Game Balls, Game Goats & FU's........vs Broncos

[stillwright]

but they won because of their final 4 plays at the goal line

Or the lack of execution by the broncos. A win is a win. I get it.

 

[Drink IRON City]

but they won because of their final 4 plays at the goal line

AND one of those was an interception




Salute the nation

 

[SteelerFan448]

I was impressed with the OL today, particularly the left side getting push. What goes unnoticed is the blocks picked up by the other side of the line and tight ends. These were the defenders making tackles over the past couple of weeks. Najee also showed how he can create his own yards after contact and this was especially evident when Snell and Ballage came in--which turned out to be drive killers.

Ben had a solid game connecting on plays he was just missing in recent weeks. Obviously he hit Johnson in stride, but his best pass of the day was the touchdown to Claypool. He can still make plays when given a strong running game and time to throw. With that said, you cannot ignore how loose he's been with the ball. He held on too long for a sack/fumble which led to points. He also had two passes that should've been easy picks thrown directly to No. 45 of the Broncos, with the first possibly being a pick 6.

I don't know if Watt and Highsmith aren't back to full speed or if the weakened defensive line has hurt the pass rush. Alualu was a big loss in terms of being a space eater. Butler and Tomlin will need to get more creative to generate pressure in future weeks. Today I just don't think they were too worried about Bridgewater. He is probably the worst regular starting QB they'll see all season and I still can't believe the Broncos passed on Fields, though Surtain will be very good.

 

[BLITZ]

Pressley Harvin gets a game ball

 

[steelcan58]

Ben had a solid game connecting on plays he was just missing in recent weeks. Obviously he hit Johnson in stride, but his best pass of the day was the touchdown to Claypool. He can still make plays when given a strong running game and time to throw. With that said, you cannot ignore how loose he's been with the ball. He held on too long for a sack/fumble which led to points. He also had two passes that should've been easy picks thrown directly to No. 45 of the Broncos, with the first possibly being a pick 6.

Ben has always hung on to the ball what many would view as too long. Now that he can't evade the pass rush it's more noticeable.

 

[6Lombardis]

Ben did a great job of managing the game and choosing his spots for big plays. He got the protection he needed finally and a run game to allow him to balance the offense.

Agree. One play I hated was the deep sideline shot to Claypool on 3rd and 2 earlier in the game. Just don't understand why not move the chains. Chase was well covered and not sure he could have stayed inbounds had he caught it. I'd rather see them get the first down there. Overall, the team looked better with the playcalling.

 

[Punxsutawney]

Some comments down playing OL performance because it was the Broncos. I could be wrong but I thought I read that they were a top five team against the run coming into today.

It's hard to tell how good the Broncos defense is.

They were not exactly playing the 1998 Vikings in their first three games, and the Ravens moved the ball against them pretty easily last week.

It still a strong performance from the OL, given how awful they looked in the prior games.

 

[MTC]

nice post and correct on Cameron and minka, he is not WATT but lately WATT has not been WATT.

Minka definitely took a bad angle on that big play and he had full sight & tackle path with no one in his way, no excuse.




Salute the nation

Watt has a bad groin. Hasn’t been the same since.

I know Bush and groin go hand in hand(pervy joke somewhere) but strength and conditioning seems to be a culprit here imo.


Aside, cannot complain. My gameball would definitely go to Claypool today. The guy stepped up huge after Juju went down

 

[TDX27]

nice post and correct on Cameron and minka, he is not WATT but lately WATT has not been WATT.

Minka definitely took a bad angle on that big play and he had full sight & tackle path with no one in his way, no excuse.




Salute the nation

Other than his injury, he has. Last week he was still a little slow from it be he was getting there yesterday. Seems he's not getting much help on the other side either. Also, they dropped him into coverage a lot last week for some reason. I'm not sure if their dumbasses did that again yesterday or not. You use Watt at the line to rush the passer and get tackles in the backfield. He should never drop into coverage or maybe only very, very rarely.

