The Blitzburgh Report

It wasn’t pretty, but it worked. The Steelers have had a lot of ugly games lately, haven’t they? Fortunately they’ve won most of them, but that doesn’t make them any less concerning. They had some bad penalties, turnovers, and close calls. But the defense really stepped up and shut down the Bengals offense, no matter how hard the Steelers offense tried to let them back in the game.

• The Steelers continued to struggle getting started. Even in some of their best games they’ve started out very slow; on both offense and defense. But the team really picked it up as the first half wore on. They are going to have to start games faster because against better opponents they could find themselves 14 or more points down before they know it.

• As great punts that Daniel Sepulveda has had this season, he has had some real stinkers as well. I think I mentioned him in my recaps every week for the first 8 or so, but he’s come back down to earth a little. He really helped the team out last week with field position, but was a bit shaky again last night. He closed the game out a lot better then he started, however. I am willing to cut the guy some slack right now because he is a rookie. I think he’s going to be a great punter for the Steelers, but he obviously still has some consistency to work on.

• That Ben Roethlisberger run for a touchdown in the first half was so reminiscent of the Super Bowl run he had. I was holding my breath as the Steelers lined up for the extra point as I waited to see if Marvin Lewis would challenge it. I am really surprised that he didn’t. I can’t say for sure that Ben got the ball over. I’m not complaining or anything obviously, but from the limited replays they showed of it I think Lewis could have won a challenge, or at least it would have been worth the try. (By the way, it was great to see Ben run it there instead of trying to force a throw).

• Willie Parker’s fumbles were a huge disappointment. He tied for the most fumbles for running backs last season with six and he seems to be continuing the trend here. He got lucky on the first and third fumbles as they were reviewed to not be, but they were both very close (especially the third). To me he still lost control of the ball on each play and whether it was official or not he still fumbled.

  Also, how does Willie come out again right after the third (non)fumble then be so careless with the ball and lose it again? The review didn’t save him on the fourth. I know it was wet, but losing the ball four times is unacceptable, especially losing the ball on two plays in a row.

• The Steelers’ secondary was solid after a slow start. It seems like they used the same game plan this time as in the last game. I remember James Harrison said some time after that game that they purposely didn’t do as much blitzing (presumably to help with coverage). Whatever it was, it worked. I know a lot of fans have been upset that the team hasn’t had a lot of interceptions, but they aren’t giving up a lot of big yards either. That works for me.

• In fact, the whole defense was great. That four-down goal line stand late in the fourth quarter after Ben’s interception was a thing of beauty. In fact, the way the Steelers offense was playing late in the game, they came up huge, holding the Bengals after the fumbles and interception. James Farrior was constantly in the right place at the right time. Clark Haggans was getting pressure. Brett Keisel was batting down balls. It was great to watch.

• Good thing the Bengals are still the Bungals. They had some bad plays, in particular two in the 4th. They had a safety taken away by defensive holding call, and an off-sides on a Steelers punt gave them a first down. There’s nothing like watching the Bengals do themselves in.

• Two of the the Steelers’ weak spots played pretty well last night and deserve mention- the offensive line and the kick coverage unit. The line gave Ben time and gave up no sacks. It was good to see them bounce back and usual scape-goat Max Starks was actually solid in place of Marvel Smith. On the special teams side, the Steelers went back to normal kick offs (instead of pooch kicks) and contained the returns. They also did well covering punts.

• Man, wasn’t it great to see T.J. Houshmandzadeh so frustrated out there? I loved seeing him sulking on the bench at the end of the game. Also, is it me or did it seem like Chad Johnson didn’t realize it was fourth down on the Bengals’ last play?

• Congratulations to Hines Ward for grabbing his 64th career touchdown reception to put him in the lead all-time for the Steelers. He beat out two Hall of Famers in John Stallworth and Lynn Swann. Do you think Hines will be voted into the Hall of Fame? I’d like to think so but you never know with the voters.

