View topic - Week 1- Houston at Pittsburgh Postgame Thoughts and Grades

[No l Gravity l Profile]

Quarterbacks
Ben Roethlisberger- A. Managed the game very effectively, especially early on when Parker was unable to get good chunks of yards. Nice to see him and Ward finding the endzone together on multiple occasions. Is it just me or does it seem like Ben is making 100+ passer ratings (today 147.0 ) routine in the NFL? His only incompletion out of 14 attempts was when he threw it away after heavy pressure
Byron Leftwich- C-. Yeah he did look lousy out there. Didn't complete 1 out of his 4 passes but the long 50 yard bomb to NateNate was on point. Of course he dropped it.

Runningbacks
Willie Parker- A. Was off to a slow start but defintely picked it up as the game progressed. With THREE TDs and 138 yards on 25 attempts it sure looks like FWP is back to his old form from 05 and 06. Lets see if he can keep this up past the month of September...
Rashard Mendenhall- B-. Looked pretty good when he was in rotation with Parker, but not so much when he had to carry the load by himself in garbage time. Overall he played well and most importantly NO fumbles

Receivers
Santonio Holmes B-. Where were you?! I have you on my fantasy team damnit! Ha with the game out of reach pretty much after the 1st quarter, there really wasn't a need for one of Holmes' signature long bombs. However, he did make 3 catches, one of which had my heart pumping when he had the ball stripped but luckily for us it rolled out of bounds. I still would like to see Holmes utilized to catch more of those slants down the middle of the field.
Hines Ward- A. Two nice TD catches up the middle plus a long 70 yard reception that was waived off due to an invisible pass interference call Great game.
Nate Washington- D-. I put 1 drop as my over/under prediction game and of course he goes OVER with 2 . This guy is good for nothing. Give Baker a chance at #3 since he beat out Sweed.
Heath Miller- B. Big man made a few big catches early on keeping drives the chains moving. Played solid today.

Offensive Line- B+. Kemo and Smith played fantastic against a young, speedy Texan defensive front. The run blocking late in the second half was on point. Mario Williams still managed two sacks but overall a very solid effort from the front five. It actually gives me comfort not having to grill Colon and Simmons for once.

Defensive Line- B. Very solid line play from the Hampton, Keisel and Smith. Held the Texan runningbacks minimal yardage. Eason looked good backing up the vets.

Linebackers- A+. I'll say this again, our LBing crew is the easily best in the NFL. Woodley played exceptional and managed to pick up his first interception of his career as well as a sack and 3 tackles in the game. Harrison, as usual, was pretty much unstoppable. 6 tackles+2 assisted, a FORCED FUMBLE and THREE sacks. Farrior was sharp with a half a sack accredited and Timmons looked solid with 3 tackles.

Defensive Backs- B-. Is it just me or is Clark starting to hit just as hard as Anthony Smith? He very good in his return making several tackles all over the field. I was also stoked to see Polamalu make his first interception since 2006 . Its been so long I don't even remember his last to tell you the truth. Last one I can remember was when Larry Johnson pulled him down by the hair. Anyway, the secondary looked good for the most part though I was pretty unhappy with Andre Johnson managing 112 yards off of 10 receptions.

Special Teams
Return Units- C. Not much happening in this department but at least we held onto the ball.
Coverage Units- A+. Woods and Harrison were all making sure Andre Johnson didn't have a chance to take one to the house. Woods on two occasions met their kick returners practically as soon as they caught the ball. Good job tackling by everyone.

[Steelersbaby Profile Website]

I was impressed with both sides of the ball today. I'm not as good as breaking down the plays, but they seemed to pretty much dominate the line on offense and defense, Woodley is an absolute beast, Troy looks good, Willies obviously fine, Ben is exceptional, and I feel WAY better about the OLINE. Does make me curious about how good or overrated the Texans may have been, but I feel good about this season.

[WoodsonOfSteel Profile]

but the long 50 yard bomb to NateNate was on point. Of course he dropped it.

In his defense FWIW, the coverage was solid on that play. He would have had to make a David Tyree-esque catch there. The rope that Leftwich zipped his way over to the left side however... That looked WORLD'S more catchable.

but not so much when he (Mendenhall) had to carry the load by himself in garbage time

Let's hope that it's just that : garbage time play. Efficient enough to go up the gut... NOT fumble... and keep the clock movin'. I personally can't be too critical of his performance as he served his purpose. Not near as exciting as Felix Jones's performance... But still.

Santonio Holmes B-. Where were you?

Perhaps the Stains are going to gameplan to take Ward out of the game opening up a BIG day for Santonio next week. Time will tell.

Nate Washington- D-. I put 1 drop as my over/under prediction game and of course he goes OVER with 2 . This guy is good for nothing. Give Baker a chance at #3 since he beat out Sweed.

I can only credit him with the one drop. I too wouldn't mind seeing Baker bumped to the #3 spot. I like Nate and all, but Baker made the roster for a reason: talent progression.

Is it just me or is Clark starting to hit just as hard as Anthony Smith?

Clark made a case for the ole Hard Hat, although I think it's going to Willie by default. Something you didn't mention but probably agree with Gravity is the fact that Ryan was making every tackle possible. I don't recall seeing him miss ONE. He was sticking people and keeping ball carriers at the point of contact. Something Tony Smith hasn't shown he can do consistently. Let's hope this continues for Clark. He was everywhere.

Coverage Units- A+

Gay and Fox deserve a lil recognition for their tackles/stops too.

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Other than these gripes and additions, I think you're pretty spot on with your analysis, Gravity!



Here's to football!

[GodfatherofSoul Profile]

I'm not a Nate fan, but he was stripped. He didn't drop it.

[darthsteel Profile]

ben dropped back 16 times and was sacked 2x with at least 1 hurry.
for comparison manning dropped back 51 times and was sacked 2x.

I would not get to carried away over the pass blocking because when ben has to drop back 35 times in some of these games, I think you will see the same 'ol 5 sacks.

I would just like to see ben have a few pockets like romo has on every play where there is not a apposing player within ten feet of him for 8 seconds!

I do think its pretty obvious the game plan is for quick 3 step drops and unload do to the oline's inadequacy's and 3-4 deep balls a game when they present themselves.

[Steeledge Profile]

I would just like to see ben have a few pockets like romo has on every play where there is not a apposing player within ten feet of him for 8 seconds!

...then I guess next week is the true litmus test, considering we'll be going up against the same group that Homo and the Gayboys had yesterday...

[thesteelhammer Profile]

N.G. always comes through with a solid post game analysis.

[Nel Profile]

N.G. always comes through with a solid post game analysis.

It certainly is nice to have posters who want to work on analysis and share it, and N.G.'s material is excellent & difficult to fault.

[SteelTreal Profile]

What you think about Nick Eason coming in with the quickness on 3rd down so many different looks on D

[No l Gravity l Profile]

N.G. always comes through with a solid post game analysis.

It certainly is nice to have posters who want to work on analysis and share it, and N.G.'s material is excellent & difficult to fault.

Thanks Nel and Hammer