Beer We Go Steelers

The Steelers dominated the stat sheet, but several costly mistakes gave away an easy win in Denver. The game was reminiscent of the playoff game in Denver in 2015. The Steelers had control but kept giving it back including the game tying drive.

The offense moved the ball at will creating 25 first downs and over 500 yards. Ben Roethlisberger had a tremendous day, but two critical turnovers cost the Steelers. The first was a communication issue with Antonio Brown that changed momentum and the last was a fluke play to Shelby Harris who was blown off the ball by Maurkice Pouncey and was in the passing lane. Roethlisberger passed for 462 yards and a touchdown. He also had all day to pass behind great protection.

James Conner had another mediocre day and a critical fumble that cost the Steelers points. Statistically the numbers were solid, but the performance wasn’t there. Despite the leaky Broncos run defense the offense had a pass first mentality. Conner finished with 95 yards from scrimmage.

The passing game was on fire. JuJu Smith-Schuster had 13 catches for 189 yards and tied his existing record with a 97-yard touchdown pass on a great play by Roethlisberger. He also surpassed 1000 yards for the first time in his career. Antonio Brown was open every time he was on the same page with Roethlisberger and finished with nine catches. Ryan Switzer has been a great find chipped in with six catches. Roethlisberger hit eight different receivers. Xavier Grimble had a huge catch and run but fumbled on the goal line, that play summed up the day.

The run defense was suspect, and they surrendered the first 100-yard rusher of the season to Phillip Lindsay. Neither the defensive line nor the linebackers had the answer. The secondary limited Case Keenum to under 200 yards, but both sides gave up critical plays and made critical stops. While it wasn’t a great performance, it should have been good enough to win.

The highlight of the day was on special teams. Alejandro Villanueva had his first touchdown catch of the season on a nifty fake field goal play. Chris Boswell made a great throw. Ryan Switzer had an uneven day in the return game. Jordan Berry, who didn’t punt in the first half, seems to have bounced back from early season woes with three solid punts.

The Steelers snapped their undefeated streak on the road. You can feel the upset coming as everything seemed off all game. It is nearly impossible to win with four key turnovers specifically three in the red zone.

BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!

My “GAME BEER” goes to: Alejandro Villanueva of course. One of our favorite Steelers, he caught his first TD and did a terrific job. Also Considered, Chuks Okorafor who all but shutout Von Miller, JuJu Smith-Schuster for a MONSTER game.

Where I watched the game: Back at the house with the entire family, knee deep in doing Christmas decorations. We had a tremendous spread of meats, cheeses and breads. We had Penne Ala Vodka for dinner which was great. For the first Beer back went with IC Light. It was a great day, sans the result.

My Stat of the week: Giving two stats. Three 90+ yard touchdowns in JuJu Smith-Schuster’s young career. Of course, ONE the first Touchdown of Alejandro Villanueva’s career. Villanueva played Wide Receiver at West Point and is a great Steeler.

My Thoughts on next week: The Steelers continue a tough stretch and need a statement game against the Chargers. This could have playoff implications.

This week’s Jersey: Troy Polamalu, #43 Away, Was thinking about Troy this week and rocked the jersey!

Jacksonville, Fla. – It was a tale of two halves as the Steelers stole a victory from the Jacksonville Jaguars continuing their winning streak and all but ending the Jaguars season.

Ben Roethlisberger played 55 minutes of the worst football, including throwing three interceptions and then led two touchdown drives in the last five minutes of the game, capped off by a mad scramble for the game winner. Roethlisberger finished with 314 yards and two touchdowns.

The offense was disjointed for most of the game, but in the end JuJu Smith-Schuster and Antonio Brown came through in the clutch. After a slow start, Brown torched Jalen Ramsey for a 78-yard touchdown catch that got the offense back in the game. Smith-Schuster had a heroic circus catch over loud mouth Ramsey that setup the second touchdown getting the Steelers within striking distance. Vance McDonald caught the touchdown!

The defense also woke up in the second half. After struggling to stop the Jaguars punishing running game, which racked up 141 yards in the first half, the front seven made adjustments and the Jaguars didn’t. The Steelers limited the Jaguars to just 38 yards in the second half and forced a three-and-out on the final four possessions.

