Game Balls, Game Goats & FU's................@ Vikings....

[Chicoman]

Well this game was nothing but SUCK for 3 Quarters......Our Steelers just looked drained but after the effort tonight I'm pretty damn proud of the fight on this team. We have a CB in Akhello Whitherspoon he's got the physical attributes to take on any WR in the NFL. My only question is why did it take so long to get this kid on the field.....I mean Cam Sutton is nothing special. Defense devastated by injuries as TJ Watt & Alex Highsmith both went down......they kept fighting with Tzuska & Charlton and Taco didn't look too bad out there. He's got a pretty good motor. Also the Steelers D-line is a work in progress but I like Montravious Adams he seems pretty strong at the point of attack and he needs to get more playtime in the middle. Going forward on the D-line I like to see Heyward, Adams, Loudermilk & Wormley. As I watched the first 3 Quarters unfold I just thought this team was too beat up by the Ratbirds on Sunday and had nothing left in the tank.....to my surprise the offense started to cook late in the 3rd QTR a 3yd TD from Ben to Harris to make it 29-7. The SUCK in Cousins is strong with him....tossing an INT on their first play following made me chuckle and think hey we got a chance then minutes later it's 29-14. Najee Harris made it 29-20 and I hated the decision to go for 2 but hey it was what it was. Unfortunately Cam Sutton blew chunks on the next play allowing a momentum killing 67 yd TD by KJ Osbourne to the Vikes to go up 36-20....I thought that was it but the Steelers faught back with a TD by Freiermuth 36-28. Seeing Jordan Berry punt the ball deep on the Steelers to the 3yd line.....a last chance effort for the Steelers but to Ben and the Steelers credit they dove it 85 yds to the 12 yd line......with 3 seconds to go and Ben called the perfect play.....had Freiermuth open over the middle in the endzone....the ball couldn't have been placed better in Muth's hands it was a great throw, Muth even had possesssion but the Vikes 3 Defenders converged and Harrison Smith ripped it out of the hands of Muth and the ball game ended in heartbreak....with a 36-28 loss. Nothing I would have loved more than to complete the comback and see Cousins CHOKE with game away with his ability to SUCK. It was an exciting game at the end for anyone who stayed awake to watch it....I was on the edge of my seat just hoping for the best....we almost had it tonight but just came up a bit short. Someone please explain to me why Pressley Harvin has not been cut and replaced? I mean seriously Tomlin....admit ya ****** UP and cut this bum! I have a feeling this team is going to upset the Titans in 10 days in Tennessee if Tomlin. I was listening to Cam Heyward in his Post Game and he was adamant that the Defensive front 7 need to beat their man to the blocks. I will say one thing Devin Bush had a batter game tonight but he made some terrible choices all night but perhaps none worse than he effortless attempt to engage the lead blocker on the 23rd play from scimmage as Dalvin Cook ran for 20 yards you can clearly see Devin Bush with the opportunity to slam the lead blockers and instead he lets the lead blocker more less push him out of the way with little to no effort to stand the guy up.....that really is the glaring problem in his game....I'll call it a lack of heart and effort.....He needs to play mean and protect his space and he doesn't do that. If these are Ben's last few games I'm really enjoying watching him play and show the critics that he can still do it. He's got a pretty young and immature offense in front of him......really no veterans. And he's leading the offense like only Ben can do. I'm still not a Matt Canada fan and that guy can go at the end of the season. Oh well I guess it's on to Tennessee.


Per Tomlin's Post Game:
TJ Watt - Groin being evaluated
Alex Highsmith - Quad Inury unable to return


Game Balls:
Ben Roethlisberger - 28 for 40 308 yds 3 TD's 1 INT - If he is only playing 4 more games I'm going to enjoy each one.....Love Big Ben
Najee Harris - My god I hope they find this kid an O-line to run behind he's damn good! 20 rushes 94 yds 3 rec 10 yd 2 TD's
Ahkello Witherspoon - 2 INT's....we have ourselves a CB!
Minkah Fitzpatrick - This guy is a man among boys out there along with Cam Heyward. Minkah had 3 great PBU's tonight.....one was a BS penalty in the endzone too.

