The_Man
Footballguy
Did anyone see the Super Bowl wrap-up version of NFL Matchup on ESPN? They killed Michael Boulware as being hugely responsible for Seattle's loss.
On the Big Ben scramble and throw to Hines from the 40, they showed Boulware's responsibility was to be the deep man on the left side of the field for Seattle. When Ben scrambled to the defense's right, Boulware ran that way -- even though he was 20 yards deep and half the field away. Hines ran right past him and then when Boulware recovered, he still had a chance to knock the ball away but let it go right past his hand.
On Willie Parker's 75-yard run, Boulware came charging up, filled the wrong hole and then didn't even slow Parker down with a weak attempt at an arm tackle.
And on the Randle-El pass, Boulware had contain responsibility on the left side of the D. He got so far inside chasing the reverse, that he was the guy Big Ben blocked. Think about that -- the guy who was supposed to be on the outside left of Seattle's D was so far inside that he got blocked in the middle of the field trying to run back out to the left. That side of the field was so wide open that Randle-El could easily have run for 20+ yards had he not thrown the ball.
They showed one other fascinating play -- the draw that Seattle ran to their left right before halftime in the two-minute drill totally caught the Steelers with Polamalu blitzing from Seattle's left. The entire right side of the Pittsburgh D was collapsed, Mack Strong was blocking the other safety and Jaws said Alexander would have had a 50-50 chance of scoring. Instead, some white D Lineman whose name I don't remember fought off the Center (who had the angle on him) and tackled Alexander in the hole for a 4-yard gain.
That's a great show -- another thing I'll miss until September.
On the Big Ben scramble and throw to Hines from the 40, they showed Boulware's responsibility was to be the deep man on the left side of the field for Seattle. When Ben scrambled to the defense's right, Boulware ran that way -- even though he was 20 yards deep and half the field away. Hines ran right past him and then when Boulware recovered, he still had a chance to knock the ball away but let it go right past his hand.
On Willie Parker's 75-yard run, Boulware came charging up, filled the wrong hole and then didn't even slow Parker down with a weak attempt at an arm tackle.
And on the Randle-El pass, Boulware had contain responsibility on the left side of the D. He got so far inside chasing the reverse, that he was the guy Big Ben blocked. Think about that -- the guy who was supposed to be on the outside left of Seattle's D was so far inside that he got blocked in the middle of the field trying to run back out to the left. That side of the field was so wide open that Randle-El could easily have run for 20+ yards had he not thrown the ball.
They showed one other fascinating play -- the draw that Seattle ran to their left right before halftime in the two-minute drill totally caught the Steelers with Polamalu blitzing from Seattle's left. The entire right side of the Pittsburgh D was collapsed, Mack Strong was blocking the other safety and Jaws said Alexander would have had a 50-50 chance of scoring. Instead, some white D Lineman whose name I don't remember fought off the Center (who had the angle on him) and tackled Alexander in the hole for a 4-yard gain.
That's a great show -- another thing I'll miss until September.
