SB Nation User Blog: Blitzburgh

Adopted Steelers

Blitzburgh — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:10:02 -0000

Tell us about your adopted player if you have the time to do so.

Guys I'm interested in hearing about are D Stapleton, Justin Hartwig, Nate Washington, James Farrior, Deshea, and a few others that aren't coming to mind this second.

Jump on in with reports on any if you don't see people filling in the blanks.

Mike Tomlin Molding This Steelers Team In His Identity

Blitzburgh — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:10:40 -0000

A few more thoughts about our impressive W over the Jaguars and Coach Mike Tomlin and what he's brought to this particular group of players.

* Who loves Mewelde Moore? Raise your hand or wave your towel if so. What a warrior. Going up against a Jaguars defense that maybe isn't as good as in years past, but was still eager to compete and hit, Moore managed to squeeze out 99 tough yards on 17 carries, punctuated by a 27 yard scamper on our game-winning TD march. Nobody loved seeing Moore succeed more than Fast Willie Parker, who jubilatnly applauded Moore's big plays in street clothes from the sideline. Moore didn't find much success running up the gut, but who does on our team? Nevertheless, except for one catch, where Moore misread would-be tacklers and failed to dive forward for first down yardage, he played fantastically. The most impressive stat of the night, at least for me, was the zero fumbles by Moore. He had the ball in his hands throughout the game and protected it consistently, despite being the smallest guy on the field for much of the contest. Don't forget Steelers Nation, this was a Mike Tomlin 'recruit'. He knew what Moore could do based on what he saw in Minnesota. Very wise to get that kind of gamer on your team. Congratulations to Moore, and let the debate begin on how to keep him involved with the game plan each week when FWP returns after the BYE.

* A quick word about the officiating. We don't talk much about such things here, but last night was certainly interesting in this department. Here's why I bring it up now though: those penalties last night had the ability to derail our focus and we didn't let them. The phantom pass interference call against Ryan Clark on Matt Jones was egregious in my opinion, and so was the roughing the passer call. For that matter, I thought the Nate Washington unsportsmanlike call was a bit ticky-tack as well, but Nate's got to learn not to even give the ref the opportunity there. Hines Ward may be able to get away with that. Not Nate, sorry. Anyway, this team is resilient and we didn't let a couple of bad breaks get us off track. Again, I think that's a testament to what Mike Tomlin brings to the table as this coach. It may sound cliched to some, but Tomlin simply preaches relentless competititveness. It's a damn good message to preach when you have the horses on defense, which we definitely do, to just wear teams down by simply putting our head down and attacking. And when you're worried about nothing but being relentless, you don't have time for distractions on the field. Now, if we could only carry that consistency over to our offense.

Oh two more things. I thought we got a shady call ourselves on that defensive holding call on 3rd down. These things even out, for sure, but I was still disappointed in the excessive role the refs had in the game. And finally, I may be calm and rational now, but we sure were rambunctious during the game in our open threads. Again, credit to Tomlin & Co for keeping their cool when it would have been so easy to lose composure. We certainly did from the stands.

* I've noticed some concerns and negativity about Hines Ward and his drops the past couple of weeks. A bit unusual for Hines? Yes, but not alamring, at least not to me. When it counted most, Hines got separation on his man on the fade route, and made a beautiful finger-tip grab to score the game-winner. Ward finished with 7 catches for 90 yards, and a TD, his 4th of the season. If he can stay healthy, he'll be well on his way to a 80+ catch season, for ~1000 yards and 10 TDs. What's there to complain about? Even without the numbers, Hines Ward is worth every penny that we pay him for his leadership and work ethic. Guys like Nate Washington, who had a huge game himself by the way, and Santonio Holmes have no choice but to match Ward's toughness, practice habits and mental toughness. That's a good thing.

* Wow, is our D Line playing out of their minds or what? For the second straight week without Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel, our front 3 managed to stifle the running game and even force a bit of pressure. Orpheus Roye made his presence felt, Travis Kirschke played well, and Chris Hoke is just a beast in the middle. Oh, and that Aaron Smith guy's pretty good too. It's ridiculous if he isn't considered for a Pro Bowl this year. He's held down the fort in a huge way this past three weeks, and I think we can confidently say that he's easily the most integral player along our D Line.

* We'll talk more about this, but you again have to give credit to Tomlin for getting up in Bruce Arians' ear about doing a better job. He sure did, particularly in the first half, where I would give him an A+ mark for his play calling. More on this later, but I think Arians deserves a hearty kudos for his adjustments, even if they weren't evident for the entire 60 minutes.

