The Steelers are off to what I would call a 2 and No start in the early NFL season. They've managed to win 2 games with NO offense. How funny is that? They forced SEVEN Tennessee turnovers and still found themselves hanging on at the end to prevent a late game tying TD from Tennessee. It's pretty clear that if the defense didn't play at a legendary level in this one, the Steelers would have lost this game. Man I can't wait for Big Ben to return. On to the grades!
Quarterback: F-
Charlie Batch goes 5 for 11 for 25 yards, Dennis Dixon goes 4 for 6 for 18 yards. What an absolutely disgusting display for the Steeler passing game. Dixon fumbled twice, losing one, and Batch fumbled it twice. It probably didn’t help much that the O-line didn’t do it’s job. More on that later.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: F-
9 catches for 43 yards, and receivers dropping catchable balls all day long. I know the quarterback position stunk today but the few times the ball got downfield, it seemed our guys didn’t do a very good job getting open or making big plays.
Running Backs: C-
23 rushes by Mendenhall netted 69 yards behind a horrendous offensive line. I’m frankly shocked he even got this many. He made something out of nothing on a lot of plays and that’s why I gave him a passing grade. Mewelde Moore saw limited action and really showed zero burst. Isaac Redman had a few nice carries, but nothing spectacular.
Offensive Line: F-
Tennessee’s defense got a ton of pressure on our quarterbacks all game long, Jonathan Scott got blown up on the first offensive drive leading to a crushing hit and lost fumble by Dixon. Scott also got called for needlessly holding on what WOULD have been a Touchdown pass. Left tackle is going to be a huge problem until Max Starks returns.
Defensive Front Seven: A+
Our front seven forced 7 fumbles in this game, recovering four of them. They also had four sacks, two by James Harrison who is looking like he is back in his defensive player of the year form. Lamar Woodley also had one of the sacks as well as a nice interception when he dropped back in coverage. The front seven also ended Chris Johnson’s 12 game 100 yard rushing streak, holding the league’s premier running back to 34 yards on 16 carries. These guys brought a mean streak today and were a decisive factor in the victory.
Secondary: A+
Troy Polamalu had a huge interception in the end zone to snuff out one of the better Tennessee drives of the day, Bryant McFadden also made a nice diving interception on one of Kerry Collins first passes of the game. Other than some garbage time yardage by Collins, both defensive units completely shut down the Titans
Special Teams: B+
The opening kickoff return by Antonio Brown set a tone early, and the only glaring miscue by the special teams was the muffed recovery attempt by Will Allen with the game still hanging in the balance. Jeff Reed made all of his field goal attempts and also did a good job kicking it deep on his kickoffs. Sepulveda had some really nice long punts unfortunately a few bounced in for touchbacks. All in all another strong outing by the special teams.
I'm not sure many people would have predicted a 2-0 start for this Steeler team but the defense is singlehandedly carrying this team to greatness right now. Now they head to face an upstart 2-0 Tampa Bay team on the road. Should be another interesting matchup.
No comments:
Post a Comment