Wk 15...vs BUF***SNF***

[ATL96Steeler]

Wk 15…vs BUF***SNF***

The Steelers have gone out west 3 times this season and have returned winners 2 of the 3 trips including the most recent west coast trip to AZ. That win keeps the Steelers in the 6th seed playoff position. The competition from a record and DEF standpoint ramps up considerably this week as the Steeler prepare to host the Buffalo Bills in primetime on SNF.

This contest will pit two top 10 DEFs (BUF #2, PIT #6) against OFCs that struggling to score more than 20 pts a game. BUF ranks 20th and PIT 23rd.

Who are the 9-4 Buffalo Bills? Taking a closer look at their schedule from their bye week (wk 6) to date…the Bills have beaten MIA, WAS, MIA, DEN and DAL, and lost home to PHI, @ CLE and home to BAL. The DEF by all accounts is legit, but based on the competition it’s difficult for them to live up to a top 2 ranking. On OFC, they are a run heavy team (rank 6th carries and 5th in yds) featuring the tandem of starter Singeltary #26, and backup is the ageless Frank Gore #20. The Steelers must take note of the QB running…Josh Allen is not afraid to pull it down and take off…he has 90+ carries and over 400 yds on the season. Where they are somewhat below average is the passing game, but their WR1 (John Brown #15 and Cole Beasley #10) are respectable players…watching the BAL game the OL seems to have trouble pass blocking.

Injuries

The good…Connors (shoulder) and Juju (knee) were full participants. The bad…McDonald (concussion protocol) Jaylen Samuels (groin) did not practice on Wednesday.

Outlook

All the data says this should be another fairly low scoring game. I don’t believe the Bills DEF is a top 2 ranked DEF because of the soft schedule and they don’t pressure like the top 5 DEF. They are good, imo good enough to keep the Steelers under 25 pts. I think the Steeler DEF will want to show they are the best DEF on the field Sunday Night and will harass Allen into some mistakes. Need to defend the deep ball against the big arm talent Allen has. Hodges and the OFC does just enough to support the DEF and the Steelers move into the 5th seed position by overtaking the Bills. Sensing a heavy night of FGAs by Boswell and a couple of TDs from the OFC…I’m going with 23-17 Steelers

What say you?

 

[ATL96Steeler]

***Update***

Juju is out again...tweaked his knee in practice.

He wasn't ready.

 

[Superbelt]

Dang. But I think we're ok without him. At this point I'd want him to sit out until the playoffs. Just get healthy.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Yep...it would be nice to have him for these last 3 games going into the dance, but agreed...I'd rather him be as close to 100% as possible should they indeed close the deal and make the playoffs.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

***Update***

Juju is out again...tweaked his knee in practice.

He wasn't ready.

It used to not bug me, but now it is starting to infuriate me... Juju has been seen out at bars dancing and popping champagne bottles, among other things, for the last 2 weeks...

For someone that has been “on the mend” he sure looked like he was out having a blast every night.

Kept telling myself, as long as he comes back healthy... But seeing this recent tweak is making me angry with him.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

It used to not bug me, but now it is starting to infuriate me... Juju has been seen out at bars dancing and popping champagne bottles, among other things, for the last 2 weeks...

For someone that has been “on the mend” he sure looked like he was out having a blast every night.

Kept telling myself, as long as he comes back healthy... But seeing this recent tweak is making me angry with him.

I hear ya...maybe the dancing was pretty rigorous, but I'd be more pissed if he was playing pickup basketball or something....not a good look though for Juju.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

I hear ya...maybe the dancing was pretty rigorous, but I'd be more pissed if he was playing pickup basketball or something....not a good look though for Juju.

Not at all. Like I said, as long as he came back healthy soon it wouldn’t bother me. But seeing all these setbacks makes me question how serious he is taking his rehab. I’m talking about going beyond what the medical staff does for him during practices... If he was serious about getting back on the field he would be going the extra mile. Doesn’t appear to be the case.

 

[Ojb81]

Joe Swanson = Steelers

Giant mutant rat = Bills

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

@Superbelt

 

[SJ20]

Steelers can land the top wildcard by continuing to win.

PIT 24
BUF 14

 

[Psych-Ward]

It used to not bug me, but now it is starting to infuriate me... Juju has been seen out at bars dancing and popping champagne bottles, among other things, for the last 2 weeks...

For someone that has been “on the mend” he sure looked like he was out having a blast every night.

Kept telling myself, as long as he comes back healthy... But seeing this recent tweak is making me angry with him.

Did you see the shit where he taped himself driving over 100 mph???
How long has he been a licenced driver???? Get the backhoe ready, gonna need to dig a hole for his stupid shit right quick.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Did you see the shit where he taped himself driving over 100 mph???
How long has he been a licenced driver???? Get the backhoe ready, gonna need to dig a hole for his stupid shit right quick.

Yes I did... And I believe he had the flu at the time... Not a good look at all.

I get that he's young & likes to have fun, but he's continuously putting himself in a bad spotlight. Not to mention why is he filming all this nonsense & posting it for the world to see? Reminds me all too much of a previous diva asshat.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Welp... I ain't even mad. Tough loss but we had to know it was going to be a rough game going against a top 3 defense like that. Steelers D is every bit as good as the Bills D, but their offense is better than the Steelers' offense. It's pretty much as simple as that. Josh Allen being better than Duck was the main difference. The downside of having zero margin for error is sometimes these games just go against your favor. Especially against tougher competition.

