Game Balls, Game Goats & FU's...........week 8........vs Giants

[Chicoman]

This game had all the makings of an upset special....vs a team the Steelers had no business losing to, but Tomlin's less than stellar record vs 2 win teams this late in the season was in the back of my mind before the game. I just had the feeling it would be one of those games that goes down to the final minutes of the game. Offensively the Steelers came out running the football effectively tonight against a good Giants front 7. Early on the Steelers double teamed Dexter Lawrence with either guard and McCollum and they were able to clear him out of the play and create some nice running lanes for Harris & Warren early on. I'm not sure why they didn't continue to use that strategy throughout the second half of the game as the Giants really didn't seem to have an answer to the Steelers run blocking scheme. Red Zone offense really continues to be a problem for the Steelers this season as they stalled on every drive inside the red zone a couple of costly penalties didn't help, settling for FG's from Chris Boswell all night who was money connecting on all 4 FG's. Russell Wilson made some nice throws tonight including great touch on a throw downfield to Calvin Austin for a 29yd TD toss in the 4th Quarter.

Great Defenses don't let bad teams hang around the entire game.....and tonight we saw the Steelers Defense struggle to stop the run and some pretty sloppy tackling out there tonight as they gave up too many chunk plays especially vs the run that allowed the Giants to remain in the game. The Giants were in the game the entire way until Beanie Bishop put the game on ice with his 3rd Interception in the last 2 games. TJ Watt came up big tonight after Russell Wilson fumbled late in the game as the Giants were driving with around 4 minutes to play with a strip-sack, fumble recovery to swing momentum back to the Steelers late however the Giants would get another chance with just under two minutes to go! This makes 22 Monday Night Football Home wins for the Pittsburgh Steelers....they haven't lost a Home game on Monday Night since 1991 (Oct 14th 1991 vs Giants 23 - 20 Steelers @ Three Rivers Stadium and Chuck Noll was the Head Coach) Danny Smith's special teams provided a spark tonight again with Calvin Austin's 73yd Punt Return for a TD in the 3rd Quarter to give the Steelers the lead in the second half. Far from perfect and as Tomlin would say "We have our warts"....right now it's our Red Zone offense....they've gotta get it figured out soon because when they come back from the BYE it's 6 Divisional games and road trips to Washington, Philly & home for the Chiefs.....Christmas Day! Nice to go into the BYE week on a win and our Steelers are 6-2 lets enjoy this one for the next 2 weeks!

Onto Washington.....we owe them a beatdown for the 2020 season loss when our Steelers were 11-0 before the wheels fell off ending with a playoff loss to The Clowns!

Per Tomlin's Post Game:
No serious injuries....bumps and bruises associated with the game but all players returned to the game

Game Balls:
TJ Watt - 2 sacks, forced fumble and fumble recovery - One on One they can't stop TJ Watt! He's an ANIMAL!
Alex Highsmith - Great pressure most of the night including 2 sacks
Najee Harris - 19 carries 114 yards, 3 rec 17yds
Calvin Austin III - 3 rec 54 yd 1 TD, 73 yd punt return for TD. It was the Calvin Austin show tonight!
Beanie Bishop - Game saving INT late....3rd INT in 2 games
Chris Boswell - The Wizard of Boz has been money all season.....4 FG's tonight when our red zone offense couldn't get it done!

Game Goats:
Broderick Jones - Another sub-par performance....say what you want but he's not very good out there. He's playing like a Journeyman out there! Not sure who his backup is but......
Mason McCormick - He had a rough game tonight too but not as bad as Jones.

FU's:
FU to the refs....in the first half I watched TJ Watt get tackled twice by his man and the refs looking right at the play failed to throw a penalty flag! UNREAL!

 

[BLITZ]

Chico!! thanks for doing these! always look forward to them!

 

[BLITZ]

Game ball to Center Mccollum. I know not a perfect game but I still have no idea where this guy came from, and he is better than anyone we had the last 2 years.

Game ball to Danny Smith- Glad he is still our Special teams coach

Game ball to Cam Heyward- most games by any Steeler defense player ever! and a great game!