The win was huge last night, especially because the Browns lost earlier. They are in fairly good shape heading into Foxboro next week. We’ll have to see how the injuries play out and who will be ready to go. They are probably about as ready as they’ll ever be to face the Pats. I think they’ve got a good shot but as Hines said after the game, each player is going to have to bring their A game.

Steelers’ MVP
This week I am giving the MVP to Hines Ward. It was close between him and the defense, but I have to give it to Hines because of how big he was catching on third downs and also because of his record-setting day. Congrats to Hines on the Steelers’ record for touchdown receptions.

 Loading …

We expected this might happen, right? That vaunted Jets run-stuffing defense would stop the running game and get pressure on Ben Roethlisberger. Actually, I don’t think anyone was thinking that, and again the Steelers failed to win at the line of scrimmage. The last time the Steelers got beat in the trenches was their last loss, a game against the Broncos where they also failed to take advantage of the worst run stopping defense. You really can’t feel too good after a loss like this, and while the offensive line was the main disaster, as Coach Tomlin said after the game, “We win together, and we stink it up together”.

• The Steelers started right out with the pooch kick on the opening kick off. At first I looked at it as them having no confidence in their coverage unit (which is still true I suppose), but the more I thought about it, I decided that it isn’t such a bad strategy. Other teams have started doing it as well with guys like Devin Hester. Is it ideal? Not really as you’d rather stop them at least at the 20 yard line. But with the way the Steelers’ special teams have been playing and the way kick returns for touchdowns are on a record pace this season, maybe it isn’t a completely horrible compromise against the better returners.

• The Jets defense has been horrible against the run and the Steelers still couldn’t pound the rock. This wasn’t like the Broncos game either, where the Steelers faked themselves out by trying to pass more– they actually really tried to run it this game and failed badly. There’s been some questioning now on Steelers’ forums of whether or not Willie Parker is any good, etc. Look, he is good. But a game like yesterday played into his weakness. If the offensive line is struggling, he is not going to be one to either make guys miss or knock people over. It is just not something he is great at…

• …which is why, I presume, the Steelers have a guy like Najeh Davenport as their number two back, ready to come in to games like this one. In fact, they did try Najeh and he had a bit of success. At least he was getting three or so yards a pop. I didn’t mind them putting Willie back in later on, but the one part I still can’t understand is why they didn’t use Najeh when it was his time to shine. He has been spectacular so far this season at getting yards at the end of games to help run the clock out. So why when the Steelers got the ball back on a Deshea Townsend interception did they try to run with Willie and not Najeh?
   
  When you absolutely need tough yards to run the clock out, and the other team knows you are going to be running it… are you going to go with the guy that has been struggling to get past the line of scrimmage all night, or do you give it to the guy who was born to push the pile and get tough yards? The Steelers chose Willie, went three and out, and gave the Jets the ball back with plenty of time left. The Jets then went down for the tying field goal (and came damn close to getting the winning touchdown too).

• Slow starts are really killing the Steelers this season. Even in some of their better games they started out slowly, especially on offense. These past two games the defense got in on it as well. The defense did play better in the second half, at least enough to allow the offense to come back. Though they again couldn’t come up with a big play on the last drive of a game, allowing the Jets to boot the game tying field goal.
   
  Not to mention they gave up their first 100+ yard rusher in 34 games. Did that sneak up on anyone else as well? I didn’t even realize Thomas Jones was that close until the announcers mentioned it. It is a bummer to have the streak snapped, but at the same time it isn’t the end of the world. Like I said earlier, despite them not playing particularly like the #1 defense in the league, they still did just enough to win the game.

• I am hesitant to lump the Steelers’ punt in over time into the “another example of how the Steelers’ kick coverage blows” category only because I think the real problem on that play was the awful punt by Daniel Sepulveda. It was really set up by his short kick. He’s had some poor punts lately. I’m not sure what happened. He could do no wrong to start the season.
   
