Steelers Win 15-9 in OT

Hey, it’s a win, that’s first and foremost.    If the team can play defense like that, they’ll be in a lot of games. Did the D look stellar today or what?!  They held the Falcons to a pedestrian 58 yards on the ground on 25 carries. They made Matt Ryan throw, and while he ended up with 252 yards, it was on 44 attempts and he threw a pick that our boy Troy Polamalu completely jumped.  The defensive game plan fell right into what our pre game keys to the game dictated. Not that we are in the coaching circle, but hey, we like to say we called it! 

Offensively, the boys in black and gold got it done in the end but it was less than fruitful most of the game. While Dixon threw for 236 yards on 18/26 passing with 1 horrible pick, the numbers seem a bit inflated. We still think he’s the guy for the remaining time Ben’s suspended, but we do fear if he can lead this team to meaningful touchdowns, especially when the team is behind, if they get behind.  He appears like he has a candy arm and not the gun that Leftwich or Big Ben have.  It does seem that he should probably use his legs more as he only had 2 carries and his legs are a very useful weapon.  We did call for a lot of Mendenhall and he ended up with 120 yards on 22 carries, but the last 50 of those yards were on the final play of the game. Now for sure that was the best time to do it and all the credit in the world goes to Mendenhall. However, what it shows is teams are going to stack the box and make Dixon throw, which is smart, and possibly dangerous for the team if they are in a pinch. We feel that Hines was typical Hines and he was the leader of the offense out there today.  It’s our thought that if Dixon is going to throw they need to utilize Heath Miller a lot more as he can be a Dallas Clark type if given the chance. We also feel that Mike Wallace needs to get more balls his way. He’s a big threat guy and only had one of those plays today. The throw was beautiful but that needs to be attempted a few more times a game.  Redman on third downs seems iffy right now and they may want to look into Dwyer.  All of this was fine today though as the defense was king.  As we mentioned,  the Falcons couldn’t run at all as the linebackers looked really good.  The secondary, the teams defensive weakness even looked solid as they didn’t really let anything get behind them and didn’t allow any big plays today.  That’s what Troy brings to the team, now QB’s have to worry about where he is at all times. 

A few observations, Antwaan Randle El-we think the punt return days are over. Just awful. Did Tomlin ever see him return punts for the Skins? It’s not 2005 anymore. 

A note on the series, this is the 3rd straight time these teams have played that it took overtime to decided the game.

1-0, up next Tennessee.