Coaching... Not the most well-coached game, but they were putting themselves in enough positions to win the game but the players just failed to capitalize on it. The many penalties that stalled drives or setup 3rd & loooong situations were hard to stomach. Team was amped up, but maybe a little too amped up. Lots of undisciplined penalties. Offense struggled early, like it typically does. Still rolling out the same LOS route concepts and bubble screens. The run game was struggling so the resulting Run vs Pass numbers reflected that game flow. 15 runs vs 38 passes. That hasn't been the formula for success with Duck at QB. They were putting themselves into a LOT of 3rd & long situations as a result of not getting much of anything on 1st & 2nd downs. That seemed to be the case for the majority of the Steelers offensive drives. Need to get better on the early downs so they can set themselves up with 3rd & "manageable". The Steelers had FIVE drives that resulted in quick 3 & outs. That's unacceptable. That wears out their own defense too quickly. What worries me the most about this offense is that Randy doesn't appear to change anything. There's enough tape out there to blanket them now, and Randy does very little to switch things up. Fichtner just didn't do enough to help the team out early on. Didn't see Tomlin calling plays into the defense at all last night, and the secondary sat in zones for most the game forcing Josh Allen to beat them with his arm. Either the gameplan was set and they didn't deviate, or Butler was back to calling the plays. Seemed like Allen rose to the occasion many times to beat the zone coverage schemes, but overall the Steelers did a good job limiting the damage. C+

Offense... Very tough matchup for this offense, but they did ok. Turning the ball over 5 times was painful. 3 of which were either in the RZ or EZ. The pain came from the timing of said turnovers. Those 2 EZ INT's were on the final 2 drives that could have tied the game. Felt like getting punched in the nuts twice. But I acknowledge that it does mean the offense was moving the ball well enough to put themselves in position to win this game, and against a top 3 defense with a UDFA QB. Not to mention they took the lead in the 3rd qtr. Fairly impressive. I'm not throwing all the blame on him, but Duck Hodges was simply not good enough last night. Lots of inaccurate throws, staring down too many throws (doesn't have the arm strength to overcome this), holding the ball too long & taking sacks, not seeing open receivers, meager route anticipation, and a slew of "heave & pray" style throws into double coverage. I'm not mad at the heave & pray stuff as much. Been sayin it for weeks, but I'm just glad to see them throwing down the field more. Don't care if Duck throws INTs, just want him to keep slinging it. And we just have to hope that he learned a lot from a game like this. But to be fair to him, the offensive line didn't hold up its end of the bargain very well. Hodges was under a lot of pressure throughout the entire game. He was running for his life as soon as the ball hit his hands on multiple occasions when the O-line got fooled by fake blitzes or stunts. AVill & Feiler seemed to be the main problems yet again. C-

Defense... Overall the Bills moved the ball fairly well between the 20's. The run defense & zone coverage schemes were holding up ok. They were opportunistic and scrappy when it mattered most. Great heads up play by Watt to force that fumble, and also the Nelson INT off the tip. Edmunds' failure to cover the TE after the pass-off from Barron was tough to watch. Edmunds wasn't even in position to accept that pass-off from the snap, which tells me he had no idea what his assignment was until it was too late. That play alone proved to be the biggest kink in the armor last night. If Edmunds stopped that play from happening, the Steelers likely would have been able to put that game into overtime. B-

ST... Berry was absolutely unacceptable last night. Punting 22yds from your own 18yd line? For fucks sake Berry. That short field led to the first touchdown surrendered in the game. He had another terrible punt but not as putrid as that one. Awful night for him. Boz had a good night though. Coverage teams were flakey. C-



Hats off to Buffalo for getting the job done on the road in a big playoff matchup. Luckily for the Steelers the Titans lost so they keep the 6th seed for now. Onto New York... And a MUST-WIN game.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Tevin Jones & Johnny Holton remain part of the offensive gameplan.

 

[Psych-Ward]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

View attachment 226502

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[SJ20]

That game was really awful. Duck was brutal. Don't understand the long pass on 3rd and short over and over. Just get the necessary yardage to pick up the first down. No need to be a hero. Edmunds is still clueless as previously mentioned. Aside from him, the D played good. Buffalo has their flaws but they deserved to win. They say just get in the playoffs and a new season starts. Hard to believe this team could win a postseason game at the moment.

 

[Superbelt]

Both coordinators are weak links. Butler is benefitting with an incredible stacked defense, which is artificially protecting him. Flinchtner is exposed as the utterly horrid OC he is.

I'd truly rather see Randy take a backseat and let Ben be the gameday General in the earpiece. He'd just be doing the same job he had last season anyway.

This defense is good enough to win a championship, if the offense can give a half an effort. The offense needs to just not kill the team. With Randy they are killing the team with:

• An ill-conceived wildcat playbook component.
• Run, Run, Pass predictability.
• Slow-developing, horizontal game.

Get rid of the above, and this can still be salvaged for a long-shot run.