it is a win and beats a trend that has been going on for a while. There were some problems here and there but over-all play was pretty good. that first td to brown looked forced and could have been picked off but it was not. the next time that play was run it was checked down for a nice gain. makes me like the adjustments to take what is given. Offense with out a lot of weapons played well and stayed very productive. Ben was very quick on the release most of the night. The game plan looked good tonight and seemed to take the match ups available and make the best of them. Very good situational football in regards to 4th and short, going for it twice and converting and the third time taking the three points. For a lot of what I saw tonight I thought the coaches did a nice job preparing for this game.
Game Comments
- Thread starter CoolieMan
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Just check the first week comeback wins in the NFL !
Some have him in the HOF already...
The best OLB ever to wear the no 56
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My only concern is that we never got to Cousins and (fortunately) he responded by not playing very well.
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I only saw a few pressures.
Yep,...a good QB will eat them up. May need to score more than 38 next week.
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Great game, we have so many weapons.
My main concern is two players in particular, thankfully we may have a solution for both.
Timmons looked like he's really lost a step compared to last year. He carries a lot of weight/muscle, but seems to have lost his ability to change direction, or keep up with players running routes. We may see him gradually give up playing time as VWill & even Fort are worked in. It may start happening sooner than we think, especially if teams fall behind and play catch-up, spread offense.
I wouldn't be buying stock in Ross Cockrell either. He seemed tentative and unsure of himself out there. He may already be feeling the footsteps from Burns/Gilbert. In an ideal world, both Artie & Gilbert would be our starting outside corners, with Gay/Davis playing the slot and Cockrell would play behind them. It may have been just one game, but I was not liking anything I saw from Cockrell.
On the other hand, I loved what I saw from Jesse James and Eli/Coates. They showed up last night and proved they deserve to be out there. With James, I think the key is building his confidence, and double-xtra work on blocking, both scheme & technique. He's got miles to go in that area, but seems to have the size, skill-set to do it. He too seems a bit tentative to me, too much thinking/guessing, which is to be expected from such a young player.
My main concern is two players in particular, thankfully we may have a solution for both.
Timmons looked like he's really lost a step compared to last year. He carries a lot of weight/muscle, but seems to have lost his ability to change direction, or keep up with players running routes. We may see him gradually give up playing time as VWill & even Fort are worked in. It may start happening sooner than we think, especially if teams fall behind and play catch-up, spread offense.
I wouldn't be buying stock in Ross Cockrell either. He seemed tentative and unsure of himself out there. He may already be feeling the footsteps from Burns/Gilbert. In an ideal world, both Artie & Gilbert would be our starting outside corners, with Gay/Davis playing the slot and Cockrell would play behind them. It may have been just one game, but I was not liking anything I saw from Cockrell.
On the other hand, I loved what I saw from Jesse James and Eli/Coates. They showed up last night and proved they deserve to be out there. With James, I think the key is building his confidence, and double-xtra work on blocking, both scheme & technique. He's got miles to go in that area, but seems to have the size, skill-set to do it. He too seems a bit tentative to me, too much thinking/guessing, which is to be expected from such a young player.
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Defense played soft, but they had to with all of the injuries. I think the game plan there was ok. Keep everything in front of you and make the tackle.
Jarvis Jones still sucks. Virtually invisible. 0 pass rush from him. Then Fort comes in and on first play blows up a blocker and drills Cousins almost causing a fumble. I'd like to see more of him.
Offensive line dominated.
Good win on the road.
Jarvis Jones still sucks. Virtually invisible. 0 pass rush from him. Then Fort comes in and on first play blows up a blocker and drills Cousins almost causing a fumble. I'd like to see more of him.
Offensive line dominated.
Good win on the road.
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One idea would be to replace Jarvis with Timmons at OLB and slot in Vince Williams/Fort to Timmons spot. Giving Timmons a pass rush role instead of having him chase around RB's, TE's and WR's may do wonders for his game, and this D.
Stop the presses, Steelers' fan out-thinks the coaching staff for the first time in history!
I'm not going to jump out the window about the pass rush. Washington has a good oline and no one sniffed Cousins last nite not just one guy..Tuitt did flush him on that big 4th down play. We had a game plan going in and executed very well for the most part.
