Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

The Steelers defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday night 26-21. If you haven’t already read my post-game recap, click here.

In my post-game analysis, I take a deeper look at how the Steelers did during the game, and I analyze the game stats to better understand how the Steelers are doing.

Though the scoreboard made it appear that the game was a closely fought battle, that was not really the case. The Steelers dominated the Jaguars in most key aspects of the game. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Offense

On offense, one of the key statistics that I like to look at is time of possession. This statistic helps to show how effectively an offense is driving against their opponent. For the game, the Steelers offense won the time of possession battle, controlling the ball for 33:23 versus 26:37 for the Jaguars. If we look closer, we will see that the Steelers really dominated the Jaguars in the first half. In the first half of the game, the Steelers held the ball for a full 21:15 versus only 8:45 for the Jaguars. That’s more than twice the possession time of Jacksonville. Anytime a team can control the time of possession, it highly likely that they will control the game.

In this instance, the scoreboard did not actually reflect the Steelers true level of dominance. The Jaguars intercepted Ben Roethlisberger on the Steelers first offensive possession. Rashean Mathis ran back the interception for a touchdown, so the Jaguars got 7 points before their offense had ever even taken the field.

The Steelers controlled the ball and marched up the field so effectively against the Jaguars’ defense in the first quarter that the Jaguars offense never even stepped onto the field until there was only 5:18 left in the quarter.

For the game, the Steelers accumulated 28 first downs as compared to only 14 for the Jaguars. More importantly, they finished the game with almost twice the net yardage of the Jaguars. The Steelers had 415 net yards for the game, as opposed to only 213 net yards for the Jaguars. That’s an advantage of 202 yards.

Rushing

Despite playing without their first, second, and third string running backs, the Steelers were very effective in the rushing game. In his first start since joining the Steelers, Mewelde Moore rushed for an impressive 99 yards on 17 carries. That’s a good day for any back, regardless of whether they’re a starter or a substitute.

Mewelde Moore averaged 5.8 yards per carry during the game. For perspective, Willie Parker is averaging 4.0 yards per carry, Rashard Mendenhall is averaging 3.1, and Carey Davis is averaging 1.8. Do you think that perhaps Moore is trying to show the coaches that he deserves more playing time?

As a whole, the Steelers ended up with 129 net rushing yards versus only 38 net rushing yards for the Jaguars. Can you believe that? The vaunted Jaguars rushing attack was held to only 38 yards rushing. “Steeler killer” Fred Taylor rushed for a whopping 19 yards, while Maurice Jones Drew rushed for only 7 yards more than I did.

Passing

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger recorded his first 300+ yard passing game of the season. In fact, it was his first game passing for over 200 yards this year.

In a game that was very uncharacteristic for the Steelers, the offense attempted 41 passing plays as opposed to only 26 running plays. It has long been believed that the Steelers are most effective when Big Ben only throws the ball 20-25 times per game. Personally, I’ve never subscribed to that theory, and I believe that Ben is one of the most under-utilized weapons in the NFL. In my opinion, you don’t pay a quarterback $100 million dollars and then hold him back from taking over games.

Roethlisberger had one of the most successful first halves of his career, passing for239 yards and 2 touchdowns by halftime.

Roethlisberger ended up with a passer rating of 100.6 for the game. That leaves him as the 9th ranked quarterback in the NFL, with a passer rating of 95.7. If you were to eliminate the terrible “sack-fest” that Roethlisberger suffered versus the Philadelphia Eagles in which his passer rating was a paltry 50.6, Roethlisberger would actually be the 2nd highest rated quarterback in the NFL, behind only Brett Favre. This is where Steelers fans expect Roethlisberger to be. While he has never been a prolific passer in terms of total passing yards, Roethlisberger has always been one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the league.

For the first time this season, Roethlisberger got everyone involved in the passing game. Hines Ward caught 7 passes for 90 yards, and 1 TD. Nate Washington caught 6 passes for 94 yards and 1 TD. Heath Miller caught 5 passes for 45 yards and 1 TD. Santonio Holmes had 4 for 65 yards, Mewelde Moore had 3 for 17 yards, and Gary Russell had 1 reception for -2 yards.