Game Goats:
Chase Claypool - He's one selfish st00pid MF'er. 10 penaties this season against him. Tonight the first down celebration after the catch with the clock ticking while he's signaling and celebrating his first down catch cost the Steelers an extra play tonight....would have made a difference....I don't know but that was just dumb Chase! GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ***!
Steelers O-Line especially Kendrick Green - My god Green was terrible snapping the football tonight especially in the 4th QTR....Ben saved some errant snaps I counted at least 8 of them.
Cam Sutton - Got beat by Jefferson all night. Really killed the team giving up a 67yd TD after the Steelers pulled the score to 29-20 with 10 minutes to go........he really sucked tonight. Ahkello Witherspoon.....why has this kid been on our bench all season without being give a chance? He played great tonight. It James Pierre worse than Sutton?
Steelers Defensive Front 7......MY GOD I THOUGHT DAVLIN COOK was going to have 300yds for the game after the first quarter.....he was ripping off run too many to count for 15+ YPC in the first half.....that **** just can't happen. Cam Heyward says LB'ers & D-line need to get off their blocks and fill their gaps and they aren't coming close to being able to do that.....
Pressley Harvin - My god this kid SUCKS! We can't sign anyone who is worse! Let this bum go! Seeing Jordan Berry punt to the 3yd line and put the Steelers in a hole to start the final drive is what you should expect from your punter. I'd love to know what Tomlin was thinking about Berry after that punt?

FU's:
Kick Cousins - I just wish ya had a little more SUCK in you tonight!

 

[steelcan58]

Hope you're feeling better Chico.

 

[Chicoman]

Hope you're feeling better Chico.

Yeah CoViD got me good for about 10 days I was down and out but doing better now....back to work and really feeling this loss now more than CoViD....thanks for the kind words!

 

[Tibs]

Agree with Tomlin's assessment about getting our ***** handed to us in the trenches, both sides of the ball. Line play has been JV, because our lines *are* JV.

No Alualu, no Tuitt. You remove 2/3 of the starting D-line, no team has that kind of depth to plug-in quality starters. Throw in Devin Bush, who literally should be redshirted at this point, and Schoebert, who's a finesse guy, the middle of this D is as soft as bunch of Cabbage Patch dolls.

Our Oline is in shambles. Like watching pre-season games, with the end of roster guys out there fighting to make the 53. This is a glaring issue that's not going away anytime soon.

The elephant in the room was too much wishful thinking, as the vet O-line *all-of-the-sudden* had to be entirely rebuilt. Too much pressure on rookies to come in and man those spots. Much more could have been done in FA & with trades to shore this up heading into the season.

If you can't control the line of scrimmage, doesn't matter what else you can do, how many toys you have. Steelers rolled the dice that a bunch of new faces will just show up and be slotted in. No can do. Our rookie linemen aren't blue chip, top-of-the-draft studs. They need a year or two of seasoning. Especially with an immobile Ben back there. So the blueprint was ******-up back during the summer at OTA's through Latrobe and pre-season. Depth was thin as ice, with no proven commodities on the line. Even Trai Turner is a liability. The first red flag was Dotson acting up in camp. That LG spot became precarious. No reliable LT, RG or C. Even Banner/Okorafor was a huge question mark at RT, which turned out to be the case. Add in a new OC and new line coach. Of course this has turned into an unmitigated disaster.

All the signs were there, back in August. I have no idea what Colbert & Tomlin were thinking.

 

[Tibs]

To follow-up, what was done to replace these key players?

LT Villenueva - gone, replaced with 4th rnd pick Moore
LG Feiler - gone, replaced by 2nd year back-up Dotson
C Pouncey - gone, replaced by 3rd rnd pick Greene, who played guard in college
RG DeCastro - gone, replaced by aging vet Trai Turner, who the Chargers ominously let go
RT Banner/Okorafor

And we're shocked by how all this turned out? It was a huge ******* gamble to think these untested players can come in and hold up against NFL defenses. At least 3-4 veteran, capable linemen should have been brought in through FA or trades to create depth. Never happened, there was no cavalry that would show up to save the day. So we headed into the season on shaky footing, bleeding from many wounds.

To a certain extent, same thing happened losing Steven Nelson & Mike Hilton. A lot of wishful thinking, that these savy vets will be replaced 1:1 by untested players. Maulet is a glorified ST player playing Hilton's key role, and mostly failing. Norwood and Sutton have shown brief flashes but have otherwise been exposed. Losing VWill in the middle of the D with not a single, hard-hitting ILB to replace him.