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As Gruden stated last night, the defense was playing Tampa-2 a LOT last night. Even dropping 8 into coverage and rushing 3 on many plays. Shazier, with his speed and length (he looked longer in the arms last night than I remembered), he plays that MLB roll well in the Tampa-2 and got his interception on a classic Urlacher-type play.
Pass rush is an issue and we'll see if the "bend, don't break" and giving up a lot of yards between the 20's works over the long haul.
I think you can see the metamorphosis of what Tomlin and the coaching staff are trying to do. They don't mind giving up FG's because they know the offense is going to put up 24-30 points almost every game and slow, long drives that get 3 points isn't going to keep up.
That plan is great in theory except can be exposed if the offense isn't completely in sync or we get behind in the 2nd half but I guess with the roster he's been dealt (and we can beat that horse to death), that's the road we're taking.
This is the best offensive line we've had since 2005. Please let them stay relatively healthy.
If I was to nitpick some concerns:
1. I wouldn't have run Williams on that last drive. We have a short week, the guy is 33 years old and he's not going to bounce back from 25+ carries like he used to. We might need a workhorse effort again in 6 days. He's the best backup RB we've had in Pittsburgh since Franco/Bleier. For all those that wonder what I mean when I describe college backs as "cradle players", Williams is the example. That guy was just born to run the football and his instincts are perfect.
2. The TE-by-committee isn't perfect yet. James has some issues blocking. Johnson is one-dimensional. It is what it is.
3. Teams aren't going to let Brown line up away from their best CB like Washington did. With our thin receiving core (and both Rogers and Coates looked rough around the edges at times), teams are going to double and bracket Brown every play. Letting him one-on-one with Breland (even on short yardage) was dumb, dumb, dumb. Teams aren't going to make that mistake every weekend.
4. I wish Brown would stop with the showboating. Another 15 yard penalty to add to his collection.
If was playing the Steelers after week one I would really try to stop the run and take Brown out of the game no matter what (even if I single cover every other receiver). Even forcing them to run early might cause some frustration and impatience from Roethlisberger/Brown. Down and distance control was really good by the Steelers last night and opened up the whole playbook. There will be games with more 3rd and longs and we'll see how teams defend Brown and this receiving core.
Pass rush is an issue and we'll see if the "bend, don't break" and giving up a lot of yards between the 20's works over the long haul.
I think you can see the metamorphosis of what Tomlin and the coaching staff are trying to do. They don't mind giving up FG's because they know the offense is going to put up 24-30 points almost every game and slow, long drives that get 3 points isn't going to keep up.
That plan is great in theory except can be exposed if the offense isn't completely in sync or we get behind in the 2nd half but I guess with the roster he's been dealt (and we can beat that horse to death), that's the road we're taking.
This is the best offensive line we've had since 2005. Please let them stay relatively healthy.
If I was to nitpick some concerns:
1. I wouldn't have run Williams on that last drive. We have a short week, the guy is 33 years old and he's not going to bounce back from 25+ carries like he used to. We might need a workhorse effort again in 6 days. He's the best backup RB we've had in Pittsburgh since Franco/Bleier. For all those that wonder what I mean when I describe college backs as "cradle players", Williams is the example. That guy was just born to run the football and his instincts are perfect.
2. The TE-by-committee isn't perfect yet. James has some issues blocking. Johnson is one-dimensional. It is what it is.
3. Teams aren't going to let Brown line up away from their best CB like Washington did. With our thin receiving core (and both Rogers and Coates looked rough around the edges at times), teams are going to double and bracket Brown every play. Letting him one-on-one with Breland (even on short yardage) was dumb, dumb, dumb. Teams aren't going to make that mistake every weekend.
4. I wish Brown would stop with the showboating. Another 15 yard penalty to add to his collection.
If was playing the Steelers after week one I would really try to stop the run and take Brown out of the game no matter what (even if I single cover every other receiver). Even forcing them to run early might cause some frustration and impatience from Roethlisberger/Brown. Down and distance control was really good by the Steelers last night and opened up the whole playbook. There will be games with more 3rd and longs and we'll see how teams defend Brown and this receiving core.
Tackling was terrible on D. That and the lack of pass rush were the glaring issues I saw on D. And for the pass rush, I am not blaming our front 3. We rarely blitzed yesterday. We sent Heyward, Tuitt, Jarvis and another LB most of the time and only Heyward and Tuitt could get any push. Jarvis struggles enough on the outside and they kept moving him over the nose tackle. WTF was that?
