Week 11 @ Browns

[wings-pens2166]

woohoo....we're not the Browns!

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Thoughts...

Well gents, it wasn't exactly pretty but it was a decent enough win. First off, conditions were brutal. 27-30mph gusts of ice chilled wind around 25deg. Easy to understand it was going to be a low scoring affair.

Coaching... Not as many gaffs today, and the team was successful regardless of style points. Granted it was against THE bottom feeder of the NFL so take it with a grain of salt. Butler had a better game plan in place. He played more aggressively and the results were good. Haley's gameplan was decent. IMO, most of today's squanders were more the result of players not making the splashes so I can't fault the coaches for that. They were put in good position but didn't make the plays. On offense a lot of the underneath stuff worked well and Haley used Bell to his full potential. Gotta commend him for it. Coaches can build upon this win but they need more consistency... C+

Offense... Tale of 2 halves today. First half they were fairly good between the 20's, 2nd half not so much. Getting Bell established was and is always the right decision. Didn't realize the WR corps was down DHB until this morning, must have glazed over that injury report. Offense was grinding out long clock-eating drives in the 1st half thanks in large to Bell, but weren't cashing in like they should have and had to settle for FGs. Thanks to the Browns 2 defensive penalties after time expired to give the Steelers a gift-wrapped 1-yd TD run for Bell, and the only offensive touchdown in the 1st half. How many of us after watching the offense line up for the 2-pt conversion thought, "Christ, here we go again"? lol thankfully they converted. 2nd half the offense looked sluggish, but they battled hard. When they needed only 1 first down to ice the game in the 4th and failed, that was pretty frustrating. This unit needs to find more success and quick. They played a team where literally anything on offense should have been do-able but they still struggled. Weather definitely factored in, but they still could and should be able to do better than what they showed today. Inconsistency & underachieving is still a concern... C+

Defense... I think the unit was exorcising some demons today. LBs, particularly Shazier & Timmons played their asses off. D-line looked surprisingly stout. Cleveland's run game, of which I was concerned with going into this game, was non-existent. And the pressure was decent. Looked better than it should thanks to Kessler holding onto the ball for too long. Kudos to Tuitt, Hargrave, McCullers & Matthews though. Even with the pressure success, they left a lot of missed opportunities on the field with the dropped INTs. Good to see Burns cash one in, and whatta ya know, they had him in press man coverage!!!! Exactly the scheme that he had success with in college. Why they don't put him in press man more often still bugs the shit out of me. Gotta say though, this was a great game for Burns. Ignore the penalty, he was in great position all day, showing physicality and good technique. If Cockrell & Burns can both play at a high level that we have seen they can play at with more consistency, then this secondary can easily match up with the best WRs in the NFL... B+

Overall... Passing game & RZ offense were an issue today, but understandable given the conditions. Still, they will need to figure out how to punch it in for those situations this Thursday against a rising Colts team. They need to clean up the penalties too. Those stalls in the 1st half were a direct result of penalties. Still its hard to find much confidence with this win, but this being a divisional win it was a necessity. Notch a W in the win column and get out of an AFCN battle injury free... I'm happy enough with that! B-

Outlook... Move up to 5-5 with a tie with the Raisins in the AFCN, unfortunately they hold the tiebreaker against us. Still leaves PIT in good position to battle down the stretch. Can't really afford to drop many, if any, more AFC games so this Thursday night against the Colts is basically a must-win. Indy is starting to play some good ball. They are on a 2-game win streak after 2 decent clubs in GB & TEN. I view the Colts much like the Steelers. Good offense with a ground-hog day defense. Could be looking at a shootout on Thanksgiving! Buckle up ladies & gents.

 

[Psych-Ward]

Just can't find any reason to be happy with this win. ....it was the Browns. We did nothing that ten other teams haven't done. It should of been a blow out.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Just can't find any reason to be happy with this win. ....it was the Browns. We did nothing that ten other teams haven't done. It should of been a blow out.

I agree for the most part. Still seeing some inconsistencies. But the weather was brutal. Perfect for the smash mouth brand of football that we used to love as Steelers fans. And that's what we got in the 1st half. The reason those two early drives ended up as field goals was because penalties killed the drives in the red zone. Those are easy fixes brother! Ben played as well as can be expected in that sort of weather. 23 for 36 is very good given the conditions. Didn't produce much in terms of scoreboard or stat results, but Haley wasn't calling stupid plays.

If memory serves me correct, the last time the Steelers played in Cleveland in that kind of wind, Bruce Arians insisted on sticking with his flawed game plan, which included a lot of sideline passes & bubble screens. It was a disaster, and the Steelers lost to Cleveland that night. Haley, thankfully, scrapped a lot of the playbook during this game because conditions warranted it. I'm at least encouraged to see that Haley is capable of adapting & making changes in the middle of a game. Somethin that he was incapable of doing earlier this season.

Only complaint I have is they kept throwing in the redzone when Bell averaged over 5ypc down there. Not sure why they suddenly felt the need to deviate away from what was working. Hopefully they are lessons learned, I guess!

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Recap.

Got a win, and after 4 straight losses, I don't care if it was just CLE. Coupled with BAL losing in DAL...Steelers are again tied for the DIV lead...also CIN lost pretty much taking them out of the picture and may have even lost more with the news on AJ Green and Benard's injuries...hate to see that, but it's football.

Congrats to Harrison becoming the all-time sack leader in PIT...he has certainly worn that uniform proudly and I'm glad to see him with this honor...a true Steeler!

May 0-5 grading scale

OFC...2 of 5...yes, they controlled the ball and the clock, but 3 or 4 trips to the RZ resulted in FGAs...a few drops, a few missed passes...Bell was the main attack. CLE is a DIV opponent and probably have some sense of the Steeler playbook, but that's no excuse not to finish better in the RZ and only get 1 OFC TD (a gift really) vs one of the worse DEFs in the league.

DEF...4 of 5...Too bad they don't get to play against that OL every week...Butler was aggressive as he needs to be the rest of the way...Burns giveth and he taketh away...gotta live with that right now...Front 7 just overwhelmed a subpar Browns OL...Timmons on the edge was a good idea and putting Jones in coverage more... Tuitt was a beast, and really glad to see him using Shazier to attack the QB as well. At the same time you have to temper this until we see it vs a better OL. In some ways it was good Dupree didn't play much...short week and on the road...he will be fresh.

ST...4 of 5...made the plays they needed to make. Every FGA and punting was very solid...pretty good coverage overall.

 

[MISKO]

And the best part about yesterday is that the gayvens lost

 

[ATL96Steeler]

And the best part about yesterday is that the gayvens lost

I watched some of that game while streaming the Steelers.

Indeed...BAL had a shot, but OFC hit the skids in the 2nd half.

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

Yes! Onto the Colts.

Thanks Dallas!!!