Hey Steelers Fans. Welcome to Tuesday.
The Kickoff
Remember just a few short months ago when it was thought that the secondary would be the strength of the 2025 Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense? Wasn’t it some of those very same guys who were suggesting this defense could be “historic?” Well, it hasn’t quite turned out that way now has it? DeShon Elliott is likely out for the entire regular season if not all of it. Darius Slay can’t stay healthy and when he is there are serious concerns about the slippage in his overall play. Juan Thornhill – released just yesterday – was a swing and a miss and I’d venture to say Chuck Clark has been as well. After releasing Thornhill yesterday, the Steelers brought back Sebastian Castro who had been poached from the Practice Squad by Tampa Bay. He was let go by them last week. Castro will not be a savior by any means because he’s likely to just stay on the Practice Squad. There is hope however that he could become a contributor down the road. Brandin Echols and Jalen Ramsey have both been solid while Joey Porter, Jr has been his usual mix of decent play and too many penalties. Frankly it’s a sad state of affairs from the promise this unit once had.
Laughable
The National NFL writers have always been enamored with Mike Tomlin. That is once again abundantly clear with Ian O’Connor’s latest piece for The Athletic (pay wall). He suggest the New York Giants should make a play for Tomlin citing the usual things of course… The streak of non-losing seasons, he’s a motivator, understands today’s players, yada, yada, yada… I’ve always liked Mike Tomlin but I’m not opposed to a change either. If the G-Men would like to trade for Tomlin I’m all for it.
Podcasts
Tonight I’ll be featuring another SCB Steelers Inside Blitz. This is our 10-12 minute short-form podcast where I give you some thoughts on the state of the team and look ahead to the big show which comes up Thursday night at 10pmET! Also, don’t forget that you can subscribe and become a member of our podcast!
Snap Count Check
Pat Freiermuth had 26 snaps to Darnell Washington’s 25 on Sunday night. This is largely due to the Steelers playing from behind so using ‘Muth in passing situations made more sense I guess… Jalen Ramsey, Patrick Queen and Kyle Dugger were the only defenders to play every snap (73) on defense… Nick Herbig and 31 snaps while Jack Sawyer had just 10… Kenneth Gainwell was on the field for 52% of the offensive snaps but had just two touches. In my opinion, that’s criminal.
Random Reads
The Eagles went into Lambeau last night and beat the Packers 10-7. The number of people bitching about how low-scoring it was and how “boring” it was is alarming. Games like that are often some of the best in regards to fundamental play and coaching. I never have a problem watching a game like that… I had some thoughts yesterday afternoon on just where the Steelers find themselves at this point in the season… As the government nears the end of the shutdown (I hope) thank you to all those who have worked yet gone without pay. I know it hasn’t been easy and you deserve far better… No sooner did I mention The Athletic’s piece on Tomlin to the NYG and here comes ESPN…
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