Game Thread: Week 7... @TEN

[Superbelt]

Feiler has looked a lot better lately. First few games, not so much.

I’m just ecstatic over how good Dotson has performed. The analysts after the draft touting Dotson as the biggest steal of the draft nailed it. Kid has been superb. I want to see more!

Feiler had some great plays against Cleveland.

He was abusive.

The future with Dotson is bright. It sucks he has to wait. But I don't think it sends a cohesive team message for Feiler to lose his job when he's playing well just because there is a rookie phenom.

If someone has to lose their job, why not Decastro, who can't stay healthy? This whole issue might be Gilberting him in the offseason.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Feiler had some great plays against Cleveland.

He was abusive.

The future with Dotson is bright. It sucks he has to wait. But I don't think it sends a cohesive team message for Feiler to lose his job when he's playing well just because there is a rookie phenom.

If someone has to lose their job, why not Decastro, who can't stay healthy? This whole issue might be Gilberting him in the offseason.

Good points. Really would hate to lose DeCastro, but you have a point. Can’t be paying someone this much if he is only available for a quarter of the games this season. OL injuries are a slippery slope too.

 

[Superbelt]

Good points. Really would hate to lose DeCastro, but you have a point. Can’t be paying someone this much if he is only available for a quarter of the games this season. OL injuries are a slippery slope too.

Also, if you demote Feiler like this, it ruins him for the team, IMO. You have to be ready to give up on him and let him walk in the offseason.

Are we going to give up on him? I hope not. I think he has a continued starter future here. Steelers developed him, and asked him to move from his RT/RG position to a new LG position this offseason.

I think he's grown into it very well considering how little in-pad practice he's had there.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Also, if you demote Feiler like this, it ruins him for the team, IMO. You have to be ready to give up on him and let him walk in the offseason.

Are we going to give up on him? I hope not. I think he has a continued starter future here. Steelers developed him, and asked him to move from his RT/RG position to a new LG position this offseason.

I think he's grown into it very well considering how little in-pad practice he's had there.

More good points! Thanks for sorting me out! Lol.

Definitely a tough situation for Dotson but also a great position to be in. If I were DeCastro I’d be very nervous!

Gotta admit that I’m pleasantly surprised with the OL turnaround thus far. It has quelled my nerves over the regression from last year’s performance. It has a lot to do with Ben being back, but still. I’m not as nervous as I used to be about Ben’s safety in there lol.

 

[thedddd]

If they stop Henry it should be a win.

Going Steelers 24 - Titans 21.
As we all know the Steelers just can't keep it going and will let the Titans get back into late.


Question have there been any roster moves to replace Bush? I haven't seen anything.

 

[thedddd]

Steelers make multiple roster moves including releasing P Dustin Colquitt

It’s a busy Friday for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

steelerswire.usatoday.com

Here is the move corresponding for Bush to the IR.

And I guess Berry will be back as punter?

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

This is probably the biggest game we've had since in a while. We're only allowing 66 rushing yards a game, the key to us winning this game will be whether or not we can stop Derrick Henry. Also, our secondary needs to step up and keep AJ Brown, Humphries and Corey Davis in check. Jonnu is questionable for this game and hopefully we don't have to worry about him. We don't win this game if those three get the ball often. The passing defense on the Titans is not good as well, so we need to use Claypool, JuJu and Washington to expose that passing defense. One thing to lookout for in the secondary for Malcolm Butler. He's the team leader in INTs and 3rd on the team in tackles, all but 3 are unassisted. 7 pass deflections on the year as well. We essentially need a perfect game to win this game. Now here's the most interesting stat right now for the Titans. The Titans are 5-0, thanks to 3 4th quarter comebacks by Ryan Tannehill and that offense. The Titans have played very close games against not very good teams.

List of wins by Titans this year:
Denver - 2 point win
Jacksonville - 3 point win
Minnesota - 1 point win
Buffalo - BLOWOUT
Houston - 6 point OT win

The Steelers offense has put up 38 points in each of the last two games but that was against some less than stellar defense. This Tennessee defense, I think, is the real deal and it's gonna be a very close game. With all that said....

Steelers - 27
Titans - 24

Thinking a GW FG by Boz.

