wk. 3 postgame observations

overall:
this was old school steeler ball... 264 yds on the ground.. the o-line controlled one of the strongest d-lines in the league... on defense, we actually put our foot on the gas pedal.. the front 7 was in the backfield most of the game, and the special teams were actually special....
now on to the individual

offense:
1. nice to see no turnovers
2. Antonio brown may just be unstoppable
3. great rebound by markus gilbert
4. I've said it before, and i'll say it again.... leveon bell is going to have a monster season
5. ben was clutch

defense:
1. love the pressure by cam heyward, keisel, mcclenden and the olb's
2. hate the shazier injury, but relieved that spence is his back up
3. hope Jarvis jones is ok
4. I've been thinking for a while that ike should be benched, but hate to see him sidelined like this
5. it's a bit much to ask our cb's to cover Benjamin 1 on 1
6. cortez allen was mercilessly picked on
7. the majority of the penalties called against the defense were really weak
8. nice to see a t/o finally

special teams:
1. great job by the coverage teams
2. speaking of coverage teams, I give credit for that fumbled punt to brad wing
3. still need more discipline on the return teams

 

Good win tempered by Ike's loss that leaves a thin secondary even thinner.

 

Good observations!

 

This sums it up pretty well.

I'll add:

officials:
1. What the $#@! happened on that Wheaton penalty???
2. No pass interference?
3. No re-establishment in the field of play?
4. No 5-yard penalty and replay 3rd down?

 

Well we got Big Play Willie Gay but I like him as the nickle. Trying to think what corners are looking for a job

 

Cody Wallace may be this team's Pimply Dan.

 

All I can cay is wow! Who was that applying pressure after Jones went down?

 

Champ Bailey??

 

11 Penalties
Blount stop the hurdling
Backups were positive
Once Haley gave Ben the wheel things rolled.
Good second half
Kept their foot on the gas

2-1 I'll take it

 

2-1 with Tampa and Jacksonville the next two weeks at that

 

It's Monday morning, and I don't have a single Steeler related thing to ***** about.

I'm so confused.

 

I have many more good things to say than I've had in some time. Some positives:

1. It was really nice to see balance and all sides of the ball playing well for a change (at least after the first quarter). Heck, even special teams showed up to play. There was fire there tonight!
2. The Cam Heyward/Joey Porter chest bump. Hehehehehe!
3. The variety the offense had was a very welcome change. Letting Ben air it out some, effective runs, etc. Part of challenge has been too much consistency and therefore not enough element of surprise and I thought we changed that nicely last night.
4. Fluke or not, us getting the touchdown off of their stupidity in trying to recover a miffed ball made me happy.
5. Keisel looked better than I've seen him in some time.
6. The D was tight. Great pressure, shutting things down early, turnover. I liked what I saw. Vast improvement.

Negatives:

1. Even though Ike hasn't been that productive and draws penalties like flies to honey, it was a real bummer to see him go out like that. I'm not sure he'll return to football, much less the Steelers, and the guy has given his all for this team.
2. All the other injuries, clearly.
3. What the heck is going on with the officiating? I know we all complain all the time, but it is absolutely horrendous this year across the board for all teams in all games.
4. Penalties in general (DeCastro, I'm looking in your general direction). We have got to figure out how to stop giving up a whole field every game!

I'm sure there's more, but this is the first Monday in a long time that I woke up feeling good about football!

 

Keisel is enjoying feasting on RTs for a change. Kevin Greene made a career out of it.

 

I feel such a HUGE sense of relief. I wasn't sure we would ever see our team take the field and be prepared and inspired again! The team played a whole game and was solid in every aspect. We lost three defensive starters and even the backups performed! I am a happy camper today

 

Keisel looked fantastic last night!

 

Tale of two halves. Much improved second half. I do think the Taylor injury will be tough to swallow. Hopefully Shazier will be ok, haven't read about his injury yet.

 

All I know is that I hope get starts ahead of Foster. Because that run blocking was sweet and the lined had some good gel going on.

 

I'd also like to give Sean Spence some props, I thought he came in a played well for Shazier. Great story that guy is.

 

Honestly, I don't think our secondary is that thin. We lack high end talent, but I actually don't think we lack overall depth. From my perspective we have lots of guys who can fill that 2-4 CB role. My largest fear is that we don't really have that one clear shut down guy.

 

Not many teams have a shut down corner, there are only about 4-5 in the whole NFL. Give Cortez Allen a shot, he will play better.

 

Spence played great. He was all over the damn place.

 

I can live without seeing Blake in coverage.

 

I'm guessing Shaquille Richardson gets activated from the practice squad.

 

With the emphasis on defensive holding you wont see any shutdown corners again, DBs cant touch a receiver now before the ball touches their fingers or they get flagged.........