Week 8 @ Lions

[ATL96Steeler]

OK, now for my own meager attempt to grade the team's performance.

No way can I be as thorough as @FaCe-LeE-uS or @ATL96Steeler, but here goes............

Offense. Not bad, but still far from its potential. Ben got decent protection most of the time. Bell got some nice runs, but not as many as in the two prior games, and he got hit for some losses. Ben's still a little erratic. Still overthrowing some passes, and forcing others into pretty tight coverage. But that 97-yarder to Juju was textbook perfect. The shovel pass to get the final first down was nice, too. And hey, they scored enough points to win. B-

Defense. Pretty good against the run. But (at the risk of borrowing a word from Sir Charles) they were turrible...just turrible...against the pass. That zone coverage just wasn't working, especially when our boys were getting little pressure on Stafford. Maybe they should've switched to man coverage in second half. The saving grace, of course, was that they were a stone wall in the red zone. They held when it mattered most. B+ (but God help them, the next time a QB throws for 400 yards against them).

Special teams. Very good. Nearly all of the kickoffs were unreturnable. Punting improved enough that the Lions' dangerous return man wasn't a factor. Small deduction for the near miss on the one field goal. A-

Coaching. This one's always tough to gauge, but I think it's improved. Much fewer penalties. They looked undisciplined as Hell earlier in the season, but looking more like an actual, functioning team. B

Overall, I'd give 'em a solid B. Hopefully, they'll keep improving. As long as they don't play DOWN to Indy in 2 weeks, the rest of the season should go well.

Great job!!

Pass D, they did get torched, but at least 3 or 4 or those passes were dropped in spots that you just have to tip your cap to the arm talent.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Coaching... Seemed like a pretty motivated group last night, but still felt lackluster with the offensive struggles. Can't pin it all on Haley this time though, even if his playcalling still left some points on the field. More on that later. 7/14 on 3rd downs & 1/3 in the RZ. Another paltry effort. Butler continued to shine, even against a tough opponent. Detroit may have racked up the yards, but that was due in large to a $27mil QB earning his paycheck. Was a little surprised to see so much zone defense, but for the most part they covered the field well. It was the underneath routes that annoyed me the most. In man coverage those conversions wouldn't happen as much. B-

Offense... Gonna paint the elephant in the room red first. Ben looked like shit last night. Very inconsistent play from the field general. Missed a lot of wide open passes (a few that come to mind: DHB in the EZ, JJ in the middle on 3rd, the awkward dump pass right into the D-lineman's shoulder), but also had some big time drops (Rogers in the EZ, JuJu on 3rd). But even with the struggles he found a way to get the job done. That 97yd TD to JuJu was a thing of beauty. Perfect touch pass over the coverage right into a receiver in stride. Feels like the offense is living dangerously with Ben seemingly throwing 2-3 erratic overthrows but connecting on the occasional homerun to keep the team alive. And its been going on that way all season. Not to mention all the forced throws to AB. Last night was no different. That INT was a forced throw to AB in triple coverage. Had a bit of a scare last night when Hubbard got concussed & Feiler came in. Haley was wise to bring Grimble in on a chip blocks but Feiler held up ok. Bell had a relatively quiet night. That fumble in/near the RZ was brutal. Not much going in the run game but that credit goes to Detroit's D-line. Still happy with the way the O-line battled. Holding that D-line to 0 sacks on 31+ attempts was huge. I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge JuJu here. Incredible game from the rook. Quit callin him Limas and give the kid some respect! lol C-

Defense... Perfect game of bend but don't break. Forget the 482 net yards Detroit racked up, it's all about 0/5 in the RZ. Even better, 0/3 in goal to go (0/2 on 4th in those situations)! That was a thing of beauty. Stellar group effort from every level. Davis, Shazier, V-Will & Hargrave were dominating. Stafford played brilliantly between the 20's and the defense wasn't really at fault. Only a couple of broken coverages come to mind. Most of the throws were perfectly placed but the coverage was there. Tip of the cap to Stafford in that regard. He had to be feeling very frustrated. Surprised to see how well 3rd string LT (former Steeler) Brian Mihalik held up. Not sure why Harrison didn't get any playing time. Watt was mostly ineffective, and Chickillo was in to spell him on occasion. Even saw Moats in on a few plays. Pretty sure Deebo could have exposed Mihalik better, but we'll never know. He dressed for the game but didn't sniff the field. WTF? B

ST... Boz statistically was perfect 2/2 on FGs, 2/2 on XPs. But he got a lucky bounce off the uprights. I'll take it! Nobody will remember by season's end. Berry upped his average & net average. Coverage units were solid. B

Overall... Sloppy & lackluster effort from the offense, but they got the job done. Turnovers hurt but didn't sink the ship thankfully. Going to need to get better on both sides of the ball, but definitely starts with the offense. C+

Injuries... Mitchell (ankle) left in the 3rd & never returned. Hubbard got shaken up with a concussion. Looked like Davis also left late in the game but returned. Good time for a bye week to get Tuitt, Gilbert & McDonald back.

