Steelers beat Bills in OT
Goodbye Jeff Reed. Hello Shaun Suisham.
That’s probably what most Steelers fans are saying after Suisham hit a game-winning field goal in overtime to defeat the Buffalo Bills 19-16. Suisham has been perfect on both field goals and extra points since joining the Steelers.
But it probably shouldn’t have taken an overtime kick to win the game. And the Bills almost clinched the game before Suisham got his opportunity to win it.
The Steelers started off hot. They scored a touchdown on their first possession, then got a field goal on their second, and they looked like they were going to dominate the Bills. The Steelers had 225 yards of offense at half-time, compared to only 51 yards for the Bills. They had held the Bills to only 6 rushing yards in the half, and were leading 13-0.
Mendenhall scores a TD
But in the second half, everything reversed. Buffalo scored 13 unanswered points, and the score was tied at 13-13 early in the 4th quarter. Both teams added another field goal in the 4th quarter, and they ended up tied 16-16 at the end of regulation time.
The Bills then gave the Steelers a huge scare in overtime. Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick threw what appeared to be a game-winning touchdown pass to WR Stevie Johnson. The ball fell perfectly into Johnson’s hands two yards into the end-zone……….And Johnson dropped it. Yes!!!!!!!
The Bills were forced to punt the ball away, and the Steelers got their chance to put the game away.
Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians didn’t want to give the Bills another opportunity to win the game, so he went conservative and ran the ball. Repeatedly. Rashard Mendenhall and Isaac Redman took turns churning out yardage against the Bills defense until the Steelers found themselves at the Buffalo 22 yard line. That’s when Suisham came out and proved that he deserved to wear black and gold.
Jeff who?
Suisham hit a 41 yard field goal to win the game for the Steelers.
And with that game-winner, Suisham also forced his Steelers teammates to learn how to pronounce his last name.
Other Steelers notes:
- For the second straight week, the Steelers were called for over 100 yards worth of penalties. The Steelers added 107 penalty yards to the 163 yards that they were penalized last week. That’s 24 penalties for 270 yards in two weeks. That’s waaaaaaay too many! Mike Tomlin is going to have to address the Steelers’ penalty issue quickly.
- James Harrison recorded his 10th sack of the season. This is his third consecutive season with double-digit sacks.
- The Steelers now find themselves tied with the Baltimore Ravens atop the AFC North, as they prepare to face the Ravens next week.
This week’s featured item:
With the holiday’s coming, Steelers gear is sure to be on everyone’s shopping list. We all know that ladies love the Steelers. So why let her wear your boxy mens’ gear, when you can buy her this Steelers jacket that’s designed especially for women?
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Ok, I think it is time for Suisham to go. Afterall our offense still sucks. Still does not know what a screen pass is or a quick slant. Or what it means for WRs or RBs to catch medium range passes in the middle of the field. It still doesn’t understand how to run from a spread offense and not telegraph our runs. It can’t seem to figure out how to run solid routes against zone defenses and connect on easy passes like every QB from Tom Brady to Colt McCoy can do against our “Elite” defense.
Oh, I know this is more Bruce Arians fault, the WR coach, and maybe even the WRs themselves. But I figured we would go ahead and cut someone who is NOT to blame for any of it. Hey, did I want Reed to stay? Absolutely not. I called for his head during offseason before it was popular. But replacing him has nothing to do with the fact we have an idiot running an offense that constantly needs a kicker to save his a@#!
With the talent we have on that field Reed should be able to miss 3 kicks a game and still win games like the one yesterday. We were given that win by Steve Johnson (thank you by the way).
We were blowing them out because we were running the ball and keeping them honest with the pass. The have the worst run defense in the league! And we still mangage to find a way to make everything revolve around the pass!
And to Dick L. playing our corners 20 yards off the line has got to stop! No wonder we can’t get a pass rush. Teams can hit us for 15 yard catches all day long. I honestly don’t kknow why other teams don’t copy the Patriots and pass 50+ times on us. If you do you win. It’s that simple.
Very frustrated and not looking forward to watching next Sunday night.
1On the Steelers website, they mentioned that William Gay was considered as the Steelers Digest Player of the Week. I laughed so hard, I fell off the couch. Yes, Gay has had brief moments this season where he looks like a professional football player, but most of the time he still looks like William Gay. If he is being considered as player of the week, then we more problems than I thought.
2What Tony?? Suisham needs to go?>? what are you saying??> he is perfect so far with his kicks. The offense needs to pick up and defense needs to get up on receivers faces. The refs need to stop calling roughing the passers. BS calls. Got to beat Baltimore next week
3Tony,
You had me going there. I actually thought that you wanted to cut Suisham. Then as I read further, I realized you were being sarcastic. I guess I should have known that even Steelers fans aren’t so demanding as to want to cut a player who has been perfect so far.
You made some good points as far as ways to improve the offense and defense. But I doubt that we’re going to see either of them anytime soon.
Arians runs a certain kind of offense, and we’ve all seen what it is. He wants to pass it most of the time, and he likes the homerun pass. You have to give him credit though. He has been running it more than usual this year. Perhaps some of that was due to Ben’s absence early in the year, but he has still run the ball. Yesterday, Rashard Mendenhall got 150 yards on the ground, so you’ve got to give Arians credit for that. But he just doesn’t seem to like the simple “dink and dunk” plays. It’s just not his thing.
Same with LeBeau. His philosophy is “bend, but don’t break”. He teaches his cornerbacks to play far off of the receiver. He coaches them to make sure that they don’t give up the long pass, even if it means giving up the short pass. Fortunately, only Bill Belicheck seems to have figured out the weakness in that philosophy.
The Steelers need a serious upgrade in their cornerbacks. I was hopeful that some of the young guys would earn some playing time like the young wide receivers have. But that hasn’t happened. Keenan Lewis hasn’t stepped up, and Crezden Butler is on the active roster, but he’s been inactive for almost every game this season. Frankly, Ike Taylor is the only Steelers CB who gives me any confidence when he’s in coverage. And even Ike has slipped over the last 2 years.
4Jenn,
I’ve been very hard on William Gay in the past, so I have to be fair with him. He has made some plays this year. He’s made a few game-saving plays. Any objective viewer would have to admit that.
But having said that, William Gay has also gotten burned this year. He’s gotten burned a lot! Too much.
As I said in my comment to Tony, our CB’s need an upgrade. It’s as simple as that. But of course, that’s been the case for the past 5 years.
5I don’t think that it’s the system plaguing our CBs. It’s that their names are Bryant McFadden and William Gay. Seriously, I haven’t seen teams go after Ike that much this year, perhaps because he can cover AND tackle (just not catch). The DL is still performing despite injuries and we always have our LBs, but teams with good QBs know exactly where our weakness is.
6Dan,
Unfortunately, you may be right.
Dear Santa,
7Please send us a shiny new cornerback. Maybe two. Thanks.
I’m no fan of Gay either, but he did step up this week.
Now, let me get this straight – if Harrison hits somebody AFTER the whistle, he would get fined LESS? It seems so.
8