Hines Ward reached a milestone during the game by surpassing 9,000 receiving yards for his career.

Defense

Overall, the Steelers’ defense played an excellent game. As always, they are one of the top defensive units in the NFL. They are ranked #2 in overall defense (231.6 total yards/game). They are ranked #2 in rushing defense (66.8 yards/game), and 5th in passing defense (164.8 YPG).

The offense so dominated the time of possession (particularly in the 1st half), that they allowed the Steelers’ defense to be fresh for most of the game. In response, the defense turned in another Steeler-like performance.

While Jacksonville did score 21 points, one touchdown was scored by the Jacksonville defense. Another touchdown was given to the Jaguars as a gift from the referees. Ike Taylor was called for pass interference on a 39 yard pass into the endzone. If Taylor had not made contact with Matt Jones, there was little chance that Jones would have been able to actually catch the ball. Nevertheless, Taylor did make contact, and Jacksonville got the ball on the 1 yard line. On the next play, Maurice Jones-Drew ran it in for a 1 yard TD. If you take away the interception and the pass interference call, the Jaguars offense really only earned 1 touchdown against the Steelers.

Rushing Defense

38 net yards rushing. What more do we need to say? Total domination.

Passing Defense

David Garrard has been beating teams with his arm this season. The Steelers defense held him to only 200 yards passing on 18/32 attempts. Garrard finished the game with a passer rating of only 85.4.

Bryant McFadden had a tough time guarding Jaguars receiver Mike Walker (who?!!!). Walker caught 6 passes for 107 yards. Prior to this game, Walker had 6 receptions for 56 yards for the entire season. The Steelers can’t allow scrubs to have career games against them.

The Steelers’ linebackers continued their assault on quarterbacks. James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley are becoming the most feared LB tandem in the NFL. James Harrison, who is second in the NFL in sacks with 6.5 sacks, dropped David Garrard for 1 sack during the game. Not to be outdone, LaMarr Woodley, who is third in the NFL with 5.5 sacks, sacked Garrard twice.

The Steelers lead the NFL in sacks with 18 (tied with the Philadelphia Eagles). Harrison and Woodley alone have combined for more sacks than 22 NFL teams this season. Each of them has more sacks than such feared pass rushers as Mario Williams, Albert Haynesworth, Dwight Freeney, Julius Peppers, DeMarcus Ware, and Terrell Suggs.

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The Steelers scored no rushing touchdowns. The Steelers scored no passing touchdowns. The Steelers only got one rushing 1st down in the entire game. Willie Parker was held to 20 yards rushing. Ben Roethlisberger was sacked 8 times (6 times in the 2nd quarter), and was held to 131 total passing yards. Score: Eagles 15, Steelers 6. Any questions?

I was tempted to end my post-game analysis right there, but that would be taking the easy way out. Writing this report feels just like it felt to watch the Steelers game today; painful.

I tried to think of headlines for this article, but everything that I thought of seemed too negative. “Steelers get their ***es kicked” was the most accurate headline I could think of, but it just sounded…..inappropriate. So I stuck with “Steelers vs. Eagles: Post-Game Analysis” as my headline.

Going into the game, I was expecting a physical contest of titanic proportions between two evenly matched gladiators. What I actually watched looked more like a street fight between Richard Simmons and Kimbo Slice. And unfortunately, the Steelers weren’t Kimbo Slice.

The Eagles dominated the Steelers in all facets of the game. Let’s take a look at each of them.

Steelers’ Defense:

The Eagles offense seemed to be able to move the ball at will, until Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook (the Eagles’ two best offensive players) both suffered injuries. McNabb was a perfect 15/15 passing before throwing his first incomplete pass with just over 2 minutes remaining in the 1st half. Westbrook injured his ankle early in the 1st quarter, and rushed for only 12 total yards before leaving the game for good.

In my pre-game analysis, I said that the Steelers’ defense needed to do two things; contain Westbrook and pressure McNabb. If they weren’t able to do these two things, the steelers were in for a long day. The early injury to Westbrook took care of my first concern. Westbrook was rendered a non-factor. And while McNabb was unstoppable in the 1st half, Dick LeBeau and the Steelers’ defense made adjustments at half-time, and made life difficult for the Eagles the rest of the way. Despite giving up 13 points (two points came on a safety and can’t be charged to the Steelers’ “D”), the Steelers’ Defense played a good game, and they were the only reason that the final score wasn’t 59-3 (although it certainly felt like that was the score).

