Real Steelers return
Going into Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans, most Steelers fans weren’t sure which team was going to show up. Would it be the REAL Pittsburgh Steelers, or would it be that group of imposters who donned the black and gold for the first 4 games of the season?
As if it weren’t bad enough that the Steelers had played badly to this point in the season, they were also going to have to face the Titans without James Harrison, Casey Hampton, Aaron Smith, Rashard Mendenhall, and Chris Kemoeatu. Gulp!
And to add an even greater degree of difficulty to the game, the Steelers were starting Max Starks at left tackle after less than a week of practice with the team.
Despite seemingly impossible odds, the patchwork group of Steelers delivered their most dominant performance of the season as the Steelers beat the Titans 38-17.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger tied a Steelers record when he threw Five touchdown passes. But perhaps more important was the fact that the offensive line gave Big Ben plenty of time in the pocket. As a result, Ben was only sacked once during the game.
While the entire offensive line played well, special recognition has to go to Max Starks. This was Starks’ first game back since signing with the Steelers earlier in the week. Yet, Starks was not only forced to start, but also to play almost the entire game due to injuries among the Steelers’ offensive linemen. And Starks more than rose to the occasion.
The offensive line also did a great job of opening holes for the running backs. Without Rashard Mendenhall in the lineup, the Steelers had to rely on Isaac Redman and Jonathan Dwyer to carry the running load. And carry it they did. The Steelers rushed for a total of 174 yards, with Dwyer leading the way with 107 yards.
The defense also did a stellar job. Prior to Sunday’s game, the Steeler were having difficulty stopping opponents from running on them. But they held Titans’ running back Chris Johnson to only 51 yards. They also kept pressure on Titans QB Matt Hasselbeck, and managed to sack him 3 times. Young defensive ends Ziggy Hood and Cameron Heyward each participated in a sack.
LaMarr Woodley, Hines Ward, Mike Wallace, Ike Taylor, and Antonio Brown also had good games. It was just a good overall game for the team.
Hopefully, this is the type of performance that we’ll be seeing for the rest of the year. I’m sure that Steeler Nation would love to believe that those imposters are a thing of the past, and the real Steelers are here to stay.
Is it just me, or was the passing game reliant on more quick-hits than the usual “Ben runs around until cool stuff happens”. maybe someone realized that that style of play was not effective with an OL that wouldn’t be effective at the high school level. How about Max Starks? I know the Titans don’t have the most imposing pass rush, but he played really well.
Also, Redman is an absolute wrecking ball. He’s not fast, and his running style pretty much insures a short career, but you gotta hand it to the guy: he’s a load to bring down who works extremely hard. Dwyer looked like he wanted carries bad, too. Crowded backfield in Pittsburgh?
Receivers looked very impressive. Brown looks like he wants that #2 gig badly, but Ward isn’t ready to let it go yet. Sanders is damn good, too. Mike Wallace was Mike Wallace. Awesome as usual.
It was a much better performance defensively. Aaron Smith was out, but to be honest, I think he’s done. I hate to say it, as he’s been one of my personal favorites, but it’s time to rotate the young blood in more. Smith has been getting pushed around this year, then in this game, Heyward looked really good. Hood has been okay, but I’d like to see him improve. Kiesel being back helped a lot. Oh, and how about Hoke? It’s been ages since he replaced the Big Snack in the starting lineup for an extended period, but he showed he still has it.
The LBs were back to their normal selves, despite lacking James Harrison. And is it just me, or has Keenan Lewis FINALLY beat out the terrible two?
Overall, the Steelers looked like they were actually trying this time. Maybe that slow start was just that, a start. Lots of games to go.
1I think Its time to make ziggy hood a full time starter. Aaron smith Is obviously losing a step and he should be a back up rotational player with cam Heyward. The run defense is way better with Ziggy and woodley always plays better with ziggy in front of him.
2This was a kind of redemption game for the Steelers, even though they were expected to win, because of how dominant was their performance. I think more interestingly, it was a kind of redemption game for several of the players.
The least surprising of the standout performances was Roethlisberger. Ben actually has some of his best games when he’s injured and not able to move around as much. His uncanny ability to extend plays has come to define him around the league, but he is just as talented in the more traditional quarterback skills. The laser he threw 20 to the open side of a running Heath Miller, who had a defender all over his back, was the sort of throw that makes DB’s feel like just giving up.
Jonathan Dwyer, looked determined to take advantage of this opportunity to get out of the dog house. In fairness, Mendy was probably sitting on the sidelines saying “well, if I had a hole like that I could run 76 yards too.” The OL just decimated the Titans DL and rolled right into the second level, wiping out all the LB’s for good measure. The only defender that wasn’t completely canceled out was the deep safety, and Dwyer did a good job getting through the whole and putting a decent move on the safety to get outside. Perhaps even more than his running, though, did anyone else notice that Dwyer was in on 2 of the 3 tackles in kick coverage?
My fellow Florida alum, Max Starks, also earned some redemption. He came out without practice and showed why he was payed more than Jonathan Scott. The OL in general had a great game, and were really the key to the victory.
3Great comments, guys. I agree with all of them.
As I’ve said on several occasions, Aaron Smith has earned my respect, so it’s hard for me to say negative things about him. But did anyone else notice that LaMarr Woodley had his first good game when Aaron Smith didn’t play? LaMarr’s success is dependent on Smith doing his job in front of him. When Smith doesn’t succeed, LaMarr can’t succeed.
The defense played extraordinarily well last year with Ziggy in the starting role. It may be time to make that a permanent move.
And like several of you have mentioned, I can’t say enough good things about Max Starks’ performance. I really expected his cardio to be lacking. But he played the whole game, and didn’t even look tired. Moreover, I never saw him getting oxygen, or any other special attention, on the sidelines.
4With Hoke clogging the middle instead of Big Snack falling on the ground, there was less room to run. With a lead and success against the run, we knew they would turn to the pass, making it easier to bring a pass rush.
We need to see how Starks will fare against an elite pass rusher such as Suggs but he can’t be worse than Jonathan “rollerskates” Scott. And now our hopes have been confirmed that, given time, we have a top-10 offense. The Titans have a top-10 defense (and that’s after taking the 38-point hit from us on Sunday) so we know our skill players can score if we win the battle up front.
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