Game Balls, Game Goats & FU's....................week 12..........................@ Colts

[Chicoman]

The game tonight I felt was a pretty even matchup for both teams. At this point in the season I'm not really looking for wins but hopeful we continue to see some of our young guys like Pickett, Pickens and others to continue to improve. Looking back to Pickett's first start 7 games ago to his performance tonight he has continued to show steady improvement week in, week out and I find some sort of comfort in seeing noticeable improvement in his game. Too many people are overly critical of Pickett's play at QB and I don't think the criticism is justified. We saw good balance on offense tonight (172 rushing/174 passing) as the Steelers got the running game going early. Pickett was sacked a couple times early in the game with pressure coming from the left side but honestly I don't fault Dan Moore on one play Pickett as he stepped up into the pocket allowed Moore's man to work off his block and slide over and tackle Pickett for the sack but Moore was shaky in pass protection much of the game. Benny Snell and Anthony McFarland stepped up tonight and made some nice runs filling in for Najee Harris who went down with an ab strain averaging 5.0+ YPC. The O-line has continued to show improvement this season and this is the 3rd week in a row the running game has put up good yardage. Tonight two things stood out to me was Pickett's ball placement and his anticipation on his throws was better than it's been in his previous starts. He wasn't without his faults as he missed a few throws, the missed TD in the endzone to Pickens and another that was overthrown to Johnson in the first quarter. Pickett had 3 very catch-able balls dropped tonight, 2 by Pickens and an easy TD by Johnson who has to make that catch. I really don't like seeing those designed QB run plays called......Pickett had a nice gain on one of those plays but on the other one he only gained like 3 yards and I don't want to see our Franchise QB running head first into a Defense multiple times in a game.....as he almost got SMASHED on one of those designed runs. Some questionable play calling in the 3rd Quarter once again....I'm not sure anyone noticed but they were calling the same plays as in the first half all too often. If you watch this clip you will even hear it....turn the volume up and you hear the Colts Defender yelling.

As for the Defense I wasn't impressed as they gave up 300+ yds over 3 Quarters of play to the worst offense in the NFL after allowing just 6 yds offense in the first quarter. This $108 Million Defense is a **** show but I think it's more scheme with Teryl Austin than it is talent on the Defense. Arthur Maulet had a nice game tonight and so did Alex Highsmith. I'm still waiting to see Mark Robinson get some reps at ILB out there on Defense as I like his motor. Hopefully we see that in the next 6 games. I don't think TJ Watt is 100% but he's getting there! Cam Heyward seemed to struggle tonight too. The secondary got torn up by a rookie TE who more than doubled his season total receptions (7) with 8 for 98 yds. Steelers never seem to account for the TE out there on Defense.

Our Specials teams tonight looked shaky early on punt coverage downfield and to start the 2nd Half the Colts almost took it to the house....89 yds to the Steelers 18yd line and 4 plays later the Colts closed the gap to 16-10. Danny Smith, it might be time for him to go too....All 3 of our coordinators are not very good.....I'll say this I think Cody White is a good GUNNER....better than Boykin.

Per Tomlin's Post Game:
Najee Harris - Abdominal injury being evaluated

Game Balls:
Kenny Pickett - His best game as a Steeler.....I am excited about his progress at QB. He was accurate tonight and had good anticipation on his throws. Nice 2 point conversion to Pickens also. Gotta give him credit for that 75 yd TD drive in the 4th Quarter to take the momentum away from the Colts. That was a back breaking drive that put some nails in the Colts coffin tonight and he did it on the road in a hostile environment! Also Pickett apparently called the 3rd down call to Benny Snell that resulted in go ahead TD. Pickett said he made that call based on game film study he saw of the Colts Defense in previous games. IMPRESSIVE!
Benny Snell - He did a great job filling in for Najee Harris 12 carries for 62 yards but one other positive on Snell his blitz pickups tonight were excellent giving Pickett time on his throws
Arthur Maulet - Nice game tonight from Maulet 10 tackles, 1 sack....made some key stops tonight.....he wasn't left on a island out there at CB tonight either. I think they rotated Pierre in and Sutton to the slot instead.
Alex Highsmith - Came up big on that final drive in the 4th Quarter with a sack and a pressure to close out the game.
Isiah Loudermilk - Nice blocked FG tonight....he needs to see more play time on that D-line.
Matthew Wright - 3 for 3 on FG's tonight including a 52 yd FG that hit the upright and slid in. He needs to improve on kickoffs though

