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The ***OFFICIAL*** 2019 Pittsburgh Steelers Thread (2 Viewers)

In any other year I'd think this is a trap game, but with a 3rd string QB starting (4th if you count Dobbs who was ahead of him) they can't take any games for granted, right? RIGHT?

I'm hoping that even though the Cards got dominated last week we can still rock them this week. Our D is going to have to keep Kyler contained. Not really worried about much on Offense except some of their young WRs. If we can keep up the turnover generation we should be fine. 

 
steelers1080 said:
In any other year I'd think this is a trap game, but with a 3rd string QB starting (4th if you count Dobbs who was ahead of him) they can't take any games for granted, right? RIGHT?

I'm hoping that even though the Cards got dominated last week we can still rock them this week. Our D is going to have to keep Kyler contained. Not really worried about much on Offense except some of their young WRs. If we can keep up the turnover generation we should be fine. 
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This seems to be a different Steelers team that appears to know they can take no one for granted.   At least I hope so.   

 
Godsbrother said:
This seems to be a different Steelers team that appears to know they can take no one for granted.   At least I hope so.   
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The Steelers offense isn't good enough to take anyone lightly.  The difference between this team and the past few seasons is that the defense is awesome.  The coaches realize this and are going with a very conservative game plan (which is a very good strategy).  With how well the defense is playing, the most likely way to lose to a scrub like Arizona would be lots of turnovers on offense.  Fortunately the game plan is minimizing that likelihood.

 
fred_1_15301 said:
Think I saw Steelers are only 2 point favorites today.  Definitely no under estimating anyone.
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A.   The Cardinals are the kind of team the Steelers gets beat by no matter what the talent is

B.   I would argue that the Cardinals have better players on offense than the Steelers today.  But Steelers are much better coached

 
What a crazy crazy season. If this team gets any kind of offense next year, look out. Like what devlin has done though,  good for him

 
Nice win today.  If the Steelers win against Buffalo next week, that will give them a very high probability of making the playoffs.  If they lose, they're in a good bit of trouble.  Sunday night game - hope the defense comes out fired up.  Buffalo showed today that they have. a very good defense.  

 
It’s amazing to think Steelers could easily be 12-1 right now. It’s also amazing to think how they should have beaten Baltimore. 

 
PennStater77 said:
It’s amazing to think Steelers could easily be 12-1 right now. It’s also amazing to think how they should have beaten Baltimore. 
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How so?  They lost fairly convincingly to New England and Cleveland.  Their other 3 losses were close but almost every team in the league has close losses.  

 
Iceman03 said:
What? @Finatic isn’t coming in here thanking us for the pick today? Weird. Good luck with Justin Herbert and Ryan Fitzpatrick probably starting a dozen games next year guy.
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It is funny that he was trolling us but honestly he was actually doing it in a pretty civil fashion.  I didn't have a problem with him.   :shrug:    And he's a Dolphins fan so you got to give the poor sap a little bit of a break.

 
fred_1_15301 said:
It is funny that he was trolling us but honestly he was actually doing it in a pretty civil fashion.  I didn't have a problem with him.   :shrug:    And he's a Dolphins fan so you got to give the poor sap a little bit of a break.
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I don’t find it appropriate to do that #### in any team threads but could just be me. I know some do. If I meander into another teams thread it’s usually just to drop info or ask opinions. You do more than that you deserve to be called out when you make yourself into a fool.

 
fred_1_15301 said:
How so?  They lost fairly convincingly to New England and Cleveland.  Their other 3 losses were close but almost every team in the league has close losses.  
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Outside NE. They were in every game and should have beaten Baltimore, SF, and Seattle with backups playing. 