If we take a step back, perhaps we should have seen what was coming, that this is indeed a rebuilding year. Hitting the field with multiple weaknesses and liabilities that are being exposed week in and week out. Ben came back to give it one last shot. Team brass didn't accomodate him by solidfying these gaping holes on the roster. It is what it is. Alas, the tale of the 2021 Pittsburgh Steelers.

 

[swal75]

I will be disappointed if they keep Claypool around another season. Surely he could bring back an early 3rd round pick. Cut him out and move onwards.

 

[Shane Falco]

James Washington. The kid showed why many of us here were rooting for him. He knows how to catch at the high point and make contested catches. That TD route and catch was a thing of beauty. His last catch, the kid was trying to carry 3 defenders on his back.
Witherspoon needs to be opposite of Haden when he comes back.

 

[SteelerSask2]

To follow-up, what was done to replace these key players?

LT Villenueva - gone, replaced with 4th rnd pick Moore
LG Feiler - gone, replaced by 2nd year back-up Dotson
C Pouncey - gone, replaced by 3rd rnd pick Greene, who played guard in college
RG DeCastro - gone, replaced by aging vet Trai Turner, who the Chargers ominously let go
RT Banner/Okorafor

And we're shocked by how all this turned out? It was a huge ******* gamble to think these untested players can come in and hold up against NFL defenses. At least 3-4 veteran, capable linemen should have been brought in through FA or trades to create depth. Never happened, there was no cavalry that would show up to save the day. So we headed into the season on shaky footing, bleeding from many wounds.

To a certain extent, same thing happened losing Steven Nelson & Mike Hilton. A lot of wishful thinking, that these savy vets will be replaced 1:1 by untested players. Maulet is a glorified ST player playing Hilton's key role, and mostly failing. Norwood and Sutton have shown brief flashes but have otherwise been exposed. Losing VWill in the middle of the D with not a single, hard-hitting ILB to replace him.

If we take a step back, perhaps we should have seen what was coming, that this is indeed a rebuilding year. Hitting the field with multiple weaknesses and liabilities that are being exposed week in and week out. Ben came back to give it one last shot. Team brass didn't accomodate him by solidfying these gaping holes on the roster. It is what it is. Alas, the tale of the 2021 Pittsburgh Steelers.

When you remortgage a bunch of contracts and are that far up against the cap you are gonna get that. There was zero money left to get all these veteran oline you are talking about. Instead of eating it and rebuilding they brought back Ben to create the illusion of contending which any simp should be able to see was pixie dust.

 

[TDX27]

I was at a Christmas party so I missed most of the fun. I turned the game on in the 2nd quarter and didn't see Adams at all. Why? He played so well last week, he earned the start this week. I did see he ended up with 2 QB hits. That's not bad for a NT.

If Sutton was covering Jefferson by himself, that is on Tomlin. You MUST double cover that dude and even then, he makes plays. The dude is a beast. He is No. 1 in the league against any kind of single coverage. Sutton never was and never will be good enough to cover a dude like him one on one.

Claypool may have had a dumb penalty again but he did catch 8 of 9 targets so there's that.

**** you Ben haters! He can still sling it all over the field if allowed. I hope he says **** you to Canada and slings it around the rest of the season. If he's going out this year, go out fighting the best you know how and that ain't with Canada calling the plays. We can't start every ******* game with 2 to 3 quarters of suck on offense. Tomlin is an ******* for allowing this shitshow.

 

[SteelerFan448]

To follow-up, what was done to replace these key players?

LT Villenueva - gone, replaced with 4th rnd pick Moore
LG Feiler - gone, replaced by 2nd year back-up Dotson
C Pouncey - gone, replaced by 3rd rnd pick Greene, who played guard in college
RG DeCastro - gone, replaced by aging vet Trai Turner, who the Chargers ominously let go
RT Banner/Okorafor

And we're shocked by how all this turned out? It was a huge ******* gamble to think these untested players can come in and hold up against NFL defenses. At least 3-4 veteran, capable linemen should have been brought in through FA or trades to create depth. Never happened, there was no cavalry that would show up to save the day. So we headed into the season on shaky footing, bleeding from many wounds.

