The Steelers and Lions finished in a tie….
The Steelers and Lions ended in a draw on Sunday, in a cold rainy/snowy environment at Heinz Field. Without Ben Roethlisberger, it was an uneven performance against the worst team in the NFL and were very fortunate to not lose this game.
Saturday night it was posted that Ben Roethlisberger went on the voluntary Covid list. Mason Rudolph was tapped with the start, and he had his struggles and some flashes of capability, Rudolph finished 30 for 50 with 242 yards, he led the Steelers down the field on the first series and looked very capable, but then fell off considerably the rest of the way. He missed some key throws, a wide-open Ray-Ray McCloud in the end zone that would have put the Lions away and a wide open Diontae Johnson on a 3rd down conversion, he didn’t exploit the worst red zone defense in the NFL and it is fair to say he is still a work in progress, the Sunday effort showed that.
Despite a solid performance by Najee Harris, who was grinding it out all day, the Steelers threw the ball an astounding 50 times against a team that was on the ropes. Diontae Johnson led the team with 83 yards on seven catches, but he had a costly fumble in overtime. As did Pat Friermuth, on what would be the Steelers last drive of the game, “Muth” finished with five catches. James Washington had a touchdown and then disappeared from the stat sheet the rest of the game. Ray-Ray McCloud led the team in catches with nine and looks like he could contribute outside the return game. The offensive line did not allow a sack despite 50 drop backs and missing two starters, they also opened some running room. Give credit to Joe Haeg and J.C. Hassenauer for good efforts filling in. Kendrick Green struggled in the weather with the Shotgun snap.
The defense was a bona fide disaster against the worst team in football. The Lions blasted the Steelers with 229 yards on the ground and were ripping off huge chunks at a time, with longs of 21, 28 and 42 yards. Cam Heyward is playing the defensive line almost by himself. T.J. Watt had one sack but was injured. Devin Bush looks lost out there right now, he was once again fooled badly on a cutback by Godwin Igwebuike allowing a 42-yard touchdown run. Bush also negated a much-needed turnover by Minkah Fitzpatrick in overtime that nearly cost the Steelers the game.
The secondary has struggled all year forcing turnovers, Sunday was no different, there were several missed opportunities, with the Lions running the ball at will, Jared Goff never really tested the secondary. James Pierre came in for an injured Joe Haden and played well. Terrell Edmunds had his best game of the season, helping in run support and making several key plays.
The special teams continue to go backwards, the return game was non-existent and never made an impact. The Punt coverage unit allowed a 48-yard return to Khalif Raymond that setup the Lions first touchdown. Chris Boswell had another good day banging out three field goals. Pressley Harvin III had a good if uneven performance, he booted three inside the 20 but also had a crucial misfire on a touchback late in the fourth quarter.
Why did the Steelers with their second-string quarterback throw the ball 50 times on a day that the weather was horrendous? Why did they have Rudolph in the shotgun when Kendrick Green had trouble with the snap in the elements? With the way the offensive line performed the Steelers should have run them over all day. It was a lousy day by the offensive coaching staff.
A tie is better than a loss and the Steelers were the only North team to win this weekend, so that has to be written, but once again, there are more questions then answers.
BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!
My “GAME BEER” goes to: Najee Harris, continues to come into his own, he put up 105 yards on the ground, averaging four yards a carry and caught four passes for another 28 yards. #RocktoTheNaj Also considered: Cam “Steelhead” Heyward who had two sacks and was a one-man wrecking crew.
Beer of the Game: When in the ‘Burgh… IC Light Pounders at both the Tailgate and inside the game. KGB went with IC Mango and IC Light.
“Steel the Snacks”: No “Steel the Snacks” this week. After a year hiatus we returned to the Burgh… We tailgated with Steel City Mafia and The Terrible Bra and Grille. We had Pittsburgh Pepperoni rolls and Soup because of the temperature.
My Stat of the week*: A damn tie game… Mike Tomlin now has two ties over the course of his coaching career passing Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher in total ties, tying literally and figuratively Forrest Douds with two, but well behind, Steelers all-time tie leader Buddy Parker with six and behind Walt Kiesling with five. On a side note, this was the second tie game in the history of Heinz Field and I was at both of them.
