Ravens Preview 1

The Steez are in a world of hurt. After a beat down by filthadelphia, our players are hurt as bad as our pride. Willie is banged up and will be out for at least this game and next. Big Snack is down for the count this week, too. Another GIANT loss (both to the play of our D and body size) to our D line. The only remaining piece is Aaron Smith, arguably one of the best players on our D. Kirshke played well last week as did Roye and Eason, but now the have to spots to fill instead of one. Chris “I’ll jump in the Mon in January for any money” Hoke will also join in the rotation. Deshea and Troy are hurting as well but should play. Somehow Bung is still living. He has suffered as much trauma in the first few weeks as the New Yorker’s windshield did on 2nd and 10th. Still, the worst person in Pittsburgh is Bruce Arians. Just a terrible, terrible game in philly. An awful game plan and refusal to adjust to the game. Everyone and their brother knew philly was going to bring the house and Bruce wouldn’t plan for it or adjust. No screens, runs, or max protection? Tomlin needs to take the reigns from him or fire him. He is awful. With the weapons in our offense we should be a top five offense in the league but somehow we are ranked 29th overall, 18th running, and 29th passing. Absolutely inexcusable. Arians today took blame for the game, but instead of promising to include ways to stop a blitzing D, his reason for why was to put the game behind and have people stop talking about it. Coward. He’s a stubborn bitch and needs to go. Bruce Arians is a nugget. If he were half the coordinator that Dicky is we would be the best team in the league.

When the Steez Have the Ball:

We now have Mendenhall forced into the starting lineup. Great week to throw him into the lions den. The Raven’s D is going to make his first start a memorable one, not for the good. To make matters worse after the coaches warned “Delicious” Mendenhall about all the trash talking the Ravens will do, he made him self all the more delicious by sending a buddy on the Ravens team a text that said he’s “going to have a big game.” Mendy then said he didn’t expect the team to see it and it was a joke. What an idiot. Bulletin board material at its finest. They are going to be relentless stopping the run and they’re going to bring a shitload of people at Bungy, too. Kemo, now nicknamed “Big Juicy” and Co. better step up this week. Don’t expect the offense to start budding this week. But, you never know what Bung can do. We did rip apart this team last year on Monday night wearing our throwbacks, which is the exact situation as it will be this week. Yup, gold helmets boys.

When the Nevermore’s have the ball:

This team is not that great offensively, but they have a very good run game. With 2/3 of our D line out and a rookie quarterback from a D-2 School who’s never played on the road or on Monday night, the Ravens will undoubtedly rely on the run and Willis McGahee, if he can play. He is listed as probable after the Brownies gauged his eyes last week. He has some serious swelling and if he can’t see he won’t play. The Steez will try to shut down the run and make Flacco, a former PITT QB, beat them and not be a “game manager”. Without Snack and Keisel this could be hard to do but expect there to be some exotic blitzes and looks to confuse the rook. This unit has played well this year and should look good again on Monday.

Outcome:

This is going to be another tough good game. This game is going to depend on the O-Line and Mendy. They need to gain some leverage and keep the troops off Bungy. If the run is established and Arians doesn’t abandon it and there is pass protection the Steelers can move the ball and easily outscore the Ravens but if it’s anything like last week we are in big trouble. First place is on the line. Steez 17-9.

The Black and...Blue?

The injury bug that has plagued the rest of the league in the first few weeks his hit the Steelers full force. Out for this week's crucial intradivision matchup vs. the Ravens are:

Willie Parker
Casey Hampton
Bret Keisel
Deshea is questionable

Let's examine each injury and the effect it will have on the team and game plan for this week's game.
















1) Keisel and Hampton are both important pieces on the D line. Going into the season, D line depth was an issue. Our D line is getting older, especially Aaron Smith and Big Snack. We have dependable backups in Chris Hoke and Travis Kirschke who have performed admirably when called on, especially Hoke. The Steelers front office also brought back a friendly face in Orpheous Roye after a stint with the Clev Brownies. Finally, there is Nick Eason who has played well this season.

Dick LeBeau likes to rotate his D line personal to keep everyone fresh later into games. With Keisel and Hampton out, he won't be able to do this nearly as much, leading to more tired D lineman late in the game. The starters will be Smith, Hoke and probably Eason with Kirschke and Roye coming in to spell them. Even though Hoke is a nice backup, he still is a downgrade from Casey. We will definetely miss the Snack blowing a few plays up completely when he ejects his lineman into the backfield. Playing a team like the Ravens magnifies the losses on the line. They are a run first team, especially since they start a rookie, Joe Flacco, at QB. Look for Harrison and Woodley to spend more time up on the line of scrimmage to guard against the run than dropping back into pass coverage.