To a certain extent, same thing happened losing Steven Nelson & Mike Hilton. A lot of wishful thinking, that these savy vets will be replaced 1:1 by untested players. Maulet is a glorified ST player playing Hilton's key role, and mostly failing. Norwood and Sutton have shown brief flashes but have otherwise been exposed. Losing VWill in the middle of the D with not a single, hard-hitting ILB to replace him.

Yet I continually saw how there was no way the Steelers OL could be worse this year than last year. Right. Worse rushing numbers this year and more sacks allowed. There were maybe a few games at most that this line played average. Premium position need, discount level replacements with the players and coaches.

Hilton and Nelson both could’ve been kept. It probably would’ve been at the expense of Haden. They still could’ve had either Nelson or Hilton with no problem.

 

[MTC]

Game ball:
Ben - helluva rally he produced second half.
Najee. Kid will fight no matter the score.


Goats: As much as I want to blame certain players, culture. Ultimately this lands on the coaching staff. Culture and scheme put these guys in a hole they almost dug out of. But Tomlin and his merry minions are the goats season long at that.


FU.
Joe Buck. Seriously. The guy is annoying

 

[slashsteel]

To some it up bad decisions by Tombert and then bad coaching by every coach on the team. This team can't survive without high pedigrees. They are undisciplined in their approach. They often can't identify what works and the times they do isn't in a timely manner. Claypool had some positives too but needs ahem coached up. Bad D alignments on those long runs yeah that is what you are calling on D again coaching.

 

[pittbull]

No argument about Claypool, but I gotta say…the receivers had a hell of a performance in that last quarter. Dionte dropped a couple, but Johnson, Washington and Claypool made some spectacular contested catches. The last catch by Claypool…the one that was flagged for interference…I was happy when I saw the flag, and I didn’t realize until I saw the replay that he actually caught the ball. I was like, “holy crap! He caught that!”

 

[Sarge]

I can't give a game ball to anyone. Why? The whole team, top to bottom contributed to the 29-0 hole they put themselves in, and playing 1 1/2 quarters of decent football doesn't make up for it. This team reeks of organizational rot. From Rooney all the way down. This organization needs to make so many changes and many of them will never come. Hard to watch with much hope anymore.

 

[ZonaBurgh]

 

[TDX27]

I have no idea how Ben even survived into the 2nd half to lead that comeback. He got absolutely destroyed in the 1st half. I only watched part of the 2nd quarter but when I was watching, the Vikings were sending everyone. Ben was getting clobbered by 1 or 2 guys on most plays and Canada had absolutely no adjustments or schemes to stop it from happening. It was absolutely ridiculous. It was no wonder Ben was jawing at Tomlin at the end of the 2nd quarter. If Canada would have been down on the field, he might have gotten a right hook or two from Ben.

 

[Troglodyte]

FU to pretty much the entire team for having lapses in judgement or effort.

DJ was a spectator on the interception. Breeland wanted the football, DJ wanted a perfect pass.

Claypool just needs slapped.

Where is focus of a team that takes time to have a group celebration in the endzone because they got a turnover while down 29-7? You’re not yet in the game, get in the game before you celebrate.

 

[FatsHolmes]

When you remortgage a bunch of contracts and are that far up against the cap you are gonna get that. There was zero money left to get all these veteran oline you are talking about. Instead of eating it and rebuilding they brought back Ben to create the illusion of contending which any simp should be able to see was pixie dust.

According to DK, they have over 10 million in unused cap space. Could have at least fixed one of those positions with that.

 

[Troglodyte]

Agree with Tomlin's assessment about getting our ***** handed to us in the trenches, both sides of the ball. Line play has been JV, because our lines *are* JV.

No Alualu, no Tuitt. You remove 2/3 of the starting D-line, no team has that kind of depth to plug-in quality starters. Throw in Devin Bush, who literally should be redshirted at this point, and Schoebert, who's a finesse guy, the middle of this D is as soft as bunch of Cabbage Patch dolls.

Our Oline is in shambles. Like watching pre-season games, with the end of roster guys out there fighting to make the 53. This is a glaring issue that's not going away anytime soon.

The elephant in the room was too much wishful thinking, as the vet O-line *all-of-the-sudden* had to be entirely rebuilt. Too much pressure on rookies to come in and man those spots. Much more could have been done in FA & with trades to shore this up heading into the season.