Outlook... 6-2 heading into the bye week riding some good momentum. After the bye they head into Indy. 2 weeks of prep for a struggling 2-6 Colts team seems like a very winnable game. But that's never a sure thing for Tomlin. I'll be getting the nervous B-G's (bubble-guts) leading up to that game.

Great job per norm.

Coaching...I thought this was one of Haley's better games from a game plan stand point...as you mentioned...if Ben is sharper, we're looking at perhaps 10-14 more points. The DHB target was a simple pass he made into a difficult catch...(better hands might still be 6 though).

Butler...I think the game plan was to make Stafford work his way down the field executing vs the zone...I don't think they expected him to still be able to attack the deep pockets in the zone. I think maybe 4 or 5 QBs in the league today will even attempt those throws in front on a charging FS like that, but he's one of them. I thought they got a fair amount of pressure overall...I saw Shazier blitz maybe 3 times and Hilton a couple...VWill blitzed a couple I thought. He wasn't passive, but ultra aggressive....fortunately they held up in the RZ.

TJ...what had to be frustrating to him was he beat his guy several times but was never able to finish...once he lost his balance and Stafford slid away to the right and got the pass off I thought was his best chance for a sack...Why Deebo's # was not called in this game to work on that OT3 is baffling...like you said, Chick got reps on the right side and even Moats got a few on the left....it really seems like Butler is letting the starters take as many reps as they can handle this yr. Still don't see why Chick was taking snaps on the right side though....Deebo seems healthy...there has to be more snaps after the bye...they didn't bring him back to sit.

Outlook...the records are starting to separate a little bit as you would expect...but the play on the field still looks much like it has all season...It looks like PIT can play with the top of the league in either conference, but we've seen they can also lose to teams with .500 or worst records.

I think the best we can say at the midway point about the Steelers...yes, the DEF is a little better than last yr even without LT, and the OFC still has the potential to improve...will they? That is really the big question of the remainder of the season.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Great job per norm.

Coaching...I thought this was one of Haley's better games from a game plan stand point...as you mentioned...if Ben is sharper, we're looking at perhaps 10-14 more points. The DHB target was a simple pass he made into a difficult catch...(better hands might still be 6 though).

Butler...I think the game plan was to make Stafford work his way down the field executing vs the zone...I don't think they expected him to still be able to attack the deep pockets in the zone. I think maybe 4 or 5 QBs in the league today will even attempt those throws in front on a charging FS like that, but he's one of them. I thought they got a fair amount of pressure overall...I saw Shazier blitz maybe 3 times and Hilton a couple...VWill blitzed a couple I thought. He wasn't passive, but ultra aggressive....fortunately they held up in the RZ.

TJ...what had to be frustrating to him was he beat his guy several times but was never able to finish...once he lost his balance and Stafford slid away to the right and got the pass off I thought was his best chance for a sack...Why Deebo's # was not called in this game to work on that OT3 is baffling...like you said, Chick got reps on the right side and even Moats got a few on the left....it really seems like Butler is letting the starters take as many reps as they can handle this yr. Still don't see why Chick was taking snaps on the right side though....Deebo seems healthy...there has to be more snaps after the bye...they didn't bring him back to sit.

Outlook...the records are starting to separate a little bit as you would expect...but the play on the field still looks much like it has all season...It looks like PIT can play with the top of the league in either conference, but we've seen they can also lose to teams with .500 or worst records.

I think the best we can say at the midway point about the Steelers...yes, the DEF is a little better than last yr even without LT, and the OFC still has the potential to improve...will they? That is really the big question of the remainder of the season.

Agreed with everything above.

Deebo... Tomlin seems intent to reserve him for the bigger/important games. But thats still a guess. In a close game against Detroit I thought it would have been beneficial to get Deebo in to expose Mihalik. Tomlin admitted he was a closer of sorts, so it made no sense not to play him late in the game. Maybe Tomlin didn't see this game as a must win like we did?

Offense... We've seen the potential from every group in this unit, but we haven't really seen it all come together at the same time. A lot of it hinges on Ben. He's still not playing his best but I'm optimistic that he'll get it turned around. He typically plays at his best during November & December every year. Hopefully this year is no different. Sitting at 6-2 with a struggling offense is a great place to be. If they can get things going on offense then this team will roar into the playoffs as the 1-2 seed. Fingers crossed!