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Game Balls, Game Goats & FU's.........vs Broncos Week 2

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Chicoman

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I for one sure didn't see this game coming down to the final minutes. Up 17-3 at the half I didn't think this one would be close. Pretty discouraged to once again not be able to see our Steelers put away a weaker opponent. Denver made some good second half adjustments to make this one too close for comfort and I'll give credit to Denver for going to alot of 2 TE sets and protecting the edges from the wrath of Watt & Dupree. Would have been nice to see Tomlin & Butler move TJ Watt & Bud Dupree around to try to counter Denver's 2nd half adjustments. Denver's O-line was blowing the Steelers front 7 off the Line of Scrimmage in the 2nd half of this game......is that all Munchack? I know alot of people want to really tear apart our secondary as the Weakest Link on this D but in that 2nd Half the Steelers blitzed alot and when they didn't get home it left the secondary exposed and Jeff Driskel was able to take advantage of our secondary. This week the Special Teams needs to be mentioned today because they looked much improved in their kick coverage & especially the return game and they even scored a Safety (which was a big turning point in this game because it prevented Denver from kicking a game tying FG in the 4th QTR on their final offensive series when they muffed a punt in the endzone. Was also nice to see Ray Ray McCloud knife thru the Defense for a big kickoff return too. Today again we saw some ball security issues fortunately the Steelers were able to overcome. Two costly turnovers one on the first play of the game Dionte Johnson fumbling the handoff from Ben.....starting to have visions of Dwight "Hands of" Stone when I see Dionte Johnson but he did have some nice catches today and his return on the Free Kick after the Safety was impressive. The other fumble was very costly and nullified a great return by Dionte Johnson when Benny Snell fumbled in Steelers territory and Denver drove it the distance to make it a 5 point game. Steelers 3rd down offense today was below the line in Tomlin's words. I don't know the final stats but at one point I think they were 2 for 11 at some point in the 3rd QTR. Some of the officiating today was Questionable at best.....they gave Denver a 1st down on 3rd & 11 on Denver's own 38 yd line in the 4th QTR they flagged Edmunds for Pass Interference....I didn't even see Edmunds lay a hand on the WR....that was a critical call and it ultimately kept the Broncos drive going......ironically it was Edmunds who was able to get the sack later on that drive on 4th down to give the ball back to the Steelers with under 2 minutes to play. Not really sure how good the Giants & Denver are as teams this year but hey were 2-0 for the first time since 2016 and look toward hosting a very tough Houston Texans team next week as they try to start the season 3-0 for the first time since the 2010 season. Today's win by Tomlin & Roethlisberger was their 117th win together moving into 3rd All-Time wins of a QB&Coach tandem passing Dan Marino & Don Shula. Also congrats to Ben Roethlisberger for moving into 7th place All-Time on the NFL passing yardage list.


Per Tomlin post game presser:

No injuries to report other than the usual bumps and bruises that come with playing the game


Game Balls:
Ben Roethlisberger - Other than his one bad decision trying to force a ball that was a poor throw that was Intercepted Ben went 29 for 41 for 311 yds 2 TD's 1 INT
James Conner - 16 carries for 106 & 2 rec for 15 yds.....good all around day and some nice runs...driving the pile forward
Dionte Johnson - 8 rec 92 yds 1 TD plus a great return on a Free Kick.....he's just gotta do a better job of securing that football
Chase Claypool - 3 rec 88yds 1 TD.....plus he's impressive on kickoff & punt coverage.....always near the football. Great day today
Mike Hilton - had a sack today and 2 TFL. He also did a pretty good job on pass coverage....especially on Jeudy late in the game downfield
TJ Watt - 2.5 sacks today both he & Dupree 1 sack & 1 FF today had a big impact early in the game that was the difference in the game. Denver did good in the 2nd Half making Watt & Dupree pretty much a non-factor.
Terrell Edmunds - Might be one of his best games as a Steeler...he gave up some throws but he was right there in coverage on the WR's and didn't allow any YAC. Had a sack on Driskal to seal the victory for our Steelers, ironic since 5 plays earlier he was flagged for one of the worst Pass Interference calls I've seen this season. I'll call it Poetic Justice!
Chuck Okorafor & Kevin Dotson - I thought they both represented themselves pretty well tonight. Nice to see we have some depth on that O-line.




Game Goats:
Benny Snell - Gotta hold onto to that football son! 4 touches for 1 yd & 1 Fumble is not getting it done!


