Week 3 @ TB

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

4

There’s the first

 

[SteelersPride]

There’s the first

i was just thinking were on pace

 

[Yo Tee]

This is Steeler football.

I love how the guys stirring the social media drama pot (Dupree and AB) have scored TDs in this game. Nice job in the first half!!

I do hope the running game improves, however. Seems to be the only think not clicking at the moment.

 

[Yo Tee]

Can someone create a gif of that stiff arm by McDonald. That's my favorite play in a while haha. That's the definition of Steelers football!

 

[Yo Tee]

Final Game Analysis:

Great first half. Love the effort to get much more yards after the carry. Love the 2 minute football at the end of the 2nd half. I love the irony that both AB and Dupree, who had social media issues this week, scored TDs. Ben looked to be a little more mobile than previous games. Wish the running game was able to do something during the first half.

Pretty sloppy 2nd half on defense. Seems like the offense kept the same level of play up but the defense couldn't stop anyone. Our secondary needs to learn the basics. I mean guys are wide open. Almost every pass in the 2nd half was uncontested with a few yards in between the receiver and the defender. I mean double coverage on Mike Evans and you let him catch that ball? Wish the running game was able to do something aside from 1-2 long runs.

My takeaways: We finally got a win. Saw lots of promise in the offense and defense in the first half but nothing really from the defense in the 2nd half aside from the last 4-5 minutes of the game. Seems like the defense stepped up during the end of the 4th. Love the INT by the rookie Edmunds, love the INT by Dupree, absolutely loved the stiff arm and effort by McDonald. I am not impressed by Conner right now. If he didn't have those last 2-3 runs, he would've probably been at 9 attempts for 15-20 yards? At one point he had 1.5 yards per carry. Yes, the Bucs have one of the best run defenses right now but we still should've been able to muster up more than 20 yards heading into the 4th right? Anyway, overall decent game. I wish we didn't let them back in the game but we did and we held them off. Defense needs to keep it up throughout the whole game instead of just in the first half. Also....Chris Mother Fuckin' Boswell....what the hell has happened to you?!

Overall I'm happy for the win. Very happy with the offense aside from the running game right now, not very happy with the defense, not happy at all with Chris Boswell. Glad we were able to get the win. Now, hopefully, everything in the locker room will go back to normal and we can get a winning streak going. We got 3 tough games heading to the BYE week. Ravens, Falcons, Bengals. If we can win 2 of the next 3 and head into the bye week at 3-2-1, I'd be happy.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Yikes that got ugly quick.

Coaching... It appeared that Tomlin had righted the ship, thanks in large part to a faulty TB squad showing their real makeup. But things quickly went south in the 2nd half. The penalties are an alarming theme that needs to get fixed. Offense didn't get off to a quick start from the first couple series, but after the McDonald play they started purring like a ferrari. 3 series in a row of TDs. Ok play calling up until half. I was happy to see that Fichtner wasn't abandoning the run when it was struggling, but I still think the playcalling needs to get better. Only a few of the plays looked like they were the correct calls, the rest were purely the talents taking advantage of a putrid secondary. After the half things got even more erratic. Now this may sound like a broken record, but the 2nd half the coaches clearly stuck with their gameplan and TB made adjustments that shut down the PIT offense. It looked like Fichtner was running a lot of flat & crossing routes that were sitting right in the mid-tier zones where the defenders were. Essentially it looked like they were playing right into the defense's zone schemes. And they did this over & over again hoping for a different result. Clearly that didn't work, but why was there no adjustments? Why not incorporate more play action & RPO's? Seemed like the playcalling was that of a stubborn brat. Fichtner needs to do better at making adjustments and keeping the defense off kilter. Better defenses will adjust quicker and he needs to be able to adapt. Butler's defense looked the same to me. Pressure was consistent, but the secondary was like a cast of greeters at Walmart (not stopping anyone, just there to occupy space and wave hello). Again, thank god for TB showing their true colors last night or things could have gotten ugly quick. Butler needs to revamp the secondary quickly. It's just not working. And another continuous theme is seeing defenders struggling with the playbook. Every game and on almost every play it looks like defenders are needing to ask the guys around them where they are supposed to be? Why the hell is that? Are Butler's schemes too complicated or something? The "lack of communication" concept appears to be more of a bandaid to an even bigger problem. D

Offense... Hats off to Ben lighting the field on fire in the 1st half. Great job extending plays. That 1st INT was just Ben being Ben & trying to make a play. Things like that will happen occasionally. He showed the world why he's still a franchise caliber QB though. His vision & pocket presence is still at the top of the league. Great awareness on the AB TD to see Grimes was being too generous off the line and made him pay for it. That's not playcalling, that's a field general earning his paycheck. Don't get it confused. O-line seemed to struggle with Gilbert apparently ailing? Seeing Feiler out at RT was concerning. Didn't hear or see any reports yet on what happened to Marcus. Finney did an admirable job against McCoy & Curry inside. And AVill struggled early on but shaped up nicely. Overall a good job by the O-line to keep Ben clean for most of the game. We knew that JuJu was an incredible talent, but he's proving to be difficult to contain when teams are keying on AB. And now that McDonald is officially back, they are now the dynamic passing attack they need to be. Also excited to see Washington continue to get his feet wet. Good hard fought runs by Conner in this game, and some good contributions from Ridley. The offensive talent is clearly immaculate, but the playcalling needs to get better if they want to dominate games. B+

