My Take: Pondering Pickett Power and Watt Wattage

All due apologies for stepping on anybody's toes, but I have some thoughts on the Steelers' 23-19 victory over the Raiders.

1. Thank you, Josh McDaniels. I understood going for the field goal with 3:15 remaining, but doing it again with under two and a half minutes was just stupid.

2. Kenny Pickett made progress tonight, but he still has a long way to go. He missed a couple of throws in that fourth quarter that could have been very costly.

3. It was great to see Freiermuth involved tonight. In addition to the touchdown and a couple of other receptions, he nearly made a spectacular catch on the third down when they officials should have thrown a flag on the Raiders for interference.

4. The officials were horrid. They missed Pickett taking hits to the head twice tonight, then made that ridiculous call against Fitzpatrick. They also missed Watt being held on the two-point conversion. (The call against Sullivan was the right one. He should have turned around.) The defender hit Freiermuth before the ball arrived on the third down before the Raiders' field goal drive, too. The call against Leal was also crap. Yes, he did push down on the blocker, but then he took his hands off him, planted his feet, and jumped.

5. The offensive line was a little better tonight, but it isn't even close to good enough. The pass protection was lousy and the run blocking was inconsistent.

6. Watt is amazing. He had two sacks and came very close to two more.

7. Levi Wallace is really struggling. Yes, he made three huge plays tonight, but most of the time, he made it way too easy on whichever receiver he was covering.

8. Boswell is back! He drilled that 59-yarder like it was nothing.

9. Benton is a beast. Adams was pretty good tonight, too, but Benton came up huge later in the game.

10. I don't care if it was ugly. The Steelers are 2-1, tied for first place in the division, and they showed some improvement tonight. Let's enjoy that.

 

11. Seeing the PFF grades for the Oline during the introductions was disturbing

 

Boswell was hitting them from 65 in warmups with 8 yards to spare. He also didn’t allow one kickoff return putting them all through the end zone. Refs were a Joke and I’m not one to criticize them easily. Game should have never been that close. Pickett got lucky on that dropped pick six. Canada has to go. I was in section 300 calling 75% of what he was going to do. If I can do that then nfl coaches can easily do it. Steelers Nation showed up big time Stadiums was 75-80% Steelers fans there! Watt is a beast. Time now to start planning where next years away game will be for my son and I. Go Steelers!

 

Benton and Joey Jr are future starters, it is just a matter of time. Maybe they will wait until their Bye?

 

Steelers nation showed up tonight big time

 

That's crazy, that is what happens when team moves are motivated by money, LA Rams and Chargers same deal, it will take 20 years to build up their local fanbases.

 

Felt like the crowd was just as loud when the Raiders were on offense.

And I agree with all 10 of Formerscibes points. Refs were atrocious, Boz is back, Watts not human, Levi Wallace didn’t impress me regardless of the 2 gift-wrapped ints, O-Line better but still needs work, Pickett better, Benton impressed and a win is a win

 

I was talking to a Raiders fan while going into the stadium. He was from Compton California and a die hard fan. He said no way would this many away fans ever be in Oakland. I told him he was right and that there is no way I would have ever made a trip to the black hole as an opposing fan.

 

Then get your $#!+ together bub and call better plays!

 

That’s great. Very apparent watching on TV too. Great noise level and even affected some plays. Watt said as much in the post game show.

The sad part is that this looks like the opposite that we saw in the home 49ers game with all the red at Acrisure! That was a damn embarrassing shame.

 

Point 1 - It’s like their coach has studied our offense enough and knew the time would be there if his own below the line offense could pull a rabbit out of a hat.

Point 2 - Exactly. Let’s hope it’s a confidence booster and it keeps the torch carriers off his front lawn enough so they he can maybe stay focused on getting better and not worried about the media scrutiny. And he better not be feeling himself too much. This was not great by any stretch. Not only did he get lucky, he missed a lot.

Point 3 - Agree again. I think they need to sneak up on some teams and drop a pass or two to Washington soon. Maybe against the Ravens. More TE’s.

Point 4 - The refs had money on The Raiders. Scandal to be exposed shortly.

Point 5 - The line needs so much more consistency. Rarely do those pockets seem like they are solid and lanes look obscured and could clamp shut like a bear trap.

Point 6 - Watt current DPOY #1 candidate by a good measure.

Point 7 - Wallace is like the O line = Boom or Bust without consistency. Looks different than last year. Last year he was boring vanilla.

Point 8 - Boz is on his good season. Next year could be the other side of his seesaw.

Ponint 9 - Benton is waaayy better than I thought he was going to be on draft night and becoming every bit of what I hoped he could be after a lil bit of investigating. Like Harvin 2.0

I saw one creative play tonight that both my wife and I reacted the same. Well executed and for a good gain. I believe it was a shovel to Warren. So, yeah, at this point just get the W and worry about polished style point wins later when hopefully they peak.

 

Where did the Steelers Offense go in the 4th QTR again tonight?

Benton looks like the Steelers front runner for the teams Rookie of the year award.

 

Were Watt, Highsmith and Benton ever on the field together? I’d like to see how teams try to block all three

 

I like this analysis. I have a name for TJ, besides the human wrecking ball. I say we all call him "Mr. Incredible." Im gonna.

 

They may not care if the sell out the stadium

 

Probably the 1 thing I took from the game was the abandonment of the zone block/run scheme thing.
Harris and Warren both respond pretty well to the power run schema.
I have not watched the game on TV yet, to see whomever was calling picked up on it.

The O-line is just not hitting it yet, but they are more geared towards that straight ahead schema.
They should do more of it.

I think Pickett is a little shell shocked and he did miss some throws that he normally would hit.
Once again, he struck gold and his bomb to Austin was perfection.

I noted that it looked like Canada or someone changed things up in the second half and started utilizing some moving plays to mobilize Kenny more.
Game adjustments are welcome.

I also think the Steelers cannot impose the 4th Qtr power run to close it out.
Not sure what they can do there other than just keep at it.

 

But the kind of tourist city that Vegas is, they are likely going to deal with that most games. People are going to twofer a weekend there more than almost anywhere else.

 

Anyone else notice how many running plays have a clunky off time start?

Tightening up these starts will help a lot with the runners finding the designed holes.

 

When they went for the FG it was basically a flat out insult to the Steeler offense. I hope they take that to heart for future weeks.

 

Yes, Collinsworth spoke quite a bit about the use of the power-running scheme and more double-team blocks.

 

Yes. It looked almost like a draw on some of those late runs up the middle by Harris.

 

Yeah, that place was downright dangerous as an opposing fan.

 

needed a TD either way. If they missed, they could still stop us and get the ball back in good field position to try for the tie. They went for a perfect world scenario that could've possibly got them the win, but a much lower probability of success. Just as much of an insult to their own offense as it was to ours.

 

Exactly

And that ticket base will never go away

 

Hilarious the Fire Canada signs and such. A steeler fan actually showed up at the Commanders game with a sign, lmao. A YT channel steeler fan tried to order a Fire Canada terrible towel, but was turned down. lmao.