FU's:
FU to the Officiating Crew......I thought the officiating was better this year but watching this game....HOLY HELL MAN! Saw Watt, Dupree, Adeniyi all getting held too often this game....and that Pass Interference call on Edmunds in the 4th QTR....JFC. Yes I believe the officials are paid to keep games close just for the purpose of NFL advertising.
 
Chicoman said:
I for one sure didn't see this game coming down to the final minutes. Up 17-3 at the half I didn't think this one would be close. Pretty discouraged to once again not be able to see our Steelers put away a weaker opponent. Denver made some good second half adjustments to make this one too close for comfort and I'll give credit to Denver for going to alot of 2 TE sets and protecting the edges from the wrath of Watt & Dupree. Would have been nice to see Tomlin & Butler move TJ Watt & Bud Dupree around to try to counter Denver's 2nd half adjustments. Denver's O-line was blowing the Steelers front 7 off the Line of Scrimmage in the 2nd half of this game......is that all Munchack? I know alot of people want to really tear apart our secondary as the Weakest Link on this D but in that 2nd Half the Steelers blitzed alot and when they didn't get home it left the secondary exposed and Jeff Driskel was able to take advantage of our secondary. This week the Special Teams needs to be mentioned today because they looked much improved in their kick coverage & especially the return game and they even scored a Safety (which was a big turning point in this game because it prevented Denver from kicking a game tying FG in the 4th QTR on their final offensive series when they muffed a punt in the endzone. Was also nice to see Ray Ray McCloud knife thru the Defense for a big kickoff return too. Today again we saw some ball security issues fortunately the Steelers were able to overcome. Two costly turnovers one on the first play of the game Dionte Johnson fumbling the handoff from Ben.....starting to have visions of Dwight "Hands of" Stone when I see Dionte Johnson but he did have some nice catches today and his return on the Free Kick after the Safety was impressive. The other fumble was very costly and nullified a great return by Dionte Johnson when Benny Snell fumbled in Steelers territory and Denver drove it the distance to make it a 5 point game. Steelers 3rd down offense today was below the line in Tomlin's words. I don't know the final stats but at one point I think they were 2 for 11 at some point in the 3rd QTR. Some of the officiating today was Questionable at best.....they gave Denver a 1st down on 3rd & 11 on Denver's own 38 yd line in the 4th QTR they flagged Edmunds for Pass Interference....I didn't even see Edmunds lay a hand on the WR....that was a critical call and it ultimately kept the Broncos drive going......ironically it was Edmunds who was able to get the sack later on that drive on 4th down to give the ball back to the Steelers with under 2 minutes to play. Not really sure how good the Giants & Denver are as teams this year but hey were 2-0 for the first time since 2016 and look toward hosting a very tough Houston Texans team next week as they try to start the season 3-0 for the first time since the 2010 season. Today's win by Tomlin & Roethlisberger was their 117th win together moving into 3rd All-Time wins of a QB&Coach tandem passing Dan Marino & Don Shula. Also congrats to Ben Roethlisberger for moving into 7th place All-Time on the NFL passing yardage list.


Per Tomlin post game presser:

No injuries to report other than the usual bumps and bruises that come with playing the game


Game Balls:
Ben Roethlisberger - Other than his one bad decision trying to force a ball that was a poor throw that was Intercepted Ben went 29 for 41 for 311 yds 2 TD's 1 INT
James Conner - 16 carries for 106 & 2 rec for 15 yds.....good all around day and some nice runs...driving the pile forward
Dionte Johnson - 8 rec 92 yds 1 TD plus a great return on a Free Kick.....he's just gotta do a better job of securing that football
Chase Claypool - 3 rec 88yds 1 TD.....plus he's impressive on kickoff & punt coverage.....always near the football. Great day today
Mike Hilton - had a sack today and 2 TFL. He also did a pretty good job on pass coverage....especially on Jeudy late in the game downfield
TJ Watt - 2.5 sacks today both he & Dupree 1 sack & 1 FF today had a big impact early in the game that was the difference in the game. Denver did good in the 2nd Half making Watt & Dupree pretty much a non-factor.
Terrell Edmunds - Might be one of his best games as a Steeler...he gave up some throws but he was right there in coverage on the WR's and didn't allow any YAC. Had a sack on Driskal to seal the victory for our Steelers, ironic since 5 plays earlier he was flagged for one of the worst Pass Interference calls I've seen this season. I'll call it Poetic Justice!
Chuck Okorafor & Kevin Dotson - I thought they both represented themselves pretty well tonight. Nice to see we have some depth on that O-line.




