Tied for 2nd in the division and only 1 game out of a wild card berth. This is one weird season.
Yes indeed. The Steelers have two big divisional road games, one on a short week. They are certainly capable of winning either or both or going on a skid and losing both. It should be interesting.
Really nice win yesterday. I was giddy when we went up 14-0 and then 17-3 but was deflated when the Lions put up 27 in the 2nd quarter. You really have to give credit to the coaching staff for making adjustments and the players for not quitting when it would have been easy to do so. Also give credit to the fans that stuck it out for the whole game. My grandson;s christening was yesterday so I had to sell my tickets or else I would have been there to the end (I never leave early no what the score or weather conditions). What a great victory -- it must have been a blast.
A couple observations:
* The Steelers continued to have problems in the red zone. I didn't agree with all the plays called but the main issue yesterday was lack of execution. On the first two red zone drives they had easy TD catches dropped and on the other Ben missed a wide open Paulson in the back of the end zone. Three times they settled for FGs when TDs were in their grasp.
* The one thing I will take issue with though is when the Steelers get near the goal line and run the ball they bring in 2 TEs and use a closed formation and try to pound the ball up the middle where the entire defense is stacked. They just don't have the personnel to pull this off. Much better to bring in a couple receivers and line them up wide to loosen things up again. This is exactly what they did on their 4th and I attempt and Dwyer was able to get a couple yards easily.
* We always knew that Ike Taylor has stone hands but my Lord he is bad. He had several attempts for picks but one in particular hit him right in the numbers. I am pretty sure that had Stafford walked over to Ike and handed him the ball that he would have dropped it. That was a huge play as the Lions ended up scoring a TD on that drive.
* I'll also beat on Ike to trying to tackle Megatron up high. Johnson is too big and strong for that and just brushed him aside. You got to go for the legs and try to wrap him up to have any chance. I will say that as bad as Ike looked in the 2nd quarter he did a nice job in the 2nd half and made a beautiful play jumping a route near the goal line and may have had a pick 6 if he doesn't (naturally) drop the ball. He was also unfairly flagged for PI against Megatron IMO. They were both shoving within 5 yards and Megatron was pushing off quite a bit yesterday.
* A big reason why the Steelers won was the fact the defense generated 3 turnovers and the Steelers offense had none. You can blame the Steelers woes on a lot of things and be right but the biggest factor so far this season has been turnovers.
* I was really worried when I heard that Woodley and Keisel were out for this game but Worilds, Jones, and even Ziggy stepped up and had nice games.
* Last season the Steelers defense really improved when Will Allen took over for Mundy. I was surprised and disappointed when he signed with the Cowboys. I am so glad the Cowboys let him go and the Steelers picked him back up. I don't think it is a coincidence that the Steelers have looked much better on defense in the 2 weeks he's been back. Yesterday he led the team with 7 tackles, had an interception and forced a fumble.
* The Steelers o-line didn't have a great day run blocking but did a nice job protecting Ben. Ben was only sacked once and actually had some time to get set. Not bad considering the entire line was either limited or unable to practice last Wednesday.
* It was nice to see Wheaton get some time out there getting some PT. Don't think Sanders was missed much.