Kerrith Whyte Is currently their best back. 

 
fred_1_15301 said:
Nice win today.  If the Steelers win against Buffalo next week, that will give them a very high probability of making the playoffs.  If they lose, they're in a good bit of trouble.  Sunday night game - hope the defense comes out fired up.  Buffalo showed today that they have. a very good defense.  
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Right now it looks like the final AFC wildcard will likely be the Steelers, Texans or Titans.  Here are their remaining games

Steelers: Buffalo, @NYJets, @Baltimore

Texans: @Tennessee, @Tampa, Tennessee

Tennessee:  Houston, Saints, @Houston

The Steelers will be in great shape if they beat Buffalo and have a decent shot at the 5th seed.  If they lose then they'll need to beat Baltimore in week 17 on the road or hope the Texans sweep the Titans.  Obviously this assumes a win against the Jets which is by no means a sure thing 

 
If the Ravens beat the Jets on Thursday, then win at Cleveland in Week 16, they'd have the #1 seed clinched before facing the Steelers in Week 17. I could absolutely see the Ravens benching Lamar, or pulling him after the first possession or two at the very least. There would be absolutely no reason to expose him to punishment from any D, let alone one as good as Pittsburgh's. I think a lot of Ravens starters would see a fair amount of bench time in such a game - though with roster sizes being what they are, you really can't sit out that many guys at any one time. But Lamar, Ingram, Andrews (who got hurt yesterday, but apparently not too bad), Hollywood Brown (who's been dinged up all season) would all be candidates for very limited playing time.

 
We needed Oakland to step up and win yesterday, but other than that, pretty much every game went the way we needed it to.

Houston lost, making the games against the Titans mean more.

NE lost, giving the Ravens the opportunity to clinch the #1 seed before week 17

If Oakland had won, we'd have a very nice buffer. 

Juju should be back for Buffalo.  Connor might.  Last home game, in prime time.  I like our chances.

 
pfalvey said:
Tomlin said it was a called play after the game but.......was supposedly audibled out of by the punt team.....unfortunatly berry was the only person that missed the communication.
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That is really the only acceptable explanation for that play. I almost spit out my beer when it happened. 

 
It doesn't matter if it was a called play the entire game. It's another example of Tomlin's shortcomings as an in-game manager. If he had been on top of things and if he knew it was called depending on the defensive look, there's no scenario where a fake punt would make sense no matter what the Cardinals did. Up 10, 4th quarter, on your own end of the field, and with a great defense. That fake punt should've been called off entirely, and that's on coaching.

Between that and the clock management at the end, it was a piss poor quarter of coaching that luckily didn't cost the team anything.

 
How do we feel about the defense’s chances against the Bills this week? 

Ravens took it to them and the Steelers are a better D but it’s hard to imagine the Bills flopping two weeks in a row. 

 
ATB said:
How do we feel about the defense’s chances against the Bills this week? 

Ravens took it to them and the Steelers are a better D but it’s hard to imagine the Bills flopping two weeks in a row. 
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Josh Allen is good but not great.  He's been sacked 33 times so I would think the Steelers defense should be able to bring pressure so it really comes down to how well Allen responds to that.   The Bills do have a good rushing game but the Steelers defense has been pretty good against the run. 

I think in some ways the Bills are similar to the Steelers.  I fully expect both teams to play it close to the vest with an occasional shot down the field.   I am thinking this is going to be one of those games where a late turnover could decide the game.

Playing at home on prime time certainly doesn't hurt either.

 
You guys are looking at the Titans/Texans match-ups backwards. They're both 8-5 and the Titans are rolling. If they sweep the Texans, we have a much easier path into the playoffs and the Titans have been dominating the last several weeks with Tannehill at the helm. I think the Titans win at least 1, so I'm hoping they win both.

The Ravens should have the #1 seed locked up before week 17 unless something crazy happens, and at most I see them playing key starters for just the first half. The two sides of the coin are keep the team rolling into the playoffs and don't risk getting cold with a 2-week bye, versus possibly losing starters to injury. The Steelers will be playing their asses off, even if they somehow lose to the Bills and Jets and have 0 shot at the playoffs, the Ravens game will be their new Super Bowl. We hit Lamar a lot last time we played, that's why we almost won. I would be shocked if they played him a full 4 quarters against us, even if they are losing, I think they bench him at halftime at worst.

