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Monday, November 12, 2012

Who I like, Kansas City version

Not a lot to say here. Kansas City has earned every bit of its 1-7 record, while the Steelers have won four of their past five.

The Steelers have also won 13 consecutive Monday night games at home.

The line on this game opened at 11 1/2 and has since climbed to 13 1/2. It could be 14 1/2 by the time this kicks off.

I don't think it matters.

The Steelers will finally force a couple of turnovers - against a team that has committed 29 - and get after quarterback Matt Cassel.

The Steelers win this game, 31-13

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

up to this point, the steelers have only played 2 teams with winning records (denver, giants). amazingly, there is only 1 team left on their schedule with a winning record (ravens). it's quite possible the steelers could go the entire season and only play 3 teams who end up with a winning record.

imo, the difference has been the steeler's dominance in time of possesion. it's helping out the defense tremendously.

i would give first half MVP to todd haley. #7 is as good as ever, he's upright, and the offense is multi-faceted.

oh, btw, the steelers SHOULD beat the chiefs. you have to say SHOULD when they've lost to teams like the titans and raiders.

Anonymous said...

yes, Haley has helped the offense tons but at the same time he has had a great impact on a D that is clearly not what jt used to be

Henry said...

Why has Heyward not been put in for Ziggy Hood. Hood is getting blown off the line every play.

Anonymous said...

Ziggy sucks. Also put in mclendon
Classic example of playing down to your competition.

Jimbo

Patrick said...

why is Gilreath returning punts? I've been wondering that since the beginning of the game.

The amount of stupidity should get its own stat.

How BAD is KC? this game against a mediocore team is a 20 point steelers lose

angiebookwormh said...

Steeler's has really been great. It's really quite possible that they can go the entire season alright. frame football jersey

Eric T said...

Huge win! So much adversity to over come. 4 teams lost their starting QB this weekend and Steelers only one to get a win. Love the resiliency Tomlin teams show. No style points, but they count for what matters.

I hope Ben is ok, but very proud of this win.

Patrick said...

Eric T, are you joking?

kyle said...

Gilreath was returning punts because you're down a receiver so you don't want to put Sanders back there for it, Rainey is playing hurt so you're limiting his touches, and Gilreath was a monster return man in college. Other than those reasons, who knows?

Patrick said...

Why do you have faith in Gilreath not botching one? Because he did it in college and this is the NFL and we seen guys who haven't done it before bobble them all the time? By the end of the game he was afraid to touch them.

Put Sanders back there. Its safer and in a game like this you needed safe.

Plus, the "don't put your WR" in as a punt/kick returner is a myth. They don't get injured often.

Eric T said...

I forgot Patrick, you need style points or something. You don't about, it's all about stats to you.

The game was not perfect. Redman's fumble was bad. A couple miss tackles, though the conditions made gripping tough. I thought Haley got too pass happy early on, Ben held the ball too long (led to his injury).

But 1/3 of the offense is backups and missing both starting Safeties, yet 6-3. Leftwich stepped up and kept the standard, winning.

Patrick said...

Look playing like they played today is not winning "without style points". Tonight was playing down. Flat out playing down to your competition and sloppy sloppy football.

I thought the refs were generous to the Steelers tonight. I don't think I've ever thought that.

If you guys don't think there is a trend of these games under Tomlin then you have the blinders on far too bad.

kyle said...

Rainey is younger than Gilreath and playing injured. Sanders is your number 2 wideout in this game and the conditions were bad. Most of the punts were deep into Steelers' territory. If you noticed, the punt from deep in the Chiefs end went to Rainey. It's situational and in terrible weather they preferred to put a guy back and tell him to not field anything unless it's shallow.

If your problem from the game is Gilreath, who didn't do anything wrong, and not Ben and Clark getting hurt and the playcalling reverting to Arians-level predictability because Leftwich came in...I don't know, man.

Patrick said...

of course my biggest problem wasn't Gilreath. And you both talking about Ben and Clark's injuries - Did you think the team was playing GOOD before those injuries? And what did Clark miss - 3 plays?

Anonymous Brian said...

Timmons was superb.

The ref gods paid the Steelers back for the bad calls vs. the Giants by giving them a couple of gifts. (These things even out in the long run, I guess.)

Mike Wallace almost never catches the ball cleanly. That catch was a great catch and a drop at the same time somehow.

Well, hopefully Ben isn't done for the year.

Anonymous Brian said...

Also we really missed Antonio Brown tonight, and it was nice of Haley not to run up the score on Pioli.

Eric T said...

I thought the offense was finding a rhythm before Ben got hurt. Clark missed the 4th and 15 conversion. I think he makes a play where the ball was caught. Chiefs defense played well, though helps when half the game is against a back up.

Again, I thought the 1st quarter play calling was to pass heavy. But where you see playing down to competition, I see two teams of professionals playing in terrible conditions. The Chiefs are allowed to play well. Not every game needs to be a blowout. All that matters is winning. Something Tomlin has consistently done.

adamg said...

Why is anyone surprised it was a close game? It seems that way every year. KC had nothing to lose and don't forget they nearly beat Balt at KC.

Further, it's not like Crennel isn't familiar with Haley's offense and the kind of plays he likes.

Kyle is correct about the PRs. Rainey has bad ribs and Sanders is starting. Gilreath returned kicks in college so he's at least familiar with doing it. I'm sure if the situation had called for it, Sanders would have been used.

I was somewhat surprised at the passing, but that does help open up the running game.

I agree about the Steelers getting the breaks on a couple calls tonight. Then again, the regular refs are showing their not much better than the early season replacements.


Patrick said...
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Patrick said...

oh ok, its great to have games like this. Show that grit!

and you're right about KC too. All those mental mistakes. dropped passes, and verrrry questionable penalties against them. Don't forget the horrible interceptionin OT to end it. Yeh they really stepped up.

Its not a trend that the Steelers have 3-4 games like this every season and it shouldn't bother anyone any.

The standard is the standard!

Anonymous said...

patrick won't be happy until they go 16-0 and then tomlin gets fired.

the conditions were difficult, but i felt there were too many missed tackles in the first half. the defense played better in the second half, except for the chief's last possession of regulation. come on, ike, stay with your man and keep your eyes out of the backfield!!

announcers kept saying the chiefs must have found a reason to run to the right side so much. his name is ziggy hood. ughhhh.

i felt dontari poe handled pouncey quite well and the o-line overall struggled to run block. however, i also felt the RB's missed some nice cutback lanes as well.

i understand no team will play its best week in and week out, but it would be nice to see the steelers elevate themselves above the lesser competition at some point.