  In fact, it seems like almost everything we held the Steelers in such high praise for to start the season has done a complete 180. Sepulveda’s been unimpressive. After a touchdown and signs he might have been a huge pick up for the Steelers, Allen Rossum’s returns have been pitiful. Willie Parker and the Steelers’ run game looked unstoppable, but after leading the league in rushing Willie has had only 199 yards on 69 attempts in the last three games, for an average of 2.9 yards a carry. Their usually smothering defense has seemed a bit leaky and absent at times. The Steelers seemed trapped in bizarro world.

• All that and I still haven’t gotten to the main culprit last night. So without further ado, the offensive line. I know that the whole team had bad plays, and some bad penalties. But it happens most games; rarely does a team put on a perfect performance on all phases of the game. But at least everyone else did well enough at times. With even a little better performance by the line, they could have won the game. The case has usually been that if the line isn’t the best at pass protection, at least they can run block. They couldn’t even do that yesterday.
   
  They simply got manhandled by the Jets. They couldn’t open holes and they couldn’t give Ben time. The rare times that Ben had a moment, he seemed to have no where to throw to anyway (though I guess that one isn’t the line’s fault). The numbers speak for themselves- Ben was sacked seven times, and Steelers’ runners had only 112 yards on 33 attempts.
   
  Heck, if Ben wasn’t such an escape artist, he might be rivaling David Carr’s record of being sacked 76 times in a season. Or at least the team would probably be no better then .500 right now.
   
  It is cliche and I’ve said it a number of times already myself- but the team is only going as far as the offensive line takes them. If this isn’t proof that the big guys up front just might be the most important part of the offense then I don’t know what is. If the offensive line doesn’t figure something out then the Steelers have all the making of a one and done playoff team.

• OK, now to catch our breath on this last point. It is OK. The Steelers still have only lost three games. They were all games that they should have won, but they were also all games that the were in position to win. It was bad losing to the Jets, but better them then the Browns last week or the Ravens, or the Bengals, etc. Yes, they have weaknesses and a lot to work on. But so do most teams not called the New England Patriots. In fact, I think the only reason that some many people are so down on the team today even though they are 7-3, is that the Patriots are playing at such a high level.
   
  We can’t compare this team to the Patriots right now. No team is currently in their class. In fact, I’m not convinced that the Steelers beating them in three weeks is super important. Ideal yes, but not the end of the world if they don’t. The real time to compare the Steelers to beat the Patriots is if/when they meet up in the playoffs. Right now, the Steelers have to concentrate on shoring up and winning the games that they are suppose to win. Obviously they didn’t do a great job of that yesterday, but fortunately they are in a position to be able to get right back up and get on track. Don’t dump on the team just yet, there’s still so much left to be played.

Just how well did the Steelers do in the 2007 NFL draft? Peter Schrager of FOXSports.com gives the team a “B” in his midseason evaluation:

Pittsburgh: Expected to get instant production from rookie linebackers LeMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons, the linebacker quartet of veterans Clark Haggans, James Farrior, Larry Foote, and James Harrison have been arguably the best unit in the league. Woodley’s come along a bit faster than Timmons, but neither rookie’s really been given the chance to soar. Third-round pick Matt Spaeth already has three touchdown receptions as the team’s second tight end. And then there’s the punter, fourth- round pick Daniel Sepulveda. The two-time Ray Guy Award winner has been a rock for the Steelers, averaging 44.4 yards per punt and nailing 12 inside the 20. Nice production from this crew so far, and it’s only expected to get better.

I have no big problems with Schrager’s assessment and think that a “B” is a fair grade so far. Though, I am not sure that the Steelers “expected to get instant production” out of Timmons and Woodley. Also, I think he could have added cornerback William Gay to his list. I can’t fault him much for that one because most outside of Steelers fans probably haven’t heard much about him. But those of us paying attention know that Gay so far has the makings of a solid player. Of course, it is all still just talk anyway because it takes multiple seasons to get a true read on a player (Kendrell Bell, anyone?).

So how about you, Steelers fans? What tentative grade would you give the Steelers’ 2007 draft class so far?

