12/29/16-Steelers Just Need To Stay Healthy This Week

By: Mike Pelaia

The Steelers advanced to 10-5 on Christmas night and clinched the AFC North in a game that will surely be looked at as the most thrilling in 2016.  With the victory, the season was given a bow on top as the team knocked the Ravens out of playoff contention and locked up the number three seed in the AFC playoffs simultaneously. Locking up the three seed provides a likely scenario that will see a home game against the Dolphins in round one, a road game against Oakland, who is now without Derek Carr, in round two and then lastly a trip to New England for the AFC Title (all pending the Steelers advancing of course).  This is about as good of a scenario as the black and gold could ask for entering the post season.

With the Steelers locked into the three seed, coach Tomlin has announced that he will sit stars LeVeon Bell (voted Team MVP for 2016), Antonio Brown and Ben Roethlisberger. 

I do agree with Tomlin on sitting Bell and Brown, there is no point in risking injuries to those two guys in a meaningless game against the woeful Browns. 

Surprisingly, I don’t agree with completely sitting Big Ben.  I would urge Tomlin to play Ben for at least a quarter or perhaps a half. I understand that the team can ill afford to have Ben get hurt, in my opinion he is the true team MVP, more so than Bell but Ben seems to struggle coming off of weeks he doesn’t play so in my opinion getting him a series or two would benefit the team in the first round of the playoffs.

Nevertheless this upcoming game against the Browns means absolutely nothing and the key to this game will be getting everybody out of the game healthy and ready to go for next week.  Tomlin needs to apply a version of the logic he’s using with the Killer B’s with all of his key starters, including Stephon Tuitt, James Harrison, Ryan Shazier, Lawrence Timmons, Bud Dupree, David DeCastro and Maurkice Pouncey.  The trio of rookies starting on defense can actually benefit from playing so I’m hoping they get significant time and come out healthy.

It’s nice to have a meaningless game to close out the season, the team can play a vanilla style offense while getting some guys like Landry Jones and the trio of rookies on defense some needed playing time. Win or lose is irrelevant and it all comes down to preparation for the playoffs.  With the most likely scenario being the Steelers taking on the Dolphins in round one, the week should be spent prepping for that game and I hope that Tomlin and his staff do just that. Sure, it’d be nice to finish the season 11-5 by beating the Browns but in the end who cares? It’s playoff time in Pittsburgh and this team is poised to make a run but it all rests on Tomlin making the right decisions this week in order to fully prepare his team for next week.  Those decisions are not x’s and o’s, they are playing time and style of play. If Tomlin manages the team properly this week, he can set his team up for success and a deep run into Januray…

 

12/9/16-PODCAST-Steel Nation Radio Presented By Steelers Takeaways – Interview with Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala

Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala sat down with us on Steel Nation Radio presented by Steelers Takeaways to discuss his time in the NFL with the black and gold, playoff runs, rivalry games and much more.

The man affectionately known around Pittsburgh as “Fu” was a great fullback who played for the Steelers from 1998-2002 and played a big role on the 2001 team who went to the AFC Championship game, amassing 453 rushing yards, 127 receiving yards and four touchdowns.  Fu was a tough as nails player who played hard in the trenches and was always good on third and short or goal line situations.

Listen to this two part podcast where he shares some stories about players like Hines Ward and Jerome Bettis and even mentions going after Ray Lewis.  Fu was a great guest and we hope to talk to him again soon.

Part 1:  Steel Nation Radio Fu Part 1

Part 2:  Steel Nation Radio Fu Part 2

 

12/5/16-Three Key Players To The Steelers Making The Playoffs

By: Mike Pelaia

The Steelers won their 3^rd straight game on Sunday against a very solid New York Giants team in convincing fashion. They appeared to be clicking on all cylinders and if they keep that up, they’ll have a good chance of running the table over the last four weeks and getting a home playoff game as AFC North champions.

Outside of the Killer B’s; Ben Roethlisberger, LeVeon Bell and Antonio Brown, the Steelers need a few other guys to shoulder some of the load and there are three guys in particular who will need to do so in order to key the success of the black and gold down the stretch.

The first guy is a man I’ve given some grief to over the first ¾ of the season but he showed up in a big way against the Giants. LaDarius Green. He needs to be the 2^nd receiver on this team with the depletion of receiving depth over the season.  Green just entered the lineup a few weeks ago after overcoming his own injury woes and he needs to show why the team went out and paid top dollar for him. He did so on Sunday and if he can be that big target that Big Ben is looking for in the red zone and provide another deep threat as well, that would be a huge addition for the offense. Green has shown some good hands, has run solid routes and has a burst of speed for his size that makes him hard to cover.  He’ll become a bigger part of the game plan moving forward and his involvement could pay big dividends for an offense that desires scoring 30 points on a weekly basis.

The next two players are on the defensive side of the ball. First is old reliable, the veteran and playmaker, James Harrison. Harrison became a starter a few weeks back and ever since his return, the team has begun to apply a heck of a lot more pressure on the quarterback.  Harrison has had five sacks in his last five games, which leads the team. He’s been in this situation before and the energy on the defensive side of the ball is palpable when he’s on the field. He brings a leadership to a unit that desperately needs it. 

Lastly, Stephon Tuitt. He’s a player who’s still developing and he’s going to need to speed that development up a bit now that Cam Heyward is done for the season. So far, Tuitt has answered the bell.  He needs to be the key run stopper, provide a rush from the end and generally lead the defensive line. He’s got the ability, he’s shown that, he just needs to keep it up and build upon it. If he does, the defense will continue the recent success they’ve had. 

Obviously, these three players are compliments to the big three on offense but if they can do their part and provide the black and gold with some leadership and a few big plays; this team has a strong opportunity to win the division.