In particular, LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons looked good. While neither recorded more than 2 tackles, they both provided good pressure on McNabb. Woodley completely over-powered Eagles tackle John Runyan on his sack of Donovan McNabb. While Timmons did not start for the Steelers, it was very noticeable when Timmons came into the game. He provided key pressure on McNabb at the end of the 1st half that changed the tempo of the game, and ended McNabb’s perfect passing streak.

James Farrior led the team in tackles (with 7 solo tackles), and also forced a fumble. Larry Foote also recorded 1.5 sacks on McNabb.

Troy Polamalu had another good game, and recorded his 3rd interception in as many games. Cornerback Bryant McFadden also recorded an interception (his 2nd in the past 2 games).

Despite a rough 1st half, the Steelers’ defense looked good, and they have no reason to hang their heads.

Steelers’ Offense:

The Steelers’ offense was an entirely different matter. The offense stunk. There’s no other way to put it.

Was it just me, or did it seem like the referees were allowing the Eagles to rush 15 defensive linemen on each play? How else do you explain the constant pressure on Ben Roethlisberger? Even when the Steelers went to their “max protection” formations, they still couldn’t stop the Eagles’ rush. Usain Bolt couldn’t have gotten to Big Ben faster than the Eagles linemen were.

In total, the Offensive Line gave up 9 sacks. That’s right, 9! Eight sacks on Roethlisberger, and one of Byron Leftwich. At one point, the Eagles’ Defense recorded 5 sacks in 6 plays. I’ve seldom seen a defensive line dominate an offensive line so completely. Kendall Simmons was a revolving door. Willie Colon played like a matador. And Chris Kemoeatu showed that he is much better at run blocking than he is at pass blocking.

I’m not one to call for coaches’ heads, but Steelers Offensive Line Coach Larry Zierlein should hide his face in shame. He had no clue how to stop the Eagles’ rush. He was like a 3rd grader taking a trigonometry exam; completely baffled. While Dick LeBeau made adjustments at half-time, Zierlein and Steelers Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians apparently made none. The offensive line’s performance was truly an embarrassment.

Beyond the constant pressure that he was getting from the Eagles defense, Ben Roethlisberger didn’t look like himself. His passes weren’t accurate, and he looked rattled. Perhaps his shoulder was hurting worse than he let on. In fact, the only time the Steelers were able to establish a viable passing game was when Byron Leftwich came on in relief after Roethlisberger injured his hand.

To make matters worse, the Steelers offense was never able to establish the running game. The Eagles came into the game with the NFL’s #1 ranked defense against the run. I said in my pre-game analysis that the match-up of Willie Parker vs. the Eagles Defense would determine the game. Unfortunately, my prediction proved to be true.

Willie Parker was never able to get the running game going. He ended up with only 20 yards rushing on 13 carries. But even that number is deceiving. Parker got 8 yards on one play. If you eliminate that play, Parker got only 12 yards on his remaining 12 carries. That’s 1 yard per carry. Even I could do that.

On a positive note (there weren’t many), did anyone else notice Jeff Reed’s 53 yard field goal that looked like it would have been good from 73 yards? That guy has got to be one of the best field goal kickers in the league. He is consistently accurate, even in the mud bowl called Heinz Field. Not many kickers could do that.

Special Teams:

The Eagles’ punter actually outplayed the Steelers. Need I say more?

Summary:

History was not on our side going into this game. The Steelers had not beaten the Eagles in Philadelphia since 1965. That’s 43 years. Philadelphia is one of the toughest places in the NFL for any visiting team to play. Perhaps a loss was inevitable.

What bothers me is the way we lost. The Eagles were more physical than the Steelers. They played “Steeler football” better than the Steelers did. That can’t happen.

It’s probably going to be a long, quiet ride back to Pittsburgh. But the team can’t dwell on this. They have to get back on the practice field and fix these problems. They play the Baltimore Ravens next week on Monday Night Football. I’m sure the Ravens are going to use today’s game as a blueprint for how to beat the Steelers.

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