CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A last look at the Steelers’ last game …
A bunch of players were hurt in a game in which the team as a whole went full-throttle, which probably isn’t a coincidence. And which probably, in its own weird way, is a positive.
Late Sunday night, Jarvis Jones was walking out of the locker room with his wrist in a cast and his face as long as the hallway ahead.
“That’s the price you gotta pay,” he told me.
And he’s right. That’s not to suggest the Steelers would do well to lose more than a quarter of their starting defense each week, but it seems a fair point to underscore. There have been far too many games over the past two seasons-plus where there wasn’t nearly enough pain.
• Updating all those injuries: Jones’ wrist likely will require surgery, though a prognosis is unknown. Ryan Shazier has a sprained MCL in his knee. That will need more evaluation, as well. And Ike Taylor’s broken forearm, surgically repaired today, shouldn’t have anyone assuming he’ll be back, even with the modified injured reserve that allows a player to resume practicing after Week 6, playing after Week 8. It’s asking an awful lot.
• One would hope this finally forces Shamarko Thomas into a significant role. All the kid does is make big plays. Willie Gay will have to take over Taylor’s corner spot — you saw how the others fared — and that would put Thomas at nickel. Ideally.
• Athletes can show lots of different faces, in and out of competition, but Cam Heyward’s is especially striking. He was a terror on the line all night, once crushing Cam Newton to the grass with such force it’s amazing Newton ever got back up. And then, moments later, Heyward is like this:
• Mentioned to Heyward that fellow defensive end Brett Keisel might have asserted himself as much as anyone. Heyward: “Guy’s still got it. He was pushing them back 6-7 yards every play.” So was nose tackle Steve McLendon. Hey, maybe upgrading the line play was as simple as benching Cam Thomas.
• Did Boomer Esiason really call the Panthers ‘the best team in the NFL’ on national TV earlier Sunday?
Ow.
• I don’t want to be that guy who points out the Steelers’ next opponent, the Bucs, is 0-3, just gave up 56 points to the Falcons and will be without QB Josh McCown when they come to Heinz Field. Oh, and that second-year pro Mike Glennon will be making this start. But I think I just did, anyway.
• I also won’t mention that, after that, it’s Jaguars, Browns and Texans.
This is why taking at least one game out of Weeks 2 or 3 loomed so large.
• The Steelers’ most consistent performer through three games has been … the rookie punter. Yeah, even after all the splash and Le’Veon Bell’s continued big numbers, no one has gotten the job done more evenly than Brad Wing, whose stirring 65-yard boot led to Thomas’ forced fumble and Robert Golden recovering it in the end zone.
For the season, Wing has 13 punts for an average of 44.8 yards, a net 40.5 — and the difference being small between those two is all any coach cares about — as well as four punts planted inside the 20 while only one resulted in a touchback, an 80 percent success rate.
Remember when we were making fun of the Steelers for not bringing in another punter at Latrobe?
It’s clear they knew something.
• Didn’t occur to me until after walking out of Bank of America Stadium that I never even mentioned Antonio Brown in the game column, and all he had was 10 catches for 90 yards and two TDs and, most impressive, made a play on all 10 times he was targeted.
Super. Star.
• Lots of offensive linemen will grade well when reviewing the film, but I’ll add a high mark, too, for fullback Will Johnson and tight end Matt Spaeth. I’d mentioned both those players last week as ones to watch for this game, and each one set the pivotal block on a touchdown run. They’re good at what they do.
• Don’t overthink why Justin Brown was playing more than Lance Moore, even with Moore finally being cleared to play. The coaches are enamored of Brown’s blocking, and Moore just isn’t all the way back yet. He didn’t step on the field Sunday until a four-receiver set in the third quarter.
• I asked Brown exactly how tightly he was clinging to the ball when making that third-quarter catch inside the 10: “Oh, man, did you see how low I got? No way that ball was coming out.” Huge grin. Sounds like Tomlin’s lesson was learned.
• Fantastic figure from the film-study folks at Pro Football Focus this morning: Ben Roethlisberger executed 22 of his 30 dropbacks in 2.5 seconds or less. But on those eight where he held the ball longer, he had a near-perfect 151.5 QB rating. That’s called Ben being Ben.
He credited the line: “That’s what our guys do. They held their blocks all night.”
• You’ll never guess which player the same outlet gave the highest grade of his career: Marcus Gilbert. I can almost hear the ‘Rocky’ music in the background.
• I reserve the right to never stop being moved by watching Dan Rooney work his way around the locker room to every single stall, navigating a sea of equipment bags and big bodies in the process, to shake every single hand. Win or lose.
