That was a bad half. The Colts used the defense up and the offense isn’t doing anything. They’re lucky it is only 17-3 at the half.
Although, the most elite QB in NFL history is in and Pittsburgh owns him, so the possibility of a comeback exists, however unlikely. Depends on what adjustments they make.
They almost came all the way back. But they lost in the stupidest way possible, a botched snap combined with Harris not getting out of bounds to stop the clock.
The defense played like they never got off the plane most of the game and the offense took forever to get into gear. But they never quit and it was in doubt all the way to the end.
In any case, they’re still in first place so I can temporarily take solace in that. It’s not like they were going to go undefeated.
Yeah, no good losses in the NFL, but at least the offense was able to get the ball into the end zone and show that they can come from behind. I couldn’t watch most of the game, but fumbles and Patterson injury are the main downsides.
So hasn’t this been an interesting couple of weeks? The Steelers should have beaten Dallas, I can’t believe they choked that game away and wasted a really good effort from Justin Fields and a good defensive effort. Alas, they lost by the smallest of margins, which really sucks since Robin is a Dallas fan and she gets to hold that over me for a while. But then they stomped out the Raiders, scoring 30+ for what feels like the first time in ages.
Then Russell Wilson finally came up healthy. I was against the change. How can you replace a guy that took your team to a 4-2 record, improving every game? I thought that, for the first time in his career, Tomlin was risking his job by making the switch to Wilson. Fortunately Fields made it easier by being magnanimous about it, but us fans were uneasy and you’d have to really look to find one who wanted the change.
For the first 20-25 minutes we were justified. Wilson was rusty and missing passes, and there were several times where Fields could have gotten a first down with his legs, something Wilson cannot do.
And then he woke up.
The second half he put on a show, even his bad passes were caught by Pickens. The defense did its job and absolutely punished the Jets physically while also picking Rodgers off twice (by an undrafted rookie, no less). They scored 37 points, their highest total in 3 seasons.
Suddenly the “worst team” in the AFC North looks very legitimate even as the Browns are DOA and the Bengals essentially need to win out. But, it’s important to note, they haven’t played a single division game yet, so there’s a long way to go. But with two very viable quarterbacks now, they have a really good shot at the playoffs, maybe even the division.
So that’s the football goings-on. The reason it’s been absent is because I had to fire two employees (sisters) who were drinking all day on the job. That was just the last offense in a year full of them. An old friend of mine needed a job so I could finally pull the trigger. Since then it’s been smooth sailing, but I’m going in a lot earlier.
And I’ve learned a lot, too, about how they stole my time, money, and sanity and I let it go on way too long. Now they want to sic the cops on me for made-up offenses and they want the health inspector to close me down, which she won’t do. They never thought I’d fire them, that they were indispensable. They just won’t go away gracefully. But that’s how it goes, and that’s been where most of my time has gone, cleaning that mess up. I think I’m good now, though. We’ll see.
I’m still not sure about why they replaced Fields, and still not happy about it. I feel it must be in Wilson’s contract or something. I got on a plane after the watching the Steelers go down early during Sunday’s game, and was pissed the whole flight. I couldn’t believe the final score when I saw it.
I don’t know if the Steelers are going anywhere but at least the are fun to watch. Try sitting through a Giants game this year.
I’m telling you, it was to troll Aaron Rodgers and I think it worked.
We’ll get a chance to watch both tomorrow night. But now having watched enough highlights of last week’s game, I see the reason for the switch. Russell is definitely blessed with traditional QB skills like pocket presence, touch, and quick decision making. I guess his lack of success of any kind in recent years still scares me. But more than one way to skin a cat, and if he’s back to his Seattle form (or even close), the Steelers’ ceiling will be higher than with Fields.
I felt like his failures in Denver weren’t his fault. He was doing some good things on offense but was paired with a bad defense. Plus he started with a rookie head coach who just let Wilson do anything he wanted which is a bad idea, then he had Sean Payton who clearly didn’t want Wilson there and used him as a scapegoat for everything.
Before that, he was on the decline a bit in Seattle but wasn’t terrible, and I felt the trade was more of a personality problem than an inability to perform at the role.
So Wilson might still have some good games in him yet, especially if you can back him up with a solid defense and running game as he had in his best years in Seattle.