 

[Black & Gold Bleeder]

agree with most. But not regarding Mccormick. Hes a rookie who played at a 2nd tier school or whatever.. But hes our guy the rest of the way. Better each week.

Really agree with broderick jones. He looks and plays like the guy who got thru college etc withh all the physical attributes, but never got the technical part down. Im scared for his future. Fautanu cant come back soon enough, as cook sucks and Calvin anderson doesnt seem much better. Props to the giants playing with **** OT's.

We missed Highsmith and he showed why.

Patrick queen isnt my favorite steeler . I love E. Roberts and P. Wilson much better.

I wish z. frazier was healthy to take on their snougheloughogus NT. Would have been a good challenge. McCollum held his own and did well enough, not taking anything away from him.. Good game.

I agree about Washington. Throw that giant the ball.

Seeing what CAIII and jefferson did, along with limited targets to Frier muth and Washington,, i can understand why the front office hasnt pulled the trigger on a high dollar WR2.

I love najee out in space receiving. Need more.

Need more wilson on the roll outs . Get the short man some passing lanes and let him see the field.

Can Keanu Benton Become a Dexter Lawrence..?
He is in year 2 and still a young guy..

Lastly ,, Idk much about DB play.
But i think Tomlin knows he has a stud back there in Minkah, and hes asking him to do a **** ton. Maybe too much.

Good post.. Look fwd to it.

Almost forgot . Where the hell was Larry O. ?
Are we playing a defense that he is supposed to occupy 2 OL,,,, ala Dick Lebeau?

 

[MT~Forged]

agree with most. But not regarding Mccormick. Hes a rookie who played at a 2nd tier school or whatever.. But hes our guy the rest of the way. Better each week.

Agreed. Smaller school, different division, showing he belongs more each week. Waaaaaaaay ahead of where they thought he would be at this point. Looks to be a lock for the foreseeable future

Really agree with broderick jones. He looks and plays like the guy who got thru college etc withh all the physical attributes, but never got the technical part down. Im scared for his future. Fautanu cant come back soon enough, as cook sucks and Calvin anderson doesnt seem much better. Props to the giants playing with **** OT's.

At this point, I think I would look at moving Mt Washington to RT until The Rookie gets back

We missed Highsmith and he showed why.

He could be playing himself right out of Pittsburgh, as he will command a huge next contract

Patrick queen isnt my favorite steeler . I love E. Roberts and P. Wilson much better.

I really hope that he is just adjusting slowly and not wasted signing

I wish z. frazier was healthy to take on their snougheloughogus NT. Would have been a good challenge. McCollum held his own and did well enough, not taking anything away from him.. Good game.

I agree about Washington. Throw that giant the ball.

Agreed, get him more touches, or move him to RT until the rookie returns

Seeing what CAIII and jefferson did, along with limited targets to Frier muth and Washington,, i can understand why the front office hasnt pulled the trigger on a high dollar WR2.

Amazing what a real QB can do for the team

I love najee out in space receiving. Need more.

Keep doing his thing

Need more wilson on the roll outs . Get the short man some passing lanes and let him see the field.

On the move he is still making it happen


BTW - a FU to the head coach for not knowing you can’t challenge a reviewed play. He is also on the rules committee, so that is actually a DOUBLE FU

 

[bermudasteel]

This game had all the makings of an upset special....vs a team the Steelers had no business losing to, but Tomlin's less than stellar record vs 2 win teams this late in the season was in the back of my mind before the game. I just had the feeling it would be one of those games that goes down to the final minutes of the game. Offensively the Steelers came out running the football effectively tonight against a good Giants front 7. Early on the Steelers double teamed Dexter Lawrence with either guard and McCollum and they were able to clear him out of the play and create some nice running lanes for Harris & Warren early on. I'm not sure why they didn't continue to use that strategy throughout the second half of the game as the Giants really didn't seem to have an answer to the Steelers run blocking scheme. Red Zone offense really continues to be a problem for the Steelers this season as they stalled on every drive inside the red zone a couple of costly penalties didn't help, settling for FG's from Chris Boswell all night who was money connecting on all 4 FG's. Russell Wilson made some nice throws tonight including great touch on a throw downfield to Calvin Austin for a 29yd TD toss in the 4th Quarter.

