Good Tuesday to you Steelers fans.
There’s a lot you can say about Mike Tomlin but you can never say that he doesn’t protect or defend his guys. He’ll do that even at the risk of sounding a bit absurd as he did yesterday in press conference. Asked about the lack of big plays he said “the Patriots went to two-deep and stopped our chances of having any splash play.” When you first hear or read that, you think to yourself, “so a team can’t find big plays against cover-2?” If that were the case why play any other defense? What Tomlin was doing was defending his players and coaches. He did the same thing when he spoke of positives of Mitchell Trubisky’s play and preached patience with play-caller Matt Canada. The hope that Tomlin would one day walk to the podium and rip his players or coaches to shreds should have been extinguished a long time ago. That’s just not what he does and he never will despite the fact that some would like to hear more public honesty from him.
The Podcast
With the Steelers playing on Thursday night this week we’ll be moving the SCB Steelers Podcast presented by DEK Roofing Inc to tonight!! Tune in live or catch the audio/video recording when available. We’ll talk Trubisky/Pickett, Matt Canada, replacing T.J. Watt and a whole lot more!
Tweet of the Day… I cannot argue with this statement from Coach Cowher.
"Mitch Trubisky is more worried about not making mistakes than he is about making plays." ~Bill Cowher
— *•.¸♡Cookie Crawford?? (@C00KIEF0REVER) September 20, 2022
Najee’s Vision Issues
There has been much made over the running of Najee Harris through the first two games. I think we all know he isn’t quite 100% and is still dealing with issues related to his foot from Training Camp. Of bigger concern however is that Najee appears to be missing holes created by his offensive line. He is bouncing outside too quickly or he’s cutting back when he shouldn’t be. These problems are often creating minimal to no gain situations. In his defense, this isn’t without precedent. Many running backs who have questionable offensive lines will often lose faith in those lines to create running lanes. Rather than trust the OL, backs try to make a play on their own. There are times when this works but more often than not, it doesn’t. This isn’t about effort or knowledge of the play design, this is about trust plain and simple.
Expectations
Two guys I expect to have solid games Thursday night are Cam Heyward and Alex Highsmith. Cam was in a downright foul mood as that game ended Sunday because he doesn’t like losing and he knows his play wasn’t up to his usual standards. Highsmith will bounce back because I get the feeling that’s just who the young man is. He knows the expectations are higher since Watt went on IR and he too struggled on Sunday. I’ll be very surprised if one or both don’t play well.
FOCO
We’ve got some awesome new stuff from our friends at FOCO! Check out the latest Hoodeez, as well as new FOCO Sweatshirts, Jackets, Leggings, Joggers, and MORE for MLB, NFL, and even NCAA.
Our Online Store
Please visit our online store! We have been so fortunate to work with DC4L Custom Tees! They are wonderful to work with and are willing to work with you on just about any design you can come up with! Check out our latest T.J. Watt inspired t-shirt/hoodie.
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