Game Goats:
Benny Snell - Gotta hold onto to that football son! 4 touches for 1 yd & 1 Fumble is not getting it done!


FU's:
FU to the Officiating Crew......I thought the officiating was better this year but watching this game....HOLY HELL MAN! Saw Watt, Dupree, Adeniyi all getting held too often this game....and that Pass Interference call on Edmunds in the 4th QTR....JFC. Yes I believe the officials are paid to keep games close just for the purpose of NFL advertising.
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I don't always agree with you on everything but I have no arguments this week!
 
I think they got a little too confident early then started snail balling it way too early as well. Secondary can and needs to play a little better quickly...and I think they will. Wasn't overly impressed with Randy's play calling. During a game find your strengths and don't lay on the breaks.

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Tomlin was almost the a goat. That stupid red flag cost a time out, thankfully the offense did not need it.


I'd list Bush a a goat as his coverage cost us a ton. I fear other teams will start to target him more often.






Observations:


1 ) Is Tuitt nursing some sort of injury? He has been very quiet outside of the one play he made vs the Giants.


2 ) Ray-Ray McCloud is turning into a weapon as a return man.


3 ) What's up with the play calling? Too often we run Conner on 1st or 2nd down with little return. Play action or screens need to be called a bit more often.


4. Claypool seems to have pro bowl level special teams ability. He's being underused as a receiver. He deserved more targets. 3 targets a game is not enough. How about 5-6?


5 ) We are 2-0. I'm not convinced this a top 3 seed in the AFC playoffs. More like a 5th, 6th or 7th seed. We have not played a good team yet.


6 ) That safety saved our rear end. Without it its a 3 point game, and Denver could have attempted a field goal to tie later in the game.


7 ) While Ebron can add a little as a receiver, he's a wimpy blocker and at best the 4th best option in the passing game.


8 ) Play MacFarland. Tomlin must not trust the rookie. Our backs are slow and predictable.
 
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I am really impressed with Claypool. He's been targeted 5 times in two games and caught every ball thrown his way. He's made an impact on each game when he's put in and has excellent body control, speed and agility. The sky seems to be the limit for him.
 
No they didn't put this game away, but this is the exact type of game they have been losing the past few years. Inferior opponent, blowing a 4th qtr lead.

However it happened, it was a much needed win. Texans are going to come here very hungry next week. Likely 0-2 and playing poorly.
 
Coach said:
Tomlin was almost the a goat. That stupid red flag cost a time out, thankfully the offense did not need it.
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I think he does a bad challenge sometimes just to slow down momentum and give the D some time to regroup. Burning a timeout is costly sometimes though.
 
it is still essentially preseason so i do cut them a bit of slack on execution.

My main concern is the DESIGN of the run game. Mainly all the shotgun handoffs. That does not play to the strength of Conner or Snell. Ben is not a run threat so there is no type of read option play fake benefit to all these shotgun runs. They are forcing Conner to take the ball and immediately go east west and look for a crease. That's not Conner's game.

It is not a coincidence that Conner's success came at the end of the game when Ben went under Center, Conner was in the single back and he could take the ball and get north south immediately. The big run even had a key lead block by Watt.

The refs were not calling PI the same for both sides. If you are going to call it tight then call it tight both ways.

Maybe Snell used to secure the ball against his gut and now that it's gone, the ball has nothing to stick to.

I can't see any way that JuJu resigns. Nothing against him, but with the emergence of Dionte and Claypool, i can't see spending big on JuJu. Washington is a solid 3 with those 2 as well.

Secondary needs to get it together. I cut them a bit of slack as i mentioned above but right now if the pass rush doesn't get there, the secondary is getting beat. Having said that, Driscoll did make some damn good throws to make some plays. The type of throws Lamar Jackson misses.
 
SteelBuckeye said:
I am really impressed with Claypool. He's been targeted 5 times in two games and caught every ball thrown his way. He's made an impact on each game when he's put in and has excellent body control, speed and agility. The sky seems to be the limit for him.
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Same here. You could say so far he's been clutch. Johnson has great ability, but he's has not been clutch. Claypool has also been a stand out on special teams. We are lucky to have him, I felt he had 1st round tools.
 