2) Willie Parker's injury opens the door for our first real look at the Steez #1 draft pick this year, Rashard 'Delicious' Mendenhall. Delicious has only had 10 carries this year after a promising pre-season. He did have 2 fumbles in one of the preseason games leading to Steeler fans everywhere guaranteeing at least one fumble from him this week. I'm not predicting that, I have just been hearing whispers of it all around the city. Hopefully, we will see more of Mewelde Moore this week as well. He has only seen sporadic action thus far this season. Mewelde is a decent catcher of the ball. Hope springs eternal that this could be the week we start seeing some passes being caught by the backs. Losing Willie costs us some team speed and the threat of breaking a big one off to the outside. I think the Steelers need to establish the run early or at least establish that they are not afraid to run giving the ball to Rashard early and often to set up the play action passing later in the game. It will all come down to the o-line play, unfortunately. If it is like last week, it won't matter what plays we call. Unfortanely for Rashard, he is going up against the Ravens D this week. They have been one of the best defensive units so far this season. I see the O-line rebounding and Rashard having a decent day.

3) Deshea Townshend's absence has barely been noticed. Bryant McFadden has played outstanding ball so far this year, making plays happen all over the field. If Deshea does come back this week, I hope that McFadden remains the starter and Deshea comes in for nickel situations. Deshea isn't getting any younger and doesn't really have the speed anymore to defend the opposing team's number 1 or 2 receiver on the outside. He still has the skill and more importantly the smarts to cover the underneath stuff and jam the slot receiver coming off the ball. Also, being on the field less will help him not to get tired as easily.

Another key injury is Donovan Woods. He is a third string linebacker, but is a starter on special teams. Donovan has been all a beast on return coverage and has been a major reason for our improvement in kick coverage so far this season. We will defintely miss him this week in the kickoff/punt coverage situations.

The Links - Week 3

Lots of good links after the drubbing we took this week.

Power Rankings here, here, and here,

Dj Gallo has a nice laugh at the offensive line’s expense.

ESPN’s Jeffri Chadiha asks the same questions we are asking:
The Eagles attacked with such alarming efficiency you wonder why the Steelers didn't change their strategy. They didn't try to keep the Eagles off-balance with screens or draw plays. Pittsburgh's reluctance to stick with the run was just as stunning.

CNNSI’s Don Banks had this to say:
See Roethlisberger drop back. See Roethlisberger under pressure. See Roethlisberger go down. Or hurriedly dump the ball off. Or run for his life. Or get hit even after he managed to buy enough time to find a receiver. Big Ben's going to be known as Big Bruise on Monday. Count on it. That's the very personal price he paid during the course of Philadelphia's 15-6 defeat of the previously unbeaten Steelers.


Lots of hating on Bruce Arians, Mike Tomlin, and Larry Zeirlein:
From BTSC:
For now though, I think it's safe to say that Arians just got embarassed by Jim Johnson today.

I have no idea exactly how offensive line coaches teach their craft, but at this point, I think it's clear that Larry Zeirlein has to go.

Great minds think alike. Check out the picture. Remind you of this post.

Steeler Fury is breaking up with Bruce Arians. Read all the dirty laundry:
Dear Bruce, I'm sorry to say that I will be ending our relationship…It's not me, it's you… I will take down my Bruce Arians Fat Head this evening.

Ron Cook notes the coaches need to take some heat

The decision to go for it on 4th down was idiotic. More reason to doubt Tomlin.

Positive Comments Sections
Here are some positive thoughts from BTSC.
Allow me to conclude by saying that at least we are moving forward confident that we have a superb defense to keep us in games when our offense sputters, like today. With no defense, you rarely have a shot to make a run in the playoffs, let alone even make the playoffs. And unless you're one of the elite Colts offenses of year's past, our the 2007 Patriots, you're going to encounter dry spells on offense. It happens, even to very good teams. But without that consistent defense, the odds of stringing together winning streaks and competing against the better teams in the league, go way down.

Ron Cook says the Steelers are still the class of the AFC North. (That’s not saying much)

Troy’s awesome interception

Stats
I’m not the only one asking for more throws to the running back. The Steelers are last in the league. From the analysis done over at PGH:

Here is the info in another format from “most receptions by a RB” to “least receptions by a RB”. See any good offenses on the top of this list?
Saints 35
Eagles 23
Chargers 21
Tampa 20
Jags 20
Rams 18
Buffalo 18
Vikings 17
Detroit 17
Chicago 17
Jets 16
Miami 15
Pats 14
KC 14
Houston 13
Giants 13
Falcons 12
Browns 12
Arizona 12
Dallas 11
Colts 10
Seattle 9
Redskins 9
Oakland 9
Titans 8
Carolina 8
Baltimore 8
Packers 4
Denver 4
STEELERS 2

JJ Cooper at Fanhouse assigns sacks. Surprisingly, Kendall Simmons was not credited with any sacks allowed, but he did make this comment:
"I'm going to bite my tongue. All I'm going to say is they were bringing more people than we could handle. We can block five or six. But when they bring six or seven or eight people, there's nothing we can do." – Kendall Simmons

Unfortunately, the chart below proves Kendall’s comments had as much truth as presidential commercials. 7 of the sacks came on plays where the Eagles brought 5 or fewer people. The line just broke down.

