And Like That, Their Season Was Saved
With a little bit of lighting, a good bit of thunder and a nice mix of rain, the Steelers went into Cincinnati and saved their season on Sunday night.
No the lightning, thunder and rain have nothing to do with the weather but rather what I feel best describes the offensive play. The team came in on a mission to win at all costs and they knew, like the rest of, if they didn’t win, the season was close to being over before the World Series was even played.
Fortunately both the offense and defense delivered in a big way, although being down 14-3 in the first half put a good scare into the Steel Nation, the black and gold were resilient and came up big. The Thundering Jonathan Dwyer, the teams number 3 running back put up a very big performance and is a big reason why this team came away victorious on Sunday night. Dwyer, who I have been saying all year should be the feature back when Mendhenhall is hurt, was given the ball 17 times and he put up a yardage total of 122 in those carries. He averaged 7.2 yards per carry, far exceeding the team’s season average coming into the game which was south of 3.0 yards per carry. Dwyer enabled this offense to control the clock and keep the defense rested and off the field. It helped the play calling as the team was able to mix the run with the pass and even call a gadget play. If he, or anyone can run like Dwyer did last night, then this offense will be even more potent and this team can start to go places. The offensive line, led by Willie Colon, didn’t miss a beat, even with guys like Maurkice Pouncey sitting on the sideline. The line opened holes for Dwyer and kept Big Ben upright for most of the game. Colon was a beast pulling and breaking the defensive line down. I particularly loved seeing him scuffle on the ground with one Bengal player after the play was over. Willie can take this line places and we need him to keep playing the way he did last night.
The lighting came from rookie Chris Rainey who has explosive speed. He was handed the ball 4 times and he gained 17 yards and TD. He was a great compliment to the Thunderous Dwyer. Rainey also added 122 more yards on kick returns. His returns were so impressive that I feel it’s time to remove Antonio Brown off of punt returns and hand that over to Rainey. Brown is a great punt returner, no question, but I think he’s far too valuable in the passing game to have him risk injury in the punt game.
Brown in fact, was a part of the rain that came from the offense last night. The passing game made it rain all over the field with Big Ben throwing for 278 yards and a beautiful TD to Heath Miller (who also caught a great 2 point conversion as well). Brown added 7 grabs and led the team with 92 yards receiving. More impressive than his yardage total were some of the moves he put on. When he was able to juke Newman by cutting back towards the line of scrimmage before burning up the sideline I had to rewind the DVR a couple times to see it. That’s video game material. Mike Wallace led the team with 8 grabs but he wasn’t as big a factor as he dropped 3 balls and just didn’t bring that deep threat again. Dropped balls were a bit of a problem, specifically with Baron Batch dropping, well, completely missing a perfectly thrown Antonio Brown ball that was a guaranteed TD. Instead a couple plays later Big Ben tossed a pick.
The mistakes were there, the dropped balls, previously mentioned, the pick, a fumble by Big Ben and 5 more penalties but the defense arrived last night and made sure the mistakes didn’t kill the team this go round.
Led by Lawrence Timmons and his 11 tackles, the team only allowed 185 total yards. They didn’t allow a score in the 4th quarter, actually protecting a lead on the road for the first time this year and they only allowed 3 point in the 2nd half overall. They made Andy Dalton look foolish and they completely removed AJ Green from the game. Green came in leading the league in receiving yards and he was held to one catch for 8 yards, albeit a TD catch, but you have to take those numbers. This was all done without Troy Polamalu who sat out another game with a calf injury. Lamar Woodley returned to game action however and picked a ball off as well as added 3 tackles.
James Harrison played again but it’s apparent he’s not the same guy, he really didn’t seem to be a factor last night and was help pretty much in check. Will he get back to form this year, or ever? It’s tough to say, but at his age, you have to at least wonder. I think we have to hope that his presence alone is enough to scare some offensive players and he can disrupt their minds if not their bodies.
All in all the season was saved with the teams first road win and a division win at that. Add in a Raven loss and a trip back home for next week and the Steelers have a real chance to get on a roll and make some noise, noise that sounds like Thunder and is accompanied by lightning.
NEWS, NOTES and SUPERLATIVES:
Game Ball: Jonathan Dwyer-Great game, he was big factor in the win last night.
Willie Colon-Unsung hero who came up big on the line
Start: Dwyer-As long as Mendenhall is out, Dwyer should be the guy.
Cut or send deep to the Bench: Baron Batch-I like Batch as a person, he’s a good guy to talk to but you can’t miss a ball like that and get playing time. You can’t.
Get him some Stick em: Mike Wallace-You have to catch the balls that are thrown your way Wallace, in your hands = catch, no excuses
News: There were really no injuries to report this week for the first time all season.
3-3, up next vs. Washington
Comments