SteelBuckeye said:
I am really impressed with Claypool. He's been targeted 5 times in two games and caught every ball thrown his way. He's made an impact on each game when he's put in and has excellent body control, speed and agility. The sky seems to be the limit for him.
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The Steelers basically have four WRs with number one WR potential.

Since Ben's arm seems as good as ever, there's really no excuse for the Steelers not averaging over 30 points a game this season.
 
Coach said:
Same here. You could say so far he's been clutch. Johnson has great ability, but he's has not been clutch. Claypool has also been a stand out on special teams. We are lucky to have him, I felt he had 1st round tools.
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a bunch of WR had 1st round tools this year. It was just that there were so many of them, it pushed them down the board. Hamler has 1st round tools too. Sutton, Jeudy and Hamler should be a great combination of WRs for them.

Another reason not to spend big on a WR. You can get good WR prospects even late in drafts. Just draft 1 every year and develop them and then let your vets leave when they want big money. If you have a true star like AB then you pay him, but if you have good guys like Wallace, Sanders, you let them walk unless they sign a team friendly deal.
 
Great summary Chico. Thanks.

There were no second half adjustments to match the Donks halftime changes. That and a sleepy 3rd Q almost cost the game after a big lead ...... Boz should be able to make a 52/3 yd fg at home on a beautiful, no wind day.

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tapeANaspirin2it said:
I can't see any way that JuJu resigns. Nothing against him, but with the emergence of Dionte and Claypool, i can't see spending big on JuJu. Washington is a solid 3 with those 2 as well.
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Dionte does not have great hands, in the first two games he's dropped several easy passes. For some reason the coaching staff thinks he's the next AB and I feel we are forcing him the ball too often.

Still a lot of season left, and I've seen nothing from Juju that makes me think he won't be around after this year.


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Most of Dionte's drops seems to be concentration lapses where he's looking to make a move before he secures the catch. Also, he hasn't played much with Ben. DJ played at Akron and then he played with Mason and Duck. Now he's catching balls that are getting to him much faster, not just in terms of velocity but the ball being alsmot on him before he's out of his break. The reaction time is much less.

Basically, i think DJ's drops are something he can overcome. He's made a lot of plays in his young career. Don't forget that he missed a lot of time as a rookie. The Steelers don't have another WR who can do what DJ does on underneath routes.
 
Thanks Chico.

Following the game thread,a lot of people were asking why no blitzes in the second half when they were so successful in the 1st. Agree with you.....they were blitzing,just not getting sacks. Halftime adjustments were made,but not by us it seemed. Move the guys around a bit.

I thought our OC called a **** game. Called it like the duck or Rudy was back there. How many quick outs were called. They were sitting on them. No flow. We were given great field position a few times and never capitalized. I guess Edmunds has taken over from Bud as everyone's favorite whipping boy. The call against him was BS,he makes lots of tackles,he is not as bad in the first or second game as a lot of you make him to be.

I am more worried about Bush. We drafted him for our TE problem....the potential is there. Let's hope he gets it together. Every time DJ is targeted you rise out of your seat. He could be a superstar. Concentration problem? He's gotta get tougher with that pigskin. I hope they find a way to keep JuJu. Mr Claypool step on up. Great pass by Ben.

Lastly,I thought that was some game by their QB. He got the **** kicked out of him in the first half. Got nailed throughout the game. Made some incredible passes. Respect.
 
Nailed this week. I don't think I have any others to add beyond Claypool uses the truck stick when he hits.
 
Chicoman said:
James Conner - 16 carries for 106 & 2 rec for 15 yds.....good all around day and some nice runs...driving the pile forward
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Only point I whole heartedly disagree with...Up until his 59 yard scamper he was 15 att. for 47 yards 3.1 average and was pretty much bottled up in the backfield. Where he excels is as a pass catching back. I also think the draws & the hitch hand-off from Ben contributes to his inefficiency as a RB. Ben needs to hand him the ball quick & JC needs to get some steam going & hit the damn hole...
 
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SteveA said:
Only point I whole heartedly disagree with...Up until his 59 yard scamper he was 15 att. for 47 yards 3.1 average and was pretty much bottled up in the backfield. Where he excels is as a pass catching back. I also think the draws & the hitch hand-off from Ben contributes to his inefficiency as a RB. Ben needs to hand him the ball quick & JC needs to get some steam going & hit the damn hole...
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Conner is ok on some draws but would be much better served with Ben under center getting a traditional handoff with Watt leading. That also sets up the play action much better.


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