Steelers 2012 thoughts

[mikesteelnation1]

Trumpet and I Exchange numerous messages a week discussing our team. It's quite therapeutic for me. I get to blow off some steam about what's pissing me off, and on the flip get to talk about what's going well. Some good stuff comes from our "talks". He sees stuff I don't and vice versa. I have tons of steelers buddies, but trumpet digs into the fine details like I do about the team. I look forward to my steelers talks with trumpet more than anyone else.

Like Scott shares his views about the bills, we'll share our private convos for all to see. Scotts stuff on the bills has been awesome. Stuff you can't read online. A juxtaposition of all the local media, national media, as interpreted by a hardcore fan. I don't think I've commented much in any of scotts threads, since I'm just there to absorb knowledge.

Perhaps the bengals, pack, and bears fans could do the same. Let's get the forums active again. They're more dead than the offseason.. let's face it, none of us like to do anything more as it applies about football, than talk about our teams. {Unless you're a browns fan, then I can understand} even still pruitt and 6 could fire it up, however Andy may need a team doctor to give us a group prozac script...

Here's the last message I sent trumpet, talking about the game vs the bengals and the upcoming one vs the skins and rg3.


I think all said the line did well. Legursky is a gamer. Tough kid, and the exact kind of swing lineman we need to keep around a long time. I love colon's aggression (and him not getting dumbass penalties), and he's picking up the position well, but damn he's slow in pass block situations. He got killed by atkins 1 on 1.

I know so does every other guard, by I'm being a hyper critical steelers fan.

While legursky played well, having pouncey would have helped there. Doug isn't strong enough to pick up a house like atkins when he's coming in late to help. Pouncey is finally back, and I'm not sure what to think of Adams yet. He looked pretty good on runs, but had crazy help from heath on most passing downs.. Gilbert is going to miss some time, so I guess we will see what we've got in him.

Decastro has been running, and is eligible to practice next week. We might see him back in time for the ravens game. He definitely will by December, and just in time for the weather change. With how mean pouncey, colon, and decastro are inside I think its fair to say we could have a pretty awesome run game late this year. Not shift the focus from what we do, but make those runs much more productive. In turn that makes the pass game all the more productive. Just what we need for a late playoff run.

As far as the skins go, I'm perplexed as to what to think.. which d comes out? The d we had in every game and the 1st half of the bengals game, or the one from the second half of the bengals game? Does it follow suit, as its always done, and overwhelm a rookie qb (lebeau is 13-1 vs rook qbs)? And all of that KNOWING rg isn't a normal rook qb. And he has a damn good rb.

The key again will be our offense. We need the murderously long methodical drives we destroyed the jets with. Keep rg off the field entirely. I think the offense does. This skins d sucks, and is already missing 2 of their 3 best guys, and now might not have fletcher either.

Ultimately I think rg shows well, but makes some mistakes. He's never seen the exotic blitzes and combo coverages we use. Accordingly Ben and co possess the ball for 38 minutes and QUIT settling for field goals so much. Steelers 41-28 with 2 of those skins tds in garbage time. Unless we continue to get a penalty on every single kick and punt like we've done the last 2 weeks. Then the score is more likely to be 35-31.

[Trumpetbdw]

I will definitely concur with you Mike on how much I enjoy our weekly Steelers therapy sessions.

Yes, Colon did get blown up by Atkins at one point, but if I'm not mistaken, that's pretty much the only play that happened. Atkins does that to the best of them. I was very encouraged by his play, and certainly by the play of Adams. Looking very much forward to DeCastro getting back out there, and the return of Pouncey will also be big. Legursky is such a luxury to have as a backup interior lineman, but they're clearly a better unit with Pouncey.

We've said it in other threads, as well in these back and forths, but Heath Miller has been incredible. He's always been known as the 3rd tackle, but I love that they're finally figuring out how to properly use him as a pass catcher. He's a top 5 receiving TE, and the best blocking TE in the league. There isn't another player like him, and he's the best all-around TE in the league by a long shot.

Big Ben is about 1 TD per game from performing as the best QB in the league. I'm hoping that extra TD per week starts coming this week.

I have no idea whatsoever how our defense shuts down RGIII without Polamalu. Maybe LeBeau confuses him with his scheme, but I'm not confident. RGIII is the exact opposite of Dalton, and much more like Big Ben in that he'll extend a play to throw the ball, but has that extra element. Those receivers may be crap, but it won't matter if we can't force Griffin to throw the ball earlier than he'd like. The best bet will be forcing a few turnovers, but you know how that's gone since the start of last year.

Once again, the game will be in the hands of Ben. They'll certainly be able to move the ball on that crap secondary, and Heath should have another big game, this time receiving. The question is, will they be able to finish drives? I don't want to see Suisham more than twice for anything more than an XP. They should easily get to the 30s this week.

