The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - Week 2 - Vikings

THE GOOD:
The Steelers won the game and are now 2-0.
The Steelers lead the entire way.
Ben Roethlisberger 2TD 0 INT
Boswell 4 for 4 FG and 2 for 2 XP
Le'Veon Bell playing his way into playing at a high level.
Martavis Bryant playing his way into being the player he was.
Ju Ju got his 1 TD as a pro
The Steelers only gave up 2 QB Sacks (Griffen got both)
The Vikings Backup QB didn't look like a HOF against the Steelers
Delvin Cook was contained at 64 yards

THE BAD:
Delvin Cook had 5.3 ypc average
The Steelers only had 2 QB sacks
The Steelers offense hasn't lived up to its potential.

THE UGLY:
The Ravens won and improved to 2-0 (2-0 in AFCN).
DeShone Kiser looked like a rookie QB against the Ravens D.

 

I agree with Mimeng


In addition I would add:


- would like to see Hunter suit up. If Ben is going to continue to gamble then give him big targets all over the field with big hands. I know it can't happen bc need special teams and kick returners....frustrating to me.


Defense played well but expected vs Keanum. Guess I will have to check the depot for injuries bc someone in game thread said TJ got hurt which sucks. Will have to see how serious.


No mistake about it, Vikings a great defense. Thankfully this was a home game against a backup QB, although I for one didn't sweat their starting QB much either playing at Heinz.


I knew the Pats would look like world beaters this week and that sucks to me. Other than injuries can't think of anything that sucked today, our Steelers were in control the entire game. Gideon enjoyed a week without the difibrillater !

 

P.S. one of those injuries that always scares the crap out of me is "groin injury" ..... I hope Watt is fine

 

That is true of the Patriots offense. That is not the case for the Patriots defense.- which has been giving up a lot of yards.

 

From Steelerswire.com

Hopefully Watt's not returning was a precautionary measure.

 

The Ravens lost Yanda for the season. We have to beat them when we play them in two weeks. Beat the Bears then beat the Ravens, go 4-0 and take control of the division.

 

Beloved mimeng, I don't think the 2 sacks were a bad thing, i thought for the most part they consistently put pressure on the QB forcing throw aways.

 

The Good - the delay of game penalty after the 1st TD forcing Tomlin to kick the extra point instead of going for 2.

Going for 2 that early puts u in a better position to lose, and chase points later in the game. (see Dallas game last year). It's stupid not aggressive.

 

Great intensity for about 95% of the game - seemed to let up a bit on the only TD drive. Only two sacks is very misleading. The pass rush was dominant yesterday and it led to dozens of throw aways and incompletions. Coverage was also very good. Even the completions were contested.

Cam Heyward was simply unstoppable yesterday. Forgot how much we missed that last year. We need a LB beside Shazier. Vince Williams is an average player but there is no one behind him better - at least at this point. Matakevich's instincts are really good and it showed up on the punt fake but can he overcome his lack of speed? Not really sure but I bet he gets a shot at some point with the way Vince is playing.

Mike Hilton played a lot and played well. Gonna be a really nice addition over the next three seasons as a minimum salary guy. Another one of those guys that plays so much bigger than 5'9". As he gets more time I think he'll become a guy that can also play on the outside because he's such a great tackler. Awesome blitzer too. Very excited to see his development and once again proof that starters (nickel starter) can come from anywhere. They don't have to be 1st or 2nd round picks all the time.

Still think Ben makes really dumb decisions with the football and it will cost us a few games. There is a time and place to throw the ball deep. It absolutely needs to be part of the game plan but there is also something to be said about moving the chains and taking the easy yardage. Several times yesterday he chucked it deep with guys wide open underneath. The most egregious was the deep one to Brown who was double covered with Jesse underneath. Brown didn't even look for the football because he saw the play was successful at doing exactly what it was supposed to do. He drew both the corner and the safety and knew he did his job.

Bell doesn't look explosive. Hope that's temporary. His running style doesn't work unless he can explode when he sees the crease. Is that rust? Is that the result of working out away from the team? It's unfortunate that he is the kind of guy he is. It makes you question everything. Did he tell his personal trainers this year to focus on strength and maintaining his health over explosion? Obviously that's pure speculation but he doesn't look the same and he has shown everyone he is putting himself ahead of the team. I wouldn't rule anything out.

