An Improbable Win for the Steelers

First, the sad news.

I was supposed to be at the the Steelers - Rams game at SoFi Stadium in LA yesterday.  Booked a hotel, made airline reservations, and bought two tickets to the game from the Rams website back in September.  I would be visiting and going to the game with my nephew Zach Stoner who lives in LaLaLand.  We were going to visit the Motion Picture Academy Museum on Saturday and go to the game on Sunday, and on Sunday night, I was going to visit with grade school and high school buddy Bill Tarrant, also now residing in LA, in the hotel bar where we would drink and tell lies about the good old days until who knows  what time.  It was going to be one whale of a trip.

Then there was the medical incident that I had that required two nights in the hospital at the beginning of the month. I got home and rethought the whole thing about flying three thousand miles by myself, and came to the conclusion that discretion was the better part of valor, and Linda and I decided that I should not make the trip.  So I canceled the hotel reservation, got credit for my flight tickets, and gave the tickets to Zach, who took a buddy and enjoyed what was essentially a home game for the Steelers. It was the correct decision, but I hated it.

Then there was the game itself.

Frankly, I didn't have high hopes for this one, as the Steelers' play, even with a 3-2 record, has been spotty at best and that is being kind, and being down 9-3 at the half with the Rams set to receive the second half kick-off, well, it wasn't looking good for the Black and Gold.  Then this guy made his presence felt:

The Rams did everything that they could to take TJ Watt out of the game, double and triple teaming him, and in fact, Watt recorded only one tackle and no sacks or pressures in the entire game.  However, on the Rams first play of the half, he intercepted Matt Stafford's pass and returned it to the Rams seven yard line, whereupon the Steelers scored and took a 10-9 lead.  Even though the Rams would later score and take a 17-10 lead, Watt's interception completely changed the tenor and tone of the game in the Steelers favor.

A word about TJ Watt.  He is a completely incredible and dominating player.  He is a leading candidate, if not THE leading candidate, for Defensive Player of The Year once again, and on a team with a history of great defensive players like Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, Mel Blount, James Harrison, and Troy Polamalu, Watt stands in no one's shadow.  Watt has been a significant factor in all of the Steelers victories this season.  And try this stat on for size.  In Steelers games in which Watt has played since joining the team, the Steelers are 63-28-2 (.683).  When he hasn't played, the team is 1-10.  He is an amazing and truly remarkable player.

Back to the game.  Once again, Kenny Pickett turned on the jets in the fourth quarter, led the team on two long TD drives, and notched his fifth fourth quarter comeback in his 18 games as a Steeler.  Why, oh why, can't he put together games for four quarters where he plays like he always seems to do in the fourth quarter?  What the hell, let's blame that on Matt Canada!

Before I leave the Steelers, how about this from the Post-Gazette's  Joe Starkey today about Rams coach John McVay:

Quick aside here: I’m still marveling at the explanation Rams coach Sean McVay gave for Watt’s interception. I’m not even sure Bill Belichick himself could translate the depths of football jargon to which McVay descended.

“Bottom line is, we had hitches on the outside, little option route from the three spot and seams at the two spot,” he said. “We obviously thought it was going to be a single high, Levi Wallace rolled up as a cloud, got Cooper working an option on the ‘mike,’ and you don’t feel that overlap from the hook player when Watt ended up dropping out of there. And that’s what led to the turnover.”

Thanks, coach. 

I couldn't resist including that.  Did you ever hear such bullshit coachspeak in your life?

Other football news in the region this weekend wasn't so good.

Ohio State 20 - Ohio State 12

Two undefeated teams, both ranked in the Top Ten in what was one of the more highly anticipated games of the season, and has been the case throughout most of his tenure, HC James Franklin and his Nittany Lions came up small when the lights were the brightest.  Franklin is now 1-9 against Ohio State as the HC of Penn State. Not a small sample size.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I never root for Penn State to lose (with some exceptions), but I sure love seeing it when James Franklin spits the bit.

