U mad, bro? Readers agitated over fake punts, Steelers play calls, NFL refs, Pitt tweets

You were mad because “U mad, bro?” was late last week. Well, we heard you. So we are back on schedule this week.

And your discontent is just as obvious as ever.

This week’s complaints from readers range from Steelers play calling, to our coverage of the team, to NFL officiating, to how Pitt fans tweet.

Here’s a tweet from “@beepbeepamanda” going after Pitt fans.

“Why do some Pitt fans add #H2P to the end of literally every tweet? I swear some of yinz are out here tweeting (stuff) like ‘RIP grandma. Funeral on Tuesday. #H2P’

Are you guys okay?”

Well, at least Granny doesn’t have to watch the Quick Lane Bowl. She got off easy. #H2P.

Some guy named Mark isn’t happy with Mark Madden and me on “Madden-Benz: Unfiltered!” He didn’t like Madden’s stance that “the Steelers MVP is the NFL schedule maker.”

No. An NFL schedule is an NFL schedule. You play who you have in front of you and you are your record. All losses except NE were easily winnable. This team isn’t the incompetent dumpster fire you and Mark insist it is.

— Mark Walters (@walt_walters) December 9, 2019

Well, I didn’t call them an incompetent dumpster fire. This tweet, though, is a different story.

At 8-5, given their circumstances, the Steelers are far from a dumpster fire. However, by the end of last year they were. That’s when they failed to win seven “easily winnable” games and stayed out of the playoffs.

As we learned in 2018, no one morphs “almost winning” into “not losing” better than Steelers fans. The more many of you insist how close they are to being 12-1 or 11-2, the more it sounds like you are pretending that’s their actual record.

You can do that if you like. But, if they lose to the Bills, and the Titans and Texans both go at least 2-1 the rest of the way, don’t be surprised if the Steelers miss the playoffs.

And then 2019 will just be a different version of 2018’s #JustAFewPlaysAway.

Here’s an email from Ulric. He disagrees with my criticism of the Steelers’ fake punt in Arizona.

“I’ve watched that play several times. And I, like the commentators don’t think it was a planned fake. No one turned to receive a pass. None of the Steelers blocked. They all paused then started downfield. They seemed to only turn around when there was no sign of the ball. It looks like due to penetration, Berry thought it was gonna be blocked so he pulled it down then froze. I think Mike Tomlin assumed all the blame himself to save Berry from an all out media attack. I’ve discussed this with other Steeler fans who agreed. It seems to be fashionable among Steeler fans to find reasons to attack the coach no matter the win or loss results or the adversity involved.”

Well, Ulric, you and your other Steelers fans aren’t right just because you’ve talked about it.

I really don’t think an NFL head coach would worry that much about saving his punter from “an all out media attack,” if that punter went rogue by deciding to run the ball in that situation.

Also, if what you suggest truly took place, why wouldn’t Berry give a more digestible explanation of, “I thought the punt was going to get blocked, so I just ran”?

Wouldn’t that have been less controversial than trying a fake — up by 10 — in the fourth quarter?

The reason why no one blocked, everyone released, and they all seemed surprised was because they did not expect a fake.

Go figure!

Like Berry said, he was the only one who thought the fake was still supposed to happen. Everyone else got the signal to kill it. He didn’t.

That’s an explanation consistent with what Berry has told me about how the Steelers put their fakes in play. If they get a certain look from the opposition and they are between certain yard lines, they can do it.

Berry thought it was on. Everyone thought it was off. Simple as that.

What isn’t simple is an explanation as to why Tomlin and special teams coach Danny Smith even gave the players the option in the first place. And, yes, that’s on the coach.

Like me, Jim was mad when the Steelers decided to throw on second-and-goal when they were trying to run out the clock before Chris Boswell’s field goal to make the score 23-17.

Basic clock mismanagement is gonna kill us sooner or later. It makes zero sense

— Jim Garland (@jimbog33) December 9, 2019

That’s true. And I just don’t get it. When Hodges messed up doing something similar against Cleveland and Cincinnati the last two weeks, the blame was on him for bad decision making.

But why give the fourth-string quarterback a chance to make a bad decision in those situations? Take that option away by calling a run play.

The issue Sunday in Arizona was a physical mistake on a bad throw. But, again, why bother giving the quarterback a chance to make a bad throw? Just run it!

Especially when that pass wasn’t an attempt to score a touchdown. It was basically acting as a more complicated short run anyway.

You can get away with mistakes like that against the Bengals, Browns and Cardinals. They won’t be able to do so against the Bills, Ravens and any team they may see in the playoffs.

If they make it that far.

Justin wasn’t happy with Sunday’s officials failing to flag the hit from Arizona’s Jordan Hicks that knocked off the helmet of Steelers running back Jaylen Samuels.

Samuels was absolutely hit h2h. How bout instead of more red flags, the refs just start doing their JOBS

— justin egloff (@justineckoff) December 9, 2019

As I said when this hit happened, I don’t like seeing hits like that one becoming illegal. But they are now. And they just called a less obvious one on the same guy a few plays earlier.

Consistency is the issue. As is the case with all these officials. Every week.

Are those three chimps in your tweet available to get to Heinz Field Sunday night? Maybe around 8:20 p.m.?

It’s not like they could be any worse.