 

[Drink IRON City]

Other than his injury, he has. Last week he was still a little slow from it be he was getting there yesterday. Seems he's not getting much help on the other side either. Also, they dropped him into coverage a lot last week for some reason. I'm not sure if their dumbasses did that again yesterday or not. You use Watt at the line to rush the passer and get tackles in the backfield. He should never drop into coverage or maybe only very, very rarely.

I was a little hard on WATT when I wrote that post. I always re-watch and see better second time through. He is still a force to be reconned with and give him another week or two to get completely healed and he should be fully back.




Salute the nation

 

[black and gold apex]

Game ball Naj and Ben
Goats the defense for allowing that game to even be close
FU Tomlin's decision to basically take a knee with one 52 left in half and two time outs. They need to be beat up this week just like Ben has been.
Terrible tackling, chasing receivers never looking back to ball ( the time they did interception in end zone)

 

[Drink IRON City]

Game ball Naj and Ben
Goats the defense for allowing that game to even be close
FU Tomlin's decision to basically take a knee with one 52 left in half and two time outs. They need to be beat up this week just like Ben has been.
Terrible tackling, chasing receivers never looking back to ball ( the time they did interception in end zone)

It's those small details that just drive me UCKING nuts................. those are all coachable traits.





Salute the nation

 

[Stewey]

:
FU to all the critics who were ready to write off Big Ben....he might be 39 years old but he can still sling the rock! Ben got the protection this game that he didn't have the first 4 games of the season and he looked much better. Going forward hopefully the O-line continues to improve.

It's a relief not to have to hear from Ben himself that he sucked, but I'm not crowning his *** yet.
He had a good game, as did many of his teammates.

What I want to see going forward is consistency. Win or lose, consistency is the least we should expect from a QB who we are so quick to label as "elite". No?

 

[fogdoctor]

I was one of the nay sayers. Not for Ben, although I can see the end is near, but the line and the play calling. Both were good - almost like they watched film on the other team a s designed a game plan to take advantage of what they like to do.

 

[topseed]

It's pretty ironic that Ben has truly become the "game manager" some people labeled him as earlier in his career. He was far from perfect with a fumble and a couple of potential INTs, but it was good to see him play pretty well again. Over 10 yards per attempt against the #3 defense in that category was unexpected by me, to say the least.

Of course the success in the running game was even more shocking. Those types of creases for Najee were basically non-existent in the first 4 games, so maybe Denver's high defensive ranking was an anomaly.

I have no idea how the Steelers beat the Bills back in week one, but it goes to show that anything can happen on any given Sunday in the NFL. The last three weeks were tough to watch, and I was ready to write this team off, but they sucked me back in. The remaining schedule is still brutal, though.

 

[TDX27]

Consistency is right. The O-line needs to keep it above the line (nothing spectacular) and not commit bad time penalties like last week. Najee needs 20+ carries per game. We need a solid backup to spell him. Maybe McFarland can fill that when he gets back since he is a change of pace. We still need been to throw downfield, down the middle and the quick slants across the middle. The quick slant to Diontae later in the game was a beauty. I have no idea why we don't use that more often. Marsha has made a career off that play and still uses it to this day.

 

[Black & Gold Bleeder]

how many snaps does the back up running back truely get in practice weds thurs fri? I like ballage, he didnt impress this game vs. the broncos, but we really havent seen him. Thankfully tomlin is starting to rest him some in game. Just think you cant come in cold and succeed.

 

[CoolieMan]

Consistency is right. The O-line needs to keep it above the line (nothing spectacular) and not commit bad time penalties like last week. Najee needs 20+ carries per game. We need a solid backup to spell him. Maybe McFarland can fill that when he gets back since he is a change of pace. We still need been to throw downfield, down the middle and the quick slants across the middle. The quick slant to Diontae later in the game was a beauty. I have no idea why we don't use that more often. Marsha has made a career off that play and still uses it to this day.

that was basically the same play as the one Claypool took for a big game earlier in the game

I guess the coaches have been reading our posts where we suggested they try those passes

 

[Steelmann]

I’ve read McFarland’s name on here a few times as the guy to spell Naj. The guy goes down if he hits a single blade of grass slanted the wrong way. He is surely not the answer for backup. I don’t really think he’s done anything.