Game Goats:
Dionte Johnson - caught a slant tonight and instead of turning it upfield for a 1st down he turned and ran sideways then backwards on a catch that should have been an easy First Down instead it put us in 3rd & 6. Also he dropped an easy TD pass that was right in his hands.....gotta make that catch.
Kickoff/Punt Coverage - It was bad in the first half and even worse to start the 2nd Half they really let the Colts back into the football game. Not sure who to blame but Danny Smith.....perhaps we need 3 new coordinators this off-season

FU's:
Matt Canada - WTF? I don't understand his play calling most of the time but tonight there was some really bone headed calls that left me scratching my head....3rd & 2 and throw 15 yds downfield incomplete, 3rd & 15 and toss a 2 yd screen pass. Also the screen pass to Gentry, the running play on 2nd & 18 in the first half, the shovel pass to Derek Watt near the goal line....if Watt didn't reach back and grab that it would have been an INT. The more motion I see pre-snap the worse the outcome of the play is for our Steelers. I just don't think that pre-snap movement does anything to confuse an NFL caliber Defense.

 

[CoolieMan]

I don't care if they win the next games

canada needs to go.....

kenny played better....still looked shaky at times but then he would fire perfect pass

the miss to Pickens in the endzone was terrible though

Benny Snell Football was back

Pickens is going to be a stud

Trade DJ in the off season and draft Tank Dell out of UH....similar player but he knows when to turn upfield and will fight for the yards

 

[Djfan]

Great write up tonight, Chico. I agree on all of it. DJ would be a number 3 receiver on most teams, IMO. He simply isn't clutch. He flashes, then is a bone head, or has dead hands. Can't figure him.

 

[KCSTEELER]

FU: Cana-Tomlin. That WR bubble screen to Gentry was a ******* abomination. That wouldn’t succeed against the 3rd grade JV. Go **** off with that stupidness.

 

[BLITZ]

It seems like TJ isnt 100%. Snell played well.

Game Ball to Chicoman . Nice write up as always!

 

[Steelmann]

Good write up Chico. One little Game Goat thing for me is some of the Defensive play calling of late. A few others pointed it out in the game thread as well. Whatever happened to our blitzing up the middle? Stationary QB like Matty Ice. Blitz him! We definitely lost something when Hilton left for The Bengals.

As well another pet peeve that I’m sure we all see is the QB always in Shotgun. At least that’s the way it seems. I used to think that was just a Ben preference. Maybe someone that knows how to do it faster than I,could look up our percentage under Shotgun as compared to under center.

Also for you College Football watchers/experts.....are the QB’s mostly under center or Shotgun,out of curiosity?

 

[Avoid_Lloyd]

As Pickett improves I greatly fear Canada will get another season here under the "need for continuity" and "the steady improvement of the offense" I can hear Tomlin saying it now...

Pickett and the young offense need an NFL caliber coordinator and a good left tackle, in that order

Fire Canada, yesterday!

 

[topseed]

As for the Defense I wasn't impressed as they gave up 300+ yds over 3 Quarters of play to the worst offense in the NFL after allowing just 6 yds offense in the first quarter. This $108 Million Defense is a **** show but I think it's more scheme with Teryl Austin than it is talent on the Defense. Arthur Maulet had a nice game tonight and so did Alex Highsmith. I'm still waiting to see Mark Robinson get some reps at ILB out there on Defense as I like his motor. Hopefully we see that in the next 6 games. I don't think TJ Watt is 100% but he's getting there! Cam Heyward seemed to struggle tonight too. The secondary got torn up by a rookie TE who more than doubled his season total receptions (7) with 8 for 98 yds. Steelers never seem to account for the TE out there on Defense.

I'd hesitate to call the defense a "shltshow," after they allowed 17 points in a road win. Although I have no idea what Austin was thinking when he put only 2 down lineman out there on a first-and-goal from the 2 yard line. Everyone in the stadium knew the Colts were going to hand it to Taylor, and all he had to do, basically, was make one small cut and fall forward into the end zone.

And a couple of your statements are just wrong:

1) The defense didn't give up 300+ yards. They gave up 290 in four quarters, almost 30 yards less than what the Colts average.
2) Indianapolis is not the worst offense in the NFL, they came into the game at #25.


