Hoorays and Boos for the Win vs. Cleveland

I didn't want to call them Winners and Losers, because we all won today. Here are mine, after one viewing.


Hooray!

Ben Roethlisberger - Aside from the INT, he played pretty outstanding ball today. Fantastic first half and, despite some floundering by the offense in the second half, came up big in the clutch. Surprise, surprise. Bonus: better time management with the clock winding down at the end of both halves. Those of you that know me know how hard I've been on him and Tomlin. Good job today.

Antonio Brown - Uh, this guy is awesome. Total package. Somehow getting even better, and Joe Haden's struggles to contain him continue. Bonus points for a karate kick to the face. Shoulda just run around the guy for a TD, but who cares? It'll probably be awhile before we ever see that again.

Le'Veon Bell - Forget picking up where he left off. This is the best I've ever seen him play. He's got the patience, vision, and toughness, and I can see a real difference in his quickness with the weight loss. He looks quick and shifty in a way he didn't before. I would MUCH rather have him than Lacy.

Markus Wheaton - He's Emmanuel Sanders + ability to make the big clutch catch. We needed him to come up big today, and he did. Good blocking too, which is my concern about him. All this in his first start and first real action? He could be even better than we hoped.

William Gay - Invisible all game (great news) and then two big clutch plays late to get us the ball back. Covering the backups on one of the worst receiving corps in the league isn't the highest degree of difficulty, but great game anyway. He did what you're supposed to do when facing inferior competition: he dominated. I wish the rest of our defense had done that well.

Ryan Shazier - Rookie mistakes and missed tackles everywhere, but I'm putting him here anyway. First NFL action and he was explosive, athletic, fast, and helpful. Didn't want him to leave the field. You could just tell from watching him today he will be a special player not just in the long run, but this year.

Cam Heyward - HUGE sack. Bullied the guard blocking him. Killed the Browns when they had all the momentum.

Shaun Suisham - He was just getting all his misses out of the way in preseason. Clutch kick.

Brad Wing - Very pleased with him today! No rookie jitters. He punted great. Pleasantly surprised.


Boo!

Marcus Gilbert - Looked great all preseason, but crumbled a few times today. Not every sack he allowed was his fault, but he did not play well enough. Not even close.

Troy Polamalu - Missed tackles! Love the enthusiasm, but some of those he just has no excuse for. There are times when it's appropriate to break down, Troy. On the plus side, he didn't appear to be challenged much, if at all, in the air.

Mike Tomlin / Dick LeBeau / Defense as a whole - Our defense simply could not keep up with their offense in the 3rd quarter. Okay, so the no-huddle catches you off guard. ADJUST! Get lined up on time! And stop allowing the same exact bootleg play to work every single time they run it! Today looked like a defense that could not adjust to pretty crappy receivers with a mediocre quarterback and backup rookie running backs. We simply did not rise to the occasion. We were physically outmatched. Terrible.


Meh.

Justin Brown - Looked like a pro, not some bubble player. Tough catches, and drew a personal foul. But a terrible drop when we desperately needed a first down really set us back.

Cortez Allen - Good game overall I thought, but some missed tackles. That's not okay for a Pittsburgh Steeler cornerback.

Lawrence Timmons - Lots to love about him today, but some bad angles and overruns. Need better from him. Let Shazier make the mistakes.

Jarvis Jones and Jason Worilds - A sack apiece, but where were the pressures the rest of the game? They each also had some plays where they initially burst into the backfield in impressive fashion, but then failed to make the tackle.

 

Nothing I'd disagree with here. I'd add:

Hoorays: Robert Golden can pass! Loved that fake play.

Boos: The one thing I asked for in WWW wishlist thread - the ONE THING - was not so many stupid penalties. There were none that were particularly memorable as being gamebreaking (though my memory is stymied by alcohol), but they were still far too many.

 

I'd also add a BIG FAT BOO for Ike "no hands" Taylor. He's got the worst ball skills I've ever seen and to say he looks like a girl trying to catch a football would be a disgrace to girls everywhere!

 

Looks spot on to me.

 

The catch by Blake was just as sweet! I almost put the penalties in there. Both teams were holding left and right.

 

Ha, yeah. Great coverage on the play though!

Pretty good microcosm of his career: tight coverage, dropped INT, fans boo. Poor guy.

 

...and, as usual, no takeaways by the D.

 

yep they sure were. I would add Haley to the Hooray column. I think he Game planned very well and used Great play calling to bust the game open, now after they adjusted we went flat, but he had the right plays drawn up to attack them just no plan B, or C , but I still think his calls early won us the game.

 

That's how he's survived. Exceptional cover skills. If his ball skills matched his cover skills we may be talking about a HOF type of career. He's probably dropped 30-40 potential INTs in his career.

 

Every time this team makes you start to feel optimistic about SOMETHING, it pulls the rug out and says "Gotch'a".

It's just a typical game in the neighborhood of the Tomlin regime.

And to think I said at half time to myself... "This could be the best Steelers game I remember in a long time". HA!

Fool me once, shame on me.....

 

Aye, I think it was that moment when they flashed up Ben's passing stats in the first half, I was thinking - "wow, he could be breaking records today." Then immediately thought: "but we'll probably go to **** in the second half, knowing us..." Kind of wish I hadn't thought that now - it didn't make it feel any better.

 

great post by the OP.

I would add, and I've not seen the game film of course, that we got some nice blocks at times from Pouncey and DeCastro.

 

Both Browns and Wheaton laid some nice blocks as well. Kudos to Mann and the WR corps today.

 

Disagree on some of your points. I think when you win you have arisen to the occassion . All of your other points are valid and I concur

 

Steelers did lay a few big hits.

 

Agree 100%, except that number might be a little low. If he caught half the INTs he dropped, he'd be a Hall of Famer.

Very true. There's also the whole playing down to inferior competition aspect, although that happened in Cowher's day, too.

Pouncey I saw some misses, but DeCastro I think was perfect. I don't remember seeing him miss one all game.

Yeah, I was inconsistent with my logic between Shazier and JB. Both had ups and downs. I could move JB to the Hoorays. He genuinely impressed me for the first time in his career. He's a legit player. Honestly, although he isn't as good as Shazier, his play surprised me more than Shazier's.

 

Hooray for the win. Nit picking every player is no way to enjoy a win.

 

A win is a win but I wouldn't call that "enjoyable."

 

That's why you didn't start this thread and I did. I'm not telling you how to enjoy it.

 

And kicks!

 

Semantics, I guess. "The occasion" is more than a couple plays. We were out-physicalled by the Browns for nearly an entire half and we didn't fix it until there was like 90 seconds left. They finished the job eventually, but if the offense hadn't built them such a ridiculous lead in the first half, we'd have lost hands down. 24 points in a row means you had plenty of chances to rise to the occasion and didn't. Even the FG we "forced" only happened because the Browns tripped over their own feet.

 

This is exactly how I feel about this team. I feel like I need a nap after today's game

 

I still think in the end there was alot of good from this game. Particularly because it was Game # 1. People sometimes lose sight of that fact. We have work to do but collectively as team I saw alot of good things and exceptional play by a few of our players. So good in fact that it's very difficult to choose who should get the game ball. Thats a good problem to have. I see us improving week in and week out.