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2023 Pittsburgh Steelers. Banged up team loses to Buffalo. Looking ahead to 2024 now (9 Viewers)

fred_1_15301 said:
timschochet said:
fred_1_15301 said:
Nice win for the Steelers today but man could it have come at a higher cost? Torn pec confirmed for Watt which I assume ends his season. Najeh hurt, Cam hurt and a few others as well. Without Watt, this defense is actually pretty bad. Trubisky was worse than I thought. The O line is as bad as advertised. Walk me off the ledge here folks - am I overreacting? Are we drafting in the top 5 next year?
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1-0. Who knows, we might go undefeated!
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Tim - I said to walk me off the ledge and that's the best you got! Not helping brother.
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Lol if you’re a fan of an NFL team you’re never off the ledge.

It’s a long season. Somehow Tomlin never has a losing season so I doubt they’re going to have a high spot in the draft. On the other hand this doesn’t look like a playoff team. I figure there will be some ugly losses and a few more surprise victories. Probably 8-8. We’ll see what happens.
 
fred_1_15301 said:
Nice win for the Steelers today but man could it have come at a higher cost? Torn pec confirmed for Watt which I assume ends his season. Najeh hurt, Cam hurt and a few others as well. Without Watt, this defense is actually pretty bad. Trubisky was worse than I thought. The O line is as bad as advertised. Walk me off the ledge here folks - am I overreacting? Are we drafting in the top 5 next year?
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I don't believe that has actually been confirmed yet but it is probably the case. I guess there are degrees of tears so we can hold out hope that it is partial and that he won't be lost for the season until we know more.

I thought the defense with and without Watt played pretty damn great against a really good offense. Trubisky certainly didn't set the world on fire but he protected the ball and managed the game which was good enough. The offensive line is garbage but we knew that coming in. The officiating was pretty brutal.

The Steelers got an unlikely win on the road and against a divisional rival that absolutely kicked our butts twice last season. Losing Watt is devastating but I still think the defense is solid and I'm hoping the o-line gets better as the season goes on. Hopefully Najee's injury is not serious.

The Steelers' next three opponents are the Patriots, Browns & Jets and two are at home. Let's see where we stand after those 3 games before we panic.
 
Agreed. Its a big road win to start the season no matter how you look at it. 5 turnovers can cover for a brutal offense. Hopefully they figure it out over the next few weeks.
 
If Trubisky looks the same after next week, does Tomlin even considers going with Pickett in week 3? He made the comment that Pickett isn't starting this year but we know the yinzers will be calling for it.
 
fred_1_15301 said:
If Trubisky looks the same after next week, does Tomlin even considers going with Pickett in week 3? He made the comment that Pickett isn't starting this year but we know the yinzers will be calling for it.
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Barring injury I don't think there is much chance that Tomlin makes a move to Pickett until week 5 or later.
 
The kind of win you take and never look back. You won't get a +5 turnover edge, and the other team losing their long snapper which caused a missed chip shot in OT, on a weekly basis.

Offense resembles the same from last season, which is a major concern. On a good note, MT didn't turn the ball over, and made a couple of nice plays, including the free one on the offside call. This unit needs to get it together, and fast, because they can't leave the defense out there that long every game, and need more sustaining drives ending with TDs.
 
fred_1_15301 said:
Nice win for the Steelers today but man could it have come at a higher cost? Torn pec confirmed for Watt which I assume ends his season. Najeh hurt, Cam hurt and a few others as well. Without Watt, this defense is actually pretty bad. Trubisky was worse than I thought. The O line is as bad as advertised. Walk me off the ledge here folks - am I overreacting? Are we drafting in the top 5 next year?
Click to expand...

Trubisky was worse than I expected as well, but the play-calling and personnel groupings were even worse. Third and long and you bring in Watt with Gunner and Boykin? Same jet-sweeps. Same passes to targets underneath. O-line didn't help -- but run the ball to keep them honest and take some shots!

Watt injury makes it all for naught really. D can be elite with him, if Witherspoon plays better. He had some nice plays, but got burnt when it counted -- and Sutton bailed him out in the corner of the endzone too.

I wonder who they sign to take Watt's roster spot. As soon as he was walking off of the field he said "I tore my pec." You could read his lips -- sucks so bad.

And is Rudolph to the Cowboys in the works?
 
