SCB Steelers Quick Hitters: The ‘Next Two’ Edition

Good Wednesday to you Steelers fans.

Just before the season kicked off I suggested that the Pittsburgh Steelers needed to enter their week six bye week no worse than 3-2. With a brutal closing stretch in December and January, there are winnable games in the middle of the season but the margin for error needs as much space as possible. Heading to Houston this week doesn’t seem quite as easy as it appeared a week ago. The Texans went into Jacksonville and throttled the division favorite Jaguars 37-17 this past Sunday. Turnovers and special teams mistakes doomed the Jags. With Baltimore coming into the Steel City next week the Steelers really need to build on their performance from Sunday night. A loss in Houston and even one to Baltimore as well doesn’t mean the Steelers are out of the postseason race but losing both would make things that much more difficult.

Snap Count Thoughts

For those that wanted to see Jaylen Warren get more snaps you got your wish. He had 28 of a possible 62 snaps while Najee Harris had 31. That’s pretty good balance and a sign of things to come should stay healthy… Teryl Austin did a nice job with his D-Line rotation. Larry Ogunjobi played 49 snaps or a possible 72 while Montravius Adams had 47. DeMarvin Leal had 33 while rookie Keanu Benton played 21 and Armon Watts had 18. As a unit they played significantly better than in the first two weeks… Mark Robinson finally saw action on D but it was just four snaps. Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander tallied the most with 53 and 47 respectively. Elandon Roberts had just 17. I contribute that to the Raiders being behind and needing to throw… Joey Porter, Jr has seen his snaps double each week. I think doing that again this week is unlikely but I’d say 25-30 is fair… Desmond King finally saw action but only as a kick returner. With Chadon Sullivan being fairly average in the slot I have think King will get a look there at some point.

As Expected

Yesterday being Tuesday mean that Head Coach Mike Tomlin went to the podium for his weekly press conference. As expected… Tomlin was asked about a report that Matt Canada’s duties and responsibilities had been changed last week. And as expected… Tomlin said there was truth to any of this. To be very, very clear here, this doesn’t mean that something didn’t change. Tomlin has glossed over things in the past only for them to be revealed later as closer to the truth than not. But more to the point, it’s not likely we’ll get the truth anytime soon regardless. That’s just how things operate on the South Side.

Steelers History

In case you’re new here, each week we have a special feature called “Steelers History.” The series features a look back at a game against the opponent the Steelers are playing that week. So this week, our resident historian Gordon is looking back at a Christmas Day game against the Texans.

The Plane

If you’ve ever flown than you know the potential is always there for problems and delays. You would think in this day and age that the Pittsburgh Steelers would not have to endure quite the ordeal that many of us deal with but alas, they did. After an engine issue, their charter was forced into an emergency landing and then they had to endure six hours on the tarmac. I thought only “regular Joes” like us had to deal with such crap! Tomlin isn’t making it and won’t allow it to become an excuse, nor should he.