SCB Steelers Quick Hitters: The “Game Management” Edition

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Good Tuesday to you Steelers fans.

There was a lot to digest from an amazing weekend of playoff football and most notable of all of it was what transpired in the final :13 of regulation in Kansas City. The Buffalo Bills had just scored to take a three-point lead and even with Kansas City having all three timeouts the outlook seemed grim. The Bills selected to kick the ball into the end zone. The thinking here is this: “We aren’t taking any time off the clock but I’m guaranteeing they won’t start beyond the 25 yard line.” So like most of America, I’m thinking that in this case time is the enemy of the Bills and they need to erase as much of it as possible so why not squib it? There are certain perils involved with this and I believe they are what scared Head Coach Sean McDermott. There is the possibility of the squib hitting a player in the first wall and if they recover they have field position literally at mid-field. There is also the possibility of the squib going out of bounds as well. The way I view this is that kickers today are a lot like professional golfers. There are kicks (shots) they can make that very few other people can and if I’m a coach I have to trust that my kicker can squib the ball where I want him to. McDermott must not have felt that way. The way I figure it, the Bills could have probably burned off 2-3 seconds. Would that have won the game for them? It’s hard to say as the Chiefs called their final timeout with three ticks left. Regardless, kicking the ball deep made very little sense in that situation. Now if you want to discuss their defense in those :13 that’s a whole other situation.

Tweet of the Day… One thing the offseason brings is a lot of revisionist history. Mike Hilton was a good slot corner for us. Extremely good at run support and coming off the edge but his coverage skills were average. The Steelers didn’t offer as much up front money so he signed in Cincy which was his right and choice. Between this and Melvin Ingram you’d think the Steelers traded away the Steel Curtain.

Stephon Tuitt

There are two great mysteries surrounding the 2021 Pittsburgh Steelers. One is why a healthy Zach Banner saw just four plays on offense this year. The other is what in the hell was going on with Stephon Tuitt? I’ve asked several people who I thought may have some clues and this is the summation of what I’ve gathered. Tuitt was obviously devastated at the beginning of the year following the tragic and sudden death of his brother. He was not in shape when he arrived at Training Camp and also had a knee problem for which he had surgery. It is my understanding that he reached a point during the season where he was healthy enough to play and we he didn’t will likely remain a mystery. Former Notre Dame (where Tuitt played) player Malik Zaire recently said on a radio show that he doesn’t believe Tuitt really wants to play football anymore. If that’s accurate, then the Steelers need to move on.

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