Remember back in the preseason when the idea of the Steelers scoring 30 points a game seemed like a mere afterthought? It was also anticipated the defense would give up 20-30 points as well but so far and for a myriad of reasons, things just haven’t worked out that way in 2015.
We saw a glimpse in week two when the Steelers steamrolled the 49ers but then the injuries and suspensions finally took their toll on the offense. In the meantime, the defense was actually much better than expected and bent often but seldom broke.
Today in the sun-lit confines of Heinz Field, everything we thought this season would look like finally did. The offense racked up 597 yards of total offense behind huge days from Antonio Brown, Ben Roethlisberger and DeAngelo Williams while the defense turned into the Swiss cheese we expected.
Keith Butler’s unit gave up 440 yards including just over 300 yards through the air to Derek Carr as he exposed a weak Steelers’ secondary all afternoon. Ultimately, this was much like the games we expected to see in 2015.
With only the exception of the horrendous blocking effort by Alejandro Villanueva which resulted in Roethlisberger’s latest injury, the offensive line was largely solid. That one play was the only time Big Ben was sacked all afternoon.
Despite some early drops, Martavis Bryant made plays. Heath Miller made plays and even rookie Jesse James recorded his first career touchdown on the afternoon as the offense motored along. With all due respect to those men and certainly Williams, the day belonged to Brown who collected a team record 17 receptions for over 200 yards.
This was what we expected…
The other side of the ball was largely the opposite of what we’ve seen for most of the season. Even with Stephon Tuitt back for the Steelers, they gave up big runs and they put little to no pressure on Carr. He ended up not being sacked at all. The secondary seemed to be in constant crisis today.
If Antwon Blake wasn’t being turned around but Michael Crabtree then Amari Cooper was slipping behind busted coverages for touchdowns. There were some good plays to be sure such as Ross Cockrell’s interception and several big hits but for the most part, the defense struggled.
This was what we expected…
Thankfully, the Steelers found a way to win today behind Landry Jones and they’ll likely need to do that again over the next few games with Roethlisberger out. Make no mistake, this was a must-win game today and the Steelers did just that.
Not coincidentally, the Steelers did it exactly in the fashion we expected all along.
3 comments
I thought the biggest mistake by the defense was blitzing safeties and putting LB’s into coverage when we were down by 7 late. We survived but if go into bubble screen, run up the middle mode we will not beat the Browns. If the Browns are looking at any tape on our defense they will attack Blake.
Don’t get me wrong i still think we have a good shot at the post-season but we will need to make some smart adjustments.
This is the type of D Butler wanted. An Aggressive unit that would put heat on the QB and form into mistakes and they did just that today. The creating the TO’s not the heat on the QB part. I honestly think that the D just didn’t want to get up for this game cause they were stuck on the Bengals game they let slip away. Yes they gave up yards but that’s all it was yards. I get it the CB’s are not great but so what the Steelers have never had great CB’s and that ain’t changing anytime soon so live with what they are. The D will fix itself now that Jones is starting vs the Browns that you guys already know. AB was a BEAST today and he did more damage to the Raiders D than Cooper and Crabtree did to the Steeler D combined. Good win now beat the Browns next week and rest up afterwards for the game in Seattle in 3 Weeks.