If you can't control the line of scrimmage, doesn't matter what else you can do, how many toys you have. Steelers rolled the dice that a bunch of new faces will just show up and be slotted in. No can do. Our rookie linemen aren't blue chip, top-of-the-draft studs. They need a year or two of seasoning. Especially with an immobile Ben back there. So the blueprint was ******-up back during the summer at OTA's through Latrobe and pre-season. Depth was thin as ice, with no proven commodities on the line. Even Trai Turner is a liability. The first red flag was Dotson acting up in camp. That LG spot became precarious. No reliable LT, RG or C. Even Banner/Okorafor was a huge question mark at RT, which turned out to be the case. Add in a new OC and new line coach. Of course this has turned into an unmitigated disaster.

All the signs were there, back in August. I have no idea what Colbert & Tomlin were thinking.

Somewhere along they way, Colbert and Tomlin seemingly decided that skill position players were underrated and OL were overrated and their recent high draft picks prove it.

I think Harris and Friermuth are some of the best players in the league at their positions but they have come at a cost. Claypool and DJ are talented but flawed. Washington and Rudolph are usually on the sideline.

 

[black and gold apex]

Game ball
Ben
Naji
They give it their all, Ben for going over and saying something to Tomlin and whomever the coach is that relays what Canada wants.

A big FU to this coaching staff

big FU to a defense that has yet stood up and took blame for the complete lack of a defense

Fu to ownership that are blinded by Tomlin and his lack of coaching skills when all goes down hill

Fu to a receiver that wants to celebrate a first down,,,with less than twenty seconds on clock and losing,,,,shameless

Fu to this team that has no pride to wear the Black and Gold. A symbol once of this city and its work force now forgotten. Yet support the Steelers at every venue they play in.

 

[jitter77]

I ended up falling asleep after it got to 29-0. So based on that I would just give a game ball to Ben for yelling at Tomlin after Ben got crushed. I don't recall seeing that before.

GOATs - Sutton had a bad game, but some of it was due to scheme. The announcers seemed to know the Vikes liked the deep crossing routes and we had no answer for them. Do the coaches watch film??
Dline and LBs were abused, but again part was scheme. How many times did cook have wide open field? Once Cook got past the line it seemed like no one was around for 10yrds.
Oline seemed clueless. Lots of free rushers ben took a beating. Harris had his worst blocking game, and our WRs can't block a tackling Dummy.
Claypool showed immaturity, stupid penalty, stupid celebration, missed a key block, and had a fumble. The fumble was an effort play, but combined with everything else this game was not his best moments.
FUs - Coaching.... keeping garbage players out there, no scheme, terrible playcalling, etc etc. Same ole BS..

 

[GILBERT]

Don't even know where to begin.

This has nothing to do with inferior talent, injuries, or even game plan (as horrible as it is).

Any high school running back would have gained 200 yards last night.

Would love to hear what Ben said to MT. Probably would sum this BS up.

 

[bkwheat28]

Just heard Claypool’s explanation was that ref was running down the field to get the ball but wasn’t there yet so he had time to do his first down point. Man up and accept the fact you ****** up young man.

 

[Steeltime]

GOATs - Sutton had a bad game, but some of it was due to scheme. The announcers seemed to know the Vikes liked the deep crossing routes and we had no answer for them. Do the coaches watch film??

No. It costs $50 to rent a projector and they are unwilling to spend that much.

Cheap. That's what they are, c-h-e-a-p.

 

[Steelr4evr]

I have no idea how Ben even survived into the 2nd half to lead that comeback. He got absolutely destroyed in the 1st half. I only watched part of the 2nd quarter but when I was watching, the Vikings were sending everyone. Ben was getting clobbered by 1 or 2 guys on most plays and Canada had absolutely no adjustments or schemes to stop it from happening. It was absolutely ridiculous. It was no wonder Ben was jawing at Tomlin at the end of the 2nd quarter. If Canada would have been down on the field, he might have gotten a right hook or two from Ben.

It reminded me of a game ,I believe it was 2005 near the start of the season vs the Eagles. The eagles sent everyone and the kitchen sink. Sacked Ben 9-10 times. It looked like they had no line at all. Most of it was scheme because they turned it around. This is obviously not getting turned around. You'd need new staff for that.