Wallace has the drops, but that explosiveness is still what teams account for on defense more than anything else. His value is as much as what he does individually as it is what he does in opening things up for the rest of the team. I'd love to see him hit on 2 biggies this week.

Not sure if Ryan Kerrigan will be opposite Starks or not, but he's their biggest key. We have to prevent him from being able to make a big play.

I'll be a little more conservative in my score prediction, since the offense has yet to break out when it comes to scoring, but I'll say 27-20 Pittsburgh. Washington will likely be a bit inconsistent on offense, which will cost them a legit shot at winning. Plus, RGIII is due for a bit of a bad game one of these weeks, so maybe this is the one.

We get the bumblebee unis this weekend! As hideous as they are, I'll admit I kinda want one. I'm a bit torn between a Heath Miller or a Lawrence Timmons, but Miller has to have become the favorite, with AB a distant 3rd.

[mikesteelnation1]

First of all tell me it ain't so... You CAN'T want a prison bee jersey. So hideous. I know from our convos, that your jersey collection rivals mine, and we have lots of the same ones.

No way in hell one of these throwbacks gets into my closet.. to each their own though!

Back to the game...

Kerrigan will be lined up on Adams side, unless the skins pull the switcheroo. That makes me feel better, since heath will be there to give the rook help. And fwiw, even if he switches around I imagine miller gets put in motion to that side.

Polamalu vs rg would have been a nice cat and mouse game. However we may never see that happen. Barring a sb vs the skins we won't play them for another 4 years, and frankly I don't see troy lasting that long.

I think we see a similar game plan as vs the bengals. Lots of combo coverages, and pre snap movement. Confuse rg. He's smart, and he's been great thus far, but he's never seen the complexity of the steelers coverage schemes. And we benefit from not having to scheme specifically to take one wr away, like we did with the bengals. The skins cupboards are pretty bare with available wr talent. This game won't hinge on our secondary on defense, it will be our front 7.

4 guys are key, one of which is vital. Woodley and Harrison need to create controlled pressure that keeps rg in the pocket. They also need to set the edge and anchor against the run. Don't forget with just rg and morris the skins have outgained every team but one on the ground. To do that Hampton needs to play like he did in the second half last week. Penetrating and requiring double teams. I still will beat the Mcclendon should start drum, but since Dick and mike are so tied to the big snack, I've gotta hope he does what he's supposed to.

The vital player is timmons. PERIOD. they need to keep him clean and let him roam sideline to sideline. He's the key to containing the run abilities of rg and morris. He's not been designated as "the spy", but as the most athletic and by far the fastest member of the front 7, he's got to make sideline to sideline plays that minimize the gains by rg and morris. If we take away the run, and keep rg in the pocket he's going to be big time lost.

However, all that said about the defense, this game will be decided by the steelers offense. The skins pass d is pure trash. Last in the league in yards and ypa. They're terribad. Considering Ben is having perhaps his best year, I suspect this game (at home) will be this offenses coming out party.

I think the offense methodically marches down the field, and totally controls the clock, as it puts up score after score. I'll also make a prediction that the 5th most important member of the defense to us winning (the secondary's glue), Ryan Clark, takes a pick 6 to the house in the second half...

[Trumpetbdw]

The only concern I have this week about the offense is the recent propensity for the dropsies, and some fumbling issues. Roethlisberger carved up both Oakland and Tennessee, who are similar defenses, only to have the defense allow them to stick around, and the play-makers make just enough mistakes to allow Oak and Ten to take advantage and win. Both of those were on the road, which makes a significant difference, but if we can clean things up a bit, then this offense should finally have its official breakout.

To those that mentioned to me that the Bengals OL didn't play all that bad, I present case study #1, 2, and 3 in Casey Hampton. Hampton has been quite possibly the worst DL in the game so far this season (at least the worst one I've seen play), and yet dominated the 2nd half against Cincy. Yes, I know that was a replacement C, but that was exactly my point. They didn't play well, and the only reason there weren't more sacks was because Andy Dalton's internal clock was 1 miss-iss-ipp-THROW! Steve McClendon was better than Big Snack last year, and is a HUGE upgrade this year. The fact they haven't changed things up and moved Hampton to the bench is a joke.

Morris is a ton better than BJGE, or at least, their offensive system is much more conducive to allowing Morris the opportunity for success. Between he and Griffin, and the Steelers lack of an ability to make a game-changing defensive play, my concern in this game is the same as most. Statistically I'd bet they look ok, but in reality, I don't see how they consistently get off the field. Washington is going to hang around.

