SCB Steelers Quick Hitters: The “Perseverance” Edition

Good Victory Monday to you Steelers fans.

[BREAKING]: In a late evening move the Steelers send a 2022 fifth round pick to the NYJ for LB Avery Williamson and a 2022 seventh round pick. More on this at the bottom.

Wow. Where to even begin. The Pittsburgh Steelers were coming off of a physical win in Nashville. They were facing a rested Baltimore Ravens’ team. John Harbaugh was 10-2 coming off the bye and the Steelers, except for a couple of plays on D, looked pretty awful on the first half. No matter. The Steelers left the Queen City with a 28-24 win and firm control of the AFC North. Let’s get to my thoughts.

The Good

-Credit where it is due. The coaching staff, especially on offense, made the necessary changes at halftime to give the team a chance to win. Going to the no huddle and using a lot of empty sets paid off.

-Also have to hand it to the team in general. They looked really bad in the first half especially offensively but stuck with it and got a huge win. Definitely showed me some mental toughness.

-Ben Roethlisberger bounced back from a really ugly first half to throw for two scores and no interceptions in the second half.

-The Steelers may not always get to Lamar Jackson when he runs but they force him into mistakes when he throws. Four turnovers now in two games against the Steelers.

-You know and I know that Robert Spillane isn’t Devin Bush. He never will be but the guy makes plays and he works his tail off. Yes, there are limitations and there are things to clean up but he’s been far better than we could have imagined.

-I loved the use of Alex Highsmith along with T.J.Watt and Bud Dupree. All were on the field at the same time. Highsmith would collect his first career pick during the game.

-Eric Ebron has to be schemed open more often. He’s too bog of a threat not to get some more looks. Granted his TD was a blown coverage of sorts but hey, they executed and it paid off.

Tweet of the Day… Gotta love a guy with a sense of humor.

New #Steelers LB Avery Williamson says goodbye to his old team. From 0-8 to 7-0. pic.twitter.com/aHkdPERP82

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 2, 2020

The Bad

-Both Tyson Alualu (knee) and Cam Heyward (quad) left the game. Alualu left early in the game while Heyward left in the final seconds.

-The run defense was bad. It just was. Granted, you can point to the loss of Alualu but gap integrity was lacking and at times, so too was tackling.

-I will have to watch the All-22 but why the Steelers left the middle of the field open deep so often was troubling.

-While this rivalry is intense and there’s no love lost, I hated to see the injury to Baltimore’s Ronnie Stanley. Anytime the air cast is applied it’s not good.

-Jordan Berry saved his best punt for last but I still don’t understand why he’s back.

-Nothing says “I give up” on a series quite like a draw on third and ten. Sheesh.

-Pittsburgh has to be able to run the ball better. James Conner had 47 yards on 15 carries. 18 of those yards came on one run. Anthony McFarland was the only other ball carrier and he had one run for one yard. It has to be better period.

-We often see certain “Pittsburgh Personalities” giving JuJu Smith-Schuster grief for his social media stuff but his maturity on the field is all that matters to me. Diontae Johnson needs to learn this as well. He got frustrated yesterday and I think it affected his play.

Shut Up Harbaugh. No one whines like the Harbaugh family. Was the final play of the game violent? Yes it was and that’s what football looks like but crying for ‘helmet-to-helmet’ contact there was pathetic. Both players played the ball. Minkah Fitzpatrick in fact had more of the ball than the receiver did.

All That Matters…

The Trade

Robert Spillane led the Steelers on Sunday with 10 tackles, a pick-six, a recovered fumble and two passes defensed. Still, the need for depth at the position is dire. Ulysees Gilbert was out with a back injury which forced Marcus Allen into action. Williamson will be a good, inexpensive addition who can help against the run. This was a move we’ve talked about at SCB for a couple of years now.

Coming Up…

The Steelers stay on the road for the third consecutive week as they head to Dallas to play the Cowboys. Dallas lost last night in Philadelphia so Pittsburgh has a slight jump on them in terms of preparation. Let me be frank; this should be a victory. Dallas is banged up on both sides of the ball and is really bad defensively. That said, this may be the Cowboys’ “Super Bowl” for this season so any lack of preparation and readiness will be taken advantage of by Dallas.

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Have a great day Steeler Nation!

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