Vince Williams was made for this type of game and he led the team with 10 tackles and a sack. T.J. Watt had two sacks and forced a fumble on each. Javon Hargrave had his best game of the season and set the point of attack with four tackles and two sacks.

Blake Bortles never completed a pass longer than 14 yards and most of his stuff was underneath. He finished with just 104 yards and was never able to convert on any third downs with his arm.

After an almost third straight embarrassing performance against the Jags the coaching staff did a great job adjusting and delivering a hard-fought victory. Putting the Steelers in a good position in the division.

BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!

My “GAME BEER” goes to: JuJu Smith-Schuster who in a common theme made the play of the game in the second half. Also Considered, Vince Williams who had a vintage Steelers linebacker performance.

Where I watched the game: In Jacksonville, at the Nexgen Grille Deck with KGB and our Steelers travel group. It was a rough game to watch and the Jaguars announcers were just crowing. The Steelers faithful dominated the Stadium. We had to leave before the end of the game to catch an early flight and listened to the winning drive on the radio. The Jags announcers were crestfallen.

My Stat of the week: 1-3 which is a personal stat! My record with KGB when traveling with Shadyside!

My Thoughts on next week: The Steelers continue a tough stretch heading into the Mile High City! This should be a “bounce” back game.

This week’s Jersey: Joe Green, #75, My Gamer!

Sorry for the delay this week!

The Steelers look to be hitting on all cylinders right now after they completely demolished the Carolina Panthers, putting up 52 points and playing tough defense.

Ben Roethlisberger had his best game of the year with a “bombs away” offense. Connecting with JuJu Smith-Schuster on a 75-Yard Touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. He also hit Antonio Brown on a 53-yarder that put the game all but out of reach in the first half. Roethlisberger, finished with 328 Yards passing, hit nine different receivers, five for touchdowns and had the magic 158.3 quarterback rating.

The offensive line did another terrific job protecting Ben Roethlisberger and opening holes for running lanes. They kept the Panthers on their heels from the first play and never let up. The running game was used to open up the passing game and it worked. Dave DeCastro had one of the statement plays of the night as he came out and almost lit up Eric Reid after his questionable hit on Roethlisberger.

JuJu Smith-Schuster and Antonio Brown had very productive nights combining for 186 yards as did Vance McDonald who chipped in with four catches for 44 yards. Jaylen Samuels had his first receiving touchdown of the year on a nice catch and run and Jesse James had one catch for a touchdown.

The defense, after getting torched on the first drive, played their most complete game of the season. The game plan was edge pressure, trap Cam Newton and take away the long ball, which they did perfectly. They decked Cam Newton seven times and sacked him five times. Steelhead Hewyard led the team with two sacks and was all over Newton. T.J. Watt had a big sack and should have had a safety, when Newton was trying to ground a pass that was picked off by Vince Williams.

The secondary kept Newton in check all day and he never had a completion longer than 15 yards. The coverage was solid all night and the Panthers were not able to stretch the field.

EVEN the Special Teams played well! Little Bos hit a 50+ Fields goal, Roosevelt Nix forced a fumble and there wasn’t a Jordan Berry sighting until the 4^th quarter!

The coaching staff had a great game plan in a short week coming out of a very physical football game. Of course Tomlin said it best, “…we’re probably not that good..” They are never to high and never to low, that’s the sign of a great coach.

BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!

My “GAME BEER” goes to: Ben Roethlisberger, who put together a monster performance. Also Considered: Cam Heyward and the entire Offensive Line.

Where I watched the game: This is interesting this week. It was a “Jets” day for me as I got to meet up with one of the good guys in football NY Jet great Marty Lyons and in the evening I watched the first quarter with Tony Richardson and Nick Mangold from the Jets. I watched quarter two and three with Johnny “The Hitman” Hernandez and my buddy Brian in the back of an UBER on a tablet which was awesome and listened to the majority of the fourth quarter on the radio finishing up in bed with KGB for the last two minutes. Very cool night! I texted with KGB and my buddy Bill the whole time and for the first time in a long time the texts with Bill were not actually littered with f-bombs!