Finally, the best part of the prison bee jersey is that it would look absolutely terrible on me. And it will look terrible inside my television screen today as well. But I was never a fan of the gold helmet either, so at least we've gotten rid of that. And while the jersey will look bad, it's at least interesting. I kind of like the homage to the 50s. If I do get one, it's got to be in honor of a true "throwback" style of player on this team.

[Trumpetbdw]

I interrupt my consistent hurricane updates to comment a bit on today's game.

I have to say.... LOVED the jerseys. They'd be awful for an entire season, but for 1 week, I kind of liked them. They are completely different than what anyone else tries to pull off, and yet, remained true to the Steelers' colors, unlike those terrible Eagles unis.

I don't think a whole lot needs to be said. The defense has seemed to finally figure things out minus Polamalu. They weren't perfect, but they didn't give the Skins too many opportunities, and on the few opportunities Washington did get, they failed to capitalize.

On offense I feel like we left about 14 points on the field (what else is new), but Ben was once again the best player on the field. He looks so comfortable right now. Plus, the OL was giving Dwyer holes all day. He's finally making us look smart in our pre-season assessment of his running abilities.

Are we sure they didn't sneak in some replacement officials? Pete Morelli has been around for awhile, and did that Super Bowl against Seattle, if I'm not mistaken, but I thought that crew was pretty bad.

I'll have to rewatch the game for more in depth stuff. With 2 young kids amped up on sugar and a hurricane watch, plus last minute prep, my focus wasn't always where it should have been this afternoon.

[mikesteelnation1]

Dwyer's play was awesome again this week. He just runs so damn hard. Just like he did in the playoff game and the preseason. Tomlin benching him woke the kid up. It does appear our preseason thoughts on him weren't totally off base.

Stat I read that surprised me a little: Dwyer is the first steelers back since '08 to have back to back 100yd games. Mendy has been quite above average, so it surprised me to see that. Dwyer has no quit in him. He seemingly gets most all his yards AFTER contact. OVER 100 yards last week after contact. This week seemed to be similar. He may not break 50+ yard tds but he just keeps moving forward and churning those feet, stiff arming and bulldozing folks all the way through. His runs arent pretty, but to a steelers fan they're beautiful, all at the same time. Remind you of anyone??

Everyone's is talking about a rb controversy. To me there's none. It's Dwyer. Mendy has that second gear, but this line is best at the between the tackles stuff, not the stretch plays. Mendy is reticent to hit the hole hard and dances too much. A mendy spin move gets us a yard or two. Dwyer hitting the hole with vengeance gets us six, with a nasty stiff arm. Tomlin said as much without saying it in his presser.

The o line again today looked great. Adams had a great game. He looks to be our starting rt going forward. Colon and pouncey were exactly the physical, aggressive blockers we thought they were. Once decastro is good to go, this interior line is super nasty. The line kept Ben super clean, and gave Dwyer huge lanes to run in. This line blocks exactly like what's best that Dwyer be the starter. Smash mouth, inside the tackles. Forgive me if I'm over excited but our line looked great 2 games in a row. It's been nearly a decade since I could utter those words...

Ben was as clinical as a surgeon. As you said, the best player on the field.. HANDS DOWN. 4 drives, 4 scores. Then we scored in the 3rd, and the play call got way too conservative. (I'll pin that squarely on tomlin). The offense moved at will in the 1st half. Loved the call to go for it on 4th on the first drive (kudos to tomlin). We left a minimum of 14 points on the board today. Had we scored a td instead of a fg to end the half, it would have been a deep dagger.

Hopefully the offense finds that dagger before the playoffs. I'm just sayin...

The offense was the predicate factor in the win today. But the defense stood strong too. I'll address that in a later post. I know I'm probably nearing the character limit.

All that scoring set the tone for the game. One the steelers planned for way better than the skins. We outplayed the skins in all 3 aspects of the game. Before getting into my rant about the d, ill briefly address the special teams.

Ziggy blocked an extra point, and brown took one to the house, except it was canceled out by another stupid penalty. Then ab decided to showboat. No room for showboating here son. Do your job and put the ball in the end zone. Very poor form Antonio. 2nd time in 4 games a brown punt return td was nullified by a stupid penalty. Really??? Let the play happen. A bad block is worse for field position than letting the guy get past you.

As a steelers fan, the showboating made me sick. You're not neon deion, and this isn't a mid 90's cowboys team. Do your job...

[mikesteelnation1]

Now let's talk defense . First and foremost, I agree 10000% the d finally found its equilibrium without polamalu. Honestly Dick impressed me. That's a spoiled steelers fan saying that, but our standard is our standard. Will Allen was great today in replacing polamalu. 3 passes defensed. Accordingly Lewis also had 3 passes defensed. Add to that Clark was a tackling machine. Skins fans may try to sell the 7 drops. A lot of them weren't drops. They were receivers that were afraid to catch the ball. Total alligator arms. Afraid of the hit that was forthcoming. 5 of the seven drops were due to the receiver looking back..

