Week 8 @ Lions

[ATL96Steeler]

The 5-2 Steelers hit the road for a couple of games with a bye in between. Last week was one of the better games the Steelers have played this year. It's Wednesday, time to tee up the week 8 opponent. The DET Lions are on tap for the primetime Sunday night game. DET is 3-3, coming off their bye week last week.

Just kind of scanning the stats on DET....the scoring OFC stat jumps off the page, 8th, yet they don't run it well. Stafford has 12 TD passes to 4 INTs so he's making up for some of the lack run production. He spreads it around pretty well so the back end will have to defend the whole field.

The Lions scoring DEF ranking (28th) is rather poor for a .500 team but they are a high scoring team themselves. Both of their DEs concern me...I remember Ansah in the draft...he developed into a consistent edge threat. These are leaner, quicker type players...both are taller guys so that helps...AVill struggles with those shorter DEs...Lawson got past him a couple of times last week...no damage done, but noted.

Injuries...Juju (concussion)...in protocol, no word on status. Tuitt (back) says he will practice Thurs and try to play. McDonald (knee) Gilbert (hamstring)...no update yet. With the bye week next week I don't expect to see Gilbert...hopefully he's ready to go @ IND in 2 weeks.

Outlook...with Tomlin's history getting his teams ready to play teams that are not in the playoffs yr in yr out I'm very concerned about this game. The OFC needs to put up 6 pts a lot more often. I like the Steeler OL vs DET DL...Bell should have 20+ carries. I think the Steelers will have a decent showing on OFC...turnovers concern me on the road.

Assuming they take care of the ball I like the Steelers to keep it rolling this week...31-20.

What say you?

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

It's a primetime game and the Steelers usually show up to play in primetime.

 

[Superbelt]

JuJu had a full practice yesterday.

And he's the only one of the 4 on the report that practiced.

Injury Report | Pittsburgh Steelers

 

[NorthCoastSteelersFan]

Frankly, I always worry when our boys play a mediocre opponent. On paper, they should have beaten BOTH of the teams they've lost to this season, and look what happened.

But I'm gonna be cautiously optimistic about this one. The Black-n-Gold appear to be improving, having made short work of the Chefs and the Bengals in consecutive weeks (and don't sell Cinci short...they're better than their record, and always play the Steelers hard).

Last week, the O appeared to be firing on all cylinders, except in the red zone...hopefully, they've worked on that, though we still have the problem of Haley's inept play-calling. Ben got pretty good protection, threw two TDs, no picks. Bell ran well, and once again did very well catching passes when the receivers were covered.

Hopefully, the D will be the one that played the SECOND half last week. They looked rather porous in the first half, but turned into a stone wall in the second.


Sooooooooo, I'll go out on a limb. On the assumption that our boys will be more productive in the red zone, and that we'll see the same D that made Dalton look like a chimp in the second half last week, I'll go with..........

Steelers 31, Lions 10.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Offense... We know Haley's recipe, but this might be the game to change it up a little bit. Lions D is 8th best against the run allowing just 94yds per game, but they are 22nd against the pass allowing 244yds per game. You see where I'm going with this? It's not rocket science. If Haley tries to establish the run early then he will play right into their strength and let them set the tone. Not that they won't be able to run their bread & butter offense, I just think it would be smarter to throw them off guard with the deep ball. Extend the field or dice them up with quick passes to take the gas out of their defensive front. Ben will have to be careful about forcing it to AB though as I'm sure he will draw CB Darius Slay for most of the night. Slay may not be a household name yet, but he's up there with the best of the best. I'm sure he's looking forward to this matchup with AB. No Marty B, no problem. Ben's got more than enough weapons to keep the defense off balance. He just needs to find a way to spread the ball around more this week. But whatever they choose to do, (and its been noted a few times in here already) they MUST finish their drives with more than 3.

Defense... Secondary is going to be tested in this game. We know Detroit has trouble running the ball effectively so I'm expecting Stafford to throw around 40 times in this game. He's averaging 37 per game. As I said in the postgame outlook from last week, the Steelers defense matches up well to the Lions O so long as they can contain the big runs. Pass rush should get a lot of opportunities in this game. Would love to get Tuitt back this week so they can get a good rotation going and keep everyone fresh. Burns, Haden, Hilton & Davis need to have big games this week.

Road game out of conference doesn't usually spell success for Tomlin.

Mind the juju...

Lions 28 - Steelers 20

 

[NorthCoastSteelersFan]

Road game out of conference doesn't usually spell success for Tomlin.

Mind the juju...

Lions 28 - Steelers 20

I see what you did there.

Predicting a loss, while hoping for a win, worked out well for you last week.