* Don't let the scoreboard fool you. We owned this game. The interception for a TD counts of course, but when you take that out of the equation, the game becomes decidedly more one-sided. Total yardage comparison? 415 to 213! That's domination my friends. We still have work to do in the red zone, protecting the QB, finding ways to run the ball consistently, etc, etc. But this team sure deserves a lot of credit and praise for being as resilient and tough as any in the NFL. It's been a few years since we've had a defense that was this nasty. We're as good as it gets in this league on D this year and there's just no reason to think they're not going to continue putting us in position to win close games. And since we have this guy named Ben Roethlisberger, who leads all NFL QBs with 15 4th quarter and OT come from behind wins since 2004, to lean on in the clutch, I think we should all be pretty excited about watching this team as the year progresses.

Mediocre teams don't take down Baltimore and Jacksonville, two of our biggest rivals, after being humiliated the week before. Especially not with all the injurys we've had to deal with. This team looks like it could be the real deal if we continue to evolve like we have the past two weeks. And if nothing else, we can all rest easy that we have a coach that will have us ready to compete each and every week. It took a year for Tomlin to truly take control of this team. He has now and the results are starting to show.

4-1 baby! 1st place in the AFC North.

Rest up fellas.

Steelers Offensive Line Answers The Bell Against Jaguars

Blitzburgh — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:17:52 -0000

If we're going to bang on players of our favorite sports franchise when they have shortcomings, we must lift them up with cheers of admiration and praise when they come to compete and perform at a high level. This is still a work in progress, no doubt, but after improving demonstrably last week against Baltimore, the Steelers' offensive line turned in their best performance since Week 1 against Houston.

The Good:

In the first half, Ben had ALL day to throw the ball for the most part. He took advantage, throwing for nearly 250 yards in the first two quarters. Had we not thrown that pick-6, we might have found ourselves up even more at halftime. We were really clicking to start the game. Darnell Stapleton played well in his first start, Justin Hartiwg probably had his finest game as a Steeler, Chris K was neither noticably good nor bad, and Marvel Smith was fairly solid until he got injured.

The Bad:

We did surrender three sacks and Big Ben likely kept that number from being higher with his heroics late in the game, so there are still some concerns, particularly when you remember that the Jags only had 5 sacks entering the game. However, at least one of those sacks that I can remember distinctly was on Ben. He had every chance in the world to throw it over the head of his WR out bounds and just held onto it. We all know we don't have a world class line, but if they can perform like they did tonight against a hungry Jags team at home, we have to feel good about them and our chances as a team. This line won't give you mammoth running lanes or all day to throw, at least not consistently, but it can give you just enough if you have an offensive scheme that accounts for that reality. I thought Arians did a great job, finally, calling quicker developing plays.

The Ugly:

Trai Essex sure struggled in place of Marvel Smith. And this wasn't Willie Colon's finest game, even if it wasn't his worst. Multiple false starts and holding penalties disrupted the flow of the offense at times. I am so ecstatic and proud of the job we did eeking out tough yards in the running game, but almost none of them came up the gut. We still are having problems winning the point of attack in the A and B gaps.

********************

Still, it's time to lose all the excessive derogatory commentary about the play of the line. At least until they deserve such frustration from the peanut gallery once more. The last two weeks have been much, MUCH better. It's not easy to throw up 250 yards in the air in one half in this league...on the road. We did, and it started with the time we gave Big Ben (as well as better play calling, which we'll get to). We'll see what Marvel Smith's deal is, but it's a safe guess to think that he'll be fine after this much needed BYE week.

This is our offensive line thread.

A Look Back At Our Keys To Steelers Victory Over The Jags

Blitzburgh — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:57:47 -0000

We'll dive into full coverage of this most impressive win throughout the week, but let's take a quick look at how we did in what I thought were some of the more important keys to getting this victory.

1) Stop Maurice Jones Drew

Um., how does 5 carries for 7 yards, and 6 catches for 23 yards sound? As well as we played against him and the Jags offense, he still had an impact on the game, making a couple of nice plays on 3rd down, and of course, scoring a TD from the goal line. He's that good, and we basically shut him down before sending him to the sidelines for the game with an injury in the second half. Btw, Bryant Westbrook. Maurice Jones-Drew. What do they have in common playing against us? Getting banged up. We're of course not pleased that these fine players got hurt, just noting that when you play against this defense, you're going to get hit. And it's going to hurt.

