Beer We Go Steelers

Game Day is now passed the half way point!

The Pittsburgh Steelers dropped the NFL Opener 28-21 to the World Champion New England Patriots. The Steelers needed a perfect performance to beat the Patriots but succumbed to several mistakes and missed several opportunities. The game was winnable but the Steelers let it get away.

The offense looked good for most of the game, it was a great night for the running game as DeAngelo Williams put together an outstanding performance gashing the Pats for 127 yards on the ground. Will Johnson one of the “BWG FIVE” chipped in with a short yardage touchdown. The twin fullback formation was fun to watch for old school fans, as the Steelers punched them in the mouth on both plays, it was employed. Antonio Brown had his usual terrific performance racking up over 100 yards and a touchdown. Markus Wheaton and Darrius Heyward-Bay had good nights as well, putting up over a hundred yards between them.

However, several key “mistakes” cost the Steelers the victory. DHB stepped out of bounds on a touchdown pass, the Offensive line, which played well, had a key false start penalty on goal line that cost the Steelers a shot at a touchdown. Josh Scobee missed two big field goals that in the end would have been a huge help.

Where the coaching and Big Ben have to take some heat is how badly, the Steelers mangled the clock. They just didn’t seem to have any sense of urgency and they were literally moving the ball at will. They would have had a shot to get back in this if they played a little smarter as well. You can’t trade field goals for touchdowns and the Steelers really made some key errors that caused that. Not to mention you can’t miss the field goals you are settling for.

The defense was a work in progress all night. The Steelers never stuck to the game plan of jamming Rob Gronkowski and they paid the price. Brady connected with Gronk on THREE TD’s. The secondary had trouble all night containing Julian Edelman and they looked like they were lost at times. Some of the lowlights included, having only ten men on the field in one series, Antwon Blake and Will Allen seemed confused on the first Gronk touchdown, with both men being out of position. Having Terrance Garvin cover Gronk on goal line was just moronic. The Steelers needed to have better coverage on 3rd down.

The defense is going to get ripped in the national media this week. But that wasn’t the story if you watched the game, they made several mistakes and didn’t have a great night. But if they played a better game, which they were very capable of, they would have won. The front seven did well and again looks like it could be special. Jarvis Jones and Bud Dupree both had very solid games. Silverback and Arthur Moats played steady. Silverback was held on nearly every play, WATCH the tape, and trust me you will see it.  The secondary is the weak link but again there were signs that they could pull out of this.

Of course it wouldn’t be a Patriots game without some skullduggery and of course the Steelers Coaches had trouble with the headsets for most of the first half. While it certainly didn’t cause the loss, I am sure it didn’t help.

The Steelers would have really set themselves up right by knocking off the champs, instead they will have to wonder, what if?

BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!!!

My “GAME BEER” goes to: I am going with DeAngelo Williams, the stats speak for themselves. He had a huge night and the Steelers didn’t miss Le’Veon Bell at all, which is saying something. Also Considered: Antonio Brown, who literally could have won this award every week last season. Of Course, Will Johnson who did a great job on goal line.

Where I watched the game: At Buckley’s Irish Pub, for the first half with KGB and the usual cast of characters at Buckley’s. We had a terrific spread put together by “Bengals” Josh the chef. We had Baked Clams, Boneless Wings (Teriyaki Bomb and Buffalo) and Irish Spring rolls. We finished out at the house. The beer of choice was Guinness for me and KGB had an Irish coffee with Jameson and Baileys. John the bartender did a great job!

My Stat of the week: 21 for 127 for those doing the match that is 6.0 yards per carry.

My thoughts on Next Week: The Steelers play an interesting 49ers team in the ‘Burgh home opener. Look for a strong rebound game! KGB doesn’t know it yet, but inviting a bunch of people over and she is cooking “Snacks”. She loves reading it in the blog instead of hearing it from me. 🙂

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If you are reading this you already have a pretty good idea what goes down tonight. The Steelers take on the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots tonight.

Keys to victory:

-Stop the run: People are talking about how poorly the Steelers secondary will do against Tom Brady, however stopping the run will be key. This is a very solid front seven, and could be great if Jarvis Jones and Bud Dupree develop. They need to lean on the Patriots and keep gap integrity. The Pat’s are an unholy 40-1, since 2000, when they get a 100 yard rusher.

-“Get out of the gate fast”: DUH, contrary to popular belief the Steelers completely have the Patriots out manned in almost every offensive position, and they are playing with three backups! Even the Steelers maligned O-Line is as good if not better. So the Steelers need to trade punch for punch with the Brady bunch. While Brady is the better player, Ben is the playmaker! So keep Ben upright and watch him go.

-RUSH THE PASSER: If Jesus is God’s one true son, Tom Brady is like his nephew or his cousin. He is a Hall Of Fame Top Five QB of all time. His only “weakness” is he has trouble with a serious pass rush. The Giants proved that. They need to try and keep him off balance all day, and DIAL UP the blitzes. I would rather see the Steelers go “out on their shield” with blitzes then try and play the coverage game with Brady and crew.

-Knock their jocks off!: Win or lose, let them know they played the Steelers by pounding them.

Here is a very fun article:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/why-the-pittsburgh-steelers-will-win-super-bowl-50/ar-AAe8Tlb?ocid=iehp#page=11

Steelers ended their lousy preseason! Last night was fairly uneventful. I have not seen the game film yet, but here are some of my takeaways:

-Jordan Berry won the punting contest! The Steelers traded Brad Wing to the Giants today.

-Josh Harris will most likely make the team. He had a nice night playing behind a mediocre line.

