Cyphon25
08-26-2018, 07:42 AM
Just like last week I wanted to put some thoughts to paper and see what everyone else took from the game. Let's go:
- Stephon Tuitt was a man amongst men yesterday. Just flat out dominating the Titans OL at times and showing why I have been a fan of his since day 1. I said about a week ago that my concern with Tuitt was that he would never reach his ceiling (which I think is actually above Cam Heyward) and while it is still a concern, I would rather just talk about how glorious that ceiling looks. If him and Cam can stay healthy I don't think any of us need to worry about what becomes of Bud Dupree because they will create enough pressure without him.
- Vince Williams is SO HAPPY to be a Pittsburgh Steeler, you can just see it. It isn't often that a guy signs a new contract and his level of play immediately seems to go up. That isn't to say that every guy becomes content after a new deal (see Antonio Brown) but it does seem that often times guys slack a little immediately after. Not my man Bince. Added another sack to his resume yesterday and in general seemed around the play.
- Matthew Thomas is another inside guy who really shows up on tape. I admit I wasn't buying into the hype and I am still not ready to crown him as the savior after Shazier but this dude has flashed so far and I really like what I see. Athleticism is there and his mind isn't as far behind as many would want me to believe. I see effort, speed, and a guy who is around the ball whether it is all just athelticism or some actual play diagnosis and recognition. He even got some 3rd down starter reps yesterday which means the Steelers are seeing it too.
- Terrell Edmunds with an INT was nice to see. I am still not sure quite what his level is but I do know I am all in on him being a guy who can provide some much needed splash to this defense. Throughout camp and now preseason this is a guy who is around the ball A LOT.
- Bud Dupree to me was mostly more of the same yesterday. Showed a little flash when he could get up to speed but generally speaking still not seeing anything that excites me from his pass rush. Was interesting to not how much they moved him around. He played both sides at OLB and also played a bit of a 4-3 ILB look from what I saw early on.
- The ILB group on the whole showed a lot more promise yesterday than I think any of us expected and if they can stay the course we might be onto something here. With Bostic getting more comfortable it looks like we may have a pretty good starting duo with him and Williams and then you have a lot of promise behind them in Thomas and we shouldn't count out Fort either. Tomlin seems to hate him for whatever reason but the dude has always shown up when given a chance. Red is Red at this point. He would obviously be a below average starter but is a decent depth guy who's ST value makes him worth keeping around even if he becomes your 5th ILB.
- I think the WR group is starting to clear itself up here in the final 2 games. I think Tucker and Patterson have both played themselves out of a roster spot which means it should be a group of 5 when the dust settles. AB, JuJu, Washington, DHB, and Hunter. The only thing left to see is what happens with Rogers moving forward.
- With that being said and Jaylen Samuels performance yesterday, I really think 4 RB's is going to happen. The level of play calls for it but for me I can't help but think there may not be a more useless roster spot than a 4th RB. Bell is going to soak up like 95% of the snaps and Conner will get most of the rest. So if you have Toussaint and JaySam they are basically just haning out. Not necessarily a bad thing because they both have played well, but just something worth talking about. And yeah, Samuels ran his butt off yesterday. The only thing he lacks now is passpro.
- Conner came down to earth a bit in the running game yesterday but showed more of what we needed to see catching out of the backfield so that was nice. I really think the transition from Bell next year is going to be just fine and with the group we have we wont need to draft a guy or look too hard in FA.
- I liked what I saw from Rudolph yesterday. He isn't afraid to take the checkdown (even though sometimes I think he might be too quick to do it) and he appears to have the "it" factor when I watch him play. He is better on the move than I was lead to believe as well.
- Stephon Tuitt was a man amongst men yesterday. Just flat out dominating the Titans OL at times and showing why I have been a fan of his since day 1. I said about a week ago that my concern with Tuitt was that he would never reach his ceiling (which I think is actually above Cam Heyward) and while it is still a concern, I would rather just talk about how glorious that ceiling looks. If him and Cam can stay healthy I don't think any of us need to worry about what becomes of Bud Dupree because they will create enough pressure without him.
- Vince Williams is SO HAPPY to be a Pittsburgh Steeler, you can just see it. It isn't often that a guy signs a new contract and his level of play immediately seems to go up. That isn't to say that every guy becomes content after a new deal (see Antonio Brown) but it does seem that often times guys slack a little immediately after. Not my man Bince. Added another sack to his resume yesterday and in general seemed around the play.
- Matthew Thomas is another inside guy who really shows up on tape. I admit I wasn't buying into the hype and I am still not ready to crown him as the savior after Shazier but this dude has flashed so far and I really like what I see. Athleticism is there and his mind isn't as far behind as many would want me to believe. I see effort, speed, and a guy who is around the ball whether it is all just athelticism or some actual play diagnosis and recognition. He even got some 3rd down starter reps yesterday which means the Steelers are seeing it too.
- Terrell Edmunds with an INT was nice to see. I am still not sure quite what his level is but I do know I am all in on him being a guy who can provide some much needed splash to this defense. Throughout camp and now preseason this is a guy who is around the ball A LOT.
- Bud Dupree to me was mostly more of the same yesterday. Showed a little flash when he could get up to speed but generally speaking still not seeing anything that excites me from his pass rush. Was interesting to not how much they moved him around. He played both sides at OLB and also played a bit of a 4-3 ILB look from what I saw early on.
- The ILB group on the whole showed a lot more promise yesterday than I think any of us expected and if they can stay the course we might be onto something here. With Bostic getting more comfortable it looks like we may have a pretty good starting duo with him and Williams and then you have a lot of promise behind them in Thomas and we shouldn't count out Fort either. Tomlin seems to hate him for whatever reason but the dude has always shown up when given a chance. Red is Red at this point. He would obviously be a below average starter but is a decent depth guy who's ST value makes him worth keeping around even if he becomes your 5th ILB.
- I think the WR group is starting to clear itself up here in the final 2 games. I think Tucker and Patterson have both played themselves out of a roster spot which means it should be a group of 5 when the dust settles. AB, JuJu, Washington, DHB, and Hunter. The only thing left to see is what happens with Rogers moving forward.
- With that being said and Jaylen Samuels performance yesterday, I really think 4 RB's is going to happen. The level of play calls for it but for me I can't help but think there may not be a more useless roster spot than a 4th RB. Bell is going to soak up like 95% of the snaps and Conner will get most of the rest. So if you have Toussaint and JaySam they are basically just haning out. Not necessarily a bad thing because they both have played well, but just something worth talking about. And yeah, Samuels ran his butt off yesterday. The only thing he lacks now is passpro.
- Conner came down to earth a bit in the running game yesterday but showed more of what we needed to see catching out of the backfield so that was nice. I really think the transition from Bell next year is going to be just fine and with the group we have we wont need to draft a guy or look too hard in FA.
- I liked what I saw from Rudolph yesterday. He isn't afraid to take the checkdown (even though sometimes I think he might be too quick to do it) and he appears to have the "it" factor when I watch him play. He is better on the move than I was lead to believe as well.