Good Victory Monday to you Steelers fans.
Like me, I’m sure all of you had the Pittsburgh Steelers at 10-0 this far into the 2020 season right? Did you sense the sarcasm? I fully expected this team to make the postseason but I never saw this coming. The Steelers have hung ten straight to start the season and the most recent was yesterday’s 27-3 win in Jacksonville. As I do each Monday, here are my “Goods and Bads” from the game.
The Good
-Ten wins and ten touchdowns for rookie WR Chase Claypool and it came on a terrific catch to break the 3-3 tie. Claypool is in some rare air now as a rookie.
-The defense did exactly what you expect from them against a rookie quarterback. They pressured Jake Luton and forced him into bad throws and bad decisions.
-The Steelers extended their string of at least one sack in a game to 67 straight. Their first on Sunday didn’t come until the third quarter however from Stephon Tuitt.
-Pittsburgh was better running the ball on Sunday. They averaged 3.9 yards per carry. I’m not exactly going to go crazy though because work remains.
-Credit Randy Fichtner for a great call on the Eric Ebron TD pass. That was a very heavy look and came at a time when the Steelers appeared to just want to salt the game away with the run.
-I talked about balance with the receiving corps last week in terms of how they really appear to not care who gets the ball as long as they are playing hard and winning. Yesterday was another perfect example as Diontae Johnson grabbed 12 passes from Big Ben for 111 yards. I think the Jags did a pretty decent job on the receivers to be honest but you just can’t contain all of them.
-So happy for Terrell Edmunds getting that pick. Kid plays so hard and he was deserving of finally getting that first one.
-Minkah Fitzpatrick has one of the best noses for the football I’ve ever seen. He looked like a rocket flying towards that deflected ball yesterday.
Tweet of the Day… Um, well, yeah.
Lamar Jackson addresses the critics: "I feel like people want us to lose."
— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) November 22, 2020
The Bad
-Ben Roethlisberger cannot give away points line he did to end the first half. It’s the second time he’s done this. To be fair, it sure looked like some interference in the end zone. But with the team already in field goal range he has to take better care of the ball.
-I just don’t like the way we start games. We feel sluggish and it looks like we are trying to “ease our way” into the game.
-I had praise for Fichtner above and here comes the other side… I do not understand running a draw with Benny Snell on second and long… The reverses and end arounds are great when they are set up. If you run them without setting them up then you better have elite execution and this O-Line is not elite right now.
-Let’s get back to the running game. While James Conner picked up 89 yards on 13 carries, some of those were broken plays. Hey, yards are yards and you don’t apologize for getting them but I’m not ready to deem the rushing attack back by any stretch of the imagination.
-I’m starting to wonder if T.J. Watt isn’t hurt. Being the true professional he is, he’s playing hard as always but he just isn’t getting to the quarterback as often as I would think. Some of that is running backs chipping and other O-Linemen dropping to help but I’m guessing he expects more of himself than what we saw on Sunday.
Looking Ahead
The short week is upon us and waiting for the Steelers in Heinz Field Thursday night will be the Baltimore Ravens and they will not be in a good mood. They are sputtering and find themselves in third place and four and half games behind the Steelers with six to go. If you or anyone else thinks this will be easy then you don’t know a damn thing about football or this rivalry.
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Have a great day Steeler Nation!
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