Game Thread: Wk 4 vs Chiefs

[Bridgeburner]

I get better analysis and information clicking one of these threads than I do the local sports page and/or radio shows.

You guys kick ass. Just thought I would mention that.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Final injury report.

Out...Shazier, Foster, Golden, Wallace, Nix, Rogers, Golson

Davis apparently was a FP participant on friday...will go as well as Timmons and Finney.

Richardson was released for Bell's spot...I expect Bell to get 20+ touches, but DWill should get 5-10 touches.

Curious if Richardson will get called back onto the PS? Not sure if he's allowed to do that. I always forget the PS rules. But David Cobb is still on the PS, and I think he's the far better option to keep.

As for the injuries... Sad to see Shazier & Golden are out. Like I said before, I think that will open things wide open for Kelce tonight. Hope I'm wrong.

Also worth noting... Nix has yet to play this season. Back issues can linger. Wondering if they are smart to keep him on the 53 right now when there are serious depth concerns on the defensive side of the ball. DJ has been more than capable of blocking from the FB position. So it might be time to start thinking about putting Nix on the shelf. Especially considering Green could start practicing soon. It could be either DJ or Nix that gets released at that point.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

AB honoring the late Arnold Palmer with his cleats tonight... Definitely going to be fined for them lol

 

[Bridgeburner]

So...

HELL YEAH! WE'RE BACK BABY!

 

[NorthCoastSteelersFan]

AB honoring the late Arnold Palmer with his cleats tonight... Definitely going to be fined for them lol

Nope...they said during the game that he got special permission.

RIP to Arnold, a real class act.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Recap.

Off the top...yesterday one of the best performances on both sides of the ball I've seen in the Tomlin era. I knew we would get a great effort after the spanking they took in PHI, but I didn't expect as much help as they got from KC.

OFC...5/5...on another rainy night in the Burgh...the ball handling was very crisp, Ben was about as good as he can be on a very efficient night passing the ball...22 of 27/300/5. I really like the way Haley eased Bell into the game with both he and DWill in there. The OL is dangerously thin now with Gilbert going down, but Harris stepped in a played like the season pro that his is. 2 sacks allowed is not great, but in once case Ben clearly had time to get rid of but decided to eat it.

Bell looked like he never missed a game. Initially I thought his work load might be too much late in the game, but 18 carries and 6 targets connecting connecting on 5 was not too much.

DEF...4/5...Blanking KC for 3 quarters was big...several 3 and outs. Pick by J.Jones on the tip by the terror in the night Heyward...(if he had wheels that's a pick 6) 4 sacks and several QB hits/hurries. I tempered my rating to a 4 because Smith flat out missed several open targets. Seemed to have a problem with the wet ball. They missed a few tackles again. Also the long run put a damper on the DEF effort. I know it was in mop up time, but you want to see guys play 60 minutes.

ST...3.5/5...neither of those penalty blocks had much bearing on the play when #10 took it back to the house...they got lucky there. No FGA, which was good, and several good punts.

3-1 and feeling pretty god about the 1st Qtr of the seson...BAL finally lost so the Steelers are tied for 1st in the DIV with the Jets coming to town this week.

Keep it rolling!

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Good analysis ATL!

My individual assessments...

QB... Ben was lights out. His QBR was around 155 through 3 quarters. Ben was definitely at fault for 1 of the 2 sacks, but that's his game. He owns it. After watching the Landry Jones fumble again I've decided it was more to do with a bad snap than Landry being Landry.

RB... Like ATL said, I was very happy to see how they eased Bell back in. I was fearing that they would dump 25+ touches on his plate. Don't know if I agree with having Bell in on those last few 4th qtr drives when the game was in the bag. Don't need anymore unnecessary hits on him when this is his first game back from tearing up his knee again. D-Will was phenomenal as always. If I didn't know any better I'd say he was in his mid 20's with the way he runs.

WR/TE... Love seein Ben spread the ball around like he did last night. AB, DHB, Coates, Wheaton, James, Grimble, DJ, etc... Oh and btw, welcome back out of the dog house Wheaton. Great ball handling from everyone in this group. Especially given the rainy conditions. Coates may not be as dynamic & agile in open space as Bryant, but he's still capable of turning a 5yd catch into 20. That's all they need him to be. Anything more is icing on the cake. And not to mention he's becoming a very reliable go-route runner. His ability to catch in traffic (hands in his face) so far has been top notch.

O-line... What an incredible night from Finney. Honestly cannot sing his praises enough about the performance he had last night. He was dominating the majority of his assignments. It must have been his 1st game jitters last week because he looked lost against Philly. Bell & DWill were finding the second level often when running to the left side because of him. Pouncey & DeCastro were solid, minus DeCastro's early game penalties (false start & holding). AVill pretty much neutralized Hali, so hats off to that performance as well. Scary seeing Gilbert go down but it didn't look very serious. And as ATL already said, Harris filled in and the blocking didn't skip a beat. Dominant performance all around for this group.

D-Line... Heyward was on a tear last night. 3 sacks? I think something can be said about the early season ankle injury that he was dealing with. He looked explosive last night so maybe he's finally healthy? Or maybe he is just playing with more intensity. Whatever the case, keep it up big man. Tuitt as well. He was in the QB's face all night. Run game was completely neutralized until that 46 yarder late in the 4th. They held them to around 30 yards up until that point. Incredible performance.

