Week 1 Steelers at Patriots

Run Jaylen Samuels, he had the cure to beating the Patriots.
He ran all over them last year.

 

Troy I think you are on the right track but throwing him the ball. I think he will be a big part of making mismatches for the offense this year. He and Conner in the passing game will make up some of the TE slack.

 

We beat New England last season, albeit at home, WITH Rob Gronkowski. That man was a Steelers killer by himself. Brady brings his own set of issues.


Without him?! I like our chances MUCH better this time around. Realistically, there is a very good reason why this time will be different in Foxboro. Better yet?! Two words:


Devin. Bush.

 

Interesting. Here is our contingency plans for him. First off, Devin Bush. He needs no intro. from me. Second?! Mark Barron. Dude is an assest in coverage.



Let us see what Brady does now.

 

The defensive line has to win consistently. The Patriots have some issues on the offensive line and Heyward, Tuitt and Hargrave should be able to take advantage. If the Steelers can't take advantage of matchups in their favor, such as that one, they are screwed.

We're also going to see how ready the other receivers are to step up when the Patriots take away Smith-Schuster. They've got a long history of taking away other teams' top weapons and they have an elite cornerback in Gilmore, so the STeelers will have to prove they can score without a big day from Smith-Schuster.

 

I agree attacking that patchwork line needs to be the focus. I shouldn't be surprised by Tomlin's presser where he says they are focusing on what they need to do, they know what's waiting, our guys are focused on their jobs, blah blah blah. NO it's Patriots week they had a month and change to focus on themselves. Now is the time to get them focused on the guy they have to beat time and time again. They can go back to the generic approach for week 2 but get Hargrave tape of this backup center and see how to make him uncomfortable. Get Tuitt and Heyward focused on collapsing the pocket around Brady instead of tearing it open and letting Brady see the middle of the field.

I fully expect Josh McDaniels to realize that the oline is the weak link and with suspect receiving corps behind Edelman that they will spread the Steelers out and force subpackage football that keeps Hargrave on the sidelines and guys in coverage. Run Edelman on drag routes and run draws and dump offs to the rbs. So Barron, Bush, Williams and Edmunds need to be speeding to this guy's and tackling them for minimal gain.

 

I think they will spread it out and runs out of single back formations where the strength of the D can't be brought to bear against the weaker Oline.

 

Is Sony a cutback runner? My concern with the FB and DBL TE sets is that if they are rotating VWILL in there Barron and Bush he will follow the motion and jump into a gap while the back cuts back for a big gain. If Hargrave can blow up the center that will help negate those type of plays.

 

This is the TD to Juju from the Titans game. The thing that impressed was that if you look underneath Vance was coming free as well so if Juju was covered Ben still had options that were easy reads.

 

One big advantage the Patriots O-line has is the referees are forbidden to call holding on them at Foxboro.

 

I heard Tomlin on 93.7 The Fan today and his big concern about facing the Pats D was the pass rushing prowess of Chase Winovich. Tomlin said that Winovich has all of the skill set of TJ Watt and he expects Winovich to have the same production.
Didn't the Steelers have a chance to draft Winovich? Or maybe with the loss of Brown they thought they better draft a WR, and they had Dionte Johnson as the highest one available. Or maybe Tomlin was just blowing smoke because Winovich is a local kid.

 

I want to see a 60 minute effort even if unfortunately we lose. It's going to be a tough challenge in there joint. But coming out and beating them up physically will reap benefits. This team needs to get back to being physical.

 

Right now, Winovich is the better player. Hopefully, Johnson eventually becomes a starting-quality player. Winovich already seems to be there.

 

Lolley and Matt Williamson were talking about the game day roster and said that DJ will be the backup to Switzer on KR/PR duties so he will be dressed every game and it would be foolish not to include him even in a limited fashion in the offensive gameplan so he is going to get some on the job training this season.

 

Hey, maybe we caught a break this time with the refs. Bad luck crew for the Pats.

Part of article:

The NFL has made its referee assignment for the Week 1 showdown between the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers, and Pats fans probably will recognize him.

Clete Blakeman and his crew will officiate Sunday night's game at Gillette Stadium. It's his first assignment involving the Patriots since last season's AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Blakeman has a long history of working memorable Patriots games this decade. Here's a list of the notable matchups, via The Boston Globe's Ben Volin.

(List deleted)

Blakeman became a referee in 2010, and the Patriots are 4-5 (including a 2-0 playoff record) in games he's officiated over that span.

 

Pats had no real receiver set last year. Gordon was back to the naughty. You guys are missing the chances and it's BRADY himself. Pats defense was bad almost 3/4 season last year. Ready to go this year and some great linebackers too. Most of the guys can tackle which is another huge problem in the past and that shouldn't be a problem. Pats have serious talent at running backs.

BUT the offensive line is basically all new, never played a game together. Rookie at left gaud. A center who played 4 games in his time there. Gronk was hurt all last season thanks to refs allowing a career of cheap hits against him but he was an amazing blocker that they won't have without an extra lineman. But Brady is crap many games. The team plays fine but Brady has those games that he is total crap and misses every pass going even without pressure. Look at Arizona SB, Brady and play calling was the worst. McDaniels can be seriously brain dead ALOT. takes someone to wake him up. I think he will ALWAYS suck as a head coach but he himself is not reactive and again, Brady can be TOTAL crap all on his own. Season ticket holder since 1981. Tom is Tony Eason some days and can make zero interceptions or toss a few a pop warner QB would never make. Human I guess, but outside of the O line, poor tackling, Josh McDaniels is really brain dead some days. Real brain dead. So Brady and McDaniels who just is so stupid some games and low efficiency is the chance to win. The defense has looked amazing when the guys cut weren't playing. IF Brady doesn't blow the game for no reason then I see Pats winning by 10. I don't see a blowout because no-one on the patriots defense or offense outside of secondary have played together. Mayo is new to calling defense too but he's good. McDaniels, He can really suck_. Pats finally have real receivers and new punt and kick returner has held on to the ball and can scoot. Pats have finally put together some serious plugins that can play all over the place. Ben won't be fooled but others will.

Next, Steelers have got to be a better team than last year. L Bell and Brown this year and against Pats recording the video are just dead snail IQs and playing for themselves ONLY. Tomlin can really blow it at times if rattled and with those two clowns gone he is refreshed as a coach and lots of young talent who also want to play. I'd be shocked if Steelers don't make playoffs this season.

 

Patriots smatriots, we will win!

 

I think it may be a little more of a concern with Johnson, who faced concerns that he needed to get a lot stronger to succeed in the NFL. At the very least, it makes me think it is tough to count on him before next season.

 

I want to see our own two back sets. Do they send a LB out to cover samuels? If so run conner. Manipulate their safeties and lbers. We have the weapons to do this.

our straight up 3-4 may be just what we need in this one. Hit tom early and often. 1 game lead on the patriots by midnight. Give the rest of the league the blueprint for taking them out this year early. Blow up the death star. May the Schwartz be with you.

 

I wish i had a warm fuzzy feeling inside about this one but the atmosphere there is going to be insane ..Emotions will be high and we all know which team will be in check with them..I think some dumb selfish penalties do us in..

 

Well one penalty we may not have to worry about is A. Browns after scoring a touchdown. Seemed to screw us a lot with those. And Tomlin should have stopped that after the first one.