Also, I said this in the game thread. I thought Jarvis was finally healthy. WTF was that contraption on his arm? It definitely hindered him from tackling and I am sure on his pass rush. Why start him if he is obviously hurt? He has never proven to be good even at 100% so at 80%, he is pretty much useless.
Also, I said this in the game thread. I thought Jarvis was finally healthy. WTF was that contraption on his arm? It definitely hindered him from tackling and I am sure on his pass rush. Why start him if he is obviously hurt? He has never proven to be good even at 100% so at 80%, he is pretty much useless.
Agree with TDX on the tackling. To a man, it was horrible and this needs to be corrected quickly.
Loved the offense and thought it was a much-needed warm up before we play a real team. Very exciting.
Bell who?
Loved the offense and thought it was a much-needed warm up before we play a real team. Very exciting.
Bell who?
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Correct. In my game prediction, I used this as a trend for Tomlin teams as they were also 0-3 on the road in openers since 2011. I was WAAAAY wrong using this as an analytic. Team looked solid and stuck to a plan that eventually wore out the Skins
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In short spurts D'Angelo Williams is as good as any back in the league. He was a 6000 yard rusher in college and a 1st round pick for a reason.
The problem is he can't (and shouldn't) give you 250-300 touches a season. Bell can (at least his age/size say he can).
Do not mistake our success last night to thinking Bell (and a good running back) isn't an important part of our offense. It very much is. And do not make the mistake to think D'Angelo Williams is invincible at age 33 and can do that every week for 16 weeks. He can't. He might not even be able to do it back-to-back weeks anymore.
Very well stated. I think going into the season having sat for the pre-season games DWill is going to be good. He's got two more weeks to carry the load and then they will level that off and build up Bell's reps. Its a good problem to have.
The OL was fantastic last night. Any of you jokers who don't like what Pouncey gets paid and think Wallace is an equal are ******* blind if you didn't see what was going on at the line of scrimmage last night.
DeCastro showed why he just got that fat contract as well. Just a great job up front. We need that every week.
I see your point on D'Angelo, Del, but I think you're too far the other way on his durability/stamina (or lack thereof). He's probably somewhere in the middle between our two opinions.
Don't forget DW had 200 carries last year as Bell's backup. That's pretty damn durable for a 33 year old. Our question with Bell is do they sign him next year. DW will be 34 and will decline at basically any minute just due to his age and being a RB in this league. They must sign AB. Can they sign Bell? Do they want to sign Bell? Will Bell take an incentive laden contract due to being busted twice now?
The Oline looked like the best in the business last nite. Pouncey being back takes them from pretty good to great. Next week's game will be huge. Our front five is going to want to dominate the Bengals. It will be physical and it will be nasty just how they like it
We can always franchise Bell. That will give him another year to prove his issues are finally behind him. Decastro signing was big for that reason too. Freed up Bell to get the franchise tag.
He did have 200 carries, and ended the year injured. That's the point
Well ill say this, barring injuries changing things... if we dont win the Bowls of super this year, whomever does ought to send a nice basket of fruit and non herbal flowers to Bryant, because with him Im fairly certain this offense would be utterly unstoppable
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Agree with this. No reason to dump money into Bell.
Franchise him in 2017. Keep Williams another year (he's going to retire soon). And we'll address the RB with a good, cheap rookie in 2018 and a younger free agent. They're out there.
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While the offense played great I felt they did get lucky a few times that could have changed the score. The ping pong ball that Rogers caught was forced and I did not like the 4th and 1 bomb to brown. I liked the aggressiveness going for it, but Rogers and I think Coates had no one covering them. Brown was double covered and made a great catch. Brown was also lucky on his non fumble. It was close but the right call was made. I liked what I saw from Rogers and James. Coates was up and down but that was expected. Oline and dwill were great.
Our D was rough. Lots of missed tackles and no pass rush. Cousins was off and hurried some throws with no one around. Reed was eating us alive. Shazier played great, but no one else really stood out on D.
Our D was rough. Lots of missed tackles and no pass rush. Cousins was off and hurried some throws with no one around. Reed was eating us alive. Shazier played great, but no one else really stood out on D.