2023 5 Up and 5 Down 2-2 Steelers loss to 2-2 Texans

[Steeler Hitman]

 

 

 

#1 Congrats to the Texans.  Clear showing that a positive attitude, execution, and belief in yourself can go a long way. Steelers have no excuse other than they got the brakes beat off them today. No excuses. The Texans absolutely stomped them. This may have been worse than the 49ers game. 

5 Up - - Not much good that you can find in a 30-6 beatdown and losing your starting QB. I am a believer in overcoming adversity. The Steelers have again dug themselves into a hole. We will ultimately see what this team is made of.

1. Najee Harris.  The guy takes a beating in the media and by many fans. All I see is an effort from the guy. He runs hard, plays hard, tries his best, and keeps his mouth shut. The team overall was flat. The defense was not at its best, and they again got handled in the trenches. Yet, I saw fire and effort. We need that from everyone. It is not that the Steelers lost, but how they lost. Najee deserves some respect for the effort that he puts forth despite the entire offense being in a conundrum. I saw an effort from him that I didn't from many others on the field today.  

2. Boz and Brad - - Boz is an absolute stud when healthy and focused.  Hats off to Brad Wing who filled in for Percy and did not do a bad job.

3. The Texans gave JJ Watt a great day. 😱 There's not much good to say about being a Steelers fan or their play this game/.

4.5. Who gives a dang......................... I am fishing for compliments beyond this. Pitiful and embarrassing effort for our once proud franchise. We got stomped. Period!

 

5 Down

1. Levi Wallace. A guy that I liked for his heart and effort. However, he is clearly the target of every opposing offense and is getting beat like a drum. 

2. The Offensive Line.  The OL is just getting the brakes beat out of them. They had a few good plays, but the fact that the offense has no confidence in them in fourth 1 in consecutive games speaks volumes. Even to the point that they may have lost their QB. 

3. The Run Defense.  I continue to say the game is won in the trenches. Honestly, teams are pushing us around on both sides of the ball. We could not take Houston out of their game plan and force CD Stroud to play to our strengths. 

4. Defensive Star Power was dim and players' enthusiasm - - Minkah, TJ, and Alex had off games. It happens but rarely do the three best do it at the same time. Just a bad day in Steelerland overall. Look at the energy and passion that the Lions play with.  Not that you can't lose, but that you fight every play.  Sadly, I don't see this from this team who actually has some talented players. 

5. Coaching.  This is a game in which the team was out-couched, out-hit, out-performed, and had little answers to counter. After a good start to the third quarter, this team could not put the ball in the endzone. After going down 13-0, It is sad that this team was essentially out of it.  That's only two TD possessions. It is a sad state of affairs in Steeler land. We can't overcome 13 points early.  The second week of not converting a fourth and one. This time it costs your starting QB. 

I have also been one of the most objective in looking at the Steelers' struggles and in Matt Canada not being the poster child for all of the issues. This isn't all Matt Canada, but it is probably time for change. Like Tomlin pulled Mitch last year to "jumpstart" the team. It may be time to fire Matt Canada (it may not be fair), but the team needs a jumpstart and he isn't giving them one. Someone or something has got to get the OL fired up, working with the RB's, and the offense able to score TD's and not FG's. We are just not that good right now. 

[3rivers]

my profile pic says it all.  Until that changes, expect more of the same and not much in the form of winning vs better teams until major changes happen

 

up

1. the game is over

2. texans helmets as someone pointed out

3. najee had a decent game as did Warren, not special but decent at times anyways

 

`down

almost everything else

1. OL too many bad reps and not consistently winning 

2. injuries

3. stars on defence didn't deliver 

4. canada

5. tomlin 

[mwalker]

This team is not coached well.

If Tomlin doesn't replace Canada and Austin,
and I've never said this before, then Tomlin
should be in trouble. 

There is so much wrong right now. So much.

[3rivers]

I forgot a new UP as a result of all this:

at home next week vs the ravens, I expect FIRE CANADA chants to really take over the stadium ! A full blown assault on the FO on TV for everyone to see. 

[JustPlainNasty]

5 UP

1. Najee played a really good game. That one play where he exploded out the backfield was unlike anything Id seen from him before in a Steelers uniform. 

2. Alex Highsmith. If you didnt notice how quickly Alex was getting off on the snap you musn't have been looking. The big problem was like I said leading up to the game CJ can snap that ball off quick and we have good ole Levi out there to bail everybody out 

3. Kendrick Green - he played just fine, and so many easy opinionated fans were disgracing him and yappin about how we gonna maul him etc. The only guy on this roster that will know how to or be capable of dominating him at this point is currently on the IR. Hope he is ok. Now granted he only gets one time pass on this snipping back stuff. 

4. Jaylen Warren did much of his typical stuff. Did have the fumble called back, and lost that one in the backfield but got it back. 

5. Hopefully this sparks a change. The call for change is so overwhelming and that game was so HORRIBLE that it had to shake Art Rooney's tree. 

