It's a beautiful day here at Heinz Field. The sun is shining. there's very's little wind and conditions are perfect for an afternoon football game.
Martavis Bryant, Ike Taylor, Ryan Shazier, Daniel McCullers, Wes Johnson and Ramon Foster are out for the Steelers.
Foster is kind of a surprise, since he was able to practice all week. Cody Wallace will start in his place.
For Tampa Bay, Mike Glennon will obviously start in place of quarterback Josh McCown.
Danny Lansanah will start at linebacker in place of Jonathan Casillas, while Dane Fletcher will start at linebacker in place of Mason Foster.
As you already know, I picked the Steelers to win this one big. I expect it to be somewhat close and for the Steelers to pull away late.
Best F*****g start ever!
ReplyDeleteNot how I wanted this to start. I was worried about them playing down to the competition.. And Tampa is fired up from that beating they took last week, not to mention rested. Our boys need to get mean and aggressive. Smack the qb around.
ReplyDeleteI really want cortez Allen to step up.. I was o e who was really happy to see him get extended..
Ok, they spotted them 10 pts. I think that's enough.
We need to get Ramon Foster back. Ben is so uncomfortable...
ReplyDeleteI don't think Haley could possibly call stupider plays in the red zone.
ReplyDeletePathetic... What's the point in paying a kicker who only makes the easy kicks? He's incapable of making them from 50+ that's why the Steelers usually punt.
ReplyDeleteOk. Keep your foot on their neck. . Don't let up and just try to protect the lead. Go for the kill here. . Work in some no huddle, mix up quick passes and a heavy dose of bell and Blount.
ReplyDeleteIke Taylor injury a blessing in disguise! Everyone knows he would have dropped that if it were him there instead of Allen
ReplyDeletesteelers are so undisciplined that they don't deserve to win this
ReplyDeleteI am not watching the game but following on espn. 7 minutes left why are they not running the ball??? i know ab is hot but still eat the clock. are the running plays not there? someone who is watching please tell me.
ReplyDeleteJim
This is pathetic...
ReplyDeleteNO ONE IN THE WORLD'S FAULT BUT MIKE TOMLIN. HE RESPECTS S++++Y TEAMS WAY TOO MUCH. THIS IS WHY I ENVY THE RAVENS THEY WOULD HAVE DESTROYED THIS TEAM BECAUSE THEY WOULD HAVE NO RESPECT FOR THEM.
ReplyDeleteWorst coached team in the NFL bar non
ReplyDeleteFire Tomlin and Haley now please
Same team from last two years, we just lost to the leagues worst team at home, unbelievable, a lot of coaching mishaps.
ReplyDeleteThat was very poor.
ReplyDeleteGave this game away.. Penalties and lack of a top flight corner.. The better draft the best damn corner available next year
ReplyDeleteMaybe it would be nice to have a FG kicker who can make one from 50+.
ReplyDeleteNo, the killer is pretty much Zero pass rush.
ReplyDeleteWell, that was awful. I don't know what to say about this team except it looks like defense isn't even on the same page with each other.
ReplyDeleteAnother 100+ yds in penalties.
I think the world of Lebeau, but it's probably time for him to go after this season. The other teams have caught up with his defensive schemes.
I understand they're rebuilding, but it's still tough to watch.
Can't wait for the excuses Dale dreams up this time
ReplyDeleteEh, they missed chances on offense, especially the flea flicker that AB dropped.
ReplyDeleteBut, there's really no excuse for the facemask penalties (maybe Golden gets a little slack) esp Troy when he had the back behind the line and only needed to wrap his arms around the waist instead of going for the head/shoulders.
AB took the idiotic celebration penalty as well.
I do think it should have been intentional grounding on the qb on the last drive as he was clearly going down and there was no receiver near the ball plus I'm not sure the ball even made it the line of scrimmage.
But, the bright side 2-2 is better than 0-4 from last year.
Whatever you do gang ... never EVER blame Tomlin for yet another choke job vs a team his team should have beat by double digits because it's never EVER Tomlin's fault that his team (unlike Cowher's) consistently loses to the worst teams in the league. And to all the people who kept arguing in past years "But but the secondary is ranked 1st in the league!" when that same secondary routinely gave up the go ahead score on the last drive of the game ... how's that secondary working for ya, homers? Just keep Tomlin as a head coach and keep blatantly neglecting a major upgrade of the secondary in the draft in favor of pass rushers that aren't panning out and watch this same thing keep happening over and over again.