The Steelers should win the game Sunday night. The Bills stink. Everyone seems to be under the illusion that they're good because of their record, but they must not be looking at who they've actually played. They have wins against the Jets, Giants, Bengals, Dolphins, Redskins, and Brandon Allen lead Broncos. They also have wins against the Titans when they were starting Mariota, and the Cowboys who are crumbling before our very eyes, lead by a hapless Garrett.  The Bills are a creation of their circumstances and are not a legitimate contender. The Steelers could still lose to them, but they shouldn't. 

 
As a Ravens fan, I was very impressed with the Buffalo defense, especially watching them back-to-back with the 49ers defense. They're not on that level, primarily because their front 4 isn't as physically gifted, but scheme and discipline wise, they're comparable. And I'm similarly impressed with Pittsburgh's D. 

On the other hand, the Buffalo offense is very weak. I think you can attribute a lot of Allen's recent improvement to his lousy competition. He didn't threaten the Ravens all day - and they kept him in the pocket where he was a sitting duck. I honestly think this Sunday Night game could be something like 13-10, with whichever team avoids turnovers coming out on top. I just don't see how either team scores as many as 20 points.

 
steelers1080 said:
You guys are looking at the Titans/Texans match-ups backwards. They're both 8-5 and the Titans are rolling. If they sweep the Texans, we have a much easier path into the playoffs and the Titans have been dominating the last several weeks with Tannehill at the helm. I think the Titans win at least 1, so I'm hoping they win both.

The Ravens should have the #1 seed locked up before week 17 unless something crazy happens, and at most I see them playing key starters for just the first half. The two sides of the coin are keep the team rolling into the playoffs and don't risk getting cold with a 2-week bye, versus possibly losing starters to injury. The Steelers will be playing their asses off, even if they somehow lose to the Bills and Jets and have 0 shot at the playoffs, the Ravens game will be their new Super Bowl. We hit Lamar a lot last time we played, that's why we almost won. I would be shocked if they played him a full 4 quarters against us, even if they are losing, I think they bench him at halftime at worst.

The Steelers should win the game Sunday night. The Bills stink. Everyone seems to be under the illusion that they're good because of their record, but they must not be looking at who they've actually played. They have wins against the Jets, Giants, Bengals, Dolphins, Redskins, and Brandon Allen lead Broncos. They also have wins against the Titans when they were starting Mariota, and the Cowboys who are crumbling before our very eyes, lead by a hapless Garrett.  The Bills are a creation of their circumstances and are not a legitimate contender. The Steelers could still lose to them, but they shouldn't. 
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I think the Steelers are rooting for a sweep of the Titans-Texans games, by either team.  What we don't want is a split unless of course we beat Buffalo and the Jets which almost guarantees a playoff spot.

I don't think the Bills stink but I agree they really haven't beaten anyone tough either.  That said our last few games haven't been against world beaters either

 
Godsbrother said:
I think the Steelers are rooting for a sweep of the Titans-Texans games, by either team.  What we don't want is a split unless of course we beat Buffalo and the Jets which almost guarantees a playoff spot.

I don't think the Bills stink but I agree they really haven't beaten anyone tough either.  That said our last few games haven't been against world beaters either
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If there is going to be a sweep, I think we want Houston to sweep Tennessee.  That would allow us to get in by only beating the Jets.  If Tennessee sweeps Houston and we lose to Buffalo and the Ravens, I believe we would lose the tiebreaker to Houston (based on record against common opponents).  With a split, we have a very good shot since Tennessee would also need to beat the Saints in New Orleans.  Obviously best scenario is to just win this Sunday and then beat the stinking Jets.  As you said, that would all but guarantee us a playoff spot.

 
It will be the freakin worst if we need the Ravens game to make the playoffs, and we lose to their backups, a la Ryan Mallett loss a couple years ago. Ugh. Just thinking about it makes me mad.