My Stat of the week: 158.3 x 4! The amount of times Ben Roethlisberger has had a perfect Quarterback Rating and he still remains the only player in the NFL to do it twice in one season (07)!

My Thoughts on next week: After a long week now, the Steelers will get revenge down in Jacksonville.

This week’s Jersey: No jersey this week because it was a short week and I was at a business function. I did rock my BWGSTEELERS 92 T-shirt the night before that KGB made and yesterday wore my Steelers tie and gold pocket silk!

He may be a Jet and he may have broken your heart if you love Penn State but he is all good in my book!

Please consider donating to the Marty Lyons Foundation:

https://martylyonsfoundation.org

The Pittsburgh Steelers went into Baltimore and avenged an early season loss! Powered by another James Conner 100-Yard game and red zone efficiency the Steelers were able to take a firm grip of the division. The Steelers team who were routed by the Ravens in week four look long gone.

James Conner racked up his fourth straight 100-Yard game in a row. After being a non-factor in the first matchup he was a force in the first half and set the tone for the day.  James Conner had 107 yards on 24 carries, his NFL-best fifth 100-Yard game. He adapted his running style and was able to bang or slash where needed. He also made a great catch for a TD.

Ben Roethlisberger had a workman like day. He threw two touchdown passes in the first half and protected the ball. He finished with 270 yards passing and probably one of his most important plays was taking a sack which all but killed the Ravens clock chances of pulling the comeback. Roethlisberger hit seven different receivers including a 51 yarder to Jesse James. He was injured on a scramble which setup the biggest play of the game, a Josh Dobbs 22-yard completion, converting a first down on a 2^nd and 20, from the Steelers end zone. It was Dobbs first career completion and it was a big one!

The defense is beginning to gel and the differences in this game and the first meeting was staggering. The strategy was a bend but not break and the 3^rd quarter touchdown surrendered was the result of referee interference more than bad defense. Joe Flacco was held to 154 yards fewer passing yards and they never found room to run in this meeting. The Ravens were obsessed with gimmick plays with Lamar Jackson and they never materialized. John Brown was never a factor in the game after torching the Steelers last time.

The pass rush didn’t yield many stats and finished with just two sacks, but they were all over Joe Flacco in the pass rush. It was a nice showing by the front seven. A Stephon Tuitt sack all but sealed the victory. Javon Hargrave and Dan McCullers had a nice showing clogging the running lanes and setting the point of attack.

The special teams were another mixed bag of strange. Ben Roethlisberger punted…not sure why, but he did and it didn’t work. Little Bos missed another field goal, which really gave the Ravens some momentum. On a bright note, Ryan Switzer had a solid day and put together a 31-yard return.

Mike Tomlin and crew put the Ravens on their heels all game. They kept the Ravens defense off balance and the offense had no big play potential.

The referees were absolutely horrible. They were again way to involved and made several critical calls and non-calls that could have affected the outcome of the game.

In the end the Steelers out played the Ravens and sit atop the tough North!

BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!

My “GAME BEER” goes to: James Conner again, he did a terrific job and set the offensive tone. Also Considered; Josh Dobbs were putting together one of the biggest pass plays of the season. Jesse James for catching the longest pass of his career and Bud Dupree who was all over the Ravens backfield.

Where I watched the game: Back at the house after a boxing match. Had to ice the shoulder down. No beer again and there won’t be until after my fight. It was me and my girls, KGB and Little Miss Tailgate and we had Sausage and Peppers which inadvertently has become a Ravens-Steelers staple.

My Stat of the week: 10-0-1 is the Steelers record in the last 11 road games. That is a great job by the Steelers coaches and how you win the division.

My Thoughts on next week: The Steelers drew the short straw playing a tough Carolina team on a short week after battling the Ravens. The NFL Schedule is usually merciless to the Steelers and this combination might be the toughest.

This week’s Jersey: Antonio Brown, #84 Away Jersey! This is my first away jersey appearance of the season.