Great Defenses don't let bad teams hang around the entire game.....and tonight we saw the Steelers Defense struggle to stop the run and some pretty sloppy tackling out there tonight as they gave up too many chunk plays especially vs the run that allowed the Giants to remain in the game. The Giants were in the game the entire way until Beanie Bishop put the game on ice with his 3rd Interception in the last 2 games. TJ Watt came up big tonight after Russell Wilson fumbled late in the game as the Giants were driving with around 4 minutes to play with a strip-sack, fumble recovery to swing momentum back to the Steelers late however the Giants would get another chance with just under two minutes to go! This makes 22 Monday Night Football Home wins for the Pittsburgh Steelers....they haven't lost a Home game on Monday Night since 1991 (Oct 14th 1991 vs Giants 23 - 20 Steelers @ Three Rivers Stadium and Chuck Noll was the Head Coach) Danny Smith's special teams provided a spark tonight again with Calvin Austin's 73yd Punt Return for a TD in the 3rd Quarter to give the Steelers the lead in the second half. Far from perfect and as Tomlin would say "We have our warts"....right now it's our Red Zone offense....they've gotta get it figured out soon because when they come back from the BYE it's 6 Divisional games and road trips to Washington, Philly & home for the Chiefs.....Christmas Day! Nice to go into the BYE week on a win and our Steelers are 6-2 lets enjoy this one for the next 2 weeks!

Onto Washington.....we owe them a beatdown for the 2020 season loss when our Steelers were 11-0 before the wheels fell off ending with a playoff loss to The Clowns!

Per Tomlin's Post Game:
No serious injuries....bumps and bruises associated with the game but all players returned to the game

Game Balls:
TJ Watt - 2 sacks, forced fumble and fumble recovery - One on One they can't stop TJ Watt! He's an ANIMAL!
Alex Highsmith - Great pressure most of the night including 2 sacks
Najee Harris - 19 carries 114 yards, 3 rec 17yds
Calvin Austin III - 3 rec 54 yd 1 TD, 73 yd punt return for TD. It was the Calvin Austin show tonight!
Beanie Bishop - Game saving INT late....3rd INT in 2 games
Chris Boswell - The Wizard of Boz has been money all season.....4 FG's tonight when our red zone offense couldn't get it done!

Game Goats:
Broderick Jones - Another sub-par performance....say what you want but he's not very good out there. He's playing like a Journeyman out there! Not sure who his backup is but......
Mason McCormick - He had a rough game tonight too but not as bad as Jones.

FU's:
FU to the refs....in the first half I watched TJ Watt get tackled twice by his man and the refs looking right at the play failed to throw a penalty flag! UNREAL!

Perfect. I have nothing to add... for now

 

[Aussie_Steeler]

We missed Highsmith and he showed why.

He could be playing himself right out of Pittsburgh, as he will command a huge next contract

Highsmith already has his second contract taking him through to the end of 2027 or is that the next contract you are referring to? By then T J Watt will be 33, turning 34 in October 2028, so Highsmith, being about four years younger, might be a relatively higher priority for the Steelers to retain at that point, depending on where his play and TJ's play are at, and where the Steelers are at in the team lifecycle.

 

[SteelerFan448]

Game balls:

Watt and Highsmith - these two made huge plays when we needed them. Highsmith was getting pressure all night.

Russell Wilson - After years of waiting, that felt like an NFL QB last night. The throw down the sideline to Pickens was elite. Dropped another dime to Miller who didn’t make the catch.

Calvin Austin - Two huge TDs. The punt return changed the momentum.

Najee Harris - Another great game. This is the type of running we need every week and we’ve been getting it.

Beanie Bishop - Game-clinching INT was huge. Giants had me nervous on that drive.

Goat:
Run defense - My goodness that was awful.

 

[slashsteel]

Game balls:

Watt and Highsmith - these two made huge plays when we needed them. Highsmith was getting pressure all night.

