Game Thread: Week 7... @TEN

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Game Info: Week 7​

Pittsburgh Steelers vs Tennessee Titans​

Sunday, October 25, 2020 at 1:00 PM​

Betting line: -1.5
Over/under: 52.5


Last Regular Season Meeting: Steelers (W) 40-17 vs Titans
Win streak: 2 game PIT
Last 3 Meetings: PIT 2 - 1 TEN
Last 10 Meetings: PIT 6 - 4 TEN

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Offense... The Steelers need to start fast in this game. Titans defense is pretty soft this year. They only have 7 sacks through 5 games, which is 3rd-lowest total in the league. And at 273 yds passing per game allowed, only 4 teams are yielding more. Steelers shouldn't have any problems keeping things going with the run game & keeping things balanced. I'd like to see Ben connect with Claypool earlier in this game. Or if they key on him then let Juju eat up everything underneath. Steelers cannot afford to let Tennessee dig them into a hole early on when they have a great ground game to grind out the TOP and they have been relatively mistake-free. The Steelers offense needs to capitalize early and get momentum. They may get DJ & DeCastro back this week.

Defense... Name of the game here is run blitz & filling lanes. They have to make Henry get horizontal. If he's able to square his shoulders then its gonna be a difficult to win any downs. Like I said in the original thread... Vince Williams is up to bat here. The Steelers have been doing a fantastic job in shutting down the run game and they should matchup well against the Titans rushing attack that will now be without its pro-bowl LT Taylor Lewan. Thankfully the biggest knock on Henry is that he takes a second to get his feet moving. I'm honestly more worried about their vertical game and seeing Henry roll out on RB dumps. Tannehill has a lot of weapons and could expose this secondary. Getting that consistent pressure up front to harass Tannehill will help. Tannehill is a good QB that is quietly having an MVP caliber season, but he doesn't have the same ability to create pocket space out of nothing. So hopefully the pressure wreaks havoc. Jonnu Smith is a complete mismatch that I'm hoping Minkah will have a big part in getting him contained. This game will be a tough out for this defense, and everyone is singing Henry's praises this year. This is a statement game for this defense.

Both teams are undefeated obviously, so this game will be a big test for both teams. I think the Steelers defense will struggle to find the same consistency they had against Cleveland on possession downs. Tannehill just has too many outlets to work with. The entire defense will need to be on their A game. I know away games don't carry a fraction of the weight they used to, but this game still has me nervous. Titans just barely squeaked by the Texans, which was somewhat similar to how the Steelers beat them. Hard to gauge which team has the upper hand here. This could be a tight one.

STEELERS 27 - TITANS 20

 

[SteelersPride]

Shut down henry and they win. Period.

wouodnt be too worried about henry dump offs he has 8 catches for 84 yards on the season. And one of those was 45 yarder in OT last week...

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Shut down henry and they win. Period.

wouodnt be too worried about henry dump offs he has 8 catches for 84 yards on the season. And one of those was 45 yarder in OT last week...

I'll be honest, all that I know from the Titans is from highlight reels. Seems like most of Henry's big plays come from outside the hashes. Thought there were more dump/swing routes involved than that.

 

[SteelersPride]

I'll be honest, all that I know from the Titans is from highlight reels. Seems like most of Henry's big plays come from outside the hashes. Thought there were more dump/swing routes involved than that.

Yeah. He gets them. But he gets fed too..but he’s not really involved at all in the passing attack

fwiw he has 15 targets... he’s not being targeted downfield, and has 8 catches

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Yeah. He gets them. But he gets fed too..but he’s not really involved at all in the passing attack

fwiw he has 15 targets... he’s not being targeted downfield, and has 8 catches

Well, let's hope for this defense's sake that they keep him contained between the hashes... And routinely get a pad on him in the backfield.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[SteelersPride]

Well, let's hope for this defense's sake that they keep him contained between the hashes... And routinely get a pad on him in the backfield.

If we can win this we’re in really good shape.

even we say we lose both ravens games, lose to the bills, lose to the colts, and drop a game we should win along the way we’re 11-5.....

realistically we should win against:
Bengals x2
Browns
Jags
Football team
Cowboys
I think 10-6 would be somewhat disappointing with the schedule... but that’s the absolute worst...

but after the ravens play us their last 5 r cake walks..

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[Superbelt]

This is going to be a good game to have Vince and Spillane as your ILB's.

That's strength on strength.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

This is going to be a good game to have Vince and Spillane as your ILB's.

That's strength on strength.

So far Spillane looked good in rush-blitz so I'm hopeful that the ILBs are up to the task with Henry. So long as they can find the creases to meet him head on if he even manages to get past the front 7, then they shouldn't have a problem.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Welp... Game was over before it started

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

@Superbelt - looks like better coverage this week!

 

[Superbelt]

@Superbelt - looks like better coverage this week!

All it takes is a nationally significant game.... and no Raven opposition!

 

[Yo Tee]

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.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Pretty sure I read a tweet saying DeCastro was a FP at practice & will suit up for this game. Same for DJ.

But it begs the question... Does Dotson get the nod over Feiler? I don’t know how they could keep Dotson off the field now. He’s the #1 rated interior OL in the league right now IIRC. Would be a mistake to keep him off the field.

 

[Superbelt]

Pretty sure I read a tweet saying DeCastro was a FP at practice & will suit up for this game. Same for DJ.

But it begs the question... Does Dotson get the nod over Feiler? I don’t know how they could keep Dotson off the field now. He’s the #1 rated interior OL in the league right now IIRC. Would be a mistake to keep him off the field.

No, I don't see Feiler losing his job to Dotson unless his play falls off.

So far, Feiler is holding it down. He's doing EVERYTHING asked of him, and doing it well. I'm thankful we have this 'problem'.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

No, I don't see Feiler losing his job to Dotson unless his play falls off.

So far, Feiler is holding it down. He's doing EVERYTHING asked of him, and doing it well. I'm thankful we have this 'problem'.

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!