Dupree and Watt make one helluva combination. Watt is so much better than I thought he could be this early in his career. Dupree looked really explosive. Man I hope these guys can stay healthy and continue to develop because they can be so much much better than they even are right now. Chickillo is a nice complement but his ceiling isn't close to the other two.

Love the playcalling of Butler. The blitzes are coming from everywhere and he's even sprinkling in run blitzes. Doesn't seem to matter what the down and distance is either. Safeties, corners, LBs... they're coming from everywhere and the OLBs are showing to be very capable in coverage. This is so clearly the defense that he and Tomlin wanted to put together a few years ago. The days of the two-gapping d-linemen are over. The pressure is coming inside, outside, early and often. The coverage is tighter and it's forcing QBs to hold the football.

Gotta put together a good performance next Sunday. Can't be looking ahead to the Ravens.

 

Defense looks much improved from last season. The free agent signings of Alualu and Hayden were really good moves.

Cam Heyward was dominate yesterday.

Bryant showed up big. After being out of football for a whole season I expected it to take 4-6 games for Bryant to start making a real impact on games. It only took two weeks.

TJ Watt is looking like he's going to be the next great Steelers OLB. Hopefully the groin injury isn't going to linger or become a big problem.

The Steelers offensive line was respectable yesterday. The Vikings have one of the best front 7 in football. Ben put the pressure on his O line by choosing to go deep frequently.

Speaking of the deep ball. I love when they hit the deep ball and question why Ben threw it when they don't. I know they like Brown and Bryant against anybody one on one. I'd just like to see them take advantage of the wide open WRs/TE in the middle of the field when they stretch a defense out. To truly maximize this offense Ben has go to start taking the wide open targets and move the chains.

Bell turned down a huge contract. He doesn't look like the same guy they were willing to give 14 million per season to for the next couple seasons. Maybe it is just rust or the defensive fronts he's faced so far but he hasn't looked as quick to explode into a hole when it opens up. Hasn't been nearly as effective in the screen game. I don't think he's had as many targets but he hasn't been very effective when they have targeted him.

Mike Mitchell and Sean Davis look like the weak link on defense...wait I forgot about Vince Williams. Vince is what he is and it's not a starting caliber ILB in the NFL. Mitchell and Davis are capable of playing better than they have. I really hope Sean Davis improves in the coming weeks.

 

The good:

2-0 is as good as you can be, so that's good

No INTs from Ben.

Bell started slow but they stuck with him. He should get into the groove with more work. We all know what he can do and there were flashes of it yesterday. The big days are coming.

Bryant. This guy can be so great. The slant for the TD shows some versatility. He isn't just a go route guy. He shook off some rust and I think he will continue to do so.

D looks like it could be good enough not to be a liability. Probably even better.

The Bad:

I really love the deep ball but it's like a good spice. Too much ruins the dish. The final drive before the half was really clicking. Ben was finding the stuff underneath and moving the chains and then, it's bombs away. Why can't a guy who's been playing since 2004 figure out how to manage a game. Still, he's great and when he's gone I'll pine his loss.

Watt's injury. Hope he's OK but the groin is tricky (insert low brow comment here).

The ugly:

Not much. The only thing I can see is the next part of the schedule is full of road games. They have trouble in Chicago for some reason and then in Baltimore. I hope this team is special and can get through it.

Summary:

It always makes me laugh when fans and play by play guys cry about the refs helping a team when they get some calls. The two PI calls were warranted IMO. Brown got grabbed and Bryant got mugged. I assume charges are pending. A lot of times, holding and PI comes from one athlete getting the best of another and the one committing the foul is trying to compensate for being out of position. The refs are not on anyone's side. Whiners are the one's that resort to that tripe.

2-0 and only nest week to think about. They can't beat the Ravens next week so they shouldn't even think about them. The Bears are on the table. Let's get number three.

 

Beach took the words out of my mouth when he mentioned Cam Heyward. His presence in the trenches was huge and it helped the defense in a big way. Also of note was how well Ryan Shazier played in pursuit and in coverage this game. Neither player made splash plays, but I hope people know how great they played anyway.

