Balls: James Conner- He was great and productive today. AB- first 100 yard day today and 2 TDs. LJ Fort- A sack and a TD, TJ Watt- Showed up in a big way today
Balls: James Conner- He was great and productive today. AB- first 100 yard day today and 2 TDs. LJ Fort- A sack and a TD, TJ Watt- Showed up in a big way today
James Conner only gets it for the Offense.
L.J Fort and T.J Watt on Defense.
Game ball offense: OL, Ben 250 yds, 3TDs, picked up a 1st running, only 1 INT. Conner 185 combined yards, 2 TDs, AB 101 yards, 2 TDs. JuJu 4 recs with a TD.
Game ball defense: Heyward and Tuitt played most of the snaps and kept the pocket crowded. Watt, Fort, Edmunds, Haden, Bostic, Davis, and Dupree all had 5 or more tackles today.
HM: Sutton and Matakevich played well enough today. 4 tackles each and made plays.
Another vote for Conner. The o- line was still leaky and not getting much of a push, but Conner ran with a lot of heart.
"You've heard people brag about 'being in the zone'. They don't know what the Hell being in the zone is about. I played in the NFL for 15 years and I was only in the zone that one time." - "Mean" Joe Greene on the 1974 playoff victory over Oakland
The offense. Everything good that happened today happened because the offense put points up early and stayed ahead of the chains.
They could then lean on the run game.
That kept the defense fresh and able to generate pressure all game.
Pressure kept the secondary from getting exposed.
Playing with a two score lead most of the day allowed the defense to keep everything in front of them and force Atlanta to string plays together to beat them.
Everything about this game flowed from the offense putting up early points. They do that against most teams - they win because it allows them to scheme away from their problems not towards them.
Steelers & Browns
Game balls - Conner, second half AB, first quarter & second half Ben, Watt and Butler for a scheme to hold down Falcons
Participation trophy to Matt Ryan for becoming a strawman target of convenience for the in game thread
I think "Consistent Matt Ryan" will be a thing from here on.
Fans like you lose their minds after one play or one bad throw. Wait until the dust settles and then comment on a clear Hall of Fame player before trashing him. That's all anybody is asking.
From the time many of you were trashing Ben, he was absolutely brilliant the rest of the game.
Stop being such a homer. The true way to demonstrate your detailed understanding of football and the depth of your fandom is to trash everything associated with your team as soon as the smallest thing goes wrong. if nothing goes wrong, just talk about how your squad isn't winning in a good enough manner.
Anything else is just drinking the kool-aid.
Why don't we just be honest and says after weeks of watching a shit show, the first sign of another shit show you assume e it'll be a full on crap the bed kind of game. And be surprised when they pull the head out of the ass
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Props to Ben for a great second half of football against a defense that certainly is not the second coming of the 76 Steelers
But given his performance in Cleveland and the second half of the Ravens game anyone (notably me) who was posting that he crapped the bed in the second quarter (with the cherry on top of the shit sundae being the INT at the end of the first half) was not just being unduly pessimistic after an otherwise great season
Might be better to just post after the game ends but like the game itself players have valleys and peaks during a game
When Ben is playing like shit, forcing balls to AB at the detriment of the offense, kills drives with bad throws or game-changing turnover, I'm going to call it out. Nuff said. That Redzone INT was inexcusable, especially when he had Conner open underneath.Fans like you lose their minds after one play or one bad throw. Wait until the dust settles and then comment on a clear Hall of Fame player before trashing him. That's all anybody is asking.
And nobody said a word. I certainly didn't. Don't play like shit, fans won't trash you. Novel concept.From the time many of you were trashing Ben, he was absolutely brilliant the rest of the game.
Fort brings athleticism to the ILB position which has been missing since Shazier went down. Play him.
Also, let Haden shadow the opposing teams #1 WR more often. He's done it twice(other being Hopkins) so far with us and he was successful.
1. Amarius Mims, OT, Georgia 2. Zach Frazier, C, West Virginia 3. Roman Wilson, WR, Michigan 3. Renardo Green, CB, FSU 4. Mo Kamara, OLB, Colorado State 6. Logan Lee, DT, Iowa 6.Khristian Boyd, NT, Northern Iowa
Dan, I posted in the game day thread that his interception was indefensible. It was a stupid play and he deserved criticism for it.
