Archive for October, 2020

Steelers hold on to go 6-0!

October 25th, 2020

Once again it was a tale of two halves, the Steelers dominated the first two quarters and then made several key mistakes to nearly blow a 17-point lead and the game. But unlike the Broncos and Eagles games, the Steelers turned back one of the best teams in the NFL in the Titans.

There was no secret at what the Steelers needed to do, control Derrick Henry and they did just that. Henry had very little running room and rushed for just 75 yards with most of the yardage coming later in the game when the Steelers no longer loaded up the box. After an opening drive touchdown by the offense, the Steelers forced a three and out and had the Titans on their heels for the entire first half.

Vince Williams and Robert Spillane plugged the middle, “Steelhead” Heyward and Stephon Tuitt anchored the line and Henry found very little room to move. Spillane also had the tackle of the season on the goal line to stuff Henry. T. J. Watt chipped in with another sack. It was a very strong day for the run defense. The secondary struggled again allowing a few miscue big plays, but for the most part kept the Titans in check. Tannehill finished with just 220 yards (73 of them on one misplay my Minkah Fitzpatrick) and was battered most of the game. He never could get a rhythm and while the pass defense was “leaky” it held up.

The offense had a tremendous first half, but then made some key mistakes that kept the game from being a blowout. The opening drive set the tone and the Steelers moved the ball at will for most of the game. Three Ben Roethlisberger turnovers allowed the Titans to cling to life. After a great run back by Ray-Ray McCloud with seconds left in the first half, the Steelers were on the verge of putting the Titans away. Roethlisberger turned the ball over on a “quasi-Hail Mary”. He also had a huge turnover in the Red Zone after leading a 16-play seven plus minute drive that again would have put the Titans away with a little over two minutes left in the game. His performance was uneven at best and it was his worst game of the year. However, he also engineered the offense and controlled the ball converting 13-18 3rd downs and did enough to beat an undefeated team, while he didn’t play great he deserves a lot of the credit.

James Conner out gained Derrick Henry banging out 82 yards and he helped the Steelers maintain control in the first half. The Steelers didn’t take the foot off the gas in the second half, they stayed in the air, when it might have been more prudent to try and keep running on the Titans. It was a good performance by Conner.

Diontae Johnson had a great return, torching the Titans defense for nine passes for 80 yards and two touchdowns. JuJu Smith-Schuster led the team in catches and had 85 yards. Eric Ebron and Vance McDonald chipped in with a combined eight catches for 64 yards.

The coaching deserves a lot of credit. They had a very good game plan on both sides of the ball, and it was only in the execution that the Steelers struggled. While it is “not a perfect product” they now sit at 6-0 that doesn’t happen without great coaching.

Just going to say it again…the refs are WAY too involved in the game.

Hard to be upset about 6-0!

BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!

My “GAME BEER” goes to: Vince Williams, we often write that he is an old school middle of the pack thumper. He did not disappoint this week and he led the team in tackles and added a sack. The Steelers clobbered Derrick Henry all game. Also Considered: Robert Spillane who acquitted himself in replacing Devin Bush, Ray-Ray McCloud who has been a great find. Diontae Johnson who really gives the Steelers a dangerous weapon.

Where I watched the game: Because of Covid-19 almost all the games will be at the house with the KGB and Dante.  Last week I missed the entire game for the first time in nearly 20 years. We had a charity commitment so it was great to be back. The theme this year is “Steal the other team’s snacks!” and the fare was Nashville Hot Chicken. Absolutely phenomenal and the snacks again proved timely as the Titans never scored again when they came out! The beer for me was Bitburger Pounders and for KGB it was Montauk Pumpkin Beer with a cinnamon sugar rim!

My Stat of the week: Going with two… First the Steelers streak of 23 games without scoring an opening drive touchdown has come to an end. The Steelers engineered a 16-play drive that produced a touchdown and set the tone for the game. The other stat was 75-yards for Derrick Henry who found very little running room when it mattered most.

My Thoughts on next week: Ravens week is always a tense week. The Steelers are proficient at stopping the run, the question is are the Ravens able to pass the ball on the Steelers defense? The Ravens brought in reinforcements to help their sagging defense. Look for the usual death match.