This week was nuts. First, that fake punt. Brilliant call, but the guy has to catch it. If he does it’s 14-0. Instead it was 7-7. Then the Steelers came out flat in the second half and I thought it was over, but they fought their way back into the lead. And then there was that 4th down ball placement call. Arguably he caught it at the line but he came back to the throw and while in a knee Minkah downed him short. It was a good call. I’m sure Commie fans won’t agree, but that’s sometimes how it goes, or at least that’s what the refs taught me more than a few times over the years (Jesse James caught that ball).
And then the guy jumped offsides to close it out. That was a colossal error, but another win goes into the books for the Steelers.
The bad news is that Highsmith was injured and it did NOT look good. If I had to guess he’s done for the season. Good thing they just picked up Preston Smith. Additionally, he and Mike Williams both had impact in this game. Omar Khan is doing a great job in the front office.
So next week it’s the first divisional game against the Goddamn Ratbirds. We’ll see how it goes. Pittsburgh generally owns Lamar Jackson so I’m optimistic.
I’m going to note this in my weekly NFL thread. Not playing a divisional game until Week 11 is more than a bit unusual, methinks.
On paper, this looks to be a rare high scoring game between these rivals, as the Ravens offense is putting up monster totals lately. But that’s on paper, and recent history can be tossed out the window with these two. Both offenses are humming, so I’m hoping the Steelers defense is best unit on the field. With Highsmith out (and luckily the ankle injury doesn’t appear as bad as it looked), maybe the Preston Smith addition makes the difference. Tough 4-game divisional stretch coming, so would be good to get this one. Unfortunately the 4-game stretch after that one is even more brutal.
Airman Doors, I think you’ve successfully jinxed yourself. With all your previous annual threads about the Steelers going to the Super Bowl and them doing badly, you’ve now done a Steelers-won’t-go-to-SB thread and they’re having a stout season.
Six field goals from Boswell for an 8 pt lead. Old smashmouth football.
Phew! I was afraid that Fields early slide was gonna haunt us. Both QB’s made dumb decisions that could have cost us.
I continue to be skeptical of their success. They stink, they’re just winning to spite me this year.
So my sister texts me Saturday night but I missed it. I followed up on Sunday morning hoping it wouldn’t be something super important, and it turned out to be hey, want to go to the game?
That was 8:00. By 8:30 we were on the road, 12:30 we were at the stadium, and we were in our seats for kickoff. It was soul-crushingly expensive, but worth every second of a very long day. Seeing the Steelers beat the Rats in person is an experience that you never forget. You don’t just watch the game or hear it, you feel it.
As for the game, what can you say? Lamar Jackson can’t beat Pittsburgh. If you had told me that Baltimore would score the only touchdown and lose I’d have called you crazy, but that’s exactly what happened. Pittsburgh’s defense handled the most explosive offense in football and Pittsburgh’s offense couldn’t do much with one of the worst defenses in football. It came down to the last minute, as always.
With the Browns’ and Bengals’ losses yesterday they’re both done. They can still spoil, but that’s about it. Pittsburgh is all but assured of the playoffs, and with a 2-game lead they have a solid shot at the division. I didn’t imagine this year would happen this way but I’ll take it.
So for the last 3 days I’ve been hearing nothing but “trap game” about tonight’s game. There are no trap games in the AFC North. All of the teams in that division despise each other, and I promise you that nothing would make the Steelers happier than to kick the Browns’ teeth in.
That said, the Steelers do have a tendency to “play down” to their opponents, and they just played 4 days ago so that’s a variable nobody can account for. Also, there is supposed to be heavy winds and maybe even some snow, which on a grass field can make things unpredictable, especially for a team like Pittsburgh that depends a lot on Chris Boswell.
I think Pittsburgh wins by a lot, but dammit, I hate that I can’t say that without holding my breath. I’ve been burned too many times.
I hear the weather is bad, which can unfortunately be a big equalizer.
Steelers fall to 8-3, putting the Ravens within overtaking range again. Bills have a bit of breathing space.
Well, that was a wild game, and the Browns deserved to win. Excuse me while I puke for saying that.
Still, there was one game-changing call. That was definitely grounding. Do the Browns go for it on 4th and Pecoima or send in the kicker, who may or may not have made it in the blizzard?
But that’s how it goes. The first half and part of the second Pittsburgh was, shall we say, pedestrian at best. But man, at the end they had it in their hands and lost it.
Still in first place, 8-3 is nothing to sneer at at this stage in the season, and the playoffs are virtually assured so while I’m pissed off that’s life in the AFC North. If nothing else it was fun to watch.