Hey Steelers fans. Welcome to Victory Monday!
The Kickoff
Dare I say that the Pittsburgh Steelers looked like a competent, NFL offense over the last 35 minutes of that game? I wouldn’t book your Super Bowl hotel room just yet but the offense was different last night. The Steelers tacked on a late Najee Harris’ TD for the 37-15 win over the Jets but scoring 30+ points in two straight games? In this economy?? What in the world happened??
Credit Where It’s Due
You were likely in one of three camps heading into last night when it came to his decision to start Russell Wilson.
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Mike Tomlin is wrong.
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Mike Tomlin is right.
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I don’t care. Just win.
At the end of the night, Mike Tomlin had gotten it right. At least for one week. I say this because the NFL is a week to week entity. That’s how quickly things can change and there’s no guarantee from one week to the next. Ultimately however, Tomlin got it right. It didn’t look that way early on as Wilson had a really rough stretch in the first half. But he rebounded with the help of some spectacular catches by George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth to have a great night. You don’t have to slather on the accolades for Tomlin, just tip your cap and hope that it continues into next week and beyond.
In Praise of…
A couple of guys who need special shout outs today in light of their performances last evening… Center Ryan McCollum was not the liability that so many of us were concerned about. He wasn’t Zach Frazier by a long shot but he played solidly and communicated extremely well up and down the line. DeShon Elliott continues to be one of, if not the best, signing of the off-season. He is the team’s leading tackler and is probably the team’s best tackler as well. Alex Highsmith played better than I had originally thought. My expectations were low as coming off a groin injury is never easy but he was stout against the run and pressured Aaron Rodgers on several occasions.
Let’s Talk Wilson vs Fields
Now that we’ve seen Russell Wilson for a full 60 minutes we can finally compare him to Justin Fields. The most striking difference between the two was command. Wilson had total control of what was happening and the players seemed to be much more attentive to him. We didn’t see nearly the amount of defenders coming free that we have under Fields. That’s communication between the line and Wilson. The second major difference was knowing where to go with the ball. You couldn’t help but wonder if Fields would have found some of the receivers that Wilson did and a lot of that comes from experience and we must also state; the NYJ secondary was a shell of its usual self. I was very surprised that Tomlin didn’t go with Fields in short yardage situations especially the two QB sneaks. Fields is a much better option there in my opinion. He’s bigger and better at sneaks and offers more problems for the defense considering his ability to run the read option.
Random Reads
I can buy the argument that Roman Wilson missed a lot of time in Camp and has struggled to get caught up but I’m not sure how much longer I’ll accept it. Something isn’t right with the third rounder… After watching Texas vs Georgia I came away feeling like I don’t want either of those QBs… Myles Garrett really needs to listen to his PR people. I’m all for standing up for Deshaun Watson but calling him a ‘model citizen?’ Gotta read the situation man… Chris Boswell is on his way to a Pro Bowl and perhaps an All-Pro nod if he keeps this up… Payton Wilson has been excellent and he continues to get better and better… I’ll say the same for Keannu Benton too. I thought last night was his best game… Big tackles and two huge pass deflections… One of the hardest things to do as a coach is slow a guy down but the Steelers have to get Patrick Queen under more control. He’s overrunning too many plays especially against the run.
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