Hey Steelers fans. Welcome to Tuesday.
The Kickoff
Let me get this straight. Player breaks loose for a long TD run but celebrates too early and drops the ball before breaking the plane of the goal line. Coach rightfully rips the player for such an asinine thing to do. But… Coach apologizes to player in front of the team the next day. What are we doing???? Now if the coach struck the player as has been suggested that’s something different. The player – Emari Demarcado of Arizona – is lucky he wasn’t cut before the game ended. The coach – Jonathan Gannon – claimed he didn’t feel great about it when he woke up. How do you think Demarcado’s teammates felt? They ended up losing by a single point all because of a player’s selfishness. I admit, I’m not there in Arizona so I don’t know the whole story but this isn’t high school or college football. If the Cardinals miss the playoffs by one game I wonder how bad Gannon will feel then. I miss the days when coaches could actually be themselves on the sidelines.
Porter and Highsmith
Joey Porter, Jr told reporters that he’s good to go for Sunday but the final decision is Coach Tomlin’s. He and Alex Highsmith both practiced Monday but the word on the oft-injured OLB has been far more quiet. Nick Herbig and Jack Sawyer have done a nice job in his absence but Highsmith’s presence actually makes Herbig more dangerous in my opinion. He will have fewer snaps but more energy.
Elliott
There are just some guys whose mere presence makes things better. DeShon Elliott seems to be that guy for the Steelers’ defense. When he’s on the field, things just look better and guys seem far less confused. There’s a confidence about the defense that I started to notice last season and it’s continued this year. That doesn’t always translate into success but Elliott “aura” as the kids say, is exactly what this unit needs. When he isn’t out there it looks and feels far different.
How Important??
Every game in the NFL is important. This isn’t the NBA where you play 82 and can afford a couple of “off nights.” When you consider however the remaining schedule – 13 straight weeks to be exact – these next two games feel really important. You already know how brutal the end of the season looks but consider that after Cleveland and at Cincy on a short week, they have the Packers and upstart Colts at home before heading to LA to play the Chargers. Getting to 5-1 might not seem like a big deal but given the circumstances in the AFC North currently, anything but two wins here would be deflating for most of us.
Random Reads
As good as the Chiefs looked in beating Baltimore last week, they stumbled last night losing at Jacksonville with under a minute remaining. If I’m a Chiefs’ player I’m questioning the effort of some of my “stars” on Devin Lloyd’s 99-yard pick-six… I’m very curious to see how Arthur Smith attacks the Browns’ defense. Are we going to see a lot of Darnell Washington again… I’m going to predict that the Steelers will have at least three passes deflected or batted down at the line of scrimmage Sunday. Browns’ rookie Dillon Gabriel is short by NFL standards and no one bats down balls as well as the Steelers… Did you happen to catch Yahya Black representing the Steelers at the high school game of the week? Talk about a young man enjoying life…
Hot Reads is presented by
