Coming off the worst defeat in team history, the Steelers defense dominated the line of scrimmage and held the Bills offense to 227 yards, 400 yards fewer than last week. They ran the ball more times than they passed it and when it was said and done, it was a vintage Steelers victory as they pounded the football, controlled the clock and dominated on defense.
The defense needed a big week and they put it together. They pushed Buffalo all over the field and chased a very rusty looking E.J. Manuel around. It always starts up front and the defensive line and the linebackers held C.J. Spiller and the Bills’ number seven ranked rush offense to under one hundred yards.
Lawrence Timmons was all over the field and made several big plays. Cam Heywood again put together a masterful performance and recorded one of the three sacks on the day. Jarvis Jones recorded the first sack of his career. The Secondary pitched in with a shutdown effort and Ryan Clark acquitted himself nicely putting together a great game and making the big play when needed. He recorded a 26 yard interception that basically sealed the game. It was a masterful performance by the defense who didn’t allow a touchdown until 59 minutes and 57 seconds. The touchdown was bogus as the refs blew the call, Chris Gragg was completely offsides as he scored. The refs were absolutely awful all day.
The offense got back to running the ball and they did so with some authority. They pounded on the Bills up front and had good movement. Le’Veon Bell had some nice hard runs and made some good catches out of the backfield. He racked up 96 total yards. Jonathon Dwyer is making the most of his second chance as he has been a great third down and short yardage back. He converted three first downs on some tough runs.
“Big” Ben managed the game perfectly and while he didn’t rack up huge numbers, he recovered from a lousy first quarter interception to lead the team to victory. He was sacked four more times which was alarming but the offensive line put together a respectable game running the ball and stoning Mario Williams who didn’t have a sack or a tackle in the game. Mike Adams, who has been demoted from LT, has been an absolute killer on running blocking as the extra blocker. He totally leveled LB Nigel Bradham to lead the way for Bell’s touchdown.
The receivers had their usual great day despite the windy conditions. Jerricho Cotchery caught the first touchdown of the game which was his fourth in two weeks. Antonio Brown was sensational on offense and special teams. He had over 100 yards rushing and had two great runbacks on special teams. Manny Sanders had only 13 yard but made four tough catches and had the Steelers longest run of the day out of the wildcat.
The team had a great bounce back week and will now try and continue the momentum. The Steelers obviously haven’t quit on the coaches or the season. The fans need to step up now and stop dogging our leadership and get back to drinking beer and rooting for the Black and Gold.
BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!!!
My “GAME BEER” goes to: We are going with two; Tom Janicki and I were torn on this, we are going with Antonio Brown and Lawrence Timmons. Brown had the biggest impact on the game and Timmons really needed a big bounce back week and he got it. Also Considered: Ryan Clark and Le’Veon Bell
Where I watched the game: HEINZ FIELD! Section 524 front row with Beer We Go Founder, Tom Janicki, my amazing girlfriend KGB and my daughter Hailey “Little Miss Tailgate” and the head of “Root Beer We Go Steelers”. We had the Cajun Cheese Fries which were awesome, Hot Dogs and a bag of Peanuts, which I eat with the shells on. The Beer of choice was IC Light Pounders in the parking lot and Miller Lite in the stadium. It was a great experience! (SEE LITTLE MISS TAILGATE BELOW)
My Stat of the week: ZERO as in No Sacks or Tackles for Mario Williams. The offensive game plan was to shut him down and they did that. It was a great effort shutting down one of the best players in the league.
My thoughts on Next Week: The Steelers host the 6-3 Lions and will be huge underdogs. I feel like the upset is coming and the Steelers will put together back to back big weeks. Look for the Steelers to squeak it out.
“My Pittsburgh Experience” by Little Miss Tailgate
We started off with two bumpy plane rides one to Baltimore and one to PITTSBURGH!! We were then picked up by Captain Tailgate and went to the Strip to shop. We ate at Primanti Brothers and I had the best sandwich I have ever had.
On the day of the game we went to breakfast at Deluca’s in town and we went with Captain Tailgate his wife Kristen, and his two kids Alex, and Aubrey. After breakfast we headed to the stadium to go and tailgate for a couple hours until the game started.
The game was very fun I love going to Heinz field. Every year it gets better and better. I had a lot of delicious foods. One of the foods we ate was a large bucket of Cajun cheese fries and the bags of peanuts we had. The players I thought played well were Big Ben, Antonio Brown and Troy Polamalu. I thought Ben passed the ball very well and didn’t get sacked as much as usual. Antonio Brown scored most of the touchdowns we scored. I thought Troy did a very nice job he stopped the Bills from getting touchdown.
Then on Monday we headed home but I had so much fun, and I ate a lot of delicious foods. I am so excited for next year!!!!!! GO STEELERS!!!