Hey Steelers Fans. Welcome to Wednesday.
The Kickoff
Yesterday, the Tamp Bay Buccaneers signed rookie safety Sebastian Castro off of the Steelers’ Practice Squad. I found two things interesting in this movie. First, is that of all of the Steelers’ PS guys, Castro was left unprotected. Teams can protect up to four guys from being poached. Secondly is that Castro will now have to be on the Bucs’ 53-man roster for a minimum of three weeks. Guys getting plucked from Practice Squads is nothing new in the NFL, but each time it happens there is always curiosity. Castro always struck me as the type of guy who is “just a football player.” That is by no means a knock on him but rather it’s a compliment. He doesn’t test well or do anything off the charts athletically but when you watch his tape you see a guy that just knows where to be and knows what to do. With the recent acquisition of Jabrill Peppers, I think that made him more expendable. I think it’s going to be really interesting to see what he does over the next few weeks.
BINGO
Not that we needed any sort of validation for our beliefs in regard to Pro Football Focus, but one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL said exactly what we’ve been saying since day one. Oh, PFF also has Aaron Rodgers as the 38th best QB in the league right now too.
Don’t Count Your Chickens…
At 3-1, the Steelers find themselves atop the AFC North. At 1-3, the rival Ravens find themselves at the bottom and they are dealing with significant injury problems as well. Seeing some of the social media posts by Steelers’ fans the last couple of days has been alarming yet not really surprising. Many seem to think the Steelers will just roll right on to a division title given the problems of the Bengals and Browns as well. In the words of the great Lee Corso, “Not so fast my friend.” An NFL season is a marathon, not a sprint. Every, single week things change drastically, sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. Counting the Ravens out would be a huge mistake.
Proof is in the Pudding
Much of the Steelers’ success running the ball Sunday was due to Darnell Washington and that’s been a pattern this season. When he’s in, the Steelers run the ball better than when he isn’t. The Pat Freiermuth fans won’t like it but the pattern is clear. Washington is just a better blocker plain and simple and when the goal is to run the ball, then you do whatever is working.
Random Reads
As most of you know, I’m not a fan of regular season games being played anywhere other than home or away stadiums in the US. That said, the reports from fans who traveled to Ireland have been incredibly positive. I’m sure winning had something to do with that but still, I’m glad it was a good experience… The Browns announced this morning that Dillon Gabriel will get the start this week. That means the Steelers will get a week of tape before they come to Pittsburgh the following week… ESPN CFB analyst Paul Finebaum is exploring a possible run for US Senate. Why am I not surprised in the least… I’m guessing some of you saw where high school football teams are now sending letters to their opponents asking for mercy… What are we doing????
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