The offensive line was great as usual, and I hope people realize it was both Bell looking sluggish and the Vikings playing disciplined defense that made Bell have a low YPC number. Villanueva had his hands full with Everson Griffen but most NFL tackles would. Marcus Gilbert is one of the best tackles in the NFL bar none, but no one talks about him since he plays on the right side.

The Vikings did a great job on Bell and Brown, so it was great to see Bryant step up and make full use of his targets. This offense needs to explode against the Bears since the Ravens will make it difficult.

 

The Beautiful: - The tribute to Dan Rooney was awesome.

The Good: 2-0, don't over analyze it. The Steelers are two and zero. The defense is getting consistant pressure. The coverage looks at least okay. Ben, Brown, Bryant, and Bell give us a chance to win every single game this season. This one could be very special.

The Bad: 10 penalties! Clean it up boys!

The Ugly: Good Gawd and the Goose Fat! The Bungles look T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E! I mean worst team in the league bad. I mean 0-16 bad.

 

Not sure what thread to drop this in, but I thought of Beach when I read it...
https://www.numberfire.com/nfl/play...s-carson-nominated-for-nfl-rookie-of-the-week

 

Kid is a stud.

 

Had some time yesterday for some film review. In spite of all the weapons this team has we will never consistently score 30pts a game until one of these coaches convinces Ben to stop locking into guys pre-snap. It's sickening watching guys running wide open on underneath routes that will move the chains and GIVE HIM MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO THROW THE FOOTBALL only to be ignored by Ben.

The 2nd and 8 play where he threw to AB double-covered with Jesse James running the designed route underneath the double team has been well documented but one player later he does the same thing. 3rd and 8, the LBs walk right up to the LOS giving Jesse James the middle of the field and Ben never even looks his direction. A rookie QB can look at that play pre-snap and know that there's no chance the LB is going to get deep enough to effect the throw to Jesse. It's 3rd and 8 and he ignores a 15 yard gain that he could complete 19 out of 20 times to throw deep to AB against one of the better cover corners in the NFL.

It's mind-numbing.

 

With out Ben we have no chance to win a SB, but sadly he also hurts our chances too. That is why we have to have a top defense. To take up the slack that Ben's greed creates.

 

I saw another play where he locked on Brown, who was double covered and Juju was wide open underneath on a 3rd down. I would have no issue with him taking shots downfield if the there weren't people running free that would move the chains. I'd have less of an issue if he takes shots to Brown or Bryant in 1 on 1 situations, but when they're double and triple covered and theres a wide open guy underneath that will get a minimum 10 yard gain then it is a huge problem.

 

Ben is probably the dumbest great QB in the NFL. Laws of math would suggest that if your first two options are double-covered, then no one must be covering Rogers, JJSS, James, or even Bell. Sadly, Ben is reminding me way too much of Favre in his later years, and Favre was reportedly a jackass to anyone on the Packers who wasn't with him for years, including Aaron Rodgers. Most QBs would have their favorite receivers, but didn't Ben once call Rogers "the best slot receiver he's ever had?" Then how about you use him, you oaf!

 

I'm not sure he sees them. That is the problem. If you watch the All-22 they give you the side angle and then you get the angle that focuses on line play either from the front or behind. So you get a really good view of what the QB is looking at and it's just unreal how often Ben stares down his target without surveying the field. The 2nd down play where he almost threw the pick to AB right before the half he had Martavis one-on-one with Trae Waynes on the opposite side of the field running a 10 yard out just past the sticks. Martavis had already run by him twice and he ran a perfect out. Easiest pitch and catch you'll ever have and Ben didn't so much as glance to that side. This is with 1:00 to go and we were literally one first down from points on the board before the half.

That's the kind of situational football that doesn't register with Ben. You got a guy like Martavis absolutely murdering the CB in front of him and you don't even glance at him when he's running the perfect route based on the game situation. Instead he's trying to fit a pass into AB with the CB playing underneath and a safety overtop. One more first down and you get points. His priorities are just out of whack. Same thing on 3rd downs. Third downs are the time to move the chains. It's not the time for the home run pass. Do that on 1st and 2nd. Third down is the high percentage play that gets you more downs. So damn frustrating.