The Titans defense is the real deal? They haven’t been very good at all this season. If anything, they have gotten worse since week 4 when PIT was supposed to play them.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Steelers make multiple roster moves including releasing P Dustin Colquitt

It’s a busy Friday for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

steelerswire.usatoday.com

Here is the move corresponding for Bush to the IR.

And I guess Berry will be back as punter?

Good to see them putting more fresh legs into the DL. They are going to need it.

But what the hell are they doing at Punter? I’d rather see them bring up the PS kid vs bringing back a previous failure in Berry.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Just occurred to me... Even if they sign Berry they will have to roll with the PS punter this week (Waitman I think his name is) because Berry will have to clear the COVID protocol before he can practice and/or play.

@thedddd

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Or not?

 

[Pure Steel]

This is probably the biggest game we've had since in a while. We're only allowing 66 rushing yards a game, the key to us winning this game will be whether or not we can stop Derrick Henry. Also, our secondary needs to step up and keep AJ Brown, Humphries and Corey Davis in check. Jonnu is questionable for this game and hopefully we don't have to worry about him. We don't win this game if those three get the ball often. The passing defense on the Titans is not good as well, so we need to use Claypool, JuJu and Washington to expose that passing defense. One thing to lookout for in the secondary for Malcolm Butler. He's the team leader in INTs and 3rd on the team in tackles, all but 3 are unassisted. 7 pass deflections on the year as well. We essentially need a perfect game to win this game. Now here's the most interesting stat right now for the Titans. The Titans are 5-0, thanks to 3 4th quarter comebacks by Ryan Tannehill and that offense. The Titans have played very close games against not very good teams.

List of wins by Titans this year:
Denver - 2 point win
Jacksonville - 3 point win
Minnesota - 1 point win
Buffalo - BLOWOUT
Houston - 6 point OT win

The Steelers offense has put up 38 points in each of the last two games but that was against some less than stellar defense. This Tennessee defense, I think, is the real deal and it's gonna be a very close game. With all that said....

Steelers - 27
Titans - 24

Thinking a GW FG by Boz.

Great call on the score, but this game should have been more like 41-17.....so many missed opportunities......I’m used to ugly wins....

 

[Yo Tee]

Great call on the score, but this game should have been more like 41-17.....so many missed opportunities......I’m used to ugly wins....

100% right. The way this offense was playing in the first half, we should have easily put 30+ on them. Next week will be ugly as well at Baltimore so we should stay used to ugly wins lol.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Went MIA on the Hoop yesterday during the game. It was the first time I got to watch the game with my family all being home. Been so busy with life & scheduling so it was tough to make it happen, but things slowed up this weekend and allowed us the chance for a lazy Sunday of football as a family.

I soaked up every minute of it.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Coaching... Tale of 2 halves. This team looked utterly flawless to open up the game, but things sort of unraveled from there. Not to discredit the Titans though. That is a big time contender this season and it showed. And there is a lot to be said about going on the road to pull off a win against that type of contender, ugly or not. No need to dive deep into the X's & O's as we all know the results. But I do want to mention a couple things. First off, I'm not a fan at all of letting Ben throw the ball for 50-60 times. 49 attempts yesterday, but a handful nullified by penalties. That sort of workload is not what has made this team so successful this year. Secondly, Butler deserves some praise for his decision to put Dupree in a RB shadow role. Sack production went down, but it was a necessary sacrifice as we saw the results. I still find solace in the fact that this team can pull off wins when they are off their game. We saw that A game last week, but definitely not this week. The rest of the NFL should be very concerned about when this team gets in full stride. Clean up the penalties and get Ben back on his A game and this team will continue to thrive. B-