Concerning the offense, I thought that Pickett had his best game to date He missed maybe three throws, but Pickens and Johnson also dropped several catchable balls. KP seems to be gaining confidence and showed a lot of zip on the ball.

DJ isn't a #1 receiver. Had really high hopes for the guy, but he just isn't. He might be a very good route runner, but that becomes worth much less when he drops touchdowns and runs backward on half of the balls he does manage to catch.

Snell had a solid game for a 3rd/4th string running back. He's a valuable asset to the team.

They need to draft a viable replacement for Dan Moore. He should be a backup in this league. I thought that the rest of the line had a pretty good night, especially on the interior.


Overall, it was a good team win over a beatable opponent. The Steelers are now 3-1 when TJ plays. Watt wasn't out there wrecking things, but his presence makes a difference -- Highsmith is the main beneficiary.

 

[slashsteel]

Yeah Moore gets no pass from me. He struggles more often than not. He isn't progressing which at this point in his career he should be. Which tells me he has probably topped out. Steelers are clearly missing a corner and I would hope they double maybe even triple dip in free agency and the draft. I say triple as Sutton needs resigned. That screen to the TE not named Muth, just horribly bad. I get he is trying to mix things up but damn Canada try to be semi smart about it. Something that has a good percentage of a chance to work over a low crayon biting chance.

 

[Sarge]

I’ve been critical of Kenny Pickett, but last night he played a solid game. A couple horrible passes aside, he was on time and accurate. He is definitely moving in the right direction, and I am hopeful he is gaining enough of Canada’s trust that they open the offense some more.

The running game has really come to life the last few games. The only concerning part is that the three guys behind Harris all look better than him, and Benny Snell played like he was auditioning for another team. Really strong game from him and the Steelers needed it.

The defense is baffling. What else can you say? Solid in the first half, leaky in the second half. I kind of wonder if Austin adjusted out of what was working. Really strange to see it two weeks in a row.

Anyway, a win is a win, and the game was fun to watch.

 

[ianv2012]

Yeah Moore gets no pass from me. He struggles more often than not. He isn't progressing which at this point in his career he should be. Which tells me he has probably topped out. Steelers are clearly missing a corner and I would hope they double maybe even triple dip in free agency and the draft. I say triple as Sutton needs resigned. That screen to the TE not named Muth, just horribly bad. I get he is trying to mix things up but damn Canada try to be semi smart about it. Something that has a good percentage of a chance to work over a low crayon biting chance.

Canada thinks he's outsmarting the defensive coordinators by using Gentry for those plays instead of Muth, "they'll never expect the TE screen/shovel pass to our least athletic TE..... it's genius!" Canada says to himself. At least use Heyward, he's more athletically gifted, scheme ways to get him the ball not friggin Gentry

 

[TDX27]

Didn't get to watch the game but seems more of the same from Canaduh although they did score 20+ again. I did see Moore had a holding on 1st down on our first drive when we were in FG range. Those are drive killers. I was glad KP had the poise to get the next couple of plays and get us back into FG range. I thought that was huge to start the game.

 

[Drink IRON City]

As Pickett improves I greatly fear Canada will get another season here under the "need for continuity" and "the steady improvement of the offense" I can hear Tomlin saying it now...

Pickett and the young offense need an NFL caliber coordinator and a good left tackle, in that order

Fire Canada, yesterday!

O'Canada and Bubbles can hold hands as they Kumbaya on the way out of the short door.


Salute the nation

 

[Troglodyte]

Yes, FU to DJ with a red hot poker. He continues to try to turn potential first downs into something more and squanders them. I’m guessing he got away with that playing in the MAC and hasn’t learned it’s just not going to work in the NFL. I’d love to know if it’s being discussed with him by Tomlin and the other coaches.

 

[Steeltime]

Pickett called the 3rd down play that resulted in Snell basically walking in for a TD. Apparently, Kenny supplanted CanaDUH's call, which was a double-reverse flea-flicker fumblerooski he had been saving for just such an occasion.

 

[Steeltime]

I really don't like seeing those designed QB run plays called......Pickett had a nice gain on one of those plays but on the other one he only gained like 3 yards and I don't want to see our Franchise QB running head first into a Defense multiple times in a game.

Disagree. Defenses simply are not designed to stop a QB from running. If the defense is forced to dedicate resources to stopping the QB from running, it's like they are playing with 10 defenders. The scheme of "spying" on Lamar Jackson accounts in large part for his really good passing stats.