NUMBER OF RUSHERS
Rushers -----No. of times ------Sacks
3--------------- 4------------------- 1
4 --------------19------------------- 2
5--------------- 6------------------- 4
6---------------11-------------------2
7--------------- 4------------------- 0

From Steeler Fury:
By game, the Steelers are on pace to give up 69 sacks this season. However, they're giving up a sack every 5.5 pass attempts. If that continues and Ben's number of attempts increases to match last years' total, the Steelers are on pace to allow 82 sacks.

From Mondesi's house

Mike Tomlin's career road record in stadiums not located in Ohio... 1-6.

"I have stumbled upon a trend in Steelers football that not many people are taking notice of. It seems that the Steelers are a much worse team when kicking off at 4PM on the road, dating back to last season. In fact, I was so aware of this anomaly, that I selected the Eagles in my suicide pool this week. Allow me to substantiate my claim with statistical evidence.

The Steelers played 8 road games, and 4 of them were a 4PM kickoff (Arizona, Denver, NY Jets, and New England).The Steelers lost all 4 of these games. Arizona is a team we likely beat at home, Denver was mediocre last year, and the Jets were horrible. Now, take the Patriots game for what it is worth. Nobody beat the Pats last season until the super bowl (thank you Giants!), so perhaps that game doesn't count. Yesterday we get pounded and manhandled by an Eagles defense that had exactly ZERO sacks coming into the game. Eli Roth thought it was excessively violent. I have no conclusion here, I am just saying that perhaps we should be wary of the next 4PM kickoff road game. It happens to be New England who got throttled at home by the Fish."

The Steelers were 2-for-13 on third down.

From TMQ:
Stats of the Week No. 2: Pittsburgh, which last week beat Cleveland for the 10th straight time, this week lost in Philadelphia for the eighth straight time.


If you have any links that you would like to be included, e-mail Josh at joshua.gelfand@gmail.com.

Parker, Hampton out for Baltimore

Mike Tomlin announced at his press conference today that Willie Parker and Casey Hampton will miss the Baltimore game. Hampton suffered a groin injury during the Eagles game and Parker apparently strained his knee late in the game. Chris Hoke and Rashard Mendenhall will start in their place.

After only three weeks, the Steelers two biggest concerns, a porous offensive line and an aging defensive line, are threatening to derail Pittsburgh's hopes for a fast start to the season. We know Hoke can do an adequate job at nose tackle, but this is a big blow to the defense. The Steelers game plan against Baltimore undoubtedly focused around stopping the run game first and making rookie QB Joe Flacco beat them through the air. It is much more difficult to stop the run game without Big Snack and Keisel eating up blockers.

For those of you demanding more carries for Mendenhall, you'll get your wish. Parker has never had much luck against the Ravens defense, and Rashard probably won't fare much better. It's a tough match up for his first start.

Our Offensive Line is Clearly Offensive

Jim Johnson > Bruce Arians

If you watched the Steelers-Eagles game, you know it wasn't the high scoring affair that most experts expected. It was more like what you would expect in a Ravens-Chiefs game. Ben Roethlisberger is still running for his life behind a line that looked more like a pop warner squad than professionals that get paid millions to do their craft. In the battle of position coaches, Jim Johnson sure looked like a genius. Bruce Arians probably shouldn't show his face at Primanti Bros. any time soon. In Arians defense, the offensive line completely let him down. This much maligned unit allowed 9 sacks and countless other pressures. Big Ben left the game late with an injury. For Steelers fans, it was basically our worst nightmare coming true.

Despite all the pressure, the offense did not make any real adjustments. Where were the RB screens? Quick dump offs? Quick slants? Until the very end of the game, the formula was the same. Ben drops back to pass, avoids one unblocked man, gets hit by a different defender that smoked one of the offensive lineman, then another defensive player who beat his man jumped on top of the pile.

It's tough to put together any rational thoughts after watching that stink bomb. But, I'll do my best.

- The Steelers defense was abused early in the game. It was everything I have come to hate. No pressure on the quarterback (scheme related). McNabb dumped it off to RBs that were quicker than Steelers LBs. Foote missed countless plays. We couldn't get off the field on third down. Steelers cornerbacks played 15 yards off Wrs on third and 3. McNabb completes his first 15 passes. Basic, ugly football.

