Beer We Go Steelers

Despite being left for dead by the national media and being completely and utterly cheated by the refs the Steelers dominated the Raiders! After an opening drive that saw them go seven plays for 45 yards, the Raiders managed little the rest of the game netting only 182 total yards. It was a thoroughly dominant performance all around for the Steelers.

The Steelers defense again completely just annihilated the Raiders. Darren McFadden who was averaging over 100 yards a game had a whopping 14 yards on 10 carries. The front seven played there most complete game since the Titans this week. Running all kinds of Blitzes and Stunts they just closed down every running lane! 

James Harrison is probably one of the m exciting players to watch. Despite being held on nearly every play and absolutely getting jobbed by the refs he played an amazing game chiming in with two very big sacks and two forced fumbles. James Farrior has turned back the clock and played his best game of the season as well. He is clearly the team leader and he plays like it every week. His sack of Jason Campbell set the tone and basically swung the momentum back to the Steelers. 

The secondary had a very good game. The only lowlight was Ryan “Crash” Clark who actually knocked himself out on one play. It was impressive that he received a helmet to helmet hit penalty as he never hit the receiver’s helmet or was close to it. THIS WAS COMPLETE NONSENSE and summed up the refs entire rotten, embarrassing performance. Troy had a big interception.  

Jason Campbell was confused and battered to the point that local Pittsburgh hero Bruce Gradkowski had to come in for relief. He faired almost as poorly as his first possession wound up in a turnover.  

What made this game special though was how the offense played a complete game. Ben finally had a breakout game despite being punched in the mouth by Richard Seymour. Not going to lie I actually got a kick out of that and liked how Kemo smacked Seymour.  The Offensive line continues to get hurt every week but after an abysmal performance last week, Jonathon Scott played a tough game including erasing the defensive lineman on Ben’s 16 yard scramble.  

Rashard Mendenhall played struggled but banged out yards as they were needed. The rest of the team ran pretty much at will with Ben having a big day scrambling and Isaac Redman doing a solid job on pushing the pile. 

The receivers are again the differential this week on offense. I simply don’t buy that this team misses Santonio. While I love the guy and he is lighting it up in NY. These guys are getting better and better every week. With eight guys chiming in for a catch and Mike Wallace again just putting on a superman like performance I think next to the linebackers this is the team’s greatest strength. It is great to see Antonio Brown and Manny Sanders becoming part of the passing game as both are burners! 

It is hard to say that this game was a must win but after the thrashing the week before, it was a great bounce back game! Not to mention that the Raiders ruined one of my trips to Heinz field last year!  

BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO! 

My “GAME BEER” goes to: I actually got permission from Captain Tailgate and I am providing two game beers. One to James Harrison, SILVERBACK!!!! The guy is simply devastating and embodies the thunder of the Steelers defense. My second game beer goes to James Farrior. He is a true leader and just gets it done. LOVE “THE JAMES GANG”! 

Where I watched the game: This is actually going to be a spinoff story. I watched it at Nathaniel’s in Rochester with some of my closest friends in business and the local guys who were BWG all the way! They made me feel welcome and really we had an awesome time! We had an entire section dedicated to the Steelers and the bar was raucous. 

My thoughts on Next Week: Next week is Buffalo which should be a beat down. I have to give the Bills credit after being banished from the big screen at Nathaniel, they made a nice comeback at the hands of the talk big, play small Bengals. 

I expect the Steelers to give Harvard QB Ryan Fitzpatrick a true education!