5 Smoldering Questions on the Pittsburgh Steelers: Remembering the Titans

I have yet another person to be thankful for—Hombre de Acero, whose Smoldering Questions have been a regular feature. Before you start thinking about frying your turkey or dosing your eggnog, give some thought to these questions:

Pittsburgh welcomed Tennessee to Heinz Field last Thursday night and the Steelers thumping of the Titans offered Steelers Nation a sight for sore eyes, as the offense exploded for 40 points while the defense delivered no fewer than 9 splash plays. This week brings Green Bay back to two, but before we can focus on stuffing our Thanksgiving Turkeys, this corner of Steelers Nation must first resolve these 5 Smoldering Questions on the Steelers.

1. While many areas on the depth chart have performed well throughout this season, one position area that has excelled without any need to tack on any qualifiers what so ever is the Steelers 2017 defensive line. It’s hard to find a game where Cameron Heyward, Stephon Tuitt, Javon Hargrave and/or Tyson Alualu haven’t stepped up and made a play.

Do you think it is appropriate to start comparing this line to the trio of Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel? If not, defend your decision to decline. If so, expound upon your reasoning and offer and assessment of which line merits a higher rating.

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.

On Second Thought: Homer J’s Comments and Report Card

Photo via Steelers.com

 

As usual I will edit Homer’s game notes, with any insertions of mine in italics—Editor

 

Prior to the game:

NO BRADFORD? NO PROBLEM! It is somewhat comforting to see Bradford is out and the Steelers defense will have to face Case Keenum, proving it’s not just what teams you play, it’s also when you play them.

Welcome to the 2017 Steelers Season, From Homer and Ivan

photo via Steelers.com

Homer sent me his game notes and grades, and Ivan piled on. As usual I’m editing them, and any comment of mine will be in italics. I’m sure they will let me know if I got something wrong. So here we go with the game comments:

The Revenge of the Bubble Guys: Steelers @ Carolina

via Steelers.com

As we all know, the interest (or, for some, the only vestige of an interest) in the final preseason game is getting one more look at the roster bubble guys. Which brings up my first question—why is it a “bubble?” I could see a player being “on the bubbly” if he actually makes the 53 man roster. If I were Joe Haden I would be very tempted to invest in some bubbly, although perhaps he should wait until the bye week at this point. Kevin Colbert is perhaps on the bubbly tonight, as he has a nice new contract after 175 wins as GM for the Steelers.

But tonight there is an extra soupçon of intrigue, outside of any sort of bubble, as Vance McDonald is playing. Joe Haden, although he attended the team meeting this morning, is not, but it will certainly be interesting to see the shiny new tight end.

Life, Death, and Steelers

Via WMU Football

This year’s training camp has been quite a roller-coaster ride. The hopes of Steeler Nation rise high as we see Ben putting the ball wherever he wants, whether that is in a garbage can, the crosspiece of the goalpost, the stomach of a recalcitrant cameraman*, or to be gently cradled in Antonio Brown’s arms. Then they crash to earth as we look at the list of injured players sitting out practice—a sort of Who’s Who of our best defensive players. Not to mention the League playing Whac-a-Mole with Martavis Bryant and the Steelers, seeming moving the bar every time Bryant thinks he’s hurdled it. (I realize that was a mixed metaphor, but it’s morning, people…)

Pittsburgh’s Goin’ to the Super Bowl: Winning the Battles in the Trenches

AP photo: Don Wright

I recently promised to cover the defensive line “soon,” and given the plethora of plumbing problems and viral indispositions, this counts as soon.

In many ways the core of the defensive line is the most uniformly impressive group on the team. The middle is anchored by Javon Hargrave, who could have but didn’t win the Steelers’ Rookie of the Year award.

Fifth Quarter Report: 2016 Steelers, Defense ‘n at

Fifth Quarter Report: 2016 Steelers, continued

by Ivan Cole

The Team, Part Three: Defense and more

Defensive Line

Defensive line coach John Mitchell fired a lot of people up last spring singing the praises of Daniel McCullers. He wasn’t necessarily wrong in doing so. Big Dan did improve. It’s just that no one could have anticipated how big a first impression the rookie Javon Hargrave made.

Fifth Quarter Report: 2016 Steelers Offense

Matt Freed, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

by Ivan Cole

The Team: Offense

Quarterback

Let’s re-establish a basic professional football truth at the outset. Franchise quarterbacks do not grow on trees. We don’t usually define them as such, but they tend to be generational players, as in if you are lucky, one will come along every quarter century or so.