Offense... Trying to give Ben the benefit of the doubt here, but man he was making some very questionable decisions in this game. Lots of forced throws & errant passes that were off the mark. Even on one of the TDs to DJ the ball was thrown behind him and the DB missed the PBU by a fraction of a second. Can't remember which INT it was, but I have no clue why Ben decided to make that throw. The receiver had a LB underneath, and 2 DBs on top of him. I puckered up before the ball even left his hands because nobody was open. The main reason why the Titans scored 17 unanswered points was because of the turnovers. But not all is lost. Ben did a great job spreading the ball around and getting the entire offense involved. Love seeing the TE's get some love. But he did force the ball to DJ & Juju a little more than I'm comfortable with. O-line continues to look good. Aside from the 2 early penalties, Chuks performed so well that the Titans looked like they benched Clowney for a stretch lol. Conner was running with authority again. Shame he didn't get the opportunity to eclipse the 100yd mark again, but that wasn't his fault. That fumble was a surprise, but luckily they got it back. Gotta give a lot of credit to Juju in this game. He came up HUGE on multiple occasions on 3rd downs. He may not be getting the hype he used to, but make no mistake, his presence is a necessity for this team's success. C+

Defense... Aside from a few big splash plays this defense was largely clamping down. Holding Henry to his 2nd fewest rushing yard total in his career (min of 20 attempts) shouldn't surprise anyone outside of Pittsburgh. 40 of his 75yds came on 1 drive late in the game with the defense reeling after multiple turnovers by the offense. Something had to give in that situation, and I don't fault the defense for it. They were repeatedly put in bad situations. That goalline stand that was negated by a huge penalty on Fitzpatrick was a blown call by the officials. Not that the call wasn't right for defensive holding on Minkah, but they completely missed the illegal pick play that forced Minkah to grab the receiver so that he didn't give up the easy TD. By rule, that play is illegal and should have been called instead of giving the Titans a 1st down for d holding. I do have to fault Minkah for some shoddy centerfield play though. That big TD by AJ Brown was on him. And even later on another big crossing route gain by Brown. Nelson gives inside leverage by design on those plays. Minkah has to come up with a stop in those situations. Vince nearly had the deflection on the big TD, but that doesn't excuse Minkah for taking such an awful angle on that play. It should come as a massive surprise to us all, that on a day the all-pro decided to turn in a meager day, his counter-part at SS had himself the best game of his brief career thus far. Edmunds balled out yesterday. Multiple stops & PBUs in crucial situations. If that is the type of player that Edmunds is supposed to be, then I'll be beggin for his extension. Big game for the ILBs. Both Vince & Spilly were big time contributors (that hit by Spilly on the goalline... And the hit by Bince on Tanny to knock the ball lose as he was turning... my word those were big league hits). Another big surprise was Dupree. He registered nothing in the stat sheets, which I think played a big part in the low sack production in this game, but this was by design. He played shadow to Henry for the majority of the game, often times seeing him line up over the middle. As I said before in the coaching section, that was a unique gamble that paid off. He mostly ate up lateral blockers to allow the ILBs to rush blitz more effectively. And often times he penetrated the O-line to force Henry to go lateral. His presence was huge in this game. B+

ST... McCloud is quickly becoming a must-watch return specialist. His ability to create something out of nothing is pretty remarkable. But if you give him a crease, you see what can happen. Welcome back Jordan Berry, and his 50yd average on just 2 punts. Decent upgrade in terms of field position battles, but as we know from experience this isn't going to be reliable. Boz continues to cash in perfect games, earning every single penny. Coverage teams held up their end. IIRC a couple penalties on this unit? A-

Overall... As I said before, find solace in the fact that this team pulled off a W against an undefeated AFC contender on the road when they weren't playing their best football. It's been the theme of this year though which is somewhat concerning. Ugly wins, but still wins nonetheless. Keeping our fingers crossed to see this team hit their stride at the right time and in the right games sotospeak. B-

Outlook... Staying on the road and heading to Baltimore. Not feeling good at all about this game. Baltimore is coming off bye, and playing in their own house. The best we can hope for is that the time off cooled off the Ravens and will put them off key. Steelers are coming off a heavyweight brawl, so I'm going to expect a bumpy game next week. This division rivalry is always fun to watch. If the Steelers want to make a statement to their own division, then this is the game to make it. If they can beat the Ravens in M&T Bank, then this is their division to lose.

 

[Superbelt]

It was a down day for Minkah. His worst that I've seen with the team. I still have plenty of faith in him going forward.

Still, got the win.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Joe Starkey: Steelers have zero reason to feel badly about this one

Some of his teammates seemed miffed after the game, but Steelers cornerback Joe Haden got to the heart of the matter with this postgame tweet: “Just...

www.post-gazette.com

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]