- But the defense turned it around. They forced three turnovers, pressured McNabb, and completely shut down the Eagles offense when it needed too. Troy looked like the best safety in the league and Woodley continued his stellar play. Timmons got some pressure. (It didn't hurt that Westbrook went out with an injury. )

- The special teams coverage units weren't as good as the last two games, but they did their job. The Eagles punter was spectacular. Unless the question is how do you run in a straight line, Mendenhall is not the answer at kick returner. Santonio had a couple shots at punt returner, but the punts were too good to make any judgments.

- Games are won in the trenches. The Eagles offensive and defensive lines played much better than the Steelers. Big Ben will be sore tomorrow. I like the Andy Reid philosophy of protecting your Qb with lineman better than Tomlin's philosophy of protecting your Qb with skill position players.

- Pittsburgh sure didn't look like the class of the AFC. But don't freak out, it was one game. Hopefully, Larry Zierlien, Bruce Arians, and Mike Tomlin learned something about this team. Next up, the AFC North leading Baltimore Ravens

Behind Enemy Lines – The Life of the Steeler Fan in Philadelphia

If there were ever a spelling bee for NFL fans, these guys would be world champs. I’ll spare you the details, but you all know the chant. Living in Philly, you hear it in grocery store lines, waiting for the train, in public bathrooms and just about anytime two drunken Eagles fans meet on the street. Normally everyone within earshot joins in, typically right about halfway through the “G.”

We all know the stereotypes; throwing batteries (size D, not your normal AA’s), booing Santa Claus, celebrating opponents injuries, and tailgating every event possible (trust me – I’ve seen my sidewalk tailgated just because it was a Thursday). Let’s face it – Eagles fan, have a reputation of having a relentless mean streak and being obnoxiously rude. Now, let’s be fair, every team has their share of fan idiocracy, but I’ve never been anywhere else where there exists a pure, unfounded hatred for all NFL teams other than the green and silver.

I remember the first time I donned a Steeler jersey and headed to the bar to watch the game. My mind filled with the horror stories I had heard, I had no idea what to expect, and frankly, I was quite nervous. I can handle heckling and jeering, but the thought of going fist-to-cuffs with a pack of wild McNabbs and Dawkins’s wasn’t very appealing. Needless to say, I survived the experience and even met a few fellow Steelers fans along the way. I’ve got a pretty good ability to keep a low profile, and combined with my mutual respect for the game and all fans, I’ve built a successful foundation as the accepted Steeler fan in my group of friends. Aside from the random, “Hey man… Pittsburgh Sucks” comments that are delivered when I make an entrance into an establishment, I’ve managed to avoid much conflict while supporting my team in Philadelphia. Not that I’m afraid of it, but I’m smart enough to know that in most situations, numbers prevail. Besides, when you’re stuck in a bear cage, it’s not exactly a good idea to poke the bear with a stick.

What this boils down to is that these experiences; being an outsider in a hostile environment, standing apart form the crowd, following my own path, and staying true to what I believe in, have come to define me as a person, and strengthen my love for the Steelers, and my general overall character. You really learn a lot about yourself when you’re vulnerable, exposed, and out of any sort of comfort zone. It’s made me feel like I have something special that no one else has, a Steeler team all for myself.

Luckily, I’m not a Giants or Cowboys (yuck) fan, these guys really take the brunt of the heckling down here. The Steeler/Eagles rivalry, being outside of any conference or division implications, is really more of a “friendly” rivalry that we can joke about and watch together knowing that regardless of the outcome of the game, Pennsylvania football rules! The only thing on the line – The pride of PA, and being able to declare that you’re the better team; which, if you ask me (even though my opinion is extremely biased) is really no contest. Just look at who has the heavy hand. The Steelers rich tradition and the way they play the game will in my mind always be superior. By the way, if you as a Steeler fan ever find yourself in a bad situation with an Eagles fan, the “heavy hand” argument will silence them almost every time, there’s really nothing they can say to that.

That being said, I genuinely feel as if the Eagles fans are almost envious of the Steelers, the stability of the organization, and (obviously) the championships. I will give them credit though, as ridiculous as they can be at times, Eagles fans are extremely passionate and actually quite knowledgeable about their team and the game itself. Perhaps if they stopped perpetuating all this negative energy, they might actually have a shot at a ring. It is my true belief though that every Eagles fan secretly wishes they were a Steelers fan – and if you don’t believe me, just scroll up to the top of the page and look at the guy in the middle of the picture.

-This post was written by my best friend of 24 years, David Scerbo who has been suffering in Philly for the past few years. Thanks for the awesome post.