ReplyDeleteLet's not pretend Ike Taylor doesn't give up game-winning TD passes. Not why they lost.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's just the spoiled fan in me that thinks "undisciplined."
That was painful. Yuck.
Well, 2-2 is better than 0-4. I'll go with that.
How many games do the Bucs win this year?
Dale I know you don't comment or anything after games but I really don't want to wait all day to read your post. If you see this maybe just share a little bit of your frustration with us.
ReplyDelete"How many games do the Bucs win this year?"
ReplyDeletethey just won their only game dude
OK, genius, tell us all how you'd rebuild a DL and secondary in 1 draft at #15 pick or later.
ReplyDeleteI am now officially a Tomlin hater, it has been to much of the same for too long. This is a badly coached team, there is no way around it.
ReplyDeleteTo my untrained eye, it looks like the individual defensive guys just aren't on the same page all the time.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that comes from Troy and Mitchell not getting any time together in the exhibition season at S. Maybe just trying to break in too many young guys. Could be that someone is out of position every play trying to do too much.
Maybe just too many injuries.
If I'm Colbert, I might be seeing if Tommie Campbell is still out of a job.
For all the talk about the offense's improvement and potential - which is true - this is the kind of game where Ben / offense need to carry the team and put another TD on the board. Seven points in the second half, eh.
ReplyDeleteAlso. Third and five. Clock management w/ fragile defense vs. $100 million QB who might, just might, be able to throw a six-yard completion to put the game away. Ugh.
How did Ben get sacked so many times? We've invested HUGE amounts of picks to the oline and we still can't protect Ben.
ReplyDeleteThe Steelers are the epitome of an average team.
How does that Carolina win look now that the Ravens crushed them even worse?
Anon440 .... this is Anon433 ... This secondary has been an Achilles heel for YEARS now that's been relying on a killer pass rush to hide it's glaring deficiencies. And when you don't hit on stellar pass rushers? You end up with an under-performing pass rush AND an exposed secondary too that you chose not to try and upgrade. That's why other teams are smart enough NOT to intentionally minimize the importance of corners who can cover year after year and try to continually compensate with linebackers who they hope will pan out year after year. It's a fundamentally flawed philosophy to begin with. And now every other team in the league knows exactly how to exploit it. If your defense needs better corners? Here's an idea: Be proactive and GET BETTER CORNERS before the problem gets as bad as it is now!!! Oh ... and get a head coach who can motivate his team to beat teams that should be beat.
ReplyDeleteFor one thing, BR holds the ball and just won't throw it away. Sometimes this is good and sometimes it's bad, like when he got sacked that set back the FG try at the end of the 1st half.
ReplyDeleteExcept for Adams, "the huge amount" of draft picks (Pouncey, Gilbert, DeCastro) are all starting. They were not the problem today, Kelvin Beachum was.
Apparently you aren't familiar with how the Steelers play defense under Lebeau. They don't play press coverage very often, they play zone. They want and play DBs who are good in that system. They also play a 3-4, which requires a lot of LBs.
ReplyDeleteUp until a couple years ago, the DL was Kiesel/Hampton/Smith/Hoke, probably the best group of DL since Greene/Holmes/Greenwood and White. They weren't going to be replaced in 1 draft given the team has other needs.
What I have seen is that the blitz packages that used to work, no longer do. That's what needs to change up and what would revive the pass rush.
It's obvious you dislike Tomlin and probably have since the day he was hired.
I'm still waiting for your plan on how you would have "fixed" the secondary problems you like to point out instead of just another comment complaining about it.
Be easy on Dale.
ReplyDeleteLet's say he agreed with all of our criticisms: secondary getting ignored in drafts, O-line picks not quite panning out, bad schemes, coaching not up to par, etc, etc, etc.
Dale covers the team for a living. Do you really think that if he agreed with all of the points above and mercilessly ripped the team week-in and week-out ... that the team would still grant him the access that he has and he'd still be employed by them?
I'm sure that from a professional perspective (to keep his job) he's somewhat obligated to keep his criticisms within acceptable parameters.
Besides that ... I'm glad that he's a consistent voice of reason on here. It's needed to cancel out some of the fans that post all kinds of goofy after some of these losses.
But, while we're complaining, Steeler post-game on DVE has become unlistenable with the new hosts. Charlie Batch is out of element for sure.
ReplyDeleteI can rip the team as much as I choose and do when it's warranted.
ReplyDeleteI'm not employed by the team. I'm employed by the Observer-Reporter to cover the team.
This was a bad loss, no doubt about it. I'll have more later when I gather my thoughts.