Scoring is hard in the NFL. Never give up a weapon.

 

[black and gold apex]

Pretty sad when Steelers win and you are not very excited, something is missing on this team.

Hard to give game balls when we really lucked out the win. It is obvious our complete coaching staff is suspect and it is showing. We should have put this game away in first half and then we fell on our noses in the third quarter and eked out a win.

 

[GILBERT]

Good win. Someone tell Canada you are allowed to throw on 2nd down!

 

[Steeltime]

Look, I get the impatience with running on 2nd and long, but news alert: Every team in the NFL does that to try and make it a 3rd and medium or short. Defenses are usually nickel on 2nd and long, the ends are blasting up the field to rush the passer, so a team should be able to get an easy 4-5 yards by running between the tackles.

This is one time I have to say the problem is not the playcalling but the execution. The Steelers HAVE to run on 2nd and long a decent number of times to make the defensive line respect the run, rather than just charging past Dan Moore to kill Kenny.

 

[SteelerSask2]

Write up is good. The offsides on field goal was inexcusable. They were very lucky there. Wright just does not have enough leg. In order for him to reach the endzone he has to low kick it, which set up the return. If its high enough it comes to the 10 and they get the 30 or more. Watt is not himself. Not sure if he will be this year but he gets a full pass. I thought Kenny made strides. NFL.com had the exact same write up as many here has said. Spectacular no. Solid, improving yes. Trending up. He has to be compared to other young QB's drafted in his zip code of the draft. Trey Lance, Daniel Jones, Mac Jones

 

[steelhurt]

Chicky, very good write up especially on Kenny. The young man is growing and yes he made the call for Benny Snell Football scoring the TD based on his film study. That right there is what teammates like to see from their young QB and it builds confidence in him as a leader.
As for this calling out our plays, this is getting really embarrassing and if Canada is not replaced by a top quality OC in the off season then I’m dumbfounded.
I liked the balance with the running game against a good Colts defense. Ya know with all Najee’s nagging injured, I’d sit him the rest of the season and go by committee with Benny Snell Football, McFarland, and Jaylen Warren. I like that threesome better than run sideways Najee.
DJ better stop running backwards after he catches a pass. Been here too long and making too much money for that crap.

 

[NYSteel]

It's a good win for the team on the road. KP appears to be learning quickly.... Decisions are generally very good on his throws. He had a couple of accuracy problems, but also got stung with a couple of drops.

I like what I am seeing so far, given the scheme he is playing in right at this point. Canada is not what anyone would call a blue chip coordinator....so I am intrigued by the prospect of what we would see with a top flight OC in the picture. I am hoping it compares to when Joe Walton departed after 2 rough years... Enter Cowher and Ron Erhardt. Same players and we have a guy bang out 1690 rushing yards...

My biggest take away from this game is that the Colts suck much worse than I expected. Matt Ryan is done....totally. He was awful. They have a front line running back in Taylor...but their QB situation is abysmal. Add to that, their interim coach is a zero experience guy.... His credentials solely being a former pro bowl center.

I'm glad we got the win, but after watching the Colts, they are one of the three worst teams in the league.

 

[Stryker]

DJ, makes great catches and drops a pass = He's a bum

Pickens makes great catches and drops a pass = He's the best ever!!

Got it...

 

[steelhurt]

Not taking anything away from the Steelers win but boy that last minute with Jeff Saturday Night Live not stopping the clock and letting it run down seems strange.
He’s got two timeouts left but lets the clock tick off something like 25 seconds. Was he saving the two timeouts for next week? Geez that was just plain negligent on his part.
Almost looked like they didn’t want to try and win it.

 

[GILBERT]

Look, I get the impatience with running on 2nd and long, but news alert: Every team in the NFL does that to try and make it a 3rd and medium or short. Defenses are usually nickel on 2nd and long, the ends are blasting up the field to rush the passer, so a team should be able to get an easy 4-5 yards by running between the tackles.

This is one time I have to say the problem is not the playcalling but the execution. The Steelers HAVE to run on 2nd and long a decent number of times to make the defensive line respect the run, rather than just charging past Dan Moore to kill Kenny.

I agree. However - I get frustrated when it's 2nd and 10 and they line up in obvious running formation. D can then just stack the box.