Godsbrother said:
There's some optimism today in Pittsburgh that OLB and Reigning Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt did not experience a full pec tear and will be able to return after sitting for a month or so, per league source. Still awaiting word from the team.

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With his genetics, he can probably just play next week.

So who do we sign? Roche got elevated from PS last week. Tuszka active or on PS with Titans?
 
fred_1_15301 said:
Nice win for the Steelers today but man could it have come at a higher cost? Torn pec confirmed for Watt which I assume ends his season. Najeh hurt, Cam hurt and a few others as well. Without Watt, this defense is actually pretty bad. Trubisky was worse than I thought. The O line is as bad as advertised. Walk me off the ledge here folks - am I overreacting? Are we drafting in the top 5 next year?
Click to expand...
Most recent buzz is that the TJ Watt injury might only cost him 1 month, 4 games. To be confirmed, could still definitely be the full season, but still remain hopeful that it was a partial tear.
Cam, Leal, Cole, Wallace, Highsmith all hurt, but their injuries were called minor and several came back into the game.
Najee, remains to be seen. Allegedly injured the opposite foot that was bugging him all pre-season.
O-line was as bad as expected, and Trubisky was pretty bad. He didn't cause any turnovers and that was the saving grace for this game, he barely won it for us, but he didn't lose it for us. Sadly, I think that's the best we could hope for from him this year. Also, the play calling could definitely have been better, runs up the middle were not going to get it done on the goal line with our trash line.

I still have hope for this season, very much so. We beat the #1 team in the division (Bengals are def better than the Ravens IMO), a lot of other AFC teams look like garbage (Titans, Colts, Pats), and we have paths forward to success.

Trubisky often locked in to his 1st read and forced the ball there no matter what. Also, his windup necessary to get the ball to the sideline is ridiculous, he has to spin his whole body around like a small child trying to throw the football. Also, he took too long making decisions when deciding where to go with the ball so openings would close and make contested catches. Lastly, it could be play calling, but too often the go-to read was 4-5 yards downfield, so we'd run for 2-3, then pass for 4-5 and have to rely on 3rd down to convert. We need more plays designed for 7-10 yard gains and to take more shots downfield. In a halfway decent scheme there should be an open player if you have Pat, Diontae, Chase, and George running around. They're too good to all be covered 1 on 1.

I think our best shot at success is:
  1. Start Pickett over Mitch next week. Yes, we won, but it will get him experience and he looked more decisive in the preseason. I think this helps us win more long term. Also, we face the Pats, Browns with Brissett, and Jets the next 3 weeks. That will be the best stretch to get him going before the Bills in week 5.
  2. Less runs between the guards, there was 0 success to be had there. Stretch the field. (Loved the downfield blocking by Warren)
  3. Add OLB depth.
  4. Deeper route tree, less under 5 yards.
  5. Maintain pressure on Defense. This obviously isn't guaranteed and will be harder without Watt, but we need to keep up the pressure so our team can continue to force turnovers. Our secondary seems improved, but every secondary falls apart if the QB is given enough time. Week 1 was great, we just need to find a way to keep that up.
 
Steelers fans are the worst. We are way too spoiled. A win on the road against the defending AFC champion. Probably the toughest game of the year.

As long as Watt is not out for the year, this should be an overall positive discussion.

Mitch did exactly what he was asked in this game. With a lead, his role was to not turn the ball over. When they needed a drive with a minute left in OT, he came through. This was a good first game.

Najee was bad.

The OL run blocking was terrible. The play calling needs to change. The coaches can protect this line with play calling.

The D was amazing. Everyone just needs to get healthy
 
Drunken Cowboy said:
Steelers fans are the worst. We are way too spoiled. A win on the road against the defending AFC champion. Probably the toughest game of the year.

As long as Watt is not out for the year, this should be an overall positive discussion.

Mitch did exactly what he was asked in this game. With a lead, his role was to not turn the ball over. When they needed a drive with a minute left in OT, he came through. This was a good first game.

Najee was bad.

The OL run blocking was terrible. The play calling needs to change. The coaches can protect this line with play calling.

The D was amazing. Everyone just needs to get healthy
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There are obvious concerns over the offensive line and Watt injury but I agree with you. It was a hell of a road win.
 
Godsbrother said:
Drunken Cowboy said:
Steelers fans are the worst. We are way too spoiled. A win on the road against the defending AFC champion. Probably the toughest game of the year.