Also, if the Steelers win out, we'll be the 5th seed. That would give me some hope to actually make moves in the playoffs. If that happened we'd most likely play the Texans or Titans first, then the Ravens, then the Pats or Chiefs. I think our team is good enough to give the Titans or Texans a run for their money, especially if Henry is banged up or if Watson has an off-day like last week. Then we'd face the Ravens in Baltimore, but we played them really close last time, and I think we'd have at least a 30% shot at a win. The Chiefs just beat the Pats at home, but honestly either team has been beatable because their running games aren't doing great and their QBs aren't playing at 100%. Our odds of beating any of these playoff teams would be less than 50%, but with our Defense's ability to generate turnovers and keep us in games, it doesn't seem like the impossible task it did just a few weeks ago.

Lastly, the similarities between Duck's string of wins and Big Ben's is eerie. He came in when the starter was knocked out by the Ravens, and proceeds to win all his starts. He runs for key first downs and leads us to scrappy wins with a very solid D in front of him (yes, Ben used to run when he was young). And he just makes plays when they really count. If he goes undefeated until losing to the Pats in the AFC Championship I'm definitely putting money on us to win next year's Super Bowl. 

 
Ray McKigney said:
I find it so bizarre that after missing the playoffs last year with Ben and Brown, that we could get in this year without either (or Tuitt.)  Just shows how badly Boswell ####ed us over last year with untimely misses.  Him getting back on track this year has been an underrated story line.
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True but the defense this year is 1000% better than last year.  

 
steelers1080 said:
Lastly, the similarities between Duck's string of wins and Big Ben's is eerie. He came in when the starter was knocked out by the Ravens, and proceeds to win all his starts. He runs for key first downs and leads us to scrappy wins with a very solid D in front of him (yes, Ben used to run when he was young). And he just makes plays when they really count. If he goes undefeated until losing to the Pats in the AFC Championship I'm definitely putting money on us to win next year's Super Bowl. 
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This is a really good observation and I didn't really think about it until now.   That said as much as I like Duck he is not even close to being another Big Ben.

 
Godsbrother said:
This is a really good observation and I didn't really think about it until now.   That said as much as I like Duck he is not even close to being another Big Ben.
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He’s not Ben but the mere fact of him being in there is forcing a conservative game plan.  With this defense, they don’t need the QB to put the team on his back and make risky throws.  

 
fred_1_15301 said:
He’s not Ben but the mere fact of him being in there is forcing a conservative game plan.  With this defense, they don’t need the QB to put the team on his back and make risky throws.  
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True but remember the teams we have beat down the stretch.   Wait till they are playing from behind late in the game against a good defense.  Look I am excited as any Steelers fan right now.  I like Duck a lot but Buffalo will be the first good defense he will play -- let's hope his success continues.

 
The_Man said:
As a Ravens fan, I was very impressed with the Buffalo defense, especially watching them back-to-back with the 49ers defense. They're not on that level, primarily because their front 4 isn't as physically gifted, but scheme and discipline wise, they're comparable. And I'm similarly impressed with Pittsburgh's D. 

On the other hand, the Buffalo offense is very weak. I think you can attribute a lot of Allen's recent improvement to his lousy competition. He didn't threaten the Ravens all day - and they kept him in the pocket where he was a sitting duck. I honestly think this Sunday Night game could be something like 13-10, with whichever team avoids turnovers coming out on top. I just don't see how either team scores as many as 20 points.
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I watched the Ravens v Bills and I honestly think that the Steelers will knock Allen out of the game. 

 
Acrobat7 said:
I watched the Ravens v Bills and I honestly think that the Steelers will knock Allen out of the game. 
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According to ESPN's NFL matchup, the Ravens blitz far more than any other team - especially on 3rd down, where they bring 5 or more rushers 63% of the time. The Steelers blitz on 3rd down more than only one other team, just 19% of the time. 

The Ravens absolutely destroyed the Bills with their blitz. On 27 plays with 5+ pass rushing, the Bills gained a total of just 8 yards (0.3 YPP) including 4 sacks and 1 turnover.