Grade: A

2) Improved Punting From Mitch Berger

I noted this as a key this week because I thought there might be several instances when we would need Jacksonville to really earn their keep on offense. It was a minor point, really, given how consistent Berger's been for the most part to start 2008. But I thought it might serve us well if he had an above average game. How'd he do tonight? Yeah, he delivered, big time. 4 punts for a 49.5 yards per punt. Anybody else notice that the Jaguars return guys were fielding punts off one or two bounces, then just getting laid out immediately by one of our gunners? That's good stuff, Mitch. Good stuff indeed.

Grade: A

3) Convert in the Red Zone

As many of you pointed out in the comments section, this one's a biggie each week NFL teams take the field. Our TD drive to level the score at 7-7 in the 1st quarter was huge. We finished off a 12 play, 71 yard drive (7:31 second drive) with a 1 yard TD pass to Heath Miller. Read that one again. We had a 12 play, 71 yard drive! And we capitalized in the red zone. The difference between 7-3 and 7-7 is VERY different there, for a number of reasons. Kudos to Bruce Arians, Big Ben, and the rest of the offense on that cruical series.

We were less successful on our next several trips inside the Jags' 20. We had to settle for FGs twice, including one from the 4 yard line when we really had a chance to put some distance between ourselves and the Jags on the scoreboard. Alas, we fell short several times. But, when it mattered most, late in the game with everything at stake, we punched it in, thanks to several amazing plays by Ben Roethlisberger. We'll get into that later, but as it relates to this point, a TD rather than a FG here was so huge. When an NFL offense knows it just needs 35-50 yards to set up a FG, they almost always get the job done. Heck, the Jags won the last two weeks on last second Josh Scobee FGs. But when teams have to go the distance to get 6 to win or tie, it's a different ball game. Good job offense!

Grade: B+

4) Continue Protecting The Ball

Well, we started the game with a pick 6 that certainly gave us pause in our hopes of a victory tonight. But that was that. Santonio Holmes, Mewelde Moore, Nate Washington, Hines Ward, Gary Russell, Heath Miller, Ben Roethlisberger, Ben Roethlisberger, and Ben Roethlisberger, all deserve credit for not once putting the ball on the carpet tonight. This is a gritty, spirited team that's not going to beat itself with turnovers it doesn't look like. That bodes well for our chances, considering how incredible our defense is when not being cheated flagged by the refs.

Grade: A-

5) Get Heath Miller Involved

5-5! Heath Miller breaks out for the first time in 2008, catching 5 passes for 45 yards and a TD. His impact goes beyond that, though. Four of his 5 catches were for 1st downs, one of those being the TD snag. And don't forget, he also had a 20 yard reception negated by a Willie Colon holding penalty. Bottom line is this offense is better when he gets the ball. I know he matches up better against some teams than against others, but kudos to Bruce Arians and Ben Roethlisberger for featuring him a bit more this week.

Grade: A-

**************

There ya have it. Lots went into this victory, but of the five keys we discussed, the Steelers certainly delivered in a major way. We'll get into what else they did well, as well, as some of the other nuances of the game, soon enough. Here's a start though.

Discuss.

Steelers vs. Jaguars - Postgame Celebration Thread

Blitzburgh — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:19:22 -0000

Celebrate here guys and gals. 4-1 and there ain't nothing the refs can do to stop it!

Go Steelers!

Steelers vs. Jaguars - 3rd Quarter Open Thread

Blitzburgh — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 01:49:53 -0000

A+ game from Arians and his offense so far. An early pick and one nice Jags drive keep this game close heading into halftime, but we're really in control through two quarters. The Jags won't be rolling over so it's imperative we play to win and go for the kill in the second half, not just hope to hold on.

GO STEELERS!

Blogger DeathSport Week 5

Blitzburgh — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:47:51 -0000

My Week 5 Picks. Don't forget to submit yours for the BTSC Pick Em Challenge. Sunday
BUF @ ARZ (-1) KC @ CAR (-9.5) CHI (-3.5) @ DET CIN @ DAL (off the board = straight up even) TB @ DEN (-3) ATL @ GB (off the board = straight up even) IND (-3) @ HOU PIT @ JAX (-4) NE (-3) @ SF SEA @ NYG (-7) WAS @ PHI (-5.5) SD (-6.5) @ MIA TEN (-3) @ BAL
Monday
MIN @ NO (-3)
Score: 28-21 Ugh, look at all those road picks. Four weeks has already been enough evidence to convince me that not betting on the NFL is a wise, wise thing.