As long as Watt is not out for the year, this should be an overall positive discussion.

Mitch did exactly what he was asked in this game. With a lead, his role was to not turn the ball over. When they needed a drive with a minute left in OT, he came through. This was a good first game.

Najee was bad.

The OL run blocking was terrible. The play calling needs to change. The coaches can protect this line with play calling.

The D was amazing. Everyone just needs to get healthy
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There are obvious concerns over the offensive line and Watt injury but I agree with you. It was a hell of a road win.
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Even the OL should still get some love. Their pass blocking was better than expected. Maybe decent
 
The win was unexpected and welcome. Outside of a couple of plays on O though, I didn't really see much of this vaunted "creativity" from Canada, but it's one game. I'll let him have more rope before I string him up totally. Mitch looked fine. Not great, not awful. Took care of the ball for the most part (he did have a couple of near misses in that regard, but avoided disaster). About what I expected.

Run game was trash, but that was zero surprise to me.

If Watt's out for half the year, or more, they're probably toast on D though. Their DB coverage issues get hidden by their elite pass rush and Fitzpatrick's ability to "take out the trash" when he's allowed to read/react. Remove that elite rush, that limits Fitzpatrick's ability to freelance, which then leads to the corners likely not looking very good over the long haul because of it.

Run D wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs either (especially losing contain on Burrow) although in the red zone they got a lot tougher this game than they were at just about any point last year (that said, Watt contributes in that regard a lot also, soooo....yeah.)

TL;DR:

"Dear Steelers,

This was a nice win.

P.S. Please don't miss the whole season, T.J., or we're probably boned regardless.

YIC xoxox

5-"
 
steelers1080 said:
fred_1_15301 said:
Nice win for the Steelers today but man could it have come at a higher cost? Torn pec confirmed for Watt which I assume ends his season. Najeh hurt, Cam hurt and a few others as well. Without Watt, this defense is actually pretty bad. Trubisky was worse than I thought. The O line is as bad as advertised. Walk me off the ledge here folks - am I overreacting? Are we drafting in the top 5 next year?
Click to expand...
Most recent buzz is that the TJ Watt injury might only cost him 1 month, 4 games. To be confirmed, could still definitely be the full season, but still remain hopeful that it was a partial tear.
Cam, Leal, Cole, Wallace, Highsmith all hurt, but their injuries were called minor and several came back into the game.
Najee, remains to be seen. Allegedly injured the opposite foot that was bugging him all pre-season.
O-line was as bad as expected, and Trubisky was pretty bad. He didn't cause any turnovers and that was the saving grace for this game, he barely won it for us, but he didn't lose it for us. Sadly, I think that's the best we could hope for from him this year. Also, the play calling could definitely have been better, runs up the middle were not going to get it done on the goal line with our trash line.

I still have hope for this season, very much so. We beat the #1 team in the division (Bengals are def better than the Ravens IMO), a lot of other AFC teams look like garbage (Titans, Colts, Pats), and we have paths forward to success.

Trubisky often locked in to his 1st read and forced the ball there no matter what. Also, his windup necessary to get the ball to the sideline is ridiculous, he has to spin his whole body around like a small child trying to throw the football. Also, he took too long making decisions when deciding where to go with the ball so openings would close and make contested catches. Lastly, it could be play calling, but too often the go-to read was 4-5 yards downfield, so we'd run for 2-3, then pass for 4-5 and have to rely on 3rd down to convert. We need more plays designed for 7-10 yard gains and to take more shots downfield. In a halfway decent scheme there should be an open player if you have Pat, Diontae, Chase, and George running around. They're too good to all be covered 1 on 1.

