Hey Steelers Fans. Welcome to Tuesday.
The Kickoff
If you choose to rely on Pro Football Focus for analysis of NFL and college football then by all means please continue to do so. I have not, nor will I ever trust anything that PFF does. I use a combination of my own eyes and my own knowledge of the game. Yesterday, we were treated to the exact reason why good, intelligent football people find them to be so off-putting. They had Aaron Rodgers “rated” lower than both Spencer Rattler and Bryce Young. How? I have no idea. For the record, Rodgers had more passing yards, a higher completion percentage, more TD passes than they did combined and a significantly higher passer rating. Oh, his team also won. I’ll be the last person to defend Rodgers on much of anything but PFF clearly needs to take a long look at how they evaluate players. The fact that some pretty big outlets use their data is disturbing.
Metcalf Impact
I mentioned this yesterday but it bears repeating… D.K. Metcalf’s presence is important for numerous reasons. He’s a down field threat, a willing blocker and powerful as any wide receiver could be. His biggest impact could be his ability to catch the ball and then do something with it. On a couple of occasions Sunday, there were instances where he caught relatively short passes only to burst upfield for more yards. Do I seem a bit fascinated with this? I am because this is an area the Steelers have sorely lacked. I’m all for it!
RB Rotation
It appeared that Mike Tomlin kept Kenneth Gainwell a secret for the entirety of the preseason. After very little action, Gainwell appeared to be the team’s primary running back for much of the early going before giving way to Jaylen Warren. Gainwell ended with just 11 yards on seven carries while Warren had 37 yards on 11 carries. Rookie Kaleb Johnson carried just once. Gainwell added four yards on three receptions while Warren had two receptions for 22 yards and a touchdown. This rotation bears watching over the next few weeks.
Memories…
In and Out
The Steelers signed free agent WR Rakim Jarrett to their Practice Squad and in turn released WR Lance McCutcheon. Jarrett spent a couple of seasons in Tampa and played his college ball at Maryland. This feels like nothing more than “I think we found a guy slightly better than the guy we have.”
Random Reads
I wouldn’t call Corliss Waitman’s day “perfect” Sunday but it was solid. Four punts with an average of 47.5 and one inside the 20… Two opening Primetime games and two opening second half comebacks. First it was Buffalo and last night it was Minnesota… Current free agent safety Jabril Peppers published a cryptic post last night on ‘X.’ It’s leading many to believe that the Steelers may be interested if not more… Miami’s Mike McDaniel was my choice for ‘first head coach to be fired’ this year. I really like my chances right now… In terms of college head coaches, it may be a three-way race between Mike Gundy, Billy Napier and Brent Pry… You have likely seen the video of the woman confronting the father after he grabbed a home run ball she apparently believed she was entitled to have. Kudos to that father. He read the room immediately and realized a ball wasn’t worth what was going to take place in front of his kids. Karma is a bitch and I’m sure she is finding that out.
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