Steelers vs. Jaguars: Five Keys For Steelers Victory

Blitzburgh — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 06:18:58 -0000

We could spend all day talking about what we'd hope to see from our offense on Sunday, but let's diversify the conversation for a moment and look at some other aspects of the matchup where we'd be well served winning.

1) Stop Maurice Jones Drew

I suppose it's Fred Taylor I should be worried about, given that he ran for 147 yards against us in the first of our two meetings last year. But it's Jones-Drew that truly gives me nightmares. In the two games last year, MJD ran the ball successfully (12 carries 69 yards in Game 1), caught a 40 yard TD pass in the second game, and of course returned a kick for a TD immediately following Pittsburgh's opening scoring drive in the Wild Card rond. I'm not sure if he's been dealing with injuries this year, but through four games he has just 38 carries, 13 receptions, and has only fielded one punt, no kickoffs. If he does return kicks this week, it's imperative we continue the early season success we've had with our coverage units. We can live with a screen pass or two for a first down by MJD, but I don't think we can survive the types of huge plays he scored on last year.

2) Improved Punting From Mitch Berger

Berger's been pretty good so far in 2008, at least through three games. Against the Ravens on Monday, Berger struggled a bit. Not terribly mind you. He did average 40 yards on 7 punts and had two downed inside the 10. This is a minor quibble here, but it's going to be important during a short week against a physical Jacksonville team that is already capable of wearing us down with the running game. Good field position is something we can't afford to give up.

3) Convert In The RedZone

I know Baltimore's got a nasty defense that's tough to finish drives off against, but I was really disappointed we failed to break their backs with a TD late in the 4th quarter, instead settling for a FG that kept it a one score game. Against Philadelphia we didn't really sniff the RedZone so it was a moot point, but I hope this doesn't become a trend for this offnse moving forward. It's too early to say if our offense will ever find a sustained rhtyhm this year, but if they continue to be inconsistent, particularly on the road, we need to take care of what chances we have. Especially when we face teams like Indy, Dallas, and San Diego who can put up points in a hurry. A nice time to start executing inside the opponents' 20 would be this Sunday against Jacksonville .

4) Continue Protecting The Ball

I mentioned in a recent post or comment thread that Ben Roethlisberger has done a remarkable job protecting the football for how much pressure he's faced the last two-three weeks. That INT against Baltimore was bogus. Just slipped out of his hand, not a product of a bad decision. For all the pressure he's faced, Ben's only offered up two INTs. The one I mentioned, plus another long meaningless heave in the Eagles game I believe. He has, however, had some issues fumbling. He's coughed it up 5 times, losing four of them. Other than Ben though, our backs and WRs have done a good job protecting the football. It's one of the main reasons we're 3-1.

5) Involve Heath Miller

Last year against Jacksonville, Miller had a TD in the first contest, then a monster game in the playoff matchup catching 8 balls for 85 yards and a TD. I think Miller gives the Jags some matchup problems, and with some of the protection issues hopefully resolved, at least some, since the Philly game, perhaps it's time to start letting Miller run free. I don't see why 5-8 yard stopping patterns aren't a good idea. You don't need a big window to get him the ball, he doesn't bobble passes in traffic, risking interceptions. Let's get Heath involved!

There are of course many other issues worthy of addressing, particulary on offense. Feel free to add them in the comments section, as well as any other matchups/aspects of the game that you find interesting and pivotal.

What Do you Want To Know About the Steelers - the team you've owned in recent memory. Ask away!

Blitzburgh — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:08:07 -0000

It's Blitzburgh here from BehindtheSteelCurtain. Chris and I have both posted fanposts on each other's sites letting folks know that we're here to answer any questions about our respective teams, or to engage in some friendly smack talk leading up to the game. As you'll see if you read my site, we're tired of getting dominated by the Jags and are hopeful we can finally get our offense in gear after three straight weeks of general ineptitude.

I'll be checking in! Enjoy the week guys and gals.

-Blitz-

BehindtheSteelCurtain

1/4 Of The NFL Season Is In The Books

Blitzburgh — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:12:46 -0000

Although a handful of teams had their BYE Week this past Sunday, the vast majority of NFL squads have navigated through one quarter of their sixteen game schedule. Let's fly around the league and look at where some teams stand.

Let's kick it off with teams whos prospects are looking up in an unimaginatively titled section called...