-Chris Hubbard needed a good night and he had one!

-Landry Jones played okay.

The Steelers meet the Panthers tonight in the final game of the preseason. This will be 16 years straight and while the game is meaningless, there are several story lines. The 53 Man roster will be shaped by tonight’s game. Several players need to have big games;

-Big night tonight for Darrius Heyward-Bey v. Sam Coates in the Martavis Bryant sweepstakes! One guy could win the starting job.

-Ethan Hemer and Howard Jones need to show something as well. Both are huge upside guys but have to standout. SPECIAL TEAMS!!!

-The punting battle which has been exciting will finish up tonight. Look for Berry to make it happen.

-Ross Ventrone and B.W. Webb both need to make a play to stay on the team, Webb is battling Kevin Fogg who looks lost at times on defense.

-Do or die for Chris Hubbard tonight, he needs to beat out Doug Legursky which will be a tall order.

-Tyler Murphy has a shot to crack the receivers group and he is a fun prospect to watch. The sleeper here is Shakim Phillips who has looked spectacular at some times during the season and a little shaky at other times. One should make the practice squad.

-On a personal note, Dante my youngest guy is rooting for Anthony Chikillo, because he likes him in Madden!

-NO ONE CAN GET HURT!!!

Steelers will face the Brady Bunch on opening night!

The Steelers were absolutely wrecked by the Buffalo Bills on Saturday.

The Good:

-Martavis Bryant, who will miss at least four games, is an absolute force of nature on the field. He was solid.

-Cody Wallace filled in and did well.

-The controversial Michael Vick looked very good.

The Bad:

-Another preseason game another injury!! Garret Hartley went down with and injury!

-The defense was awful, I mean absolutely 100% awful.

-The defense was awful. I didn’t mistype that twice it was that bad!

With the uncertain status of Maurkice Pouncey, the Steelers turned to old friend, Doug Legursky to rejoin the team. Legursky who has played for the Bills (Where he started at Guard) and the Chargers since leaving, gives the Steelers a good veteran backup. BWG has always been a fan and we are glad to have him back!

The more controversial signing was Michael Vick. Vick is coming off a lousy season with the Jets and he has enough baggage to fill two 747’s, but he also paid his debt to society and the Steelers needed a veteran backup. I like the signing and think this gives the Steelers a more capable backup than what they currently were looking at. I have seen Vick play twice, once beating the Steelers last year in the Meadowlands. and the other the infamous tie game against Atlanta!

Bruce Gradkowski is done for the year now!

The Steelers pulled out an entertaining victory against the Packers, but both teams suffered serious losses that weren’t reflected in the score. The Steelers might have lost Pro Bowl Center Maurkice Pouncey for the Season! The Packers lost Jordy Nelson!

The Good:

-The “Varsity” offense looks very good against the Packers. They scuffled a little but you can see them moving forward and rounding out into form. When the Steelers needed to convert they did.

-The Defense bounced back after they slept through the first series, including great looking sacks by Jarvis Jones, Bud Dupree and Silverback, who absolutely erased Aaron Rodgers on the safety. All the linebackers played well.

-Shamarko Thomas had a standout game!

-The Steelers had great punting performance by Brad Wing and Jordan Berry!

The Bad:

-Maurkice Pouncey looks like he is lost for the season and Stephon Tuitt was injured as well. Both are major losses and could sink the season. Hard to find something worse than that.

-The Pouncey injury led to the Bruce Gradkowski. Grad looked shaky at best.

-Landry Jones, had very little help but again played skittish. He showed some flashes but really needs to put together a huge performance over the next two weeks.

-The Secondary still is a work in progress.

My thoughts on next week:

-Many players need to have big weeks.

Sorry for the delay in putting this together. As many of you know I am not in the Pittsburgh Market and I didn’t get to see the game film until Sunday. I was actually quite pleased with the game, Maybe I am used to losing in the Preseason so I don’t freak out anymore, but I thought there was some excellent signs.

The Good:

-The “Varsity” offense looks very good again. I honestly thought Ben might play a second series because the offense were on the field for a whopping six plays. I don’t even think they needed to wash their uniforms after the game. I could describe it like this, “Balanced and explosive”

-DeAngelo Williams looked very good and very competent. While Le’Veon Bell played well, Williams looks up to the task and maybe we can balance the load a little better this year. What Ravens fans conveniently forget is that Bell didn’t play in the playoffs last year and it made a huge difference. Williams gives us that competent player we need.

-Garrett Hartley looks very good as well and doesn’t look like we are skipping a beat.

-Ryan Shazier is having his coming out party. He looked scary fast and was throwing out beatings all game. When he was teamed up with Sean Spence they looked extremely formidable.

-James Harrison is a “FREAKING” Monster. He has barely practiced but was able to run over the Jaguars and had a strip sack. He looks like THE Old Silverback not an Old Silverback.

-No one was hurt!

The Bad:

-Shazier and Harrison were the lone bright spots on defense. (Spence played well also) I am hoping the defense is just vanilla but the pass rush was pretty weak.

-The secondary is a work in progress at best. Shamarko Thomas was way out of position on a touchdown.

-Landry Jones, was not bad. But he didn’t impress again either and he is about to be out of a job.

The Ugly:

-SPECIAL TEAMS? Seriously, I have been a Steelers fan my whole life, a very active Steelers fan for over twenty years. Are we ever going to get special teams straight. It goes in phases but it is always the issue at some point or another.

My thoughts on next week:

-Steelers have the Super Bowl contender Packers this weekend!