 Loading …

Heading into the bye week, the Steelers are off to an impressive 4-1 start, in which they dominated their four wins. Here’s a brief look at some of the stats so far:

Offense

Passing:

• Ben Roethlisber already has 1013 passing yards, with a 61.8 percent completion rate. He has 9 touchdowns versus 3 interceptions. His quaterback rating is 99.2. He has been sacked 11 times.

Rushing:
• Willie Parker leads the NFL in rushing yards with 507. He has 121 attempts for an average of 4.2 yards, and an average of 101.4 yards per game. He has one touchdown.
• Najeh Davenport has 209 yards on 28 attempts for an average of 7.5 yards per attempt, and 41.8 yards a game. He has three touchdowns.

[Read more]

It was suppose to be a very hard game for the Steelers. Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, Casey Hampton, Bryant McFadden, and Santonio Holmes (pulled hamstring in warm-ups) were all out. That’s right, two of the most important players to the defense, and both starting wide receivers were out. Sounds pretty scary, eh?

Not to mention Seattle was coming in supposedly with all the motivation, trying to get revenge for the Super Bowl loss the Steelers handed them two seasons ago. The Steelers came out pretty flat against a team amped up to face them last week in Arizona, could it happen again?

Not even close. Pittsburgh shut them out. Missing Polamalu, Hampton, and McFadden, they shut they out. Missing their two starting wide receivers, they put up 21 points. Not bad, not bad all.

[Read more]

It has been pretty easy being a Steelers fan so far this season. We’ve had some nice Sunday afternoons, watching our offense light up the scoreboard and our defense light up opposing teams. No near heart-attack educing games yet- though you know they will come eventually.

It also feels pretty good watching the Steelers score a touchdown on offense, defense, and special teams. Now that’s production.

Of course, it wasn’t all good. The Steelers did trail for their first time this season… that is for about 9 seconds before Allen Rossum returned the ensuing kick off 98 yards for a touchdown. Trading for Rossum just might be one of Tomlin’s best moves so far with the team.

Joking aside, there was some bad along with the good. Let’s take a look:

[Read more]

The Steelers have only played two games so far, but already their rookies are having a huge impact. The Steelers may have struck gold in the middle of the draft, specifically rounds two through five. It is still very early and we have limited stats to look at, but why not indulge ourselves:

LaMarr Woodley, round two: Last game, Woodley held his ground while filling in for the injured James Harrison. He already has a sack and continues his lightning pace learning the defense. He got a lot of hype with his progress last off-season and it looks like he is delivering on it.

[Read more]

The Steelers are who we thought they were at this point, but we shouldn’t crown their asses just yet (Thanks Denny Green). But things certainly look good in Steelers Nation. Despite some trouble getting touchdowns instead of field goals in the first half, the Steelers offense has been impressive. It is funny how you can go from a seemingly one-dimensional team to being loaded with weapons (with pretty much the same players) with just a little change in how things are run. It has been talked about at length this off-season, but that old Steelers offensive playbook must have been a mess.

So here’s some good and bad from yesterday’s game:

[Read more]

Last Saturday we took a look at some questions we had about the Steelers heading into the season opener. Now let’s take a look at how those questions were answered:

The Much Anticipated New Steelers Offense- So far so good. The offense, despite a lull at the end of the first half, looked crisp and efficient. It is hard to argue with the results- 4 TD passes for Ben Roethlisberger to four different players, over 100 yards for Willie Parker, and only one sack allowed.

[Read more]

The Steelers were impressive today in their beat-down of the Cleveland Browns, winning 34-7. The Defense was fierce, special teams was a strong point for once, and the offense was efficient. Things are looking good, but we must remember it is still early and it was only the Browns. Without further delay, here’s the good and the bad of week one:

The Good

-The Steelers got all kinds of pressure today, sacking the Browns quarterbacks six times.

-The Steelers defense also caused five turnovers.

-Ben Roethlisberger was very poised today and threw a career high four touchdown passes. He was in command and looks like he will excel in his new expanded role.
[Read more]