Wake Forest 21 - Pitt 17

Circumstances were such that I didn't see much this game, but rather listened to it on the radio while out driving.  Pitt scored a TD to take a 17-14 lead with 1:30 left in the game. Announcer Pat Bostic then said that Wake still had all three time outs remaining, so this one "isn't over yet."  At that point I said to Linda, "I'll bet you now that Pitt will lose this game."  And they did.  I'll spare you the gruesome details, but Pitt now stands 2-5. will probably not make bowl eligibility, and HC Pat Narduzzi is headed towards the worst season of his tenure.

Coming up this week: Notre Dame at South Bend.  Good luck with that one.

I mentioned that I listened to the game on the radio.  Eighty-five year old Billy "Ask Him Why He Doesn't Have a Driver's License" Hillgrove was in Los Angeles preparing to broadcast the Steelers game the next day, so play-by-play duties fell to Jeff Hathorn.  What a pleasure to hear a coherent play-by-play announcer.  No "he's tackled by a guy in the Wake backfield."  Competency at the mic was so refreshing.

Is There Anything Better Than Steelers vs. Ravens?

 

Yesterday's matchup between the Steelers and the Baltimore, the thirtieth time that head coaches Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh have faced each other (more on that later), a 20-19 win for the Steelers, produced an obvious answer to the question stated in the headline above:

No, there is nothing better than games between the long time AFC North rivals, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.  I remember on one Sunday night  game between the two teams, Chris Collinsworth said something to the effect that he could watch these two teams go at it 16 games each season if the schedule makers would allow it, and it is hard to disagree with the sentiment.  Yesterday's game was no exception.

The Ravens came in with an AFC best record of 8-4, and the Steelers were on life support at 5-5-1 coming off of two straight losses where they gave up 82 points and were soundly thrashed by the Cincy Bengals 41-10 last week.  The Ravens dominated the Steelers defense and the Steelers offense was totally impotent in the first half, yet Baltimore went into the locker room at half-time with a mere 7-3 lead.

The headline over Ron Cook's column in the Post-Gazette this morning said it all about what then transpired:

On this day, the old guy came through for his team

The "old guy" in this case was, of course, 39 year old quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.  He may be a shadow of his younger self, but he somehow summoned up a measure of his past greatness by producing 17 fourth quarter points and produced the 39th fourth quarter comeback of his career.  If an athletic performance can be defined as "heroic", Big Ben's game yesterday falls into that category.  If this is to be his final season, as was reported this past week, then it is a shame that yesterday's game wasn't the final game of the year.  A gutsy comeback win over the team's bitterest rival would have been a great way to walk into the sunset.  However, there are more games to play, and if the Steelers still have life in their playoff hopes, then it will be the sheer force of Roethlisberger's will that will get them there.  It might not happen, probably won't happen, but it will still be fun to watch down the stretch.

T.J. Watt, the team's best player and perhaps the best defensive player in the NFL, did not practice all week due to COVID protocols, but was able to play, and he dominated the game, with sacks and pressures on Lamar Jackson, including one on the Ravens' final play, the attempted two point conversion with :12 to play that would have won the game for the Ravens.  Watt forced Jackson's pass to wobble just enough so that his pass to TE Mark Andrews fell out of reach.

About that two point conversion.  After the Steelers took a 20-13 lead with 1:38 to play, the Ravens proceeded to march down the field and score a TD to make it 2019 with :12 left.  Baltimore HC John Harbaugh eschewed the sure PAT that would send the game into overtime and went for a two point conversion to win the game outright then and there.  It was a gutsy coaching call, and he is no doubt being second guessed all over the Inner Harbor today, but why in the hell not go for it?  And it added yet one more layer of lore and legend to the Steelers-Ravens rivalry.

Oh, and about those Tomlin-Harbaugh face-offs.  Yesterday, was the 30th time that these two coaches' teams have played against each other.  This is the most such coach-to-coach encounters in the Super Bowl Era, and the third most in NFL history.  George Halas and Curly Lambeau faced each other 41 times , and Halas and Steve Owen went against each other 31 times.  After yesterday's game, Tomlin holds a 16-14 edge over Harbaugh.    Tomlin's Steelers are 2-1 in post season games with the Ravens.  The Steelers have been to the Super Bowl twice (1-1) in that time, the Ravens once, winning it.  The teams and the coaches meet again in the final game of the season on January 9.  At that point, the game may be meaningless for one or both of the teams, but it will no doubt be another epic encounter, and I can't wait to watch it.

