Anytime you win a game 38-6 with your 4th string quarterback on the road, the entire team is going to earn some good reviews. This was by far a completely dominating victory for the Black and Gold. Last week I said they were “2 and no” because of the lack of offense. That all changed after this week’s performance. The Steelers move to 3-0 on the season and will now face Baltimore (2-1) next week in a critical early season game. If the Steelers can get to 4-0 without Roethlisberger, we could be looking at a pretty special season. On to the grades!
Quarterback – B
Charlie Batch easily had the best day of any of the fill-in starters during Ben Roethlisberger’s suspension, going 12 of 17 for 186 yards, and three touchdowns. Two of those were long strikes to Mike Wallace. Batch also threw two interceptions, including one on the opening drive which gave Tampa Bay the ball in field goal position. I might be nitpicking a touch but both of Wallace’s TD catches should have been defended and possibly intercepted. Even still, the passing game showed some much needed improvement and I’d rather be lucky than good. It’s even better when you can be both.
Running Back – A
Rashard Mendenhall continues to show he is an emerging talent in this league by rushing for 143 yards on 19 carries (7.5 avg) and also scored a touchdown. I know the season is only 3 games old but Mendenhall has to be considered the offensive MVP so far for the Steelers. He even looked good with Tampa Bay stuffing extra men in the box to stop him. Isaac Redman also chipped in 31 yards on 5 carries (6.2 avg). This is the kind of production many Steeler fans love seeing out of the running game.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends - A
Last week I commented how the receivers weren’t helping Batch out by dropping some easily catchable balls. This week Mike Wallace made two strong catches while being well covered in the end zone for touchdowns. One of them came off a deflection. The Steelers pretty much abandoned the passing game in the second half because of a comfortable lead and the fact Mendenhall was running all over the Bucs.
Offensive Line – A
This unit really struggled last week and I blasted them heavily for not giving our quarterbacks any time. I also killed them for not opening many holes for the running game. This week they did not allow a sack, they gave Batch plenty of time to deliver some strikes down field, and the holes for our running game were plenty. This unit definitely deserves some mad props for their effort today.
Defensive Front Seven - A
Third string running back LeGarrette Blount led the Bucs with 27 yards rushing, most of which came in garbage time. In other words, the Steelers front seven once again completely shut down the opponent’s running game. Brett Kiesel had a nifty interception of a deflection and returned it 79 yards for a touchdown. This unit also had 3 of the 4 sacks recorded on the day.
Secondary – A-
This unit helped hold Josh Freeman to under 200 yards and no touchdowns. This despite the fact Tampa Bay had to throw to try and come from behind. I don’t think we can say enough about how having all of our key players both in this unit and in the front seven have made a huge difference in this team’s ability to play defense. I have to give the minus only because we dropped some interceptions that should have been caught but you can’t argue with the overall job they did. The backups were all in by the beginning of the 4th quarter.
Special Teams - B
Jeff Reed converted his only field goal attempt of the day, Dan Sepulveda launched a 62 yard punt on his only punt of the day, and overall our coverage teams did a good job keeping the Tampa Bay return team in check. I’m starting to wish we’d see someone else returning punts for us as Antwaan Randle El hasn’t shown me a thing this year on his punt returns. Maybe it’s time to get Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown more involved. Brown has already shown explosiveness on his kick returns.
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