The Blitzburgh Report

It wasn’t pretty, but the Steelers’ 3-0 victory over the Miami Dolphins was a win none the less. Though, I’m not sure that you can take much away from this game in terms of real analysis. The field condition was just so horrendous that honestly the game was a toss up.

That said, the Steelers did win and it shows that they can win in adverse conditions. I don’t think the game will have the bonding effect on the team that the Hurricane Game in Miami did a few years ago but at least they can take away that they toughed it out and won.

• Joey Porter actually had a decent game with six tackles and an interception. I suspected he might do OK only because he feeds so much off of emotion and I knew he’d be hyped for this game. That said, it was his only decent performance of the season and proves that the Steelers really know when to cut ties with players.

  Still, it was good to see Joey smiling on the sideline when Steelers players did his “boot” celebration. I’m grateful for the leadership and emotion that he brought the team over the years, but it was time for him to go. Unfortunately, I think the Steelers right now are really lacking a true leader, at least an emotional one. Mike Tomlin is more of the cool/clam type and players like Ben Roethlisberger, Casey Hampton, and Troy Polamalu are far from loudmouths. I think there is something to be said for “rah rah” guys who can get the team amped up.

• The offensive line was terrible again and I really don’t know what else to say on the matter. I’ve talked some about possible changes as well have many other writers and fans. It is hard to comment on their performance because it was an odd-ball game, but they still gave up a ton of sacks. Though I must say that Ben did hold onto the ball a bit long again; something that may be just as much a factor on all these sacks as blown blitz pick ups.

• Hines Ward came up huge last night. I’ve almost commented a few times over the last number of weeks how he hasn’t been as sure-handed this season, but he usually ended up making enough catches that I thought maybe I was being too critical. However, last night he caught basically everything thrown his way, including two huge third down catches that were unfortunately negated by penalties.

  He had nine catches for 88 yards in a game where the Steelers needed him most. His great diving 21 yard catch on the scoring drive is what really helped win the game as it marked the only time either team even made it into the red zone.

• What was with the team stalling on third down? The field excuse only goes so far as they moved the ball relatively well overall on first and second downs. It seemed like every third down either Ben got sacked or there was a dumb penalty that gave them even longer yardage to convert. What was worse was that those sacks often took the team out of field goal range (even if the changes of making it were low).

• The playcalling last night was suspect at best and unfortunately continues a trend with Bruce Arians. He started the season quite impressively, but now has some real head-scratchers. The highlight had to be the last three offensive plays for the Steelers.

  If you remember, the team made it down to the six yard line with 1:19 left. At this point, you would think the team would run the ball to run down the clock and leave the game up to a Jeff Reed kick at about as close as you can get.

  Only the ran a dangerous pass play on first down that Joey Porter knocked down. OK, they took a chance to get the score to avoid having to kick on the horrible surface, I guess I can live with that even if I don’t agree with it. On second down they ran it which made sense. Miami stopped the clocked with their last time out and you would suspect that the Steelers would run the ball again to A) try to get the ball in a good spot to kick from, and B) run out the clock to leave the game up to Reed’s kick. Passing the ball would be a terrible idea, you would think, because A) Ben seemed to get sacked every third down pass, and B) an incompletion would stop the clock.

  So what did the Steelers do? They ran a pass play and Ben was sacked. Fortunately, the clock kept running and the Steelers were able to take it down as far as they could, call a time out, and eventually make the game-winning kick.

• It just seems to me that Arians tries too hard to do the opposite of what you expect them to. Yes, of course you want to try to surprise the defense from time to time, but sometimes you just need to man up, make the smart call, and execute. Arians seems to be outsmarting himself lately.

• All told, it was a win and I’ll take it. I really had the feeling that on a clean field the Steelers would have won comfortably. But because of the conditions, the game was truly a toss-up and a slipping player away from being another major upset. I don’t think that you can take a whole lot away from this game in terms of performances and what they mean, but they did get the win and ultimately that is all that matters right now. All I can really say is that I hope the field is fixed and it good shape in time for the game next week, especially considering the long-term forecast right now calls for more bad weather.

Steelers MVP

The Steelers MVP of last night’s game was Hines Ward. It was tempting to give it to Jeff Reed for the winning kick, but Hines’ nine catches were huge and a classic example of a player stepping up just when you need him most.

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It wasn’t perfect, but it was a win. The offense and defense recovered from shaky starts to complete the 15 point comeback and take a strong lead in the AFC North, despite the best efforts of the special teams to prevent it. The Josh Cribbs 100 yard kick off return was one of the worst special teams displays in recent memory. But still, the Steelers showed a lot of character in pulling out the win today.

• I’ll start with this because it is freshest on my mind, but did anyone catch Mike Tomlin’s post-game press conference? He called out his special teams and said the offense still has room for improvement. I like that; I like that a lot. Mike Tomlin will tell it like it is, which is a refreshing change.

• …But the point about the special teams is the real focus. They did stink. I am openly wondering now if we will ever see the Steelers have good kick coverage again in our lifetimes. It has been a huge problem for years now- especially on kicks after the Steelers had a big score. Doesn’t it seem over the years that when the Steelers have a big game-changing touchdown, one of three things happens 1) Jeff Reed kicks it out of bounds, 2) Reed kicks it very short, or 3) They give up a huge return. Nothing sucks up momentum more then something like that.

• This was another one of those games where the offense kind of snuck up on you. It seemed like the running game was going no where, but Willie Parker did go over 100 yards (for the 19th time in his career). Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t on the money, but he threw for two scores and ran for another. The offensive line gave up four sacks, but at times (stressing “at times”) Ben had great protection. The offense moved the ball with relative ease in the second half, but got held to three field goals in the first half.

• One thing was clear, however. Ben was great again and added another comeback to his career. I brought it up last week and I will say it again- Ben is an elite quarterback and right now is at least in the top three of the league. He still has his unique talent of making plays out of nothing, but this season he is also making the great plays a “typical” QB does. Ben is just a winner, plain and simple.

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This Broncos game reminded me of a lot of the games from last season where the Steelers were just not able to match the intensity of their opponent. The Steelers, looking flat and unenergized most times, committed numerous turnovers and penalties. Both offense and defense struggled throughout most of the night.

It is almost laughable now to think of the Steelers’ bluff, saying they would run the ball all night. When they came out passing, it didn’t seem to surprise anyone and the offensive line couldn’t pass block anyway. So when that failed, they tried to go back to the run, and low and behold that didn’t work either. Ben Roethlisberger was able overcome early interceptions and a fumble and run for his life enough to make some plays and lead the team to four touchdowns and a tied score.

But that number one defense in the league couldn’t stop the Broncos’ offense all night, let alone on the final drive of the game that ended with Jason Elam kicking the game winner. The defense gave up three touchdowns last night after only giving up five total previously for the entire season.

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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.

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