10/27/16-What’s Wrong With The Steelers?
By: Mike Pelaia
It’s hard to ask what’s wrong with a team who is 4-3 and leading their division but that’s exactly what I’m asking about the Steelers today.
I’ll start with this, I expected the loss to the Patriots even if Ben had played and I am not in the group that thinks Landry Jones is terrible. I think he proved on Sunday that he’s a capable back up. I won’t go much further than pointing out his 29 completions for 281 yards and a TD. Yes, I’m aware of his interception in the end zone but are you aware that he had a TD pass taken off the board due to a holding penalty? His kicker missed 2 kicks, his coach was, well, outcoached and his defense was incapable of stopping the run or certainly the pass. So, no, it’s not Landry Jones starting last week and possibly next week that’s an issue.
The problems right now start at the top. Once again, I’m going at Mike Tomlin. He just isn’t that good of a coach. His decision making in crunch time is poor, his ability to get his teams up against sub .500 teams is quite frankly bad (19-22 since 2012) and schematically he appears to be a mess. His sayings are old and hollow and his defensive philosophy has to be questioned; which brings me to that unit.
The defense, folks, just isn’t that good either. Keith Butler, to me, is out of place as the defensive coordinator and shouldn’t have been promoted last season, that’s on Tomlin. The Steelers are dead last in the league in sacks. Yes, the black and gold are last in sacks. It just doesn’t sound right, does it? The dirty little secret about defensive success, specific to the Steelers beliefs; you have to get to the quarterback, at least apply pressure, but this team does not do that, ever. Couple that with the fact that the secondary is weak and it spells disaster. When you face guys like Tom Brady, you’re going to lose every time if you can’t pressure him and you can’t cover the receivers, it’s that simple and it’s happening right in front of our eyes. Butler needs to spend the bye week in the classroom studying film and finding ways to rectify the issues his unit has or else this team could be torched weekly moving forward.
It’s not just Tomlin being mediocre or the defense not living up to the Steel City’s expectations but the injuries continue to mount up on a weekly basis, which seems to be the case every year. Big Ben alluded to it a few weeks ago; it’s possible Tomlin is just grinding these guys too hard in the summer and during practice leading up to game days. Their biggest names go down every week, Big Ben, Ryan Shazier and Cam Heyward just to name a few, the list is far too large to go through here. You cannot obtain injuries at the pace this team does and expect to sustain success, it’s just too difficult for any team to overcome.
If they want to get to the Promised Land, they can’t rely on sheer talent alone, they need the injuries to slow down, the defense to improve in all facets of the game and Mike Tomlin to learn how to get this team up for the lower end of the league and maybe, just maybe, figure out how make in game adjustments as well.
Thank goodness they have a bye this week….
10/23/16-PODCAST Steel Nation Radio Presented By Steelers Takeaways – Interview With Ed Bradley
October 23, 2016 by admin
Filed under Steel Nation Radio
Mike Pelaia and Ron Lippock of Steel Nation Radio Presented By Steelers Takeaways had an opportunity recently to catch up with former Steeler linebacker Ed Bradley.
Bradley played four seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers and played a big role on the defensive shut down of the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IX, the Steelers first Super Bowl. In this two part interview (Below), listen to some great stories from the past, with references to Chuck Noll, Joe Greene and Jack Lambert as well as Bradley’s input on injuries and how players and teams play through them as well as overcome them.
Take A Listen: Steel Nation Radio Episode 1 Part 1
Part 2: Steel Nation Radio Ed Bradley Part 2
10/18/16-The Ben Roethlisberger Effect
By: Mike Pelaia
A few days after the Steelers devastating loss to the Dolphins, it appears things could have ended up far worse than they did. The team certainly should be embarrassed by their performance in the 30-15 loss that dropped them to 4-2 on the season but they can breathe a sigh of relief after Ben Roethlisberger’s’ injury isn’t as bad as it could have been.
Big Ben had surgery on Monday on the meniscus in his left knee and thanks to having a bye week after the upcoming game against the Patriots; he’ll probably only miss one game, two at most. It would obviously be more than preferable to have number seven available to play the Patriots, a game that could determine a bye and top seeding in the playoffs but if it’s the only game he misses, a game in which I feel the Patriots would win either way, then it’s not the end of the world.
The impact of Roethlisberger not playing is what will be truly interesting to watch. First and foremost, at the center of all this will be the man behind center; Landry Jones. The fans have been slamming Jones for a couple of seasons now, stating he’s not a quality backup and he can’t get it done. Many have been clamoring this week to allow Zak Mettenberger the opportunity to start instead of Jones. I on the other hand disagree, I feel Jones does have talent and just needs time to play in order to prove it, time with the first string, not pre-season games. He had some decent showings last season and now it’s time for him to step up and prove what he’s made of, not for any of the fans but for this team and for himself.
The effect of Ben not playing will be palpable but those that will need to step up alongside Jones will be LeVeon Bell, Antonio Brown and Jesse James in particular. The passing game will or at least should be scaled back so the shorter Antonio Brown routes will be a key to the game plan and Bell needs to get the ball via the run over 25 times. These guys need to show they are superstars both with Ben but also without.
It’s not just on the players though, Coach Tomlin and Coach Haley need to game plan accordingly. They need to put Jones in a position to succeed, not allowing him to get into messes he can’t handle. Haley needs to provide the right play calls and not put too much in Jones’s hands. Tomlin needs to ensure this team is ready to rally around Jones and not automatically assume it’s a loss.