If you want a better write up on this game and the nature of this Rivalry,  I cannot recommend the Post-Gazette's Gene Collier's column in this morning's paper.  You can read it here. 

Week 15 GPR and a Ruptured Duck

The Grandstander Power Rankings (GPR) if the NFL Did It Like College Football for Week 15:

1. Ravens
2. Saints
3. Chiefs
4. Seahawks

Knocking at the door.....49'ers, Bills, Packers, Patriots, Vikings.

A bad loss to the Falcons knock the Niners out of the Top Four this week.

There will be one more Top Four GPR following Week 16.  At the conclusion of week 17, the GPR will be replaced  by the GCR, Grandstander Confidence Rankings, wherein all NFL Playoff teams will be ranked from Most Confident, #1, through Least Confident, #12.  The GCR will then be updated following each Playoff round leading up to the Super Bowl.

Bet you can't wait for that, huh?

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Speaking of bad losses, the Steelers 17-10 loss to the Bills on Sunday night was as inevitable as it was disappointing.  Let's face it, the Steelers offense has been doing it with mirrors ever since Ben Roethlisberger (and James Connor and JuJu Smith-Shuster and have I left anyone else out?) have gone down to injuries.  The Devlin "Duck" Hodges story has been a fun one to watch over the last month, but, really, who didn't see that a game like that four interception disaster of Sunday night was due to happen sooner rather than later? There was reason that thirty-two NFL teams didn't draft Duck Hodges.

So now the Who-Should-Play-QB game rears it's head again.   93.7 The Fan is conducting a "Who Should Start Against The Jets, Mason or Duck" poll on Facebook.  Ain't that fun?

Speaking of the Buffalo Bills, they are no fluke.  They came to the attention of most people with that Thanksgiving Day win over Dallas, and that prime time win over the Steelers on Sunday proved that they are a team with whom to be reckoned.  Josh Allen is not a Top Tier quarterback, not yet, anyway, but he is good enough when playing on a team with a Top Tier defense, which the Bills have, to assure that whatever team draws Buffalo in the Playoffs is going to have its hands full.

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Regardless the eventual fate of the 2019 Steelers - and they can still make the Playoffs - one of the most fun things to watch about this year's Steelers has been the play of OLB T.J. Watt.  The Steelers have one of the best defenses in the entire league, and he has been its best player.  He has been a true force on defense, and he is in the discussion for Defensive Player of the Year in the entire NFL.  I can't imagine anyone else as the team's MVP for 2019.

Steelers 17 - Rams 12

The Steelers beat the Los Angeles Rams (you know, the team that played in the Super Bowl last year) yesterday, 17-12.  The win was attributable in large part to a defensive effort that can be placed on the same page with some of the great performances of the Steelers' Steel Curtain past.

Need I remind you that the Steelers sat at 1-4 a little over a month ago and nobody foresaw that team playing with a back-up quarterback and no running game to speak of would be in such a position five weeks later.  History may well point out that the key to this turnaround came after Week Two when GM Kevin Colbert traded next year's first round draft choice to Miami for second year safety Minkah Fitzpatrick (seen above scoring a touchdown yesterday off of a fumble recovery).  Since then, Fitzpatrick had four interceptions and has scored two touchdowns.  His interception at the end of the game yesterday sealed the victory for the Steelers.  Since his arrival, he has drawn comparisons to Steelers icons Rod Woodson and Troy Polomalu.  He is a legitimate candidate for Defensive Player of the Year in the NFL.

In that same discussion is linebacker T.J. Watt.

Watt's play has been nothing short of astounding with sacks and forced fumbles and the constant pressure he applies to opposing teams quarterbacks.  If I had to vote for a Steelers MVP at this point in the season, it would be a coin-toss decision between Watt and Fitzpatrick.

On the other side of the ball, Mason Rudolph is not making us forget Ben Roethlisberger, not yet anyway, but he does seem to be getting better, and a competent game manager is what the Steelers need most at this point, and Rudolph is filling the bill.  It would help if he had a decent running game (please get healthy, James Conner) and receivers who wouldn't drop passes (four key drops yesterday).  Rudolph did look pretty good during that eight minute fourth quarter drive that led to a field goal yesterday.

