For the second straight week it’s a glorious Monday Steelers’ fans!
Yesterday was largely a great day for our Steelers as they defeated the New York Jets 31-13 and also saw all three of their divisional rivals lose. The AFC North standings through five weeks:
Pittsburgh 4-1
Baltimore 3-2
Cincinnati 2-3
Cleveland 0-5
Headlining the injury news is Cam Heyward who left yesterday’s game with a hamstring problem. Results of the MRI are not available yet but I’m told we should expect to be without him for the next few weeks.
There were many heroes from yesterday’s game… Big Ben, AB, Bell, Coates and so on but I can’t say enough about Chris Hubbard. I admit I was very skeptical but he did his job and defined what Mike Tomlin preaches in terms of the “the standard being the standard.”
There were two glaring issues yesterday that I have to point out. Number one was the fake field goal which failed miserably. Why Special Teams’ Coach Danny Smith continues to try this crap is beyond me. With a hat tip here to Crash on Twitter, I believe Smith is now 1 for 4 in fake field goal attempts with the only successful one coming in Green Bay a couple of years back.
The other negative issue is the feast or famine day for Sammie Coates. Yes, he made some huge plays but he dropped three VERY catchable balls including one that should have been for a touchdown.
Tweet of the Day…. Cool if you didn’t know this.’
Why did @BMarshall write @DeAngeloRB's mom's name on his cleats? " B/c Miss Sandra Hill gave the league the inspiration to let us wear pink"
— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) October 9, 2016
The defense gave up 13 points yesterday and while they definitely had some moments where there were issues, i.e Brandon Marshall, Matt Forte on occasion, they were overall really good. I’ll wait and see the numbers in terms of missed tackles when Cnic does his breakdown but I guarantee the Steelers tackled well yesterday especially on third down.
You will start hearing some ‘MVP Talk’ heating up around Ben Roethlisberger after his torrid start but don’t bank on him winning it. The media by and large doesn’t care for Big Ben and if there is anyone at all to compare him to then that person will likely get it. I sincerely hope I’m wrong but I can’t see the media and the league rewarding him.
The tight ends continue to make excellent catches. We are getting way more out of Jesse James and Xavier Grimble than I would have imagined. Their blocking still leaves a lot to be desired but hey, can’t have everything!
I can’t emphasize enough how good Jordan Berry has been. Outside of the Philly game, his punting has been crucial in terms of flipping the field and pinning teams deep.
Have a great Monday Steeler Nation!