 

555 DOWN 

1. It can't be said enough, this game is on the coaching staff, maybe more than any Steelers game I can ever recall . There were obvious things about the Texans and their successes and failures to go along with the experience of playing San Fran and similar style / function of things. You knew CJ was gonna have to get the ball out fast. He's good at doing it so all this hype about us overwhelming them with our pass rush when the kid doesnt hold onto the ball for more than 2 seconds (which is the exact same thing they faced with Brock Purdy) but yet there appeared be very little tact or coverage games early (that worked anyway) to manipulating him into holding the ball. Perhaps cause of that Old Levi relief valve, but then the plan shouldve been a lot more JPJ. The front run defense getting blown apart, honestly if I were Teryl Austin I'd be extremely ashamed of the miserable lack of strategy that allowed that. The beginning of the game was worse game strategy by him than Canada i was feeling. For Canada it was the typical building blocks step by step connect the dot style strategy. I swear that he sits down with one of those big plastic pencil cases, takes out exactly 5 brand new sharpened pencils and neatly places them on the table , then takes out his play check sheet and checks off each play one by one as it is ran without little to any regard to the actual play situation. All the above speaks very horribly about the current way the ship is being run by the Head Coach. 

2.  The front line run defense and run tackling was atrocious. It was probably the most disheartening thing to see as we all figured the offense would probably cause us some degree of anguish, and we also figured Stroud would have his moments if you had watched any film on him, but the run D getting gouged like it did kind of told us that we've been living a lie. 

3. Levi Wallace. I don't know if I need to say but teams are probably starting out there game plan by saying 29 is their ultimate weakness and we'll attack him to set everything up and when all else fails well attack him as our failsafe. You got that CJ ?...29, find him on every play. 

4. Kenny's play , its been baffling. I dont know what he is trying to do on each play and Im not sure  he does or understands either. Many of us have discussed how it seems he's starting on opposite of progression and then sometimes no progression. The bailing out seemed like it wasnt so much a thing preseason but now it seems like its more of a thing than last year. uggh. 

5 . Back in the summer I saw the line for this was so low and I thought I'll jump on that before everybody else starts catching to what the Steelers should be capable of. The worst part is either I forgot that I made the initial bet or just had a few too many drinks and made two more good size bets on it just before the start of the season.  The only saving grace was that even though the line was lower and my head was asking should I take advantage of that the last couple days, my gut, just like several of yours, was telling me otherwise. Always trust your gut when it raises its hand in those situations. 

. 

The last time I recall feeling this way about the Steelers getting embarrassed horribly not just once but twice to this degree was September 10th & September 17th, 1989.  Thats when the Steelers lost 51-0 to Cincinnati and 41-10 to Cleveland in consecutive weeks to open the year. It was embarrassing and sad. They ultimately ended up going 9-7 and making it to the Divisional Round in two very surprising / exciting performances. That 89 team for me is what started the new era of Steelers football, playoff success, new revised defense, grittiness and toughness. I hope we can find that somewhere in this team. 

Edited October 2, 2023 by JustPlainNasty

[3rivers]

2 hours ago, JustPlainNasty said:

The last time I recall feeling this way about the Steelers getting embarrassed horribly not just once but twice to this degree was September 10th & September 17th, 1989.  Thats when the Steelers lost 51-0 to Cincinnati and 41-10 to Cleveland in consecutive weeks to open the year. It was embarrassing and sad. They ultimately ended up going 9-7 and making it to the Divisional Round in two very surprising / exciting performances. That 89 team for me is what started the new era of Steelers football, playoff success, new revised defense, grittiness and toughness. I hope we can find that somewhere in this team. 

I remember that as well, should have beat Denver as well. Some even say that was Noll's best year of coaching.    Noll is a legit HOF coach, tomlin isn't . . The grittiness isn't on this team, that would be reflected in the run game on a consistent basis and run defence.  Toughness, in todays  flag league I am not sure how we determine this.  It's a different game now.  Perhaps toughness is about attitude from the coach and most noticed in the trenches and chasing down/tackling/hitting (whats left to be allowed in todays game)

I have watched games in 40 , usually 35 minutes or so and go through them here and there.  Some of these said to be really bad teams  appeared to have more grit and toughness than the steelers.  Cardinals are an  example as are the Rams. Both were said to be tanking or going to be really bad  , but instead have grit and have been a challenge. 

[VigilantZombie]

UP

1. NOT A GODDAMN THING

DOWN

1. Canada is a joke of an OC yet we thought Fichtner was worse and wanted Canada.

 

2. Kenny Pickett is not the guy

3. Outside of Benton, we don't have a single starter worth DL (healthy) on this roster.

4. Teryl Austin is a terrible DC

5. Levi Wallace & Patrick Peterson are backup worthy CBs that start for us.

6. Minkah is our only starter worthy Safety

7. Mason Cole, Chuks Okorafor, & Dan Moore suck ***

8. Tomlin just makes excuses, settles for mediocrity, and puts all the blame on the players.

9. Najee Harris might have good runs once in a while but he is not a good fit for this offense.

10. Mitch Trubisky is our new starter.