Steelers/NFL
Considering Opponent, Steelers D delivers best performance of season
The best thing for the Steelers in turning a four game losing streak that had their season on a downhill spiral to now a three game winning streak, has been the schedule and some “Luck”. What playing the Cleveland Browns in week 11 and the Indianapolis Colts last week without Andrew Luck was let this defense reset when they needed it the most.
Rookies and young players trending up came out of those two games with a new brand of confidence and suddenly the Steelers defense is looking like the unit from Weeks 1, 2, 4 & 5 where the Steelers allowed 16 points or less in all four games to start the season 4-1.
While the Giants came in with the 22nd ranked offense in the NFL, this was a critical test with Eli Manning at QB.
Pittsburgh rose to the occasion at every opportunity in a 24-14 win.
In the first half when the Giants were pressing to get in the end zone, Lawrence Timmons delivered a red-zone INT. The Steelers made three fourth down stops as the Giants were 0-3 on 4th down opportunities with the Steelers picking off Eli Manning on two 4th down throws, the other interception by Sean Davis, the first of his career.
The Steelers held the Giants to 234 total yards with 52 of those yards coming in the final minute of the game when the Giants had 5 play, 52 yard TD drive in the final minute of the game.
Eli Manning finished 24/39 for 195 yards with 2 TD’s – 2 Interceptions. Prior to that final drive at mop up time when the game was out of hand, he was 20/33 for 150 yards.
That is doing work by this D.
Game Balls
1. Lawrence Timmons | His red-zone INT that was returned for 58 yards was a major swing in the game as the Steelers turned the Timmons INT into a touchdown to jump out to an 11-0 lead. In the third quarter with a Giants 4th and 1 at the Steelers 3 yard line, Timmons provided key pressure on Manning leading to an incomplete pass and turnover on downs. Timmons game continues to trend upwards at the right time.
2. Ladarius Green | 6 Catches for 110 yards and 1 touchdown. With no deep passing threat at wide receiver, Green’s presence at the tight end position to stretch the field was a big development in this one. At times he was so wide open it looked like the Giants didn’t game plan for him. Green had a long catch of 37 yards and TD reception of 20 yards.
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3. Le’Veon Bell | Had a costly turnover in the second half that got the Giants back in the game. Aside from the turnover, Bell was unstoppable. Rushed for 118 yards on 29 carries. Coming in Bell was averaging 142 total yards from scrimmage, he put up 182 today vs the Giants.
4. LB James Harrison – The James Harrison to the field and Jarvis Jones to the bench continues to pay huge dividends for the Steelers. Harrison drew a holding penalty in the end zone leading a safety, finishing with a sack, tackle for loss and 4 QB pressures. He was handful for the Giants to handle. Harrison has 5 sacks over his last five games.
5. Kicker Randy Bullock | Signed on Saturday afternoon, Bullock was 3-3 on field goals, including a 44 yarder.
Thumbs down are back…
Nice article by Ryan Wilson. I especially liked the part where he mentions Malkin having 8 points in five games while taking 0 penalties. I also enjoy how he mentions Kessel being on a tear. With same not having anything more important in his life, we can’t expect him to not post. It is fun though to watch a moron get exposed as a moron on a daily basis.
So 0 penalties is part of his article when it comes to malkin wow this shows that how fraud and how much he has been sabotaging the team momentum that a guy like him with 9.5m. Is mentioned in a article about penalties wow keep riding him Tbj
So scoring at a point per game clip and not taking penalties is sabotaging your team? You’re a special kind of stupid.
You know how sam thinks – Yanic Perreault – this and that – tons of back hair. That’s sam at his most sam.
The only articles I want to hear are Trade Fleury or Malkin making dumb mistake articles. D’s target audience is Yoda and Same.
When Bennett played vs pens same said by 20th game he is due for an injury now 20th game and he is injured that fraud
Who cares
…apparently.
D can you update pens salary chart. They no longer have gayjoy,Bennett or Jerkoff
Can someone please explain the picture on this article to me? I’m not even sure what it is or how you get a picture to come out that way.
GAME WINNER ASSIST UPDATE
Hey! Look who finally chimed in with a GWA with his $7.25M salary! Smelly Kris Letang! Embarrassing. The guy has looked like a weak 2nd pairing D-man for about 3 weeks. Shameful. Hagelin also gets his first.
Cole – 3
Hornqvist – 2
Hagelin – 1
Letang – 1
Kuhnhackl – 1
Cullen – 1
Wilson – 1
Schultz – 1
Maatta – 1
Sestito – 1
Fehr – 1
Malkin – 1
Rust – 1
Crosby – 1
Sheary – 1
wow, will anybody catch Cole? He must be the biggest bargain in the league!
Apparently yogurt, Fleury is expected to start tonight
…apparently
Hopefully he plays well and we get a Yoda-free Tuesday.
Yeah that will be 3 starts in a row now Yoda must be going nuts
Agreed
Apparently you call your daycare school bus a limo
so f’ing bad at this.
I’m still not buying into L Green. Guy plays (and looks) like a giant puzzy.
Whoa
I saw the Nats are trying hard for Cutch and Sale because Harper and a few others only have a year or two left on their deals, hence why they’re going for it all while they can.
What a novel idea that is.
Bridge year
It’s a simple concept when you have unlimited funds. My guess is that in 3-4 years they’ll be irrelevant like the Phillies who took a similar approach in 2008-2011 when they spent big and gutted their farm system to add guys like Halladay, Lee, Martinez and Oswalt. They had their short run of success and then have been a disaster ever since.
Short run of success sure beats 37 years of play in games and 1st round exits.
It’s all personal preference really, I’d rather be competitive year in and year out but not win a championship as opposed to having a short run of success and then long stretches of irrelevance. In a world where winning is never guaranteed regardless of how talented a team is, I think you have just as good of a chance of winning over the long run by being competitive ever year and hoping for some bounces to go your way as you do going all-in to win.