Observations from the game

Every year I try to make it to last one game. Since I live in South Jersey, I added this one to my list as I've never seen a regular season game at the Linc. Anyway, here's my observations.

Steelers Offense:
Ben was floating a LOT of throws. I don't know if he was rushing them or what, but he just wasn't that accurate. Case in point. How do you badly overthrow a wide open 6'7 tight end with a 37" vertical? Ben really wasn't even under pressure on that throw.
Wheaton had no business playing in this game. It seemed as though his head wasn't even in it. When Ben did throw a crisp pass, Wheaton seemed to screw it up and not catch it. Not sure what Wheaton's deal was, but he wasn't having a good game either.
Ben looking off receivers not named Brown. It seemed like they were hellbent on getting Brown his touches, no matter what.
No commitment to the running game. This was obvious to anyone who watched it. They just didn't commit to it, or execute well. I remember on at least one play I saw Foster pulling on a sweep. If you're going to do a sweep, I wouldn't use Foster as the pulling OL.

Steelers Defense:
Well, if they had actually shown up I would have had something to report.
Seriously though, they were out of position constantly.
Even though I thought the Steelers would win, I figured this to be a high scoring game, because of the offensive players on the Eagles. It seems as though small RBs give this team fits, and Sproles is one of the smallest in the league. He just made the defense look like fools.
They were abused by Brent Celek too, again something this defense seems not to be able to defend. I'm glad Ertz wasn't playing or the score could have been even worse.
When the Steelers were in a position to make a tackle, they didn't seem to tackle very well. Something that seems to have plagued this team for years.

Special Teams:
Berry had another solid game. No complaints there.
Boswell had a FG blocked, but I don't really blame that on him, it was a good play by the Eagles.
The kickoff return game leaves me scratching my head. I get that a player wants to make a play, but if it is anywhere near the end zone, take the touchback. And if it were to land at say the five, I'd wait for the bounce and then down it in the end zone.

The Steelers were outclassed in this game, to put it simply. Their defense hits hard, and Malcom Jenkins in particular is a heck of a player. I lost count of how many passes he defended .
Brent Celek is Philadelphia's version of Heath Miller. The guy just does his job. He's not flashy, but he is as reliable as they come.
Carson Wentz. Hard to believe this guy is a rookie. He almost always made the correct read, and took what the defense would give him. If the Eagles surround him with a good nucleus, he will bring them home at least one trophy. His biggest issue now isn't even his. He just needs better WRs.
I have to give it to Doug Pederson too. The guy had a great game plan, and he was very good at disguising his plays. On many occasions he had brought in a tackle eligible, and the Eagles ran a bunch of different plays off of that one set. It seemed as though the Steelers were always guessing, and they were almost always wrong.

 

I think the entire team imploded after Ben made that awesome scramble and hit Wheaton right between the numbers in the end zone and he dropped it. The blocked field goal was the cherry on top for the rest of the team to crumble. Everything was out of sync after that. As I said in the game day thread. It's pretty bad when the best player on the team for the game was the punter.

On a side note, If Kieth Butler doesn't start bringing pressure, then teams will completely pick this zone defense apart and he should be replaced in the off season. Rushing 4 every play just doesn't cut it in the NFL.

 

Been a long time since, I've seen the Steelers play a game that bad in every aspect of the game.
Offense is going to have to carry us. Defense looks below average. But they are even better than they played yesterday.

 

But Dak is taking the cowboys to the superbowl

 

You're right, it is a "live" ball. But I"m talking when it's close to the goaline. I would imagine that it would bounce in to the end zone and the returner could down it there. But your point still stands. I guess they really do have to field it if it's not in the end zone, just to be safe.