James looks alright in Arizona. He was signed cheap & would have been a great backup. If he would have accepted that role? Oh well. Move on forward.

 

[black and gold apex]

Another game ball to all sports media.......today five pages of articles on profootball talk and not one on Ben , being washed up and Steelers made a mistake.
Not one article on the front page of my internet running down Ben, or what the sports world thinks of Ben passing...bla bla bla

Maybe look at Chiefs with the same record as ours and hit their QB

 

[CoolieMan]

Another game ball to all sports media.......today five pages of articles on profootball talk and not one on Ben , being washed up and Steelers made a mistake.
Not one article on the front page of my internet running down Ben, or what the sports world thinks of Ben passing...bla bla bla

Maybe look at Chiefs with the same record as ours and hit their QB

pft sucks ***

 

[insaniti]

Agree. One play I hated was the deep sideline shot to Claypool on 3rd and 2 earlier in the game. Just don't understand why not move the chains. Chase was well covered and not sure he could have stayed inbounds had he caught it. I'd rather see them get the first down there. Overall, the team looked better with the playcalling.

While I agree that these types of playcalls are dumb, Claypool was held the ENTIRE route and nothing was called. It was clear as day from where I sat in the stands, let alone right infront of the line judge.

Game ball Naj and Ben
Goats the defense for allowing that game to even be close
FU Tomlin's decision to basically take a knee with one 52 left in half and two time outs. They need to be beat up this week just like Ben has been.
Terrible tackling, chasing receivers never looking back to ball ( the time they did interception in end zone)

Well they didn't have two timeouts because they had JUST USED one. They wasted nearly 25 seconds from the play before, ran a quick hitter to the TE, called a TO, then came back out and kneeled the ball. It made absolutely no sense at all, and the crowd let them know it. There was a massive BOOOOOOOO after that.

I’ve read McFarland’s name on here a few times as the guy to spell Naj. The guy goes down if he hits a single blade of grass slanted the wrong way. He is surely not the answer for backup. I don’t really think he’s done anything.

James looks alright in Arizona. He was signed cheap & would have been a great backup. If he would have accepted that role? Oh well. Move on forward.

McFarland would be better than Ballage, he does ABSOLUTELY nothing. And you can't bring Snell in, the D knows it's a run at that point because he can't catch the ball at all...Conner would be a GREAT backup for Harris. Conner is a very good back, he just couldn't stay healthy being THE guy. He had power, moves, could catch, just couldn't take the beating constantly. As a back to give Harris a breather, I think he would have flourished.

 

[TDX27]

Claypool was definitely held/PI'd that entire play. They showed the replay and tried to say he didn't turn him so it wasn't PI. I almost threw my remote. You don't have to turn him for one and two, he sure as **** did interfere with him turning and going to get the ball. That was textbook PI and it was right in front of the refs. Just like Ben never gets the roughing the passer calls others do (including at least one in this game), Claypool (even though he does get some of the holding and PI calls) doesn't get nearly all of the calls he should.

 

[alancac98]

I think Highsmith is in a similar situation to Watt in that he is not fully recovered from his groin injury.

He does not look as quick as he did last season or this past preseason.

Both Highsmith and Watt are still suffering from the groin injury! A groin injury doesn't go away in a week or two. It's actually worse than a hamstring injury and will take quite a while to heal, particularly since they are still playing with it.

 

[Steeltime]

Dan Moore's best game as a pro. Like night-and-day comparing his results yesterday with the game two weeks ago. Seems like he is working on getting better position and using his excellent reach to keep the defenders away from him.