Hey Steelers Fans. Welcome to Monday.
The Kickoff
This will be my final mention of the incredibly healed Joey Porter, Jr. Somehow, after battling a back injury since Training Camp started in late July, Porter, Jr miraculously played yesterday. His new team, the Dallas Cowboys, were victorious so good for him. The fact that JPJ is no longer a Steeler isn’t entirely on him. The Steelers continue to business as few other teams in the NFL do with regards to guaranteed money especially. They set that aside for Ben Roethlisberger, D.K. Metcalf and T.J. Watt. JPJ believed himself to be in the same category as those guys. Omar Khan and company saw things differently. What’s most disappointing is that Porter, Jr chose not to play. He made the decision to sit out while his brothers played. Now, his contract situation in Dallas is exactly as it was here so what changed? It appears to me that JPJ just didn’t want to be in the Steel City anymore because he believes he can get more money elsewhere. As Mike Tomlin once said, “we want volunteers, not hostages.”
The Tape Doesn’t Lie
You learn very quickly in football that when you sit down to watch film with coaches, it shows exactly what you did and didn’t do. What I saw from Thursday night’s game was this; neither team played well. Both teams had a lot of mistakes and missed tackles. What stood out was the poor and at times effortless play of Patrick Queen and the blown coverage by Rayshawn Jenkins. There were certainly other mistakes especially on the offensive line but all in all it was ugly.
Defensively Speaking
The curious decision to not keep Elandon Roberts on this roster is coming back to haunt this unit. Payton Wilson and Patrick Queen are just not big and physical enough to get off blocks in the running game and it’s showing… Daylen Everette took a lot of heat from fans for the deep ball where Denzel Boston got behind him. He did nothing wrong. It was completely blown on the back end by Jenkins who rotated left rather than right… Look for Kevin Jobity or Gabe Rubio to get a helmet now with Derrick Harmon out a few weeks with a foot injury.
Offensively Speaking
Aaron Rodgers won’t survive the season if he takes the hits he did on Thursday night. Which makes it more interesting as to whether or not a team would trade for Mason Rudolph. The rumors are growing as QBs go down around the league… Michael Pittman, Jr is definitely not 100%. He’s never been a speed guy but he’s really struggling to separate in man coverage… The Steelers have to find a viable guy to spell Jaylen Warren. He’s been terrific the last two weeks but he needs more of a breather.
OK I Lied
I mentioned above that I was done talking about JPJ and I kind of am but this is more about his father. Based on his comments yesterday it makes me think more and more that he helped orchestrate this exit from the Steelers.
Looking Ahead
The Steelers have four games left before their BYE week. They are home to Indy and Cleveland and they are at Tampa Bay and in Paris to play the Saints. Currently sitting at 2-2, the Steelers likely need to go 3-1 in this stretch. 4-4 at the BYE with away games at Cincy and Philly right after is going to be daunting.
Random Reads
There are certain games in Pittsburgh where the opponent’s fans come darn close to outnumbering this in black and gold. Watching the Chiefs at Raiders yesterday it was the same thing yet worse. Allegiant Stadium was easily 60% red… The Steelers’ next opponent is Indianapolis who played in London yesterday. They will present some challenges but Daniel Jones will make some mistakes… Mike Vrabel received a rare unsportsmanlike penalty yesterday in Buffalo. I couldn’t tell exactly what he said but the F bomb was being used a lot… Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State are all 0-2 in conference play. That’s never happened before…
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