This week’s Jersey: No jersey this week, we unveiled the new BWG Shirts!

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Steelers dominate Browns!

October 19th, 2020

By Guest Blogger; Tom Janicki, Beer We Go Founder and President

After a long writing hiatus, it’s good to be back in the saddle.  Especially with our Pittsburgh Steelers toting an undefeated 5-0 record after a complete domination of the Cleveland Browns.  The Browns came into this game riding a 4-game win streak and gaining mainstream media relevancy.  For the first time in a very long time, there were serious discussions of the rivalry.  The hype leading in carried into the Browns winning…the coin toss.  The Browns deferred the kick and the Steelers controlled the line of scrimmage from the 1st to the final play of the game.  We won every facet of this game.

The play of the game was delivered by the defense early in the 1st quarter.  After the Steelers settled for a Boswell field goal to take a 3-0 lead, On the Browns opening offensive series, after two uneventful runs, Baker dropped back and completed his first pass to none other than Steelers Safety FitzMagic.  Big Play Minkah strikes again with a pick six making the score 10-0 (we have been missing this nose for the football this year).

After a series of punts and very few first downs by the Brownies the Steelers offense went back to work scoring touchdowns on consecutive drives sandwiched by a Cam Sutton Interception. Mapletron sparked the first offensive touchdown drive with a technical sideline catch which needed to be reviewed for a score but his elbow was down that led to James Conner punching it in on the next play.  The other 1st half TD came from Big Ben to James Washington who beat the Browns defense like a rented mule.  The route was on.

The only game negative that I can recall occurred in the 2nd half as Devin Bush was hustling to make a routine tackle and seemed to blow out his knee.  This will be a big blow to the middle of the defense.  Marcus Allen and Robert Spillane are not household names Z(yet) and this scares me.  I’m hopeful that this injury does not change our ridiculous run defense, however, it is hard to replace a sideline to sideline defender such as Devin Bush.  He will be missed.

Beer We Go Steelers, Beer We Go!

My “GAME BEER” goes to: I’m tempted to give this to Baker Mayfield for gift wrapping this Steelers victory, however, I’ll go with Minkah Fitzpatrick for helping us put our foot on their throat and never letting them breathe

Where I watched the game: Home Sweet Home.  Yes, it is sad to think of the impact that 2020 has dealt us.  We are typically hanging out with the Harkins crew, the Terrible Bra and Pope Yinzer on Sunday mornings then meandering our way to 524 Row A to lose our voices in the moments.  Instead, we were loaded up with Miller Lites and had a spread of food that included chicken cheese nachos, meatball hoagies and Aldi’s brand pizza (it’s acceptable to go cheap if that is what the majority of young boys prefer…).  We were joined to watch with the Foster’s (Jim, Sherry, Tate, Julian & James) and half the Hrebik’s (Jason and Jayden), Big thanks goes out to the families that accepted our invite.  The scare of the game occurred when Julian (7?) was throwing a “soft” ball into the couch and then shifted his brain into deciding to pick up the “hard” ball.  He threw the ball at half speed, which was hard, and missed the couch high which happened to be the window. Actually shocked that the window did not break from the force of the ball.  Causality of the game goes out to Tate’s JuJu jersey which occurred in the 2nd half when the game wasn’t holding the boy’s attention and they went into the backyard to play a real game.  Jayden tore the arm sleeve thus, we turned the shirt into a muscle shirt (sleeveless).  We shall see if this style will be trend worthy…keep wearing it Tate, the sleeveless JuJu has more wins in it.

My Stat of the week: The Browns came in leading the NFL in rushing offense at over 200 yards per game and our Pittsburgh Steelers held them to 75 yards on the ground.  We continue to make teams one dimensional.

My thoughts on next week: Next weeks game, Derek Henry will be our toughest test and if we can hold him down the NFL will need to be on high alert.

This week’s Jersey: NA

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Steelers hold off the Eagle, improving to 4-0!

October 11th, 2020

The Steelers took a commanding lead and then had to hold off the Eagles for a hard-fought victory in the “Battle of Pennsylvania”. The game featured a breakout performance by Chase Claypool and the offense, and the defense had a bend but don’t break mentality making timely plays when needed.