Rg3 was confused as hell, and kept inside the tackles for most of the game. Same as dalton was last game. Rg ran for nothing. Harrison and woodley kept outside contain, and accordingly kept him confused when they dropped. Then timmons and foote applied pressure inside, along with the d line.

The inside backers and the safeties played above board. Especially after the safeties corrected themselves after those long passes. the according drives resulted in next to nothing.

The d line was great. Hood, keisel, and even Hampton played well. Mcclendon would have been better than hamp, but it is what it is.

Our standard scheme without forcing blitzes confused the hell out of rg. We bottled him up and forced the throws. We stopped the run game in its tracks. Forced to be one dimensional, rg was a lost rook. Those drops were mostly the receivers afraid to catch it over the middle. Even their gadget plays failed.

The d looked so focused. So capable of executing sans polamalu. Dick knows troy isn't going to be back for a while. It showed today. Especially when we didn't gag away a late lead...

Allen, mundy, and Clark looked good today ... Allen had 3 passes defensed, and Clark led the team in tackles eventhough he left in the early 3rd quarter. As a side note, Lewis has 3 pass defensed too.

Bottom line, play the scheme, not the players..

For the first time the d buckled down inside the 20 late in the game...

[Colts01]

Steelers were great yesterday.Ben is way better then he was during the 2 Super Bowl runs.But I am still blind by those AWFUl uni's!

[Trumpetbdw]

The real question with the backfield is, is there room for both Dwyer and Mendenhall? Both are essentially 2 down backs. Redman and Batch are less when it comes to running the ball, but superior 3 down backs. And they clearly like trying to get Rainey involved on 3rd down, as he adds to their "athlete quotient".

Beyond that, I'm already ready for this Sunday. For all the talk now about Houston, Denver, and to a lesser extent New England, I like this new role, where the Steelers are flying under the radar. A win over the Giants would bring them back to legitimacy as far as the general public is concerned, but the specific manner in which they've rebounded over the past 2 weeks has me excited for the rest of the season.

I'll fully admit that with Polamalu out, my confidence was a bit shaken, but I think they've turned a corner in figuring out how to survive without him. Add to that an offense ready to explode, and Pittsburgh is still among the elite in the AFC.

[mikesteelnation1]

After seeing this many games between the preseason and regular season, I'm comfortable saying this. There's plenty of room for Dwyer and mendy. Here's why. Rainey is our cool toy, we still haven't figured out how to use best, but he's so potentially explosive were going to keep trying. What those games have also shown is redman is not who we thought he was, and batch sucks. His vision is terrible, in both running and pass catching situations.

If there's not enough room, its batch who's getting the axe. Redman clearly isn't starting caliber guy. He should be our 3rd down guy. He's good at blocking and great at catching the ball. I haven't seen batch be good at anything yet.

I'll agree that troy being out made me sweat, then lebeau switched to starting Allen in his stead, not mundy. Then he called the scheme based on that. Allen has played great the last 2 games. As has Lewis. The secondary is getting its feet beneath themselves. Good job coach lake.

I'm with you brother. We do well flying under the radar. We sure as hell did the last 3 times we went to a superbowl. It's a familiar place. I feel good about the rest of the season. After the giants we play one team that has a winning record, and close with 5 of 8 at home (that includes a home and away with the browns- that's more like 6 of 8 at home. Bens win % is better in both Cleveland and Cincy than it is in Heinz field)

Let's talk about this week vs the giants. Last 2 weeks the giants surrendered 900+ yards vs the skins and boys. Our offense is better than both of them. Our qb is far superior to either. Their d relies on turnovers and sacks. We don't turn the ball over. We give up some sacks, but a lot of them are coverage sacks. Ben is the best qb they have faced.

Also their defense is pure garbage. They get sacks and turnovers from bad qbs. Ben isn't that guy. Even doing so, they give away boat loads of yards. They prey on bad qb decisions, ones Ben doesn't make. The o continues to move the rock and win the time of possession.

The d may not force many sacks, but neither does anyone vs the giants. Eli has been sacked 6 times. The fact neither Harrison or woodley are their pass rushing selves isn't that big a deal here. Play solid coverage schemes in the secondary and the backers dropping, and its a non issue. I don't think our d is as good as the stats, but were better than the boys and skins. Both teams that took the giants to the final drive.

Both our offense and defense are better than the last 2 teams that took the giants to task, and necessitated 4th quarter comebacks. Not only are both units better, but so is the qb.

Steelers win a close one 31-24