 

[Yo Tee]

This is a game where we would typically struggle in. I fear a loss this week but I hope for a win. It's gonna be a close game definitely. Maybe come down to a Wizard of Boz GW FG while time expires.

Steelers 27 Lions 24

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Offense... We know Haley's recipe, but this might be the game to change it up a little bit. Lions D is 8th best against the run allowing just 94yds per game, but they are 22nd against the pass allowing 244yds per game. You see where I'm going with this? It's not rocket science. If Haley tries to establish the run early then he will play right into their strength and let them set the tone. Not that they won't be able to run their bread & butter offense, I just think it would be smarter to throw them off guard with the deep ball. Extend the field or dice them up with quick passes to take the gas out of their defensive front. Ben will have to be careful about forcing it to AB though as I'm sure he will draw CB Darius Slay for most of the night. Slay may not be a household name yet, but he's up there with the best of the best. I'm sure he's looking forward to this matchup with AB. No Marty B, no problem. Ben's got more than enough weapons to keep the defense off balance. He just needs to find a way to spread the ball around more this week. But whatever they choose to do, (and its been noted a few times in here already) they MUST finish their drives with more than 3.

Defense... Secondary is going to be tested in this game. We know Detroit has trouble running the ball effectively so I'm expecting Stafford to throw around 40 times in this game. He's averaging 37 per game. As I said in the postgame outlook from last week, the Steelers defense matches up well to the Lions O so long as they can contain the big runs. Pass rush should get a lot of opportunities in this game. Would love to get Tuitt back this week so they can get a good rotation going and keep everyone fresh. Burns, Haden, Hilton & Davis need to have big games this week.

Road game out of conference doesn't usually spell success for Tomlin.

Mind the juju...

Lions 28 - Steelers 20

Good dig...Slay is quietly one of the better CBs in the league....I think Rhodes from MIN is a bit more physical than Slay, but he has the length and agility to make AB work hard for his production.

Tuitt...got shut down yesterday, officially out this week. It makes sense with the bye next week to let him take another week off and be ready for IND. Same with Gilbert, and McD. As Super pointed out Juju looks like a go.

I think Butler has to be aggressive in this game...the beauty of the DET OFC w/o Megatron is Stafford is a lot more unpredictable where the ball is going...he spreads it around quite a bit...something we'd like to see more of huh...it looks like Golden Tate, one of his big weapons is out. Ansah will be gimpy if he goes.

Something to watch...Greg Robinson, the Auburn product picked 2nd overall pick by the Rams was released this year and is now playing LT for DET after they lost Decker....I always felt this kid was a OT with OG feet, I wonder if Butler will give Deebo a few extra snaps this week to see what the old man to do against this big fella.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

I see what you did there.

Predicting a loss, while hoping for a win, worked out well for you last week.

Minding the juju's reverse curse has had pretty good success...lol

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

I see what you did there.

Predicting a loss, while hoping for a win, worked out well for you last week.

Been doin it for a couple years now! Usually reserved for postseason but felt necessary to go all in early!

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Good dig...Slay is quietly one of the better CBs in the league....I think Rhodes from MIN is a bit more physical than Slay, but he has the length and agility to make AB work hard for his production.

Tuitt...got shut down yesterday, officially out this week. It makes sense with the bye next week to let him take another week off and be ready for IND. Same with Gilbert, and McD. As Super pointed out Juju looks like a go.

I think Butler has to be aggressive in this game...the beauty of the DET OFC w/o Megatron is Stafford is a lot more unpredictable where the ball is going...he spreads it around quite a bit...something we'd like to see more of huh...it looks like Golden Tate, one of his big weapons is out. Ansah will be gimpy if he goes.

Something to watch...Greg Robinson, the Auburn product picked 2nd overall pick by the Rams was released this year and is now playing LT for DET after they lost Decker....I always felt this kid was a OT with OG feet, I wonder if Butler will give Deebo a few extra snaps this week to see what the old man to do against this big fella.

Just got up to speed with the injury updates. Its a good call to shelf those guys before the bye. Need to get those guys healthy. Especially Gilbert who seems to aggravate the injury every time he puts the pads on.

Didn't see that Tate is out. That leaves Kenny Golladay & Starvin Marvin Jones as their 1-2. I bet Mitchell is lookin forward to hitting Jones, ever since their smack talking days when he was with the Bengals. Wonder if Ebron will get a bigger piece of the pie this week.