Chase Claypool became the first rookie in club history and the first Steeler since Roy Jefferson to score four touchdowns in a game. Claypool had a two-yard end around that started the Steelers scoring. He also had a 32-yard touchdown reception, a five-yard screen touchdown reception and the game clinching 35-yard catch and run. He also was jobbed by the refs on a great catch, that was ruled a push off. Ray-Ray McCloud also contributed and once again proved why he made the team over Ryan Switzer. He had three catches and helped open the running game on a 58-yard reverse that completely caught the Eagle off guard. Running room was hard to find Sunday and the Eagles played stout run defense.

Ben Roethlisberger, despite being pressured, orchestrated a strong workmanlike performance. His production was less than spectacular but he managed the offense well, had no turnovers and made the throws he needed. Roethlisberger finished with an effective 239 yards and three touchdowns. Give credit to Randy Fichtner’s game plan, the Eagles pass rush was tough so the game plan was quick effective passes, screens and misdirection on the run. It worked and the Steelers put up their highest point total in the last two seasons.

The defense had another uneven performance and looked rusty after the early bye week. The tackling was suspect, and it led to several big plays including getting torched by Pittsburgh native Mike Sanders for 74-yards. There were several mistakes on the play by the Steelers. The run defense settled down and kept the Eagles under 100 yards on the ground. Stephon Tuitt doesn’t get the credit he deserves; he was a huge force in yesterday’s game and despite paltry stats, was a major factor in the win. Cam Heyward, and Tuitt provided a huge push up the middle and allowed the linebackers to make plays. T.J. Watt had an early sack and Bud Dupree contributed with a late sack, there were several opportunities, but the Steelers had trouble corralling Carson Wentz.

The secondary struggled most of the game, Mike Hilton was torched by Travis Fulghum and he ate the Steelers up with 10 catches and 152 yards. Wentz was able to convert several third and longs. Steven Nelson had two interceptions but Minkah Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds were non-factors in the game.

Mike Tomlin and his coaching staff were a major reason for the Steelers victory. They outcoached the Eagles and knew the right levers to pull to get the game back on track. The defense needs to be better and the offense looks like it is still developing, but the team seems to be evolving into a better team every week.

The referees were way to involved in the game again. They made several strange and questionable calls on both sides of it and really jammed up the pace of the game.

In the end the Steelers sit at 4-0 for the first time since 1979.

BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!

My “GAME BEER” goes to: DUH… Chase Claypool, who had his coming out party, scoring four touchdowns and racking up 100+ yards. The receiving corps is becoming one of the best units on the team again! Also Considered: Ray-Ray McCloud who is becoming a bigger part of the offense as well as special teams. Ben Roethlisberger who played great the whole day. Stephon Tuitt who is anchoring the defensive line.

Where I watched the game: Because of Covid we are trying to stay home as much as possible, this was bittersweet, because we were supposed to be at the game this weekend. We had Cheesesteaks in honor of the “Battle of Pennsylvania”, It was about 18 inches long and weighed about EIGHT lbs. The beer of choice was IC Light for me, KGB drank Shock Top Pumpkin (With Cinnamon Sugar) and Dante drank A&W Root Beer! I texted with my buddy Bill throughout the game!

My Stat of the week: We covered the four touchdowns by Claypool. Going with the Eagles rushing for 94 yards, the most this season against the Steelers defense. But as we often write, stats don’t always tell the story. With Mike Sanders ripping off a 74-yard drive, the Eagles finished with just 20 yards on the other 15 carries, the defense had some missed tackles and quickly recovered.

My thoughts on next week: This is a HUGE matchup. The Browns are hitting their stride and have started to make their move, the Steelers look vulnerable in the secondary and that could spell big trouble. The key is protecting Ben and sooner or later the Browns will break. Look for a gunfight!

This week’s Jersey: Ben Roethlisberger, #7, Fashion Jersey.

 

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My Thoughts on “Next Week” updated

October 7th, 2020

The Steelers play a struggling Eagles team who scratched out their first win of the year. Look for the Steelers to smother Carson Wentz and crush the Eagles up front.

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