Russell Wilson - After years of waiting, that felt like an NFL QB last night. The throw down the sideline to Pickens was elite. Dropped another dime to Miller who didn’t make the catch.

Calvin Austin - Two huge TDs. The punt return changed the momentum.

Najee Harris - Another great game. This is the type of running we need every week and we’ve been getting it.

Beanie Bishop - Game-clinching INT was huge. Giants had me nervous on that drive.

Goat:
Run defense - My goodness that was awful.

Wilson had a 70 percent completion percentage that kind of play will win you some games paired with spreading the ball around.

Loved that they didn’t let the game get away from them.

The pass defense wasn’t so great either. Not a great night for our corners…

 

[slashsteel]

Also on Queen he is like what second in tackles? Still not down on him we have a speedy LBer group that overall holds teams more often than not under 20.

They need to clean up their gaps but that is just as much on the D line as it is on the LBers.

 

[Stewey]

The trend appears to be as the O gradually improves, the D gradually gets worse.
Or in the past when the generally inept O has a great game our reliable D slips up.
Seems we’ve relived that story over and over.

Why does that have to be?

 

[Steeltime]

Russell was really good. Two TD passes that turned out not to be TD's but on both, the throws were perfect. Agree on McCollum - REALLY good. His struggles on some plays can be explained by the fact that Dexter Lawrence looks like a man playing against kids. Jeez, the guy is a beast. One play, he tossed McCollum to the ground like he was a blocking dummy and went after Wilson.

I liked the halftime adjustments yet again, and with the 23-9 lead thought a blowout was coming. Steelers believed the NYG would HAVE to throw and went to their one-defensive lineman formation and two-deep safeties and got mauled by the running game. Please stop that idiocy.

 

[Litos]

Highsmith already has his second contract taking him through to the end of 2027 or is that the next contract you are referring to? By then T J Watt will be 33, turning 34 in October 2028, so Highsmith, being about four years younger, might be a relatively higher priority for the Steelers to retain at that point, depending on where his play and TJ's play are at, and where the Steelers are at in the team lifecycle.

By the way, 2025 is the final year of Watt's contract.

 

[Ike Kelly]

Great summary Chico, nice overview!

Agreed. Smaller school, different division, showing he belongs more each week. Waaaaaaaay ahead of where they thought he would be at this point. Looks to be a lock for the foreseeable future

At this point, I think I would look at moving Mt Washington to RT until The Rookie gets back

He could be playing himself right out of Pittsburgh, as he will command a huge next contract

BTW - a FU to the head coach for not knowing you can’t challenge a reviewed play. He is also on the rules committee, so that is actually a DOUBLE FU

Washington has never played any OL position exclusively, why change his dual threat ability? Respectfully disagree with this one.

Smitty just signed a new contract, he’s on the books through 2027. After he turns 30.

Just to provide context, Tomlin stated he was unaware that Replay Assist was already used before he challenged. Plus none of the officials told him and let him challenge away. League HQ told Novak that a T/O would be charged regardless. Officials have in the past notified a HC challenged calls which can’t be and picked up their red flag. RA is new this year so the officials were befuddled with the new process.

 

[TDX27]

It really can't be denied how different this team looks with Smith as OC and Wilson at QB. Fields may still have a shot in the future as he and Russ appear to be mentor and mentee. Wilson's TD to Austin was an absolute thing of beauty that we haven't seen since Big Ben. There is a reason Russ has a SB and is a future HOFer. He makes everyone around him better. You can see it just in the 2 games he has played. I hope he can keep this up for the remainder of this year and a couple more as Fields (possibly) continues to learn from him.

 

[Troglodyte]

The next time someone suggests the Steelers trade up in the first to get a player, they should get slapped.

 

[suncitysteel]

The next time someone suggests the Steelers trade up in the first to get a player, they should get slapped.

Or prodded with a poker… not red hot… just tepid maybe.