I think our best shot at success is:
  1. Start Pickett over Mitch next week. Yes, we won, but it will get him experience and he looked more decisive in the preseason. I think this helps us win more long term. Also, we face the Pats, Browns with Brissett, and Jets the next 3 weeks. That will be the best stretch to get him going before the Bills in week 5.
  2. Less runs between the guards, there was 0 success to be had there. Stretch the field. (Loved the downfield blocking by Warren)
  3. Add OLB depth.
  4. Deeper route tree, less under 5 yards.
  5. Maintain pressure on Defense. This obviously isn't guaranteed and will be harder without Watt, but we need to keep up the pressure so our team can continue to force turnovers. Our secondary seems improved, but every secondary falls apart if the QB is given enough time. Week 1 was great, we just need to find a way to keep that up.
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Bold part is a frustrating continuation from last year. Even when you need 2-3 yards for a first down, far too often the play called is a pass behind the first down marker.
 
steelers1080 said:
fred_1_15301 said:
Nice win for the Steelers today but man could it have come at a higher cost? Torn pec confirmed for Watt which I assume ends his season. Najeh hurt, Cam hurt and a few others as well. Without Watt, this defense is actually pretty bad. Trubisky was worse than I thought. The O line is as bad as advertised. Walk me off the ledge here folks - am I overreacting? Are we drafting in the top 5 next year?
Click to expand...
Most recent buzz is that the TJ Watt injury might only cost him 1 month, 4 games. To be confirmed, could still definitely be the full season, but still remain hopeful that it was a partial tear.
Cam, Leal, Cole, Wallace, Highsmith all hurt, but their injuries were called minor and several came back into the game.
Najee, remains to be seen. Allegedly injured the opposite foot that was bugging him all pre-season.
O-line was as bad as expected, and Trubisky was pretty bad. He didn't cause any turnovers and that was the saving grace for this game, he barely won it for us, but he didn't lose it for us. Sadly, I think that's the best we could hope for from him this year. Also, the play calling could definitely have been better, runs up the middle were not going to get it done on the goal line with our trash line.

I still have hope for this season, very much so. We beat the #1 team in the division (Bengals are def better than the Ravens IMO), a lot of other AFC teams look like garbage (Titans, Colts, Pats), and we have paths forward to success.

Trubisky often locked in to his 1st read and forced the ball there no matter what. Also, his windup necessary to get the ball to the sideline is ridiculous, he has to spin his whole body around like a small child trying to throw the football. Also, he took too long making decisions when deciding where to go with the ball so openings would close and make contested catches. Lastly, it could be play calling, but too often the go-to read was 4-5 yards downfield, so we'd run for 2-3, then pass for 4-5 and have to rely on 3rd down to convert. We need more plays designed for 7-10 yard gains and to take more shots downfield. In a halfway decent scheme there should be an open player if you have Pat, Diontae, Chase, and George running around. They're too good to all be covered 1 on 1.

I think our best shot at success is:
  1. Start Pickett over Mitch next week. Yes, we won, but it will get him experience and he looked more decisive in the preseason. I think this helps us win more long term. Also, we face the Pats, Browns with Brissett, and Jets the next 3 weeks. That will be the best stretch to get him going before the Bills in week 5.
  2. Less runs between the guards, there was 0 success to be had there. Stretch the field. (Loved the downfield blocking by Warren)
  3. Add OLB depth.
  4. Deeper route tree, less under 5 yards.
  5. Maintain pressure on Defense. This obviously isn't guaranteed and will be harder without Watt, but we need to keep up the pressure so our team can continue to force turnovers. Our secondary seems improved, but every secondary falls apart if the QB is given enough time. Week 1 was great, we just need to find a way to keep that up.
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6. Stop giving Claypool carries.
 
Here's a scouting report on the Steeler's newly signed OLB David Anenih. Since he was signed from the Titans practice squad he had to be added to the 53 man roster.

Sounds like he has several good traits for the position.
 
moondog said:
Here's a scouting report on the Steeler's newly signed OLB David Anenih. Since he was signed from the Titans practice squad he had to be added to the 53 man roster.

Sounds like he has several good traits for the position.
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If he has to play significant minutes, we are probably in trouble.
 
Mac Jones is sick and missing practice, in addition to his back issue. I'm hoping that he plays over Brian Hoyer, it just feels like Hoyer will beat us but we'll beat Jones based on our previous play against washed up QBs...

Najee saying he's good to go for Sunday. Great, if true.

I really hope that Mitch is able to speed up his decision making this week, hopefully the issues last week were more from having a year off of starting and not a sign of things to come.
 
steelers1080 said:
Mac Jones is sick and missing practice, in addition to his back issue. I'm hoping that he plays over Brian Hoyer, it just feels like Hoyer will beat us but we'll beat Jones based on our previous play against washed up QBs...

Najee saying he's good to go for Sunday. Great, if true.

