The Steelers recovered from a terrible start, rallied back from a 14-point deficit and were able to walk away with a victory against a game but mediocre Colt’s team. The game was about as bad as the Steelers can play and still pull out a victory.
The offensive approach was pretty straight forward with running Le’Veon Bell and the Colts were clearly prepared for it. They loaded up the box and he rarely found running room. Bell gutted out 80 yards rushing on 26 attempts, with 40 coming on 17 rushes in the second half, for the day he finished with a mediocre average of 3.1 yards per carry.
With the running game nearly shut down, the Steelers relied on Ben Roethlisberger. He completed four passes for 66 yards, including a huge play to Antonio Brown for 32 yards that cemented the victory on the last drive. He also converted a two-point conversion to Martavis Bryant to tie the game, despite having serious issues with the play calling from Todd Haley. After missing several throws in the first half, he finished with 236 yards and two touchdown passes spreading the ball around hitting six different receivers. Ju-Ju Smith-Schister had another big game with five catches for 97 yards with one of the TDs.
With a week pass rush in the first half, the Steelers secondary had a second rough week in a row. Artie Burns had a tough game and Joe Haden was injured and will miss significant time. In the past four games the Steelers have allowed completions of 43, 44, 57, 60 and 61 yards. This is beginning to become an area of concern.
The Special teams once again reared its ugly head. A delay of game penalty on the two-point conversion moved the Steelers back, they had to go for two, because they had an extra point block, which Jesse JAMES They also had two successive holding calls on a Jordan Berry punt, which cost over 20 yards. “Little Bos” missed a Field Goal and had an extra point blocked. It was another disastrous day for special teams.
In the end the Steelers played terrible, but a win is a win and they are now at 7-2!
BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!
My “GAME BEER” goes to: Ben Roethlisberger, who after an awful first half rallied and led a great comeback! Also Considered: Vance McDonald who had his first Steelers TD.
Where I watched the game: Back at the house for basically the last 1:00PM game of the season! We had pot stickers as the game snack and I could never find the “right” beer for the game. Went from Shock Top Pumpkin to Corona Light, to Natural Ice of all things! Only had to be warned once on my behavior, despite the game being awful. We had a great fire and KGB finished with Stuffed Peppers for dinner! It was a great way to spend our last 1PM game.
My Stat of the week: This is sort of game related, 15 as in 15 losses to teams with a massive 28-93 sub .500 record since 2009. Despite playing the team with the worst defense in football, the Steelers nearly were shutout in the first half? The Colts nearly pulled the upset. This has been the one TERRIBLE mark against Mike Tomlin’s career.
My Thoughts on next week: Extremely fast turnaround as the Steelers play the Titans on Thursday Night football. The Steelers lost the last meeting on Thursday night football as Bill and I went to the game. I think the Steelers play it close but win the game.
This week’s Jersey: Franco Harris, #32, Salute to Service which I wore in honor of Veterans Day!