None of this is easy when you’re going up against arguably the best coach and quarterback in the history of the NFL but even if the black and gold lose this coming Sunday, they can truly learn a lot about themselves as a team and see what they are made of.
Without their big gun, they have to prove they are still strong, they are still a contender and they still have what it takes. It’s all a trickle down from Big Ben’s injury and I’m deeming it the Ben Roethlisberger Effect and it can go either way….we’ll soon see exactly what that all means.
10/10/16-Antonio Brown Needs To Speak With DeAngelo Williams
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By: Mike Pelaia The Steelers defeated the New York Jets by 18 points on Sunday afternoon to improve their record to 4-1 on the young season and take sole possession of first place in the AFC North. Everyone should be happy with that. It wasn’t always pretty with the defense allowing Ryan Fitzpatrick to actually move the ball for 255 yards and miraculously no turnovers (after having thrown 9 picks in two weeks). Or with Sammie Coates having a big day statistically but dropping five balls, LeVeon Bell with just 66 yards on the ground or DeAngelo Williams obtaining one total carry. Yet those guys all left the locker room happy because the Steelers won and are marching in the right direction. Antonio Brown, who put up 9 catches for 78 yards and a touchdown, however, is said to be, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, “unhappy” with his lack of production in the offense. |
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Really? Is Brown becoming the classic wide receiver diva? If so, as great as he is, he can move on after his contract is up. Now I’m not suggesting that will happen nor would I wish that to happen. Brown is the best receiver in football right now and he’s as dynamic as can be on the field but he needs to look a couple of lockers down to DeAngelo Williams as an example on how to act. Williams, who clearly is a starting caliber back and was for the first three weeks of the season, at a high level, hasn’t complained once since the return of LeVeon Bell. His carries have dropped from over 30 in Week one to one carry in Week five. But does he care? No, he says he just wants to be part of the team. Anything it takes to win a championship, he’s in. That’s a true class act. That’s a good locker room guy and that’s a leader. Brown is complaining after a nine catch day and the team won by 18 points. He needs to take a step back. The team can win without him if they needed to. See Wallace, Mike as a recent example of that. Big Ben makes Brown who he is; it’s not the other way around. The team can’t do without Ben, that’s a no brainer but if Brown wants to complain and become a distraction with his dances and shoes, then he will find himself in another uniform when his contract is up. The Steeler way is not about singling yourself out and self-aggrandizing behavior; it’s about winning as a team and picking each other up. There have been plenty of great receivers over the year that made it about themselves and their teams couldn’t hang on to them. They were locker room cancers and they never won championships. You don’t need to look past Terrell Owens or Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson to see how that song and dance goes.
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Brown has in no way, shape or form gotten to that level yet but it’s looking like he’s getting there, those guys started somewhere and it was very similar to this. So before it happens, Brown needs to step back and realize that a nine catch day with 78 yards and a touchdown when your team wins by 18 points is pretty darn good and if he still doesn’t get that, he needs to talk to DeAngelo Williams who can instill some common sense into him.
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10/4/16-Redemption Sunday A Success
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By: Mike Pelaia As the dust settled in the aftermath of the Philadelphia debacle a week ago; Mike Tomlin made it clear to his team, the upcoming Sunday Night Game against the Kansas City Chiefs was going to be deemed “Redemption Sunday”. There would be no tolerance of the lackluster, penalty filled, mistake prone play that was the theme of the theme of the day against the Eagles. The offense would be asked to perform the way they are capable of, moving the football and putting up points. The Chiefs defense is in fact a solid one so this would be considered a taller task than it proved to be. The defense would be asked to pressure Alex Smith and penetrate the line, something that has eluded the team the first three weeks of the season. The asks from Coach Tomlin and quite frankly the fan base alike, were legitimate. The response by the team was immaculate. |
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Ben Roethlisberger was essentially flawless as he threw for 300 yards and five touchdown passes. He spread the ball around to nine different receivers, completing 22 of his 27 throws. Five of those were completed to LeVeon Bell for 34 receiving yards in addition to his 18 carries for 144 yards. Ben was great and is my pick for Steeler player of the week but boy was it nice to see Bell back on the field in his first action since early last season delivering a performance that only the top back in the league could. With he, Ben and of course Antonio Brown playing together, this offense is the best in the league. Mix in Sammie Coates, who is starting to develop into the replacement this team sought for Martavis Bryant and a budding Jesse James, it’s hard not to see this team score 30 points each and every week. But it wasn’t just the offense who delivered a stellar performance on Sunday night. The defense deserves its’ credit too. They pitched a shutout until the fourth quarter and they finally applied a lot of pressure to the QB, sacking Alex Smith four times. They only had one sack all season coming into the week so it’s certainly a relief to see the black and gold get back to the hard nosed style of football that generally defines them and links them to the blue collar city of Pittsburgh.
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Three of those sacks were provided by Cam Heyward and perhaps more impressively, Vince Williams, starting at inside linebacker in place of the very talented yet oft injured Ryan Shazier added 16 tackles to lead the team. If this team is able to consistently apply pressure the way they did against the Chiefs, the secondary weakness can be overcome as the ball won’t be in play downfield often enough to burn them. In the meantime, it was nice to see first round pick Artie Burns make a few big plays and continue his development into what many expect to be a long career as the Steelers number one corner. The team now must keep their heads on their shoulders and utilize this fuel to continue their run but they must not ever forget the debacle in Philadelphia. That job falls on Mike Tomlin and as he did after the loss in Philadelphia, he must continue to apply “Redemption Sunday” because this team has serious talent and serious potential to reach epic heights but they need to remain focused and ready to play on a week in and week out basis.
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