However, there are always those that choose to go the route of saying that he is terrible. People saying that he's overrated. People saying that chump quarterbacks are better than him....etc....etc....
There's nothing wrong with criticizing a bad play.....but when people start to discredit his entire career, or lose their shit every time he makes a single mistake...….and then aren't man enough to come back later and say they were wrong when he lights it up....IMO it discredits everything those people have to say on the subject.
The other thing is that IMO, what you said in the thread isn't really going over the top with the criticism even if I don't agree. There are others that make claims that are so void of objectivity and are completely delusional. They are the people I am talking about.
I VOTE FOR THE RAVENS LOSING TO THE BROWNS
?????
We must have watched a different game. The game I saw, Ben went 19 for 29 with a 3 TDs and 1 INT for a 112.7 rating. He scrambled for first downs, he moved in the pocket and out of the pocket to extend plays. Sure, he missed a few throws and tried to force one, but so what. I'd take a 112 rating and 3 TD, 1 INT performance every day. So, yes, I give Ben a game ball on offense.
Conner, of course, gets a game ball. Great game by him.
AB gets an honorable mention. He gets it for his two TDs and 101 yards. It's only that because he was targeted 13 times but only caught 6 passes.
Smith-Schuster gets an HM for going 4 for 4 and getting the TD. It's only honorable because he has to make himself more available as a target (which he usually does).
On defense, Watt gets one. Butler gets one for dialing up a gameplan that worked.
Fort gets an HM for his play late in the game.
Special teams gets one. That what, 65 or so yard punt? talk about flipping the field. Then, there's the punt that bounced straight in to the air about fifteen feet at the three yard line. Unreal. Coverage was good, to, including the blocked punt.
Dishonorable mention goes to Boz.
_____________
The refs called a good game for the most part. The problem isn't them, it's the rules themselves and how tight the officials have been told to call games. Of course, it did look like Bostic leaned up and the drove the QB back to the ground on his penalty. What the ref couldn't see was that the QB's weight was being held up by the arm of another Steelers player, and he moved his arm. The QB went down, and Bostic's support was still the QB at the time, so he went down too. I guess I get why it was called. It did look back. I only really saw it after watching it in slow motion. So, I can't blame the refs for that. If the league fines him, however, I'll be pissed. There's absolute no reason to fine him for that play.
Craic, AB might have only had 6 receptions out of 13 targets, but it’s not like those other 7 targets were drops by him. Heck, honestly... some of those targets weren’t anywhere close to catchable throws.
SUMMATION:
AB caught everything thrown at him (within a reasonable range).
Balls go to Conner and Watt. HM to Ben and AB.
James (don't call me John) Conner
Definitely Conner, but Ben had one up until his stupid INT at the end of the first half. After 15 years in the league he shouldn't be making those throws. Had the ST not blocked that punt this game is a nail biter.
The defense gets (yes I just typed that) HM for bending a lot and not breaking.
I thought about that, too. But, I can't put that all on Ben. He's on the same page with the other WRs, so there's something going on with AB. Maybe just not on the same page, but he needs to figure it out because I really don't want Ben changing his game since he's hitting the other receivers pretty well.
Game Balls
Offense: Ben, Conner, Oline
Defense: The entire unit
Special Teams: Nix, Berry
Goat: Boz :-(
Check out this nice top 10 plays. I really dig the camera angle on these highlights.
Nix is just amazing, he is being held on his blocked punt and just powers right through it.
I hate to say it, but according to the current rules, that Cameron Heyward sack should have been a 15 yard penalty. He struck the QB in the face with the side of his outstretched hand. of course, Falcons 73 has his left hand on the front of Watt's left shoudler and on the back of his right arm, standing behind him. Seems like holding to me as well. But, as we know, there's holding on every play and that just doesn't get called anymore.
I’ll give Butler a one-week reprieve from my ridicule while I’m in a good mood! Defense played great.