My Thoughts on next week: On any given Sunday it seems any team can beat anyone… So, the Steelers could pull this one out, the Chargers are reeling as well and ripe to get beaten, these are the games that will separate the contenders and the pretenders. Right now, it is hard to tell what either team is.
This week’s Jersey: “Mean” Joe Greene 75, Home Black, my gamer, for most of the Steelers games I have attended this is the jersey I have worn, from Jacksonville Fla to London England, to the Meadowlands, to Pittsburgh Pa!
*Source: List of Pittsburgh Steelers head coaches – Wikipedia
“Reflections on the trip” – Little Miss Tailgate (unedited)
Hello Everyone! I am so happy that my school schedule this semester allowed me to go to Pittsburgh this year. This year was a rather odd year. After missing a year due to the pandemic, we were all very eager to go again this year. Although, it wasn’t the results that we wanted we still had a lot of fun as a family. Out of all 10 years, I have been going to Pittsburgh, I want to say that this was the first trip where the way in was quicker than the way out. Traveling into Pittsburgh the trip was about 6-7 hours and the way out was about 8 hours. This year we stayed at the Hampton Inn on Smallman Street. After dropping our stuff off and changing out of our traveling clothes, we headed to Primanti Brothers in the Strip District and took in everything that had changed since we had last been to Pittsburgh pre-pandemic. I had a Kielbasa and Cheese which was very good!
On Saturday we hit our regular stops in the Strip District and shopped around most of the day. We had lunch at Peppi’s where I had a cheesesteak which was very delicious. We also went to Peace Love and Little Donuts which we hadn’t had before. We got a half dozen with different flavors. I had a pumpkin cheesecake douut which I loved. This year KGB and I got our matching mother-daughter shirt and I also got a new winter hat. After shopping, we went to church at St. Stanislaus which is always great. Later on, we went back to the hotel and warmed up before heading back out to get dinner. Of course, we went to Primatni’s for dinner but this time we went to the one in Market Square. I had a corn beef and cheese sandwich which was very delicious!
To kick off gameday, we started tailgating with the Terrible Bra and Grille where we had a special appearance from the one and only Captain Tailgate! Seeing him was great and overall we had a great tailgate experience after not being able to last year. KGB is never one to disappoint us, this year she got tickets for us to sit in the PNC Champions Club. We watched as the Steelers warmed up from very close and I was amazed at how huge the Offensive Line was. My brothers and I got to stand outside the tunnel and cheer the Steelers on as they exited which was so cool. Since the game was cold and rainy it was nice to have the luxury of sitting inside as well as outside. Food was also very good we had pretzels, pizza, peanuts, and nachos!
This game was very different from the previous ones I had been to. We started off strong by getting a touchdown in the first few minutes. My dad said it best, he had a wave of calm over him and I couldn’t agree more. I was so calm the whole game thinking we had this as a win, little did I know what was coming next. We had many careless mistakes and with Big Ben out with Covid, it didn’t help our case at all. In the 3rd quarter when renegade played was when everyone started to get amped up. That’s one of my favorite traditions at Heinz Field. Seeing the Terrible Towels in the air and everyone yelling the words is always so fun to witness. However, Renegade didn’t help our case, unfortunately. Going into overtime, I was very nervous and very amped up on adrenaline. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I had lost my voice leaving the Stadium because of how much I was yelling. After the game, I had a mix of emotions. I wasn’t happy because they didn’t win but I wasn’t sad because they didn’t lose. Overall, it was really weird. We then headed back to our tailgate for a little bit then walked home. After showering and getting warm, we ate our final meal at Primanti Bros and I had a Pittsburgher which was very good!
Finally we left the next morning and I arrived back at school in the evening. Overall, this was a good trip. It was great to be back since we haven’t been for 2 years. The trip was one I will never forget and I’m so lucky I got to go even with my crazy college schedule.
Until next time,
Root Beer We Go Steelers Captain – Little Miss Tailgate