September 22, 2014
Steelers PATs: Success with a price
by Dejan Kovacevic • News/views • Steelers
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A last look at the Steelers’ last game …
A bunch of players were hurt in a game in which the team as a whole went full-throttle, which probably isn’t a coincidence. And which probably, in its own weird way, is a positive.
Late Sunday night, Jarvis Jones was walking out of the locker room with his wrist in a cast and his face as long as the hallway ahead.
“That’s the price you gotta pay,” he told me.
And he’s right. That’s not to suggest the Steelers would do well to lose more than a quarter of their starting defense each week, but it seems a fair point to underscore. There have been far too many games over the past two seasons-plus where there wasn’t nearly enough pain.
• Updating all those injuries: Jones’ wrist likely will require surgery, though a prognosis is unknown. Ryan Shazier has a sprained MCL in his knee. That will need more evaluation, as well. And Ike Taylor’s broken forearm, surgically repaired today, shouldn’t have anyone assuming he’ll be back, even with the modified injured reserve that allows a player to resume practicing after Week 6, playing after Week 8. It’s asking an awful lot.
• One would hope this finally forces Shamarko Thomas into a significant role. All the kid does is make big plays. Willie Gay will have to take over Taylor’s corner spot — you saw how the others fared — and that would put Thomas at nickel. Ideally.
• Athletes can show lots of different faces, in and out of competition, but Cam Heyward’s is especially striking. He was a terror on the line all night, once crushing Cam Newton to the grass with such force it’s amazing Newton ever got back up. And then, moments later, Heyward is like this:
• Mentioned to Heyward that fellow defensive end Brett Keisel might have asserted himself as much as anyone. Heyward: “Guy’s still got it. He was pushing them back 6-7 yards every play.” So was nose tackle Steve McLendon. Hey, maybe upgrading the line play was as simple as benching Cam Thomas.
• Did Boomer Esiason really call the Panthers ‘the best team in the NFL’ on national TV earlier Sunday?
Ow.
• I don’t want to be that guy who points out the Steelers’ next opponent, the Bucs, is 0-3, just gave up 56 points to the Falcons and will be without QB Josh McCown when they come to Heinz Field. Oh, and that second-year pro Mike Glennon will be making this start. But I think I just did, anyway.
• I also won’t mention that, after that, it’s Jaguars, Browns and Texans.
Remember this?
This is why taking at least one game out of Weeks 2 or 3 loomed so large.
• The Steelers’ most consistent performer through three games has been … the rookie punter. Yeah, even after all the splash and Le’Veon Bell’s continued big numbers, no one has gotten the job done more evenly than Brad Wing, whose stirring 65-yard boot led to Thomas’ forced fumble and Robert Golden recovering it in the end zone.
For the season, Wing has 13 punts for an average of 44.8 yards, a net 40.5 — and the difference being small between those two is all any coach cares about — as well as four punts planted inside the 20 while only one resulted in a touchback, an 80 percent success rate.
Remember when we were making fun of the Steelers for not bringing in another punter at Latrobe?
It’s clear they knew something.
• Didn’t occur to me until after walking out of Bank of America Stadium that I never even mentioned Antonio Brown in the game column, and all he had was 10 catches for 90 yards and two TDs and, most impressive, made a play on all 10 times he was targeted.
Super. Star.
• Lots of offensive linemen will grade well when reviewing the film, but I’ll add a high mark, too, for fullback Will Johnson and tight end Matt Spaeth. I’d mentioned both those players last week as ones to watch for this game, and each one set the pivotal block on a touchdown run. They’re good at what they do.
• Don’t overthink why Justin Brown was playing more than Lance Moore, even with Moore finally being cleared to play. The coaches are enamored of Brown’s blocking, and Moore just isn’t all the way back yet. He didn’t step on the field Sunday until a four-receiver set in the third quarter.
• I asked Brown exactly how tightly he was clinging to the ball when making that third-quarter catch inside the 10: “Oh, man, did you see how low I got? No way that ball was coming out.” Huge grin. Sounds like Tomlin’s lesson was learned.
• Fantastic figure from the film-study folks at Pro Football Focus this morning: Ben Roethlisberger executed 22 of his 30 dropbacks in 2.5 seconds or less. But on those eight where he held the ball longer, he had a near-perfect 151.5 QB rating. That’s called Ben being Ben.
He credited the line: “That’s what our guys do. They held their blocks all night.”
• You’ll never guess which player the same outlet gave the highest grade of his career: Marcus Gilbert. I can almost hear the ‘Rocky’ music in the background.
• I reserve the right to never stop being moved by watching Dan Rooney work his way around the locker room to every single stall, navigating a sea of equipment bags and big bodies in the process, to shake every single hand. Win or lose.
This one had to have felt better than most.
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