Week 2 Five Up and Five Down versus Broncos

[Steeler Hitman]

 

Five Up

1. Special Teams greatly improved from last week. PR return called back was a close call. Ray Ray McCloud is definitely explosive. Steelers force a safety and coverage teams were much better.

2. Passing game was pretty proficient. The OL did a nice job keeping Ben upright.  Chuks and Dotson looked pretty solid. 

3. Defense - - A lot or pressure put on them by the offense and facing a back-up QB they were not expecting to see.Several sacks, pressures, a few turnovers and the refs missed an early strip sack. Seven sacks, two turnovers, and improved the rush attack as the game progressed.

4. Ben throws for more than 300 yards despite not having a great rushing attack.

5. Steelers are 2-0. Despite no preseason games and the adversity, this team is 2-0. Last year this time they were 0-2 and just lost Ben. What a difference a year makes. 

 

Five Downs

1. Turnovers.  Need better ball security and decision making. New record for most consecutive games with an offensive turnover.

2. Penalties. Some of them were horrible calls, but others led to negative plays and putting the Steelers offense in a hole.

3. Team let the Broncos hang around.  This game should have been put away early in the third quarter.

4.  Third down conversions. Team struggling to get off the field. Not very many three and outs despite having a solid defense.

5. Rushing attack was inconsistent.  Connors long run makes the rushing attack more attractive.

[August4th]

seeing all these injuries going around, one up for us would be avoiding a major injury

[Dcash4]

The only up I really have is that we are still in a glorified preseason environment and have come out at 2-0. Ben looks good coming back off major surgery and missing a year, the front 7 is just wrecking havoc, the young receivers have played well, and we are creating turnovers again. 

I really don’t care who the opponent was or how we ultimately looked, the only think that matters in September this year is winning. Things like tackling lagging behind in strange offseason with limited of work and no real simulated game environment is the least surprising thing ever. 

We will gel more as the season goes on, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see 1-2 more games of pretty sloppy details at times. That’s been the nature of the NFL beast for a few years now, it’s just magnified with this offseason. 

[warfelg]

6 minutes ago, Dcash4 said:

The only up I really have is that we are still in a glorified preseason environment and have come out at 2-0. Ben looks good coming back off major surgery and missing a year, the front 7 is just wrecking havoc, the young receivers have played well, and we are creating turnovers again. 

I really don’t care who the opponent was or how we ultimately looked, the only think that matters in September this year is winning. Things like tackling lagging behind in strange offseason with limited of work and no real simulated game environment is the least surprising thing ever. 

We will gel more as the season goes on, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see 1-2 more games of pretty sloppy details at times. That’s been the nature of the NFL beast for a few years now, it’s just magnified with this offseason. 

Spot on in this entire post. It’s a 12 game season this year with the feeling of survive September. Don’t put yourself in a hole, peak at the right time. 
 

To me these last two games feel like East losses in the past and the fact we’ve come out with gritty wins is very encouraging. Especially playing 2 v 1 yesterday. 

[3rivers]

and how about some congrats for the first time starters Dotson and Chuks, both appears to be unnoticed, which for OL means no holding penalties and good play overall.  They will get a different challenge next  week when they face the 2nd best Watt defender in the NFL👏