Visit NFL from the sidelines on the new Observer-Reporter site: http://www.observer-reporter.com/section/BLOGS08

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Steelers-Redskins game-day thread

It's chilly and wet in Pittsburgh today, but at least it's not raining - for now.

That shouldn't affect the play of the game.

Isaac Redman is inactive for the Steelers, meaning Jonathan Dwyer should get the bulk of the carries.

DeMarcus Van Dyke is also down, with Damon Cromartie-Smith active in his place.

4 comments:

Patrick said...

does anyone really feel good about this game from the defensive side? I know the steelers D broke a few of the passes up and we can say they hear the footsteps, etc, but a better team catches the majority of those passes and makes this a different game.

I have no real complaints about the offense, except there were at least 3 plays where they could have ended the game and didn't execute.

Regardless, consider me a Todd Haley and Jonathan Dwyer fan.

Anonymous said...

The D did benefit from a lot of drops. These Redskins receivers should be ashamed.

Though you could say we won because our WR's outplayed the Redskins receivers.

Anonymous said...

nice call dale. though i do agree, a better team makes most of those catches and this is a different game.

kyle said...

One thing to keep in mind - at least three of those drops were jarred loose by hits. Sure you want your receiver to hold on to the ball while taking a hit but it's not like nobody ever drops the ball in that situation. I play the "what if?" game as much as anybody but to me, the drops were not the story of that game. Lebeau took advantage of an offense that doesn't throw down field and his "tackle the catch" philosophy created some drops.

The real story to me is the lack of offensive identity the Redskins had in the game. They are one of the top rushing teams and Morris was getting yardage nine to ten yards at a time but they didn't consistently try to run the ball. Against a defense that was keeping everything in front of them, Washington still had three explosive plays but rarely capitalized. They have a remarkable athlete at QB and they ran several bad gimmick plays.

Seeing as the only drop in the end zone was on a drive where they scored a touchdown anyway, I don't think giving them back a few of those drops would have changed a whole lot.

Not to mention, it seems Washington is the only team with special teams worse than Pittsburgh's (short kickoffs, penalties, a shanked punt, and a blocked extra point in one game).