I wonder if the Steelers will turn up the blitz frequency in this game, because that's what enabled them to do the kind of damage to Allen you saw last week. He just didn't have a prayer when they brought pressure. 

 
Ray McKigney said:
That said, Tomlin rarely deviates from his team's strengths based on specific matchups or what has had success against specific teams.  They "do what [we] do." 
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That may have been true in past years, but this year I think the Steelers are doing a great job of game planning for specific opponents.  They played 3 inside LB against BAL early in the year, they ran the wild cat against CIN, they switched some offensive linemen around against the Rams for better matchups, they played mostly zone against ARI last week to limit Kyler's rushing, and there are probably more examples.

Based on the information in the last few posts I would guess the Steelers will blitz way more than typical for them due to the matchup this week.

 
Godsbrother said:
This is a really good observation and I didn't really think about it until now.   That said as much as I like Duck he is not even close to being another Big Ben.
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Maybe, or he's a rookie who has yet to fully come into his own. You seem to be comparing Duck to veteran Ben, not rookie Ben. Let's compare their stats as a starter. It's a small sample size for Duck since we only have 3 games so far, but it still offers some variance.

Big Ben Rookie Year: 188 Passing Yards per game, 1.15 Pass TD per game, 11 Rush Yards per game, 0.85 Turnovers per game

Duck Hodges: 165 Passing Yards per game, 1 Pass TD per game, 14.7 Rush Yards per game, 0.67 Turnovers per game

Neither QB was a gunslinger. The team operated in a very conservative manner with a strong defense. Duck doesn't have quite as strong an arm as Ben, but I do think that just because he was undrafted compared to a 1st round pick, that doesn't mean that he can't develop into a legit QB who can put up elite passing numbers. Also, keep in mind that Duck has done this with James Washington, Diontae Johnson, and Deon Cain, while Rookie Big Ben had Hines Ward and Plaxico Burress...

 
steelers1080 said:
Maybe, or he's a rookie who has yet to fully come into his own. You seem to be comparing Duck to veteran Ben, not rookie Ben. Let's compare their stats as a starter. It's a small sample size for Duck since we only have 3 games so far, but it still offers some variance.

Big Ben Rookie Year: 188 Passing Yards per game, 1.15 Pass TD per game, 11 Rush Yards per game, 0.85 Turnovers per game

Duck Hodges: 165 Passing Yards per game, 1 Pass TD per game, 14.7 Rush Yards per game, 0.67 Turnovers per game

Neither QB was a gunslinger. The team operated in a very conservative manner with a strong defense. Duck doesn't have quite as strong an arm as Ben, but I do think that just because he was undrafted compared to a 1st round pick, that doesn't mean that he can't develop into a legit QB who can put up elite passing numbers. Also, keep in mind that Duck has done this with James Washington, Diontae Johnson, and Deon Cain, while Rookie Big Ben had Hines Ward and Plaxico Burress...
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As you said, really small sample size for Duck (3 starts) and the defenses he's played haven't been very good.   Ben went 13-0 and beat some pretty darn good teams doing it (Patriots, Eagles,  Ravens,  Jets, Jags).  He also took the team to the conference championship in his rookie year. 

Let's see what Duck does the rest of the season (and hopefully postseason) before we start the comparisons to one of the best rookie QB performances of all time.

 
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Finatic said:
It's more likely to be Swift or Jonathan Taylor with your pick and I'm fine with that for a DB that gets 1-3 tackles a game
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What about all the turnovers he’s caused?  Maybe teams are game planning to keep the ball far away from him.  If that’s the case, it’s making the job a lot easier for the rest of the defense.  He’s turned this defense into a damn near elite defense.

 
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Finatic said:
It's more likely to be Swift or Jonathan Taylor with your pick and I'm fine with that for a DB that gets 1-3 tackles a game
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yeah you are right - because the only defensive stat you should look at it TPG.

do you work for the Dolphins front office by chance?

 
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