Stock Up:

New York Jets: After a 1-2 start that included consecutive losses to New England and San Diego, the Jets needed a win in the worst of ways this past weekend against Arizona. They got it thanks to Brett Favre and his 6 TD passes. Now they enter their BYE week before facing a hapless Bengals team, a dysfunctional Raiders team on the road, then the Chiefs at home. 5-2 and in the mix for a playoff berth as November begins is entirely possible, and if they can string together those three victories, it would set up a AFC East showdown with frontrunner Buffalo in Week 9. This team has flaws, and could easily drop one of those very winnable games, but it's nevertheless a team to watch over the next month.

San Diego Chargers: The Bolts did their usual sleep-walk through September, dropping thrillers in their first two to Carolina and Denver before thumping the Jets and the Raiders to finish the month. LT still doesn't seem quite right, but when you look at the total package for SD - the offense, defense, and special teams - there's little reason to think they won't eventually pass and probably lap their foes in the AFC West, Denver included.

Jacksonville Jaguars: We'll see first hand if the Jaguars of 2008 still give us matchup nightmares when we travel there this weekend for Sunday Night Football. Jacksonville has rebounded nicely on offense after having to replace multiple components of their offensive line. The rushing attack is up over 120 yards per game (12th best), and David Garrard turned in his best performance of the year last week against Houston. His 23-of-32 for 236 yards 1 TD, and 0 INTs was the type of line that we grew accustomed to last year. If he can protect the ball against Pittsburgh, they'll have a great shot at improving to 3-2 and re-emerging as contenders in the AFC. Beware of the defense if you're a Jags fan. The pass defense, which showed signs of being a liability last year (15th in NFL), has truly stuck out as a weakness for the Jags. It's currently the 24th worst pass defense, yielding over 220+ yards per game.

New Orleans: A miss by Martin Gramatica in the final seconds against Denver kept all the attention on the Denver after Week 3 instead of on a New Orleans team that has been only remotely close to slowed down by a defense against Washington in Week 2. The reason New Orleans' stock is rising is the return of Deuce McAllister. When the Saints made their magical SB run in '06, McAllister was vital to their offense. Not only did he accumulate 1057 yards on the year, he gave the Saints the legitimate inside the tackles rushing threat that's desperately needed to compliment one of the league's elite QBs. When defenses are forced to be honest against NO, they're as tough as anyone to defend. When they're one-dimensional, they can be stopped, like all teams. Two more home games against Minnesota and Oakland wrap up 3 straight at the Super Dome for NO, and the Saints should should move to 4-2 before facing Carolina on the road in a game that will have high stakes in the NFC South.

Stock Down:

Denver Broncos: It's just a matter of time before the Denver defense sends them on a multiple game losing streak tailspin. In fact, it may already be under way. Denver's next three opponents are Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and New England. The first two are home, so don't count them out yet, but also don't discount the strong possibility of them falling under .500 before the month of November arrives.

Green Bay Packers: Two straight wins to start the season had Packers fans saying 'Brett, who?' but with Aaron Rodgers dealing with soreness in his shoulder, Cheesheads are suddenly concerned about their fledgling offense. It's not really Rodgers who has been the problem. It's been Ryan Grant and the running game. No huge surprise though, really. It makes sense that teams are taking Grant out of the game (just 3.4 ypc) and forcing Rodgers to beat them. The defense, a strong suit last year for the Pack, has regressed substantially. The rush defense in particular is troubling, giving up 157 yards per game (26th in NFL). Fortunately for GB, the NFC North is a mess and 9 wins may be more than enough to take home the divisional crown.

Cleveland Browns/Cincinnati Bengals: This duo from the AFC North has performed far below expectations. Browns fans might want you to believe that everything's fine following their late victory over the Bengals, but really, it was just another sad showing from a Cleveland offense that was expected to be explosive this year. Instead, Cleveland's offense ranks second to last in points per game, dead last in yards per game, and dead last in passing yards per game. The Browns do enter the BYE week on a high note (sorta) but when they return to action, they better be ready to turn things up a gear (or four). They play host to the Giants, then travel to Washington and Jacksonville. If they aren't ready to compete, they'll find themselves in an insurmountable hole in both the AFC North and the AFC Wild Card picture. As for the Bengals? Well, Cedric Benson might help?? Err, not likely actually. This team's dead and we've only seen the beginning of the antics that are going to arise in Cincy before it's all said and done in 2008.

Top Five:

1) Tennessee

2) New York Giants

3) Buffalo Bills

4) Washington Redskins

5) Dallas Cowboys

Bottom Five:

28) Kansas City Chiefs

29) Detroit Lions

30) Oakland Raiders

31) Cincinnati Bengals

32) St, Louis Rams