Hey Steelers Fans. Welcome to Victory Monday!
The Kickoff
Look, I totally understand. There are many fans who are suffering from some PTSD. They’ve seen this before under Mike Tomlin. The team gets some huge wins, gets into the postseason and… loses in the first game. What I would tell you is this; just enjoy the journey. Enjoy beating the hated Baltimore Ravens and don’t worry about how it was accomplished. Just enjoy it. The postseason – hopefully – will come soon enough and there’s more than enough anxiety and trepidation to go around.
Mr. Somewhat Limited
Russell Wilson was not the Russell Wilson we’ve seen since he took over after the BYE. I don’t put all of it on him though. The Ravens did a great job of getting pressure with just four guys. They had four sacks in the first half. The Steelers’ wide receivers did a poor job of getting open especially when Wilson was scrambling. This will be something that shows up on film. I don’t think Arthur Smith did him any favors either with some of the play calling. Rather than adjusting and getting the ball out of his hands quicker, Smith continued to call for deep drops and it didn’t help. Wilson himself looked tentative and unsure at times. He hung on to the ball at times way too long too. The Ravens came in with the worst pass defense in the league but this rivalry always throws stats out the window. If Wilson struggles again Thursday night then my concern level goes through the roof.
Fields
Finally. We finally got to see Justin Fields come in for a few plays and I’d argue there need to be more. With the struggles in the Red Zone it seemed too obvious to me to bring Fields in to run some read option at the very least. As for his run on the final drive to kill the clock, he’s gotta know where the line to gain is. Sliding early could have cost the Steelers but it didn’t.
The Boz
There are still plenty of games left but how does Chris Boswell NOT make the Pro Bowl? Furthermore, he should also be the All-Pro kicker as well. Twice this season he has gone six-for-six on his field goals to account for all of the Steelers’ scoring in victories. He’s been the MVP of this team and isn’t close.
Appreciating the ‘Other Guys’
You talk to anyone who has played football long enough and they’ll tell you that a team is only as good as it’s last guys on the roster. Stars will make plays and they’ll produce touchdowns or sacks but sometimes it’s the guys who do the ‘other’ things. Corliss Waitman for example punted four times yesterday averaging 56 yards per punt. Tyler Matakevich and Ben Skowronek drew three holding penalties on punts and also made some key blocks and tackles. Dean Lowry recorded a sack and batted a pass down. You have to have contributions from guys like this especially in close games.
Short Week
The National Football League loves to screw the Steelers when it comes to scheduling. Don’t believe me? Ask any fan of the Black and Gold and they’ll cite numerous examples. This week however could be worse… The Browns played in New Orleans and had to travel home. The Steelers played at home. Their ‘road trip’ is a 90-minute bus ride Northwest so all things considered, it isn’t nearly as bad as it could be. Now if you want to talk about this being a ‘trap’ game….
Random Reads
The Bengals lost a tough one in LA last night to the Chargers to fall to 4-7. I’ll be honest though, that offense still scares me and I don’t care how bad their defense is. I don’t want shootouts with Joe Burrow and his weapons… I watched Deadpool & Wolverine this weekend. Have to be honest, it wasn’t that great… One of the negatives of focusing so heavily on the Steelers is that I rarely watch other sports anymore. I couldn’t even tell you the last time I watched basketball… Justin Tucker missing two kicks in the same quarter. Never thought I’d see that… The game changed completely when Roquan Smith went down with a hamstring injury… The prize fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul was a joke. You can’t convince me that there wasn’t a “let’s not work too hard agreement” between the two.
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