1St Half Anaylsis On The Steelers

[Bltravens]

This is what I have seen thus far in the Steelers game.

-Harrison will not suffer a sophmore slump, still explosive off the edge and has man handled Mike Roos who is a pro bowler. However his run support is not at the level of his pass rushing.

-Steelers Oline is still struggling, multiple holding penalties and almost 0 gaps for Parker to run through, I dont think Parker is done as a runner but how can you run without holes? Has also allowed 2 sacks already.

-Steelers defense as a whole played just as fast as our D has played in the preseason, their weakness like ours is in the secondary, Collins towards the end of half seemed to be able to hit short routes to convert for 1st downs.

-When you are able to move the ball on the Steelers you must get points, Bironas missed one and his blocking upfront let him down on the second (great play by Smith on the flip side).

-Run defense is just as tough as last year Whites averaging 3 YPC, and Johnson is averaging negative yardage if it wasnt for his big run.

- Steelers offense, same as last year no improvement, no real downgrades either. He seems to look for Holmes now when he needs a big play or a first down rather than Ward like it was in the past.

-Polamalu was looking dominating before his injury. Although he was flagged 3 times in the 1st half.

What you guys think so far?

Edit- Kenny Britt woulda been nice lol
Madden Curse came early for Polamalu didnt it the replay on that knee injury didnt look to promising.

[K-Dog]

Polamalu is pretty amazing.
steelers D looks tough as nails.

O looks like it has some holes.

When we play them I expect a less than 20 point game.

[ravensalways]

I don't think it is possible for harrison to have sophmore slump because he has been in the league for a while and is like 30. I agree with everything else, The titans kicker played like trash.

[Steelerkillers]

The kicker definately lost the game for them. It didnt help when the Stealers won the coin toss either. The Stealers pretty much look like they did last year. I jus hope teams dont let them keep gettn away with murder. They stole another one!

[ZIBBY28]

on defense, pressure pressure pressure.. their o-line looked tragic at times and you cant let ben sit back there and find open receivers.. he'll tear you apart

[neepo13]

I'll worry about what it takes to beat the Steelers when we get closer to playing them. Chances are the team that played tonight, is not the same team that we will play in the second half of the season. There are likely going to be atleast 2 or 3 different starters playing for them by then, they'll probably work out some of their issues, as well as have some new ones created. Thats just how the NFL season works. Every team makes tranisitions like that during the season. There is nothing that our coaching staff will take away from this game, that could be to our advantage later in the season.

[Bltravens]

To take nothing away would be a mistake the teams are all different towards the end of the year true, but a team thats so similiar to the Ravens. You take everything with a grain of salt but just studying their defense alone cant hurt.

Food for thought- with the way holding seems to be called becoming blitz happy doesnt seem like a bad idea, odds are good now that itll produce a sack or a holding penalty.

[RonTN226]

I've watched several Steelers games and I always kind of wondered how in the world they can manage to pull off so many wins in such close games. Every time it's the same.... They manage to pull of a defensive stop and have the ball atleast once in the last 2 min of the game. However, I realized that there is much more involved than just luck that allows them to pull off these close games.

The Titans had this game won throughout the entire game. Their defense was quick, tough, and explosive. Their secondary was caught off guard at times and weren't very impressive but their defensive line man-handled the Steeler O-line. Which is why they were able to keep Ben from getting into a good rhythm. So what happened in the last 6 min of the game that caused the Titans D-Line to suddenly not be able to penetrate the Steelers O-Line? The D-Line was completely worn out. The Titans nearly quit blitzing their LB's preferring to dropping them into zone coverage which caused the more strain on the D-Line. We have made the same mistake several times playing the Steelers. Which is why you cannot give up the blitz in the 4th quarter and you cannot allow your defense to play strictly conservative in the 4 quarter in a close game against the Steelers.

Something you don't hear too often about the Steelers is the fact that their offense is nothing like it was after Mike Tomlin came into town. They went from being a 60% run team to putting up 50-60 rush yds per game. That isn't just because they can't run the football. The Steelers have become a strictly passing offense. A dink and dunk passing offense that has an excellent no-huddle system because that is how they are playing and focusing all game. A dink and dunk offense does two extremely important things. Helps to control the other teams blitzing ability and their desire to do so and it creates a nightmare for most man to man coverage and some zone defenses. This is why we struggled and couldn't put away the Steelers in the 4 quarter last season. Players are exhausted in the 4 quarter which is why the Steelers offensive strategy works.

So how do you stop their offense? Steelers are built to win close games. Much like we are. Steelers rely on their defense which they can and will. Which allows their offense to use their play calls like I talked about above. You have to beat the Steelers early. You have to put the Steelers in a situation where they need more than just one drive with plenty of time on the clock. I know this sounds like well yeah that needs to be done with every team but this is crucial when playing the Steelers. This is when the Steelers offense is forced to not play as though there is only 2 min left during the whole 4 quarter. Next time you watch a Steelers game, pay attention to what they are doing and why they are doing it. I guarantee you, you'll be thinking about this post.... HAHAHA... Just DO NOT fall for the pump fake!!

[Bltravens]

Also to piggy bank on that post, for the love of the big man upstairs cover Holmes until he starts running back to the huddle this year please lol.