Defense... Ryan Fitzpatrick was their best defender in the first half last night. WIthout all those ugly turnovers, they would have lost easily. Once Fitzpatrick realized he could just continuously huck it deep and let the WRs abuse the Steelers CBs, TB was right back in the game. Pretty sad thats all a QB needs to do is heave & pray and 9 times out of 10 they get 20-30yd gains. Steelers CBs are disturbingly bad. Haden played ok, but man did Sens/Burns/Sutton look lost out there. Even Hilton was getting worked (I know he ended up with some good plays, but overall he was the benefactor of being in the right place at the right time sort of thing). If Godwin could catch with his hands better then a couple of their drives would have been easy TDs. Doesn't help either that both Davis & Edmunds were clearly out of position on numerous occasions. On a couple of the big receptions by Mike Evans it looked like Edmunds had the chance to lay the lumber & jar the ball loose but he chose to come flying by with a hand out? Quit being a pussy Edmunds. Not a great game by the edge guys. Dupree benefited from Fitzpatrick holding onto the ball too long, and Watt was struggling to get home. Not to mention we still saw Watt lined up on slot guys which was cringe-worthy. D

ST... Well Boz started off with a hiccup, then looked smooth for 3 FG/XP kicks or so. Then followed up with another missed FG. At this point I'm worried. Can't keep giving him the benefit of the doubt when they clearly are going to need every point to win games since their defense is trash. Berry had a couple good punts. 1 that got negated by a penalty. But he also outkicked his coverage with a low flier right into DeSean Jackson's breadbasket. Thank you #39 for holding on that play lol. C-




Overall... Still looked like the same group we saw in the first 2 weeks. But that got covered up by a myriad of costly turnovers. Thankfully the Steelers took advantage and the offense is looking a tad better. Still don't see much that inspires confidence with this group. Offense will need to put up 40pts every week if they want to make it to the playoffs. D+ or C-

 

[Superbelt]

Can someone create a gif of that stiff arm by McDonald. That's my favorite play in a while haha. That's the definition of Steelers football!

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

THe best part was Cam on the sideline...

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[Superbelt]

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

I heard on NFL Network before the game started that Gilbert was out with a hamstring injury. Not sure when it happened. That's the same injury he had last year. If he can't keep that hamstring healthy IMO it's time to let Gilbert walk in FA.

 

[Superbelt]

The BEST view of the play

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

That was a step in the right direction but gotta keep going next week when Baltimore comes to town.

 

[Yo Tee]

That was a step in the right direction but gotta keep going next week when Baltimore comes to town.

Defense has definitely gotta get better. Cannot leave guys open in the middle of the field like that anymore.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

I heard on NFL Network before the game started that Gilbert was out with a hamstring injury. Not sure when it happened. That's the same injury he had last year. If he can't keep that hamstring healthy IMO it's time to let Gilbert walk in FA.

IDK about that. He's a top tier RT when healthy. Sucks he can't shake these nagging injuries though. But sucks EVEN WORSE is that the backup position hasn't been molded yet. Jerald Hawkins is pulling a Senquez & can't seem to survive a training camp. Chuks could be that guy but we need to see a big jump in his level of play before we can even call him a serviceable backup. Marcus is under contract through 2019, so they have 1 more year after this season to figure it out. But if all else fails... in Munchak we trust.

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

IDK about that. He's a top tier RT when healthy. Sucks he can't shake these nagging injuries though. But sucks EVEN WORSE is that the backup position hasn't been molded yet. Jerald Hawkins is pulling a Senquez & can't seem to survive a training camp. Chuks could be that guy but we need to see a big jump in his level of play before we can even call him a serviceable backup. Marcus is under contract through 2019, so they have 1 more year after this season to figure it out. But if all else fails... in Munchak we trust.

Oh, for some reason I thought he was a FA after this year like Foster.

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

Defense has definitely gotta get better. Cannot leave guys open in the middle of the field like that anymore.

Shouldn't be leaving guys wide open in the middle of the field in the first place. It should happen once and then be immediately corrected not continue for weeks and weeks.

 

[Yo Tee]

Oh, for some reason I thought he was a FA after this year like Foster.

He actually makes more next year than he does this year.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

He actually makes more next year than he does this year.

Roughly only $800k more. That's small pennies. He does however have a SIGNIFICANTLY smaller dead cap hit if they choose to move on next offseason. $7.5m dead cap this year, and $0.93m next year.

Still with the uncertainty of the OT depth, they'll hold onto him through 2019.

 

[CaptainStubing]

Bucs are now a 1.5 pt favorite ........ 4 pt movement over the week !

Typically when this happens, we end up finding out the original line was correct and the public was overreacting to a couple of games ...

glad i went with my theory here ... picked the steelers and it was the tiebreaker to win my office pick 'em for the week