Beer We Go Steelers

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!

We were remiss in talking about the Bus’s induction in the Hall of Fame. There has been so many great articles about it and I wanted to write something worthy of my thoughts on him. Let me just say, the Bus is one of my favorite players in Steelers history. The Steelers traded a 2nd round pick in 96 and their 4th in 97 to the Rams for Bettis. The Rams picked Lawrence “Lady Killer” Phillips as their starter, the Steelers went with Bettis. Bettis is now in Canton, Phillips is now in a California State Prison. Guess the Steelers chose wisely!

People always forget that on the depth chart the Steelers had RB Erric “PeeWee” Pegram ahead of him, I remember wanting to see Bettis in action. It didn’t last long and while Pegram played well “the Bus” was born. Bettis put together a monster year. He rang up 14oo yards and 11 Td’s. It would be a string of SIX straight 1000+ yard seasons for the Bus as he was the lynchpin of the Steelers offense.

The Steelers experimented with other backs, but Bettis always held off all challengers. In 2004 after a few slower seasons, the Steelers brought in Deuce Staley. Staley started out great and they were a great tandem together. Unfortunately Staley was injured after he rushed for 125 yards against the Patriots and “The Bus” was called upon again.

I was at the game and got to meet Bettis in the Hotel Lobby. When I saw him, I knew it was going to be a special day. We watched as Bettis destroyed the Philadelphia Eagles rushing 33 times for 149 yards! The Steelers won out the rest of the season and Bettis had five more 100 yard games. Including a 140Yard Performance against the Giants. (Which I was at.) The Steelers sat him out the last game of the season, opting to let their backup’s backups beat the Bills, and Bettis was denied another 1000 yard season. He finished the year with 941 yards! It was a magical season with a bitter end as the Steelers lost to the Patriots. (Who everyone knows cheated.)

Of course we know how the story ended. He came back for one more year, while he only had 110 touches he had a whopping NINE Td’s and finished as a Super Bowl Champion in his home town!

We are proud to dedicate this year’s shirt to “The Bus” Jerome Bettis!

Some cool links!

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BettJe00.htm

Steelers square off this week with Jacksonville. I will try and cobble a game report together depending if I can see the game in the NY market.

Also we were totally remiss in not writing about “The Bus” this week and will have something.

While it didn’t matter and was an exhibition there were some very good signs and some very bad signs during Sunday’s games. Here is the Beer We Go Take:

-Number one rule of preseason, don’t get hurt. Steelers broke the rule as steady but unspectacular kicker Shaun Suisham is out for the season. Look for a new kicker to be signed this week. (BTW tough night for kickers as it looks like former Steeler “Skippy” Reed pulled his drunk show and was kicked out of the game Sunday night.)

-Ryan Shazier is a monster and Timmons can still lay the wood. I have said all along the Steelers front seven looks very special, they certainly showed signs of that Sunday night. They have a “Thunder and Lightning” quality that was apparent.

-Stephon Tuitt has “anchorability” he was immovable at the point of attack and had to be double teamed at the point of attack.

-Dri Archer can still be special. He needs to get better and learn his abilities, but he is a “HR” hitter when called upon.

-If Big Ben gets hurt…we are dead. That isn’t exactly news but the Steelers look very shaky without Ben. Landry Jones had a nice first half and then faded away rather quickly. To be fair he had some opportunities that other players “messed” up. He also didn’t play with any of the Varsity playmakers. I don’ think he played poorly but he certainly didn’t make a great case.

-Alejandro Villanueva is going to push to make the team and send Mike Adams home. He had a good game and was the best lineman Sunday night. He played great and graded out near perfect. He is also just downright massive.

-Jesse James might have played the worst game I have ever seen. He was downright awful. I am pulling for him but the competition for the number two tight end is WIDE open now. He did nothing to help his case and every Steeler fan should be praying for Heath Miller to stay healthy.

-The biggest question mark is the secondary and they still don’t look great. It is hard to make that statement given it wasn’t the entire starting secondary but nobody impressed me or stood out.

-The Steelers have so many good WR it is embarrassing. Even the backups, backups look like playmakers. Shakim Phillips WR may make the practice squad absolutely torched the Vikings first round pick Trae Waynes several times.

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It was a good start for the Steelers tonight!

Good News:

-Dri Archer and Landry Jones both had flashes tonight.

-Ryan Shazier was laying the wood in the first half.

-The defense was physical!

Here are your training camp quick hits for this week:

-The Steelers defense is being underestimated by most of the National Media. SURPRISE. Lindy’s picked the Steelers to finish in 3rd, Sporting News picked the Steelers 2nd. The strength of schedule is scary, no question. The Steelers usually rise up to the competition.

-Senquez Golson, the long awaited DB draft pick, looks like he is headed for season ending surgery. That is a terrible blow for the season, but not something that can’t be overcome.

-….because the Steelers had a great pickup in Brandon Boykin! Boykin is outspoken, has the right attitude and should push to start.

-I was honored that Jerome Bettis, The Bus, retweeted one of my tweets about the Steelers defense. It’s pretty simple, I like the defense and think we are going to be excellent this year. The secondary is still a huge question mark, but the front seven could be one of the best we have ever had.

-The Steelers most likely will start FOUR number 1 picks at LB this season; Jarvis Jones, who will breakout this season, Bud Dupree who looks like he has been playing here for years, the speedy Ryan Shazier, who can be a huge difference maker and the Pro Bowl veteran Laurence Timmons. With the backups being Sean Spence, Vince Williams, Arthur Moats, possibly Howard Jones and the very scary and dangerous Silverback James Harrison in the wings. They are deep, fast and nasty. Look for the bounce back we have been waiting for.

-The D-Line will compliment them nicely. Look for a breakout season from Stephon Tuitt and the continue excellence of SteelHead Heyward. Mt. McCullers will have a second season to show his stuff. We need steady play from Steve McLendon.

-Mike Adams, might be at the end of the line. Look for Alejandro Villanueva to push him. The Steelers are dreadfully thin at Tackle so keep an eye on the waiver wire or an undrafted free agent.

-The WR will again be downright scary for opposing teams.

Sunday’s game:

-Starters should get one series maybe two.

-Players who are most on the spot: Dri Archer, who looked outstanding in the first preseason game last year, but was a disappointment overall. Landry Jones, who is running out of some days. With Gradkowski getting out of the gate slow this may be Jones’ last and best chance.  Cortez Allen who is looking good early on in camp. He is a big piece of the puzzle.

-Most important is NO ONE GET HURT!!!

First and foremost it is great to be back!!! We are now up to 1400+ subscribers and we expect to be over 2500 by the start of the season. I am grateful, humble and excited for the 2015 season.

Stay tuned and we will be posting every week now moving forward!