5 Smoldering Questions on the Pittsburgh Steelers: Week 9

Photo via Steelers.com

By Hombre de Acero

The Steelers entered Detroit looking to keep their winning streak alive and looking to take a victory into the bye week. The men in Black and Gold accomplished both, which leaves them at 6-2 as Tomlin’s team heals bumps and bruises before resuming action against the Indianapolis Colts in two weeks. But before we can turn out attention to that, this segment of Steelers Nation must resolve these 5 Smoldering Questions on the Steelers.

1. In reviewing the Steelers win against the Bengals, Steel City Insider’s Jon Ledyard made this observation:

Two incompletions kept a ton of time on the clock for Cincinnati before the fake punt, which is one of the worst decisions I’ve seen in a while. Running a fake punt in your own territory with a 12-point lead, with your backup safety throwing the second pass of his life to a wide receiver with a lengthy history of ugly drops? What could go wrong? You guys know I’m all about being aggressive, but discretion is the better part of valor in this situation, and the Steelers were lucky to get away with a good result despite an ugly process.

Agree or disagree? Defend your decision.

2. Sticking with the Bengals game, it was clear that while Antonio Brown made his catches and did his damage, William Jackson is a cornerback capable of challenging Brown. The Steelers were rumored to favor William Jackson in the 2016 NFL Draft, but Cincinnati got him first.

Do you think the Steelers would have been better off with Jackson, or are you satisfied with Artie Burns?

3. When the Lions were blanketing Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster made them pay on several occasions. Do you think he did enough to take away Martavis Bryant’s starting slot?

4. When looking at the performance of the Steelers defense in Detroit, what do you see? A defense that was utterly unable to stop an opponent from advancing down the field into the Red Zone? Or a defense that weathered 17 shots at the end zone from inside its 20 and didn’t give up a single touchdown?

5. Take a look at this replay of Javon Hargrave eating Dwyane Washington alive at the goal line (before Vince Williams and Sean Davis pile on.)

We built for this! Hard body #Heneedsomemilk @Jay_MostWanted pic.twitter.com/3QOrAvDzFf

— Vincenzo Williams (@VinnyVidiVici98) October 30, 2017

What leaves a bigger impression on you? Javon Hargrave’s play or the look of utter disbelief on Jim Cadwell’s face?

Bye week bonus

6. Robert Golden now has a passer rating of 118.7% and is averaging 34.5 YPA. Does that qualify him to occupy the role of “Disaster Man” much the way that Antwaan Randle-El did?

On Second Thought: Homer’s Game Notes and Grades for Steelers @ Lions

Photo via Steelers.com—Nice stiff-arm, JuJu…

You know the drill. Heavily edited game notes—Homer writes comments on each play—and his grades…Ed.

Homer began his notes with this, emphasis his:

JUJU’S BIG ADVENTURE. A 97-YARD BIKE LANE COMES TO THE MOTOR CITY AND LOOK AT JUJU’S PEDALS.

Steelers Opponent Preview: The Detroit Lions

Homer’s pony (photo via Steelers.com)

Another week, another jump in the standings for the Steelers, and more upward movement in the opinion of the Power Rankers and statisticians and so on. In the meantime, the Steelers’ opponent is, well, not exactly reeling, but they have lost twice in the last three games, one of them at home, and seem firmly mired in mediocrity at 3-3.

On the other hand, the Lions’ division is nothing to write home about. Green Bay has lost their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, for what looks like the rest of the season. And make no mistake, Rodgers is the one who makes things happen in Green Bay. Their 4-3 record isn’t likely to improve. The Bears might be termed “surprising,” but only because no one expected much from them. At 3-4 they aren’t entirely out of it yet.  The Vikings are running away with the division so far at 5-2, but the Lions have only played one divisional game—against the Vikings—and won it, back in Week 2.

Training Camp Diary: Tuesday August 9th

It was a big day in Going Deep land. Homer J., Ivan, and his brother Andy drove up from DC and we met up at Saint Vincent. Ivan has met me for practices before, but not Homer or Andy. I asked Andy when the last time he had been to training camp was, and he told me this was the first. Homer said he hadn’t been to camp for a very long time. He didn’t say how long that time was, but the bleachers upon which we were sitting and the fields in front of us were not part of the experience the last time he went. He also said that Loren Toews was showing everybody up his last time at camp. A bit of Googling reveals that his last time at Steelers camp must have been in about 1973.

It was a gorgeous day, and we had great seats, or as great as narrow aluminum bleacher seats which you are sharing with many, many people can be. But we were in the shade, the breeze was blowing a good bit of the time, and the humidity was low enough that not only could you see the surrounding hills, you could see the trees on them. That’s a good day in August in western PA.

In fact, it was so great altogether that at one point Homer called over to Ivan and me as we were intently watching the action on the field and said, sweeping his arm in a careful arc to avoid taking out the people behind him, “Just look around for a minute and appreciate how remarkable this is!” So we did, because when Homer speaks we all listen.

Lionizing the Steelers: Training Camp 2016

AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

You’ve probably read by now that the Steelers will engage in joint practices with the Detroit Lions prior to their pre-season game on August 12th.

I think this is a great idea. It is surely more fun for the players to have an actual opponent. Admittedly, some of the players are pretty good at making their teammates into opponents, as the frequent training camp fights between Antonio Brown and Ike Taylor attested. But it must be more satisfying to best someone you don’t have to see the in the locker room every day.