LB... Monster performance by Vince Williams last night. He was EVERYWHERE. 16 frickin tackles, 14 of those solo? Shazier who? lol. I've said it many times before about Vinny, but god I love the fire & intensity he plays with. Kid is an animal out there. I was a little annoyed with how often I saw Deebo dropped into coverage. Not sure why Butler thought that was a smart idea, but it didn't hurt them too much. JJ had himself a good night, not even considering the INT which was a great play.

DB... Lots of "small nickel" packages on display last night where they had 4 CB's out there & 1 safety. They pulled Dangerfield for Justin Gilbert to cover Kelce which worked out perfectly. Loved the physicality that Gilbert brought to the secondary. He got away with some grabbing on Kelce, but I liked seeing how he didn't shy away from covering a guy that easily had 60lbs on him. He was essentially playing like a safety out there. Gotta commend Dangerfield as well. Aside from a few botched assignments that thankfully the WR's dropped passes, he was solid. Saw some great tackling from the 3rd stringer. Much better than Sean Davis was. I'm curious to see when Davis is back at full health if they put him in there or Dangerfield. I think Dangerfield earned more playing time last night. Burns is still learning, but I think he showed some promise. Getting burnt but his elite speed got him back into position to defend the pass. Just like I expected, he's a better press CB. You can tell he struggles to flip his hips from the backpedal when he plays off the line. As he gains experience he will start to get a better feel for when to engage and/or turn & run. He seems to be doing an ok job of it right now. Still lacking in the tackling department though. Just needs more time to learn & grow OTJ.

ST... Not sure I would call this a good performance from Berry. I saw 2 punts sail out of bounds to the tune of 38yds. Granted the weather played a role I'm sure, but he's gotta do better than that if the team want to continuously win the field position battle. Coverage units had its blunders, but overall not too bad.

Overall... Steelers put on a dominant display in almost all 3 phases. ST was the only weakpoint that I saw. Quite the 180 from their performance in Philly. If they can perform like they did last night with numerous backups in their on both sides of the ball, then look out league. They are a week or 2 away from getting a full bill of health so long as new injuries don't surface.

Outlook... Next Sunday morning the Jets roll into town. This will be a really good test for the O-line. Jets D-Line boasts one of the strongest, deepest & most versatile groups in the league. Keep your fingers crossed that we get some players back healthy this week. Jets secondary is pretty bad, so the offense shouldn't have much of a problem moving the ball. Jets are 1-3 and desperate for AFC wins (1-2 conf). Steelers need to keep stacking these conference games to make life easier down the stretch. Steelers will enter this game as the favorites, but make no mistake, this game could wind up just like the Philly game if the Steelers don't show up with their A game. Their offense is formidable when firing on all cylinders. The defense will need another strong outing.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Even better job @FaCe-LeE-uS!

Especially the details on the backend play and noting Finney's & VW's performances.

I think Davis is a better athlete thus maybe higher ceiling, but Dangerfield showed he can play...this was an easy call to make over Shamarko...I see that now.

One thing that was interesting if not concerning. When Gay had to take a breather, the back end had no clue who needed to move to the slot...they were confused to the point of having to call a time out....just shows they were down to the last slot option pretty much.

If (I should stay positive and say when) Golson comes back, I'm curious to see how the snapcount will be dished out.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Even better job @FaCe-LeE-uS!

Especially the details on the backend play and noting Finney's & VW's performances.

I think Davis is a better athlete thus maybe higher ceiling, but Dangerfield showed he can play...this was an easy call to make over Shamarko...I see that now.

One thing that was interesting if not concerning. When Gay had to take a breather, the back end had no clue who needed to move to the slot...they were confused to the point of having to call a time out....just shows they were down to the last slot option pretty much.

If (I should stay positive and say when) Golson comes back, I'm curious to see how the snapcount will be dished out.

Davis... He's a good cover DB, but I still worry about his tackling skills. Dangerfield showed he can be a reliable tackler, just like Golden. I'd like to see Davis play over Burns in some instances. But I understand why they don't want to do that. There's a lot of pressure on Burns to produce faster results.

Depth... Forgot about that timeout blunder. Think I was zoning out and tuned back in right when they were forced to call TO because of the confusion. Didn't quite see what was going on but overheard the announcers sayin something about personnel.

Golson... Gettin concerned about him. Saw a tweet from Kaboly sayin something about Golson being a long shot to play this season. Don't know how that is possible given the fact that he is eating up a spot on the 53. They would IR him in a heartbeat if he were really a "long shot" to play this season. He hasn't been in a walking boot since week 1, so I think there a little to be optimistic about. Just depends on how aggressive he is with the rehab. The main thing that concerns me is there isn't any info at all about his progress. Tomlin hasn't mentioned his name on any reports that I've seen. Last he was spoken of was "week to week". Rest assured the second he comes out for practice with a helmet on I'm sure we'll see hundreds of articles flying around.

Side note... Saw that Dangerfield played 89 snaps last night. Sheesh. 3rd stringer got thrown directly into the fire.

 

[tomodach10]

Great win against cheifs.

 

[MISKO]

we liked it

 

[NorthCoastSteelersFan]

we liked it

Indeed.