Good pickup on Robinson. Wasn't aware of that. Watt & Harrison should be able to feast on that kid.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

@ATL96Steeler

Here is the Lions' Thursday report:

Lions injury report
T Emmett Cleary (ankle) - No practice
T Greg Robinson (ankle) - No practice
WR Kenny Golladay (hamstring) - No practice
DE Ezekiel Ansah (knee) - Limited practice
WR Golden Tate (shoulder) - Limited practice
LB Paul Worrilow (knee) - Full practice
G T.J. Lang (back) - Full practice
S Glover Quin (concussion) - Full practice
RB Dwayne Washington (knee) - Full practice

Looks like they might not even have Robinson or Golladay.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

@ATL96Steeler

Here is the Lions' Thursday report:

Lions injury report
T Emmett Cleary (ankle) - No practice
T Greg Robinson (ankle) - No practice
WR Kenny Golladay (hamstring) - No practice
DE Ezekiel Ansah (knee) - Limited practice
WR Golden Tate (shoulder) - Limited practice
LB Paul Worrilow (knee) - Full practice
G T.J. Lang (back) - Full practice
S Glover Quin (concussion) - Full practice
RB Dwayne Washington (knee) - Full practice

Looks like they might not even have Robinson or Golladay.

Oh...not sure how DET handles limited practice guys, but maybe Tate will go after all. But I see Robinson is out? So they are down to their LT3? Yeah..hammy, doubtful we see Golladay.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Just got up to speed with the injury updates. Its a good call to shelf those guys before the bye. Need to get those guys healthy. Especially Gilbert who seems to aggravate the injury every time he puts the pads on.

Didn't see that Tate is out. That leaves Kenny Golladay & Starvin Marvin Jones as their 1-2. I bet Mitchell is lookin forward to hitting Jones, ever since their smack talking days when he was with the Bengals. Wonder if Ebron will get a bigger piece of the pie this week.

Good pickup on Robinson. Wasn't aware of that. Watt & Harrison should be able to feast on that kid.

The Lions have 2 things that bother me...one I'm not sure they have the DNA to pull off...Abdullah, I think he could hurt the Steelers if he got the rock 20+ times, but they don't do that too often in DET...hopefully he gets stopped early and they go away from him.

Ebron...largely a disappointment in DET which surprises me. We both liked this kid coming in. I still don't like the match up with him in base...granted that's only 30% of the time or whatever, but Ebron vs VWill scares me a little.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

The Lions have 2 things that bother me...one I'm not sure they have the DNA to pull off...Abdullah, I think he could hurt the Steelers if he got the rock 20+ times, but they don't do that too often in DET...hopefully he gets stopped early and they go away from him.

Ebron...largely a disappointment in DET which surprises me. We both liked this kid coming in. I still don't like the match up with him in base...granted that's only 30% of the time or whatever, but Ebron vs VWill scares me a little.

Abdullah definitely scares me. Any scat-back/speedster type back that catches a lot of passes in the flats have always scared the hell outta me against the Steelers. Steelers have had a lot of trouble containing those type of runners in the past, but lately (maybe a year or so) they've done a better job. They still have a tendency to sleep on a play or 2 and lose containment, which makes any speedster a homerun threat at any given time.

Ebron... I admit I haven't followed him very closely other than FF. Every time I "owned" him (couple of diff times over the last couple years) in FF he struggled to stay healthy. I think Stafford hasn't been able to build trust with him as a result of all those injuries.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Abdullah definitely scares me. Any scat-back/speedster type back that catches a lot of passes in the flats have always scared the hell outta me against the Steelers. Steelers have had a lot of trouble containing those type of runners in the past, but lately (maybe a year or so) they've done a better job. They still have a tendency to sleep on a play or 2 and lose containment, which makes any speedster a homerun threat at any given time.

Ebron... I admit I haven't followed him very closely other than FF. Every time I "owned" him (couple of diff times over the last couple years) in FF he struggled to stay healthy. I think Stafford hasn't been able to build trust with him as a result of all those injuries.

Although he's not really a scatback, they played well vs Kareem Hunt, but poorly vs the big RBs Howard and Fournette, and Ajayi LY.

Ebron...what little I've heard...he's like the guy that was in CIN...looked like a beast coming off the bus, but when the game starts, he's just a guy, drops too many passes....Gresham....I just hope he doesn't find a game this week....he was 5 for 5 / 49/1TD vs NYG, 2 weeks then nothing almost last week.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Oh...not sure how DET handles limited practice guys, but maybe Tate will go after all. But I see Robinson is out? So they are down to their LT3? Yeah..hammy, doubtful we see Golladay.

Surprise, surprise... Their LT3 is none other than former Steeler Brian Mihalik. Look for the Steelers to pick on him constantly.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

vinnywill98 - Shake em Bake em then repeat. The only thing on the mind of a shark is eat. #Bars #Eskitit #Shark>Lion

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

shazier - Savages out here Lurkin’

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

T-minus 25 mins... Who's around?