Looking ahead, the Steelers could conceivably be favored in their next six games - @ Browns, @ Bengals, Browns, @ Cardinals, Bills, @Jets - leading up to the season finale against the Ravens in Baltimore.  It is unlikely that they will win all six of them and sit at  11-4 on that final Sunday, but would you be surprised to see them at 9-6 and in the hunt for a playoff spot at that point?  Unlike Steelers fans, though, the coaches and players seem to have adopted one-game-at-a-time approach, which is what you they really have to do.

One thing is for sure, though, is that the Steelers have turned this into a very interesting season, and, as I said, who saw that coming after that OT loss to Baltimore on October 6?

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The Steelers honored their past this weekend by celebrating "Steelers Alumni Weekend".  The celebration produced this very interesting team photo.

The Steelers are always looking forward in their approach to winning in the NFL, but it is nice that they celebrate and honor their past as well.  This picture sure denotes the passage of time, but it brings back a lot of great memories, too.

The Steelers' Draft Class of 2017

I can't believe that I am going to write a post about the Steelers Draft of 2017.  It seems to fly in the face of all my rantings about the over-hyping that the NFL Draft always receives, but what the hell, here I go (or should I say, "Here we go.."?).  This will not be one of those "How did they do in the Draft?" pieces with letter grades and all that garbage.  I am not qualified to evaluate players in such a manner, but  these are just some quick impressions of my own, and I add the disclaimer that it needs to be pointed out that none of the players drafted by the Steelers  (or any other team for that matter) over the last three days, have played a down in the NFL, and until they do, nothing that they have done up until now means diddly.  If you don't believe me, does the name Limas Sweed ring a bell for you?

Okay, here goes.

The Steelers story that overshadowed all others over the last three days was the selection of RB James Conner of Pitt in the third round.  I do not believe that sentiment played any part in this selection by the Steelers, and that they believe that he can give them what they truly need: quality depth at the position behind LeVeon Bell.   That said, this has to be one of the greatest "Feel-Good" stories in the recent history of Pittsburgh sports, and I can't remember any Steelers draft  pick ever that I want to see make it big with the team than James Conner.

For more on Conner, as if regular readers need such background, check this out from The Grandstander archives:

http://grandstander.blogspot.com/2016/11/james-conner.html

If familial DNA means anything, you have to love the selection of OLB T.J. Watt of Wisconsin as the team's #1 pick.  If he is as good as older brother J.J., then the Steelers have struck gold, and even if he possesses just a large fraction of J.J.'s talent, it will be a good pick.  What with the flameout that was Jarvis Jones, and with James Harrison approaching Social Security age, the need at the position is certainly there.  Let's hope it works out.

The Steelers selected a quarterback in the fourth round, Josh Dobbs of Tennessee.  It's always fun when they pick a QB.  Can't wait for the "they gotta put Dobbs in there" calls to The Fan when Ben has his first two interception game.  The kid has a degree in aerospace engineering from UT - he actually IS a rocket scientist! - so grasping Todd Hailey's playbook shouldn't be an issue.

The wonderfully named JuJu Smith-Schuster, a WR from USC, was the second round pick.  His selection set off a wonderful peeing contest on Twitter between current wideouts Sammie Coates and Martavis Bryant.  When last seen, Coates was dropping a pass on the first offensive series of the AFC Championship game against the Patriots that could have gone for a TD, and at the very least would have been a long gain for the Steelers.  It may not have changed the eventual outcome of the game, but it sort of set the tone for what was to follow that day.  When Bryant was last seen, well, it's hard to remember that far back, since Bryant spent the 2016 season on what the paper today called his "annual suspension" for the use of banned substances.

In other words, Coates and Bryant should keep their mouths shut, don't you think?

By contrast, Ben Roethlisberger sent a warm welcoming Tweet to Dobbs.  Of course, Dobbs is unlikely to supplant Ben at his position, whereas JuJu has a job for the taking if he can produce as is hoped.

They also drafted two corner backs, another linebacker, and, in a move sure to generate lots of pre-season buzz, a long snapper!

Let's hope all of these guys make it big for the Steelers.  After all, we've all been waiting too long for that seventh Lombardi Trophy to arrive at Heinz Field. 

#herewegoSteelersherewego