I really hope that Mitch is able to speed up his decision making this week, hopefully the issues last week were more from having a year off of starting and not a sign of things to come.
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I hear what you’re saying but Houer wasn’t great in his prime and he is well beyond that.

Even without Watt I like our chances against the Pats offense. It’s our offense that concerns me.
 
Just seent that Minkah was named AFC defensive player of the week. Well deserved I think. His blocked extra has not been talked about enough. Although that was special teams.

Mixon kept talking **** to him the whole game. Whatever. Who's laughing now Joe?
 
Grid71 said:
Twitter link

Revealing tweet showing the pass distribution to different areas of the field. Didn’t realize Mitch only had 1 completion downfield in the middle.
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I know the O-line is bad but tbh I don't think we have the wrs personally. I'm excited for Pickens to mature but right now I'm not excited
 
belljr said:
Grid71 said:
Twitter link

Revealing tweet showing the pass distribution to different areas of the field. Didn’t realize Mitch only had 1 completion downfield in the middle.
Click to expand...
I know the O-line is bad but tbh I don't think we have the wrs personally. I'm excited for Pickens to mature but right now I'm not excited
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Muth alone should be good for a few receptions in the middle. Run a slant or crossing route settle in an opening vs zone. Middle of the field is riskier than playing boundaries and underneath. But if there is no threat to attack a D, we will continue to be suffocated.
 
This offense is almost exactly what I thought it was, and I don't think it's too early to say that. Oline still sucks(expected). Playcalling still sucks(expected, but confirmed).

Even with no TJ, the defense seemed okay-ish most of the game(aside from some of the calls. Hardly any blitzing at all, especially early). Witherspoon needed to be more aggressive on what he thought was going to be an INT that turned into a NE touchdown. He gets hands up for that thing instead of trying to body catch it, at the very worst it's an incompletion and totally changes the complexion of the game. Was third down, boss, gotta make sure they don't convert first and foremost.
 
5-ish Finkle said:
Witherspoon needed to be more aggressive on what he thought was going to be an INT that turned into a NE touchdown. He gets hands up for that thing instead of trying to body catch it, at the very worst it's an incompletion and totally changes the complexion of the game.
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When I was playing CB, in man to man coverage I was coached to watch the WR. When he puts his hands up to catch, block the ball. If he still gets the ball in his hands, smack the balk out of them. When did this change?

You watch that play, Witherspoon was in great position. In the split second he tries to find the ball in the air, Agholor catches it. I still don't get it.
 
Godsbrother said:
crushedspirit said:
But the offense was Ben's fault LOL
Click to expand...

All we kept hearing last season was the Matt Canada's offense needed to have a mobile QB to work. After two games I would rather have an immobile Ben Roethlisberger.
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It's a small ball offense, and no matter how many QBs they audition to make it run, the premise of it will not change.

The OC needs to go.
 
Doesn't really matter who the QB is when the O-line is so dreadful. If anything you'd be setting Pickett up to fail by throwing him into that mess.

It's malpractice that they devoted so few resources to trying to improve it.
 
Bad play calling. A QB playing scared -- but not running. Muffed punt killer though.

Are the WRs not getting open? Are they not running deep routes or middle ones? Is Mitch locking on 1-2 reads? Does he not have time to do more than that and check down?

They need to take some shots. If Pickett is more willing to do so, and the O looks the same this Thursday, then make the move to Kenny P. And I am one who liked the Trubisky signing.
 
Last edited:
One telling quote from Mitch yesterday though. When asked about the lack of plays deep/middle, he said that they needed to call the concepts to get the WRs there . . . .
 
Tomlin 'planned' to sit Pickett all year, not gonna happen but the timing isn't right to make the switch now.
Browns aren't scary especially without Clowney and the way the secondary has been a dumpster fire the first two games. Jets, also not scary but they face teams that may not be the best for Pickett to start in the next 4 games.
3ThuSeptember 228:15PM ETpreview@Cleveland Browns
4SunOctober 21:00PM ETpreviewNew York Jets
5SunOctober 91:00PM ETpreview@Buffalo Bills
6SunOctober 161:00PM ETpreviewTampa Bay Buccaneers
7SunOctober 238:20PM ETpreview@Miami Dolphins
8SunOctober 301:00PM ETpreview@Philadelphia Eagles
9Bye Week
I think most would agree that after the BYE would be optimal timing.
 
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