 

[suncitysteel]

Russell was really good. Two TD passes that turned out not to be TD's but on both, the throws were perfect. Agree on McCollum - REALLY good. His struggles on some plays can be explained by the fact that Dexter Lawrence looks like a man playing against kids. Jeez, the guy is a beast. One play, he tossed McCollum to the ground like he was a blocking dummy and went after Wilson.

I liked the halftime adjustments yet again, and with the 23-9 lead thought a blowout was coming. Steelers believed the NYG would HAVE to throw and went to their one-defensive lineman formation and two-deep safeties and got mauled by the running game. Please stop that idiocy.

On McCollum, for a guy who wasn’t even a thought in preseason (Herbig was 1 followed by the rookie), and for a guy who was undrafted and with only 1 regular season start on his resumé, and for a guy who’s bounced around on several teams’ practice squads, I am beyond pleasantly surprised. Sure, for a series or 2 there Sexy Dex showed him up a bit, but he’s outplayed any expectations. I just hope we keep him around for depth and not let him go, ala Hank Fraley and others that left via FA.

An “honorable mention” game ball to the Accrisure PA guy. I may be remembering the sequencing all wrong (middle aged ability to recall in decline), but I think our defense let us down after the “Renegade” break in the 4th. Next break, we come back from commercials and the PA guy is pumping Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper”. I think we did good after that. My vote is to replace Renegade with The Trooper.

 

[slashsteel]

Russell was really good. Two TD passes that turned out not to be TD's but on both, the throws were perfect. Agree on McCollum - REALLY good. His struggles on some plays can be explained by the fact that Dexter Lawrence looks like a man playing against kids. Jeez, the guy is a beast. One play, he tossed McCollum to the ground like he was a blocking dummy and went after Wilson.

I liked the halftime adjustments yet again, and with the 23-9 lead thought a blowout was coming. Steelers believed the NYG would HAVE to throw and went to their one-defensive lineman formation and two-deep safeties and got mauled by the running game. Please stop that idiocy.

Yeah on those halftime adjustments, amazing what a solid OC will do for you….

 

[Chow Chow Dad]

I also have to give a game ball to center McCollum. He did really well given his relative lack of experience and facing freaking Dexter Lawrence. He got put on his butt more then once, but kept coming back for more and really started to shine towards the end of the game as Dexter tired. Going forward he can say he fought and survived one of the best and gained a ton of experience he can use in the future.

 

[bigben]

Wilson gives the offense a whole new gear. Dare I say he looks like he's still a top 10 QB. Najee is playing the best football of his career.
Haven't been this optimistic since 2017!

 

[Drink IRON City]

Agreed. Smaller school, different division, showing he belongs more each week. Waaaaaaaay ahead of where they thought he would be at this point. Looks to be a lock for the foreseeable future

At this point, I think I would look at moving Mt Washington to RT until The Rookie gets back

He could be playing himself right out of Pittsburgh, as he will command a huge next contract

I really hope that he is just adjusting slowly and not wasted signing

Agreed, get him more touches, or move him to RT until the rookie returns

Amazing what a real QB can do for the team

Keep doing his thing

On the move he is still making it happen


BTW - a FU to the head coach for not knowing you can’t challenge a reviewed play. He is also on the rules committee, so that is actually a DOUBLE FU

In Tomlin’s post game presser, he acknowledged that he didn’t know that is was booth reviewed. Once he was told that he knew he made a mistake. He knows the rules better than MOST.


Salute the nation

 

[Steeltime]

In Tomlin’s post game presser, he acknowledged that he didn’t know that is was booth reviewed. Once he was told that he knew he made a mistake. He knows the rules better than MOST.


Salute the nation

That is NOT a credible explanation. He HAS to know that ALL scoring plays are reviewed. Let's say for the sake of argument that he COULD challenge under those circumstances.

So he is going to challenge and expect that the guys who just overturned the TD and called the incompletion are going to review the same footage and this time rule that they are reversing themselves??

Just stupid.

 

[paperclip]

game ball: the defense hasn't given up ANY 3rd quarter points the entire season

 

[MT~Forged]

game ball: the defense hasn't given up ANY 3rd quarter points the entire season

Your actually pimping those 15 minute men? They have been garbage at least 30+ minutes each game.