yd patterns inside the 20-yd redzone. He's tossed for a lot of yds this year but gave half of 'em back in sacks waiting for those "tricky" patterns that sends the boys to Westmoreland County and back. He will not be PB material as long as he and Ass Arians are "on the same page". THAT should tell you all you need to know about Ben's chances of making PBs. Remember the 15-1 year? Controlled, high percentage stuff then stike deep while enemy slept? Well, leemesee here, we got a burner in Wallace (faster Welker?) or better Holmes (short crossing patterns) that should eat up the 3rd & 5's or 3rd & 7's. Instead we "ALL go deep". Screw it, they'll never get it.

Was it Arians, or was it Ben? I'm fine with throwing it, but maybe Ben tried to go deep when he should of went to a shorter route? Did he do it because he saw the flag thrown and new he had a free one? Who knows for sure, but I agree the result was pathetic. I disagree with your opinion of the penalty, I think it was clearly defensive holding, and the ref threw the flag before Ben threw the ball.

Arians needs to go. We say this at work everyday. One of my friends predicted that the Green Bay game saved Arians from being fired after the Season's done. God, I hope he's wrong.

As for all the possible scenarios regarding the playoffs(cue Jim Mora), we wouldn't be in this position had we beaten teams we're supposed to beat in Cleveland, K.C., Chicago, and Oakland. Technically you can add Baltimore, and Cinci into that too. Had we won any of those games, we would control our own destiny. This off season will be a critical one. We need to make moves in FA, and have a strong draft, i.e. get contributions from the lower round picks, not just the first two picks of each draft. We also need to replace Arians, Ligashitsky, and possibly the DBs coach. We'll see if Tomlin makes any staff changes. If he doesn't, then next season will feature more of the same, or worse.

We ALL hope he's wrong. If it takes 500+ passing yds and last second, pin-point accuracy to win a damn game, something is wrong.

MT needs to sit him down in a film room, WITH THE PROJECTOR ON THIS TIME, and have him explain some of his assinine calls. For that matter, bring in LeBeau and have him explain why he went soft on KC and Balt at critical time as well.

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Ask Bruce why a 3rd & 3 situation at our own 22 ydline calls for a 60-yd post to an under-thrown Wallace.

Ask LeBeau why our blitzers feel the NEED to run INTO blockers instead of past them?

Just a few thoughts!

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Ask Bruce why on 3rd & 1, and 3rd & 2 inn the Cleveland game, he goes 5 WR in 45 mph winds. Ask Bruce why he abandoned the run when we were down 6-3 in the Cinci game. 25 passes to 9 runs isn't balance.

Ask LeBeau why he dropped 8 during both Chicago, and Cinci games early in the season. We made Gay Butler look like an All Pro that game. Same with Gratkowski in the Oakland game.

Ask Ligashitsky why our kick cover teams looked like they couldn't cover a pee wee team runback. This team underperformed all year.

Do any of you guys ever listen to the post-game interviews?

A deep pass WASN'T CALLED on that 3rd-11 play.

The only reason Ben threw the ball deep is because he SAW THE FLAG, and KNEW HE HAD A FREE PLAY.

You guys are so eager to get out your screeds against Arians that you never stop to gather all the information that's out there before you rush headlong into making fools of yourselves.

One free play doesn't make up for a whole pile of boners Bruce has called all year long. We can all disect the playcalling and find some good points, and some bad points. Match the bad to the scenarios we were in at those times, and you'll see why we slam Bruce.

BA disdains the ground game which is why we don't have a FB as we use to know it....I can only hope that if we don't squeak into the play-offs this year, that by this time next week, Arians is out of a job.

First of all, I don't necessarily believe he saw the flag. Secondly, even if he did, he didn't know for sure who it was on...although it was most likely on the "D", given where it was thrown.