My observations from the Saints stiff arm

1. Incredible difference in the defense with TJWatt on the field

2. Huge difference with Najee when he's not auditioning for dancing with the stars

3. The Saints only td was gifted to them by the refs

4. Pretty good offensive game plan between the 20's, but the RedZone offense still needs a lot of work

5. Kazee's hit which led to the aforementioned gifted td was totally legal

6. Alex Highsmith was definitely a happy camper with TJ back

7. Mathew wright better get his act together for the next few weeks

8. Good day by Presley Harvin

9. Sky's the limit for Pickens

10. Great job protecting the ball by Pickett

 

Always look forward to your post game observations, sir. Once again, well done. The targeting penalty on Kazee was an awful call. The WDVE morning show usually have Gene Steratore on during the week. I hope they ask him about it.

 

I know the Saints were banged up, but good to see that the Steelers had used the bye week well. Better run game, better strategy for Pickett. Steps in the right direction.

 

Blackandgoldpatrol delivers every week! If I could give you ten green checkmarks I would. Spot on

 

I am most encouraged by #10. My biggest concern when he was drafted is that he'd be a turnover machine.

He could have easily fumbled on that blindside sack for one.

 

Man, that throw on the slant to Pickens was an NFL throw there. He held that LB with his eyes just long enough to thread it in there!

 

Spot on once again.

Also we need to sign Highsmith long term.

 

Agree with everything thing here. Honorable mention to Kazee’s overall play. Be great to see him on the field with Minkah. Maybe some 3 safeties and 1 ILB they talked about in the preseason

 

I understand why people would complain about Pickett today. He wasn't great in the first half. He missed some open throws. On the other hand, he took care of the ball and played better as the game went on. He wasn't great, but this was progress.

 

I could see them doing that once they get Fitzpatrick back. Once they get healthy, they have three legitimate NFL safeties. This would also allow them to do more aggressive things with Edmunds.

 

The Steelers need to stick to this type of offense that they ran today. They have 2 good RB's and a good running QB, keep running the ball and limit the passing to under 30 passes a game. Even if they fall behind they shouldn't abandon the running game and force their rookie QB to throw 50 times. This was old school Steeler football today, over 200 yards rushing, good solid defense and good game management by the QB.

 

Agreed, but........
They really must work on KPs passing game in the Redzone. We are not the only ones that know He has more rushing tds than passing tds.

 

We arent winning high scoring games so anything to shorten the game is ideal. Today was a nice game plan running the ball and najee ran hard and warren saw more action which was nice to see also. He came in early and didnt produce but nice tomlin stuck with sharing the load.

Felt like many points were left on the board especially the 2 missed fgs. Would like to see them get the ball in pickens hands some more.

Crazy how good the D looks with TJ and the pressure the line was able to get.

 

1. Incredible difference in the defense with TJWatt on the field Yeah that's for sure. Its almost like the best player in the league on one side of the ball makes a big difference. Hard to fault the DC much for the Defense this year. We've been missing important pieces all season due to injury.

2. Huge difference with Najee when he's not auditioning for dancing with the stars Yes. A lot more "north/south" in his game today. He's huge, he needs to be running like this all the time. Hit the hole with conviction and made himself tough to bring down. Wish he wouldn't have dropped that TD on the wheel route. Perfect game otherwise.

3. The Saints only td was gifted to them by the refs Eh. We didn't stop them too. I get the questionable interference call on the punt and the flag on Kazee, but we still let them score and move it with ease otherwise on that drive. It helped, but it wasn't just an egregious gift.

4. Pretty good offensive game plan between the 20's, but the RedZone offense still needs a lot of work Some of that is on the rookie QB. Little indecisive at times today, but we moved the ball better than we have for over a long, long time this year so gotta be happy about that. Minus the RZ struggles and shanked kicks, it was really a fine game offensively.

5. Kazee's hit which led to the aforementioned gifted td was totally legal Technically, yes, I agree. However, I totally understand why it was thrown and would probably want that thrown if it were a Steeler WR. The way the league is nowadays, that's just gonna be an auto flag and we gotta understand and live with that as fans

6. Alex Highsmith was definitely a happy camper with TJ back True. Kid has a hell of a spin move. As soon as the back up LT was in he was wrecking every play.

7. Mathew wright better get his act together for the next few weeks After that performance, I'd be surprised if he got another chance. He's probably a miss away from next man up.

8. Good day by Presley Harvin Yeah, and we didn't have to see a lot of him too. Happy all around.

9. Sky's the limit for Pickens Kid looks like he will be a great player. Hopefully we continue to grow on offense and find opportunities to keep feeding him

10. Great job protecting the ball by Pickett No turnovers was nice, but I didn't think he had a great game overall. Not a bad one either though. He missed Pickens for a big gain on the first play and had a bit of happy feet at times.... but he finally got a deep shot to Diontae, ran well with it after he settled in a bit, and made enough plays when we needed him to. All we can ask is consistent improvement. Rookie QB's don't usually set the league on fire. Still see some things to improve, but I do think we have seen flashes of ability that makes me think he could be a good one here soon.

 

Re: #4, so Canada is learning on the job? Rookie OC paired with our rookie QB, just great.

route running is still bad, we made one of the worst defenses in the league look really good at pass defense.

A win is always good for morale

 

The throw Najee dropped in the end zone was an elite NFL throw.

Some of the people here need to let Pickett develop. He's working with a horrible coordinator, average coach and a ****ty line. He's a rookie whom has only played 6 games. Give him some room.

 

The OC needs to watch a lot of the Brady in New England days and all of the hot rub/pick routes he would call in the redzone and on short yardage ... Also some overload and get Pickens in tight on 1 side alone and work those fade, fade stops, and Fade comebacks to the front pylon ..

Way back in my coaching days if we had a bigger WR this was 1 of the first concepts we would employ , wewould usually find out who our best CB was in man coverage as well ...I steal 1 from Coach cliche, Iron sharpens Iron...Lol ...The point is all involved get better and the QB and the WR devlope lots of trust and lots of signals between each other ...

Heck by mid season it's just fade option and the QB and WR call the route mid play it seemed..

Our OC should know these concepts and our 2 young guys should have already been getting alot of 2 man game practice time...

 

The throw to Najee was phenomenal and should have been caught. Pickett had several throws today that should convince anyone that he has more than sufficient NFL arm talent and could develop into elite NFL arm talent with more consistency. He’s coming along nicely and I think his lack of red zone TD passes are 75% Canada and his play calling and design and 25% KP and his play.

 

I know the Saints were depleted by injuries, but the Steelers held them to 46 yards in the second half. Let that sink in.

 

I'm sure there are folks here that will choose to ignore this lol.

 

That's a hard one even for most RBs. Although I agree with You about most of that.
I do believe in the Redzone KP still sees everything as being too fast still. I really think they should really be working as much as possible on His Redzone stuff. He already looks improved most weeks from 20 - 20.

 

Both hands firmly on the ball, should have been caught. Elite players make elite plays and I think Najee is an above average receiver out of the backfield. It may have been a hard catch but if it were easy, you and I would be out there doing it . Pickett put the ball exactly where it needed to be. I’m really encouraged by some of his throws but I agree that he’s got to improve his red zone play and Canada needs to improve his red zone design.